22 OUR ARCTIC PROVINCE. 



the spruce {Abies sitkensis and menziesii), the hemlock {Abies merten- 

 siana), and the cedar {Thuja gigantea). The last is the most valu- 

 able, is found usually growing near the shores, and never in great 

 quantities at any one place; wherever a sheltered flat place is found, 

 there these trees seem to grow in the greatest luxuriance. In the 

 nari'ower passages, where no seas can enter, the forest seems almost 

 to root in the beach, and its branches hang pendent to the tides, 

 and dip therein at high water. Where a narrow beach, capped 

 with warm sands and soil, occurs in sheltered nooks, vividly green 

 grass spreads down until it reaches the yellow seaweed " tangle " 

 that grows everywhere in such places reached by high tide, for, 

 owing to the dampness of the climate, a few days exposure at neap- 

 tides fails to injure this fucoid growth. Ferns, oh ! how beautiful 

 they are ! — also grow most luxui'iantly and even abundantly upon 

 the fallen, rotting tree-trvmks, and even into the living arboreal 

 boughs, and green mosses form great club-like masses on the 

 branches. 



Large trunks of this timber, overthrown and dead, become here 

 at once perfect gardens of young trees, moss, and bushes, even 

 though lying high above the ground and supj)orted on piles of yet 

 earlier M^indfall. Similar features characterize the littoral forests 

 of the entire landlocked region of the northwest coast, from Puget 

 Sound to the mouth of Lynn Canal. 



. In addition to these overwhelmingly dominant conifers already 

 specified, a few cottonwoods and swamp-maples and alders are scat- 

 tered in the jungle which borders the many little streams and the 

 large rivers like the Stickeen, Tahko, and Chilkat. Crab-apples 

 (Pyrus rivularis) form small groves on Prince of Wales Island, where 

 the beach is low and capped w^itli good soil. Then on the exposed, 

 almost bare rocks of the western hilltoiDS of the islands of the archi- 

 pelago, a scrub pine {Pinus contorta) is found ; it also grows in 

 small clumps here and there just below the snow-line on the moun- 

 tains generally. Berries abound ; the most important being the 

 sal-lal {Gaultheria shalloio) — they are eaten fresh in great quantities, 

 and are also dried for use in winter — and another small raspberry 

 {R'Libus sp.), a currant {Bibes sjx), and a large juicy whortleberry. 

 Of course these berries do not have the flavor or body which we 

 prize at home in our small fruits of similar character — but up here 

 they, in the absence of anything better or as good, are eaten with 

 avidity and relish, even by the white travellers who happen to be 



