CHAP. IV. ASIA, AFRICA, AMERICA, AUSTRALIA. 183 



glutindsa, which, during the months of June, July, and August, bears a pro- 

 fusion of delicate pink flowers, and does not attain a large size." 



In the different islands of Lake Ontario " the hemlock spruce is abundant 

 and of great size, as well as arbor vitae, walnuts, oaks, sugar maples, and 

 elms." Near Toronto, on the shores of the lake, the weeping willow is 

 healthy and luxuriant, and there are fine specimens of the locust tree, broad- 

 leaved American beech, Canadian and Lombardy poplars, limes, oaks, ashes, 

 elms, white pine, and hemlock spruce. Pinus resinosa (the red pine) was 

 observed here for the first time ; and it is by no means plentiful, having been 

 found by our travellers only in this tract. The red birch they found a fine- 

 shaped tree, with a trunk about 2 ft. in diameter, and a wide-spreading top 

 like that of the beech tree in Europe. Near the Falls of Niagara is a " very 

 extensive natural forest of sweet chestnuts; and what is very remarkable, the 

 trees are placed at such regular distances that at first one would not hesitate 

 to think that they had been planted by the hand of man. Not a great way from 

 this, we observed a similar forest of large native oaks with precisely the same 

 appearance of regular plantation : yet in both cases the arrangement was 

 wholly the work of nature, the stronger individuals having probably smothered 

 the weaker. In the neighbourhood of the falls, the trees were of very various 

 descriptions, of great size, and more intermixed than we had hitherto seen. 

 The tulip trees were of great height, with stems varying from 8 ft. to 12 ft. in 

 circumference. Platanus trees, oaks, elms, limes, ashes, walnuts, beeches, 

 poplars, and white pines, were all equally large and lofty. The hemlock spruce 

 was scarcely seen, but the arbor vitae seemed to take its place ; for it is, with- 

 out exception, the most abundant tree in the neighbourhood of the falls, very 

 tall, and sometimes tapering to the height of 60 ft. Here, again, the red 

 cedar was observed, with great abundance of dwarf-growing yew ( Taxus cana- 

 densis)." 



Between Niagara and Hamilton was the only district in Canada where the 

 Xaurus Sassafras was seen ; the trees were all small, though remarkably 

 healthy. The great natural forests of the country presented chiefly oaks of 

 great height ; and, when the ground became in the least degree elevated, white 

 pines abounded. On a flattened, low, moist meadow was an extensive forest 

 of the tamarack, or black American larch (.Larix pendula), long straggling 

 trees with stems not exceeding 20 in. in circumference. Near New London 

 the specimens of the trees, particularly of the platanus, were very large. 

 Stems were measured of from 15 ft. to 20 ft. in girt, and many of the trees 

 had straight trunks of from 10 ft. to 30 ft. high, before branching. " This 

 tree is always seen largest and in greatest abundance along the moist banks of 

 rivers, where the soil is deep and rich." The white pine, near New London, 

 has a trunk varying from 13ft. to 18ft. in circumference; and some trees, 

 which had been blown down, were measured, and found to average 160 ft. in 

 length. The oaks here vary from 10 ft. to 15 ft. in circumference of trunk, with 

 45 ft. and 50 ft. of straight clear stems. Between New London and Goderich, 

 a distance of 60 miles, the road passes through one continued dense forest. 

 The trees were principally elms, averaging from 10 ft. to 25 ft. in circum- 

 ference. Mixed with them were beeches, birches, and ashes of ordinary 

 dimensions. On some low swampy ground, there was an extensive forest of 

 hemlock spruce, and on an extended limestone ridge some splendid specimens 

 of arbor vitae. Horizontal sections of the white pines and hemlock spruce 

 exhibited between 300 and 400 annual layers ; oaks, 200 ; and elms, 300. On 

 the whole, the neighbourhood of Goderich in Canada presented " a much 

 greater and finer collection of large native trees than had before been seen ; 

 for, in addition to what have been named, were very large sugar maples, with 

 splendid specimens of the black and white ash, limes, oaks, beeches, birches, 

 cherries, with extensive tracts of balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera), and 

 the black American larch, all growing in deep rich soil. On the banks of the 

 Maitland river, many very noble specimens of platanus are seen, with stems 

 varying from 18 ft. to 36 ft. in circumference. It is curious to observe, that 



