144 THE FOREST LANDS OF NORTHERN RUSSIA. 
In the northern parts of the Government the trees 
lose their leaves in August, and the rivers are frozen over 
from the end of October to the middle of April. In the 
south there are large tracts occupied by forests, lakes, and 
morasses. Agriculture is followed to a certain extent, but 
the severity and changeable state of the weather render it 
precarious, though a considerable quantity of wheat and 
barley are grown. The produce of the pasture grounds, of 
the chase, and of fishing, tend to compensate for this, and 
the woods supply potash, tar, and other materials for 
export as well as domestic use. 
Of the general appearance of lands in the extreme north, 
some idea may be formed from the details given by M. 
Guillemard, and Mr Hepworth Dixon, cited ina preceding 
chapter. To the north of the Government of Olonetz is 
the Government of Archangel, stretching from Finland on 
the west to the Ural Mountains and the Government of 
Tobolsk in Siberia on the east, comprising thus the whole 
northern part of Russia in Europe, and including the 
island of Nova Zembla. Its northern continental shores 
are washed by the Arctic Ocean and the White Sea; and 
for a considerable distance from the coast they present a 
desolate and sterile appearance, with few signs of vegetation. 
The surface of the remainder is in general a continuous 
flat, covered either with sandy and mossy wastes, or pine 
and alder forests. The area, inclusive of that of the 
islands, which has been spoken of as about a fourth of the 
whole, has been estimated by Mller at 15,215 German, or 
342,337 English square miles; by Koeppen it has been 
estimated at 15,519 German square miles, 
The river Onega is a large river rising in Lake Latcha, 
to the east of Lake Onega, and flowing thence north- 
west it falls into a gulf, in the White Sea, to which it gives 
its name, as it does also to the town at its mouth, about 
80 miles 8.S.W. of Archangel. Its principal afiluents are 
the Vbloshka and Mokha on the right bank, and the Kena 
on the left. 
