62 



NORTH AMERICA. 



finds himself obliged to regulate his course by the compass, or by the observation of the hea 

 venly bodies. They afford abundant pasture to the bison and deer, but are so destitute of 

 wood, tliat the hunter is under the necessity of taking fuel with him, or in dry weather of mak- 

 ing a fire of the dung of the bison. These magnificent plains occur on the Arkansas and 

 Missouri, and around the Saskashawan and the Mackenzie. 



8. Minerals. Almost all the mineral productions useful in the arts, as well as the precious 

 metals, are found in North America, but except the gold and silver of Mexico, they have not 

 yet been wrought in any proportion to their value and extensive distribution. The coal, lead, 

 iron, and salt of the United States, form, with gold and silver, almost the only mineral articles 

 that have yet been fully turned to account. The Xnh\e below exhibits the principal localities of 

 some of the more important minerals of North America. 



Iron. United States (Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, New York l^^aiyland. New 

 Jersey, Ohio, Missouri, &c.) ; Mexico, Nova Scotia, Canada, &c.; very eMensively diffused. 



Lead. United States (New York, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin) ; Mexico. 



Gold. jMexico (Sonora and Sinaloa) ; United States (Virginia, North and South Carohna, 

 Tennessee, Georgia) ; Central America ; Hayti. 



Silver. Mexico (Guanaxuato, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, &c.) ; Texas ; Central 

 America. 



Copper. United States (Maryland, Pennsylvania, Missouri, W^isconsin, &c.) ; Cuba ; 

 Mexico ; Hayti. 



Tin. Mexico (Guadalaxara) . • 

 Quicksilver. Mexico. 



Coal. United States (Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, Alabama, 

 Illinois, Missouri, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, &c.) ; Nova Scotia ; New Brunswick ; Te- 

 xas ; Cuba, &c. 



Salt. United States (New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, 

 Indiana, Illinois, Arkansas, &c.) ; Nova Scotia ; Upper Canada ; Texas ; Central America ; 

 Mexico. 



9. Vegetables. The most northern station In which vegetation has been 

 discovered is Melville Island, 74° 30' N. lat. In this desolate region several 

 vegetable species are able to maintain an existence, but they are all of a very 

 humble growth, such as grasses, saxifrages, mosses, and lichens ; here not a 

 tree or a bush rears its head, and the only plant of a woody structure is the 

 Arctic willow {Salix arctica), which rises but six inches in height. The red 

 snow-plant {protococcus nivalis)., exists in these and even higher latitudes, 

 in all its beauty, multiplying even among the snow itself, which it stains with 



Saxifrage. 



crimson patches oi" considerable size. 



JVJiite Spruce. 



Black Spruce. 



Hickory. 



Mltite Birch. 



As we advance southward, vast forests of spruce-firs [Mies alba and nigra), beneath 

 which grow the rein-deer moss (Lichen rangiferinus) , and other lichens, overspread the land, 

 and various berry-bearing shrubs and papilionaceous plants abound. The tripe de roche, a 

 species of lichen, is often used as food by the hunters. Next are met the majestic poplars of 

 Canada (Populus Hvdsonica, <^c.), birches (Betula papyracea, and populifolia) , various oaks, 

 ashes, butternuts {Jvglans cinerea), and hickories (Carya alba and amara). These last groups 



