44 
THE VOYAGE OE THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
in tlie latter country, the farthest outposts of the forests towards 
the north consist of scraggy birches, which, notwithstanding 
their stunted stems, clothe the mountain sides with a very 
lively and close green; while in Siberia the outermost trees are 
THE CLOUDBERRY (rUBUS CHAMMMORUS, L.). 
Fruit of the natural size. Flowering stalks diminished. 
gnarled and half-withered larches {Larix dalturica, Turcz.), 
w'hich stick up over the tops of the hills like a thin grey 
brush.^ North of this limit there are to be seen on the Yenisej 
^ On the Kola Peninsula, and in the neighbourhood of the White Sea, 
as far as to Ural, the limit of trees consists of a species of pine {Picea 
