59 



PLATE XIX. 



KAMTSCHATKA. 



PINE FORESTS ON THE CENTRAL KAMTSCHATKA RIVER. 



August. 



In the centre of the peninsula there is a district which it takes several days to cross, 

 and which it would seem stretches from the western mountains to Cape Kronotz- 

 koi ; it is covered with forests of pines, of which, with the exception of a shrubby 

 Cedar, there is no trace in other parts of the country. Two species of Spruce, one 

 of which bears the Eussian name of " Liswen" (Larch), strongly reminding us of the 

 forests of Sitcha, and the Pinus Canadensis and Finns Mertensiana, are prevalent 

 there. The first, when fully grown, has a striking likeness to Pinus Canadensis 

 (2 | 3 b ; 14 | 15 k), whilst the younger specimens have more the aspect of our 



European larch. The second, a genuine Spruce ( ee Yoll" or Yollink"), ^9 ^j, 



does not attain such a height as the first ; its thick foliage is delicate and dark- 

 green, and like the whole tree it has a peculiar balsamic smell. The fruit is rather 

 smaller than that of Pinus Abies, but very like it. These two pines, growing 

 intermingled, form the bulk of the forest, but in such a way that the taller species, 

 that resembling Pinus Canadensis, is the most abundant ; amongst them is found 



more or less plentifully Betula alba A) g ; 14 m^. The remarkable slenderness 



and comparatively great height of the stems here represented is principally produced 

 by the same causes as their bent position, viz., the long continued pressure of 

 heavy masses of snow which their crowns have to bear during the winter. We 

 see further a very tall and slender, gregariously growing Aspen (" Ossina "), with a 

 smooth whitish-grey bark. This tree, it would seem, occurs in great masses on 

 the heights of the neighbouring mountains ; it is but seldom found on the banks 



of the rivers ^10 | 11 The underwood of these forests, differing from those 



of the north-west coast of America by their prevailing dryness, consist of two or 



