218 A WINTER'S DAY IN THE YUKON TERRITORY. 
those in dryer locations, or setting out in moist ground, or 
"better yet, propagating from seed, would doubtless overcome 
these difficulties, reward the pains taken, and introduce some 
charming novelties to the lovers of flowers. 
Sueh an arboretum, shrubbery or lawn, comprising only 
native species, would not only gratify the botanist and the 
naturalist, but would surprise and delight the rapidly in- 
creasing number of amateur cultivators, who as yet have 
very little idea of the wealth of floral beauty to be found in 
our swamps and woodlands. 
A WINTERS DAY IN THE YUKON TERRITORY. 
BY W. H. DALL. 
Many of the readers of the Naruratist when they hear 
Alaska spoken of, picture to themselves a snow-covered 
country, with at most a scanty summer, and a long and ex- 
tremely cold winter. A recent “official” report for instance, 
represents the island of St. Paul as surrounded in winter by 
“immense masses of ice” on which the polar bears and arctic 
foxes sail down from the North and engage in pitched battle 
with the wretched inhabitants. Such romances are due 
solely to the ardent imagination of the “official” mind, and 
have no basis in fact. There is no solid, and but little float- 
ing ice near St. Paul in winter; the arctic foxes found there 
as well as on most of the other islands, were purposely in- 
troduced by the Russians for propagation, a certain number 
of skins being taken annually; and finally, we have no 
authentic evidence that the polar bear has ever been found 
south of Behring Strait. 
The country of Alaska comprises two climatic regions 
which differ as widely as Labrador and South Carolina in 
their winter temperature. One contains the mainland north 
