OF NORTH-EAST AMERICA. 239 



they pass. In Canada, therefore, and in the 

 United States, with the exception of the southern 

 districts, so far as they are under the influence of 

 the trade-winds and of the gulf-stream, we always 

 find hot summers and very cold winters. How- 

 ever, the condition of the high north has a consider- 

 able share in producing the cold of the latter, and 

 the generally lower mean temperature of America, 

 north of 35° north latitude, and eastward of the 

 Eocky Mountains. 



The whole coast of Labrador and of East 

 Main, on the west of the chain of hills which 

 separate the waters that run into the Biver and 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence from the water-shed of 

 Hudson's Bay, is a desert surface of rocks and 

 lakes, with a very little useful soil at some few 

 spots, and a small growth of dwarf wood. We 

 only meet with arable land and tillage on the 

 south-east side of tins highland, towards the St. 

 Lawrence and the Atlantic. The inland country 

 north of the great lakes, and towards the Rocky 

 Mountains, is hilly, and crossed by great river- 

 valleys, capable of culture and clothed with forests. 

 But the slope of tins highland towards the Frozen 

 Sea and towards Hudson's Bay, forms only a 

 dry plain without arable land, and with scarcely 

 any herbage. Hardly any plants but the nume- 

 rous mosses grow, and trees are not to be seen, 

 The north-wind sweeps as unchecked over this 



