Dr Richardson’s HemarJcs on the Climate and 
By examination of Table III. we perceive that the summer 
temperature of Fort Enterprize is found at Churchill, in Lati- 
tude 59° ; the neighbourhood of the ice which floats in Hud- 
son’s Bay until August, compensating, in this case, for a differ- 
ence of 64 degrees of latitude. The isotheral line^ carried 
across to the Old Continent, passes near to Enontekies. 
In no part of the barren grounds did we discover the ground 
to be perpetually frozen. The subsoil, however, at York- 
Eactory is always frozen, a circumstance which is also to be at- 
tributed to the constant presence of ice in the Bay during the 
summer. The thaw at York (Latitude 57°) in September, was 
observed to penetrate three feet. 
In Latitude 65° the sap of the spruce-tree freezes early in Oc- 
tober, and in a short time the wood becomes as hard as a stone, 
the chips produced by a highly tempered hatchet being similar 
to saw-dust. The hatchets are speedily broken in this employ- 
ment, which renders the Indians anxious to find dead and dry 
trees for winter use ; and to procure a constant supply of this 
kind of fuel, they occasionally set fire to a clump of trees, ex- 
pecting to find their trunks fit for use in two or three years. 
At Slave Lake, where our attention was directed to this sub- 
ject, the sap of all the other trees, and of the juniper-bush and 
other shrubs, vas observed to freeze equally with that of the 
white spruce. The power of the direct rays of the sun upon 
the trees, causes them to shew signs of returning life before the 
earth acquires any warmth, and the ground about the roots of 
the larger trees is first cleared of snow, and thawed. 
Having, in the preceding details of climate, mentioned the 
circumstances most likely to influence the distribution and 
growth of vegetables in the districts travelled through, I may 
remark, that the agency of man, so powerful in modifying the 
appearance of the vegetable kingdom in other quarters of the 
globe, is scarcely to be detected in these remote lands. Culti- 
vation of the ground is entirely confined to a few small gardens 
at the fur-posts, and the utmost effect that can be ascribed to it, 
is the introduction of a few herbs from Canada and Europe, 
along with the Cerealea and culinary vegetables. The majority 
of the introduced plants is perhaps comprised in the following 
brief list of the species, which were found only in the direct 
