396 LABRADOR 
wealth in accessible timber is considerable, and already 
large mills have been established near the head of Hamil- 
ton Inlet. 
The coastal region, with which all the rest of this chapter 
will be concerned, presents a vegetation of a decidedly 
Arctic type. A cold ocean current from the north bathes 
its shores, bringing with it ice-floes until the last of July, 
and icebergs throughout the rest of the summer. Innu- 
merable snow-drifts linger from winter back again to winter 
in favourable places on the land. Yet for two months of 
summer, at least, the days are long, and the temperature 
does not fall to the freezing-point even at night. Pictur- 
esque hills in the south, andin the north towering, untrodden 
mountains rise directly out of the sea and expose their 
flanks and summits to the unbroken force of the winds. 
The soil is thin, and through it the bare rock frequently 
protrudes. There is usually no lack of moisture in soil or 
air, and many places, especially in the relatively lower 
elevations of the south, are decidedly boggy. 
The characteristic features of an Arctic flora are usually 
attributed to the need it has for struggle and protection 
against severe cold. Schimper has shown that this factor 
itself has almost no direct influence. The greatest cold 
known anywhere is in Siberia, in a region where forests 
still flourish. No special protective devices against cold 
are known; if any exist, they consist probably in the internal 
structure of the protoplasm itself, not in any observable 
external modifications. The observable peculiarities of | 
and the more recent ones of Hubbard, Wallace, and Mrs. Hubbard, 
while adding largely to knowledge of the country, have contributed 
little to botanical information. 
