DISTRIBUTION OF INDIANS AND ESKIMOS.. 55$; 



Barren Grounds extend as far south as perhaps lat. 58°^ 

 and spread still southward on the higher elevated por- 

 tions of the plateau, which are bare of trees, so that the 

 northern third of the peninsula is practically arctic, the 

 animal and plant life being essentially arctic. But 

 southward, including the sheltered valleys of the north- 

 ern or Atlantic coast and of the elevated interior, with 

 the St. Lawrence region, the climatic features and flora 

 and fauna are like those of the western and southern 

 shores of Hudson's Bay and the northern shores of 

 the St. Lawrence. It thus forms a portion of the Boreal, 

 or Canadian Province of temperate North America. 



It will thus be seen that the conditions of existence,, 

 and the adjustment of the plants and animals to their 

 habitats in Labrador, are those primarily depending on 

 the temperature both of the ocean and of the air ; and 

 the more we know of the distribution of life in this, 

 region, the more delicate appears to be the balance 

 maintained between the organisms and their environ- 

 ment. This is also seen in the relative distribution of 

 the Indians and Eskimos. The former inhabit the 

 boreal, wooded portions; the. latter the arctic, bare, tree- 

 less, arctic portions of the coast and of the Barren, 

 Grounds, when the latter shade into the barren east and. 

 west coast of the northern extremity of the peninsula. 

 The best example of a purely arctic animal v^hich 

 still breeds on the coast is the white bear. It is an in- 

 teresting fact that at Fort George, Hudson's Bay, both 

 the black and white bear are knovvn to breed. The 

 white bear mates about the middle of April, and 

 " the young, from one to three in number, are born in 

 •holes under rocks lined with brush, grass, and moss, to- 



