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I'-, I .1 ,^., 1 no,, A>'ll,.„- ./ ■• The H.u;:, ,„• ^^,nlln„.l:■ .l.-. . i. Vol.. I. Casrell Petter cv Galpin WNDOX, I'.iRJs ,{• M:w YoiiK. I All Bkjuts Eisebted.] \j. i-z Tiis llou Mod The The Th k y The F CONTENTS. Tiis World op a Thouband Years Ago How THi: WoiiM) HAS BEEN DISCOVERED Modern Discovery The Unknown of the Nineteenth Centubt The Lanuuaoi; ok OEoaBAPHY The Arctic Regions in General The Arctic Woodlands The Arctic Highlands The Arctic Lowlands, or Tundras ... Climate "The Oi'en Polar Sea'' Sea Ice, Glaciers, and Icebergs Glaciers Arctic Glaciation Rise and Fall op the Akctic Lands Life in Polar Lands Plants, &o J Animals p*riK 1 4 S 11 11 17 19 23 2G 31 45 48 77 The Ancient Forests ok Polar Lands 98 / Whaling and Whalers op the North For "the Straits" "JlAKiNG Free op Greenland ' ... "The East Land" "Taking the Bay' Ik the "North Water On the "West Side" Autumn and Home ... Man in the Far North Danish Greenland The Voyager's Like in the Far North The Natives ok the Arctic Regions The Fur Countbiks op North America The Hudson's Bay Company and their Lands The Cocbeubs de Bois The Nobth-Westebs 100 102 103 107 111 115 118 119 123 123 139 lit UO 147 149 153 The Fur Countries of North America (mud'iiuci'] : — The Culmination, Decline, and Fall ok the Great Fur Tiwders ... 150 The Fur Trade and the Fur Traders 1U3 Fur Trading ... Ifl3 The Fub Traders icG The Food op the Fur Countries 171 The Profits op the Fub Tbade 174 The Hunters AND THE Hunting Grounds 175 The Free Trapper \-,% Types op the " Mountain Men " 182 The Hunting Grounds The Fur Animals The Dominion op Canada Ontario Quebec New Brunswick Nova Scotia Prince Edward Island Newfoundland ... Manitoba Bbitish Columbia Concluding Remarks The Commerce of the Forest "sugaeino" Lumbering in Eastern America v Lumbering on the North Pacific Coast The United States: — The Furthe.st West The White Oak Country 1^ The Pacific Slope Eastern Oregon The Pacific Territories and States Alaska Washington Tebeitobt, Obegon, AND Idaho gog Califobnia 3n / ^ . 188 . 19C . 212 . 2:ft . 219 227 231 232 238 239 243 250 251 252 234 259 204 271 2S1. 28iJ 302 302 IB'^Ui^* ,*«^rtl^caje^ THE COUXTPvlES OF THE AVORLD. CIIAPTKR I. V, ;iro n1>out to start fni :i loiiy and distant jourii'" over land and son. AVe arc to niako a j^crand tour, dnrinj,' which wo shall visit in conij)any many l'oroij,''n coiintrios. It may ho woll, thoroforo, hoforo wo start, to do what all wise travollors ^ '^awrf ''"' *'.'■ ^" "•''" '' '*'" ''l"-'-'' rcyardin^' tlio gvnoral apjioaranco of the great world over which wo arc to tnvcl toiicthor I'or so lonj,'. iJut llrst of all lot us onih'avour to loarn something; of tho nanios of those who have gone hol'ore us, and vory hricily to rcca|iilulatc, il' nothint;' more, the tonus that wo shall ho so frorjuently using in our dcscri]itiiins. 'I'm; WoiM.ii or a Tiioiswii Ykmss Ana. A thnnsand years ago, and for long after, tho world was not all the geologised, botanised, zoologisod, and mapped nut earthy hall it is now. There it lay, according to the imagination of tho men and women of those days —or rather, according to tho ideas of the monks; for the men, and far less the women, of tho>o distant times tronhled thomsolves very little aliont matters of this kind, hut left it to the ctiMrchmen to meddle with such dangero'is hook-learning — a Hat j)lain, full of tliinys mysterious and unknown; and out fif tho four (ornors, through the gaps of four mountain ranges, which wen' ]ilaced there to keeji it steady, hlow th(> lour winds of heaven! Of course, the centii' of it all was the little town, and ( lunty, jiarish, manor, harony, or kingdo-n where they <l\velt ; hut outside of that was no man's land. Il was looked upon hy our remote forefathers in much iho same light as it is hy the Chinese, who, while making maps of the {'"lowcry Land on a scale so large as to show the ground plan r 2 I'lIK rdlNlllir.S (11'' Till', Wdlil.l). of pvi'fv tiiwn mid villiig'c, mavk nil tlio ('(luntrit'w (iiitsitlo nl' llmt lUii^'if Itoiiiulary ol' tlifirs as " iiiliiiliiti'd liy liai'liariiiii;-." "It was tlio land ol' the inlidcl," tin.' jn'cijiju caid, as tlicy piously iTosscd lli('iiisrl\ts at tlio tliolliflit. All was iiiyslci'ioiis to tlic Iravolk'i's ol' that agu. The unknown lands wen' full ol' dragons and giants, roes, ores, witih-wliaies, grillins, eliiineras, enclianters, I'ayninis, .Sara(eiis, Emirs, and Sultans, Kaisers ol' ('onslaiiliMo]de, ol' Ind, and Cathay, and {'iipan;^o. \\'lial a choice was there then lor a vonng traveller, a good knight, and a jiroiier man witiial ! Jt' he had a mind, he could steel' his way to Jjapland, where (as all the world knew) dwarfs I'orgod cliain-ariiKJur ol niai;ic links, and where wilch-whales and iec-niountains roamed aliout tho chilly sea; or, to go si ulli, and join tiie \ arangers guard in ('onstantinoi)lc, or heard tliu Turk in J'alestine; or, into l'"gy])t, and win the King's daughter hy killing a great dragon, as did St. (ieorge ; or, di>wn to Cordova, wliere there were dire inagiciaiis; or, into the forests of Urittany, where heauteous fairies sported — kindly iinniortids, who loved to he wedded lo mortality — who emptied his water-jars at night and liiled them with good lihiiie wine ere duwn of dny. lie might even nuirry one, as did Sir Lancelot, and jiass ii few years in Fuiryhnul ! J'A'en in our own dull old prosaic land, tlie geographers of a thousand years ago reported Wonders lo bu seen for the travelling. Dragons were in the laud, and giants stalked all over Cornwall; so that, like llereward, you could g<i into the Land ol Tin, kill an ogre and save a king's daughter. In those days there were lands to dit jover aid take iwssessiou of, and wcuiders and strange things to be seen wherever you turned. The fairies have now bidden farewell to all accessible places, and if you wish to win them you inust go very far alield (o jilaeos where there are no books and no schools — I'or these elf-maidens like not letters, and llee hefiire them like ghosts be''ore the cock-crow; if you wish wine ninv, you may gather the grapes — aye, and tread lliein out too. Then think how easy it was to travel in those barbarous times; no philosophical instru- ments Were ill demand, only a big ox-horn to engrave your ina[) on, and if you were a very learned traveller, an ink-horu and a parchnieut to write your notes on ; though, generally speaking, travellers in those days did not trouble themselves much with writing, but drew freely on their imaginations. There was no need of circular notes or letters of credit, and no loss by exchange then. If you were a churcliinan, and had your head shaved and a rope round yonr middle, houses of i'riars, black, while, and grey, wore open to you all over the civilised world and a good jjortion of the uncivilised. If yon were a learned clerk — and, lictier still, a "cunning locli" to 1 t — all you bad to do was to go to a university and dispul(( with the doctors on (piesfious of pliiloso]iliy, such as, how many devils could dance on the end of a needle, or regarding the transimilation of metals, the elixir of life, the philosopher's stone, or tho all-powerful phlogiston, each in its age — and you were entitled to a su])por and a bed, and in the lunrning a parting blessing, and a few slivers from tho college chest to send you on your way. It was just ]Kjssil)le, too, in those halcyon times for poor travellers, if your fame went before you. that iirinces and kings — and they were very ]ileiitiful then — would invite you, as Ihev did Duns Scotus, to take u]> your residence in their courts, and send you away laden ' TIIK WdliMi (II' A TIIOrsAM) VKAHS AGO. witli <;il'ls iinil Iclti'iN to otlicr ]irin('('s hI'mi' oIT. 11' voii were n solilicr willi n ffcHul swnnl, iiiiidi^ ill 'rolcilii, oil yoiii' tliiyli, ami ii sliirt ol' niiiil, I'oi'i'i'il in Miliiii Ino) to siiy \>y (Ivvarl's in liii]>l!iii(l Ol' lii'liiiii'rlimd), and a «/<///' ol' stout " liorsc carles" at your Uack, aniii'd witli iiackliiit, and liili, anil axe, and helm, or ernss-lmw and ([iiarrell, or liair-lia<^r and eiilverin, or whatever was the lethal weiipon most in Favour at the time, it would he hard il', in a day when men were (|niek to seize and slow to oi' c liaek a^iiiii, you could not secure a liviiif4' I'or yourseir somehow or other. It' the times l)e cliantfcd, so T nood not say are the travellers thereof. I fancy, if aiiyliody, soldier or civilian, churehniaii or layman, were to attem|it such pran'-s nowadays, in a country hlessed (or otherwise) with a mnuiciiml form of odvernmeiil, he would ex])erii'Mee the hos])italil ies ol' soiuethini;' else than a monastery and a lonj,'-siilTerinj^ ]ieasantry. It even comes within the hounds of fancy that the nioli — over i>idfane and Nulyar, ever ]irosaie! — woulil "shy" the usual unkindly " hall'-hrick " at his head, and direct him to the casual ward of the wcirkhouse, where douhtless the licadle would — jifler the mediieval ti'avcller had wrouj^ht out his hreakfiisl in the stoiu'yanl — hus,fl(! Iiiiii on to the next parish; if, indeed, he were Hot so unfortunate as to he haled Iieforo .Mr. .lustico Shallow, and there and then jj^'ct three weeks in the county ^,^101 as a conlirnied vafjnint ! Lastly, some modern travellers cannot hut he sonsihle of how ^reat an advantafjo it must ha\i' heen to travel in those days; for if few hooks were written, and those only ill rolls of parchment, stowed away in the lihrarics of inonastcrics, there were still fewer critics, and no cynical reviewer to jxiint out with jt'cr and jest the holes in the traveller's coat. The writer of tin; " Travels and Adventures " of those days had thus unlimited licence to "shoot with the loiifj-bow " for the term of his natural life, and, as I daresay the world was no hetter then than it is now, their lies live after them. The leniptiition was strong, I confess, and men, heiiio' only men — even in those "jifood old times" — yielded to it, thouffli it was many a oenturv hel'ore an nng'rateful world found them out, and i^ihhcted them to scolling' modern jj'aze : that is, unless they were as cmiscientious as was that <j;raiHl old traveller, physician, and soldier. Sir John de Mandevillo, who so many hundred years ai^'o made a " lournie unto lerusalcm," and lirouij;ht hack with him somethin;}^ heifer than a scallop-shell in his caj), the sword-cuts of a Saracen warrior, and the love of a I'aynim maiden ; for, thouoh in his thirty-live years' wandcriiifi's from home he experienced all these, and more, yet amid j;reat credulity he hroiijilit hack much truth, and stranije tales, and wonderful arts from the learned men of the distant I'ast. Now, when Sir John came to any country he did not know nmch ahout — ami his example is not unworthy of imitation in times not so remote — he merely crossed himself, and inscrihed on his ma]) these ominous words — "This lande is alle fulle ,)'' devills ! " and passed on. These were the Dark Aijes of Literature, Art, anil Science — in which a hrutal soldiery rode rouiih-shod over a weary, hlood-stained land ; and a rapacious priesthood, corrupt and fallen from the hi<^h estates of the successors of the A])ostles, held in their cruel, (^reody ^■rip the ]iursps of men, and stranjjled, with the withe of superstition and untruth, the soul which livetli after. Yut these are sometimes called \>y poojde, to whose fertile 4 Tur. foi-NTini's or tiik woiii.n. irnii;,'iimli(iii "cowm iiliir olT liiivc iilwuvs loii;,' liDrns," tlie " j.riii)(l old time?*," tlioiii;li 1 linvo iiKvays I'liik'il In iiuilcrstuml thai tlicy wi.tc pun! I'lir aiiyliudy Imt tlic nmyli, cut-tlirDat BCDiiiiili'i'ls wliii I'liilc inaniiiiliii;,'' over the laiiil, and nailed iiiaraiitliiii,' on tlit- seas — lor llu'iu iiiid I'or tlii'ii' niynnidoiis, 'I'lii-y were ci-rlaiidy i.ot j^'ood Tor tlio i*iiniiK; |i(>aKiiiit, wlio wan (lrao;i;i-d, all iiiiwillini;' iiiaii-al-ariiis, to I'ollow liiii Vwgu lord to ]iliindur iinotliur iiaroii mid liix lii'usaiit.i, wlio Lad dis|ili'aM('d llic y'rcat man, wlios<' svliiti' castle Innled il over all tlie lan(U ui'oiind ; tliey wore iM'i'laiiily not j^ooil for the widow and llie orphan; lor the son who wan left to dii! oil u distant battle-liold, with wounds iinstaunelied and thirst unslaked; I'or the father, ]piiiiiio' in tlio duii;;'enn of some IVudal liu'd ; and tho nierehaiit, wliosc vessels wurc stopped oil tho Wi'^U SL'ab hy the jjentleinen of those "yood old times," certainly THE F.AllTa, AS KNOWN TO THE OaEEKH IN TIIK TIME Of HOMER. entertained hut an indilTereiit opinion rejjardinnr tho felicities of the age in which he was doomed to live; while tho homeless owners of sinokintf villa};;es and deserted fields, desig- nated, if they dared to speak at all, the mail-clad kni},"'lits — who look so j)ictures(iuo on l)aper and in ])aintinij;s — and the times which toloratetl them, as something quite the antipodes of good. How THK Woiit.n irA.« beex Riscovkiied. It has heen well remarked that every nation, when it begins to speculate upon geographical matters, and to form surmises as to the nature of the earth, reganls the world as a vast plain, tho centre of which is the country to which the speculators theni- selves l)elong. The regions which lie beyond appear to " the prismatic hues of imagination" an area whiidi fancy fills with tho mythical beings nml I'topias. Tlic (iroeks of Homer's time knew, from actual observation, no more of the world than the shores of Egypt and Asia Minor; but they lilleil all the outlying regions with "'hydras, gorgons, and chiina.'ra3 dire ; ' with happy isles beyond the western sea ; with a race of f' TlIK WOHI.I) OK TIIK iriNlMtos. Biiprpmrly \\w, Imppy, ami lipii<j-livf(l mortals in tlic liy])orlioroiin ivi^iniis ; with inlcH i( flic sirciiM ; witii Olyniims itHt'll', tliu iiIhhIo of tliu ij;inl>i ; unci with Klysiaii IIi'IiIh, h fciTi'Htrial iiaradisi' of (U'partod heroes. J'^ncirclinj^ tliis woriil-|iluin (lowed the oeeuii, from which the unu rose, niul into whieii it set. And with goinu nations, as thu S indinavians and Hindoos, while their own eonntry formed thu ecnirc, with the nhcniu of tho jfoda (Metl;,rar(l or Aleru) formiiiff tin? hi^hcHt p)iiit, other worlds separated by Bean wcro Bupiioscil to lie ronnd in concentric circles — ideal regions, which embudiwl tho dreams STMIIOLICAL REPIIESEMATION OF THE EAllTH, ACtOIlIJINn TO THE inNnOOS. and superstitions of tho natural mind. Tt was an ajfo of dreams, when poets could make of the earth what they pleased; peo])linjf its surface with their fancies, ginlling it with ocean rivei's or Jliniiiinnitia mtr»ia, and resting; it on the shoulders of a ffiant, or the back of an elephant." The compiering expeditions of the Romans into the distant interior of continents su]>plementwl tho discoveries made by the voyages of the JCgyptians, Phoenicians, and their colonist offspring, the Carthaginians. But after all, the world as known to the ancients — the OrhiiK J'f/criiiii K'lluit of tho classical atlases — was very little more than the basin of the jMediterranean, and a portion of the countries bordering it. Not one half of Kurope was even known. Its dark forests still were haunted by savage tribes, with whom tho legions had never measured their strength ; and Asia was only penetrated in tho south-western quarter, lying south of a line drawn from the Black Sea to the Indus. The Greeks and Romans could people with TlIK nUNTKIKS OK TlIK WOIM-l). mvllioloiiicril iiorsonaLfos the ImikIs lyiiiii' imrtli dl' tlio 'I'wy, in tlioso Rritniuiio Isles wliinli lui'irii'd llic ii(ii-ll\cni limits In llif c(iii(|U('sls of Udiiu-. Iliird'ly a twclflli ut' tlio kinnvii wui'ld \v;i> even iiniii'i-roilly kiinwii to tll(ls^■ wlioiii uc sniiictiiiies iissuiiR' t(] In- llio liivt ul' ciiii(|iuM'ors, iind the must ]ii)llslioil im(( intolloilmil d' tlio sons of hkmi. Tlic I'lio'iiiciiiiis, lioWi'ViT, liciit on comiiu'i-i-i', soon (<xlL'ndi'd tlic Ijouiidarii's of tlio tlk'U exjilored world. In Ufiliiiii thcv wi'i-c known as tin tfadui's, ai.d in Africa as jiuivliasers of uiics, f.;'(dd, siiicos, and line woods. As early as (iim n.c, tlicru is li'tlt' doiilit l»ut (hat tlicy circnnniavio-.ited the ln(t<'r I'ontiiii'nt ; and it is jirol)al)U' I'viMi tliaf tlioy liad bartiMvd in Indian iicrfuinL's, H'nld, ]iiMcocks, ami (illicr wonderful lliinys, for llie slieki'ls of the rich Israelitisii mer- chanls. Then the Araliiuns, exteiidiiio' tlieir expeditions into the Eastern seas, wore known in the iiorts of India and Siani, and even in far-oil China. 'The news of their diseoveries, however, sin-end Imt slowly throno-houl Ivirope. Newspapers there were none; books few, am! in niamisiripl ; and atlases were not even dreamt of. Aeeordini^'ly, thoim'h Araiiia was at that lime more closely connected with I-Ju'ope than now, and raid<eil much hin'her in the w.irld, il was not nntil lony after that they were credited with these reniarkalile Voyages, oi- thai the rest of the world benelited niiicli thereliy. .Mi'anwhiie, the Scandinavians — half merchants, half s(ddiers, the whole coloured with a deep dash of the pirate — had discovered Iceland, (Jreeiiland, and had even, ii' the Sajyas are to ho credited, sailed as far as America, and madi' settienienfs where now the Yankee town of Tannloii stands. On land, tin' ^fonu'ols from Central Asia, in their mad carei-r of conipiest and ]iillaj;'(>, had spri'nd lerroi' from the yates of Pekin to the frontier of (iermany. Itnssia, China, liai^'dad, and Pi'lhi are landmarks of the wide-spread didno'e of these hold horsemen, whose con- (|Ui'sts, however, lel'l iiothino; behind them bnt bloodshed and di'strnction. The followers of (ieiio'is-Khan and his successors were rude barbarians, who cared nothing;- for the s])read of kiC'wledn',. ;iiid civilisation, and beycmd an insane desire for slano-hter, and a fanatical y.r;]\ I'oi' the spri'ad of the i'eli^'i(m of the l'ro]ihet, they seem to ha\(' had no asjiiratioiH. Theii' eoni|iie<ts were not, however, altoo'cther without beiielit to fjeographieal knowlediPe ; for one famous Ilin'opean adventurer, the \enetian, Marco I'olo, cn(erin<i' the service of China, was enabled to follow the Monn'ids in their track from the northern corner of the Klack Sea, aia'oss tic ('a>pian, and over the vast plains and mountain rano'os of Centr.al Asia on to I'ekiu, and recorded his observations in a work, the value of which time, instead of diminishin;^'. has increased. This was towarils the close of the thirteenth century. I'ortuL'al was next to have the Inaiour of "Mvat di.-coveries— diseoveries that far eeliiised tl i thiiio' T eh h: I.( mav conlidenllv sav, anvthiu"' which came afte lem. ii'se vovao'c; seamen of the little Iberi 'dd tl mmtoni were tlio comnu'iicomen t of wha1 we may safely ilesiynate as a systematic scheme I'f maritime discovery and exploration — undertaken, no doubt, in the interest of commerce ; but commerce is ever tlr id !)f M'(.oiPraphieal discovery, and lh(> I'.irtuoiiese naviyalors were, in most instaui wlioso mini soar aiiovi ■ mere thirst for f,mld. In ll^fl, IJarthoIoniew Piaz tern Africin coast, as far as the Ca]ie of (lood Kopr'; bnt, instrid of iiiblino; this ju'omontory, and discoverino' the route to "the Indies" he was in search of il,.l aloiio' the ul.l \V,s lie retiirne( 1 h. and left to his eouiitr\ man, Vasc.i di On the Ik loiionr of 1 ichin!.;' India, and of makinyr the iliscoveries which n led to both the African and Southern Till', IIISCUVKUIKS ul' TlUi MKUI.KVAL VOVACKliS. 1 i'cll])Si'il ,. iiftcr iii'iit <if vnl ion si-tiT -;, men Piiiz -((■•ul of arch I'!' lilt hum Indian cnast.s bi'iny duttt'd wilh tbu L\iiiiiicrcial ustaliiishnicntsi ul' I'lU'liiij-al, .sdiiic ul which exist to this day. Tile i;'i-i'atost of all tho j;ivat discoveries uf the .Middle Ayes was yet In tuiiie. In 1 in~ — nut iiiei'i'ly iiy ciiaiiee, but iiii[ielled in !iis liclief in the suundnes.s (jf his reasoning' .roiu M-,.|,Mniplii,.;il (liita — liic yreat C'nluiiihiis, a native of Uenoa, hut just tlieii in the service uf Spain, set tail Iroiu the jioit nf Pah.ps, and .steering straiyiil across tiie Atlantic, struck laud on one of the West Indian Islands (Walliny's island, in the JSahainasj, and discovered the (•oiitiiieiit uf Anioriea, thnuu'li in reality he died i^'iiorant of the fact, always liclieviny- that it was only a [lart ul' India that lie iiad cuiiie acm^s. The discoveries uliicli I'ulluwed were uniiarallclcd. In h'ss than furty year> Africa was cii'cuiiinaviyatedj tiie New World jiartially explored, and its coast sailed alun:;' fruni the mouth of the St. Lawrence to Cajic Horn, and on its western chores as far north as Lower California; two new routes were opened up to India ; and, hnally, the wiiule world circumnavig'ated. Aniony- the brilliant g'alaxy of naiiics we can only ineiitioii those of CalMt, I'in/.oii, Ainerig-o \ espueci ^who, ihi'oiiu'li an error, and probably a lie, hail the honour ul' haviny America named after hini^i, Cabi'al. Sulis, an 1 -Magvllan, a native of Portugal, ihouyli sailiiig in a Spanish ship, who was the lirst to reach the I'aeilic — the firnt tliiil ovur Ijursl Into that siknl sij;i." His shi]) was the tirs* to eirciiinnavigatc the world. This was a brilliant era in the history of discovery, which the enlij^htened enthusiasm ot Prince Henry of Portugal had fanned into life. Hut it was a period of maritime adventure alune. 'I'lie interior of the gri'at couti leiits which these bold sailors visited was, fur the must part, iinex|ilored, except in a few places along the liaiiks of great rivers, up which some of the fearless ailveiitiirers had sailed in search of gukl and pearls. Africa, for instance, was unlv looked upon as a disagreeable triangh' of land, liurdered by feverish marshes, past which it was tile interest uf tlu' navi^'ator to proceed as (piickly and safely as might be. Soon the hanly seamen of the other i;iiru]icaii natiulis followed the Spaiiianls and Portuguese along the route which they had discovered, ea^-er to share in the good tllillo■^i which exaggerated ruinonr allirmed to lie hea]ieil i" ncli abundance in these far-off lands of the Mast — in the Indies, in Cathay, and Cipai „ • — China and Japan. Africa still remained as it is at our own day— the waste place in the earth, through the wilds of which only a few tracks have been made here and there. lint far dilTii'ent was it with America. Into the hear! oj' that eoiitinent the daring adventurers were even more eaoi'r to penetrate than tlipy had been to skirt its wooded shores. Mveli Columlnis was seized with the prevailing elithuaiasm for inland cx[iloiatioii. It was believed to be a part of Lidia — a name then syiioiiymous with all that was wealthy and inarvellous ; it was even believed that in the interior — in the high uplands — might be found the (iarden of Julen — the site of the long-lust Paradise. I'll Dorados were in every man's mind; universal enthusiasm pre.-iiled, wild excitement permeated all classes of I'luropean soeicly : and if the eagerness to be rich were not sullieienl to teniiit the adventurous seamen that liuno' about all the seaports '.>f JMiro]ie, the stimulus of religious /.cal was called in to aid. The davs of tln' Crusaders vere jiasl, but the crusailiiii!' sjiiril slill remained. l\' there were 'lo Holy Sepulchre to 8 'I'lIE COUXTKIES Ol'' TlIK WOULD. rescue from the infidel, there were at least swarmin<:f millions of swarthy Indians to hn proselytised into the hosom of Mother ("liiireh. Once let them ho s])rinkled with water, and a tin cross hung round their necks, and the f^'ood men nn;;ht be at ease refjardinff the souls of the " salvaLfes ; " and expect their reward for tlie good works done in the flesh, if not in this world in the shape of gold, silver, and pearls, plundered hy the warriors in whose train they followed, at least in a world where tliore was no more fighting — no more marching and counter-marching. In all the annals of the most ruthless of victors, there is nothing to conijiiav with the atrocity of the Spanish conquerors of the new world, some facts in regard to which we have had occasion to touch upon in another work, with which the readers of tliese jiages may perhaps have made acipiaiutance.* "The Sjianiards j!ut out the eyes of the New World," are the words of the lively writer,! on whose facts we have greatly drawn in the foregoing pages. "The enii)ires of IVru and Mexico fell — their civilisation disappeared and was forgotten — the very races of the continent have almost died out beneath the cruelty and maladministration of their concpu-rors. Wo remember reading an account of the discovery of an ancient Etrurian .sei)ulchre, wherein a figin-e was scon sitting, attired in the strange regality of a remote jiast ; everything was i)crfett as life; but no sooner did the discoverers too rashly enter, than the figure and the throne, and stately adjuncts, suddenly crundded into dust, leaving al»solutely nothing liehind by which a conce])fion of the strange vision could be preserved. Even so it fared with the old royalties and civilisations of America." Then followed the voyages of Juan do Eaca as far north as California — mythical though some have been inclined to look upon the old Greek ])ilot; I?ehring, the Dane, still further north to the straits which bear his name; Deschneff, the Don Cossack, and others who explored the Arctic shores of Sib(>ria ; Harentz and V'illoughby, who, in their search Cor a north-east ]>assago to India, reached Novai Zemlai ; '?afiin and Hudson, who cx])l(ired the icy seas or straits which bear their names; and man;, iiore of whose voyages we may have an o]iportunify in the due place and time of s])c;iki;\-: Tasman, La IVrouse, Cook, and ^"ancouver, discovered and named a tliousand isles lying the " watery solitudes of the Pacific J " Ilumluddt and Bonpland were making more brilliant scientific discoveries in South America, which are so inseparably connected with their names; while in a difTorcnt direction on land, I'ark, Clapperton, Bruce, and other brave men were cxidoring the pestihmt rivers of Africa. !Moni;i!x Discovery. In modern limes, if we have not such an unknown world to conquer as had our falhens, what yet remains has been, and is being, vanquished with a courage, skill, and enterprise worthy of theirs. In the long list of ex]>lorers of the frozen seas and lands of the Xortli, we have no names which can be pronounced with more respect than those of Erauklin, Ross, Parry ; not to nientinii many others of our own time, whose deeds are scarcely overshadowed by those of their juvdecessors in the same field. In African enterprise we have, within so short a < ■ 'I'liL' Kiici'd nf Mimkina." Vi.l. I., p. 2f!7. t " Hlaekwooil'B MaRaxiin, ' 18(!;i. THE roUR ailtAT MODERN KXI'I.OREILS. 10 THE COrNTRIES OF THE WOULD. space as the last twenty years, shot far ahead of all the preceding centuries. Need I mention the brilliant discoveries of Livingstone, Speke, and Grant, Burton, Baker, Nachtigall, Rolf, Schwcinfurth, Cameron, and others, in supjMrt of this assertion ? In Central Asia our explorers have been equally busy, though, owing to a conjunction of circumstances, scarcely ?o suc- cessful as in the exploration of Africa. But how much have we known of Asia since the readers of tiicse pages, still in the prime of life, were boys at school ? Vambery, in the disguise of a dervish. Colonel Montgomery's many " Pundits," and other native scientilie spies, as well as the explorations of the Russian military and scientific commissions, have added, and are daily adding, to our knowledge of what was once one of the least-known parts of the world. Australia and New Zealand, hardly known to our forefathers, except as the " Bf)tany Bay " country to which we deputed the oft-scourings unfit for Britain, where whalers and sealers touched, or as lands of which they had vague recollections of reading in the narratives of Cook or Flinders, are now great colonies, the settlement and exploration of which form a long chapter in the history of geography, and of the British Empire. In America, the Pacific railway now runs over the once solitary prairies, and cities arc built, or are building, on spots where, not very many years since, the writer of these lines lived for many weeks, encamped in a cotton tent, unvisited by any human being save a solitary wandering Indian hunter or trapper. The sea is being explored as eagerly, and even more scientifically, than the land ; and the voyages of the Porcupine, Tumirora, or Challenger, will in future rank with the greatest of the expeditions which have mapped the burning wastes of Africa, or the chilly steppes of high .\sia. Where, scarcely a generation ago, we had only the first rude sketch of the explorer — who could often spare but ill his hands from the rifle to the sextant — the minute accuracy of the trigonometrical survey is in progress. In a few years, for cxam])le, the great jungles, rich plains, and even the mountain ranges of India, to their very confines of Thibet, will be laid down on our maps by this unerring method of cliartography. Atlases are multiplying, but their number is only equalled by their accuracy. For sixixjiice may bo had a series of maps such as 5Iereator could not havi drawn, and emlxxlying more information than Ptolemy and all his successors for hundreds of ears wore in possession of. War, which, to almost every well-constituted being is an unmitigatetl misery, and ■• ible of advancing scarcely any branch of knowledge worthy of the cultivation, is to the geogra))lun''s science a ga'n. The arant-courier of every army is a map; and though a conqueror may level cities and e.Tace the monuments which time has spared, the next atlas will lie assuredly more correct than the one which preceded the march of his battalions. A new map is almost as essential to the close of a war as a congress of plenipotentiaries, for the issue of it is sure to be a re-arrangement of the pieces on the chess-board — a "rectification" of the Iwundaries of countries — an interchange of nationalities, cities, and provinces. We all know how the war which lasted from 1791 to 1815 altered the colours on the map of JIurope, which express tlie Ixjundaries of the different countries. Indeed, during the continuance of the Naptilconic wars, almost every new year called for a new map. " The boundaries of states flickered to and fro ; new kingdoms or republics appearwl or disappeared ; old states were disrupted and transformed; statesmen became chartographers ; and finally a diplomatic conclave at Vienno, if nan mis THE UNKNOWN OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 11 ■S'i of aftor much wrangling, issued a new and would-be stereotyped edition of the map of Europe, which lasted quite as long as could have been expected. Map-making was not verj* quick- handed in those days ; but still it laboured away, and toiled after the ' Orand Armies ' in their evev-shil'ting field of operations. Hattles have no respect for existing copyrights ; humble villages or streamlets, unheai-d of before, will sometimes connect their namos with events decisive of the fortunes of a continent, and thereafter must appear in every atlas that would keep its place in the market. What endless issues of maps there were during the short war in tlie Crimea, until every hamlet and foot-road in that half-descrttnl and very unimportant corner of the world liecamc as well known to us as if it had been an English county." The same wiis true of the Abyssinian war, when maps of a region little known even to geographers, poured from the litliograi)hic presses with astonisliing rajjidity and profusion. No sooner was the little war in Ashantee announced as imminent, than maps of the Gold Coast, superior in detail and accuracy to anything which had gone before, appeared in every shop-window, and in almost every illustratetl paper; and no matter to what part of the world notice is likely to be atti-acted, a map of that region is about as certain to follow as are the descriptive letters of "our special correspondent." Man in his migrations over the world alters its physical geography, and transfers the protluets of one land to another. In America and in many of our colonies he has caused the sugar-cane and maize — the wheat of the Indian — to grow in room of pines and primeval forests. Sheep and oxen have taken the place of the Iwar, the beaver, or the buffalo; while in more tropical renjions the lion, the tiger, and the elephant have been comiielled to give place to animals more useful, or more subject to the control of the new lords, who have- asserted their reign over what were once the haunts of these kings of the forest. The Unknown of the Nineteenth Century. Not a year but is adding to our knowledge of the world. The great regions may now be known in all their broad details, though none are known with that accuracy which is essential for (he purposes of the'geographer. Still, the cxploi-er need not sit down and weep because there are no more worlds to conquer. There are two and a half millions of square miles around the Pole, of which we know nothing; while there are few parts of the Arctic regions as a whole, Greenland excepted, with which our acquaintance is anything like accurate. Of even the interior of Greenland, a country known and partially settled by Europeans for more than 900 years, we are yet entirely ignorant of anything very tangible. The Antiirctic regions are as yet almost a terra incognita, and are likely long to so remain. The interior of Australia yet remains to be fully exjilored ; while in regard to much of Thibet we are wholly ignorant. Even Central America, circumscribed as is the region for exploration, cannot be said to have yet yielde<l up its secrets to the many adventurers who have penetr.itetl its forests and savannahs. Yet, with all the advances of modern exi)loration and research, in spite of the atlases, maps, works of travel, and geographical text-books, the name of which is legion, there is no science of which otherwise educated Englishmen — and I might have said all Europeans — are so ignorant. We may laugh at the English ambassador at the Court of Rome in Vil'i — when r" 12 THE COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD. Pope Clement VI. had presented the Canaries, or Fortunate Isles, to the Count ae Clermont — leaving the Papal Court in alarm, and hastening home to acquaint his king that the Pope hiul given away his dominions, fancying that there could be no other '• fortunate isles " except those of Britain. But there remains the modern counterpart to it, of the English Colonial Minister who, on receiving a petition to establish mail fom- iriunication between Australia and Van Diemens Land, suggested, in crass ignorance of the breadth of Bass's Strait, which looked so narrow on his oliice-wall map, the desirability of throwing a bridge over it ! Colonial Ministers, learned in all the learning of Greece and Rome, not unfrequently display to a "listening Senate" that they do not know how many colonies there are in Australia, that there are no tigers in Vancouver Island, or that they are not aware MOUNT HEKV, THE EAnXH, AND THE INFRKNAL KEniON^, CAllUIED IIY THE TOKTOUB. {AJUr an original Design hij a Urahmin.*) that the zoology of a country does not exactly mean the description of its rocks and coal mines. M. de Plenis, in the preface to " New Geography," printetl at Amsterdam in the ycTr 1700, makes also exceedingly merry at the expense of some of his own countrymen who, when they heard of the war about the Potif Eiij-iiie, wondered that one or other of the contending parties had not broken it down — fancying that it was a bridge. Again, when some Frenchmen — a nation, if possible, more generally ignorant of geography than the English — heard of the Morea, they took it to bo the country of the Moors, and imagined that Genoa and Lucca were rich Italian ladies. He mentions some others who ■wrote of ships sailing from the Caspian to the Euxine Sea, all the time in unblissful ignorance that these seas had no commun'-ation with each other, or that indeed there is a chain of mountains between them. Whei. ' Gulliver's Travels " was published most people • Accoruing to the Hindoo belief, the tortoise in the sjiiibol of foroe and creative power. It here rests on the prt'at serpent, the enililem of eternity. The three world.s are : — Ist. The upper region, the residence of the gods- 2n(l. The intirmediiite rrf^Hon, the earth. 3rd. The lower, or infernal region. At the summit of SFount Mora, which is supposed to cover and unite the three worlds, the triangle, the symbol of creation, may bo seen gleaming. Y. v. •Jl 'A o ■% •-> -ia y. '■1 < o c 9 3 93 u H O OKNEUAL K}^'OU;V^'C'K OF UKCJUUAl'Jiy. 18 w 3 s- sni)i)osc(l Iia]iiitii and [^illiput were real cnuntries ; and when tlu" war Itrokc out lietwecn tlic Nortliern and Smithi'rn States, niiiiiy ]H'ii]ile t'nr a time believed that Xnrth and Sciuth America had lieeome hostile to each other. Wliy the j^reafest cummereial nation in the world — the one that has an evor-increasinj; chain of !,'rcat colonies circling the (.ilobe, and which has done more for jjeof.jrai>hieal eNjiloration than any other — should as a rule be, in the jiersons of the majority of its individual components, so ijjnorant of the lirst elements of the science, it is dillieult to comprehend. That such is the case there can, however, be little doubt. Possibly the way geo^'raphy is tau<;'ht in some schools, or the toial absence of its teaihini,' in others, may be the cause of this deficiency in the education of otherwise intelligent and well-inl'ornied people — added t<j the condensed eneyelopiedian character of the text- O o 3 < SYMIIOLICAL HErUESEXTATION OF THE EAUTIl, ACCOUDIXO TO THE EOYrTIAN". O bonks generally in use. Tliese books, in most cases, by endeavouring' to cram the greatest possible amount of hard, uninteresting, and fre(|nently unimportant detail in the smallest dimensions, when mo.st of these particulars can be far better presented to the eye in a graphic form by a glance at a map, have succeeded most dismally in rendering a science which eoidd be as enterUiining as a well-written work of travel — and indeed is nothing else than a rexiniifi of travel — about as interesting as a treatise " On the use of the (Jlobes," and as vahiable as the catalogue of a stamp collector's album. There is no reason why the science of geography should not be made interesting. It would be presumptuous to claim that in the volumes to which these lines form at once the preface and introduction this will be done. But at lea.st we will endeavour — with the aid of friends and fellow-travellers in many jiarts of the world — to. give the essence and main facts which modern exploration has brought to light regiirding the globe we live in, without wearying the reader with a multi])licity of uselessly mimite detail ; and before we have gone "around the world," to show, in the words of Burke, that " Geography is an earthly subject, but a heavenly science." 14 the; couN'rui£.s of tiu: avuiiu). ,*««S^S25%. ^■E«^™^»*^ The Lanouaoe of Geogkaphy. A map is, as every one knows, a portraiture of the figiire of a eountrj' on a flat surface, on which the rivers, mountains, lakes, cities, and other geographical peculiarities of the region are liiid down, accoi-ding to certain well-understood, though more or less arbitrary, signs ; while the term charf, though exactly the same thing, is in English generully reserval for a map of the coasts of a country and of the sea-bottom — on a scale minute cnougli to bo uscfid for the purposes of the navigator. The earth is, however, in shape more or less globular, though not exactly round. The familiar simile that it is like an orange, nitlier flattened at either end, or Pole, is near enough for our purpose. The surface of this globe, being depressed in some places by deep valleys and river-courses, and in other places heightened by lofty mountain-ranges, cannot have the same diameter throughout. It is, however, rather broader than it is long. In other words, a line drawn from the southern end, or Pole, to the northern end, or Pole, would have an average length, taking one place with another, of 7,899'1 miles; while the mean Equatorial diameter, or its breadth, ascer- tained in the same manner, at the point exactly between the Northern and Southern Polos., in the line of the Efjuator, would be more, viz., 7,925'0 miles j the mean or average diameter Ttwing thus .iljoiit 7,015 miles. The earth contains a mass of 259,S01 millions of cubic miles. It is generally believed that the centre of this great mass is in a fluid condition, and that what geologists call the crust of the earth is only a solid rind on the outside, a very few miles in thickness. By those persons who follow the theory founded on the well-known fact that the earth increases gradually in warmth the deeper we penetrate into it, the lava vomited out o£ — 1.< I'^un lioni tlie TIIK l,ANOUAOE OF OKCXiUAl'UV. 15 volcanoes is pointed out uu one of the many proofs of tlie justice of the view. On the other hand, tlic correctness of tlio tiicory is doubted by some, wliose opinion is entithnl to considerable weijjht, who urguo that there uro only cavities containing' liquid matter, heiv and there, throughout the outer limits of the whole solid mass, lie this as it may, it is a p(jint into which, in a Iwok of this nature, it is hardly worth in(|uiring too closely, since the ground for holding either belief is about ecjually im|)erfect : the rotundity of the globe is universally acknowledged; it follows, therefore, that any maj) on the usual Hat surface can only imperfectly express the shaix: and relative size of the countries; and that it is only maps drawn on a globe tiiat can at all represent the mountains truly. Circling a globe, or drawn across a map, are certain jvirallel lines, callwl the lines of Itttiliiile — these lines being north and south of the J'^piator, and Ijoing calculated in degrees, minutes, and seconds. Again, riuming from north to south, and converging at both I'oles, are the lines of loiigitiule. Hence, in talking of any place, we say that it is, for instance, latitude IS° 15' 5" north — that is, forty-eight degrees, fifteen minutes, live seiionds north of the Kquator. If the place lay south f)f the Kquator, we should in like n)anncr describe the place as in south Iatit\ide. In describing the longitude of the place, we say that it is east or west, though we have no settled point from which we calculate east or west, every nation selecting their own Jird Meridian, or point from which they calculate. In English maps and globes the first meridian is a line supjiosed to jiass from Pole to Pole through the Koyal Obscn-atory at Greenwich; hence we talk of any place hu\ing a longitude east or west of Greenwich, (irecnwich is now being adoptetl by many otiier countries as a " first meridian;" and will, no doubt, be in time nniversally ado])ted as such. At the Poles there is, of course, no longitude, and the more we approach to the south nr north, the nearer are the lines of longitude to each other. The figures expressing the degrees of longitude are printed on the top of the maji, while those of latitude are at the sides. When the figures increase from left to right, the longitude is east; but when they increase from right to left, the longitude is west. In addition to the lines of latitude and longitude, there are others engraved on a ma]), or globe. These are the I'>juat<>r or Equinoctial Line, the Ecliptic, and four smaller ones — the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, and the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. The Ecjuator we have already sjwkcn about as a circle equally distant from the Poles, and which aceonlingly divides the earth in the northern and southern hcniispheres. The Ecliptic is a circle which cuts the Equator oblicjuely at two opposite points, and represents the sun's path in the heavens. The two Triii)ic^ are situatetl jjarallel to the l](iuator, at about 'l'^\ degrees from it. The northern one is the Trnjiic of (.\iiicer, the siiutliern the Tropic of Capricorn, because Ihey touch the Ecliptic at the beginning of these astronomical signs. In the same way the Polar Circles are situated i^J degri'cs from the Poles, and are dcnomiiiated the Arctic and Jutarctic Circ/i->!, in respectively the northern and southern hemispheres. I^and and water ars not equally distributed over the world. The eastern hemisphere — /.(■., all the world lying o.i.st of the mei-idian of Greenwich — contains the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, in addition to many large islands ; while the western licmis])iiere has only Greenland, America, and a few small islands. About seven-tenths of the surface of the earth are comi)osed of water, and about three-tenths of land ; in other ■|>; 18 THE (urNTltlKS OF TIIK WoHI.D. words. aliDiit 5l,'2.")0,(MIO siniaro iiiilcs aiv land, and 1 l."),(;ii(),(M)() arc water, yiviiiy to i\\- ijlolio ll)(>,^.ji),(l()(l sniiaro iiiilos ul' ai'cji. Al^iuil suvi'ii-twi'll'tlis ni' tlu' watci' aic' in tlio buiilliciii liuniis|)li('r(', and livi'-twcllllis in tiic niu'tliern. Tin' same cniincjit niatlictnalician and iili}>i('al tfiMitfraiilicr — Dr. .lanicx Uryic — I'roni wliusc faicnIatiDn.s tiii'so liyuro liavc iiucn du'rivud, aino pciinis lint lliat in tlio Old \\'iii'lil tlic lanil cvlonds in an nnin'oken mass nvi'i' ainiust the untirc lii'cailtii ui lliu oustcrn lii'misjiluTo, Itnt tiiat tiiu vast jirii|iui'tiiin id' tlu' mass is on tiiu niii'tli III' till' Miiuatiir. In tlic .New Wnild, III! tliL' otlicr iiand, tliu land is di'Vi'liiju'd aJony; an axi> cnnniny nearly noilli and siiMlli, nmro than Iwo-tliiids ol' the cii-cnml'crt.'nit.'. This lenjjrtli is doturmincd \ty u vant chain, thu ninst continnoiKily I'lcvati'tl in the f;iol)i', cxtenilini;' I'l'om .")<!'' S. to 71^ N., (.'lose to one sido o( tliu liontincnt ; while the jjreat Invadth ol' the continent in Hra/.il, the I'nited States, Canada, and l,al)i'ailiii', is de]iend('nt uiion H;i'eat l)nt nnieh less elevated ranges, having' a ;^eneral jiarallelism tu tiie sea-enasl on that side. In the Old World, the develoji- mont depends upon tiie direi'tion ni' a i^reat axis of elevation, wliieli stretches, with little internipliiiii, Init with eonsiderahie undnlatiolis, I'r^'m the west of Spain tn the .Sea ol' Okhotsk, and to lk'lirini>' Strait, on opjiosite sides ol which the cliaiM~ ol the two continents are hroiiM-ht into dose connection. Tiijj;ellicr these I'orni a va>t girdle, encircling' the ['acilic ami Indian Oceans, surronndiny' the .Mediterranean — lor the .Vtlas is part ol' the system— and undillfjf aliniptly towards the oecnns. The ileelinin;;' slo|ies arc direcled lowaiils the interior of the continents. Africa and Australia have a strnctnrc difl'erent from tiiat of the otiier continents; they have elevated hordcis and an interior comi)aratively low and level, except in some disconnected tracts. Of the Antarctic continent we only know that it has an ice-bonnd coast, with lofty vidcanic |ii,'aks in tlio interior. In due time we shall have occasion to travel with Wilkes and Uoss in the direction of that mysterious frozen land suri'onndino- the South Pole. The mean or averaj^'e elevations of tiie different ijreat re^'iolis of the world have iiceii calculated as follows : — l'airope,(i71 feet; North America, TS I feet; South Amcriiii, 1 , 1 •'};! f cct ; Asia, l,|.")7 feet, above the sea-level — i.f., if all parts of each region were smoothed down to an equal level. There are other terms whic'i, we shall have occasion to use, hnt which are sfi familiarly known that we need only refer to them. Tlicse are — a ron/ii/cn/, or larye tract of land; an iis/diid, or land surrounded liy water; a /irdini'idiirii nx ni/i-jA more or less elong'ated portion of land rnmiino' into the sea ; a /iriiiiiKn/a, or land almost surrounded liy water ; and an isl/unii-i, or narrow neck of land joining two portions of land to;;('tlicr. I'hi' words mciiii, ■•"•n, (iiki\ ^"^j tl"if> "1*1 tii'iiil reipure no explanation. These are ]iarts of the common stock of lan- f^iiafj^e, and, thoiii>h orij^'inally used by iico^^rniphers only, cannot now be dassinl among technical ex]iressions. Others more local and less known will be explaiiieil as we proieed on our travels. Those arc dry details, which we sluill no doubt be told are " familiar to every si'hoolboy." Hut that omniscient youth is credited with so many and varied deparlmeuts of knowledge which are but faintly present in the memories of those much older, that it may peiha])s !>e well to jireface the more interesting jiarts of our volumes with what, if it cannot claim Uie merit of being readable, cannot be denied that of utility. are advc lllos AVe belli do M of w loucl Ijiikr Fox ■f^.;''. Tin; Aurnc utuioNs. AN AU^TIv; 8CI..N'E. I 111 iiirly 1; 111! irlinii III III Id, lake, ,f hlll- ■liliiciil iivc'ls. 15iit rriAPTKU II. Till-; AiiiTU Ui:iii(i\s ix (ii:\Kiivr., AVk must coniniciK'i' our journey soincwlici-i' ; iinii tlimiffli tlit.' iiiliosiiitalile roffions of tlio Xorfli lire f,'('iiuriilly tlic |iiirt ol' tlu; world lust iviiclicil liy a tnivclli'r tlio most cosino]iolitiiii and ailvciitiiroiis — it' he cxtiMids his waiidcriiiox so I'm- u-lii.'ld — yet for that very reason wn liiid it most eoiiveiiielil to iiiiike these renioti' oolslsirls of ereatioli thi' starlino'-]ioiiil of our voyayilios. A\ o shiill see iiiiiny lands rieher, fairer, and even more iuleivstiuL;' ; hut we slu'.ll he in u hetter positioll to eoin|iare llio exilheraiiee of tro]iieiil lil'e with (hut I v fiiniiliar to Us, if we do imt iiluno-e all at oiiee into (he eiiualorial forests, or weary the reader with a twice-told tale of what is already daily hefore his eyes in the teinjieiiite ])arts of the world. 'I'lie Mco^i-aplier styles all i>arts of the wiu'ld north of latitude (Ki" '-W the .\retie or Frozen iieo-ions, and the imaoiuary lino drawn on tlio map of the world at this distance from the Norlli I'ole, the Aretie Circle. Take North Anieriea, for examjilo : this line in its eireiiit touehos on the Hehrinjj;' Strait side, Ifotham Inlet ami the northern portion of the (ircat Hear Lake, in the middli! portion of its circuit across the continent; while it sweeps across the I'ox Channel, and the middle of J)avis Strait, dividintf (ireenlaiid, as at present known, into 18 rill, iiUMUIKS OV TIIK WdUl.l). aljoiit c'tiual liiilvi's, mill li;nrly inrn'iiM'jiiM', jis it reai'lios the IliirnjM'iiii suiis, tlio uoi'tlici'ii pirtion ol' that ii'i.s-iKiiULHl i-laiid n\' Ii-i'IuihI, so c'alk'd on iho i)riiR'iijlL' ul' A/'.7^v d nuii lic'nuhj — liii'ht IVdiii imt sliiiiiiit^'— l!n' lauil (iL' ici.', liei.auso tht'i'i,' is no ic-o on it.s shoiv, except that wiiieii iidw and ih.'n drills I'roni (iiv'eidaiicl. In ICiirojio it leaves a largv part of Xorway and most of Lapland to the nnrtji ol' il, while nearly all the g'l'eat Russian rivers which have a northern outlet ai'e, IVdiu a eniisiderahle di>tauee oL' their lower reaches, also within tlie charMii'd circle. iSiljeria, in pii|iulai' opinion, is tiiroiig'hout suliieienlly Arctic; yet we nui>t reincinher that it is only a part of Siheria wliieh is within the Arctic rcLfions oi' i;eni;ra|)h'.rs, whatever il may he in ordinary parlance ; and the wlade pc:;iiisiila of Kanisehatka, dreary as it may he, lies without the line whi<h is supposed ti> iliviile tlio l''rozen I'roni tlu' 'i'eniperale Zone. It thus appears that no little portion ol' the possessions of Russia, (ireat liritain, the I nited .States, i>cinnark, Xoruay and Sweden, heloiiL;- to tliut region which few '/an mention without an involuntary shudder — the dreaded yet mysteriously attractive Arctic re;^ion. I'oimlar impressions are often far from iliu truth, and in regard to the Aretic regions they are uniloubtcdly so. A treeless land would be, in the ojiinion of most people, the idea which Would sugg<'st itself in regard to the regions in ((uestion. Vet this, though true, is not all the truth. A\ ithiu the .\rcti ■ Circle an' I'ouiid trees, often forming considerable though stunted I'orcsts. In Jlasti'rn Siberia pines and other trees come down almost to the water's edge; while "over all M'estcrn Silieria, .Vretic Russia, and Laidand, the tree-limit runs within the Arctic Circle; trci's I'xtcnd evi'U to the North Cape. In (ireeuland we lind, even in the nuist soutlierly jiarts of it, no herbage more worthy of the name of tree than the stunted birch, which in liie more sheltered valleys of that country — (Mpially ina|ipi'opriately named with Iceland- attain the proportion of little shrubs; and it is not until we eonie to the nulder latitudes of the I'acilie that the free-line, wliieh had described a southerly eiu've in the cold regions of Ccud'al North America, again rises to the north, and until we reach the shores ofBehriuu' Strait wc' liud nothing which wc can dignify by the name of trees. Nor iioisl we >u|ipose that even for a considerable distance outside of the Arctic Circle is the country less worthy of the name of Ihe l''ro/.eii liands than inside of it. 'I'he southern point of (ireeuland is in about the same latitude as Ca|ie Wrath in Scotland, yet it is sullicieutly fl'o/cu to coui|)are with laiuls lying far within the .\rclic Circle. 'I'he same may i>e said of Hudson Straits, oil tin; shores of which IvsUinio live, and of many other parts which, ge<igri- pliicall\-, lie within the limits of I'ldar lauds, liatitude or the distance um-lli has little to do with cold. The extreme of cold, il is generally believed, will not be bjimd at the Xoi'th any more than at the South I'ole ; but in about latitude 711" •'/ 1?" X., longitude IKl" l(i' I.V west. Ill tbi^ >]iol will be loiiiid in all probability not only the extrcnii' of cold, but il is also reiiiaikalile in so jiir a> il eoiistitiitcs the " magiietii; pole," or jioiiit to which the eom|iass ]ioints ; lor, as till' reader doubtless knows, the needle does not |ioint due north. This interesting spot ■was discovi'red by Sir .lames (then Commander) Ross, a famous .\rclic and .Vntarelie navigator, whose name w<' may yet have occasion to mention in eoe.neelion with Ihe exiiloi-ation of these Iro/.en coulines of the earth. When he suspended horizontal needles in the most delicate manner possible, they showed not the slightest tendency to move in this locality. Th(jugli Nature had here jilaeed the home of one of her secrets, the locality was indicated by nothing remarkable. There was merely a low llat coast, rising about a mile, inlaid with ridges lil'ty m TIIK AKC'I'IC WiiOllI.ANDfl. 19 or sixtv fcot liiy'li. Bcyoml this, no iiKniunirnt dunotes tlio spot wliicli Nrttnro '• lui.- cUdsL'ii ;is ilic iTiiti'c lit' dill' oi' licr g\v»{ ;in(l iliirk [inwors." XcitliiT ilocs tlic jji-i'Mti'sl ;uni)iiiit III' .snow liill witliiii llic Arctic Circle. 'I'likiiii; (rrccii- lii:iil I'nr cxiinii'lc: tliii\|n>li the iiiii(mi\t cii' snow is in the winter cun-idcrahle, nml is hin:;ci' in I'leiiriii^' ;iw,iy rie;ir tlie coast thiiii I'in'ther .south, yet north of (()" the ([Uinility whicli |:ills is less tlnin it is outside of the .Vrctie Circle. The Arctic roo'ions are also liy no means the reifioMs or' irrealest eoM. It is even l)(>lieveil — we confess not without some ".rounds worthy of attention — hy some o'eoo'rajihers that around the Pcde we shall lind a coni- liaralively oimmi sea, or at least one not so nearly choked hy ice as inii;hl he cN]iecte(l Iron' the hiij-h north latitude. The waters are I'rnxen, hocause, so far as we yet know, the ;;'reati'r |inrliou of tiie norlhcrn parts of the nlohi: is occupied hy the " Arctic Ocean ;" hut the cold is so intense in the heart of Asia :,nd of .Vmcrica, that doulitless, if s<'a existed in such places, it would he also fro/en. The truth is, the Arctic Circle, thouo'h unfortunately adopted hy some jihysical ij^'eoorajihers as the Hiuthern limit of the Arctic rciiioii, is ni reality in no way a physical houiulary of the regions of ice ami snow from th(> r(><;ions where the cliniat(^ is more ti'mpcrafe. It is one of the lines wliicli the astronomers have f.puud it m'c(>ssary to draw on the i;iolii' for their own convenience, and merely expresses, to use their language, a circle drawn rouml the northern end of the earth, at a distaitce from the I'idi; etpial to the oliliipiitv of the Mclijilie — or the sun's apparent yearly jiatli among ||u' stars from west to east. For the purposes of the physical, as distinguislied I'nun the astroni>mica!, L;'i'oo.raplici', perhaps the ti -limit would liav<' liecu the hcst Arcli<' Cii'de; hut it is really impossihle (o coiiline vague cdimate and climatic inllucuce- wit'.. in any hard and fast line; and, accortlingly, the Arctic Circle of uon-astroiiomical people nnist he like a •• uiovahle feast " — not very settled. Fortunati'ly. it is an easier task to ui\i' a genei.;! idea of the a]i]iearance of .\rctic lands. They may he conveniently divided into tlu'ce gi-eal clivi.-ioiis — the wooded counli'y, the inouiitainous country or highlaiuls, and the low mossy lowlands. Tin; Aiicric Woodlanos. The wooded coimtry we haxc alre:idv sp(d;en of is coiiliucd entirely to some portions of ."^dicria, Hussia, and l.a|ilaiiil, anil lo \i.i-lh-l!a>lcrn Anici'ica. douii the shore of lidn-iui;' Strait. The Woodril h.ink- of llie N ukcn touch the .\rit ic Cinle. and i'.irc-ts of while spiMice are fouml mi the Xo.atak. a ii\cr which falls into l-^schschollz May. wliiili iid'riuues on the \rctic Cinle. In f.apland the spruce ceases at ahoul the iJstli parallel, and the Seofeh lir at the li'.Uh ; hut in .Norway, owing jirohahly to tin' ]iresenee of the warm (lulf Stream which sweeps aloui;' the coast and into the Arctic' Sea — at least as hir east as Xovai /einlai - we tiud forests oi' Scotdi lirs sixty I'cet in height as far north as .Mleiirjord, and hinhes ahout forty-live feet high in au eipially imrthei'U latitude. In latitude 'i>i-' -.l^ the hirdy Scotch lir still nialulaiiis its groimd, though the spruce fails a deei'ee or so fm'ther -"Uth. In the vicinity of llammerfest, a well-known Lapliind town, ia latitude ;n,'^' N., there are dwarf alders and asjiens, hud cherries, ras|is. and currants. In the Scandinavian Peninsuin, ]ii'ohahly also owing to the warmth which a sea uncneumhered, and in addition laved hy ,'i current of a higher teuijierature, affords, hurley is i ultivi'.ted a> far north as 2(1 'IllK (iirNTIilKS (IK 'IIIK WdKI.I). llio 7llth iiMrallcl, llic liilitudc nl' Disco hhud, uii tlic Oivcnliiml ooasl, iiiul oats up to till' (i.'ttli, '• in sliciloi'i'il valleys, wlicru rocks anil dill's ivlli'i-t tlio sun's rays willi iiiufh power " ;l!ieliarilson). Couiiiare this willi the Mr/,i /H';,;/iii/-i of sloiit olil .Mai'tiii ]''i-ohislier, \\K\v known as Cunihei-laml (iuiT, hut until e paratively iwuntly unknown as they were in the time of (ireat (iueen Bess's knii;ht. In this loeality, which lies i'ar south of the Arctic Cir.'le, inlaml j^'laciers and hleak mossy islands, at hot ciivcrcd (Un-ing the short summer with dwarf crcepiug hirch and cranberry, and iluriny the louy winter with vniv or Noiu^ovK. iii-.i o i^i.wu, ni»kth tiuriM.vsn. (i a t)]anket of sunw. tru' sea lieiny frozen all around, I'orni the lileak scene of desolation whicli meets the eye, all iiiiinlinj;- out that latitude, apart Crom otlier circuinslances, lias hut little to do with 1 limate. In the valley oC the ^[acken/ie. Sir John liichardson tells us that the spi'iiee lir is the most northern tri'c that forms a forest, veaehinj;- to a nmch hiyher latituih^ than the pines — • i'ontri,.y to what occurs in Norway, where the jiincs are the most northern. "In latitude (is-^ ,").")' X. ihe trees, which up to this parallel cover the immediate hanks of the river and the i>lands of the delta, terminate siuhlenly in an even line, ]iriihahly cut idl' hy the sea-hlasts. IJeyouil this line a few stuntiil spruces and scruhhy cauoc-liirches stray^'le up the acclivities, stru^>'j;'lin!^ for oxistence,, and clinL,''iiii,'' !o the earth. The forest is formed iiy the spruces, hut among these there are many cam u Mrches, of nuich slenderer yrowth, Hunso\ REGION ■■•f'l""," £.».Ar„. )•'""'''' JIAP OF TIIK NORTH I'dl.AIl HEdlOXS. n TlIK lUl'XTUIKS OF THK WORLP. tliL'ir steins not I'xci'oding' llvo inches in ilianietcr." Tlio lialsnni jinplav — c)]- as i1 is sfmiolinios, thoiiyli t'lToncoiislv, called, llii"iT)tton-\v(iii(l — (Populiifi lHi/.iiiw//i-r'i),M\d a species ol' aldei' {Allium viriilit), jji'dw 111 tile lieiylit dl' Uventy I'eet, and a willow (Sd/i.r .yiccioKu) to that ol' twelve feet near the terniiuiition ol' the woods. ^lost of the hills skii'ting' the river in these latitudes are hare, a lew scatten'd trees heinf; the only trace of the forests which, I'nrther to the west, are I'ouiul in an e(iual northern [losition. Pines are here more chary of the cold than in North-eastern Jviroix', the JJanksian j)ine (I'lniit liiinkxii) not reachinj^' within the Arctic Circle, and I'hiii-s rrtii/ofni lindint;' its northern limit in latitude ."Jl" — a lower latitude than that of Alierdeen, in Scotland — here again demonstrating the eifect of threat land masses, inde]iendent of northerly locality, on the t(>mi>eratnre of a country. Jn Ameiica no wheat has ever hecn raised within six deg'rees of the Arctic Circle, while at Ilannncri'est, in Lajjland, a few cars of rye have heen raised now and then as a curiosity, thonyh they have rarely if ever fully ripened. Radishes, turn-ps, lettuces, and parsley jilants have been reaivd ; and we shall see hy-and-hy that radishes grow toh'iahly well in the same latitude in Greenland. At Fort Good Hope, on the ^Facken/.ie (in latitude (5('>.|°), a few turnips and radishes, and other culinary veu'et.ihle-i, can lie i^-ro rn in a sheltered corner which receives the rellectioii of the sun's rays fiMiii the walls of the house; and on Peel's River, rather more than a deyree further north, all attempts to raise esculent vei^'elahles have failed. \ few cresses made an attemjit to attain souicthing like jierfeetiou in a climate even too nnconoenial for this humlile plant. Turnips and caliliag'cs <'ame up ahout an inch ahove the f^'round, Imt, we are told by Sir John llichardsuii, withereil in the sun, and were bliohted by the carl\ Auffust frosts. Dreary enough, at best, are these stunted forests, even when in all their summer gaiety — the sej)ulcliral mossy hanoin^s of lichen and moss K'iv'"n' them a weird, de]iressino' as]iect ; but doubly so are they (luriiii;' the winter, when the swamjiy soil in which the trees "row is frozen hard, and lovered with coiij^ealed snow, which elinj^'s to the feathery branches, or depends from them in jayyed icicles, when the retirin"' sun bej^ins to alternately melt and freeze the lleecy coveriuLj which has for so lony shrouded the landscape in white. The trees freeze "to their very centres," and are not thawed till the end ol' .^^arch or the bei^inning of April. J>ut it matters little; for it is not until rather late in the summer that the sa]> can ascend, there bcino' no moisture in the soil which is not frozen. In many jilaeis the lii'oiind is fnizrii to a oreat depth. In one locality in Silicria, in latitude lis" \:1', AVrangell fontnl that the siiniuier thaw did not jieiietrale to a i^icatcr dejith than six or eii^ht inches. M .lakulsk, in Siberia, more than six denrees further south, frozi'ii soil was pi'iietrati'd thnnioh t h'jith of .'i*^:2 feet, until water llowcd from beneath it. In (irei'iiland, on the Mackenzie, in Iliidson's liay, and in other Arelic bicalities, the soil will often freeze diiriiio' the winter to a dejith of from ten to twi-nty feet. l)nriny thi> winter to attcnijit to dio' a graNc, where there is sullieient soil, is ho)ieless. The dead are either kept until summer — a matter of no dilliculty in this cold (liinale — or are interred inder heaps of stoiu's above ground. ]''ven at York Factory, in Hudson's Hay, in a lati- '-',ido about the same as that of Perth, in Scotland, the surface soil at the close of summer will sometimes not be thawed more tlian three feet. Often in northern latitudes, bodies, if covered over with a layer of earth or stones, will remain un.orrupted for several years. /. Till-; AliCTlt lUullLANlJS. 2a TlIK AliCTIC IlHIIII.ANnS. We liiive thus shown that tlio imimlai- idea, which iissotiateil troeless wastes with tlic Ai'jtiu ivyioiis, is iii)t altdyollic'i- u I'limrt oiio. ISlili, thuii^'ii tiio axicjiii tiiat what (.'Vi-ry- hoily says or thiuiis iiuist bu ti'iii', is nut altdj^vliii'i- a nilu wiliioiit an cxii'plidii, lliciv is j^t'Uurally, as in the ta-jc undei' (luestiiiii, suiiie ^'md ynjund I'or an iiuinessiun very widely entertained. Tiie yi'eater [ioilion of th(^ Arelie I'eyioi.i is lileaii and treeless in tlic extreme; llw (inly woody jilanls found heiny the dwari' willnw, lilackherr'es, cranherries, or liirclies, which lorin a eover to the loggy grnund. Thduyh there is liltle I'Xtreuieiy elevated laud in the Aretie reyious — I'eteriuanu's Peak (about 1 1,0(1(1 I'eet), and Payer's Peak (about 7,(I(J() i'eet}, on the east eoast ot (ireenland being about the highest iHjints — and inythieal or "hyniiiar' thuuyh "the iey niouufaiiis" are, yet mueli of it is of eonsideralde elevation. The impression of one's first approaeh to an Aretie land lingers Imiy in the memory. ]'"or weeks you may have been tossiuy abcjut in mid-oeeau ; yradualiy the ship gots into (piietor waters ; till.' fogs, which for days past have obscured any view beyond a few yards from the sliiji, clear away; tlie land iia/c is seen; the sun comes out of the leaden snowy sky; a l)it of ice grates against the ship's side; and your attention is calleil to a white otijeet tossing in the sea, a nnle away. It is the lirst iceberg; anil with the voyager's mind lilled with extravagant notions, derived from the pictures he has seen in bocks, he is apt to lie (lisaiipointed with his lirst iceberg. The great mountains of ice " grow on one " after a time. You approach still nearer: icebergs become disagreeably numerous; numerous seals raise their heads above the cold water; a white whale, or a little herd of narwhals, pull' around the ship; or it is just possible that, far olV, the thin line of vapour pnijected from its nostrils proclaims that a whale is "blowing." Jf yuu are near a cod-bank, the great lin-back whale— of liltle \alue cither for its blubber or whalebone, though of much greater size than the '• right " whalebone whale — will be sine to be seen in great numbers. The land is now close at hand. The narmw band of ice known as the ice-foot — the reumant of that groat Held which, during the past winter, had stretched many miles from the shores — still hangs to the clilf, and will remain so until the warmth of the air, or the laving of the waves, heated above the freezing pciint by the long summer sunshine— a con- tinuous day of four or live muntlis (see engraving, p. ~"i), to be succi'eded by an e(|ually long night — breaks it olT, and sends the fragments to mingle with the tlcating pieces of the winter's Hoes, which are ever and again scraping u|> ayainst the shiji's side, or bumping against it in a manner a|it to alarm llu; voyager uho, I'nr the lirst time, experiences such a sensation. Ho soon becomes aecustnmetl to these and still stranger concumitants of the land he is to live in for the next few months, or it may be years. Mel'ore him lies the line of coast, A snowy eminence of a greater height may be seen in the liackground, or here and there in the distance; but tin,' general elevation of the elill's is rathei low. If gneiss Ite the rock of which th(>y arc com))osed, it is roimded and worn into bosses and knolls, as if ice had passed over it here and there; und even the more jagged scrap of vvhiustone is llat-topped, u TUV. Cdl-NTKIKS OK Till; WdlM.D. as if tlie saiiio silent liiit all-]")\vi'rriil n^'cnt had j)assc'il ovor lilvc a iiiii^c |)Iaiii', siiiinitliinn' ilnwn tiio siirl'acL' (if the cmiiifiy. 'I'lio simw lias iiu'lti'<l oil' tlii' j^niiiiiil near tlic sIkh'.', Iml tla,' iimro t'lcvati'd jilaiiis ai'o still cuvci-cd with llu'ii' \vin(oi''s coat. 'I'lu' Mack nl' tlio clilTs is ri'licvi'd, not only by tlii' patclios of unmoltud snow, but liy tlio olaciois, which crccj) diwu IVoni the interior, or I'rom the liiohor elevations, to the sea, and break cIV into ihe Inrni of the icebjrj^s which we see lloating' about us. A lew islets lie olT the coast, separated from the mainland by narrow channels, probably still choked up by ice in the o])en spots I (ijm ■'•»;".•« I Mil l; III 1 ks. (.>,i,ii il, ,11 .,."i:. ..,, in which eider dn.ks and loons are ^wimn.iu- about. Vou land on the ice-foot, and for the lirsl time stan.I within the .\rctie Circle. 'I'he oToiiml olT which the snow has melted is boo.u.y .,„,1 ,„oss-eovered, but the rocks are smoothed ;.ud shawd by the ice which it is now aj.parcnt must, at some former ],eriod of the hist<.ry of the eoimtry, have -.-round over it. Wherever we can -et a view of the rock we see .si.i,nis o{ this. In addition to beino- rounded and worn, .■verywhere there ar,' <leep orooves, just like those wo see in the rocks in an Alpine valley over whi.h a olari,.,- l,;,s once moved, or in a Scandinavian or Scottish -leu, where the researches of -cnloi-ists tell us the same thino- has happened. Koeks, in many eases of a different Keoloni,.,d formation from those in the Vicinity, lie scattered ever .where over the eoimtry, or are perched in positions whi.'h leave no doubt to the practised eye of an eilucated naturalist that they were drojiped in those places from the iceberjj.s which, in remote agon, floated over the submerg'ed surface of the country. I tnim (.f the I from I'-foot, (ho lUiiiry, III tliiiu leave tllDSO Ol the "^ 26 TllK C'OUNTUIES OV TIIK NVdUl.l). The Arctic vcjjions, like every (lUier portion of the world, have umleryoiie many changes — some of them much straii<,''er than those we have mentioned. Climb any elevation, and the scene wliich meets our eye is cheerless in the extreme. A few iitarmif^'ans rise u\) at our feet, a half-fro/en lake lies in the hollow, an Arctic fox is harkinj;,' its "Akak ah!' on a rock. If we see a solitary reindeer o\n' walk rises to a sensational jmint, Imt the chances are that we are driven by a snowstorm to our boat, and for a tunc the few pea- fowls, whicli were bcyinniu,4' to make lively the open " leads " amon.if the icc-lields, are as silent as their surroundings. The whole scene is cheerlessly chilly ; but yet it has a charm of its own, which it is impossible to explain to those who have not sailed in these high latitudes. Such are llie Arctic Highlands — a I'.ame whicli tlic reader must not, however, confound with the countrv north of .Melville liav, in (irecnlaiid, to which that enthusiastic IScot Sir John lloss, tuuler the idea that the region in (juestion was better, and the people bolder, than those of the more southern country, applied the same name 1. Tim: Auctic Lowlands, or Timmias. In various portions of the Arctic regions there are tracts of comparatively level land, such as the most northern jxirtion of Labrador, bordering' Hudson's Strait, a great portion of the western side of iJallln's Hay, !Melville Island, ice. Sir John Hichardson will even include (ireenland, but this is erroneous, (ireenland is certainly one of the great reg.ons of the Arctic Highlands. In America and in Siberia the level lands, spread out from the eastern slopes of the mountains, change as they lose in altitude, and become more abrupt on their western slopes as they approach the Polar Sea. In the Xew AViuld these tracts are called "barren ground," and in Siljcria and North Russia "tiiudren," or "tundras," as the word has been Anglicised. They are also I'ound in Laplaiul, where they are known to geographers under the much more classical name of /t'/'/vc (/(<///«i//»;^accursed lands — which Linna'us, the famous Swedish naturalist, ajiplied to them. The barren ground district of America is seen in its most marked form near Hudson's Hay, where it reaches as far south as the (ilst parallel of latitude. It receives its name from the entire absence of trees in such tracts; but it abounds in lakes, and is traversed by the Great f'isli River, and many miiu)r streams. It is not altogether Hat, for there are rocky hills of moderate altitude — such as the Stony Mountains of Samuel llearne, one of its earliest explorers, a chain whicli has an elevation of about l,.jllU feet. The barren grounds become narrower to the north of the (ireat Hear Lake, and, according to the celebrated exjilorer whom we have c|uoted, terminate at the delta of the ^Mackenzie. I.'nder this name the Hudson's Bay fur-traders term all the treeless jiarts of Xortli America; but, of course, in what we have called the Arctic Highlands there are also many tun Ira-like tracts, though still not of the extent which we see in the barren grounds, and similar low-lying regions in I'^urojie, Asia, and America. During' the winter the barri-n grounds in America are swept by the icy winds to such an cxteiil ,'1-; to render tliein uniidiabitable iiy the hardy Indians ; and even the reindeer kcc[) liy the edge, until able to retreat to the shelter of the woods in storms. The drier spots arc THE ARCTIC LOWLANDS. 27 1^ tlfnsoly clotliod with liclicns of varidiis sjx'cics, niixcMl uj), in (lie nuiistcr [ilaccs, witli tlii! rcimlwi' ninss, llic Kiiltiiid, tlio iiliickltorry, tlio (Iwiirl' Liipliind I'lindndoiKlnin, tlu' cninliorry, tiii' l.rtlnm^ or I/ilmiilor tc;! (I'min its Iriivcs \m\vj; u -I'd liy the trii|i]M'rs ms ii siilistiditc I'lir tlic trni' Ciiiiiii horb), tli(! liearlicrry, tiio .liu/nm/n/d, tin- cloudlM'n'y, tiii' Arctic linimlilc (Itii/iiiK urc/iriti), and liic viirioun s|ie<'ics of dwarf croopinj;' willow.s found so commonly in tho Arctic rcy;ions. In favouralilc "iid slioltcrud meadows, Sir Jolm llicliMrds<in — who, wiicn siirf^'coii of l''ranklin's carlv cxpcditiiin, shared many hardships in lliosc (h'cary tracts, and was therefore well ahle (o si)cak of them — ck^scrihcs /grasses and henis lloiulsliin<^ in considcrahle variety, and on the l>anks of streams sometimes a growtli of ,Sii//,r xpiriimd, a kind of wiUow three feet in iicit^hl, or even more, may now and then he seen. Tlicri' are in addition many llowcrinif jikants of k^ss note, hut "which serve to cheer the IravcHer wlio traverses these wastes in the llectin<]f summer." The Siberian tundras are k'ss known; hut, iVom the description wliieh Wranjreli and other travellers <jive of them, they seem to he almost identical, except in tho species of plants which are found on them, with the American barren o'rounds. " In travolliniy across tho wide tfludra in dark nijjht," wrote the Russian explorer just named, "or when the vast plain is vested in iini)enctrabl(! mist, or when in storms or snow- temi)esls the traveller is in danfjer of niissino- the shelterinn' hut, he will fre<iuently owe his safety to a n'ood doi;', who will he sure to lirin<.f the sled<;e to the place where the hut lies dcejily buried in the snow, and will suddenly stop and indicate where his master nmst di^'." After eominj^ from these naked, frozen, nKjss-eovered tiindras into the valleys of the Areini, which are sheltered by the mountains from the prevailini^ cold winds, and where birches, poplars, willows, and low creepin<if junipers [JiniipcniH prax/rn/itx) gTow, Wranjifell remarks that the traveller imag'ines " himself transported to Italy." The same feeling is experienced by those who have been lonj^ in the Arctic regions. Three different times has tho writer of these lines apjiroached Knu'land, after a stay of a shorter or lono-ev extent amid the ice and snow of the Arctic regions. I'luler such circumstances, even tiie bare tundra-likc Shetland and Orkney Isles look home-like and cheerful, while the rich woods along the shores of the Danish Oresund excite an enthusiasm in their autumnal poverty which they never aroused in liieir summer sjilcndour in I'ormcr days, when C(jiu- parisons had not made the treeless land wo had left behind "oilious." Old Willem Harent/, and other of the time-honoured searchers after an Arctic passage to India and China, repeatedly speak of tho jileasant change it was to see the trees and grass of civilised Europe, after their eyes had been da/.zlcd and dulled so long by the monotonous whiteness of ice and snow — snow and ice. In the north of Russia, about the Kanin Peninsula and the lu'ighbmu'ing country, the tundras can also be seen in great ]>erfection. To this northern peninsula, guarding the eastern entrance to the AVhite Sea, the wandering Sanioyedes— the Old World ropi-esentativcs of the American Kskimo* — crowd during the summer months, in order to seek in its chilly atmosjihere an asylum from the plague of mosquitoes, which infest northern and tropical countries with cipial vigour. The suiferings of the reindeer from those insects are described by Mr. Kae as incredible. Sometimes their faces and heads stream with blood from their For a ileaoription of these people gee " liiices of itunkiiul," \'ol. I,, pp. u— 1!0 ; \'ol, iV. pp. 296--3U0, 2S TIIK ((UNTIMKS (i|- Tin, WoRMI. bitt's, ami till' piKir aiiiiiKils iii'i' driven iiliiinst cni/y liMin llu'ir irrilal iiii,'' stiiii^'s. If llip SariidVi'ilis I'.iil lint iiiiunito nniMliwanl diiriiit;' the siiimin'r, tln'V ucniKI |pnili:ilily Iom' uliiilc lierds (if tliL'ii' rriiulccr — animals wliicli arc su osscnlial to Ihuii' oxistciii'i'. It is aUn iiciliccii in America that the deer seek llio incninlain.s durini;' tlie siimnu'i' In osca|ie the hiiisi|iiit(ies ; inid, aeciinliMi,;ly, the hunter seeks iiis jirey dnriny the warm months near tiie limits of the eternal snow which covers some of these Ihmo-IiIs, or in sit nations Irom whic'h the cool breezes have driven these hn/./inLf enemies of bipeds and i|nadrn|ie;|s alike. Vet, even in «.\i..ii > u.\ iiil; itK-l ll:l.h>. these eold northern wastes, near the Kanin Xoss, the reindeer do not enjoy an nndistnrhed oxistonee. Dotted over the tundras ire objects "that remind us ol home, and we sadly reflect on our loneliness — wooden ercdions, in form like a coekroaeh, and of about the si/e of a wolf. They are snares for the wolves, who lie in wait — and very cold wuitiii;; sometimes — for the reindeer. The Samoyede doj^'s are very intellij^ent — in form like Pomeranian or Eskimo dog's — often white, and as oi'ten wolf-colonr. They come nosing into the tents durint,'' cookinjj or meal times, and have to bo thrust out. They keep the reindeer as well together as a S<'Olcli sheep-doiv keeps his iloek ; indeed, one reindeer attached to iriy sledj^e belnnd, when he Ibuiid a don' trottin;;' rellectively behind him, strained so fearfully round with liis eyes, that I thoui^'ht he would dislocate tliem. In his anxiety be would ])ress forward, thrustini,'' his antlers into my ears or the back of my neck, or his nose under my arm, and he was never at case until the dog moved on to the front." Tin; Altdll' LOWLANDS. 20 Mr. Kdwaril Kat', the lively writer I'ldiii wIk.m' uorU* wu r|iiiito tlicso lines, y'ives a vivi>l dcuvTiptiiiii orsle(i;;iiif;' over these Kiissiaii luiiiiras in Iniiy siii<;le lile, the sjiare reindeer eanter- in;,' in njien (jrder over Ihi' tundras, hut kejil rniiu stray inji- tuo far away I'ruui the cavalcade — or rather (•-■/•/■/cade, if tlu' nianuracture <A' a wnrd he allnwahle— hy twd or three " husinesslike do}rs," The travellers, SauKiyede or rji^'Hsh, f^at on the Hat sled-i', raise.l a little ahove the jjrouud ua two nuuiers, and thus in lony prueession they liied over the tundras— " n >i A SAMDVEllE KNCA>n MIXT. level mossy jilains, hnt swamps, and hillocks, and lirnslnvood, and streams, and pools; the reindeer trottintr with their swift hut unojainly step; the slcdu'cs houndinij^ from one great lump of ]ieat to another, hissintj thrnuyli sliallow pocils, leapini,' fissures in the turf which they coidd barely span ; tumhline- on shiftinij mosses which, like yellow spoiiijes, floated and sank, buhhlino^ and swayiuy under tlir- sliijht runners ; tearinur thrnuiih tracks of saije hrush, with water o'uriflintr at the roots ; rockiny; from side to side ; cliudpiu;i' hillocks, or dyke-like barriers; divino- into streams and out aj^ain ; then the delicious, exhilaratinij, n^lidino; over soft, wet, level moss. We have travelled on linrsehack, on camels, in canoes, in karyols, in tcheletjas, in ealeijues, on locomotives, but we know iiothin<.f eipial to summer sledging • " The Liind of the Xoi'.b Wind " (ISTo,, p. To'X 30 TlIK cnT'NTIMKS (W 'I'ltl' wonT.p. on thn tAiidriis of tli(> Siiniovcdcs, It is a jjlorimis st'iiHiitimi ! Tho Hlcdfjfcs nro wiiiidi'i'lul in tlu'ir iiptitudc lor such tnivclling; ono runnor is a I'liot niulor water at oiio seciind, is two I'ci't ill till' nil' at I ho iioxt ; tlu; <'iii'vi'd i'nuits Imrii'il in watci', \vhih> tho aftin' ciidn arc ill liiMsliwnnd. At one tiiiii' tiic slcdc-o is Ipridj^fiiiy as ([iiickly as tii(iii:;ht a sti'cain m' (lank |iii(il, and in the next instant is lialainiii^' on tiic tn|> dj' a lianU. So i-xecliuiit ai'o its ])niliiirliiiiis liiat rarely h>ss than thi'co points are supiioi'ti'd at one inoinenl, and tlio l>alaiU'0 is pri'served iinder ahnnst iiicredilde conditions, linaniiic ii lioat Icapiiif,'', rolliiii;', and [litciiiiif;' ill a ronj^li lirnkcii sea, and tlieii a sli'il;;'e hirchiiii^ over a liroken liiin|>y sea of tui'C and swamp, drawn l)y the iK'cl reindeer Fiastly, iniai^iiie two la'own-skiiined I'lnK'lishinon in hoisterons eiijoyineiit iioidiii;;' on ti^'htly, tn prevent thoir liay^'a^'o and thoinsclvos from jdiiiiH'inj,'' into some liottonih'ss llnaliiijf ninrass. Ifciw wonderfully the reindeer speed over these swayiiifjp lions, where a man wonld sink in a second to his waist, and in ten seconds tn his neck ! How their hroad elastic hoofs ex]iand, like caincl's feet! They ar(( splendiil creatures I Their motion is awkward, and their rounded hodics, slender leys, hulj^'v hoofs, heavy mossy horns^ and down-hanyini;' heads are imt pretty to lo(dv at. Their hellnw is exactly like tho yriint ol' a |iiy ; hut their eyes and ilark months and nostrils are lieautiful. They are siirprisiiij^ly intelli^'eiit and satfacioiis when trained, and as endnriii}; as the 'ship of the desert.' Now and then we stopped to adjust some; rein, or things that had heeonie detached, or to send a doj^' after some dilatory reindeer. Sometimes tho trace, passinj; hetween tho deer's ley;s, wonld hecoino dis]ilaced, and a Samoycde would run up with a sluait and leap from his sle<lii'e. 1 helievo there is no suininer sledy;in<^ elsewhere, unless it he aiie'ii^'' tho nciyhlHiurini;' nomads, the Osliaks,* lioyond the Oiiral ^lountaiiis, Tho La])landcrs do not sled<re in the siunmer; indeed, thoir little punt-liko sledges would ho quite im])raetieal)lo for it; and the heat in tlicir shiltered land, where wind rarely hlows at midsummer, would he too much fur tho reindeer. Away, on all sides of us, lay the tundras — softer in outline, hut not unlike the fjeld of Norweyiun Lapland" — gay in summer, with staghorn and reindeer mosses, cluh- moss, white and red lichens, cranherries, and the Arctic {lowers. These tracts are not unenjoyahle even on foot during the end of summer, when tho surjihis iiiwistnro from the s])ring rains and tho i >.'lting of the snow has disappeared, even though the traveller be driven to tho verge of insanity by the myriads of inos(piitoes which, during hot days, swarm in tli<' air. It was the condition of these hogs when they were almost imjiassahle from tho causes meiitidiicd that young (.'arl LinnaMis, in the course of the journeys on which ho was sent liy the Swedish Academy in 17(1^, so (juaintly descrihed in his " Lachesis Liijipiinica : " — " We had next to pass a marshy tract, where at every step we were knee- dccj) in water; and if we thought to (Ind a sure footing on some grassy tiift it proved treacherous, and only sunk ns lower. Our half-hoots wore filled with tho ecddost water, as tho frost in some places still remained on the ground. I wondered how I escaped with life, though certainly not without excessive fatigue and loss of strength." A guide who aceompanied the young naturalist was dispatched to seek assistance, and on his return was " accompanied by a person, whose appearance was such that I did not know whether I beheld • "Eaces of Mankind," Vol. IV., p. 238. TIM'; ci.iMATK OK tiit: AIKTIC DWHONS. »1 !i mull (ii'ii woniim. llor slatmv wiis very iliininutivu ; licr lace ol' tin- darkost brown, from llic I'll'fctsi of smukc; lu>r I'Vos dark and sparklinti' ; liur cyulirows l)la(k. Ilcr ipitcliy-inlmnvd hair lump loose uboiit lior head, and on it sli<' won! a Hat red cai). .Shu had a '^ri'v lu'tliojal ; and from her neck, whieh resendtled llu) skin of ii froy, were sMspended a ])air of lar^v loose breasts (d' tiie same brown eomiilexioii, but eneomi)asse<l, by way of ornament, with brass riiii^s. She aihlresseil me, with niinoied pity and reserve, in the followin;;' words; '() tlion iMior man! what hard destiny can iiave brouHhl thee hither, to a place never visited by any one before 'J This is the first time 1 ever beheld a straiiK'er. Tlion miserable creature I how didst thou come, and whither wilt thouj,'0':''" In ii wcji'd, the student from I'jisal thouji'ht, as did another famous Lapland traveller, who came into the same reyion Ion;,'' after him: " So at last we ended our toilsome journey into Laiiland — the most curious that ever was — one that I would not have failed to make for a yreat deal of money, and that 1 would not re-commeiiee for much more." So writes M. lleynard — that nira ubU ill h-rra — u l'"renehnuiu iu a nurtliuru latitude. Climate. \Vhen Henjamin I'ranklin, in " I'oor lliehaitl's Almanac," makes the jocular prophecy that in the month of February " there may be expectations of much ice and snow in Greenland," he expresses a very safe opinion rcf^'arding the jwpular belief in the climate of the Arctic reo;i()ns. There is ])robably no zone of the world extending over such a wide rcj;ion of which the climate is so unvaryinj,'', either in its heat or cold. Spit/beroeii in summer is very much the same as the month of the Mackenzie, and the amenities of a Greenland winter are not strikingly snperior to those of Novai Zemlai. A greater expanse of sea in the vicinity may make the cold less severe in the winter, or the heat less intense in the summer; but the Arctic climate is, to a great extent, the same over the whole extent of the frozen regions during the same months in the year. S])ring, summer, autumn, and winter there are, as in lower latitudes, but these terms exj)ress something different from what we understand by them in more fa\oured regions. Four months of daylight, four months of darkness, and four months of day and night, might more clearly express the nature of the seasons in the far, far North. The summers aru short but bright, and their glory is all the greater after the long dreary winter night of several months. Snow is late in disajipearing, and in the highlands and in shady places, except in very warm seasons, remains all the year round. By June, however, summer is ii])on us in the farthest North. The snow disajipears, leaving the bare mossy soil or smooth ice-shaven rocks to make their appearance, in black ever-extending patches, out of the white background. The ice has broken up in the fjords ; though it remains until late in the summer as a covering to the shallow, dreary little hikes, whieh the iiuveller may look down ui)on in every lonely valley. In the course of a lew weeks, the " iee foot " attached to the shore alone remains as the attestation of the wide-spread field of ice wliich, during the winter months, covers the sea far and wide. The sun by this time has eeaseil to ilisappear beneath the horizon at i.ight. Fnder the <'(uitinuous daylight every day ahows the rapid progress which vegetation is making. Hy July, every sunny plain ib THK ( DT'NTUIKS (iK TIIK WoHI.l). liji'lit with the scant but fjnv Arc-tic thira. S(ij-i/i'(i;ii'.i liloom in profusion; (iio fjay Jjjji/ui/iiiiii covers the sunny Hats auion<^ the morasses, anil huitcrcujis ornament the - ■!!. .X'"" •<#«;<"'. /^ A I.AIM' KAMII.Y. marshy sides of tlic ponls. Slcll^iria Oxi/rin, and the cotton grass, with its itoccj head of snowy down, shuw themselves l're(|UonHy ; wiiile in the mossy jilaees liere and there SIfll.iria lulicinlsii is seen. The yellow poppy, most hardy of Arctic plants, is ho j^av 111 tlie -4 THK AUCTIC SUMMEIJ. ay one (if the most common Howurs, and is soon locikwl iijjon by tlio botanist as one of i! • most chanictcristie. The swoet-scentt'd Jlicuc/t/uc, which in Iceland is used to seent rooms, anil in Greenhmd to stuff buutjs with, grows in tui'ts in every valley, while the sjirinj^y turf is conijiosed of the spreading' crowberry, the dwarf birch, and the blieberry. These iil.ints, as well as the more pleasiny scenery, are not the least charaeterisiie feature which liken the royiou we are describing to the less I'avoured portions of Orkney, Shetland, <'r oven the highlands of the Scottish mainland. The iccberys, continod durius^ the winter in the IVozcii fjnnls, now bi'i;in to ''shdol out''' in long- majestic lines, looking like so nian\- silver rastlcs tldiiting in a sun-lit summer sea. /^> lleeej TO and nts, le AX iLK-li.UT. .\s the season advances, every cliff gcia noisy with birds— solemn rotjes, lively dnvckies, and the garrulnus myriads ,,f mollemoko -nils, which swarm mi the sea. The air is .-dive with the llights of cider (p. ;:i; :.nd spectacled ducks, and on the rocky islets then- nests -warn, to smli an extent as to allow scarcely loot-room l^r the traveller wiio may chance tn land nn th.'-e imfre(ii:ented spots. Seals are arriving nn the coast in great idundancc. Whales are "spouting" far out, or Icisiu'ely slumbering on the surface ^A^ the Muict bays. Uliite whales and narwhals are making the sea merry with their gambols, •■iii-l the I'skim.i— happy at the tliought <.f endless blubber an,l a Jullicienev of Ibo.l for the present-ennsiders that the futtire may Ic-k to itself. Kven the hungry dogs jiarticipato m the abundant feast; though, for the most part, being useless during the period when the ice is ofi' the sea and the snow <-.ff the ground, these ravemuis beasts of burden iiro •>ontin«l on solitary islets to look out for them.selves as k-st they ma v. On land, tbo »!• THK COUNTUIKS ()!•" TIIK WORLP. VMVon.-. iiiul hawks, whicli, witli <iie ptarmij^an, form tlio chief feathered wiiilev residents, are joined by mimbers of travellers from more southern lands — birds of passag'e, wliieli come here to rear their callow yoiiti!^, and disajijiear aj^ain at the aiiproath of winter. Durinn' ^lay and June they may be seen llyiny across the Atlantic, and any ship niakin;:;- 'or Sjtitzbergen or Davis' Strait at that season of the year will be sure to bo fa'tmred with the visits of snow-bunlin^s and other birds, which aliicht on the rijjying- to rest themselves during their Ionic Might. ]Jiitterflics and other insects Hit about in considerable abiuidaiice, and almost every jiool is full of siiecimens of the little Bi/tixciin, or water-beetle, which darts about from side to side among' the water-weed stemi. The white ft>x, now in its lirown summer co&t, is barking its " Aka-ha-ha " from the r'lk; the (juiet glens are full of herds of reindter ; while? the Polar bear, lord of a'l ihc i \ has come out of his winter hibernation, and is ranging' sea and land alike si.:.., of his ]irey. It is the hi'yday of the short but brilliant Arctic summer. The heat ol th.e sun is intense — beyond what one could suppose from the jiopular idea of an Arcli. climate. 80 warm is it that mos(i'iitoes, those jicsts of the Tropics and the North alike, swarm to such an extent, that the tortural wayfarer wearies for a didl day or a cold wintry blast, either of which jjenci-ally makes them disappear for a time. On one of his summer visits to the Arctic reg'ion, so hot was it on land — the sun's rays being broken by no shade of tree or other shelter — that the author preferred to take his excursions by night, and slcei) during the hciit of a July sun. He woukl start off about nine or ten at night, and retire at six or seven the next morning. During the whole of that time it was bright dayliglit. The sun was touching, but had not descended below, the horizon at midnight. But though to all a|ipcaranci' it was day, a "Sabbath silence" in the air told thi-.t it was night. I'Aerything was still and (piiet ; the Eskimo dogs .if the little (irccnland scttlenicnt, which was for the time my temporary home, had (.i'sdi from howling. Their masters were at jieaco among their reindeer skins in the I'l' tiirl huts I ]iasscd ; and the very birds .^eonied to be conscious that this was the 'i' .■ 11.- '^n of repose. Thi' mollemokes had ilown to the cliffs, or sat on tloating piece. '■ i , . ■ ilo the I'otjes, (r little auks, sat in long black line- on the edges of the Hoes. ''.'bc-i, in IsOl, in liaiiin's Bay, I noticed the same tlnng; it was only when a whale wwa killed that they revived, and contended witli the sharks for their share of phm<ler. Such is summer in the fa'- North. It is simimcr ; lint the rude wintry blasts that ol'tcn intenliangc with the sunshiny days are apt to rei>^i"d us that the season of darkness, storm, and snow is not far ofl'. In June 1 hr- ■ s''c ■ a snow-storm, which in a few hours covered the ground to the depth of a fooi or more with a white Iilanket; and often the cold fogs of the evening will render agreeable the furs which the midday heat had compelled the traveller to dispense with in favour of -Ort-slcoves and a straw hat. On sea it is generally much more chilly, the absence of rnJiaH-.a, from the black rocks and the ]>resence of ice-lloes and icebergs, lowering tho ten;'- ire !''ven then it is not uncommon to see the tar on the side of the ship exposed to the sun's rays melting, and the water freezing on the other side in the shade. The summer, if Irillianl, is short ; the au(um:i c:inics fpiiikly, Hy August vegeta- tio'.i is on the wane, and before Septerab r ii has tnU;'cl) disappeared. A few weeks of this c most begin'. brokei them allern; icy SI sail fi the be av possil THE AUCTIC SCMJIKK. bb t I lliis continuous daylight sors'C to flower and seed most plants. In the latter month most of tlie birds of i)as.iayo have also taken their flight, and the thin " bay ice i>- be^inniui^ to form in ([uiet places almost every niylit. Frecpieutly the ice rtvpiires to b ; broken before the morniny; ablutions can be performed. Stars appear at night, and witli tluMu the llyjierboriau summer is at an end. Day and night resume their aceustomed alternatioi.s of light and dark ; sunshine is replaced by mists ; and chilly blasts, on wliieli icy snow is borne, warn the i.avigator either to seek a harbour for the winter, or to sail for more hospitable climates. Navigation, never very safe among the ice-lields of tlie North, now bi'gins to lie absolutely dangerous. During the summer the bergs may be avoided by a skilful steersman, and the floating ice by navigating as far from it as possible. ]5ut in the dark autumn nights tl-is is not so easy. Frequent .eeidents occur at this time, and the whalers do not attempt, in Davis' Strait and Baffin's Bay, to risk the dangers of floating icebergs at this season. They generally go into some quiet haven, and there (as will be more fully described in a future chapter) jiatiently await the time when they can take their departure for Dundee or Peterhead. Their boats are sent out in the morning to the mouth of the inlet to watch for whales, and at such seasons storms are not uncommon. Such an occuncuce is very graphically described by Mr. Lamont, of Knockdow; and as his words convey more ajtpropriately than I could do the s( verities of such an a\itumn storm, I may be allowed to (juote the ])assage from his volume, even thougti the experience described was observed during the summer and not in autumn: — "Tlie summer gales of Novai Zemlai may be classified as with or without snow. The I'ormer arc productive of the most abject state of despair. Only the crew actually engaged on the deck, and the Norseman, who, with his feet in a bag of hay and his beard encrusted with snow, sits lik<; a hoary patriaivh at the whec', need f'avo the snow and sleet which eddy in the wind, and are driven into every corner of the sliip. AVith scarcely a rag <if canvas set, we beat uneasily up and down the edge of the ice, or, ap[)rehensive of the drift by leeway and unknown currents, start out throiigli the lugubrious n)ist to f^ecure an oiling. Somi'tiuns the lifting cloud allows us to ga/.e wearily on tiie black cliffs, where they run out from the mainland to end in treacherous reefs — on the eternal snows wliich cover tlie dreary uplands and ledges of the cliffs — on the dark waters hiden with moving masses of ice, or on the fog which liardly allows us to steer clear of them. The damp fog and ilriving sleet, jiassing over the deck and rigging, freeze, and leave a glassy, slippery covering on every exposed part — sails, ropes, and spars looking as li. wrougiit in glass. Two inches of ice on the deck, in a continuous slide from the cook's galley to the cabin, sometimes reduces the number of courses at dinner, for the steward is no skilful skater, and the sjiilleil soup freezes with the rest. ^\ e make frequent tacks to avoid rocks oil the one side, and the grinding stream of cddyiii'v icebergs on tlie other; and at every tack a crisji shower of icicles, printed wit', the pattern of sails and ropes clattering to the deck, gives tlie ajijiearance of a recently- <leiiiiilished glass sho]i. The noise of floating and crashing against the bows sometimes ciilniiiiatcs in a terrific shock, which makes the ship ijuivcr from stem to stern. Tlio Angle at which the ship heels over to leeward renders ordinary otrupations impossible. 36 TIIIO CUUNTRIES OF THE WOULD iiiul, nitlioi- (liiiii oncdunU'i- tlio liazard of tiimbliiif^' ami rolliiiiji' aj^'ainst each other in the narrow cabin, we ."it in well-janiineil positions, and sjiend the time in desultory readini,''."* These summer f^ales, of the kind just descrihe<l, are most prevalent in the Novai Zemhiian Sea early in May and Juno, and general')' last from sixty to eighty hours. The direction of the wind is commonly from some point between east and west. From the former, it veers through north; and finally, when the gale breaks up, with s:;i!h- we:'terly wind, and cirrus and stratus clout's or actual sunshine. During their continuance the excessive cold, and the difllculties ni' ol)tnining the ship's position by observation, are the most serious ini'onveniences. Mr. lianiont cunsiilcrs that the cause of these gales is tn be sought in the difl'erence in jiressurc between two large atmn.sjihcrii' districts, separated by the mountainous bmindary of Novai Zemlai, nowliori> more than sixty miles wide, which difference is modilied from time to time liy the shifting <onditions of ice in the two sea<. The temperature of the sea varies according to the amount of ice lloating in it, or the fresh water whii-h may be poured into it from tlu' neiii-nliouring rivers. It is rarely much above freezing, thonyli in ilie localities where the (iulf Stream reaches — viz., to the shores of Spit/ber;,^en, and even to the Kara Sea — the tem- |)eratm'e has fre(|uently a considerable elevation. In more favourable years, as Professor Nonlenskjiild has discovered, the shores of Arctic iJirope will be free from ice even as far as the Jcneissi River. In Ajiril there are sometimes such violent stin'ms that it is impossible for those overtaken by them to keep their feet. I'akhtnsof, the Hnssian explorer, and his companions were, on one occasion, compelled to lie down togelh(>r wiih their beads to the wind to avoid being burie<l, and in this position remained for three * "Yachting in tlio Arctic So:i.=i " (187G), p. 4H. m THE CLIMATE OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 37 (lays without food. On tlic east coast wind briii<,'s dry weather; but when the Kara f;.iti' is opi'ii, the same wind brings danij), tliough this dues not reach the west coast. (Jn the hitter coast west winds brinjj damp ; and laud— /.(?., east— winds, always fair weather. When I'akhtusof and Ziwolka were engajjed in surveyiuf,^ Novai Zemlai in ]^;35, the one would sometimes experience yloouiy weather, while the other, on the A Mur.iu.VN ii(ii;-M.i;in,E. oiiDdsite side of tlie island, had fair. The very ilay the one could see farthest the other riiuld mahe no observations, 'I'lie elTect of lldatiny' ice in Inweriiiii' thi' t<'niperaturo, not only o'" tlie sea but of the land, is well shown in Iceland. " Iceland" is really a misnomer; for on the isle which the Xorse i)irate discovered, and which has I'nr ten centuries been the home of the most polished of the Scandinavian race, there is, with the exception of the f^laciers in the interior, in reality, little, if any, ice. The harbours are ft'cnerally open all the year round, and the climate is milder even than the mainland of Norway. The term "Iceland" is only ,;p]ilicable to it in so far that the northern and eastern shores are now and then blocked up with drift ice, which the winds iiave blown from Greenland. This takes 8h THE COUNTKIES OF THE WORLD. place, on an averaj,''o, about once in ten years. In ]S7(! this was Iho case. Out, for- tunately, the ieo soun (]isai>i)eareil. It is disastrous to the flocks, in so far tiiat white foxes and Polar bears arrive liunyry on the coast ; aril to tiie crops, by reason of (lie fog and chill which lill the air, bliifhtinj^ all vej^etation, and reducini^' the island, fi.r the time beintj, to the level of Greenland. Thouyh the tcmperatiu'e of diilVrent [lorlions of the Arctic regions varies according to locality, and, of course, accordii.g to seasons, it may be said to reach sometimes to 70" in the sun, and to average about 4.")° in the shade. Sometimes, at the height of 3,000 feet in Sintzbergen, the heat derived from the rajs of the midnight sun has caused streams of water to issue from the snow, and the temperature, as observed by Scoresby, was 37" Fain-enheit on the ~';rd of July. Take, for example, Greenland. In the southern portion of the country tin; sea is not frozen over in the winter, though encumbered with lloating ice derived from the Spitzbcrgen ice-stream — a current which passes from the vicinity of Si)itzbergcn down the east coast of Greenland, and upon the west coast to about Ilolstcnsborg, where it exhausts itself. In Smith's Sound the climate is sometimes 00" below zero, anil in exceptional years even more severe. Jakobshavn, at the bottom of Disco JJay, may be considered as the mean between these two extremes. Here the mean winter is 3-)° Fahrenheit; the spring, 190?; the summer, Ui-l"; and the autumn, il'l". The tem- perature of the whole year gives the mean of ■Z'i-i)° — altogether a low temperature, but by no means an .'xtraordinarily severe climate. Certainly that of the winter is not lower tlian the averages ol Upper Canadian winters. The summer, however, is not nearly so warm. The Aurora Borealis — the Northern Lights of the English mariner, the Xurd Lijs of the Danes, and the merry dancers which the Shetland fishermen so well know, as they shoot across the Northern skies — is one of the most familiar sights of the Arctic night. It is scHjn all the winter through, but it is ])articularly brilliant in the autumn. It lights the whaler on his joyous voj-age home, and gladdens the heart of the explorer in spitj of the prospect of the gloomy winter he must face, as he puts his ships in their icy winter (juarters. It is a peculiar luminous ajipearance in the Northern sky — at once one of the most mysterious and most brilliant of sj)i'ctacles. Its ever-changing and almost fantastic form may be resolved into a dark segment, an arch of light, luminous sti-eamers, anil a corona or crown. Probably the darkness of the dark segment is only the contrast with the luminous arch, though this is a question, notwithstanding the numerous observations on the subject which have been published, which is as yet unsettled. The appearance of an aurora, as commonly seen, is shown in our engraving (page 10). The height of the r.urora has been variously ciitimated, but there is good ground for believing that at times it is very near the earth, and even within the re<j'ion of the clouds; and may even occur (luring the- daylight, thouiib rendered invisible by the sun's brifihtness. During the prevalence of the aurora, the coni]):iss-needlo is often much disturbed, showing that magnetism has :.omething to do with it. Very freiiuently a display of the Aurora Borealis is accompanied by a noise, like the rustling of silk, or the whizzing of a multitude of bullets through the air ; though this is not invariabl-,-. For instance. Sir John Franklin rcijistered 3 |. 'J displays at Bear '.akc without having once heard any sound attend its motions; yet, in the course of five displays TIIH CLISrATE (JF TUK AltCTIC KEOIOlTa '.'bs.'rvi'il witli'iv !i wci'k ii Oi'toliLT, JStil, tlio pri'seiit writer noted tlio nistlinn' noise twie;' wrv niiiikodly. At tlie time he was not iiwaiv that tlio same ol)servatioii hail lioi'ii mail" liy others, and o\-. afterwards reading- the remarks of fiientenant Hood, of Franklin's lirst exji.nlition, ho iiiiniediately reeof,'iiised their ueeiiraey. Thonyli to the lover of nature and the student of seience the Northern Lig'lit is one of the most interestini^ of jmenomena, yet to the- wild Eskimo, and the superstitious walrus-hunters who winter in the North, it is au olijoet of awe. The doy-s eroueh down liehind the rocks, utterinj^ weird low howls, uliile their masters whisper under their hreath tliat the spirits are fifjlitiny in the air. What is the cause of the aurora lias not hivn satisfactorily determined. I'lobahly the explanation of Faraday may be as correct as any other. That eminent physicist deinon- st rated that the electrical currents which circulate in the f;'lohe necessarily tend from the (ipiatiir to the poles, and has suj^i^ested that tlie aurora may possibly arise from an upward current in the atmosj)here tlowiiif^- back from the poles to the equator. The fact that Sir I/' ipold .McCIintock discovered that the aurora aj>peared to come, not from the tields of ice, but from the surface of open water, favours the idea that it is caused by electrical discharg'cs between the earth and the air, and that these arc interrupted by the lields of non-conducting' ii-e. However, no explanation, as yet offered, presents a complete explanation of the varied liheiiomena of the aurora Tlie iiiii-d'je, so familiar a feature of the Eastern deserts, is even seen in the far North. Tiie traveller may see ahead of him an enchanting' prospect of reindeer feeding in a valley, and could be certain t!mt his sight was correct, did not they gradually turn intn tin; a]ii)earance of "white ponies standing on tine telegraiih poles." On a])proaching, they fade into thin air; but no sooner does the traveller leave the spot, than through tlie hazy atmosphere they again ai>pear once more feeding in the old place. Mr. Lamoiit declares .thi.t he has noticed the mirage in Nnvai Zemlai more marked even than he ever saw it on the liot plains of Africa. On hot sunny days it is remarkable; "vessels I'p. II) or land, which are known to bo far out of sight, and, properly speaking, below tlie horizon, are seen hove up in the air by reiVaetion. The irregular masses of floating ice become dazzling cities, with domes, minarets, and stee|iles, of a more, composite style of architecture than is to be seen in any modern cajiital ; while the lloo edge is made to ri>^)resent magnates of fairy palaces and enchanted castles." Tlie wuiti'f cliiiKiti' of the Arctic rei;'ions is severe, though generally not more so tl;aii that of I'liper Canada and some of the Western States of America. The tem- perature may be low, Imt if the air be dry and still, the severity of the climate is less felt than even at a liigher temperature; but with moisture in the air, an Arctic wind H almost intolerablj if it l)lows over iee-llelds, as during the winter it almost invariably (liics. A "raw" cold, foggy night in England is, by all accounts, more disagreeable th;iii a clear frosty one, tW^ below zero, in rpernivik, the most northern Danish '. 'II lenient in Greenland, and the most northern lixed abode rf civilised man in the wnrld. The darkness adds to the gloominess of an Arcti? winter. No doubt, the uumia almost every d'.iy gilds the snow-, and the moon "ars clear through the skies, a-.id constellations, unknown to us in these latitudes, sparkle in the Northern sky ; but still it is a Jong night, which only ends after three or four mouths of darkness. The 40 THE COUNTRIES OF THE WOULD. Danes in Greenland look upon the winter season as being not the least enjoyable months oi' their lile in that country. Durinjj the summer the sea is often cloifjrfd with ice, and tlie bays are full of icebergs, rendering travelling by boat tedious and even dangerous. During the winter, on the ecuitrary, the sea is frozen over, and they m(j\'e about from settlement to settlement on the swift doff-sledge which swims over the iov surfaces of the fjords and bays in which their little posts are built. It is a season of gossip and Tlir WllllIU IN TIEH vol, All 11 V-^IW. pleasantry. The ships have all sailed for Europe ; there is little business to do imlil the iee breaks up in the sjiring, and amusement is, therefore, the order of the dark winter day. Sometimes the cold is so severe that hoar-frost will be seen on the pillow in the morning, and the rocks will be heard splitting asunder, with loud reports, owing to the expansion of the frozen water in their jinks and cracks. Often, even in the Xorth, the ice only forms partially over the sea, and will break up by the storms which, especially in early spring, sweep over the N(jrthern latitudes. Even in the winter, when the sea from one side of Davis' Strait to the other, or from Spitzbergen to Novai Zeinlai and far south of Jan Meyen Island, is one continuous sheet of ice, there are some open places left here and there. At these slriii/i holes, or puli/nia, as the Russians TllK ( I.IMATI-: 111' i/IK AliCTIl' KKlilnNS. 41 1 call Ihcm — tluniyli llii; liittur woi'il lias been erronwiiisly a]ii)lie(l <ii the o|n!ii I'olar sea, SI) ealled — the white whales ami narwhals will often oolleet in hundreils, stnitcj^-liiig' tu yet tiieii- heals to the surfiiee to breathe. In April, IsiiO, a GreenlanJer was travelliiii^ alony tlie iee in the vieinity of Christianshaab, and diseovered one of these open spaees' in the ice. In this hole hundreds of narwhals and white wiiales were jirutruiliny their heads to breathe, no other place presenting itself for miles around. It was described to THE tiiur Oi' xui; MllUUt. me us akin to an "Arctic Black Hole of Calcutta," in tlie eagerness of the animals to keej) at the j.lace. Numbers of Eskimo and Danes resorted thither with their doys and sledges, and while one shot the animal, another harpooned it to i)reverit its being pushed aside by the anxious crowd of breakers. Many of the Cetaceans were killed, but many more were lost before they were got home, the iee breaking up soon after (p. lil). In the ensuing summer, the natives found them washed up in the bavs and inlets around. Faliricius, the historian of the Greenland faima, describes a similar scene. In the winter nearly all the Aretie I)irds have lied, the screech of the hawks and the owl-like enjak of the raven being about the only signs of life in the ghastly white flats and fields. Every valley is, however, full of ptarmigan, which can be easily killed; I 4S TIIK ( iHNIIilKS (»K Till-; \Vl)l;l,l). iiiiil sDiiK'tiiiies, ill sovL'i'o wiiiti'i's, lln; iviiick'L'i' will coiiii; duwii aliinist to tiiu wuUt'h ly\'. One winter in (Jineuak tlio iiativw shot tliuin out ol' their hut-iluors. 'I'ho whitu liix occasionally lnl(^s in an a|iiMMniiic'u ; ami thoui,''h tho War hihcnuilcs, yet snuu'liiiie.-; tlio ■male may lie seen niamiii;;' aliuut tseekinj^' what he may devonr, even in the (lc|itli ol' winter. 'J'he I'nx anil (he hare alike put on their snowy eoals, so as to he almost nmlislini^uishalile iVoiii Ihe white surl'aee of the ifiMuiul. Tiie |itarinij^'an also alters its |pluiuai;'i.' to white in the winter, as do some othei' hirds to a ;,'reater or less e.v*eut. The raven, least hy|ioeritieal of the feathered inlialjitants of the "true and tender N(jrtli," alone refuses tu alter one leather of its hlaek eeiat to suit the altereil eireumstaliees of the season. 'i'lie exjdoivrs in these hititiulus seek winter ijuarlers ahout (Jetoln'r; and as soon as they are secured, disiii;intle their vessel, and house the deck over with wood-work like the roi'f of u house, .ir with canvas, rijjf np the heatino' apjiaratus, cic/k' a certain anioniit of the lirovisions lushore, in case of an accident liappeninj,' to the vessel, and if tliry he of a scientilie character, erect an ohservatory for mao'iietieal or astronomical ohservatioiis. Want of exercise is the haiie of the Arctic winterer. There is no stimulus to move ahout, and accordinoly there is frequently little inclination to do so merely for health's sake. Scurvy soon seizes them, and its ravayes have ever eontrihuted to the mortality of Arctic exjiloration. Salt meat is usually pointed out us the jLyreat cause of this disease; this is, no doubt, true, but salt provision does not alone eiuisc it. In South (jieeiiland it is not uulVeiiuent amon<f the Danes. In that section of the "land of desolation" the sea rarely freezes over dnrinjf the winter. Storms of snow and sleet are, however, very common. Out-door exercise is all but impossible; and the healthy winter seal-hunting' of North Greenland, owing' to the absence of sea-ice, can be but little (iraetised. Seal- meat and reindeer arc the eomnion articles of food, so that salt cannot bo the ])redis- posiiio; cause of the disease, which 1 am, therefore, inclined to attribute to the want of exercise, combined with the depressing inlhicnee of the weatlu'r. In North Orecnland, during' the dark winter, suicide is rather common amonyst the Danes. AVhatevor may be the jileasnre of an Arctic winter, the sojourners in Ilyperborea hail the return of sun with dclio-ht. The Danes in Greenland will climb throuyh the snow to the highest eminence in the vicinity of their houses, in the chance of getting an early peep of it just reddcniiiii- (he Imri/.on, and for a nionient yildiii"; the snow. Tho Sihcriiin Samoycdcs and Ostiaks are said to ylorify the return ol the sun, after the Ioiijl;' niyht of winter, liy rejoicini'' and sacriliccs. Eayorly they watch for its aiipearance, as Drydcn has su well described in the oft-cjuoted lines : — ' lu tliose cold roffioiiH, wliicli no summers clicor, Whore Ijrooilin;,' iliirkncBS covers liiilf tlic year. To hollow caves the shivering natives ^o, Hears ranfje (ihroail and hunt in trucks of snow. But when tho tedious twilight wears away, And stars fjrow paler at the approach of day, The lonfjin;; ci-owds to frozen mountains run, Happy who first can see tho glimmering sun." Four months of darkness may be a new negative sensation, but four months of day 1. "lit TIIK rl.IMATK OV TflK AliCII' UWildNS. 43 IS (iffidc'dly 11 i>oMitivo one. iitid iiKH- • ii),MV(«aMo, The mi liii.!,'li1 sun is rvcn a more jilfnsinfr ..lij(M( lliMM llii' Xmilirni liiujils. Hut cm'ii mIIit tli' sun iqipi iiri sinninrr W al'nr nlV. Iiulci'd, sniiii' dl' tli(> must (lis:i;;'n'Ci\lil(' wt'iillicr ol' tlu' Arctif ivt(i,,iH is in wirly spriny'. The smilii-wi'Sl winds lii-ini;- snow, ^l' wliidi cDinpaVivtivi'ly littlL" fulls dunnj^' the cxtninc ndd ix'iidd ol' winter. In spring', my iri<'n(l the ])viest of l';{,fedesmind(.' (pai^u II) is cfleii lildcked info liis house between sunrise and siinsel, hut he is not so hiuily oil' as the pastor of a more sonthern seltlement, who is fre(piently entirely sniothorod in snow until a <^:\U'^ of men come and shovel him out of his " ]iriisteyaarii," or parsonat;x'. Uaiii, or more frecpiently sleet, is also the concomitant of si)riiid', with wild winds, which carry all lieHire them. Often the very coldest period of the 3'car is the spring'. Somelimos, when the ico-pack splits, dense vapours are seen to issue from tlio lissure, and fall in the form of sharp ])rickly snow. This frost-smoke is dnc to the air, not coni])lotcly saturated, takinj,' u]) moisture from the water. "Tin; process alisorhs and renders latent much heat, and this heat, sndilenlv tiiken from the siirroundint^^ air, lowers its temperature and causes precipitation." Of nuieh the same nature is llie Lurln'r, as it is called hy the whalinjj sailors. This is the nKiistnre, or fogs in the air, deposited in a line ffossamer netting' of sharii specular icicles, that pierce and excoriate the skin. Often the whole surface of the sea steams like a limekiln with the i'rost-smokc, The snow which descends is in the form of the most exquisitely shaped crystals, which, owing to the warmer stratum of air into which tJiey (h'scend, can never in our latitude bo seen in such perfection. During the coldest season the sound of voices can be heard much further off than during the warmer weather. The same phenomenon is observable during the winter in our own climate. I5ut in the Arctic regions it is iulinitely more marked. " Tiie sound of voices," wrote Parry, "which during c(dd weather could be heard at a much greater distance than usual, served now and then to break the silence which reigned aromid us— a silence far dilTerent from that peaceable composure which eharacterlsos the landscajx? of a cultivated country ; it was the death-like stillness of the most dreary desolation, and the total absence of animal existence." During the winter at !MelvilI(> Island, peo])le coidd be heard conversing a mile off — no doubt owing to the density of the cold atmosphere, but also to the absence of ,dl obstruction in the calm air. It may be also remarked that horizontal refraction js increased, owing to the highlv- coiidensod atmosphere, so that the sun becomes visible several days sooner than it ought, by astronomical calculations, to be expected, in the latitude in which the explorers are wintering. The Dutch noticed this when they first wintered in Spit/bergen in ]•")!>(; The " iinick" or " duf/" /iini.i and viooiis are also another common Arctic sight in earlv sjiring. By (he meteorologist they are better known as parlieliii and pariivli'nn', according as it is the sun or moon wdiich is the subject of the optical delusion. Thev are cdiinected with the halos or circles of prismatic colours around the sun or moon Vliey arc formed from the refraction and "reflection of the r.ays of light bv the niiiuite snow cr\sfals of the cirrus cloud, while coronas arise from the interference of the rays jwssing on each side of Ibc globules of vapour." The ])arhelia and paraselena' are the images of the sun or moon, which generally appear at the points of intersection 44 THK rnrNTrtrr.s ok Tirr, wnm.n. (if (lie cinliK ,,r (li(. liiilo, iiwiiiir t(i till- li;;lit (•iiiiiciitnilcd ill tlicsi' poinls. TliPsn inngPf) iilsd cxliiliil llic prisiniitii' cnlciurs of the halo. (lliirlfH iif Lhjiil, or iiiil/fliii, iirn also si'cn in llic Arctic rogimis in ^jrcat pcrfcdidii. Tlicy arc scunctiiins seen wlicn (lie sluulciw nf an uliscrvor is lust in I'of,', and Iho sliailipw 111' Ills licail is surroniiilcd with prisniatic circles (Hnclian), Scorcsliy, on ono occiisicin, san- I'mir coiiccnti'ic circles around his shadow. 'I'hc ])hcnonicnon is always seen in the I'ular rcyidns when sunshine and foyf oc<'Ur at the sann- time. 'I I A wiNTKi: VIKW or tuEUES.MIMiE !K(ii;riK s MKMouvj, .NOHTU oUEENLAMi. (From iin Oii/iiKil Skdth b]/ Hi. a. p. Tc'jncr.) When the darkness disai)]icars the snow and ice heyin to melt rapidly. Hut throuf^'li tlu> whole summer, pieces hotli of sea and frlacial ice are tloatinj,' in the sea. The latter is, ol' course, continually lioinj^ discharrjed from the land, and the sunmicr lias no effect on its proiluction. On the contrary, the iceherffs shoot out with renewed vifyoiir during the summer months. The soil is always frozen to a consideralile depth until late in the summer; in some places it never thaws heyond a few feet in depth. At Jakutsk, in Siberia, frozen soil was found, on di^g'inpf a well, at the depth of -'iSi feet l)elow the surface. In January, 1853, Sir Edward Belcher experienced at his winter quarters in AA'ellinjirton Channel a temperature as low as fiC>° helow zero \)i Fahrenheit.* * In M p't]'iil;ir work of \][U ],-in<l it *vnnl'l lie mrro weariness to th*' roador to po cliilioratfly into thf qnrstion of rofonli"! (i'm])i'r:itiiri's. 'I'hoso, howi\-.r. who are intprcstod in it will find much information on the siilijort in the Admiralty's "Manual and Instructions for the Arctic Kxjioditiou of 187')," and in the works there quoted. riir. AlifTK' SKAS. 15 "Tin; ()im;\ I'oi.mi Ska." It iii:iy 1h' ri'iHoiiiilily lifli.'veil tli;il tin' I'lirllicr mic ^r,,|.s nnrthwanl, the iivirc Hoven! will lie (lie climiili'. Tliix is tiic iiimosl uiiivoisal oi)iiiiiiii (jI' IIkim' wlm liiivi' rxplorcd llio Xortii. I am no( at prcHi'iil awaiv «i' a sinuli- wiiali'f win. lias any otiK'V niiinidii J ami 1 may incnlioii tliat (mo nl' the iiicist cxiu'riciiccil ami i'ar-si<,HitiMl ot the amalt'nr cxiiliPi'iTs i.f tliu ArcUc Sua— Mr. Lamont — is of tin- same liclifl'. lliiwi'vcr, a IX WINTFH (H'AKTKUS in ^MITH > ><)! Nl). onnfrai-y view has boon lonf,- held l.y thc.rists, ami l.y a few eNplorors like Kane and Hayes. Thoufjli analoory militate.s afrainst the likelihood of this idea, yet again ami again the .•aptivating tale is told that, in the liir, far North, the waters around the Pole iire eoini>aratively free from iee, and that yet a slii]) may sail in tjiat "open P(dar sea" refulgent in Northorn sunshine. In this favoured Kdou ui' the Polar sea, knidly dreamers have persuaded themselves that no longer will the explorer's path be barred liy those " Jlountains of ice thiit !^lu|i the iniairiuoil way Hoyonil I'ltsora castiily, to tht litli Cathitiun t-oust." It) 'JlIK (orXTKlKS Ol- TFIi; \Vill;i,l). .\l;';uii ;iii(| ;il;,mm liiivi' llisc (i|M'n ]jl:ii'('s liccn ri'iu I'lcd ; I'lit rcpciiti'illy liiivc (lit'y jTovi'd t" 111' Hilly lii(:il Miiil III' liiiiiti'il cxtciil. llowoviT, as (lio (liM'lviiic, until it has liccn alisii- liilcly ilisjiriivcd, nil! It- :i;;iiiii and ayaiii 'irnaclicd, wo may liriclly sunninai'is(> the arii'uiiU'Uls wliirli have hi'i'ii adduc-i'd in siijiport (if this viow. At thi' same time, they illiislrato the ai'i,nimciits linniii'lif aii'aiiist it with more soundness. It is pointed out, r'nr instanee, that tile eieirineiis inajnrity ol' the hertrs drift smith, while, il' there were a warm eiirrent ru ini'114' imrlli, the eonlraiT wmild he the ease. It is deemed hy those net in lavmir nl' tlio theiry nf an ojien I'olar sea, that the liict of birds seen Hying' northward is a prnol' ol' a milder elinuito around the Pole. Ptarmij^an are continually killed (hiriiiy the winter in liiyli Xoi'thei'ii latitudes; dovekies (Uria ffi')///'), and other water-fowl, stay all the winter in the ojien leads among the iee. The Icnot {Triiii/ii pwiiifiis) o-oes to the Arctic rejjion.s to hreed, but hitherto its nest has ;iever been found. These and other birds seen llyiny;' northwards at this season of the year — the sjirinj^ — are luii^ratory birds, wliieli leave' warnn'r eoniitries tn rear their young' in the Aretie regions, and tliereforo cannot properly be said !o be llying north to seek a milder <'liinate. .Mnrton, Dr. Kane's steward, reixirted having seen ''seals siiorting and water-l'owl breeding in tlu 'open sea' he saw from ('a]ie .leil'erson ; " but the same might be seen in any jiart of the Arctic Sea whore there was o|M'n water. Dr. Kink has, moreover, eonclnsivcly jiroved that tl"' famous "open I'olar sea" ol' Xliii'tdii was merely a cluiunel cut by the strong cnrent during the warm days of midsiimni '!', and the sulLsecpient explorations of Hall liao proved that it was only a "bight " in the sound stretching still further towards the I'ld •. The great number of seals and sea-fowl seen by IMorton, so far from being eonelusive jiroof of an open Polar sea, i:; viewed by tiie eminent authority (jnoted as merely a sign of a single opening in the sea, the rest ol' which was covered by ice — sea-birds and other animals always Hocking together in such places. Dr. JIaycs' open sea comes under exactly the same category. Hayes was, however, able to siippnrt his ]iarly on reindeer in the very disd-iet where Kane, ■>ini the assisdince of experienced hunt 'I's, a'l but slarved. Indeed, iiad il nut been for the jllah llskimo, he must have inevitalily sneeiiinbed, with all his party. It is, thereliire, nntrno that, as ^laiiry assei'l-. he was abh; to subsist his party "on the shores of ',111 ire-bniiiid sea." I'lveii the natives — iron men tliongh they be — had in the iiiniith of Mairh been eonipelled to eat twenty-six out of thirty of tlii'ir dogs; ami ]ioor Hans I '.iiidriek, whci, all I'nr the love of Shanghn's pi'i'lfy daughter, bad deserted Kane, and preferred tn remain iiehind, had lii'eii birred In eat the sealskin wliieli envereil the frame <il' his kiiji'ik. It is al-o a eurioiis fact that the coldest mean leniperatnre for the summer niniiths wi'i'e ihnsi' (if Kane and lielcher (p. M), the two nearest winter i|nart(-rs to the siijipiisi'd iipi'ii sea. Wiannvll, s|ieaking of the su])posed open sea north of Siberia, mentions thai llie n(ii'tli-we<l winds brought with them a thi<'k, ninisl fug, so that <l(ithes and tents wei-e wel tliiMUL;li. The eoiilrary >vas true as regarded Smith's Soiiiid. The winds from the Mi|ipiisei| I'pcii sea were alwavs the eiildel, while the snulh-ea^l winds were mnist. 'I'll.' seasons al which the ojien sea described by I'eiiny and Mortnii was seen, only shows that Ineal iniises |iroihii'ed an earlier disriiplinn of tlu' iee than elsewhere; and finally, the ojiponcnts iif llie '' npeii I'nlar sea" theory argue (hat tiie ilril'ls nf (lu' A'lr,nii-e, TlIK "iirKV roi.Ai; SKA" 47 rrovcd l{isi)/nh', ;iii(l t'o.i; wci'o Duiui;- lu ciiusi's iiiicniici'i'iK'il witli :iiiy tiinsnnciits ol ice in the l'(il:if liusiii. Last !■!' all, it is not V(My ciiaritaljly (.■uuuliuk'd liy (rrtaiii na\ ii^'aliTH, 'AJiufic (iiiiniciii may Iji-' talirii I'or what it is udrtli, that lliu "open Pulai- ^oa " I'l' Kani; ami Haves in Sinitli's .Suiinil was " iliseovorod " tliriv moruly as sumclliiiij;' "to work cNiicililiuns In," and U\ (.■(jvlt the roatiiiv ul' the main ulijocts oi' tlio (.■N|n/dllicin — just as llu' IOnL;li-li had rurmri'K jait a " pulyiiia '"' np Wullinnton Chaniicl, in orIlt Ui wurk an i>x|irditinn ti.ji'c ! The idea ol' open watef aronnd the Pole is, liowever, a snilirienlly aneieiit one, and was talked ol' as a seientille jii'ublem lon^'' hel'oi'e the expetlilions mentioned \v<Te llrst philiosed. Thns the ilhistri(ins Sir J)avid Hi'ew.ster pointed out, as far haek as \'-'-l\ , llial distance I'nim tlu; J'^ipiatni' was not to Ijo taken as an aceui'ate measure oL" heal and enld, and thai, in all probuliilily, the thui'mometer would be l'(jtind to rann'c tiii ile^iii'es hiylier at the Pole than in some other parts of the Aretie reg'ions. Seni-e-by al>n siiowed lliat, nwint^' to (he lony-eoiitinued sunli!;;ht of six months, wiiieli must 1'' il at Pole, thenielieallv, at the sumnu'r solstiei tl le inlnienee i .i tl le sun iiu the surl'aee of the earth is ,:^ivater at the Pole than at the JMjuator, by nearly one- half. That in reality, Imwever, this is erroneous, is shown by the faet that in latitude 7^" N., nil ihe s;iine li:isis of ealeulatiun, the inlluenee nf the sun is only ,',,lh li.'ss than at the Pole, and also mueli j^realer than at the JOipudor. Now in latitude 7^' \. the mean temperature of the year is 17'^ Fahreidieit, and ice is formed durinn' nine niniiihs in Ihe Spitzberyen seas, ucitLer cahn weather nor jiroxinnty Ui land bein^' essential to it> formation.* Senresby, however, though theoretieally hokliny the opiniiuis he did, was, like most (ither whalers, one of llio stroiijrest opponents of thu idea of an "open Pnlar sea." .\ later advneaey of ih P.. la been founded (Ui the su]i[insed faet Ilial no ieeber;L;'s or iee, <'neuiiiliei-ed with I'artli nr st<uies, have been seen Ihialin;.;- south from tlie sujjposed site of that ren-inu inlo the early explored ]i,..,illels. Hut this idea has b< I'll at line iloded bv the faet that the S\ l']\[iedil ion, whieli 111 |s(iS attempted this iioi'lh "ard route, met witli stones ;iiid earth on the iee whieh wa^ driflino- south, showiiio' that tlie\ had been attached to >ome land between Spit/bi'i^cn and (he Pole, and that this area "ns frozen. I'arry also found sand on the iee in latilinie SiJ" N. We may therefoa\,ustly eonelude, in the word- of Profes-..r Xonleii-k jiild. that ihe idea of an open Polar -ea "is evidently a mere liypotlu'sis, ch'stitule I'f all foundation in (lie experii'iiee which IS alreadv, by a considera lie saeriliee, 1 lOfli) o'amei and the only w.iy to approach Ihe Pole whii'h can lie atleiiipti'il, with any probabilily (f siu'ceedino-, IS thai [inposed by the niost eelebraled Arelie autliorilies of l!ii:;laiid, viz., thai of — after liavino' passed the winter at the Si^ven Islands, or at Smith's Sound — eoulimiiii!^ Hie jouiney towards the North on sledovs in the sprinn'."t ' Marliliam: " I'l'ocooilint,"^ of the llojiil UoOi,'raiilik';il Socioly, " vol. ix. •7...(.. p. I:i7; and irmiiilton, ihUI., .ol. xiii., ji. tilil. (IHOU). t ".I'liiriml of the Koyiil Ueo;,'raphiuiI Socioty," vol x;\ix., ]>. Uli (I^Ml'.i) 13S (ISO.')): al.so Hick* 48 TilK C'dUNTItlES Ol'' THE WOltLU. CHAPTER III. Sea Ici;, (Ji.acikiis, and Iciaitiicis. Tmr ioo we SCO lloiitin<>' altout in tlic Aniic Sea (luriiii; tlie siiinmev is of two kiiuis — Uie in'oduel of the freeziiit;' ol' llie sea, aiul tliat derived fidiii the f^laeiei's, and, therefore, fresh water and of the hind. 'J'iie tirst is n'enerally in the form of eakes of all sizes, from pieees a few inelies in diameter to many mih's in area. These //cA/v of ice — a name apphed to a eontiniieJ slieet of ice, so hirge tiiat ils honnchiries cannot bo seen from the mast-head — are the remains of the hroivcn-n]) .//■"< of the winter. This leads ns to speak of tiie various terms applied to Arctic ice, as these jihrases continually occur on a voyaji'c, often with hut a vaL;iie nu'aniny attai'hed to them.* 8ouu' of the lart;'e ice-lields are frecjuently more than a hundred miles in length, and more than half of that in ijreadth, each consisting' of a siui^'lc sheet ol' iic, havinj; its surface raised n'enerally aliout four or six I'cet ahove the level of the watt-r, ami its hase deprcssi'd to the depth of nearly twenty feet lieneath. Yet the thickest and stnui^cst of these ice-lields cannot resist the power of a heavy swell. Indeed, the thicke-^t liclils are more apl to he liroken up i)y the force of the |iressure and the currents than the thinner and more pliahle ici'. When such a llelil is driven to the snuthward, and lieenmcs exposed to the ell'ects of a tjfDWH or (jroiuid swell, it presently i)reaks into a <^ieat many pieces, few of them exec, .ling' f 'Pty or llfly yards in diameter. When these pieces n'et together, naviyators speak of them as the packed ice, or the //(/'•/•. This pack is the ice into which shijis are l're(piently emhediled, and is often so lari^'e that it extends on every side so i'ar that the eye can oidy detect the water, in the form of lines or /rwr/v, intersect in<^' it. To naviifate these /ftiil\ is tiie duty of the captain, who sits in the cask or crow's- nest at the mast-head. All around is the while suow-eoverctl jiack, relieved only hy the black water. It seems as if we were threading' roads running' through a snow-covcred jilain ([). TcJ). When the iiack is so circumserihcd that it can lie seen across, it is known as a juih'/i ; and is called a si ream when ils siiape is more of an olilciij,', no matter how nari-ow it may lie, '• [irovidcd the continuity nf the pieces is preserved." A Jl<ii' is usually tiie term apjilied to jiieees smaller than lields ; and /'ni>:/i ice to the pieces which break olT, and are separated from the Inuifcr masses by the elTeet of attrition. These jiieces are often collected into streams and patches. JJri/'l in', or I'lii-w or (i/ien in-, is ice so open that ships can sail IhiMuj^h it. Frecpiontly, even in the depth of winter, the fields of ice, after beinij' si|neezed on one another, are set on edye, and in that position cemented by the fiust. Such eminences in the midst of an iee-tield are called hnininoch ; and ii'e in which they are of freiiueut occurrence hummock ice. llummoeks are idso caused by ]iieces of ice mutually crushiui; each other, the wreck beiuLj * Hc'oresliy, on the ''UruunlunJ nr ['uliir Icu" iu " Muuioirs ut' the Wcruurian Society," ISlTi, p. 201; also " Arctic lii'gioiiH," ic. kincis ri'l'Dro, si/.is, i<-e — 11 IL' Sl'l'll lo;uls iicciir ^^ liii'ii'L' i,l' tliiit I'lii'i'ally (l.'l.th cuuiiot broken ]>\e itv. ecfs of C tllL'lU vig'iitors h ship 50 TIIK ((UMlilKS OF Till-; WnKl.lt. tiinil)K'i' ;iliiml in sm-li ;i inaiiiu'i' as to jjivi' tlial variL'ty nt" l':iiuit'ul slinpu and pii'liu'esquo ;ij)jirarancL> wliicli any viow of Avctio ire (p. It)) will immediately convoy an idea of to the reader. Ilinnniocks often cxceod tlio licijjlit of thirty feet. A culf is a portion of ico wliicli lias lioen (li'])r('ss('d by the same meins a-s a hummock is pkn'ated. It is kept down liy some laviifer mass, from beneath which it shows itself on one side. Dr. Scorcshy mentions that in his voynyes as a whalini^ captain he has seen a calf so deep and broad that thi> shi]i saileil over it willmut toMeiiin<y, when it niii4'lit be observed on both sides of the vessel at the s;ime time. Tiiis, however, is attended with considerable dans^er, and necessity alone warrants the cxi)erinient, a.s c/ilvnit have not uiifrequently (by a ship touchini,'' them, or di.sturbini'' the sea near them) been called from their submarine situation to the surfa<'e, with such accelerated velocity as to stave the ]ilaiiks and timbers of the ship, and in some instances to reduce the vessel to a wreck. "A calf" is the name sometimes also Applied to the ])ieces which break olf from iceberg's. Any part of the upper surface of a ])ioco of ice which projects from the parent mass midst the water is called a tiiiii/H<'. A biylit, or liaij, is a sinuosity in the ice-iield, in which sailing vessels, by a sudden ehanye of wind, have been IVe(piently wrecked. The temperature at which sea water freezes depends not a little on the amount of fresh water, aerived fr.un rain, snow, or meltiny; ice, which is mixed with it. It is usually ifivcn at :28'd"' ; but it varies, according to the conditions mentioned, from that llgure u])to-"Jl^. We must a]:0 remember that salt water, /kt se, does not even freeze at these tempernturos, M'hon the sea freezes the greatest part of tlie salt wliich it contains is dep<isiteil, and the frozen spongy mass ])robably contains no salt but what is natural to the s.ea wa*^er lilling its jiores. Tiie lirst, or //ai/ ici; is almost fresh, though in some cases, iiidejiendenlly nf the power of cold in preeipilating salt, it is really composed of the surface fresh water. S'lt water and sea ice is porous, white, and for the most part opacpie. Yet the rays of light pass through it with a greenish shade. It swims lighter than fresh-water ice. In its ]Mires will frequently be found highly concentrated salt water, or salt in the solid form, "either as a single crystalbne substance, or as a inixtin'c of ice and salt crystals.''* AVhen salt-water ice Moats in the sea at a freezing temperature, the ]>ro])oi'tion above to that below is as nearly our In four. In fresh water at the freezing-|ioint it is nearly one to seven. Iceberg ice l'i)rnis tlie bulk of llii^ fresh-water ice which floats in the Arctic Seas. It is mostly derived from the land glaciers, though some of it is ])oured out of the great rivers which dcbcjuch into the Arctic Ocean, at the North of Kurojie, Asia, and America. It is fragile and hanl, and the most homogeneous and transj-.arent liieces are cajMble of concentrating the rays of the sini, so as to produce a consider- able intensity of heat. " With a lump of ice, of by no means regular convexity, T have frecpientl^' burnt wood, tired gunpowder, melted lead, or lit the sailors' pipes, to their great astonishment; all of whom \\i;o could procure the needful articles eagerly flocked around ine for the satisfaction of smoking a pipe ignited by siuh extraordinary means. Their astonishment was increaseil on observing that the ice remained firm and pellucid, whilst the solar rays emerging therefrom wore so hot that the hand coul'l imt » Riiiliiiiin, " I'ror.'iiliiicjs of Ihr Royal Sciricty," v.il. xxii., i>. 3tl. It.'Ivl'lKI.DS OK 'rilK Niilfl'ir. 51 be kt'pt lonf^ci' in (ho fotus lliiiii ior tlic s])aec (if a IVw swoiuls. In llie furiiinliun of thcsu lenses 1 roiiyhed tlu'in witli a t^uvM axe, wliidi cut the iee toleiahly siudnth. 1 then scraped them willi a kiiit'i;, and i>olislicd them merely hy the warmth of the hand, snppoi'tini;"' them durinj^ tht! operation in a wooden ylove. I oneo proeured a piece of tile i)uivst iee, so larj^e that a lens of sixteen inches diametei' was obtained ont of it. Unfortunately, however, tiie sun heeame obscured before it was com[)leted, and never made its ai)pearauce ayaiu for a fortnight, during which time, the air being mild, the lens was spoiletl." Land supplies no aid to the freezing of the sea, nor is the vicinity of any land necessary. A rough sea will even freeze if the cold be suflicieiit. The crystals are liien in the form of what the sailors call n/iu/r/c, and look as if a shower of snow had i'allen on tlut surface. The elVect of these crystals I'orining, as if oil had been cast on the sea, is that tliey still its breaking surface. Soon a <-ontinuous sheet is formed, but by the action of (lie waves this sheet ii broken into smaller iiieces, about three inches in diameter. ]Jy attrition tlie corners are worn oft', and look not unlike what they are called — pi/ucid-i'ii. Several of these unite and continue to increase, until they become a foot or so in thickness, and many yards in circumference. This is knov/n as pancake ice. It is the ice most usually seen when reaching the Arctic Sea south of Jan .Mayen in .March and April. It was the lirst form of I'olar ice wliicli the writer saw in (he spring ot l^lil, when cruising in that vicinity. In smooth water freezing is aecomjilished even more early. It commences in the same way ; and in the course of a couple of days a sheet is formed capable of supporting a man. This is known as ^jh// ice, fiom us lally forming iu the ((iiiet bays. Tin,' old ice of last year's growth is known as ligiit and heavy ice, and accordingly as it forms, a foot to three feet in tiickness, and upwards. This kind of iee not only forms in quiet harbours, but in everv opening in the ice even at a great distance from land. In these localities the ■.url'aee is usually as smooth as that of a harbour. Bay ice is the familiar night warning which the Arctic navigator n".('ives in tiie autumn that (he winter is coining on. As it forms around his ship, if iie is iirndeiit, he will steer for a more open sea and a milder climate, or seek a more secure shelter than the "high seas."' Tiie falling snow freezes al.iig witli the ice, and assists in giving it thickness. Indeed, there is no field of ice of nhicli tiie upper portiiiu is not composed of snow, and in most eases is hardly distiiignisiiabk from it. The formation of lields of ice, by the breaking iiii of tlicsL c;.iitiuuous shee!.^ in the spring, I have already spoken of. Ice-fields are jiowcrful physical agents. It is to them that most of the accidents to Arctic-going ships are due. Many of these lields cannot be less tlian ten thousand million tons in weight ; and in addition to the force exercised by liipth bodies of (his magnitude coming against a vessel, these ice-iieids often aeijuire a great velocity. A iield (bus in mo(ion coining in coidact wi(li another jiroduces a dreadful shock. If a ship intervenes, then nothing can save the stoutest vessel that ever was built. AVhen we speak of a whaling voyagi' (('ha[p(er \'.), we may have occasion to describe these accidenls more i'ully. In the meantime, the reader can imagine how ]iowcrful for evil these iee- llijlds are. At (he same (iine, ihoiigh (hey desdoy the sliip, (hey save the sailors, who, by leaping on (he lloaling ice, save (hemselves from the death which (hey woiiid otherwise b2 THE c'orxTniEs of tiik woiti.n. inevitably meet. Even a sliij) " lioset " is momcntaiMly suliject (o the risk of buinp: destroyi'd. The sldiite.st sliip's rilns caii no nmre witli-itaml tlic shock ol' two of tlicsu iic- iiflils, even a coujilo of feet in tliiekness, than a slieel of jiajiei' could withstand the blow of a pistol-ball. The cause of the motion of the ice may be due to cuiTcnls, the wind, or the pressure of other ice airainst them. Pole IN A " i.i Ail IN AN Ai:i*iir ni:-in:i.i). (i[.A<ii:ifS.* In our latitudes, and at low elevations, all the simw which falls durini,'' the winter melts <ilT duriui>' the heat of the ensuiny summer. As we ascend hi;;hcr and hi<;lier, this winter's snow takes a Ioniser (lerind to disappear, \mtil, at a certain elevation, a portion idways r.^maiiis over to be carried to the account of next winter's fall. The line above which the winter's sikjw is not melted nlf bv the summer's heat is known as the " snow-line.'' 'I'he lieii^'ht {A' this siinw-linc varies accordini;' to the season, the side of the mountain, and the distance >,[' llie mountain from the jioles. For instance, if the" nionntain l)e not fur from the e(]uatnr, the snuw-line will be at a great elevation; if it be near the ncjrtli or south * 111 till' fnlldwiiiK iiciount the dimiiption of Arilic glaciers i.s, to .some txtciit, :iliiiili;iil fiipiii ii iiiipiT dniwn up .y nil'. :it llir iiiiiii'St (if tlip Kuy.ll (!i'ci!;raii'ii<iil SiMiity, for tliu uau uf lliu Arttii' ExiicJilioii of I87i); "Aatio I'aijcrs of llir ItoViil (.iuoiji-.iiilik'iil Wuiitty,'' iijj. i — 74- ?s GLACIERS. r,i Poles, it will bo almost at tlio sea-level. In the Iliniaiayas it is at a liei^lit of 1 l,(HI(i or 15,11(11) I'eet; in Sjiit/berg'on and (Jreenland, as we shall presently see, there are perpetual snow ami ice at a very few feet above the slmre. If this aeciiniulatiim of snow confiniied to nalhcr anil "fatiier abcjve the snow-line, the resnlt wonlil be that the (oj) of the nn nntain wnuld Liet like a white umbrella, or like a monster snow-eovered mushroom. Of course this would be TMK (il.Al'IKIl (ir IIUXKKIIKUU. impossible — the laws of ]>hysi<'s furliid it. The mountain-to]), therefore, relievos itself of ]iart of its load by allowiiij;' it to i;lide down into the valley below. This ((institutes the "awful avalanche" whi<'h is so laniiliar (o Alpine dwellers. The jrreat mass of snow slowly slides down at lirst, ([uickly ^'atherint;' speed, until it assumes an innnense veloiily, carry- iiiji' aliiUi;' with it in its course trees, sloues, and even iarii'e rocks, which luay ba]i]ien to lie in its path, until it comes into the reo'ion of habitable country. Hero (he biu'iod traveller and the ruined shepherd's c//i(7rf give only too vivid evidence of the force of the avahuiche. There is, however, another and more iniporfant uictliod in which the mountain relieves itself o£ the load of perpetual unmelting snow. This is liy means of the <//,ic/n; a I'rencb il TIIK (dl'N'rUIKs UK IIIK \\ii|;l,|l. noi'd, wliicli iiu'itiis liturally tliu ico-nuiker, tliuiiyli il is iiuw lli(ir(iui,'lily iiiilnrMliscd in I'liiLi'lisii. Tlic yliicicr cipiiiiiu'ncc'^i just ut thai ]Miiiil wIu'ih; tlu' .-now is altLTiiiitcly meltiiiy duriiii:' tlio (lay ami Iri'iviiij:;' duriim' tlie iiiyiil, 'I'liis is al Uie It'i'iiiinatidU of the lino (if iici'iictual sliDW— at tliu siKiu-liiic ill fiK'l. All aliLivc this point is known as liu' in'rc, a Swiss provincial word, -.ihifli has also H'ot incorporated into our vocaliulary. Ity this allcrnalivu nu'ltiiit;- and IrL't'/inj;', and hy tho [irc'ssuro of the sliow-iuasses on each, tlio snow nets converted into a dull wiiite, semi-porous iee. This ice hegius to move downward — to seek tlie lowest elevation. It is the eommeneeinent of the n'laeier. Tiie 5,flaeier is now con- tinually on the move, iinpellcd liy what I'orce is not yet clearly made out. Numerous tlieorii's iiave heeu siiy^ested, though in many cases the cause which imi)uls the glacier to move, aiivl the method by which an icy river-like mass moves, have been mixed up together. Saus.-iire, Cliarpcnticr, Agassi/, Forbes, ]\losley, and TyiuLdl may be cited as among the authors of (he theories of glacier motion. Amid their war of words it will be sulliciently safe for us to take refuge in the old theory advanced by the lirst climber of Mont Ulane — Dc Sanssure — that a glaeiyr moves down the mountain-side siinjily because it cannot do anything else, owing to the iiressure of the iee and snow in its rear. Certain it is that it moves sluwly but surely, until il iills the valley, be it broiul or narrow; and, still moving onward, unites with other tributary glaciers, just as a river unites with tributary streams, to swell into one broad current of ice. The rate at which it moves varies according to the season of the year, the part of the world, and tho position of the glacier, which is taken into eonsideralioii. In the Alps the average rate is from IJi to I'.U inches daily. 'I'lie sides move more slowly than the centre, where the maxiinum rale is ;J-'5i to 'Mh inches per diem. iVgain, the bottom of the glacier, being retarded by the ground over which it jiasscs, moves more slowly than the to]). The motion of the glacier is, in reality, to all intents and purposes, subject to the same laws as the motion of a river. Tho Arctic glaciers, of uliieli we shall presently speak, move much more slowly. From four and a half to eight inclies per day is the rate at which the Givenland glaciers have been observed to move. The appearance of a glacier after it has travelled several miles and acquired its normal force is that of a ridged expanse of snow-covered surface. The whole is broken uj) by deep cracks or /■rcrimwn, great rents down which tho streams formed by the melting of the snow tumble with a hollow sound; ijlaclrr hi/jtett, formed by the melting of the glacier all around the ice, protected by llat stones which have fallen on it, until they are supported by icy |iillai's; ice cones, formed in much the same way where sand has fallen; iiiiiulhix, or hollow riinnel-like places worn by the streams which leap into them with a noise like thunder; and iiwrdbies. Of these the moraines are most remarkable. They are simply the stones, earth, and other ilchrh dislodged from the sides of glaciers, and which accordingly lie cii them iu long lines on each side. Those are the lalerul moruinci. If the glacier unite with a secouil, the contiguous lateral moraines will form a single ii/eifiid one down the middle of the common glacier, while the lateral ones remain as before, and so on. In this way the ever-moving glacier will carry rocks from the high Alps far down into the plains below — miles and miles, it may be, from their original home. From under the glacier is water ever llowing — sometimes a liny stream, at other limes a considerable river. The {{Ikuic and other rivers take their rise in these sub-glaeier streams. These streams are formed by tin; melting- of tl surfi " mi other whici imjK groov Swis their the If till the cause; Stan( Wat. from time has the f of tl ii/iiiili and, tlie 1 world cii.Arii'UfS. 55 ol' tlio iiiidcr siirfiici' nl' I'nc o'liicior, wliiili is at ii liij^'licr ti'iiqii'i'iifiiri' tliim llii- u]i|m'v siii'l'iu't', anil l)y tlic siirFat'O riviiluts, \vlii<'li pour down tlu' ci'evassL's and numlins (..r "mills"). Tiio ^laiior in movini; aloiify imbeds in its undcr-surfac'e stones, earth, inul otiier (li'lii'ii which it |)assos over. It tlnis nets liko il lui^o movalilo lile on the roelis uith which il Clinics in contact. Tiie resnlt is that the snli-,i,Haeier rivei' is laden with a while im]ialiial)!o nuiil, and that the rocks over which a n'lacier has ^';one are ronndcd uiid H'rooved, and the whole conntry shaven as it' hv a nm^'h plane and lile coniliined. The Swiss sliepherds know this well, and style snch mnndcd rocks iVf/n-K /i/oii/u/n/ri, IVnni their likeness to the l)acks ol' Mack siieep lyinji' in the Ion"' i^riiss. The o'lucier is all the time moving' i'rom the frosty snmmit of the lofty peak down into the lowland valley. ]f the season be a favourable one among the vineyards and eorn-lields, it stops there; and the lieat of the sun boinj^f more powerfid than the propelling' motion of the glacier, r.anses the end to melt away, and the progress of the great ice-river is thus terminated. Standing in front of one of these glacier ends, a sloping mass of ice faces the observer. Water is streaming over the edge, and the white muddy glacier river is pouring out from beneath. Over the edge of the glacier something is always tumbbng — at one time a thimbleful of sand, at another a cartload of rock and earth. If the glacier has retreated, as sometimes it will during hot summer, this rubbish will extend across the glen ]iarallel with the end of the glacier, like a confused rampart, under the name of the Icnninal moraine. Thes(^ moraines, along with the ruck-scratchings and rochcx hKinliiniici, are the certain signs of glaciers having passed over any part of the coiuitry, and, a> we shall see ])rosently, are adduced as proof that the Scottish glens were oneo the beds of glaciers, like those of the Alps, or of Greenland, in an earlier stage of the world's history. Sometimes a glacier will move much farther than was expected, and advance far into the region of cultivated land, killing the crops and carrying away cottages and other obstacles in its way as easily and much more certainly than the carpenter's plane carries the shavings of the jilank before it. This is, however, rarely met with. Long after it has retreated il leaves behind it the marks of its visits — snch as angular blocks of stone which it has carried on its surface, often })elonging to rock nnl found in that vicinity, moraines, scratched and polisheil stones, raclicH nKiHldiiiirx, and boulders rounded by being rolled under the glacier into the under surface, where they have got eniliedded. These "foundlings," as they are called in Switzerland (page h(\) , are found i)lcntifully scattered over every Alpine valley, in places where no glaciers have ever been since the memoi'y of man. Such is a brief sketch of some of the more common iihenomena of glaciers. They are the same whether in the Alps of Norway or of New Zealaiiil, in Switzerland, or in the Himalayas. Hitherto wo have avoided the disputed tpiestion of the cause of glacier motion. To explain this many theories have been advanced, some of which are almost entirely abandoned; others are still suh JiiiUw. Among these must be taken the theory of Forbes, who looks upon a glacier as an "imperfect lluid or viscous body which is unfed down slopes of a certain inclination by the mutual jiressure of its parts." Ac ording to this eminent Alpine observer, a glacier is not a crystalline silid, like ice, frozen in 6fl TIIK ( nI-NTl;ir.S OK Till', WnlM.l), n iiinuld, liiil possrssi'il i\[' " ;i pcriiliar lissiircil iinil liiiiiiiiiitcd sti'iictiiri', thi'onf»li wliicli Wiiti'i' i'iiIi'iimI iiitd ils intiinsii' ci imposition, K''\''i'n '' '' viscid CDiisislfiico similiir (o tiiiit possessed liy trcMcIc, lioiicy, or tiir, Imt dilVt'i'itii4' in di'^rce," 'ryndall's llicury is in rcalily vci'v littli" dill'i'rt'nt Irnni tliiit ol' Forlii's, only ho ilciiii's tliat glacier ice is viscid, linl (iiat ils nidliiiii is dnc to liio aitprnnto fracture and re-frcuzinff (or rc-gcIation, as lie calls it) oF tlio lirokcn I'laLrnicnls. A hot war lias been tiic result of this ylacicr discussion, in which tiic rival cdiidmtants have used terms and thrown out insinuations atfuinst cad. i y:-. ICE-IKIUNE III.IIIK Ol' STC1NI-, KNOWN As "A KnlNllI.IN(i," IN SWITZKIILANM. other of a nature, no douht, ciiar.icterislic cnouy;h of scientific controversy, hut which arc decidedly unworlliy of the di^-pule and the disputants. AllfTIC CiLAriATIOV. In tlie Pcdar reifious there are also ylaciers identical with those of yMpino countries, hut on a tirandor scale, ami in some respects different from those of inland cnuntrios, owinir to their prnxiinity to the sea. \u tlu' Arctic rej^ions the snow-lino is close to the water's y,((r,. — ;if iiidsl only a lew hundred feel idiove it. The f^laciers thus, sooner or later, roach the sea, which iiu>y can never do in the Alps, thouj»'h in Norway some of tiu'm do. When they reach the sea they In'oak off in the form of icebergs, so familiar to the voyager in the Arctic Ocean. In Spitzburgen and in Greenland they are seen in perfection; but it ARCTIC GLACIATIOV. .'i7 is only ill tlic lattor country flint Arctic j;liiciiiticiii can lir -ecu on a <<:n'i\i scale. Ilmcc wo may tako (Jrccnland as typical of tlio rest of tho Arctic rcH'ions. (irocnlaiul is in all likelihood a larj^fp wcdgc-sliaix'il island, or scries of isl;inds, surrounded liy the icy Polar liasin on its northern shores, anil "'l!. smith's Sound, Hallin's Hay, Pavis' Strait, and the Spit/.liorgen or (ircenland Sea of the Dutch — the old "(frccnland Sea" of the lMiy;lish whalers — completing its insidarity on its western and eastern sides. The whole of the real i/(\ficfi> land of this {jreat islund consists, then, of a ciri'let of islets, of ^'I'l'ater or less extent, eirclin<j round the coast, and aetinj,' as the shores of a ji,''reat interior ////'/■ 111;: lillONK CilAI IKll. I (fe ghtep — a huffe inland sea of fresli-water ico, or [jlacier, which covers the whole extent of the country to an unknown depth. Heneath this icy coverin"' must lie the orij;inal hare ice-covered country, at a much lower elevation than the surroimdini,'' circlet of islands. Those islands are bare, bleak, and more or less mountainous, reaching to about ^,(IU(I feet; the snow clears off, leaving room for vegetation to burst out during the short Arctic summer. The breadth of this outskirting land varies, as do the spaces between the dift'erent islands. These inlets between the islands constitute the fjords of (ircenland, and are the channels through which the overflow of the interior ice dis<'harges itself. Tt is on these islands, or <iutskirting land, that the popidation of (ircenland lives and the Danish trading- posts are b\iilt — all the rest of tlu' coinitry, with the exception of this island circlet, being an icy, landless, sea-like waste of glacier, which can be seen here and there ])ceping out in the distance. On some of the large and more mountainous islands, as might be exjiected 8 fis iiii: (<n-Mi(ii:s ()!'• ■rui; Wdui.u. in surli a cliiiiiilc, tlicrc ;ire smnll indoppmleiit f^liicicrH, in iiiany cases coining,' down to tlio si'ii, ;iiiil llici'c iii'^('liary:iii^' iccliorfjH ; l>ut t'lCHO f^'liicicrs iirc di' iittl(' iiniiorliiiiw, mid liiivc III! nmniMlidn willi llic jficiit iiitomnl icc-t'ovcfiiiH' of the coinilrv. I liavo called the land liriliii;^ tills iiitei'iiir ice-desert "a scries of islands," liccanse tlioiiH'h niimhcrs of them are jiiiiicd tni-vtlicr liy yh"'''''''^. i""' "'>'y " 1"''^ are wiiolly insniated by water, many of tiiem (indeed, llie inM.jurily) iiri' lninndcd on their castcfrn side liy this internal inland ice; yet. uliclhrr liiiiindcd liy water or hy ice, the lionndary is jierjietnal, and whatever ho il'O in<ul;il iiij^incdiiiin, ihey lire to all intents and iMirposes /vA/;/?/*. This is well known to tho h,iiu'-i ill (irecniiiiid hy (he name of tho " inlandsiis," and thoni,''h a familiar snhject of talk aniunyst theiii from the earliest limes, it is only a very few of tho "colonists" who have ever reached it. The natives overywhere have iv f^reat horror of pcnotratinj^ into the iiitciinr, not iiiily (111 acciiiint of tho danjjrers of ice-travel, hnt from a superstitions notion tluit tJK' interior is inhaliitrd hy evil spirits in the shape of all sorts of monsters, Crossiii"' over the com])arativeIy narrow strip of land, tho traveller comes to this {^•reat inland ice. If tin' termination of it ho at the soa, its face looks like a, <jreat ice-wall: indeed, the Eskimo called It tjie Smnil: non/i-, wliieh means this exactly. The hoijjht of lliis icy face varies aceordiiio' to the dej)th of the valley or fjord which it fills. If tho 'die he shallow, tho heio-lit Is low; 11', on the contrary, it lie a deeii ylen, thou tho soa-faco of the o-lacier in the fjord Is lofty. From 1,IH)() to .'!,()()(( feet is not uncommon. In such situations the face is always slei'p, I)ecause lior^s are continually hroakinf^ off from it ; iind then it is not only extremely dang'orous to approach it, on account of tho ice fallinfj, or tho wave caused hy tho displacement of tho water, but from tho great steepness of tho face it is rarely possible to got on to it at all. In such places Dr. Rink has gonerally found that it vises by a gradual slope to tho general level plateau biTond. However, where it does not reach the sea, it Is often possible to climb on it from the land by a gentle slope, or even in some cases to step up on it .as it shelves up. Once fairly on the inland ice, a dreary scene meets tho view. As far .as the oyo can reach, to tho north and to the south, is this same great i<'e-(iel(l, tho only thing to relievo the oyo being tho winding black circuit of the coast -line land or islands before described, here infringing in little penin.sulas on tho ice, there tho ico dovetailing in tho form of a glacier on the laud, and now and then tho waters of a deep fjord ]ienetrating into the iee-lu'ld, its circuit marked by the black line of coast surrounding il on cither side, the eastern generally being tho ice-wall of tho glaciei', the western being the sea. Travelling a short distance on this interior ice, it seems as if we were travelling on the sea. Tho land begins to fade away behind us like the shore rc?ediiig as we sail out to sea; while far aw.ay to the eastward nought can be seen but a dim, cli'iir oiitlliit' like the horizon hounding oin- view. The ice rises by a gentle slope, the gradient bi'ing stee|ier at lirst, Imt gradually getting almost imperceptible, though re.al. In the winter and spring this ice-field must bo covered with a deep blanket of snow, and the surface must then be smooth as a suow-covorod frozen lake; but in tho summer, by the molting of tho snow, it is coviri il with pools and coursing streams of icy-cold w.atcr, which either find their way over the edge, or tiiiiibh? with a hollow sound through the deep crevasses in tho ico. How deep these crevass, -i :ii'c it is iiiipussllile to .say, as we could not see to the bottom of them, nor did tl •lIlKllliLL'-Cori I reach down except a short way. Tho dciith of the ico-covcring will. M AKCIH' (il.AflATKiV. A9 (if ciiiirsc, vary ; wlici it lies iivcr a viiUoy it will lif i|i'i'|icr, ovn- a iniiiiiilaiii-ii.|i li-s. All \m' know ia, tlmt just now it is alliiost luvi'l tliidUHliuiil, liill alirl dale iiialvin|L>' no tlillVfciici'. IIdwuvit, witli Hiic'li II liiij^e HiiiH'riiiciiiiila'iit muss ul' ice, the uvirayu iicif^lit ol' tliu coast- lyiii;^' islamls Is (^router tiiaii liiat ol' the inland iee, and it is oidy at'lcr iliniMiii;' considtruMu iii.'ij;lits that it fun be seen.* Therct'ore, supposing this eoveriny lo lie ivmovcil, I iliiidi the eoiinti'v would look like a huyu shallow oblonj,' vessel with hio'li walls aimind it. The siirliice ol' tile iee is ridyed and furrowed alter the nuinnei' ot glaeieis j^ciierally ; and tlii> iin'rowiny' does not decrease as wo f;o further inland, hut, as far as our liniilml means of oliserv.Uiou yn, it seems to increase ; so that were it possible tcj cross this vast icy descil on doi^->le<lH'cs when the snow is on the f^round, I do not think it would be jmssible to return, and il> cx|ilonition would recjuiro the aid of a sliiii on the other side. On its surface I here a|i|icar.'- uni ;i trace of any living tiling' execpl ii minute al^'ii (a siuqili', almost micro-copic |ilantj ; and after leaving the little outpourinjf oilshoot of a "lacier from it, the dreariness ol tlic scene is not relieved by even the siylit of u jjatch of earth, a stone, or iiuyht beloiiyiuo' to Ihc World wc secui to have Icfi behiiul. Once, and only once, during our attenijit to explore this waste did 1 >ei' a faint red streak, which showed the existence of the red snow-plant ; but even this was before the land had been fairly left. A few truces of other aiyie were seen by I'njfcssor Xordenskjiild and Dr. Beryjjreii, who afterwards made a similar but more sueeessful attempt. Animal life seems to liave left the vicinity; and the chilliness of the afternoon breeze, which rcijularly blew with piereiny bitterness over the ice-wastes, even caused the j'iskimo doj;'s to crouch under the lee of the sledye, and made us, their masters, draw the fur hoods of our coals higher about our cars.t Whether this ice-lield be continuous from north to south it is not possible in the ]ircscnt statu of our kuowledye to decide, but most likely it is so. Wlielhcr its lou^'iludinal raii^e be con- tinuous is more dillicult to decide, thouyh the explorers who have attcmiitid lo jienclrate it, saw nothinf^ to the eastward to break their view; so that, as 1 shall inuuedialely discuss, there seems every probability that in (jrcenland there is one continuous uidiroken level licld of ice, swaddliuf,'' up in its snowy windiujj-sheet hill and valley, without a sini^le break for u|i\\.inls of l,!i(l() miles* of latitude, and an averaj^-e of lOU miles of lou^'itude, or from Cajjc Farewell to the upper extremity of Smith's Sound, and from the west coast of (Jrcenland to the east const of the same country, a stretch of ice-covered country inlluitely yrcater than ever was demanded hyjiothelically by Aj,''assiz in supjiort of his ylacier-theory. Are there any ran/^es of mountains from the slojies of which this great interior ice descends? As I have said, we are not in a position to absolutely decide; l)ul the jirobabilitics are in favour of the nefjative. There are no ieebery '• streams " on the east coast of Greenland, and borgs are rare off that coast. If there were ii\ icebergs, the Held of Hoe *■' In I{inl\'» " ( ironland," ii., p. 2, iirc tvvi. cliurutcvistic views of tlir ;i|pii(;cmucc' of lln' intirior ice seen from such rli'Viitiiitis. t fill' (Icscriptioii of the effects of the ice in liniilin;,' :inim;il iinil vi ^' liitilc life, r'uli tlie iiutlxji's "Mammalian Kauna of (ireenland," " I'roc. Zoul. Soe. I.oii'l., ISCiS," j>. 3:)7 I Ailmiialtv's "Manual of the Natural History of llreonland," lS7'i, p. 7 ; anil " I'lorula Hiseoana," "Tranu. Hot. Soe. KJin.," vol. ix., \\. 1 1(1. + Kink s;iys SOO miles; luil throuffhout his valiiahle works he only spiaks of (lie Dani.sh jicution of (inenl.ind, of which it jirofeBsua solely to he a ileseription. .lumieson and other writi'rs seem tn think that it is only Norll' I ireenland that is covered. .Vll tlie country, north and uouth, is eipially swatlicd in iee. 60 TiiK (_i)i;Nri;ii;s of the would. ami jin(k-iic> which ^^kil•ts (hat coast, and which has prevonteJ exploration except in very open soasdHs, wimid sikim he hroken up by llie foi'ee with which the hci'tjs, hreiikinjj^ oil IVoin the lanii, umilil smash thruiiyh the iccMcld, and, acting; ns sails, lielp, l)y the aid of the winds, as elsiuinTi', 111 sweep il away. \ am (hei'er<ire of ojiinion liiat the ^'I'l'''* ice-lield slopes from llie east to llie i- .'st coast of (iiei'uland, and that any herj^'s which may he seen en that coast are fmni local ylaeiers, or from some unimpcirtant delliicnt of the great interior ice. Nor do I think a rang'e of mountains at all necessary for the formation of this hui^e mer dv i/lacu ; for this is an idea wholly derived fnni the Alj'ine and other mountain rang'cs, where the ivlacier system is a jietty affair "ompared with that of (ireenland. I look upon Greenland and its interior ice-lield in the li^jht of a liroad-lipped, shallinv vessel, hut with chinks in the lips he.e and (here, anil the i;lacier like the viscous nia((er in it. As more is poured in the viscous matter will run over (he udijes. na(urally (akin<^ the line of the chinks as its line of outtlow. The iiroad lips of the vessel, in my homely simile, are the outlying islands, or "outskirts; " the viscous nia((er in the vessel the inlanil ice, the ailditional matter contimially liciu^' [loured in in (he I'nrm of the enormous snow covering' which, winter after winter, for seven or ci^lit mouths in (he year, falls almost eontinuuusly on it; the chinks are the fjords or valleys down which (he glaciers, represeiding the outllowing viscous matter, empty the surplus ol' the vcssi'l. Iii other words, the ice Hows out in glaciers, overllows the land, in fact, down (he valli'ys anil fjords of (ireenlaiui, liy force of the sujierincunihent weight of the snow, just as does the g'rain on (he llo(U' of a harn (as admiraldy descrihed by Jamieson) when anodier sackful is cin]i(ied on the top of (he mound already on the lloor. "The Moor is llal, and t'lerefore does not conduct the grain in any direction; the outward motion is due to the pressure of the particles of gram on one another; and, given a lloor of inlinite ex(ension, and a ])ile id' sullicieut aniouul, (he miiss would move outward to any distance, and with a very slight pitch or slojie it would slide forward along the incline." To (his lei m ' add Ihal if (he llo(U' o'- [he margin of the heap of grain was undulating, the sircain of grain would take the rvKcM- of such undulations. The want, therefore, of much slope in a country, and (ho absence of any gi'eat mountain-range, are of very little moment " (o (he movement of land-ice, jifuciih-il in: /imr xiioio eif/'f/Zi." As (he ice reaches the coast it naturally takes the lowest level. Accordingly, it there forks o\it into glaciers or ice-rivers, by which means the overllow id' this great ice-lake is sent olf (o (he sea. The lenglh and breadth of (hese glaciers vary according to the breadth or length of the intersiiaee between the island !own which it Hows.* If the land project a considerable way into (he grea( iee-lake, then (he glacier is a long <Mie ; if (lie ontrary be the case, then it is hanlly distinguished from the great interior iee-licld, and, as in the case of the great glacier of llumbolilt in Smith's Sound, the interior ice may be said to discharge itself almost wthout a glacier. The fa-e of Humboldt's glacier is in breadth about sixty miles. This, therefore, I take to be the intcrs|)aee between the nearest elevated skirling land on either side. It thus appcii's (hat, between (he inland ice and (he ghu.'icr, llu' dilTerenct! is one solely of degree, not <d' kind, (hougli, for the sake of clearness of description, a nominal distinction has been drawn. n % * rrolicrly spfaliini";, iiccovdiiii^ to llu.' (trilinui'y nonicuflnturi', tlic wliuli' of tin? ico, from the m't't' downwiinl^, thoiil'l !"■ cidliil rilinirr ; liut mm \\>- li;ivc mil yit pi'iiitratril sulliiiintly f;ii' iiitn tlii' iiit'iim- t'l uliscrvc where tlio «i'fi cutis iiiid tliL' ijiiichr lii-ijiiis, I huvf, for tliu aalic of diatiuctuus.s, adoptoJ thu iibovo iiiljili'iiry IioiiRiicliitiiro. 62 THE a)UNl'l{Ii:s OF TlIK WOULD. Tlio glacier, as 1 liave saiil, will usually ilow to the lowest elevation. Aceoixlinyly it may take II valley, and j^radually advance until it reaches the sea. In the course of a;.^('s this valley will bo j^'roijved down until it deepens to the seu-level. The sea will then enter it, and the glacier- hed of i'ornicr times will become one of those fjords which indent the coast of Oreonland and other northern countries, often for many miles; or these may be much more sjicedily j)rudueed by dejjression of the land, such as I shall show is at present g'oiiif,'' on. By force of the sea the g'lacier proper will then be limited to the land, and its old bed become a deep inlet of the sea, hollowed out and /^^'rooved by the iceberiifs which i)ass outwards, until, in the course of time, by the action of a force which I shall presently describe, the fjords f,'et lilled up and choked again with icebergs, in all probability again to become the bed of some future glacier stream. In alpine regions, far away from the coast, the glacier, as it pushes its way down into warmer regions, either advances or retreats, according to the heat of the summer ; but in either case it gives off no great masses of ice from its inferior extremity. The same is true of the Arctic glacier when it protrudes into some mossy valley without reaching the sea ; but when it reaches the sea another force comes into operation. We have seen (1) the inland ice-field emptied by (2) the glacier ; we now see the glacier relieving itself by means of (li) the iceberg, or " ice mountain," as the word means. AVhen the glacier reaches the sea it grooves its way along the bottom under the water for a considerable distance ; indeed, it might do so for a long way did not the buoyant action of the sea stop it. For instance, in one locality in S(julh Greenland, in about (!^" '62' N> lat., between Fredrikshaab and FiskernKss, or a little north of the J'-skimo fishing i^tafion of Avigait, and south of another village called Tekkisok, is a remarkable instance of this. Here the " iisblink," or the " ice-glance " of the Danes (i.e., the projecting glacier, though English seamen use the word "iceblink" in a totally dift'erent sense, meaning thereby the " loom " of ice at a distance), projects bodily out to sea for more than a mile. The b(jttom ajijiears to be so shallow that the sea has no etfcct in raising it up; and the breadth of the glacier itself is so considerable as to forni a stout breakwater to the force of the waves. It was long supposed that the iceberg broke off from the glacier by the mere force of gravity ; this is not so. It is forced off from the parent glacier by the buoyant action of the sea from beneath. The ice groans and creaks ; then there is a crashing, then a roar like the discharge of a park of artillery, and with a monstrous regurgitation of waves, felt far from the scene of disturbance, the iceberg is launched into life. The bree/.e which blows out from the land, generally for several hours every day, seems, according to my observation, to have the effect of Itlowing the bergs out to sea; and then they may be seen sailing majestically along in long lines out of the ice-fjords. Often, however, isolated bergs, or groups of bergs, will float away south or north. Occasionally a vessel will be driven on to a grounded berg. Such an accident happened to the steam-tender Intrcpvl, one of Sir 11. Austin's scjuadron, in the Franklin Search Kxpeilition of 1850-51. She, however, escaped uninjured, though enclosed in a cradle on the side of a berg formed by the broken iloe, &c., as shown in the sketch made at the time by Connnander May, E.N. (See IMate I.) Bergs from the ice-streams of Ballin's Bay will be found in the sdulhcrn reaches of Davis' Strait; while others, bearing r/i'/y/v'v which could only have been accinuidaled in South Greenland, will be found frozen in the lines of Melville Bay or Lancaster Souml. It i.s u ARCTIC (lI.ACl.VriOX: TIIK ICKHKKO. ■i-i take will llciLT- il iiiul iilucc'd t'ii the le sea, lie, by a<>:aiu In fommon mistake, but one which a moment's relleetion would surely dissipate, that bergs found in the south must all have tome from the north, and that those farther north must have eomo from the regions still farther northward. The winds and the currents waft them hither and thither, until, by the force of the waves, they break into fragments and become undis- tinguishable from the oozy fragments of Hoes around them. Often, however, they will ground either in tlie fjord or outside of it, and in this position remain for months, and even years, only to b<^ removed by pieces calving or breaking off from them, and thus lightening them, or forced off tlio hank whore they have touched the bottom by the force of the displaced wave caused by tlie breaking off of a fresh berg. Ice much exposed to the sea breaks ofB in small ice-calves, but not in bergs. This calving will sometimes set the sea in motion as much as sixteen miles off. The colour of tie berg is, of course, that of the glacier ; but by the continuous beating of the waves on it the surface gets glistening. The colour of the mass is a dead white, like hard- pressed snow, which in reality it is, while scattered through it ar-- 'uies of blue. These lines ai'O also seen in the gl"'>ier on looking down into the crevasses, or at the glacicr-facc, and are, in all probability, caused by the annual melting and freezing of the surface-water of the glacier. Then another fall of snow comes in the winter ; then the suns of summer melt the surface to some slight extent ; this freezes, forming an ice different in colour from the compressed snow- ice of the glacior, and so on. I am aware, however, that this is a subject of controversy ; and this view of mine is only brought forward as a probable explanation, suggested to nic as far back as IStil, when I first saw glaciers in the upper reaches of Baffin's Bay and on the western shores of Davis' Strait, and long before I was aware that this streaketl or veined character of glacier-ice had been a subject of dispute.* Tyndall considers that the veined or ribboned struct\ire of alpine glacier is owing to the presence of spaces from which the air-bubbles in the ice have been wholly expelled, trans- luceiioy being thus converted into transparency. These blue veins are apparelitly caused by pressure. The pressure is excited in three directions, producing veins which are com- plementary to the three kinds of crevasse — transverse, longitudinal, and marginal. The greater portion of the l)ergs form long streams opposite their "ice-fjords," these streams being constantly reinforced liy fresh additions poured out from the fjord. Hence certain localities in (iroonland are distinguished by their "ice-streams;" these localities being invariably opposite the mouths of ice-fjords, or fjords with great glaciers at their landward end pouring out icebergs. Wherever these glaciers terminate the glacier stream will be found. What is under the ice no man can say. No doubt the country is undulating, but it must now be well worn down by the immense mass of ice which has been for ages moving over it. The amount of mud pouring out into the fjords is very great. In some cases it is shoaling u]) the fjords, and in a few cases has effectually blocked them. The mud is line, and soon gets laminated. The Arctic shellfish burrow into it, and when the * Tlirsi' liliic stiipps arc si>vorril frit in ilimnision, aiul in thorn aw pniniUy fonnil tlio " cliit-liMiiila " of fmciifn matter (stoms, e^ravol, day, &c.)y tin' rt'inaiiis of Iho, nior:iini\ Dr. Kink thinks tliat tlir hhio striprs air fonncil hy a tillinfi; up of tho fissuns in the iii/niii/ {<■<' with water—'' juiliaps iiiixiil witli snow, )!;ravil. an'l stones; and sneli a refiii,'eiatioii of tlie water in the lissiires may ho supposeil to l)u an iinpurtmt ageiiey in settinj; in motion these j^reat moantains of icu." 64 THE COUNTRIES OF THE AVORLD. pettN tiilt'S of Iho far Nurtli aw at elili, they arc oxju^sod in long' dreary flatsj over which the icy winds ironi the intciior bhiw with hitter lorce. Wiien the ghieier reaches the sea, the stream Hows out under the water, and, o\vin<^ to tiie smaller speeilic gravity of the I'resh wiiter, rises to tli' surface, as lk\ Kink deserihes, "like sprinys " — though bo does not consider (as some have supposed him to do) that that water was in reality spring-water, or of the nature of springs. Here are generally swarms of Eiitomostraca '^,.'•-5 AN AliCTlC LAKE IN llll; llKIlillT 111- M MMKU. (nr water-ileas) and other marine animals. These attract llights of gulls, which are over noisily lighting for their food in the vicinity of such j)laces. AVe lived for the greater portion of a whole summer at Jakulishavn, a little Danish post, in latitude (50° l.'V N., close to whieli is the great Jakolishavn ice-fjord, which annually pours an immense fpiantity of icebergs into Disco Hay. In early times this inlet was (piito o))en f(ir boats; and Xnnatak (a wonl meaning a "land surrnunded by ice") was once an I'skimo settlement. There was in lS(i7 an old man (^Fanjus) living at .lakobshavn whose grandfather was bovTi there. The Tessiusak, an inlet of Jakubsliavn ice-l'ii)i;d, cuidd at that time be entered by boats. Xow-a-days, .lakobshavn ice-tionl is so choked up by bergs that it is impossible to go up iu Imats, and such a mode of entering it is never thought of. The Tessiusak must be reached by n kiborious juiirncy over land; and Nunatak is now only a distant i>land surrounded by the inland ice — a place where no man lives, or Till-: INLAND Ur. (IK (Ilir.F.NI.AND. 66 \\:\<, III till' iiicmoiy ol' luiy one imw liviiiy, mulieil.* J!"tli alniiLj its sli.iiv imd that III' till' iiiiiii' Cjord iiiv iimiii'i'mis nMiiiiiiis lA' ilwrlliiiys ]><n'j; uiiiiiluilMtaWo, (iwiiii;' to it liriii;;- iniinpssililu tn frniii accuss to tluMii liy sea. The inland ico is nnw cncroaidiini,' (Hi till' land, thou^'h at one time it aiipoai-s to liavo i.'ovcrwl many i"iiliiiii< oi' tin; (■ountiy at invsLMit liaro. This advanco and ivlrcat oT llic inland ire may ln' due to clian^ro of clinnitc, di tlif raiiid advanrcf of the ico fmm the intci'inr, ,,r tn tlir rise and fall of the land (\>. i'^'^- There are traditions that a yreat inlet niiee stretelied aernss (li^vnlanil not far VIKW 111- JAKllllsllAVS, NclllTII (OlKKM.AMl. { I'lom nil lhi;/(lliil •S/.ilc/l.) fi-nm this ]ilace, as represented (in some nf the iM niaps, 1ml tliat it has al.-o iinw i^ot tlmki'fl nj) with eonsdjidated hi'i'^is. In fnrnier tinu's the natives used to speah nf jiieees of tiniher ilril'tiii<^ out of this inlet, and even tell df |ieii)ili' eniiiinn' aeress ; and stories ^et liliLjer amoii^ tlieiii of the furiiier oeeiirreiiee nf siieli jironfs nf tlie upenness of the inlet. All tha. we know is, that sneh a trans-einilinenlal jiassai^'e, if ever it did exi-l, is now >hiit up. Tlie M-laiicr and the ire-stream have not eliani,'ed their ennrse, tlioiii;'li, if * All n.ikr. or i^Ms Mirrniiiiil.il ty Ihr •■ inl.in.l i. .■■" mi. .,,11. . I •• Niiii.d;ili- " Lv 111. ( In . nl.in.l.rs. t Frnm iiliscrMilions minle in llu' Miiiiin.r "f is;.'), iit .liikiil..<liuvn Fjiipl, IliUun.l. a NiirwraiMii irml. .ui.»'., iMiiM.ilul this at 17 fiit /ler ilinn ill siiiniiii r. l"iili.-s tin r.' is sum.-' ijifal irmr ill tliisi' i.lisi rv iti..ns, this ixlra> 1.1. Unary ratr ut ni.itinn is fr..m t\v. nty tu thirty tinus H;ri at'.T tli.in Klini''-' 'i-oe ''"'» iili«. rvi'd t.i in"vr in t. Mi|.. rat.' ziinis. 9 66 Till-; ( orNTKlKS 111' TIIK WdKl.l). tbo slioiiliii^ lit' tlie inlet ^'■ocs on (and slidiild tlio jij-lacii'i' (•(inliniiu at its head, n(itliini.j is more eortain), tlicii it \-i jiw( ])iissil)l(' that tlic I'riclinn nl: tlio lidUoni ni lliu inlet may ovcrccinio llic I'divc ul' tiiu nhn'ior, and lliat. the ice may si'di anotluT cdnivo. As thu iic'ig'hltonrliuiid is liit;li and rocky, this is hardly jmssililc with the jn'cscnt ciintdur oi' tho land. At the jnvsciil day, the whulo neid'hljiiurlidud nl' tiie month ol' liio <,^lacier is i'nll of hei'd's ; and nl'ten we slmnld he astcinished on snnie iiuiet sunsliiiiy day, withont a breath ot" wind in the hay, to see llie "ice shonfin"' out" (as the local jilirase is) I'l'imi (he ice-fjord, and the little hay in iVcnt <il' onr door in Jakohshavn Kirke covered with luijre icehern's, so that we slumld lind it necessary to put oil' onr I'xenrsiou to the other side of (he inlet ; und the natives wonld stand hunorv on the shore, as noliody wonld dare put off in his /. vy.^/r to kill seals, heinij afraid of the falling' of the hero's. In a lew honrs the hay wo'dd be clear, until another crop sjirauo' out from the fjord. At any time to venture nenr these berg-s wijuld lie attended with oreat danocr; and tin.' ]ioor (ireen- lander olten loses his life in the attempt, as the hero's, even when ayround, have always a slight motion, which has the ell'ect of stirring u]) the food on which the seals snlisist. Aecordino'ly, t'.ie ncighhonrhood of those bergs is favourable for seals, in the atteni] t to capture which the hapless '' kayaker '' not nnfreipiently loses his life by i'alling ice. ^Vhen we would row lietween two to avoid a few hundred yards' circuit, the rower would ptdl with muilled oars and bated breath. Orders would he given in whisjiers ; aud even were Sabine's gull or the great a\dc to swim \k\A, 1 scarcely think that even the chance of gaining such a jiri/e would (cm]it us to run the risk of iiring, and thereby endangering our lives by the revei'berations bringing down jiieccs of crinnbling ice banging overhead. A few strokes, and we are out of danger; and then the pent-u[i feelings of our stolid fur-clad oiU'smen lind vent iu lusty huzzahs ! Yet, when viewed out of danger, this uohle assemblage of ice palaces — hundreds in number being seen at such times from the end of Jakobshavn Kirke — was a uuignilieent sight ; and the voyager might well indulge in some jioetie fren/.y at the view. The noonday heat had melted their sides; and the rays of the red evening sun gl;in<ing askance among them woidd conjure up fairy visions of castles of silver and cathedrals of gold lloating iu a sea of summer sunlight. Here was the Walhalla of the sturdy \'ikings ; here tho city of the sun-god Freyr; Alfheini, with its eltin eaves; and (ilitner, with its walls of gold and roofs of silver; (iinde, iirilliant than the (iladsheim, the home of tho happy; and there, piercing the clouds, was llimmellicrg, the celestial mount, where the bridge of the gods touches heaven.* Suddeidy there is a swaying, a moving of the water, and onr fairy palace iiills in jiieees ; or, with an echo like a prolonged thunder-peal, it eapsi/.cs, sending the waves in breakers up t.i our very feet. 1"he whole scene was worthy of Coleridge's graphic, though now hackneyed, lines in "The Ancient Mariner," in which he says : — "The i(?(', iiKist liiiili, caini' fliMtiiiu' I'V, .\s ijivcu as I'lni'iiild." Some of thes,' icebergs ar<' of enormous si/e. ITayes caleulat<'d that one stranded in 15allin"s Bay, in water nearly half a mile in depth, contained about ;!7,UU(»jUU(),0U0 cubic * lluyob' " OiH^ii I'olar .Scu," IJ. 21/. i l.ei pre hav for an an wl RISE AXn I'ALL OF THE ARfTir T,A5:PS. 07 fcot dl' ico, iind (lie onlirc mass must liavc wciivliod net less lliiiu :2, (1110,0(1(1, 0(11) tons, liink lias calculatcil that almut onu-scvciith ol' the Imlk of an icvliiTg' is aliMvc llii' waliT, and six-sevenths ludow it. Tlic fni-co of Ihc water displaced liy the shiiotin;^' out is j^'ivat. Actually the caMe of a \ir'i-j; nl' ;200 tons was liniken l.y the wave caused hy (he sliootiuy' out of the ieehorgs in Jakobshavn Fjord. If in the little harliour of Jakohshavn the water rose and full witli a force suflieient to accomplish this, on oilier [larts of (he coast it must have heen oven o'lvatcr. I'rof'essor Xorden<k jlild considers that he saw no true mnraines in (ireeuland. It is lierfeclly correct tliat the glaciers, which are the outlets for the ici; pouring seaward from the interior, are, in some cases, so short that before they reucli the sea they are unalde to aecumulatc! much moraine; hut that they do in many cases, the loads carried on the surface of the iceberg's — to '^k no furlhcr for an illustration — abundantly testify. 'Wliether or not there are mountains in the interior, wo do not as yet know. 'I'ho absence of moraine on the ice, so far as observed, goes, however, far to render this very doubtful. Siunetimes fragments Iircak oil' llic licrg ; this is called "calving." These fragments will occasionally fall on boats, or on (he decks of passing ships, and are one of the great ilangers encountered in Arctic navigation. The bergs themselves are not often the cause of accidents, though I have seen one, carri(,'d swifllv before the wind, r/r.ni the side of a shi]) of its boats before (hi! hehnsnian could steer out of its way. The whalers I'reipiently anchor to them when they are aground, and owing to (he accumulation of fresh water in (heir hollows, (hey arc in (he liabit of watering tlio ship by means of a hose let into the water-tanks in (he ship's hold. Risi: Axn Fat.i, op tiif, Aiiciir Lands. If the reader bc> a geologist — and g'eologv is onlv a part of geography — he need not bo told that the earth has undergone many changes. It will be among the most familiar of (riidis (o him, that tlicMigli tlu! ])oets have rhymeil of (he stable laud and the nnstabl(> sea, exactly the converse is true. It is (he sea which is s(able, and the land which is over oscillating — slowly and im]ierci'plibly in most case-:, bu( rising and falling iKn-i'rtheleis. Scandinavia is one cxam]iK'. On the coa-( of Sweden, a few vc.irs ago, w;h found burii^d beiicadi beds of sea-sand or gravel, while dii^gin:^' a canal, a lisheruian's liu(, of a very pre-historic type indeed. Now, (he rud(> savage whose home (his hut had Iieen might not have been of a very brilliant in(ellect ; but a( leas( he was sane and human, and, tliere- I'ore, Would not have built his hovel at tiie bo(tom of the sea. lie built it on land, but as it was disi'ovi>red under a layer <if sea-sand, (he sea must have gradually covered it; and as i( was, when found, high above the sea-level, it must also have been elevated above the waves, 'i'liis is only one of many such instances. Sometiiue^ (ho coast at one ]ilaee may be falling, and a( another, a few miles north, siiniiltanoously rising. There is reason to lielieve that in the time of the Komans the Scandinavian peninsula was ail l^-laiul. Indeed, I'toleiny speaks of (he Scandinavian Islands, This state of rise and fall, and iiK.re especialh' ri^e, is trui> of the whole circumpolar regions ea-( and Wi^t of (ireenland, wherever observations have been made. 1 may I'ccapidilale some fac{s which I ascertained OS I'lIK CtilNIKIKs (iK Till'; WulM.I). during' mv visits to Ciivt'iiliUid iiud ollior port inns nl' tlx! Arctif roifions. " Haiscd lioiiilii's " iiic roiiiiil nil iinmnd tlic (irue'idiind fimsts, in wliiili sliulis. &c., of tlio satiiL' s]ii,'ciL's as (Ikisu now tti lie si't'ii in llic MciylilMiui'inH' seas, arc round, and on tin.' snrninndinii' ico-sliavi'M Iiili^ arc ri'UMil aiif^iilar " |i('rcln'd iilocks " of nick, which cnnid only have liccn drn|i]icd there liy iccl)cr"s which had lloatcd over the snlmicrncd country. 'I'hcsc raised licaches tiic American ex|ilorcrs f)l' JSniith's .Siiinid I'ciund also there, and deduced the conclusinn that the whole coast north ol' tla Danish jiossessions was risinj^', lieeause within the Danish possessions facts had been ohscrved v[i:w or AN AUCTic (ii,A( ii:ii. sliowiui;' that there it was i'allini,''. In reality, thoui^li 1 am not ])re]iared to say that the coast is init risini;' in Smith's Sound as in many (jtlier j)artH ul' the eircMimpolar rci;'ions, yet as the same' raised beaches or terraces are also I'ound in South (ireenland, the prfihaliilities are that Smith's Sound does not difl'er from the rust of Greenland. In other words, the coast //nx risen, it is now a^iain falliny;. On the coast of South Greeidand liouses arc not only seen heiieath the water, showing that it had I'alli'U, Imt also further aljovo the soa-lovel, where no Groenlander wouid now build them. The facts, provinj^' that the coast has been lonp;' sinking, are well known to geoj^-'ra pliers, iietween 17711 and 177'.> ArctanJer noticed that, in loatiiko I'jord, a small rocky island, "about a f^-unshot from the shore," was <'ntirely submeroed at s))riny'- tides; yet on it were the walls of a house (datinjr from the jicriod of the old Icelamlic colonists) liftv-two feet in length, thirty in breadth, live in thickness, and six in height. Fifty years lati'r the whole cd' it was so submerged that only the ruins rose above the waier. ■l.,..< " tlldSU l> -AVf ■I's ol' tlu ■iveil 70 Tin-', ( nI-\TRTKS iiF TIIK Mi'Cr.D. Tlio settlement of Julliiiirliaiili uiis rniiinlril ill ]7'(>'> ill tlie >iiiii'' rj'inl ; Imt the (oiiinliitidii's "iT tllO 1)1(1 stolV-llnllse, Iillill ■-liiiiil ciilietl '■ 'I'lie Ciislie,'' ;ii'(> now tlvy (inly lit veiy wnter. A^^niii, the rciniiiiis ol' luitivu liniiseH iiro seen iiiuler wiitev iienr the cdldny nf FreileriKsiiiiiili. Nciil' llie j,'re:il n'liieier wliicli |ir(ijecls iiitn llie m'U lietwerii l'reili'i'iksli;i:ili iilni I'isl, kei'iiies, there is a yrniip o liiiuls culled I'lilhiiU'liilik, uii tiii^ shoi'us ol' wiiieh are thu il' ilwelliiin',-! dvui' which the tide 111 175s, the MdHiviali I i/ihi.t. Frii/r I'liiiiided Ihe iiii~>iiiii cstiililisliineiil lA' liiclitenrcls, almiil tun miles I'lum !•' IS, hut ill Ihirlv 111' I'lii'tv years tliev \mti l)li"-ed liei'hnps twice/' to remove the i'niiiies or ]iosts nil which they •d leir Ull'U'e iniNii h, or " women's " (sealskin) " hoats." Tl l'« may yet he seen hencath tlie watei Til Ihe imrlh-east of (ln(hliaa!i. il called \'il(luiandsiias (Savaife i'niiit) hv Hans l-ycde [•\ cral (irceii land t, h d •••jd. 'J'l liiii^s are now diNolati', hciim' covered with water at, hii^h tide. At Xa|i| < are also to hi s dl' old (Ireeiiland 1mi In l)iseo liav I had imoti lak, forty-live miles north of iSiikkcrtojijieii, the I'll at low water. ler curious in^lance hroiii,'ht under my notice. The lilnh iliiiH' house of that jinst was ori^'iiially hiiilt on a little rocky islet, ahuiit one-eii;hth nf a mile from the shore, lalled hv the |)aii Snek-lIiise-Oe d hv the I'lskinii leiiwak," which means just the same thim;' — vi/., " Jihilihcr-hoiise Island." I''iir many years till! island has heeii slowly sinking', until in Isn7, the year I'f our visit, the siijicriiitendeiit ,C thi le settlement had 1 n under the necessity of remnviiii;' the hoiisi! from it, as the is had hi'eii y'radiially siilisidinn' until the Moor of the dwi.'llini;' was Hooded at liioli tide, thoijoh, it is needless to say, it was sullicieiitly Jar ahove hio'h-water mark when orio'iiially hiiilt. On nnother island in its vicinity the whole of the Claushavn natives used to encamji in the summer, for the trehle |iiir[iose of dryinjj seals' llesli for winter u^c, of Ijeinj^ free from disturbance hy the doo'.s, and of jL^cttiny somewhat relieved from the jilajjuc of mosfjuitoes ; hut now the island is so circumscribed that the natives do not encamp there, tlio sjiaee ahove water not allowiiiL,'' of room for more than three or four skin tents. JCxactly similar facts have been oliscrvi'd at I^'rederikshaah and other localities in South (ireeiiland. I have made an attempt to estimate the rate of fall ; and thoii<i;'h we have no certain data, I believe that it docs not exceed live feel in a ci'iitiiry, if so much ; so that none i>f us will live to see (ireeiiland overspread by the sea, Such at least are the views I have arrived at from a careful study of this ipicstion, and lillh doubt remains in my mind as to their ocneral correctness. The only serious reason for hesitating' to ask the reader to accept this elucidation of the subject is, that it would appear that for some indelinite jicriml there has been a gradiial elevation of most of the eircumpolar region f>'ointf on. The facts in reyard to this have been carefully collated by JFr. II. Ilowortb, thouuh it must he acknowledfred with apiiarenlly a foreo'ono conclusion, or at least a stronj,'' bias to the doctrine he has espoused. One fact I may here mention, as it has not been noticed by ^Ir. Ilowortli. A few years ayo the Xorwco'ian walrus hunters discovered a orou]) of small islets north of Xovai /emlai. They were nierely sandy patches scattered with boulders dro]i]ied from iceberi.fs which had at one time floated ovi'r them, and raised but a few feet above the sea — " ixlii»il.i s;ill mill liiiiT. Thu liiiuiit of ik'iils and ores ami sia-nifws' claiii;." -^ AliCTIC PLANTS ANll ANlMAl.S. 71 On sdini' (>r till' i'^lcls — iintiiljly on llcllwii'.d's ;inil Urown's — wore foiiiul AVcsf Imlinii rniil- u:i-1iim1 111) liy the (iiilf Slrcmii; liciuo llicy wi'i'i: miiiikmI " Tliu (iiiU' Stiviim Isltinds." ^'(■1 iiiil\ iiliciiit twii centuries nj^o Ilii> Uuti'li tnok simndiiins mi tlu- voiy s]ii)t wlici'o llii.so ishiliil- Ikivi' silKM) lu'i'U finnliiiilly riiiscd almvc (lie sen. It is also said that tin.' wlialc [luilitiiii M //it ice/ lis) lilts lull tlir Splt/lid'o't'ii Sea, iiwiiii;' to tlic watiTs liavilin' >^nl Iiid slialliiw i'di' it, oil !i('c<iiiiit ol' the gradual rise of tlu' Iiottoiii. .Mr, Ijainoiit foiiiul Ijoiu's in lidllnvis in Spil/licrijcii, which he was iiicliiu.'d to Ijc'licvo were tin.' rcinaiii^ of wlialos killed liy man, that had heeii lowed into these localities when they were shallow liay>, tliono'h now dry land, in order to he " (leased. " On l''ran/. .loseiih's Lanil there are also raised beachoti. The '' rjords/'or inlets which are l'"und in the northern and -onlhern heinisjilici'os, liavo in all likrhhood lieeii tile lieds oi' aiicioiit o'laciers whi'n the const was hi'^her than now; and (he " lochs" ol' the West of Scotland are of the same nature. While sjieakin^' on this sniiject, it may he inenlioned in iiassiny, that oviilooists are now almost at one in lielievinLf that Scotland and a ureat |iorii"n ol' the north of lairope, .Vinericii, and (irohalily also Asia, were, dnrino- what; is I'alled the " (ilaeial I'criod," swathed in ico much the same as (li'ecnland now is. In every (|niet Scottish ol,.|i we liiid trace- that at oiie tiiiK; these were the heds of ancient o-lju.ji^.i.ij. There are the roundi'd houlders which the peasant will tell us were lii'oii^ht hither hy witches, thoiioh in reality ii more wonderful ao'ont than any "wise woman" was the carrier that coiivcyuil them, the senitciied rocks, the ror/n-n iiioii/tiniur/t, and the rou[;h " hoiilder clay,'' such as most likely underlies modern yliiciers, and the linely laminated ciny, such as i.s now washed out from under the fylaeiors, and deposited in the (Ireenland I'jords. To enter, however, upon these I'aels woukl lake Up too much s]iace, besides being rather Iieside our subject. They are found rec(jrdi'd, with more or less accuracv-, in various works, the authors of which, no matter how widely they y dilVer, ayree in the main facts uiion wliich c... have touclicd. CIIArTHH TV, Ijiri: IN I'oi.Mi Lands. Afiii;!-: than two hundred years ao'o I".dwar<l I'ellham, lirst of laio-lish uKiriiiers who Iiad the courao-c to winter in S]iil/bcroen — or (ireenland, as he called it — and the prood f(U'(uiie to come back and tell the tale, wrote theses words: — ''Greenland is a country very farre northward . . . tlu' land wonderfull mountainous, the muunfaines all the year loiio' full of Me and snow, the plaines in part bare in summer time . . . where o'niwcs neither tree nor liearbe . . . except scurvyy;rass anil sorrell . . . the sea ... as barren as the land, alVordino' no lish but whales, sea-lun-ses, seals, and another small lish . . . and hither is a yean'ly lleel of llnylish sent." The devout old .seaman's dictum was, no doubt, a fair nwiimij of the jiopular knowledge of bis jieriod, and is at the present day not an inapt relleetioii of the eomiuou ideas regarding the burrenueso of life in the Arutiu rejiions. 72 Tin; riH'Niiiii;s (IF 'nil', \V(H:i,i> Fll iv;ilily, llir V>'\.\r llliuls iin' imt Av\n'u\ nf lilV, rsrvyi ill tlic .•xtlVIIIC lliil'th. Thr s|MMicX III' pliiiils ami Miiiinills limy ii"t 1m' iii;niy, Iml llir iiidividuiils ol' tlmsc wliidi livr in tlicso cAlivinilir-^ el' liic f;iitli mv lar rnmi i'cw. (Sec also \>\>. !!•, ;i''3, ~7, ''l:!, kv.) I'l.VNIS, \c. I'l.iwiriii- plaiils, ill all lii<rlilin,,i|, cxlfiiil lu liii' I'd,' ilscll'. In l''niii/-J(i>rl"s L I — (hat ilroarv iv^i-.n, disnivuivil in |s7.'iliy llic Austrian I'lxiMMlilioii, undfr Lioiituuautsi Tayei' /V.-/?; lyv • -^v; <^' --^ ^- ■ l\\\ 'T rilK lilAN. {.lirli(i>i;l'lii'ii i:Jlieiiin/is.) and AVcypivcht— Airtic liaiTcnnpss soonis to liiivf n'achod its niMW-. It niuals Spit/luMs™ in • ■xtont, and I'onsists of sovenil lai-j^o masses ol." land— Wilczrk T-and in liu' cast, Zi.liy Land m the wrst— wliicli ai'o inloreoctod by minu'rons fjords, and skirted liy a laif^e niinil.er of islands. A wide sound (Austria Sound) separates these masses of land. It extends north from Cape llausa to ahout latitude 8i" north, where Hawlinson Sound forks olT to the uorlh-.^asl. Trap, or whinstone, of the variety called dolerite, is the prevailiuf,' kind of rork, and small l.eds of hrown r,.al were discovered. The mountains reach a hei-h( of from :2,(I(HI to .'i,!!!!!! feet, and on the south-west even attain, in RichtholVn I'eak, an altitude of .-.,0110 feet. There are also <ri<,fantic i^'laciers, and the lu'ir is much more elevated ahove the sea than in (Jreenland or Spit/.hero'en. All the low islan<ls in Austria Sound are covered with an i<e-eap. The vcetation is, however, far jKjorer than that of Greenland, Spitzborgen, or Novai Zemlai ; ri,\\T< <'l' IIIK AI.'i'I'lc liKdIuNS. ;.l ii'iil, lAccpliiiL!' m till' Anlnrilic ici;iniis, we liiivc llii' ;i-^>iir;iiii c ,A l.liul. |':iy( r lli.il tin iniiiilry i'\isl-i nil (||(! lilri' (if till' rill'lll ullic'll i> |iiMiiTr ill lllill l'c-|pi'(l. Thr y'Mli'liiI |i||\>iMLf I.V c'l llir llnl'il, lull liol the s|ii'cir>, IV- Mi's lllill liii'l uilll ill llli' \l|i- al illl cli'Vill inli of 1>,(III(I to in.lHlil IVft. The MM.-. luring' wiiicii llic (li>i'ii\i'ivis (if llir minilr;, \ i-ilnl il \v:is ci'i'liiiiily (li.il ill wiiiih vc;;i't;ilil(' lil'i' liist [mis luilli ils ii|i|M'aiMiirc, :ii|il iiU'-l nl'llii' ^l(i|ics wcru ^lill A ).l;"M' Of 1 -hIM" i'"Vi'rni willi -iinu- ; lull I'vcn llii' inii,-.( fiivntircil ^]iiits ni':ir llic -I'n-li'vcl, uiiirli wit. im Inii^i'i- i-ovi'i'i'(l with siiiiw, \V('i'i> iiiKilili' 111 liiilii.'i' llii'iii 111 ;iri'i\i' ;il ii ilill'rrriil coiiclllsiiili. "On Irvi'l splits wo sciiiTcly iiirl with niiylhiii^' luil jm ir iiiiil soliliii-y luiiiiiit's ul' yi'iiss, ii I'i'W sjii'riis nf siixU'riii^'i' iinil Silfiii' •K'.ni/ii. I)rii~i' i-,ir|i('ls uf ninsscs ainl liclii'iis were iimrc iilMiinhmt, hiil most ]ili'iil(Miiis of ;ill w:is ii lirlii'ii - tlii' wintvy r////,/7/'.',/;v'..' cyv/Av/. Pril'l wimhI, ninstly ol' iiii I'M iliili'. WHS met with mi iiiiiiiyiinMsiiiMs, hiil only in sdimII i|imntilit's. AVo mici' siiw 1y ills', mily il trillc liiti'liiT thiiii thi' wiili'r-h'iii', the trunk of ;i liirrh, iihuvi' a lont lliirk, iiiiil miiih' feet in 1i'ii',^th. Till' ilrirtwiinil, lihi" niir vi'ssri, hml |i|-nhahly Immmi ilril'li'il In fhi'sr latitinh's Iiy tho winds — ill all likrlihiHiil from Sibei'iii— ami not hy fiirn-nts. Thr roiiiitrv, as mi:,''lit liiivi" ln\'n supposeil, 10 74 llli; ( ulNl'lMK.S (iK 'I'lIK \Viil;l,l). Ikh iin liiiiiiiiii iiili:iliiliiiits ; ;iii(l ill \\~ xiutlicrn Jinrtimis sriircdy :iiiy ;iiiii;i:i!<, ('xc'c|it ln'iii's, iin; iiH't uitli. ,M;iiiy |Hirtiiiiis (>rilii~ iii'w ly-discovoivil iMiiniti'v lU'c I'xi-L'cdiiinly liwiiilil'il, tl.nuu'li it lii>;iis lliroii^-li..ut ilic iiiipi-css i.r AiTlic rin'idily." * It may It mlili'il tliat llio lirars in I'Vaii/. .loscpli's Land witc iin li h-^s llnvi' tliaii in Mast (ii'iM'nlaiid, uliiTi' tliry imt uiiK si Hurt iiiios attarkcd tlir (icriiiaii i'X|il(ir('i':» in llif \Mriiiit\- nl' Fniii/.->Insi'pli I'jiifd (p. (il), lint cvrii (.■arricil nil' uiie id' tlie cnnv nut of (lio siiip. licai's were rrcipii'iitly iiict dnriiin' the uintrr, Imt always males, ^m that this alninsl sctllcs tin; dispiiti'd i|ni'sti..n n|' till' iiiiicrnatinn u\' tin' I'l'inali's. On lindMlph Land an inci'i'a-.i.' nl' teinpi'raturi' was iidlic'd. 'I'lic I'xpKaTrs li;ul ])revii)Usly iintici'd the Itii^'ht nf liinls I'l-mn the iinrtli ; lirre they I'.aind the foeks euvered with tlumsiinds id' auks and (li\ci's. 'rhe\- r.ise lip in iinineiise swarm-, and tilled the air with the iiniso ol' tliuii' xi'lienii'iit whii'rini;', for !ire'diii'4-l inio had ai'i'ived. Tiaees id' hears, hares, and I'lixes were nirt with ever\wlieiv, and .si'als eaiiered >liin'n'ishly iiii'Mi the iei'. When Aiik Cape was rnnn led it resenililed a •^ili'iinf'e aviaiy. W'aliMs wen' seen (inly Iwiee. In Sjiit/.heru'eii ihoi'o is, prnhaMy, a rielier lini-a tl. Ill in Xnvai Zenilai, thon^'h this iatti'r island eoiit.iins tin' leiiimiii',;' and the n'mine ani'inn' its niainmals, which are iinl, rniiiid in the I'ormer. Spit/.ljericen possesses over I In sjH'clis of llowerinn' plants, hut ainoii^' its insects beei.es ari' not nuinliered, thoiiijh aho\e twenty species liavi' hecii found in West, (ireeiiland; yet Sjiitzl.ier^i^'en has thirteen of th.' bee order (/[//niciioji/c'rn), while oidy three have been itotieed in West (rreenland. in Ciieenlaud, ayain, bnlterllies and niotlis are eoinnion — tweiity-six dilTcrenl kinds liasr lieeii caotiirod; but as yet only one speeinieii has been noticed in J>jiitzhei'L;-i'n, 'I'wo-winp'ed i:.-ec!s are almost tuiee as plentiful in S]iil/.berj;oii as in (ireeiiland (l'ort\ -lune to tweut\-six). Tlie vc^'etation of JOast (ireeiiland, as explored by tiic (iernians, an'i'ees in all iniportani points with thai of West (ireeiiland, tliono-h the species are fewer. >."ine species of plant- have, however, be/ii found in i'last (ii ulaiid which are unknown in tlu' West. The o',.n,.|;d character of the llora of ^\ est (ireenlaiul I have already noted. It comprises over -'i:'!! s])ecies of lloweriin;- plants and ferns, while but cio'lity-nine have yet been rei.'orded from i'^ast (ireeiikuiii. I'iaiits have lieeii found as far north as man has yet eon., in Smith's Sound. In this ren'ioii life teems. 'I'Ik' sea abounds in walrus, seal, narwhal, and uliite whale; the land in foxes, reindeer, eider-ducks, wild jj;'eeso, sni]ie, ana various i;iills and other sea-birds. Whales, seals, walrus, aiul hi'ars (ind their principal haunts in the sea. In 'i'liank-(iod Ba\', Hall's jiarty I'oiind the plain free fr.iiil snow, a crecpiii',;' herha^'e covering- the o'l'ound, on which many miisk-oxeii were ]iastu;inn-, while hares and lemniiiio's abounded. Tile wild tf.wers were brio-ht i|i colour, and llocks of Iiirds of |iassao'i> came north ; indeed, so aliiindant is life nearly everywhere ■.\illiin the Arctic Cinle, that there are few localities where well-arrano'ed parties of skilful hunters could not live by the jii'odiiee of their i^Mins or traps. There has as yet been discovered no limit to the north- ward raiiL;v of animal life. The Iv-kiiiio is not a veo'ctable feeder, i'oi; the simple rea-on that he has n.i vef;i'tables to feed on; yet when he can he uses a few I'o. id-plants. In Kaniskatka the natives are only lo a very limited extent veii'otable I'eeders, hut even the uilde-t ileiii/.ens of the far North try and cjbtain some plants to vary their llesli diet. .\iiionn' the scanty veu'etable proiiucts which tlie Ardic reL;-ioii- ^ ii Id mii.-l be clas-ed • I'liy.i'i "Piw. Hoy. (icof?. Hoc," Vul. XI.V.. |.|.. 17. \i:. i Ant'Tir Foun-i'i.AN'iN. 75 ,i<^ til:' \;n'inr.> cliMc lici'rirs. 'I'll'' riMiilicrry, lln' w liiirllrlirrry, llic cnwlnTiy, ;niil llir ( rnwlicrry live till' i-hirl'. 'I'Ih' (iMwlii'rry (I'.ni/irl rinii iiii/nnn) iiinl tlir wlini-lJclMTry an' tin' n'lly diics wliicli till' ( ii'cciihiiiili'i's iisi.', iiii'l I'Vi'ii iiiiw llii'y use tlicin iiiurli li',-.- llimi tiiry did I'ni-.'H'rly. At mil' tiiiii' I'liiirniims (|U!iiititii':: wci'i' i^aliiri'cd, and, al'tiT luiiin' iiii\i'd. with train I'il, were oaucrU drvdnivd a-; a jn'inic ', i inio luxiiry. In snnir I'lacfs tin' jijants liiai' so |il.iitirully tliiit (lii'V liiiik like linni'lii-'s ol' j,'nip('s, and alinn-l lilacken tin' Inrl' coniiioscd (jf liic dwiivl' liircli, and llii' ^'ay alpine niso ('ili'idnilciii} cm Lii/i/i'iih'inu). 'J'lic .li-'-/i.i,ii/' /'/•■■i "ffi.-'ni./tl-i, (If "(plan" (p. 7:2), is anntlicr d' tlh' faviinrilc (ii-cciiland cdililc lici-lis. It lia> Imjch \<n\i^ used in Xoi'way (IIk' reader nia\' rcmcnilicr that Kini;' Olafi', in tlu^ Sa^a of Hciiiiskrinn'la, K'avo anjifi'lica-slalks a.-: a [in'scnt Im llio liaiiu'lity Uiiccn 'r''"ii, and it is jivulialdo lliaf 11r> (ii-ci'idandcrs lii'st ate it in iniilalinii id' tlic Scandinavians. It is (inly td I'c seen en tlie i-land il' Diseii, and in cnc sjiet, • ^. a r.j"rd,, in (il^ iH'i-lh latitihle. lleiiec the (irccnlanders sav that Disen was tcwed i'mni tli(> latter loealily Id its preseiil ]iii>itidn, in To" ndrtli latitude. A s]ieei('s dl' honseleek [Scilimi Ji/niiliiil,i), ]'i'Jlfi(l,iris /lirm'lii, F.ii'il iblnm liilil'"liii„i, Iwd varieties dt' sorrel, and the scnrvyyrass {('ni-lih'.ifhi) may lie also men- tioned anidni;' the other edihle plants of the Arelic reo'inns. Seaweeds .nre also (>aten, and. indeed, have en many (leeasinns in limes dl' scarcity savi'l jieoph; from starvation. In (Ireiilanil atteiiijits havi' lieen made t i raise some ci' the common ]ilants o|' I-'.iiro]ieau (••aniens. .\t tlu^ Danish stiitioii dl' (iddlhaah (latitude lil"'), close to the open sea, turnips, radishes, letluees, and parsley are almost the oidy jdanls that can he ciiltl\aled with anv sneeess. The tiirni]i, indeeil, reipiires a I'avouralile summer to produce anytliino' like tolerahle s]ieciiiiens. 'I'he cahhag'es an' scan'cly worthy of the name; hut at two iidau'l stations up file fiord, ahout thirty miles north, of (jodthaah, the climate is sti-ikino'ly dificivnt. Here, Dr. I'luk inl'drms us, turnips always Cdme (o jierfectioii ; earmts prosper well, and attain a fair size; and cahhaovs, ihouyh unahlc to develop thick stalks, yet produce lolcnd'ly lai-o.' Iei\e-, which the ja'Dvident Danes slow away for winter use. Attempts have heeii made to cultivate jidtaf.ies, hut the luhers never attain a si;^e laru'cr than marhlcs, and aiv niiK- e-rdwii and eaten as curio-it ies. I nder the mo>t I'axdural'le cirenm-tanees, o'l'i'en peas onl\- ]i|-("lue(' sli'lls, in wliicli till' ]ii'as ;ire hareiy reeoo'nisahle. This is within thi> Arctic Cinde, or at least on its innnediate holders. In South (Jreenland — the site ol' the 'dd Norsemen's seltlemenls— hortieultun' i practised undi'r more favourahh' circumstances. At some of the p'l-ls, in ahout the same lalituiie as Christiania. onod carn'ts have heeii produced, and in a fon'ino-fraine strawhei'ries have o^vown will, and yielded frm'l for several y.'ars, hut they ilfterwanls died, owin'j; piohahly to the icverily of the (liniate. .\l .lidiauchaah turnips often attain a wciolif of "iiore than half a ]iiiunil, and are lit for taMe in the middle of .liily. Itadi-lies are lit to he eaten in the iiiiddle of June. Khuharh orows ]ii'clty vio'droUsly, anil can lie raided from seeds, (ireen cahliao'c attains a o-udd si/e, hut nevr the normal taste and ]iunoency of the veo'etaMe, At .lakohshavn, in ^vy l-'f, our'o'odil friend X'^w Ffaff used to r.ii-e a few radishes, and the locality hi'ino' sheltered, the liny patch of earth on the nicks, which in thai remote ]ilace |ias-('d for a i;:irden, jirodnced " cimjis "' almost as luxuriant as Ciodthaah in the south, ^^'llile oul-door cultivation is next to a forlorn ho]ie in horticulture, Cireeidand is exeeediii'^ly well adapli'd — jimhahly owiiio' to the continual summer daylio-lit — for the in-('oor cullivation of llui'opean jilanls. (h ranlnms, rueli-ias. and 7C ■JIM'. (iil'NrKIKS OF -I'lIK Wdlil.D. otlior (if .i,ir cninmcii tldwcis tldiirish :iliuiicl;intl\ in tl\i' Imiwc nf cvi'iy tasteful (ireciilaiKl " Coldiiibi'styrc'i'/' or suiii-rintfiulfiit nf a si'ltleincnt, and wlicrcvrr the IVmish ladiis ^o, tht'v cari'v witli tlii'in tlic wrll-l)elovud llciui'i-s of tlicir nativr land, as nuMncntocs oi liunu', to consiile tlicni in tln'ii' vcduntarv exile. Dr. lIiMiUer lias sci tlinmndlil^ investin'ated llie nalnre el' tin; .\relie ilcira and its distriliuticin, tliat it would lie a waste of ^paee to alteuiiit to yive a [Kipidar '•eeapiluialiiin of liis views within the limits wr have assiyue(l to this iiorlion el' the sulije<t. His meiuoir is aeeessilile ti> these interested in this rather teehniral i|ue>ti(in.' It is eliouyii for ns to say that he diviili's it into the plants of Arclie Murope, Arelii- .\sia, .Vretie West America, Arctie I'last Anir and (irrculaiid. 'I'lif Mora ol' (ireruland is peeuliar in this respect: r^M Vv.-, ^%^*' that though (;reenland is close to America, and far distant tuitll JCui.ipe, the |ilants are o.ssentiallv those of Norway, and not of the nearer American -I The cause of this is not ilillicult to seek. It points to the prohaliility of liallin's Uav .md Davis' Strait lia\ino' hecn Ion" o-edfs intcrvenino' helween (irccidand and the opposite njainland of Anierii'a, preventing the two (loras intei-mixino'. On tlie (.ther hand, tlie similarity — we nno'ht say identitv - i/f (()•' .N'orthcrn Kuropi-aii and (ireenland lloras renders it hio'hly jnnhahle that at one lime Kuro|j»' and Oreoiiland were uniteii ; imleed, liolh the llora and fiuina jilants and animals -of KuA Oreeiila»Kl uml >*candinavia ai ' inoi-e alike than those of West (Jreenland. Jn the not \ery reni./(,e j^a.-f, either a eonlinuous continent— such as ipeologists lielieve to inivi' at one tiitic joilied Kurope and .Vnu'ricn or ;i chain of islands covered over what- is now a sen. r<rlinid. even Spil/her^ren. .I.ui .Mayen. and possihly ihe I'aroe Islands, Shetland, .Old (>rkMcv, are inly tie' remnants of llii> land over which the i'lm'opean • •• ■J'r;ins:n''.i>iis uf tin- I,iiini';m Adi.l) ," \'iA. X.VIII. (ISOI), |,|). :J,")I -.ifX; aii<l lli' A.liiiirally's " Jliimiiil "t the N'iitmiil Ilislery of Ori.nlaiid" (p. 19), «'lii<ii h alsu an cmydninriliii ■■< .ill otln r lirnn luj) of .Vn-tic Xatimil llisturv. ARCTIC ANiJiALS. plants travelled tn (iiwiil:iii(l. ISinls (if pas-.i^i' I'imiii I'lurdpc iiiiiy t-diivcy scwls dii llic'ii' IVatliuis, &c., liiit these imist lie vitv I'ew ; aiwl, iiinivdver, lliere ai'e liinls i.l' passai^'e also afi-iviiij^' eveiy suimnei' in (iroeiilaml I'imiu Anioriea ; sd llial this lavuurile iiielluiii (jI' aecounting I'ur llie traiispoi't ol' jilants operates both \va_\3. M Animals. Tlie Aretio seas swarm with lil'e. The tlreil^e ln-inys iij) hosts di' shell-fish, erustaeea (the eral) and slu'iniji oRJei'), seu-ureliins, anil starlishes; and ol'Len the eahu sinfaee ol' the KSKIMO WATl HIM. I I'U .^ -I M. ocean is swanniiiL;- with the vari'il I'linn- d' jelly-H-hes -some d-r,.;i|, otheis sulllelently lai'u'e to aid in o-ivini;- that s|iliMulii| |iiio-|ihoreseent a|'|iearaiiie to the Antie Oeian which is so niai'kecl, es|iecially (lin'in<5 tin' dark antiinni ni^'lits which sin-cceil the lono- >ianmer day. Spondi's, and even corals of a tin\ descri|ilion, are lound 'n some portions of the Aivtie Ocean, while the minute, alnio-t niicrosc.pic, /'■ii\iiiiiiiil'i'r,i arc numerous. The land fauna is neither ~o \aricd nor so cNuhcrant. it is the -ea animal- which pre-ennneiitiy supply the chief attractions for man-sa\ao'e and civilised— in the~c far northern n'!j;ions ; and anuiny all these the seds and whales are the prineijial aninals hunted. fSeal-huntino' is one of the s'reat arts of the Arctic re^'ion — I niioht almost say the ••■rcatest of ill the oeeu]iations which attract l'airo|ieans to those inhospilalile zones — ;uid the most imiiortant ociMipalioii of the nali\es llumsidses. |t is jiursiicd in two ways: hr>t, on a laro'i' si'ale, durinj^' a few weeks in the yi;ir. l'\ the Muiopean ships which leave iSi'iitland and the inirthern ports of the Continent for that purpo-,'; and thi'oni;hout the \ear 78 TiiK corNi'KiKs OK 'I'lir, \v(ii;i.i). liv the iKilivo-; lluiiisc'lvrs. 'I'lu.' (In'ciihuKli'r iiiav lie t;il<i'n :is the \y\ii' ol' llic An'tic simI- luiiitcr. 'I'll him the sciil is all in all. It alTorii- him rniid. liL^lit. ami ilnthiiii;', and uvi'ii its hones and inti'stiiu's sn]i]ily material I'm' huntinn' implements and arlieles iil' dnniestie eeiiniinn-. There are, exelnsive of the walrus, live species of seals on the Oi'.'enland eoast. Xone of these are stationary all the year round, hut some ol' iiaih kind ai'e al\\ays to he found ill i>Teator or less ahundanee. A (Ireenlaiider is ti'ained IV.un rarly youth in all the art and mystery of paddlini>' a kayak, or skin canot^ and of huntiie^' the dilVerent species of seals. Without havint;' learnt, and heiiin' thorounhly aciiuaintcd with this art, he c mid not live in the frozen North. The ycncral iirineiple adopted is that employed l.y the Enrojieans in killing' whales -i/., strikim;- the sc'al with the liarjioon, the line of which is attached to the inllated " dro^'ue '' or hlaiMer. and then, after it ha> tired it>elf out ihMiiLV ami ri-in^- to the sui face In hreathe, to kill it with the lanee. When the seal i~ only a small one ll.e liladder-arrow is used. Tln> so-called Madder-arri'W is a s'.iiall harpoon without a line, and with only a small hladder to Imoy n[) the weajiipc. should it miss its mark. This weapon is also employed in the " halhio hunt," which consists in a numher of (jreenlanilers di'ivino- a lloek of seals into a narrow inli.'t or Kay, and slanyhterinu- them in this conlined ] laee. Firearms have lieen introdeced by I'Inropoaiis, and have nou, tn a L;re:it extent, rejila 'cd the native weapons. In seal-hunting-, liowe\'er, thi> rille can, owinn' to the seal siiikin.'^' so rapidly, he only nsed when the hunter is stalkiiiL;' the sleejiini;- seal on the ice-lields duriiiL;- (he winter and early spriiii;'. Sometimes a doi;' i- employed to ]iiiinl the seals, heinn' covered over with ^now, and only to he delected in daylight liv the -.|e,\ni which rises into tlio frosty aii'. The wild llskimo of the weste'" side of I'a\i>' Strait use this inethed ol' huutim,'' much dnrinn' the winter season. \\l en the seid is fnund the hunter ]ilauts his -;;iear in its hndy, and Ihdds on liy the line unti' it rises aicain. if he does not succeed in kiliinn' it immediately (p. 77). A little white sci'een raised on a tiny ^led i< al-n <'iM)iiu\ed to stalk the sleejiin;;' seal. The harrel of the musket is rested on the cre>--li,irs betweiMi the su]i|)orls <ir (he screen, the harrel mei'ely proti'udini;- fhrou^-li a hole in it. This the hiuiter pu-lies n-eutly hefnre him. 'I'n the ipiick-eared seal it kioks >imply like a piece' of ice, and is di>reL;-arded after the lir^t alarm. The stidker a]iliri'aches until he i- within shot, and may think- hiniM'lf fortimate il' the sciil, in the lii-sl ai;-oiiies of the wouuil. do not roll over, and disappear down the hi-ealhinii-hnl,^ in the ice. neai- which it ,duays lies ready to disap|iear at the iir>l sii;-n of dam^-cr. I have seen the wild I'.-kimo nf the w-e-^tern shores of Davis' Slrait adept nna-li the <ame nn-tl'i.d r-f stalkiuL;- the seal, "iily in thi< case they dis|ien-;cd with the screen, and depended on ^cttinn' within shootiiii;- distani-e hy lolline- over and ever, tos~ine- a li;,le suow in the aii-, and fri~kiue-, al'tei- the inanm'r of their Jirey, which their dre-s of sialskin L;-:,ve them every i, lvantai;-e in doin^'. To jiroteet tln-ir arms and h.-inds I'roni ahrasion li\ the ice thc\' u<ed t<« wear i;-auii(lets ol' liear-skin, a ]iaii- of which the wi-ilei- still pnssesses. A white shirt wa- also e:i;i'erly coveted hy them, in ni-iler that, hy )inttiiiu- this over their "rditiat-v dress, (hey mie-ht he lu'tter eiiahled to simulate the c.ilnui- of the ice and sii.iw amxni;- wliich they wei-e slidiliL;' alone-. Seals are also captured with nct<, ei'her sine-lv "r in I'.l'eves ; indeed, the dilTi-rent melliod-j of (-.iptnritic;' seaK 1-y the Eskimo t-iini lUie of the most inlercslini^- uf the chapter^ ■>vhieh Or. Uink, the i|iioiKlam (invernnrof (ii-eciiland. h.is written up' kdl cai the .-ne The Aijcrii' si;.\i,-iirM iMi. 7!) M. iijii'ii till' iiiprllii'i'ii hunt 'vliirli 111' sii Iiiiil;' rulcil. 'I'lic in!i;iliil;iiits of tlu' Arctii.' rcyicms :ilso kill till' iliU'cri'iil >|ii'ci(S ol' whiili', tli'iii'^'h tlin'r iiiiulint itiP'tiiiidi ilm.'s nut yreatly ililTcr, ill its L;viui';'.! j!;-;iici|)lL's, rrniu tlmt iiilnpti'd liv tlu' l']uriipi':in-;, to In' jiri'sciitly di'scrilioil. Ill :ill tlu'iv ;iiv live souls witliiii the Arctic i-cyiuiis : tlic sailillo-liack, or liiir|p sc;il, so caili'il IVi'iii the slia|ii' of tin' darli iiiaik ^n tlic Lack i.l' tlic male (I'/inci (! i-nciil'iml'ifii); the line-rat (I'lhii-ii fiijlulii); llic hlaililcr-iiosi; — ilc'riviiiy its iiaiiic I'nim tliu iiillafcil lioml, III- "caiii," as tiic old iiavi^'ators call it, on its I'oivhcad {('//.slaji/idf-i cr/tfii/n) ; tlu; I'rcsh-water seal (/'//of,/ rilii/hi,i , p. Id), wliicli. Ihoiiu'li . 'ic most coinnioii soal o]i oin- .-lioi'L's, is the rarest in Polar lands, and llic e.|-,,,ind or i;ro\vn seal (I'/iarii l,iifl„ila). The lii'st two, with a 'ew of the n'rotiiid seals, ai'e those cliielly killed hy the Mnropeali si-alers. All of them are "hair" .~eals, their hides heiiiu;' only used for leather, or hy the Mskimo for clolhino' and the other varied uses to whieli they put every [larl of this animal.* 'I'lie diil'creiit spceits of fur seal are coidincd to the Xorlh and .South I'acilic, and in tliu former lociility jienctrate williin the .\rctic Circle; hut the "lishevy" of the fur seal can be hc>t d.'scrihed wheii we an; ciiL;'aL;-cd, farther o]i, in considering' the fur countries jiroper, their iirodiicts and their industries. 'I'lioug-h the (ircen landers and other J-'.skimo tribes kill many thousands every year, yet the vast majority of the seals brought in this country, to th;' ('outinent, and to America, ai'c ohtained by the slaughter of the lloeks of them wliich cono'rej;-ato in the spring- on the lloe-ice idT the coast of Xewfoiindland, J-abrador, and in the vicinity of the island of .Ian .Mayen, ln'twecn Icelan.l and Spitzbei'oen. The sliij)s I'uo'a^'ed in the Xewfoundland and Labi'ador sealiiii^' are very often "(/oiintry vessels" — /.''., belono-ino' to the port of St. .bihn's; but those which fre((uent the Jan ]\layen, or " (ireciilaiul scalino'," as it is erroneously called, are cliielly from .Scotlainl, Flolland, (ii rmany, and Norway, and u'cnerally those wliicli afterwards o'o to the whalino' (Chapter \ .\. 'J'liey leave lioiiie about the last days of February or the Islof -March, and after calliiii;' in at licxvick, in Shellanil, for "extra hands," arrive at the cd^'e of the Arctic ice in ten days or a liirlniyht at the outside after leaving' lllhiia T/mli: 'I'licy coast aloiio' its "biL;'ht,"or odye, lookiny foi- the Hocks of yonny seals, or jieiietrate the h-ads or opcniiiLis in the ice-ileld (p. .j:2) in search of their I'rey. The old seals are not so easily killed as the youiio- ones : accordinijfly, the sealers wait until the seals whelp, or '" jiu|i." in order that they may slaughter the white-coated yoiino'. It is not for a week that the pups ean ta'.e to the water; accordlnu'ly, diiriiin' that tiiin' they fall an easy ju-ey to the sealers, ulio land iii e'.'oujis, armed with sjiiked clubs, and jirovidcd with " riieriiddiis," or ropes attached by broad belts over their shoulders. .A blow over the nose by the cluli or lu'avy boot is o-ene,ally suliieii'nt to kill, or at least to stun, the voiinn' seals. As these tlocks will sometimes niinili.n- many thousands, stretchin'T far and near, the slauohter is immense, Xo sooner are they killeil than another man whips out his knife and, by a few adroit cuts, turns the can-ase out of the jacket — /.'•., (he hide and blubber combined. The hides ar.' (hen colleeled ill pili's, and drayyed by the "riieruddies" to a cuveiiient pli f 'f beino' taken olV \<y the boaf>. ^^ ■ li ai'c continually [dyino' between the ship and the iiv ; or, if the ship be frozen in, they are u.'ao'o'ed to its side; then ' Ki.r wliiili I m:iy lie iill.iw. il I.M. I'. !■ 111.' ir.ul.i' I.l my ii.M.s mi tln' .^'-^''..^ "1' .-"iiit/,!!. r^'.ii .iii.l (in . iiImihI mi ■ ri'.i.rf..liiiirs ..f th.' Zoulogical .Socii.ty " (IS(ks); or thu Adinmilty's " Jli.muil of the Xiitiiril llUtory oi Urucii- l.md," ,Vi-. ^isr.i). Till'. rinNI'IMKs !<]■ TllK \V(i|;l,li. llii'\ iiir ilrii|i|pc(l iiilM 1 hi' linlil, Mild iil'liT, ill :i " sliirl; llnir," :iri' liikcii ii|i ;ii;:iiii, I iic MhIiImt slici'd ulV, iilld tlic skins Milled. i\'V liellcr |irc-ri'\;iliii|i, illild llir Vcsm'I iirrivcs liniiic. Till' liiiiiiliiT kdli'd is siilili'liiiii's ciniriiii.iis : vessels iiiivi' iiri'iv.'d in Diiiidei' with ;is, iii;iliv lis :2:2,(MHI seiils, llie |irndllct ni' niilv ii few weelis' shiiio'liler. Of hile yeiirs iiii :itleiii|il li;i> lieeii made In n'el I lie dill'ei'eiil I'liimiieaii y'nveriiuieiils eiii^'ay'ed in I lie Imsiness In a^'ree In a "el'ise time.'' .Vs vi't iliis lias lieeii iilisiieees^rid, and it is more than dniilil fid, Idnliinn' al (lie (|iii>stiiin [iiirely I'imiii a eommei-eiui view, wlietlier this wnidd he iHissilile. The greater iiiimlier 111' the seals killel are yniiiiL"' mies, uiiil the iiiiineiise slaiiu;'liler solely cleiiends <iii the fail thai llie pr;is, nr " while-ioaN," are uiiahle to take |.i the water, and >n fall an easy prey t(i their munh'rers. The uld ones will remain as hiiii;' as |Missitile o'liai'dini;' llieii' yniiiiL;', and even after they have left the ice will snmetiini's false Ihemsidves ii]), and sevei'ely liite the iinwai',v '• hniiler." Siimet iiiies the sealers pellet I'al e as far niPi'lli as iielween JH'" and 'i-> \. latitude, aiiil ihei'e loiit inue >ailinn' ahniit until they lliul Ihe seals, which they generally dn alioiil ihe lii-t week in .\pril. Ii' they do nut i;e) ureess In them, they remain until early in May, when, if they intend piirsiiiiii;' the whaling' iu the Spit/liero'eii sea lliat siiinmer, they i^o imrth In aliniil ', \' X. latitude, In the " nld sealiiin'," <ir further still -even In ^1^ N — In the whaliun'. Mn-t nf them, linu,'\-er, if iml suec-essful hy tl idille nr lliir.l ueek I'f April, leave fnr Imme, In eninplete their supplii-s, in nrder In he nlV hy the 1st nf May In the l>avis fStrail whale lishery. During' the niniilh nf .March and the early jiart nl' April tin' sealers are sulijeel Id all vieissitiides nf Weather, eidiii and sliu'in suddenly alteriiatilin', while the tlier- nmnieler \\ ill stand \'>iy uceks at zei'n, nr I'veii many den-rees helnw it. Many risks are run li\ men lieinn' turned adrift nn pieees nf iee, nwilin' In slnrlll^ arisiiin-, and aeeideiils Imiii thir- aiid nlhi'i' causes are freipiciit. ill Nevvfnundlaiid the sea!-lishery is an impnrlant elemi'iit in thi' pmsperity nf that ancient, if i'rin'id, cidnny. It i^ carried nii hy sailinn- vessels and steanii'rs, the crews nf uliieli niimhcr jrniii :M In :;."iO men. 'I'lie sailinn' vessels lien'iu wnrk imt earlier than the ."itii nf March, and the lattci' lint earlier than ihe I lltii nf the same nimilli, a " close time " to this exieni liaviir,' Ik'uu cnfnreed liy the enlniiial i,ei;islature. Tlu' "lakc'"nf the i/ihradnr sealers is eviT, ninre eiioi'inniis than that of the ( Ireenland nnes. {''nr in-taiice, in the spriiin' nf 1^7:1 Ihe sleanier ^ .</,////'///<'/''■ Iii'nun'ht iiiln ]i;>i-t .')!,. 'SI I seals, wein'hiiin li.'i.i Inn,-, and \alueil at '.■!•'!, ?."i I Ills. '.Id. ^ et this vessel was niily iI'.IU tons, and as she mailed iutn the port was so deeji that one side of the deck was actually under water. Ileren-w numliered :Mili, and as tin' crews of scalers and whalers Wnrk pai'liall\ mi the cn-n]ieralive [iriiiciple- thai i>. limy ai'e jiaid aecnrdino' to the \aliie nl the earnn- ,.ach of the ni'diiiary seamen received upwards nf '. .'!'.•. Tlie l)undce i-eainen receive L:2 iHs. per niniith, with :?s. I'd. per Ion "oil money,'' sn that, sujipnsinn- ih,. \es.~i'l ,n'els eiinii^di to make Inn Ions, eai'li mail would recci\i. I'iir his trip the sum nf i. 111. The I'liirnpeaii scalers dn :int ncncrally carry such larnc crews, and the reliirn per man is ii-iially Ic". In the previous year (1^71} the .\ewfnundlaiid scalers tn..k ahniit .-i:; l,llllll seals, makin.o' an avorao'e nf :!l,ll(|(l each, the larnesi fnr many seasniis. AInst nf them made two trips. In l^ll.') the four Dundee vessels ca]iliil'ed ll.'),linil seal>. In I'^iill scncii \ csselK loi.k ."l^,lllHI. 111 1"^H7 eleven vessels lonk .')(l,l'llll. In l^(l^ twelve vessels Innk lll,7lill. In l^W I'lcvcn \csscls had i."),iIlMI. In Isjil the immlicr iT vessels eiioancil u-js nine, i 4 'I in! m ■ 1 -f' 8:1 TUH COL'M'IUKS OF Till'. Wdlil.D. but they lji'ouf>:ht to the port !Ml,|.")(i simIs ; ;iiul so llic'sr jii^'urcs '/wc II hiir iiviTiiyc. In 1S71, on the 11th of April, oiic DuikIcc vessel, the .7;v//V, luul iriJMlll (in lionnl, iind the h'li/iiit/iiiii.r 1 l,.'!-'i(l, thoiij^'h the seiisou hiul not then linished. On the other hiind, I'lises are hy no means unrre(|nent in which vessels will ernise nroiind — jienetnitiny' this "lead" and thiit '■ hij^ht," coastinj^ here and there, suiVeriii^' all the hardships of an Aretie spring;- — and yet not eaptnro a sinLfle seal. The sealini;;, like the whaling', does not now occupy the same nniidnT of men it formerly did. This is yreatly owini;' to steamers heiny' more em|)loycii than licfoi'e. I'ifteen years a!;'o, i."),!}!!!! men were emjiloyed in sailini;' vessels; now little more than half that number are so oeenpieil. On tlu' other hand, the "hands" on board the steamers in the Newfoundland seal trade — it is of these we speak — number about s, 11(10. It is ealenlated that on the extinction of the sailinii' llecl , only about .'j,(l(MI men will <,'et berths. The value of seals varies with their sjiecies, size, and o'cncral eonditinii. The younn' siuldle- back will weii^'h from Ibrty-ilve to sixty |iounds, while the old female of the same s]iecies will weigh from seventy to ninety pounds, inul the male from rdnety to l.')0 pounds. The ground seal, or " s(piare li]i])er," as the Newfoundland sealers call il, will sometimes weij;h as much as (i.jU pounds. This includes skin and fat alone, for the carcase is of no use, and is always allowed to lie on the ice, to be the prey of the bears or while foxes, and finally to go to the bottom. The bed of the "soalino; ^'rounds " must be perfectly paved with phocine skeletons. The price the seals brini'' vaiies also accordinjjf to the demand for oil and skins : 'J.js. per ewt. is a good sum for young saddlebacks, while the others rank at about '.Is. per ewt. less. When the seals have arrive<l at the maximum fatness, eighty generally yield a ton of oil; otherwise the genei'al average is about Kin lo the ton — - {i.e., H'xl gallons wine measure; weighing, at a temperature of (!()"^ Fahr., l,',!:);) lbs. l;i oz. ] I dr. avoirdu])ois). A few years ago good oil was selling at L.'i.'S per ton ; add to this the value of \VA) skins at .")s. each, and the whole value of iDd seals would then amount to £.jS sterling. That is the calculation received from Dundee, the first mentioned being the one made in Newfoundland. The average catch of seals in Newfoundland for the last twenty years has been aliout o.")ll, 0(111 annually. In l^7•■), K!.'],.").'] 1 seal-skins were exported. The number ol)tained by the vessels in the llnropeai\ tlshiM'v is usually much less; perhaj)s among them all an average of :20(!,000 ;ier annum would tie thought rather over than under the mark. This does not, of course, include the number killed by the wild llskinio — which cannot be ascertained — or by the civilised (ii-eenlanders — the latter killing, aeeordiug lo Dr. ilink, about Mi, 00(1 seals, and (00 white whales and narwhals every ,\ear. Seal- hunting is of great antii|nity. Il is said tliat some of the old Icelandic sagas, or romantic histories, wei'e written on seal ])ai'chmen1. 'I'he (lermau warrioi's who courroiiled the llnuiau legionaries were clothed in seal-skins, and the Uoman military tents were at one time also constructed of the same material. It was believed lo be so sure a talisman against lightiiini;y that Augustus always wore a jiieee upon his person to act as a sal'ei^Miard ai;ainst what he so di'eaded. In the North, ealiles were uiaile of seals' and walrus' hides, and the Finns and Lapj)s p.iid their tribute in them. The old Icelandic colonists in Greenland paid thi'ir Peter's i>ence in the same material; and a receijit is still in existence showing that tlu^ir contributions to the Crusades were ])aid at Heryen in l-'l'JT in sea-horse tusks. The flesh of some of the species is ex('elleut. The fvskiino live almost entirely upon it, as do also 4 ihmim; riii-; \v.\i.i;rs. H8 I the l);iiic- ill (ii nl;iiiil. Tlic wrilci', ilurin;;' liis roiileiict.' in tliiit I'uuiitry, ulsii iito it lV[)i'llli'illy, .■iliii. iilii' liMisI iilhrr |ii'n|ilc. K'Ml'lit'J to likf it. 'I'lii' Imiuiiii^' (if llic luiMv^f, walrii-, (ir sc;i-lioisu (I'l-'n-li'i-litii lUj-smarr-s, \). M), if nut hi ini|MPiliiiil (■(iiiiiiK'ivialiy, is even :i iiinn: t'xc'itiii<4' pursuit tluiii tiiat of tlic soliI. The \v:ilrus is uidi'ly ili>lnlMilril nvcr tiif riitirc Ai'i'tic iv^'itins, rmniil tiir wliolu fiR'uil nl' Ww I'oLir l);isin, and rxtrnds at Irast Ik llir soullaTii I'XtixMuity ol' Jk'lii'infr Strait, it is essentially a i/nasl animal, and (me rmind in shallow waters. It is never to lie seen out on tlie liinh sea^ or more tlian a short ili>lanee I'roni land. J.iille is known of its hahits duriny tlie winter, Init it is iho heliel' ol' Mr. l.aniont — who, of all Knolislinien, is ]irolial)iy hest ae(|uainle(l with tlie haliits of this '^wni seal, for such it is, and to whose ohservatiou the followini;- pau'es owe almost everythini;' of value — that they eonf,'reoate ill vast niimliers at that season ahout the south-west edyes of the y;reat iee-Jiaeks of Xovai Zenilai and Sjjit/.hei'n-en. A walrus is now and then found lloatiny in the open sea, on :i frao'iiielit of an ieo-lield ; and il is to this accidental mio'ration from its usual haunts that wc owe its occasional [ireseiice in the north of Norway, and even in Shetland, Orkney, and tho west of Sc(.itlan(l, to which the few killed in these localities have api^arently swam, as tho nearest land, aftr tluMr ice-nifis had lirokcn nii. It is oven helievetl that as late as the lifteeiith century il was a rej^iilar visitant to our shores, and that the ivory ornaments of tho ancient Hritous' horse-lrappino's and weajions were carM'd from tho sea-horses' tusks. As the iee hreaks up in the spring' llio walrus move with it, and oon^jregato toj^a'tliel' in troops, and llnally \ro ashore in some rocky hay, where they may lie sometimes found, in thousands. Here, towards tlu> end of Auo'Ust, they remain in a semi-torpid condition, neither nioviny nor i'cedino'. AVhen found away from the coast il is necessary for tho walrus to frecpient shoals in ordei' to obtain the shell-lish which constitute the princip.il ]iart of its food. Its general appearanco may he learned from our liu;'uivs (pp. :Js, bl). The most salient features in its jmrtraiture are its j^'iiarled hide, its whiskers the thickness of erow-(piills. and its two o'reat ivory tusks, or canine teeth, in the iriper jaw. Its liroad L;riiiders eiiahle it to crush the shells of the in(dlusks on whieh it feeds, and it is dillicult to say what use it makes of its tusks, unless to stir up the mud in whieh its food is found, or to eiiahle it to raise itself iiiioii the iee. It is, however, these tusks and its eoarse hiih' which render it ^■aluallle in commerce. Its llesh is eaten hy the Norwegian and .Siberian hunters, and by the Eskimo, hut in the e\es of traders is of no value, and is not lu'ouo'ht to iMirope. On tho Hoes (.ver sounding-s and shoals the walrus olteii aecnmulate in immense numbers, and lie huddled upon the ice. ^loro fre(piently in Davis' Strait and I'allin's liay they are found lloating about on ]iieces of drift ice, in small family jiarties of si.\ or seven; and in my voyaii'es in those ]iarls I have not uufreiiueiitly mot a solitary herinil lying asleep on the ice all by himself. Whether in large or small parties, ono is always on the watch, as was noticed long ago by the sagacious Cook. T'he watch on (he approach of danger will rouse those next to il, and, the alarm being sjiread, ])resently the wliolo herd will be on Uw alert. AVhen attacked, unlike other seals — unless it be the bladder-noso — it will not reireat, but boldly moot its enemies. I was ono if a party in a boat which Larpoonod a solitary walrus asleep on a piece of iee. It iuinieiliitely dived, but |iresentlv arose, and, nolwithstanding all our e.verlioiis with lan^'e, axe, and rillo, sto\o in the bows of 84 •nii; I nrs riiir.s u\- luv. wdKi.n. \\\r lii.al liv Iciii'iiin' llic planks m-iiikIi'I- willi i(s |i(i\vi'rriil lii>k>. Imlrnl, ,m> \\nc liiilv t'"> '_;lail 111 (III IIk,' liiii' iiilril'l , ami savr (Hirsflvcs, Ky takiiii;- In llir ii'c wliicli llir walrii,-, liaij li'l'l, iiiilil assi.sliiiicL' cmiM n'acli us. l;Uckily I'ni' us, Ihc rnran't'ii nmi'sc was iiiaj^'uaiiiuiuus ruiPU);'li Mill (c) iillai'k ils clicip-rallrii rurniii's, liut luailr nlT, nTuulilin' imli^fuaillly, willi a nun liar|Miiin and a new vvlialc-liui' ilaui^liUL;' Irnni ils lilci'ilius;' llaiiks. Ils ,if//i/,-, ur liri'alliiu;^-li(ilr, is ilcauK liuislu'il, anil ih'I uuliki' llial nl' ilic seals, luil in uiucli lliickci' ice. Il will drvciur, ■M VIKW 111- saxiieuson's iiiii'i;, M'AU ri'iaixiviK, haiiin's iiav, ;;,:,in) 1 1 IT iiuai. (Kmiii nn (/.laiiml Slil'li.) ;ilsii, the caiTasrs nl' llnatiu^' ulialcs, i'nr liii' ,-lninarli nf nun killnl liy us clnsc (n wlu'i'i' a wliali' hail lii'Oii " tlcnsi'd " was i'miuii ii'auinii'il with (hi" " kraun' " nl' the (li'|iarli'i| (•claccan. In ils stdinai'li anil ai'nunil ils .////'/• aii' ni'urvally fiuiiiil stnui's — a I'arl wliirh is alsn Inic nl' till' ilin'i'slivc a])|iaraliis nl' tln' y-i'iiuinl seal ami Ihi' wliid' whali". Xi'\l In man ils cliicr iMit'iiiy is Iho I'lilai' hrar. Il is rasily ilnnir>liiali'il, lull has mily Ium'U oiico nr twico hroun'hl In Knn'lanil. Om' whirh 1 saw nii Imai-il a wlialiT wnulil Inllnw ils favnurili's aiinut- lik" a linn'. Il was, hnnrviT, I'asily ini'iiiscil. Ils I'mul was i-hiclly pra smip, ami anvlhinn' cisi" whirh il coulil n'|.( , J( siirvivci! fni' ncai'ly iIii-im' nmnllis, Inil mil Inn"' I'lmun'h In allnw ils " Awonk I awniik ! " riy In hi' hi'anl in Ihi' Inindnii Znulnn'ii'al (iai'ilrns. It is to this rr\- nf " awnnk ! " thai Iho Mskiiim nanu' I'nr il [(iwnok) is dui-. From the I'arlii'sl pcrind it has hw'ii detcniiinudly hiintud. Old Olhcri', the lirst saiku- lirNriN(. nil. \v.\!,i;is. S,) 1m'\(i||'I i|ii' Ni'iili ( ',i|ir, " liillltcil llif Willnis mill llii' >r;il " ill tlic \\ hilr Sim. I'Vuiii llial (Lllr, :iliil ih'iiIimIiIv IhIih' niitrlMnrly, llir \v;ir nf cNlrniiiluitinll lills liccii '^'<h\<j, nil ill Sjiit/- |pi'r;;cii miiiI Nnviii ZiMiiliii, until imw tlic Xni-wcj^iiiii \viilrii> liiuitfrs Iiiim' In dii'frl llirir vi'SM'ls I'm iiilo liir Kiii'ii Sen in scm'fii nl' tlii'ii- prrv. I'Vw, il' :iny mT liiriii, imw winlir cither in Noviii Zciiilui or Siiil/.lK'i'H'i.'ii with ii view in im/ii' rii>il\ hunt tiicif prey: tiiey i1i'|i('IhI iijiiiii lluj success ul' tiieir suninier work. Vcai' liy yeiir their lierer i|u;iiTy is eseaiiin^ npf Ur.ATIclN NKAU THE NollTII TOI.E. t.i more iitul more imuM'essiMe loealilies; nml most proIinMy this nitliless iiei-seeiilinR xvhieli ihe walrus have nnder^-oiu' has altered its hahils '^Teatlv. It is rare no\v-a-ila\s even with the aid of steamers, to hear of such a windrall as the slaughter of a wlmle Iierd. ir tlii'v he killed ill lireat iiiiiiiliers in one pla<'e, it is almost eerlaiii that tlier will not I.e I'ound there in the I'ollowiiii,'' season. 'I'liey will have made a iirudeiit retreat lo less easily reaelird haunts, where ])ossilily, in future times, the species will he presprved, when it is no loin,''er jiossihie to derive either sjiort or jirollt IVimi its slaiediter. Ill the sixteenth and sevcnleeiilli centuries — (hniicrli it had then been liimled hv Dutch ^. .->«>. w IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ? ^ /. // :/ « ?^p 10 I I.I 11.25 Hi M2S 1 2.5 |5o "^^ M^B ■^ 1^ 12.2 It lis IIIIIM 1.8 U II 1.6 6" V] ? Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WES I MA > '.T«6I:T WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80 (716) 872-4503 W Wd, M ^ 8fi Till-; (dlNTlilKS UK TlIK WOKl.H. J']ii!,Misl), Noi'weg'KiMs, ami IJiiHrtiaiis — tlu'v wito dcHfi'ibud as " lyiiif,'' liko lioj^yess upon licajis " on licai- Island, smith nl' Sjiil/.borgcii. Captain Tliunias IMiiv, in lt!l(i, killocl in liast Sjiit/bui'ifon no less tlian a tlmusand. In otlicr pai'ts of the world Ihcy wt'i'o cipially nuniurous. Fur instance, in Lord J^huldhani's day they assendjled on the Maydalen Islands, in the Gulf of St. Lawrenee, to the nundjer of 7,0IH) or '^,nuil, and sometimes as many as 1,(>0I) were killed at one onset by the hunters who pursued them. When .Marten visited Spitzberyen, it was possil'le for a sliiji's erew to kill DUD in seven hours on Cherry Island. The walrus is tjenerally harpooned like the whale, and then killed by lanees while swimming'. Som. 'times they are enticed within shot by having a Juiiijvr — or young' oi.o — on board, or by using' an instrument which, like the deer-call, simulates the cries of the young in distress, and so attracts the mother until she is near enough to be attacked. " -Many men I have conversed with," writes Mr. Lamonl, " have averred tiiat there is no more successful trick in th(! trade than to secure a ' lectle-boy walrus,' and, by prodding him up with the butt-end of a lance, elicit the plaintive barks which cannot fail to appeal to the clannish instincts of any walrus within hearing. I remember on one occasion, some years ago, falling in with a herd of walruses in the water. The mode of attack was to endeavour to harpoon them, by dint of hard rowing' after the herd, as they alternately dived an<l swam on the surface to gain breath. If there are calves in the herd, they cannot go mch I'aster than the boat, if so fast; and the calves having to come up to breathe much more frecpiently than the old ones, the wlnjle herd generally accommodate their pace to that of the old cows with young ones. In all my sporting experience, I never saw anything to C(pial the wild excitement of such a hunt. Five pairs of oars pulled with utmost strength make the boat seem to lly throu;j;h the water, while, jierhaps, a hundred walruses, roaring, bellowing, blowing, snorting, and splashing, make an acre of the sea all in a foam before and around her. The harpooner stands with one foot on the thwart, and the other on the front locker, with the line coiled in his right hand, and the long weapon in both hands ready balanced for a dart, while he shouts to the crew which direction to take (as he, from standing upright in the boat, has a better opportunity of seeing the walruses under water). The herd generally keej) close together, and the way in which they dive and reappear again simul- taneously is remarkable; one moment you see a himdred grisly heads and long gleaming white tusks above the waves : they give one sjiout from their blow-holes [nostrils], take one breath of fresh air, and the next moment yon see a hundred brown hemispherical backs, the next a hiuidred pairs of llipi)ers [paws] llourishing, and then they are all down. On goes the boat, as hard as ever we can pull the oars, up <'oine the sea-horses again, pretty close this time, and before they can draw breath the boat rushes into the midst of them ; whish ! goes theharp<ion ; birr! goes the line over the gunwale, and a luckless juiiger, on whom the harpooner has lixed his eye, is fast ; his bereaved mother, snorting with rage, charges the lioat with Hashing eyes ; she quickly receives a harpoon in the back and a bullet in the brain, and hangs lifeless on tlie line; now the junger begins to utter his plaintive grunting bark, and lifty furious walruses close round tlie boat in a few seconds, rearing uji breast high in the water, and snorting am! blowing as if they would tear us all to pieces. Two of these auxiliaries are speedily harpooncHl in their iurn, and the rest hang back a little, when, as bad luck would have it, the junger give*, up the glio?t, owing to the severity of his harpooning, and the olher.s, no longer attracted by m'NTIXd TIIK WAMU'S. 87 liiss crii's, retire to a more pnwk'iit (listaiiL'o. Hut for this untoward and ])romaturo docoaso 1)1" tlio juiigvr, tlio men told im- we sliould have liad nmru walruses on our hands than we could nianag-e. This eurious clannish i)raclice ol' coniinj^ to assist a call' in distress arises from their heinj^' in the hahit of conihining- to resist the Polar bear, which is said often to succeed in killiun' the walrus; it, however, Uriiin, pressed hy liuny:er and a teiuiitinf;- opportunity, is so ill-advised as to snatch a calf, the whole herd come upon him, dra^' him under the water, ami tear him to pieces with their lonj^' sharp tusks." A huulcr told Mr. Lamont of such a case. The bear was pulled under the water, and '•' nothiny of him came uji again, but snudl scraps of skin will; white hair on Iheni." A still innrc remarkable case was related to him — namely, of the skipper of a ship, who liad Ijcen seized by a bereaved cow walrus, and by her draiiyed twice to the bottom of the sea, without sustainiiii,' any other injury beyond beinj^' nearly drowned, and receivinj^ two (iee]i scars on his teni|ile from her tusks. He thought the walrus did not wi-^li to hurt him, but mistook him for her calf, as he lloundered in the water — an excuse hinhly creditable to the captain's coniidence in the kindliness of the walrus, but not altojj^ether eom])limentary either to his own appearance or to the animal's intelligence ! No animal displays more maternal aifection than the walrus. Cases are not uncommon in which a cow-walrus will hold her younj^ one under one of her llippcrs, and inter]iose her own body between the barjiooner and her olfspring'. They are also combative, and will use their tusks against one another, in the same way that jyame-cocks use their licaks. Cdutrary to what might be expected, from their unwieldiness, the walrus can not only strike downwards, liut iurn their necks with yreat facility and (piickness, and strike either ui)ward, downward, or sideways, with c(pial dexterity. Mr. Lainont has frei|uontly seen them iightiny with g'reat ferocity on the ice; and the .skins of the old bulls, which are light-coloured and nearly devoid of hair, are often covered with scars and Wounds reci'ived in these encounters. Their tusks are firmly embedded for six or seven inches in the skull, which is itself so thick that an ordinarj' nmsket-bullet will llatten on it. A g'ood pair of bull's tusks may be estimated at two feet in length, and four pounds apiece in weight. Sumetimes, though rarely, they will measure thirty-one inihes in length, and weigh as nuieh as eight pounds (Nich. Cows' tusks will average fully as much as hulls', 1ml, fiom their liability to Vie broken, they are seldom more than twenty inclns long, and three pounds each in weight. It is a common belief amonj? the hunters that tlmse walrus which have wide-set tusjks ari' the most savage and dan<.;crons, and miiri> ])articularly if the tusks diverge from one aucither in 'v/vvv, as is occasionally the case. The ivurv of these tusks is extrenudy hard, dense, and white. Their small size, luiwcvcr, renders them inapiilieable for many cif the ivory-turner's puri)ose>;, and acconlingly they do iu>t command so high a ]n'ice as elephant's ivory; but th"v are in good repute for the nuinuiacturo of false teeth, a)i<l for making ct':ss- men, umbrella handles, whistles, and other small articles. The hides are used to make machini' bands, and are omplnyed in various other arts, for which a strong (piality of leather is re(|uir<'d. The wau'us yicdds an enormous (puintity of fat — sometimes between seven hmidrcd and eight hundreil poinids. The (lesh is very welcome to hungry men, and the tongue particularly so; indeed, among some of the Tallin's Bay and Behring Straits whalers, ^ "^S TiiK corxTiiiKs (iK Till-; wour.n. >all walrus t(in;,ni(' is :i I'iivourik' disli. The Kskiino hunt tlic Wiilrus by liarpooninjj, but tlic South (ifccnlaMiliM-s lii'silatc to allack if in tlu-ir kayaks. .Iirunk- is tlioir lion, anil they al'vays s| cak of him with the most in'ot'ound rospi-ct. The wild denizens of Smith's Sound, however, tliouy'h — owiiiy to the want ol' kayaks, or l>oats — unable to attack the walrus in the water, boldly harimoii him as he lies on the iee-lloes, and so supply to their Tamilius the Ibod, warmth, and lio-ht wliieli make tolerable the lonjjf Aretie ni^^hl. Till! walrus is, indeed, the nmst t'ormidable-lookint;' animal in the I'olar lands. From nine feet to sixteen feet in leno;th, wei^jhiny; aliout twenty liundredweif^ht, encased in a coat of mail, in the shajie of a skin two or three inches in thickness, iiis head crowned with Ui^ly laro'e eyes, and formiilable tusks, surrounded at the base by coarse liristles, lie is sidllciently <li;moniacal in appearance to suii'y;est in tin? superstitious mind of the dweller in hi^h latitudes a wholesome dread of hi n. Aceordiui;' to them, he is under the pro- ti'ition of a walrus-deity, whose roars, far from beyond the lands which conn- under their ki'u, thi'y alTect to hear in terror, soundint;' throuii-li the aurora-lit winter niijht. The whales of the .\rctie reyious are many, and thoiiyh all ol" them are more or less hnnled liy th(! l']skimo, there is only one — viz., the rijfht whale, or myslicete {/in/iriiii iiii/stlreinx) — which is of yreat eeonomi<' value. The narwhal, or sea-u'iieorn (Mo/imfoii nnDwrrroK), about sixteiu feet lonj;', and arnieil with a lonif, straiifht horn-like spiral ivory tooth, sometimes ten feet in leuf^th, is one of the most remarkable of the Arctic cetaceans, as well as one of the most beauiiful. This ''horn" is, in reality, one of the canine, or eye-teeth, of the whale develii])ed straight out, just as those of the walrus are bent, downwards. However, while tli;- teeth of the walrus are invariably develo]ied in pairs, the horn of the narwhal is usually siuj^le, tlioufjii iu some eases both are protruded. These horns are greatly Al;i TM AM.M.\I,> Hi) ViiMic'il l(ir 111;' |iiir]piisi's 111' tlic iviirv-luriici'. At one liiiii' tlicy wt'iv iisimI in iiii'iiicir:", iiiid iiips iiiiiili' 111' lliiMii were liclii'vcii In jidssl'ss tlii- jiowcr cij' liclucliii^j; iiiii! iiciilnil- isiiiy niiv |ii.isuii contiiiiit'il in tlicni. 'J'o lliis ihiy lln' Cliiiicsc istccin llicsc Imrns I'nr tht'ii -111111 ]irii]i(,'rtii's. In did tiini's it Wiis sii|)1mis('(1 In lie the Imrn of llic ;;ililcil uniccir, :inil suM ill cndrninns pricLS. In llic I'aliici' nl' HoscnlHuy, in ('(i])('nliii^('n, is II (hrniii' 111' till' kini^'s nf IK-niniirk, niiiiiuractun.Ml out uf tlio ivory; anil llic ratlKT nl' Dr. SiDi-i'sliv had a liiMlsk'iid made out oF (licni. In iMIl tli • priif id' narwlial's ivmy 1 Al.l.^ Ul Till: IIUI Al;\, 11 lil.AXll. was Is. (1(1. ni'i' iioiiiid, Iml ul' lati' yi'ars il lias risi'ii iirudiii'linisly in \aliir, ijuin"' to its lii'in;,' in ri'ipii'sl I'm- (lie repair of the Chint'sc jialaii'-, hut it is a^, lin ralliii!.;'. Tlu; oil is In'o-hly <st cciiiwl, and (lu' Itcsli is vi'iy ]ialatal)li', though, indi't'd, the loanu'd Wonnius warns us that it is a deadly jioison. Tln' skin ul' tlio narwhal, hoilod to a .ji'tly, is lookod upon, and justly so, as oiii' of llif ]irinK' dainties ol' a (ireenlander. The hos|iitahlj Danish ladies resident in (ireenlanil always make a point ol" preseiitinii' a dish of iiintluk to their loreinn visitors, who are, however, siillieiently rare not to make j;i-eat deniands on their euliiiaiy skill, and in most eases, of tastes cosniopolitan enough to apprei iate the outlandish luxuries set hol'ore them. Till! white whale {Hi'hhjii n/liir'Hii) is prohahly ol' even more iiiiporlaiiee to tlie I^skoiH' than the narwhal. It is equally tonimon, and its hahits and niiLiration are much the >.iiii'' 12 • 90 TllK cnrNTUIKS OF TIIK \V()l!l,li. ns tliosn ol" tlic liittcr, wliicli ii^'uin fiilli)ws tlio riy^lit wlir.Ic in its miifnitii)ns. It iiooa n!» lar iKirtli as (N'^at least. It uaiuU'i's, linwovur, I'lli'tlu'r south tiiaii liic iiai'ulial, liuiii;;' loiiiul as a iTj^'iilar lioiii/i'ii in tliu St. Lawivnce Ilivor. The tlivcnlandci's, iliiriiij;' tin' suininor, kill yivat ntiinboi's of tliein, j)ivsei'vi; tlicir oil, and diy their llcsh I'ur winter use. Of this animal and tlio narwhal aliuiit 500 are yearly cauj^ht in (ireenlaml liy means ol' stronj^ nets, or are luiriMioned, hut the majority ol' them are white whales. Jl is aliout sixteen feet in leng'th, and derives its coniniou name from its ereuniy-white colour. It is a rare oeeurrenee for the whalers to kill one, its swiftness anil activity H'i^''"n them more trouhlj than the oil is worth. 'I'liey are sometimes called " sea-jMi'-s," from their hearing' some resemblance to that animal when tumblinj^' about in yreat droves on the water. The porpoise, dolphins of various species, and several species of tin whale, make up the other Arctic cetacea. The lin whales — .so called from having a tin on their backs — are tlie largest known cetacea, often exceL'dinjf lUO feet in leng'th, while the right whale rarely exceeds sixty; they are killeil In' the I'^skimo, but not by the whalers. Their swiftness and liereeness render their pursuit dillicult, while their thin, hard cartilaginous blubber — not unlike soft glue — yielils little oil, and the whalebone in their mouths is short and all but worthless. They mostly belong to the genus lidhcniqilvrii, and are known to the whalers as "linners" or " rorquals. " They are almost eipially common on oiu' coasts during the herring-fishing season. They also freipient the cod banks, their large throats, unlike the right whale, permitting them to swallow great gulps of iishes at one mouthful. The right whale (liiiliciia mjilicelui) ha.s been long jiursued for the sake of it.s blubber and wIialel)one. The whales killed in the Middle Ages by the Basipie whalers in the Hay of Hiseay are, however, believed t<j have been a dilTerent specie;,. As tlie range and migration of the present species will be more fully narrated in the succeeding chapter, we may be brief in our description of this, the most imiwrtaiit of the Arctic "sea monsters." Its throat is so narrow that it cannot live on Iishes, but on VHd Luri'iiH^, a small mollusk found in al)un(lan(.'0 throughout the Polar regions, and on the little shrimp- like CetochiluH itri-tiriix, and its relatives. These animals again live on the n\inute microscopic plant called the diatom, which discolours, of a green hue, great portions of the frozen seas. The clios and entonuistraea, therefore, are chielly found in these places. The whale freipients the localities where its food is mo.st abundant, and the whaler sails with all haste from one feeding-ground to another in search of it. It is, therefore, no exaggeration to affirm, as I did some years ago, in another place, "that in all the annals of biology I know nothing stranger than the curious tale I have unfolded: the diatom, staining the broad frozen sea, supporting myriads of living beings which crowd there to feed on it, and these, again, supporting the huge whale; so completing the wonderful cycle of life. Thus it is no stretch of the imagination to say that one ot the gi'catest animals in creation* — whose j)ursuit gives employment to many thousand tons of shipping and thousands of seamen, and the importance of which is commercially so i • Xilsson, in his " Skiimliiuivislf Fautiii," vul. i.. p- "t'*' i'»t>"i'iti'S the fuU-yrowii U. mijst'mlns ttt ilW tons or 220,000 lbs., or lhiiuiI to liglily-iiglit elupliuutd or 440 whitu bears. ■t AUCTIC \MMAI.S. 91 <■ llj) tlio icks — an' !(■ raivly swil'tiifss iIk'I' — not I all but ! wlialor-s iring tliu alike (lie <■? 1,'rcat tiiat its lailiiiv for one season was estimateil, lor one Scottish port alone (Dunilec, in ISCiTl, at a loss of 11(111,(1(11) sterling'— ileliiMuls I'or its existence on a lieiii^' so niiniito that it takes thousands to he massed too^cther hel'ore they are visihle to the naked eye, and, thouf^ii thousands of sliips for hundreds of years sailed the Aretie, unknown to the nu'u who were most interested in its existenee; illustrating', in a remarkahle degree, liow Nature is, in all her kingdoms, dependent on, and h.)w great are, little things!" The gun huriioon (a haritoon tired out of a huge horse-pistol-liko weapon, mounted on swivels in the how of the hoat) has now almost entirely sui)erseded the old hand harpoon. It is, however, still helieveil that the latter, if more diliieult to use, is a more ellieient weapon. Alter the whale is " struck," it generally dives or makes for the nearest ice, air.^'Ug the frozen lields of which it is sometimes lost. The hoat which is "fast" hoists a Hag, when the other boats come to its assistance. If the whaler is "paying out" much line, they unite their lines to the first one. AVlien it comes up to breathe, the other boats either harpoon it afresh, or, if it is weakened, lance it ; for the hariwon acts merely as a hook, the whale being killed by the long steel lances. When killed, the boats tow it alongside the vessel, where, by a contrivance of cords and pulleys, it is secured, and turned gradually round to permit the blubber being taken oil' it, and the whalebone stri[)s cut out of its upper jaw. The blubber is then put into iron tanks with screw tops, or if the.se fail, into casks, which are taken out in staves, or "shakes," and put up by the cooper as occasion rc<[uires. The oil is fried out after the ship comes home. The ways of life of a whaler we may have occasion to describe when, in a future chapter, man in the far North is sketched. The whales are being gradually driven further and further to the northward; but the varying fortune of the whaling trade is as much owing to the ill luck of the whalers in coming across their haunts as to the want of whales. 1 am nut at all sure that they are decreasing so greatly in nuud)ers as is the general belief. Every now and again cargoes eipud to anything that was obtained in the best days of the trade are procured. In iMil 1 came home to England, "shipmate" (as the phrase goes) with no less than thirty right whales, in adtlilion to a ndscellaneous menagerie of Arctic animals, dead and alive, and a nujlley human crew — a c((nii)any so viifre, that ] (piestion if ever naturalist, or even whaler, sailed with the like before. No <loubt, many of the whales were only half grown, or even younger; but still, the cargo was a monster one. The whales of the Sea of Okotsk and Ik'hring's Strait are said to be dilTerent in species from those of the North Atlantic. They are, however as yet very imperfectly described, and it is known that whales harpooned in Ikllin's ]5ay have been afterwards killed in the North Pacilic, having accomplishwl the " North-west Passage." The common porpoise is also common to both seas. The white bear [I'rxKH Murifhini-s) is one of the best known of the .Vrctic land animals. It ranges both sea and land in search of ita prey, but its favourite ibod is seals, for which it ingeniously lies in wait and attempts to eireumvent. It is still common in most parts of the Arctic regions, but of late years ha.s been almost exterminated in Jliddle Greenland. It will often be found far from land ; and during the sealing season it is a constant attendant on the sealer, for the sake of the carcases, in pursuit of which it is more free Ihuii welcome. It is a poweri-ul animal, olleu weighing from ten "5 n rm: (di-ntimks ov imik wuim '^ In Iwclvc Iniinlicd poiiiKls. It will ;ils(i in llic simnncr v:iit ils ijii't liv ;i I'tMsl nl' cy^'s. It will I'Vt'ii I'lil sc;nvi'c(ls ill the liist cxtri'iiiilv cil' lliiit Imiiifor to wliifli it is ulteii ili'ivcii. 'I'lu' siiii'll III' Imriit liil will iittnii't il I'oi' milts, iiixl tlii>Mi,'li, an a rule, it will lull lic'jdi'.' iii;iii, yd il is In no inciiiis an iMii-mv in lu' (Icspiscd. 'I'lic Aiitii- \'i'\ (I ntpis liii/ujiiiy) is aiiiillicP widi'iy-spri'iul Aivtir aniinal. Like tlif liisiv, il alsii Icavt's till' laiiil In srai'di lor its i'ooil, tlioiiyli il I'onlincs itsi'll' to llif ici'-liclil, and doi's not laki,' to llic watiT. It will oi'ti-n In' si'i'ii iiiindi'i'ds ol' niilis Irom land duriiiji' tlii' ^I'aiinn' season. \\ lirn in |iursiiit of tin' waiidcriiiu' li'iiiiniiio; it soini'tiinrs losrs its way lioiiic, and lias Im'i'ii lakoii in |ilari'> far from ils iiatiii-al liamils. 'I'lii'i'i' an* two varii'lios, llic liliir anil till' wliili'. Till' foniiiT is niiiili inmi' valiii.'d for its I'lir than tlie lalli'V, a sinn-li' skill ofli'ii iViiliiny '.-l in tlir I'airopi'aii inarki'ts. Molli last llirir roals ilurinj;' llio siiiiiiiirr, and lioroinc ln'owii. At llial |u'rioil il is ravi'ly kiili'd, its i'nr lioiiio' of little valiii'. il is llii'ii foiiiid ill till' momitains, |iri'yino' on the yonno- i)tarmiy;aii ; in winter it comt's down to [)ity on slirll-lisli and ollwr niarini' prodiiri', at the iqieii places near the shore when the tide hreaks the ice. Alioiit lliis time it can ol'len he seen harking' its " ak ! iiak-a ! " most impudently at the solitary hiioter. It is not a retirino' animal hy any means. When the hunter letiirns from his day's lahoiir it is one of tiie lirsl unannonneed visitors wliieli eome eitiier to share the jirodiiee of tiie eiiase or to plunder his jirovisioii hay'. Il aeeiiinpanies him — at a respeetfiil dislaiiee — on jijs sledijinn- or oilier expeditions, and rewards itself for this unasked iitleiitioii hy purloiuinn' whatever it ean olilain. if lireil at, it will simply, if uiihurt, hark at ils assailant, and retreat reluetalitly. 'i'lie snowy-white iiare [/,iyii'\ i//'irl,i//'.s) is one of tiio most heaulifiil of .\retie animals, and tlioiiyh it dilTers from the i'Jiiropean lilne hare in very few eharaeters, is in lialdts widely dilVereiit. 'I'lie "timiil hare" is with iis a ]>roverh; hut in the i'olar reoi.ins, its eoiisin is, oil the eoutrary, fearless of man; il will sit "as if nailed in its roeky refill;'!'," however near the hunter may pass il. 'I'lie (ierinan l']xpedition to ilasi (ireenlaiid di'serilied certain plaees in that, eounlry on inoiinlain slopes -as lieino' dotted with while sjiots, wiihli, on eNauiination, proved to he hares. Often after missiiio' n Imve, the hunter li.is lieeii eiialded — so careless is it — to take out his note-hook and sketch it in various attitudes, while it was ipiielly iiihhlini;' the moss, and then at his leisure shoot it. Its hair is sometiines iiseil hy the Ilskimo to weave thread, out of which they niaki' chililreli's caps. Ils llesli is very insipid. The wolf — not till' " n'l'ey hoast of I'yrpnean snow," hut a species peculiar to hinh latitudes (f'liii/'f fiiijiiii, var. 11////1.1) — is unknown in Arctic I']urope or in I'last (ireenlaiid. It has, however, once heen killed in WesI (Ireenlaiid, having crossed over the ice from till' opposite shore, where it is eommoii. It is very like the I';skimo ili)>r, which is, in all iikelihoiid, (inly a loiin'-tanied wolf. This doo- and its use in drai^f^'ilif;' the sh'(lj;'o we have already spoken of.* It is now rajiidly hein<^ decimated liy disease hoth in (Jreenland and • " Hiiifs iif Miinkiiul," Vol. I., |,. 11. hi Hint wuil,- 1 iiLnlviitnilly ilrMiili.il 11 t.Miii of I-lskiiiin iloa:s ;i.-i liiiiiK <:ii,:ilil.' Ill' (liMimiiii,' a Ai'iiiTv 1(10 miles a ilay. I miirlit to liave saiil lliat tliey will fn'i|iienlly tnivc 1 tell liiiuis .1 ilay, ami mi siiiuntli ii c no at n s|iee(l nf sixteen iiiiln an liiiiir. This, Imwevii-, tliey eaiinut liei p ii|i, IIioiilOi ill many l■a^■■s a I. ,1111 lias lieen liiimvii to travel elMhty miles ;»)• i/ifui I'.iv sevei.al ilays t it'etliei-. if till' il.- lie :i.ii!rli. or till' ..lc■ll^'e ilelayeil liy iilistaelis, all avira!,'e of four or live luiles is iieaiei' tile mark. 04 TIM'. CUI-NTHIKS itV THK WolM.H. ill Kmuskiitka. 'I'liis disciisc iiiiiiiy iiarlifiiliirs. " .Stiiiii)>iiif;' out " is the ciiily cm iikiii til liyilroplmliia, Iml (liilVrs t'iMin tlint i'i>in|iiaiiit in vet siif»';,'('st(Ml I'cir il. Till' Arrtic lcniii)iii;r is a variety ni' tin' Lajilanil ami Nnrvvc^'iaii s|ii'(ii's. In l!asl (ii'Gonlaiiil it the (ii'i'liian V. iimnon in llic viciiiit\- nt' Sccii'('sl)''s ShiiikI and tlic winter iiiiai'ti '(litimi NdHl It. Sdiitli '(I it scciiis niilciiown, anil dni's nut a|>|ii ayain in West (irei'nland, until we reacli the njipor ]iart nl' Sniitii's SdiiiuI. This ciiriDiis ilin- trihiilinn shuws that ini st like Iv then Ite h I'll animals ran travel lU'eiind tl ic iioi'lhern end of (Ireenland tu the east last , that, I'ai' tip the north, the "jreat interiur iiilaii' interriiiited. W i' will sec jU'esently that tiic n i\ has a similar distrihution liiiinil (III X ,•11 as tl the I le crniiiie, w hieh, unknown in ISmith (i ihiiiil, eitlier on the cast or west, is iir nor them jiart ol' eitlier coast. It is unknown in Si)it/lici'j,'en, hut exists in Aovai /jein ai, and, liko the le mniinir, is iiliundant in Hudson's Hay and almost every other ]iart of the Ai'etie region. The lliulson's i$ay leiiiminj^' (MijuiIih Idrijiiidint, var. lliiilxmiiiix) is, however, a dill'ercnt variety. The iiiiisk-ox, or jii'diicrly, the iiiiisk-sheei) (^irihci ni'inr/iiilim), is niiother of the Arctic ai.iiiials, hut is altogether eonlined to Arctic America and to a verv local ranjre in (ireeiilainl. It IS rather sn ■r than llie averaoe JMiroiR'au ox (I'iy., |i. !'•'!). Its threaten 'IT' Miiite belies its harmless character It is hlaek ii iiir, with lon^' hair railing' in I'on^ th^ ^h on its hack i.s 'fine wool. As its name imjilies, its llesli and tat are musky in odour; hut on the whole tliev "freatlv resemlde those of the doinesticaled ox. am 1 when youii"' its iii':it does lit diir er itlv I'r the hest heel'. liike the reindeer, it is usiialiv met with in herds — rarelv exei.'edinji' IVom lIKI to :ini( in luiinlier. When first the musk-ox sights the straii^'er it ins as ir rooted to tl SlHlt, stariiiy at the straiiiro unknown enemy, and arrives very slowly at a resolut loll. Its head Is it.< •aide part: a hiillet will llatteii on it. "11" a I'amily, or herd with yoiinjjf ones," writes the historian ol' the tierman I''iXpeJitioii, "lire surjirised, they either roriii a square (the youii<; heiiiij in the centre and the old outside, with their lii^ads down), or else tlu" Imll, jilaced as a sentinel, takes to llio-hlj and the others I'lilliiw' closely, the ]ilaeiiiii^ ol' their oiit|iosts heinj; astonishiii! Til: o excellent climher A ret rent in j^' herd clinihed a snow jiatli at an incline of not less than I.")'', on a hiyli mountain near our winter liarln iiid, tl trrcat astoiiisliineiit, we lool. kinii- iliiwii on us from l)et\ til e crao-yv wa lis of ll]!! I la On the top of Cape I'Vaiikli liei"lit of I.S?.') feet aliove tin level, and on the Imek of tin; Ilasenlierf^', at l.'.I.Vl, traces of this slraiiye sheep-ox were At found one time it was believed to he entirely uiiki in (ireenland. It was iiliiindanee near the (ierman winter ipiarters, in ahout 'i')"' north latitude, and by Hall at a few deirrees further to the north in Smith's Sound. South of these limits it is unknown in (ireenland, tlioui,'h, curiously, the l'".skiino in that country still call the dou'esticaled ox by the name of the musk-ox, viz., I'liimhiijinitk. The reindeer (Ihinn'ifor tarandux) is one of the most characteristic of Northern animals. (Fif,''s., )>. '.)(!.) It is found over the whole range of the .\retic regions, stretching' further to the south than most other I'olar animals; and tliouf;li there are varieties, yet the distinctions between these varieties in America, (ireenland, liiijiland. and .''pit/berii'eii are so trilling, that we may look upon them as all one sjiecies. In no jiortioii of (ireenland or America is it Ali( rir ANIMALS, Uu IiiiiumI us in T,iiiiliiiiil, tho ii..Hh «( Hiissiii, nml Sihcnii. In Iceland, lli.)iit,'li not a imtivu lit' tliul IhIiukI, It i> roini.l in iilMindiiniv, having: licrii iniiHulfd into tlif (•i.iintry IVdiii Norway I'y (invcinor 'I'liodal, in 17?li. It is n..t, liowcvur, lanu'il, Init ninn wild in tlio intciiur in yrcat. herds. In I-apland it is a (Knncstic animal. Tlic Lajips l>rml it, and pastniv it in yri'nt llucks ; it is tlieir sole wealth— their dreary, mossy wilds or • lielien-elothud forests yieidinj,' liltlo I'ood. To them it is, at onee, the eow whieh yieldn milk, hutter, and elieese, and the heast of harden whieh dra^s their sludges—" their ox, their ass, their everylhiny." Its skin sMi)iilies tlio Lapps with elothin;,', and wiion old or iidlrm its llesh is vahi(;d as I'ond. .Moreover, it is to the dusky traveller in the north of Kuro)ie not only a laithl'ul servant, tmt even an nneomiilainiu"; eompanion. It feeds on liehens, mosses, willows, buekhean, and other dwarf Xiri'ir vegetal ion, and in the winter will diff under the snow for tiie seanly herha^^e : this, diirini,'' the winter in Norway, ( sists almost entirely of the reindeer-moss {('/tn/on/it r'Hi'/i/rriiKi). These animals aro found in immense numl>ers in Siiilzher^'en, and Mr. Lamoiit considers that at some time tiiuy must have passed over the iee and intermediate frozen lands to Spitzlieryeu from u point of the continent of .\sia almost exactly opjiosite. Some of them were killed, with ear-marks, such as the reindeer lierdsmen sometimes put on them. Often in l';astern .Siberia herds of tame reindeer stray away, and are said to yo over the ice and be never seen ayain. In Greenland they are also f nuid in vast numbers, and are very recklessly slaughtered by the I'lskimo. Their skins are worth in ('openhao:en from <>s. '."d. to ].")s. !ld. each, according- to the ipiality, thouj;h the natives only ■,'et Is. lid. for them. The yearly number killed used to be, in the summer, fnmi 10,111111 to ^l»,UO(), but it is now on the decrease. Durinj; the early summer the reindeer in Norway descend from the sub-.Mpine pastures for the puri)osc of feeding' on the sweet youn^' f,'ra.ss springin;,' up; but in the hot weather, like deer j,'cnerally, they return to the higher re{,'ions, to avoid persecution by a species of breeze-lly {(I'.tlnii fiiriiin/i) , wliieh lays its e<,'^s, covered with an ailhesive substance, on the back of the deer's nock. Tiie larva', when hatched, burrow their way beneath the skin, and form a considerable swellin;^. The American "caribou," or reindeer, fre(|uents densely-wooded districts, as well as extensive " pine barrens " and open ]>laces, while the Scandinavian reindeer more alTects mountain rej,nons. Formerly, yreat numbers of wild reindeer were captured in Norway l)y means of pitfalls — usually constructed in some narrow rocky place throui^'h which the deer were comi)elled to pass. These pits were called Hiui'ii'dre (reindeer yraves), but by the Norwej^ian f,'ame laws they are now compelled to bo lilled up. They were covered with sticks, over which a thick layer of moss was spread; of course, as soon as the deer trod on the treacherous g'round it was engulfed, and from the narrowness and depth of the i)it, found it useless to strnj^gle to escape.* Sir John Kiehardsou describes an inj^enious plan of capturinj';' the American caribou, as practised in ('hesterlield Inlet. The sides of the trap are composed of blocks of snow; an inclined j)lain of snow leads to the 'entrance of the pit, which is about live feel dee]i, and of tiuliicient dimensions to contain three full-grown deer. "The pit is covered with a large Austen, iu L.iirtct uuil Christy'a '■ lioliiiuiiu Aciuitimiiie," p. 217. tMI Till'; I iirNri;ii,> di iiik win.i.ii lliiii >hil> i>r>iiiiv\, wliicli till' iiiiliiiiil is ciilii'i'il III li'i'Mil iipdii liy a i|iiiiiilil\ nf iln' lii'lii'rm I'll which it liMiU lii'iiiy |ilairil iiiii-|iicii(Mi>ly on iili ciiiilii'liri' hcXdinl tlic cijiciiilii;-. 'I'lii' i'\l('i'ii>i' III' Ihi' tiMji is lia<'l\i'>l ii|i wilh >iii>v\', m> mn In ii'si'iiiMi' a iiiitiinil hillnck, ami tail' is takrii III i'i'ikIit il >n sti'i'p, uii all sides Iml nin', llial llic ilici' iniisl [iiiss iivcr llii' iiiniilii III' till' lni|i licliin' it ran rciuli tin' iiail. 'I'lic >\a\> is siiliiriciilly slfniiy tu lirai' till' wi'iylil III' II ilccr iinlil il has piissi'd the iiiiilille, when il revnlves nii two stmil axles III' wimmI, |ii'eei|iitates tile ihrr iiiln the tra|>, ami returns to its jilaee ai^aiii, in Kl.lMlll-ll iUifJiJ' ■ III lllilii eiinsei|iiene(! nl" the lower eml lieiiio' lieavier tliali the other." The I'lskiiiio likewise kill tiiein liy speariiij; tlieiii rinin their kayaks as the deer are ernssiii;;' lakes or inlets on their annual niii;ration soiitliwaid. -Mr. Aiisteii also deM-rilies aimlher iiiireliioiis deviee adopted in Kiissian (''inland ami some parts id" liiijiland to eajiliire the reindeer. It is liilled the " \ild lien llaoc." A kind ol' IViiee, aliiiiit two miles lony, is eoiistrneted ol' small IroL's, inatted and interlaced wilh liriisliwood ; ope!iin^;'s are left at intervals, ahoiit three I'eot in width, and stout imsts are driven into the orunnd at each side. "To one of these is attiu-lied a stron-j; noose, made of thick rope, wlii<h is retained in a eireiiliu' Corm l>y means of very slender Iwii^'s, which o'ive way at the sliLfhtesl loiieli ; aiid to prevent the liiwns from leapinjj thronj^li without entan^dinj^ themselves, two thread.-^ are jilaeed diaf^nnally across if. It is said that when the deer niei I with these liedn'e^ (wiiieli are usually made at the time of their partial j>iigrations to the lower ^rounds, in hC'^ AECTIC ANIMALS. 97 spring) tliey proccuJ alon^,' them until they come to one of these openings, in forcing,' their way throii<,'h which one of the niinii)or is usually entatifjled in the sua:"." We have saiil so nuieh ahout the lai-]L,'er Arctic animals, that if we are to keep this i^- — - ■■ ^ 5 -/; f=s/.iPiV€ M i \> ..' \' \ ■ ■■'■ A^ , /, AN ASSKMIII.AIIE IF ITKflNH, Al KS, AM) OTIIEH ARCTIC UnUltf.* part of our subject within (hie Iwunds, we must say but little of the Arctic birds and fishes. Some of the former we have already spoken of ; and as most of them, if not all, are also feathered friends of lower latitudes, we may have occasion to meet them elsewhere. • Tho Great Auk {.Uca iinpsnuii), once ii common liini in Northi.Tn Kuropp .ind .Vmcrion, is now Im lieved to 1)0 intiiily extinct. S.\, ne time it wiis j)lontifiil in NewI'DHnJlanil, InlunJ, (liecnland, &c., but being unable to escape by tliKlit, it weiim to have been exterminatcj l)y man. 13 98 THK CUUXTKIKS OF TlIK AVOKI.n. Tiiking' (ireenhmd as the fvpo of tiic Arctic world as regards Lirds, \vc have, accordinj*- (o Newton, ainoiij^' the ref^iilar I'eatliereJ inhabitants live species belonjjiiiff to the Old World, eleven to the New World, and t'orty-tive species cotnjjion both to the Old and New "Worlds. Anion<y the straf,'<flers, nineteen are Old M'orld denizens, thirty-four New W orld, and ei>^-ht common to both Old and New Worlds. In each category — inhabitants and stragglers — there lav, respectively, one and two doubtful members. The lishes are not numerous : in Greenland alone, only seventy-eight being at present known in the fresh waters and the siuToiiiiding ica, and it is not very likely that the number will b(; much increased. The only ones of eccucjuiic importance are the little Co/fii-i .•scnrjiiii'i, or " kaiiiok," which the old (ireenlanders lish from rocks, the Norwegian Sea perch [SflMstca iinmyicii'i), the lump lish {(yr/n/z/frn-i /ii/////ii-s), the halibut {/J/'/ijjui/fd.mi'i nui/iirlx), the dilferent species of cod {Giii/iis iii/i//t and (' "/■), the salmon (Suluio ciirj/io), the cajjcling, on which the dogs are sometimes fed {}[aUolit>i ri/lumii), and the (ireenland shark {Sdiiiniusii.t microrephdln-'i), the eye of which is usually infested by a parasite, which renders the lish blind. It is a constant attendant on the ller.sing of whales, but is very harmless. It is cai>tin'ed for the sake of the oil in its liver, out of which, it is said, a great deal of the " cod-liver oil " of commerce is made. The Axciext Fohests oi- Polar La\d.s. As there were " strong men before Agamemnon," so there were plants and animals in the world beft>re the j)resent ones which are on its surface and in its waters. The extinct, ones are found embedded in its rocks. In the Arctic regions, as elsewhere, we find these in .abundance. Most of the geological formations are found within the Polar regions. Thun in Smith's Sound we have Silurian rocks, and in Greenland, Spitzbergen, and Mackenzie's liiver niiocene and cretaceous rocks also. In Bear Island and Melville Island — wide apart as they are — there are carboniferous plants, identical with those found in the same formation in Britain. ^Meteorites are found scattered over the country with masses of iron, which there is every Itclief is of meteoric origin, though the fact has been doubted. Ijiassie rocks, with ammonites, and the bones of that great lizard, the Ic/il/ii/aKdiirwi, are found about the Parry Islands and elsewhere. The bones of the mammoth, or woolly elejjhant, are scattered abundantly along the northern shores of Siberia. !Mines are rare. Coal is generally fotnid along with the mioceno and cretaceous rocks, and though of poor (piality, is combustible. Plumbago is common; traces of tin, silver, and copper have been found in Greenland, and the meteoric iron was at one time used by the Eskimo. But the most valuable mineral in the Arctic regions is the cryolite, found at Arksut Fjonl, in Soutli Green- land. It is a white mineral, out of which soda and aluminium are extracted. The vefuse is extensively employed in making the fine Danish porcelain, and in manufacturing excellent plate glass. The examination of the Arctic flora and fauna show that the now frozen regions were once covered with luxuriant vegetation ; and that while dwarf bushes and creeping willows now cover the frozen soil, tropical and semi-tropical vegetation formerly flourished. Tiie niiocene lietls of Disco, Spitzbergen, and, indeed, the whole circuit of the Polar basin, fihow this in a remarkable manner ; and though much of the material from which Professor Ileer, of Zurich, described the remarkal.'lo plants — from the study of which he drew bis I ANCIKNT ARCTIC FORKSTS. 99 conclusions — was also oullcLted I)y (lie writer and his companions, yet, as no more littini^ words than those in whicli the Tanious Swiss palii'onloluyist summed uj) the result ol' liis researches can be found, this too lirief'and yet too long chapter may be concluded with them. Speaking generally of the later dejiosits of the Arctic, ho remarks that : — " At th-i jieriod when the sandstones wiiich compose the smiling iiills of Zurich were deposited, A considerable extent of len-u Jiniia must have existed in the extreme north. To this period the name of miocene has been given, or more generally that of the Tertiary I'eriod. Our countries had then almost a tropical character. Among the forests of laurels and the tufts of palm trees lived numerous animals, belonging to tyjMjs which nowadays occur only in the warm and even torrid zones. Towards the north, indeed, the ground •was clotiied in a dilTerent vesture. Nevertheless, Greenland, even at TO'' N. latitude, presents a liora which, by its climatic characters, may be compared with that of Northern Italy. This flora teaciies us that in the neighbourhood of the Island of Disco and the Noursoak Peninsula tliere was once a lake of fresh water, upon the marshy edges of whieii great beds of [)eat were formed. These subse(pii.'nlly gave origin to the deposits of coal which appear along the coast. In our marshes it is not rare to see ferruginous water, which covers the soil with a reddish-brown erust. The same t(K)k place in the ancient marshes of (jreenland : the iron deposited itself upon the plants which fell into the water, and these in their turn contributed to the precipitation and fixation of the iron. By this means has been gradually formetl that ferruginous rock, in the bosom of which oiumerous plants are imprisoned. These fossils show that the marshes were covered with sedges and reeds; but the marsh cypress, the water pines, the birch, the alder, and the poplar flourished there : for numerous fragments of these plants arc covered by a ferru- ginous deposit. The water trefoil [Meiii/aul/i'js arctiai, Ilr.) no doubt grew in the jnarshes, in the same way that the existing species (.1/. (rifulliilii) adorns our moist meadows with its charming flowers; and the burr reed [Sjiarijaiiiim Hlijijlutii, Ilr.), the fruit of which has been obtained from the rocks, also formerly raised its bristling head above the waves. The rivulets also bn^-.iglit in leaves from otiier localities; they conveyed them from the primitive forests; and it is thus that we find their traces in the ferru- ginous rocks. If we enter into these forests, we shall see a marvellous profusion of trees and shrubs, among which we can distinguish forty-live different species. A tree with acicular leaves (Sfqinilii Liauji^dorjl'i, Brogn.) strikes us at once by its enormous proportions. It has left leafy branches in such mimbers that there is scarcely a fragment •of stone which does not contain its remains; and the remains which the hammer has ■extracted from the rock enable us to reconstruct the entire tree. It is accompanied by two allied species (.9. Ciintl-ti>e, Ilr., and S. li>ihiij'iili,i, llr.), one of which {.V. Cualltin), 'by the configuration of its branches and leave-:, vividly reminds us of the fifijiiniii giganh:,t {II f/liii;jlmiiii) of California. A T/nijn had a different as]icc(, as also the gingko (Sal/sfjifrcu (tdlanloidfn, Ung.), of which the leaves nwemble the fronds of ferns, and differ so widely from those of other Conifene. The leafy trees are especially well represented : while our existing forests only present two siwcies of oak, North (Jreenland possesses nine, four of which are evergreen, like the Italian oak. Two beeches (/•'///«« Dciwiiliitiiii, lug,, and F. sp. ), a chestnut {Ca^tanea I'liyen, llr.), two planes {Plutaiius iia'ruiih'i, Ga'p., ^' 100 TUE COUNTUIES OF THE WORLD and P. GuUlelmft, Gu*p.), and a walnut {Jiiglaiis acuwlnutu), from this forest, resemble the types of tlie same name known to everybody. Besides tliese, American species, such as the magnolias, sassafrasses, and liquidambars were represented there ; and the characters of the ebony tree {Di>Mj)i/ri}H] are to be distinguisiied in two of the species. The iiazel, the sumach (/{/iiix), the biukthorn, and the holly, the guelder rose and the white hawthorn (Crateeffiix), proljably formed the thickets at the borders of the woods; while the vine, the ivy, and the sarsaparilla climbed over the trees of the virgin forest, and adorned them witli garlands. In the shadow of the wood grew a profusion of ferns, which covered the soil with their elegant fronds. The insects wliich gave animation to these solitudes are not all lost. The impressions of these which have reached us show that little C/in/io- melas and ('iitilii/w enjoyed themselves in the sun, and large Trogiil<v pierced the bark of the trees, while charming Cicudella- leaped aboiit among the herbage. This picture is not a dream of the imagination. Plants and animals have all passed under my eyes." CHAPTt:R V. Whaling and AViialeks of the North. " In a pour of sleet and snow," we i oail in the newspapers, that the whalers Camperduwn, Na jhai, or Ann Elizaljeth, " sailed for the Greenland whale fishery." Such notices as this begin to appear about Jlarch, and disai)pear after the first days of May, all of the whalers having then left for their summer haunts. Now if many, indeed most people, were asked where they go, they would readily reply, " Oh ! somewhere up in Greenland," a vague, and, as we shall have occasion to show, not altogether a very correct answer. When anything is said about whales and whaling, Scoresby and his " Arctic Regions " are abundantly quoted, for who is there who has not, in some form or another, seen the frontispiece aflixed to that really valuable book of the whale tossing the boat, with its crew, high into the air, the boat being, howev r, rather larger than the whale, and the feat being one which it would be hardly possible ' ..r any created being — living or extinct — to accomplish ! The artist has not, however, hesitated at trifles, and editors of boys' books are not likely to willingly let the celebrated illustration die for want of reproduction. It is now, howeve ;, many a long year since the "Arctic Regions" was published. Since then Captain Scores. )y, the whaler — subsequently the revcrond doctor — has slept with his fathers, and his book has almost disai)peared from the catalo;^ucs. Whaling has also undergone many changes. No longer do any South Sea whalers sail from Englanil, and the North Sea " fishery" is now reduced from the once large fleet to only a few vessels, starting entirely from Scottish ports. Tiie vessels have changed too. No longer are they great, jolly, bluff-bowed " snuff-boxes," in which it was hard for the uninitititod to distinguisli the stem from the stern. Smart vessels — novelties undreamt of in Scoresby's day — fitted up witii all the p; plinnces of modern science, have taken their place. The character of the crews, the capt.'tins, and of the very boats used has all changed. Even the locale of the fishery lb:: 1^4 10^ TUE COUNTIUIW OF TUK WORLD. has sliiftod. Iiistoad of, as formerly, " OKI (jrocnlaiul " or the Spitzhorgen Kea heiiifj (ho scene of the whaleinau's triumph and hardship.-;, Jlalliii's Bay, tlie western shore of Davis' Strait, and the " Mota Incognita" of old Martin I'robisher, arc his haunts — familiar enough to many now, thougli all unknown land in these old pre-Uossian days. J)andec, I'etcrhead, and Aberdeen have now the monopoly of the British whaling business, though year by year it is concentrating more and more in Dundee, and it is even doubtful whether the two latter ports will in future send out vessels. With one or two exceptions, the whalers arc now screw steamers, built especially for this trade, and the few remaining sailing-vessels are every year decreasing in number, being either sold or cut down in order to put engines into them, the advantages of steam being so apparent. Nearly all of them leave jwrt about the end of February, and proceed north to the seal fishery, off the island of Jan !Maycn, in the Spitzbergeu Sea, descrit)ed in the preceding chapter, calling at Lerwick, in Shetland, for extra men, and returning home again about the end of April if they propose proceeding to the Davis' Strait fishery. The one or two who remain in the old Greenland whaling cruise about the Greenland Sea imtil about August, when they return, the ice forming sooner in the high northern latitudes which they frequent than in the region of Davis' Strait. Most of the whalers, however, which visit " Old Greenland " are from Norway, Holland, or Germany, though there are still a few Scotch vessels, almost entirely from Peterhead, which, either from old custom or for the sake of making a shorter voyage, prefer this dreary hunting-tield to the more poj^ular one indicated. For "the Straits." The Davis' Strait ships accordingly discharge what cargo of seals they may have on board, rcfdl with coals and provisions, and by the beginning of May, at the latest, are on their way again for the Arctic seas. A voyage across the Atlantic, from Cape Wrath to Capo Farewell, though a couple of thousand miles, is at that season a mere lioliday trip, as, indeed, an expedition to Greenland nuiy always be, the amusing popular notion as to its hardships to the contrary notwithstanding. High seas are then rare, and cahns are the chief annoyance of the whaler, for on the way out he uses his sails whenever possible, the necessary stowage space of his vessel only permitliug of a snudl quantity of coal, for ice r.avigation, being carried. In a fortnight or three weeks I'rom Cape Wrath he may be in the latitude of Cape Farewell, the most southerly point of Greenland, but I have met few Aretic navigators who have ever seen that promontory. Though I have doubled it four times, I never yet saw it, the reason being that there is generally a great ice- drift brought by the east coast current round the cape, so that, in order to avoid this, experienced mariners keep off to the westward, and rarely sight the Greenland coast mucli below Ilolstoinsborg. Here the east coast ice is jammed in upon the coast by the westei'ly current, which impinges on the coast at this point. Accordingly, until you got into high latitudes, the coast is clearer of ice north of this point than south of it. It is, in fact, always difficult to get into the South Greenland ports early in the year, and even at a later period, ^'essels have been known to have been unable to get in there, and forced to sail again for Denmark without landing the stores or taking away the produce of the trading ruK wnxhfMH ov the xoutu. 103 posts. On llio otlior liaiiil, it not inifrt'quontly liappoim tliiit tlii' nniiuul ship is shut in 1)y the ice, aiid is unahli' to elTect her i'sciii)u heCore tho winter sets in. Such iiii untoward misiiap lieft'li the ships no later llian 1^7.■j. An ignoranee of these faets al)()ut tiie southern jKirtion ol' (ireenland lieiny more ice-jammed at certain seasons tlian others has been a pourco of ineonvenieiice to the only yaehtsnian who has yet ventured so I'ar a-ti(!ld, viz., Prince Xajjoleon. He hesitated to proceed further north than one oi^ the most southerly settlements, while, at that season, he would have found the sea, as i'ar as the limits oi' the Danish jiosscssions at least, almost free from ice. We are, liowovcr, proeeediuf,'' a little too fast. It is not with imperial yachtsmen that this chajiter is concerned, but with a hardier and humbler race of seafarin','' folks. Cienerally sjieakiny — I dare say with exceptions — fully one-half of a whaler's crew is under the influence of strong' walers just as the vessel is hauled out of dock. Knowing' this — in Dundee at least — it is customary merely to drop down the Tay that night, and anchor until daylight and sobriety come in company. If the vessel be a steamer the services of the crew are not rojuired, the "engineer's squad " being quite sulHeient to get her beyond the boundaries of the port. The home-pilot is scarce well off the deck before Wu are in the Pentland Frith, where, as in ^Slartin Fmbishcr's dav, "two lusty fellows taketh us through," only that nowadays trencrally one sulllceth. The land fades away behind us ; we may i)Ossil)]y, if driven a little out of our course, sight lloekall — that " solitary rock araid the main " — but more commonly the last of Ih'itish land we see are the Flannan Isles, or " Seven Hunters," and the islands of Harra and llona, iidiabitcd by a few families of fishermen, who are so isolated from the world that — honest folks — they prayed for George III. three months after his death, and are not yet remarkably sure under whoso benign government they live. " MaKIXO FlSKK OF GllEEXL.\XI)." A^'e have scarcely done so, however, before the May-day saturnalia commence. I do not remember ever to have seen them described, so that I may spare a little space to these l)ecidiar rites — the Arctic sul)stituto for others more familiar in milder zones. For some days previously, a huge unwieldy-looking instrument, made out of rusty iron hoop into the shape of a razor, has been suspended in a prominent place. It is well notchetl here and there ; and beside it is hung another jiiece of hoop, bent into the form of a rather rough pair of twoi'xors. A piece of chain, symbolical of after proceedings, bear the tonsorial instruments company. If not already initiated into the mysteries of it, the inscription chalked in very legible, if not elegant, letters, by the " scholars " of the " 'tween decks," will give the neophyte a rather close suspicion of the uses and usages thereof : — "ox 5[AY 1 AT 12 o'clock I'UKSESI.Y BAUBAR SXIP & XEPTUXE AND EETINU WILL COME ON BO.UtD FROM LIFLY." * The three utensils are supposed to be the razor, strop, and nose-holder, with which the neophyte — including, perhaps, the reader — is to be initiated into the art and mystery, and * Lievcly or Go(lha\ii, the fumiliu' Kl Dotado of the Orccnlaud whulcr, ut'tcrwardu mentioned. 104 THE COUNTUIKS OF 'J'lIK W'OULn. ri'coivt'il into tlu' worshipiul lirotlierliood of Arctic Nuvig'atdrs, True enough at twt'lvo o'clock " pri'si'sly " (ronienilxT wi- arc in u Scotch wlialcr), a most liiih'ous noise com- mences. The bell commences " striking " t'lirioiisly, Nciitunc is hailed from the siiip ami sen, anil linally, amid much noise and tramidiiig of I'eet, a procession comes down the coiri|iani(in-\va3', and an uneartiily voice hawls through tlie siieaking-triiiniiel into liie caliin, " (,'aiitain, liae ye ony objections tae a sang frae Neiitun' and his retinu ?" With VIEW OF OODIIAVN, UISCO ISLAXIl, SOUTH (illEEM.ANl) the liconco allowed by long usage on such occasions, " Neptune and his retinue" make their appearance in the main cabin. It consists of the following not strictly classical ])crsonages ; — Neptune (with a trident of tin, and a red herring stuck on the end tif it), Madame Neptune (very loving, and, under the influence of a glass of rum — unbecomingly so), Nejitunc's doctor and mate (in jnlot jiickets, white collars, and ties of paper), Neptune'.s barber and mate, closed by the constable (in a real jioliceman's coat). The songs then commence, the choruses being vastly increased by the steward serving out the long-looked- for grog. Indeed, we can overhear Neptune, in a voice savouring of most ungodly words, wondering huskily to his spouse when the rum is likely to be forthcoming. The last of the ditties is one entitled, " Sister Mary," i)-" air and words of which are, I dare I TUK AUei'lC .SATI'UNAMA. lOfl say — niiU not iiniiroperly -unknown lo lliu lluli:ni Opciii, Imt of whicli tli'.' cluirns cunta: » liio uniiiioiis rulVuin — " I'or llif tiiii,,' i.-i iliiiwiiiK iiikIi." Ill- is a very fc ulish man wlio woiiltl atfenipt to resist on tlicse occasions, and acrordingly all tlie ";'Toen-liantls " coniiectcil with flic caliiu (iilinost invariably tin' surj,'t'on, tliu stuwiird, anil possilily a stray natuinilist who iiiiliiinliiiigly has taken passage northward) are marehcd olV A WHALtll WITH IIOAT* 1 \>T Til A "nMl" (.Villi 1111: LIN 11 AIM Cllis). by the constalileand his assistants arnieil with broomsticks. lie is received by all the idlers in the 'tween decks, brilliantly Ii<»1itcil ii]), and draws lots for the order of precedence. Oenerally the " ollieer and }rent'-'man" jiassenycr, if anythini? of a favourite, is let off very lightly, the- l)robabilities having been that already he has sci iired an almost entire immunity l>_y sun(lr\ gifts of grog and tobacco in an early portion of the evening. The others are mandiej in sui- lessivcdy — all blindfolded — amid blowing of trumpets and every conceivable noise and hublmii nossible to conjure nji onboard a ship with a crow of seventy men, each more intent than the other on f>m and frolic, the roughness of which is the chief clement in it. ^Vo, of course, like unfeeling wretches as we are, sit round tpiite unconcerned, enjoying the trepidation of our comrades, proving to o demonstration the truth of Rochefoucauld's bitter maxim, that cvery- 14 100 THE COUNTUIEM OF THK \VUHLI>. Iicxly ri'juiws in the niist'ortuiicH of liis iu>i<;libi)ur. Tlio victim, Houteil in u ruii^flily -iinin'oviMcil flmir, mill Ijouiid to tlio mi/.oii-iiiii.st, in iiskwl \>y his .Majesty viirioiis iiuostioiis, siidi ii» liia iiiiine, wivs ho ever hen- bi-rtin', and bd on. Tiio harln'r's nmto tlicn in'ocfods to latluT him well witli tur and {,'ri'usu, the iihominalilu mixture beinjf well nihbi'd if it he seen that (as is usually the case ainonj^ " knowiny hands") the heard lias hetn well yrensed beforehand to jirevent tho tur 8tiekin<r. The barber then, with many time-honoiu'ed wittieiania on tho Mmuoth branl of the yentio youtii, j)roeecds to i)erforin his i'unetiou with the uneouth razor already described, courteously consulting him in u tone of ironical |)oliteness reyardinji the jjarticular style oi" whisker preferred. Ignorance is no bliss here, so the victim wisely keeps his mouth riH:idly shut, knowinj,'' well that were it opened to answer any (piestion, the penalty paid woidd undoubtedly be the entmncc of the tar-brush, with many apologies for the barber's awkward- ness. The " towel " is a wet ship's mop, not jiarticulurly clean, and with this the barln'r's mate is most assiduous in wiping the freshly-shaved chin. Meanwhile, the "dtx'tor" expresses great anxiety for his health, feeling his pulse learnwUy, and (juoting with the most amusing absurdity the longest words which it has been possible for him to muster out of the patent medicine advertisements in tiie newspapers. Every effort is meanwhile being made to induce the victim to oi)en his mouth, and here the nose-holders come in, their chief use (-nc) being to prevent the poor wretch breathing by the nostrils, and so being compelled to open his mouth. Woe lx;tide him! Instantly a pill compostnl of unmentionable mate.ials is pushed into it, followed by a dash of some liquid (sea water or worse). lie must finally, before being released, hail the ship three times through the speak- ing-trumpet, a rush of cold water being thrown down tho spenking-trumiiet the last time he opens his mouth to hail. The prisoner is then releaswl, and declared free of the Greenland Sea, with all the lionours, pleasures, profits, and immunities thereto pertaining. The same scene is gone through with the rest, the musician in the meantime playing doleful tunes on that not very hilarious musical instrument, the bagpipes. Considerable amusement is generally got out of some oljstreperous individual who may be foolish enough to resist. Naturally, ho fares all the worse, no one enjoying his misery more than those who five minutes previously were undergoing the same ordeal, displaying that savage zest which it is said the slave used to exercise over his fellow-negroes when elevated to the oflice of driver. Generally, however, all is given and taken in good part, tho • vening ending with a dance and other rougher fun sailor fashion. The stimulus of the grog being exhausted, those who are not "on the watch" "turn in," and the (juiet routine of a passage-making merchantman is resumed. Next morning the May garlaial, gaily ornamented with ribbons, is hoisted on the maintop-mast, the whole being surmounted by a miniature ship. This remains during the whole passage, considerable pride being disi>laycd by the different ships' crews in this ornament, the making of which is the ])rovineo of the most lately-married man onboard. "What can be the origin of all these saturnalia? Is it a sea-going celebration of the Maypole festivities once so common in England, and which, while almost forgotten on land, with that conservatism in everything pertaining to the sea, still sticks among the honest seamen? or is it merely a revival in another hemisphere of the well-known custom of shaving the uninitiated in crossing the equator? Perhaps it is a mixture of both, flavoured with a dash of that meaningless nonsense infused into by the seaman, only Tlir, ('OAST (»l'' (lltKKXLANI). 107 U>(\ iiiim'iiiii< ftir aiij- "lurk " U< lircak llio dull nioiiolony of liis life. Curious, liowtn-er, '\h it Hill? I Ills [lursisti'ucy of HL'iil'arint;' (iistuuis, I'or littlo do tlicsu rouo;li sailors know (hat wlii'ii tlicy art' >liaving tlu' little middy wlm lias uiailc his lirst voyao'i' " ovur tlio lino " tlioy arc only ri']it'aliiiif certain lii'atlicn rites which their iiredocossorSj the Tyriuu muriuors, pert'ormod to XeiitiiMu after iiassiiiff the jiillars of llereules. "TiiK East Land." Hloak and dreary enouyh looks the (ircenlund cuustut any time of the year — and distance, contrary to the wont, lends no enehantnient to tlio view. Black cliffs, with a cascade of nielliuH' snow t'alliny over them, a while ylacier ereeping down from the inland ice, a crash as of a her;; hreakinj^ oil' from the glacier, an icehery lloating down the coast, are the chief objects which strike the eye and car. The height of land \a not groat; and, with tlie exception of a jieak or two like Sukkcrtoi)i)eii — the su;far-loaf hill — the cliffs are all shaved and rounded by the action of ice in former times, when this land lay beneath the sea, or was co\i'red by the luige mer do i/hicc which now overspreads the whole interior of Greenland in one vast windinif-sheet, as already described (Chap, III.). The first iceberg is always sonu'thinj.^ to be remembered. Host frequently it is quite disappointing. They are generally seen long before the laud is in view, and are then oidy fragments of the more gigantic ones nearer land, but which have before reaching the mouth of Davis' Strait got broken and wasluHl into comparatively small dimovisions. Sometimes a l)lack 8i)eck may be seen afar off, and then every eye is directed on, and the rigging is run to. It is an Eskimo, or " Yak," as the whalers universally call them, out fishing, or perhaps venturing out with that all- ])n'sciont scent of his after rum, i)ea-soup, pocket-handkerchiefs, and other good things usually found ou board " Tuluit," or English vessels. If we are on Iward a steamer we i<hall have little chance to see him, as he knows that wo are not like the sailing vessels, dependent on wind and tide, and may move away at any time. It is not until off the \\ lialclish or Kronprinds Islands, near the mouth of Disco Bay, that we see much of the natives of the country. ^lost frequently whalers, if the ico does not look very open alieatl, make a call at Godhavn, (p. 101) cr, as they call it, Lievely, a little Danish trading-post and residence of the Royal Inspector of North Greenland, situated on an islet oft' the south- westerly ponit of Disco Island. It consists of the residence of the inspector, the colonibestyrer, or governor, one or two workmen's houses, all built of wood pitched, the store-house, and jierhaps a couple of do/cn rude Eskimo huts. It is one of the smallest of the Danish posts, but accpiires an importance as being so directly on the route of the whaler and exploring vessels, and accordingly touched at by them, and as the " scat of government." The trade of Greeidand is a strict monopoly of the Danish Government, and accordingly the government puts a check upon any trading or fishing within a certain distance of the coast. It does not, however, prohibit the sale of small articles not used in their trade; and accord ingl\', in addition to obtaining news of the ice, and such other information, here commences a curious traffic with the natives, well known to Scotch whalers, at least, under the name of " troaking," or bartering. The articles most in demand by the seamen are models of the native kayaks, sealskin tobacco- pouches, slippers, bags, gloves, caps, trousers, and waistcoats, and various nick-nacks carved K'S 'IIIK COfXriUKS ()!•' TIIK WOULD. <Mit (if wiilni^j or narwhal ivory, wliicli the (iri'onhiiiJLTs exeeuto witli jjrreat neattu'ss and liaticncc, (i((Mi|iyiny- inosl of iho ilark winter months, when eonlined in-doors, in such lahour. In |)iiyini'nl they prefer bi.<cuil.-<, cotton handkerchiel's, hluek silk ones, for the wonieu to put inuiid llieir iieiuls at tlie plaec when' the hair, l(.'ini;- pulled uji to form the " toii-knot " is ^■■■iiiiii;' thill, shirts, or still hotter — if it is to lie had — nini, whieh physiolof^'ists tell ns is, in vii-W Ml M'rKM\iK, Ndi.nr fii;i:rM,AMi, some form or another, a noeossity to a |)oo|)le livin^T on an animal diet, and that the cravinji^ for si)irits found universally ainonp: -il races so sitnate<l is only Nature demanding the expmplilication of Liehig's law ahoiit the mixture of azotised and non-a/otised food. The poor people lonk forward from one year's end to the other to tlu- chance of these stray visits, and will often cmne far out to sea to liave an op|)ortunity of selling their things. Here tliere is more com]ictilion, and accordingly they meet us everywhere, with a froni-ear-to-ear grin, dodging us hchind the house to ofl'cr some ])oiuh or specimen of their workmanship, redolent of an ancient and a lish-like smell. The l'".nglisli sailor, with his ]irover1)ial generosity, give.? them eomparatively high prices for their eommndities, and much largesse heside in pea-soup and rum. After they return home, they lie ahundantly aUiut their luck OP hoaril srch and such a like ship, neglect work, and for some time afterwards are dis- rm TlIK WUALEU'S COURSE NOU'I'liWAltD. 109 SRtisliwI will) tlio Danish traders' tariff. They likewise learn Mnirlisli with a very improper vocaliuiary ; and, forsooth, in distant Lievely you hear rather a s]irinkling of the oath ol' British loniiiieree. This " whaler JMiglisli " is a peculiar jaryoii, thoufj;'h eaeli party eoneerned looks upon it as the lanyuaye of the other — sueh as " troakeni," a corruption perliaps of the Jjowlaiul Scotch "troak" (or trade); "andre man" (other man), doubtless tlu- Danish " andre ; " " keesee " (ice — the l']skin-io being " seko," thouijrli they allirm tliat tiie former word is JMij,'lishij A UUHtNLANU t^jKlMO '-01SE. "mcekie" fdojr); " keese meekie " (ice-dog, or l>ear); "slimalley," (small); " nuphstaw " (underst^uul) ; and so with some others, the imgin of which admits of no sort of doubt, and are, therefore, unnecessary to be cnter<Hl in this very proper narrative of facts. ^Many of the words are corrujited attempts of tiie seamen to i)ronounce words taken from the languajjfe of liie Eskimo on the other side of Davis' Strait, which lann;iiaKe differs very considerably trorr. the (ircenland dialect preserved to us in the dictionaries and «'•"»!> niai-s of Fabricius, Kleliisehmidt, and others, and in the various works translated into that laniruage for the use of till natives. Tne whaler cannot iont;' all'ord to accept the hospitality of Lievely, for he must make all sr-eed fo.- the north. Few whales are now caught on the Greenland coast 110 TIIK C(JUNT1!IES OF THE WOULD. r.ftur April or Ifay, and tliduuli Disco Bay and vicinity were at one time the favourite localities of the \vl alcrs, it is rarely that even a JiuUena mj/s/ icr/ im is killed in that rej,'iori. So little is this looked upon as a eontinj^ency that the whalers do not allow it to enter into- their calculations as to the success of their voyage.* Sometimes when the ice lies far out tc seaward, joiuinjij the middle ice of Davis' Strait, the uhaler will endeavour to po through the Waiyat Strait, between the Island of Disco and the Noursoak Peninsula, and then ho calculates (or, at least, used to do in the old times) on iindiiiy " iish." Here you will liear quoted a rough C)ld distich comniemorative of this : — *• Di.suo diiipiii', M'aif,';it niicn, Till ii' yim'U liiid The w!:;;!i s iiiiin>iii'." Most frequently, however, at this season (June) he will be stopped off the end of the- Noursoak jxininsula l)v the land-ice projecting' out for several miles, and he will not fail to be visited, as we were. In' the natives in their dog sledges from Xoursoak (p. 20) and Xiakornak, two Danish outposts, each presided over by a cooper or carpenter, culled an " udligger," or literally, "outliver," the amenities of whose life are none of the liveliest. The udligger is a gentleman generally possessed of an Eskimo wife, and a numerous brass-complexioned progeny, lie is very hospitable withal, and slightly addicted to rum and other ardent beverages — weaknesses which the "governor," as he is jocularly called, has umerous opportunites of indulging while " Jlerr J'higlanderen "' is ice-bound off his little post. The whaler has his own names for places along his route, consecrated by long iisage and not always in strict accordance with Admiralty charts. His nomenclature is, however, equally to the purpose. Every 'prentice boy knows tlic dark trap-cliffs of the Disco Island where the snow lies for only a slun't period as " the black land o' Lievely," and " Bunke land " lies north of it, and north of this again is " Black Hook," which is only, however, a translation of the Danish Svarto lluk. The little commercial establishment of Broven is soon, passed, and we may drop a Ijoat ashore at I pcrnivik (p. 108), in latitiide 72° 4S' N., for letters for England. At Tessuisak, a little further north, is the last Danish outpost, which has the distinction of being the most northerly abode of civilised man (p. 112). Heie lives Jensen, whoso name is familiar enough in jnore southern latitudes, as Dr. Hayes' dog-driver and in- terpreter; and at I pcrnivik used to live Carl I'etersen — now the (|uiet keeper of a lighthouse oil ihe Zealand coast — so well known as the comjiauiou of I'enney, M'Clintock, and Kane, and as the re])uted author of a n;i'.;':'.t'vo of some of these expeditions.! Those who have only leai. ^ the tJrec'dand dialect of Jlskiino, and esjieeially that, too, the rather corrupted vcisiiiu known as " colon i (iri'mlaiulske," can but imperfectly understand tlie natives of Smith's Sound, ami still less the Western Iwkimo, whose language Petersen could but imperfectly translate. 1 mention this to show that allowances ought to bo made for • Fur an cliiliui-atc rovicw of the i-aptiiri' of wliali.s oft Panisli (Ii-ci-nlaml, Hr-n Kriiihardt ami l-Iiii'lirii-lit's I!ay K-i'-irty's M'-mnirii on the Olticeiiy 1SI>7 ; Kink's (Sr'uiiltntff (iritijrnph:\f< tii/ ^tntialixk ; and liindcinan\s Ar'iiaehi F'mhcrri ilrr Deiilrnhn Si-entnilte, 1620— 18(i8 ((iotlia, 18G9). + Ikn Suhlf Friiidi:ii — Kr/mfilion mnl For ((_'c)|icnliaa:in, ISGO) Eriiiilriinjrr fra Polorluiiitati: opicgnede (if 1850-55. Vdji'nne nf I.iciit. f„ It, JJiUhniaii (Coptnliamn, 1SJ.)J. PASSING JIELVILLK HAY. Ill Grcoiiland interpreters, and tliat future explorers should not unjustly accuse their intorin-ctcr ol! dcliciuncy in the lanyuaf^'o if ho cannot readily translate the dialect of the AVestem liskinio, even though their country lies but a few days' sail from his home. We are amid a little tfroup of islands, on one of which (Kingatorsoak) was found in lS21, by an ]''skimo named IVdluit, a lliuiic column showing that long before Ross and I'arry were dreamt of, old Xorso lishermen — it may iiavo been i)irates — on one of these restless, roving exp^.litions of theirs, diu'ing which they discovered America, and settled near where 'Jaunton now stands, visited this high northern latitude. The stcme has been long in the ^ruseuni of Northern Auti<piities at Coiienhagen ; and though the inscription on it has been variously tr.-.nslated, the following, by the lute Dr. llafn, himself an Icelander, may be received as tolerably correct: — " J'^rling .Sig\afson and Bjarne Thordarson, and Erdride Oddson erected these memorial-stones jind cleared this jdace on Saturday before Gangdag" (:2."jth April, or aceoi-ding to our calculations, 1st May), "in the year lliio." Little recks the whaler for such musty old memories, or that he is now among the I'rue Islands of the Danes — the " Women's Islands " of stout John Davis, of Snitukine and Moomhhie memory, so called because the men all fled in trepidation when they sighted iiis ships, and only left the women to face the exi)lorers. They are not so bashful nowadays. Just as little do our friends tare for the islets of plumbago which dot this archipelego — for it is not worth its freight, and there is Ijett^r game ahead ; so he pushes north with all the speed he may initil he i-oaehes the Duck Islands. Then again he is stopped by a barrier of ice, for we are now opposite the entrance of Melville Bay — that most dreaded spot in all the whalers' route — to pass which is literally " running a-muck " with the Arctic ice-fields. "Taking the Bay." For weeks past we have been hearing enough aljout " Ih' bay," and are somewhat familiar with it in theory at least. " Taking the bay " is a serious consideration, a procealing not to i)e gone ab.Hit in a reckless manner. Accordingly, " the fleet " " hooks on," with their S-sliaped ite-anchors to the floe, which now begins to stretch tolerably — or rather, intolerably — continu- ously among the islands until the captains have reconnoitred the ice, and talk among themselves about the best method of "making the passage." One after another you may see the ships hook on to the thick ice, and boat after boat drop from their sides with crews (jf volunteers, only too glad for a little "run ashore," even if it should lie knee-deep in snow, to the higlier iskuids, to have a look ahead. We join one, and land at an '• ice foot," or the remains of the winter ice which clings to the laud long after the main Hoes are lirokeii iij), aiul tloinideiing over the snow-banks wh'ch lie deep in the hollows of the island, we climb to the top. A\ hat a dreary look-out ! To the northwanl there seems nought but one continuous white ice-field, lure and there lined by a few dark-coloured "leads" of water (p. J'J), or varied by hummocks of iee and snow, which the pressure of the currents or winter gales have forced up; while land- ward rise a dreary const vith high cliffs, glaciers, and snow-banks. One remarkable object meets our eye here. It is a curious peak familiarly known to every <me who has ever gone so far north by the name of the " Devil's Thumb" (p. I l.'i). It is generally looked upon .,s fho entrance of Melville Bay, and is, I am informed by those who have landed there, an islai^J. 113 Till-; COUNTUIES OF THK WOIiLD. The shore-line ut' ML'lvillc H:iy lia-^, however, never been properly, if at all, surveyed, th" sluiv? which have passed thrdiif^ii it lifini^- only too anxious to yet to the northward, even had the icft allowed a hoat to jjet in siiore. The " Devil's Tliunib " I can compare to nothing better tlian a luifje edition of the odontoid process of the axis vertebra, a simile which will I)e f'aiiiiliar enough to many of my readers. Kvcrywhcre the island we stand upon bears mark of the wintry cold of the region we are now in Rocks are scattered about, rent by the frost, and the disintegrated trap is strewn with rough yarncts which you may pick uj) by handfuls. A little green leaf is THK MOM' MlllTIIKUl.V AlHIIll; Ml' ClVri.lSl.l) MAN jiceping out hero and there, even al;.',vo the snow, and the wet banks arc spongy with mosses and lichens. A snow bunting il'lerlojihraiie^ nivali-i) is looking about for a nestiiig-jilaco, aiwl a flfxik of "i.der and king ducks {Suiiinterin inollii-iiniii and S. ■i/ii'dtihilin) Hy ([uacking by. Just as we slide shouting down a snow-bank, we hear a rush, and a creamy-white object turns the corner. Instantly our rilio is iinshiiig, but we are too late, for before we cai< get within range our ursine co-oecupant of the ishind is otl' across the ice-lidd ;it a rate which defies ])ursuit, even <lid our valour outstrij) our ]>:'udence so far. Seals are lying lazily basking here and there at their n//iih or Ijrcathing-hoies in the i<'e, affording abundant food for the Polar bear, though be doi!s not seem always to be so well fed. On these islands are remains of the whalers' jirolonged visits, for in addition to the unfailing sardine-box and broken bottle which all the world over remain the monument of the travelling Briton, we (ind sadder memorials in the shape of gras-es of oliiccrs and seamen of different ships. On one we tind the graves of two Kskimo, who were bronglit to Scotland by owe of the Kirkcaldy whalers, but diev* TIIK WIIALKR IN MUI.VTLLE BAY. 113 of flithi-iis— a common di.oase amoiijj those brought to milder climates — on his way lioni;> ag"ain. All of these graves are mere mounds of stones heaped over jjoxes contaiiiinj^ tlie bodies, with a piece of board telling', in rudely-cut and not remarkably well-spelled words, the name and designation of the dead man beneath. Some of these boards were gnawed dovvii by the bears to the very stump, showing that occasionally they hud been driven to cuii- siderable straits by famine. They had even attempted to get at the dead Iwdies by pulling down the stones. Oue of these attempts gave us an opportunity of witnessing the remarkaljlu TlUMIl, MKI.VTl.I.n llAV, NOUTll (iULENI.ANI). antiseptic jiowers of cold in this northern latitude. The half-WTcnched-off lid of one r.f the boxes showed the l)ody quite fresh, as if it liad been dead but yesterday, though the date on the board proval that it had laid there for nearly twenty years. In the wiutcr, of course, decay is nut of the question, and in the short heat of summer the frost imbibed is sulHciont to preserve all animal substances, without decay commences before the winter again freezes it. However, in the l>anish liurying-groimds in Oreeuland the bodies ar(> decayed, as one has an abundant opportunity of witnessing, for the bones are scattered around, a]iparently unheeded. In some instances these boards seem to have been taken away by the natives, who come up in the summer to gather eider-down among the islands. We see none yet, but a brnken jiaddlc is seen to be frozen in the ice-floe, telling of former visits. In a week or two these islets are literally covered with millions of eider ducks, who come north hereto breed. It is then almost impossible to stej) ashore without setting one's foot on a nest wifb eggs, and the whole islet is circled with swarms of birds. In addition to endless roast ducks, the whaler then luxuriates, 16 114 THE COUXTKIES OF THE WORLD. from cabin to galley, in eiJcr-duek eggs u<l nameatii. The ships bring boat-loads off, nml It is amusing to see the men in the heat of the summer sun and the ardour of the pursuit running about in their druwere, having drawn oil their trousers to convert into extemporised bags by tying a bit of spun yarn round the bottom of each leg. Many of the ships will collect in a day or two as many as from lifty to two liundred dozen of eggs, preserving Ihem perfectly easily by exposure to the open air. From morning to night, and all night through (for we have now continuous daylight), the report of guns is heai-d from " ducking l-arties," " looming parties," or whatever namo it may be necessary to apply to boals' crews in search of looms or guillemots [.Ilea arra), rotjes {Merijiilun), and other Arctic birds which now swarm in the ojwn places among the ice-lields, and make the air merry with their noise. In such amusement day after day passes, until suddenly the smoke of the steamers begins to rise in the clear frosty Arctic air, and there is hurrying and scurrying each one on board his own ship, for the floes arc opening. Usually some energetic captain takes the lead, for this is something to talk about all summer through, and during the next winter, as the skipjiei's hang alwut the wharves. Sitting in the " crow's nest," or cask, at the masthead (p. 105), he directs the steersman. Into the ojwning made by the parting of the ice-fields (by winds or currents) the leading ship enters, followed by several others, either tempted by the same reason or with a view to the additional safety which numbers afford. If the lead continue open all the way through to the " North water," the ship may go through in a few hours, as in the case of the Alert and JJlieorerj/ in 1S75, but this rarely happens. Suddenly the floes are seen to be slowly closing again; then with all speed the ice-saws are got out, and "a dock" is cut in the ice — that is, a jjiece the size of the ship is sawn out of the side of one of the opposing floes, and into this space the ship is placed, so that when the two ice fields come together they may not injure the vessels, as they would if she remained in her old position. Sometimes, however, they are too late — the floes are seen to move together; first is a creaking sound, then a cracking of beams, then the stout vessel goes like a chip box of matches. Nothing can oppose the enormous force of these ice-lields. " If the ice does not go through her it will go over her," was the sage remark of an old ice-master. In the meantime the floes which destroy the ship save the crew, who throw over upon the ice bags of clothes, provisions, and other necessaries, which they have in readiness for such a contingency, and another vessel more fortunate picks Ihcm up. Sometimes the vessel is only " nipiietl," and tor the rest of the voyage its effects are seen in the cabin-doors not being able to be shut, and so on. At other times the vessel may be buoyed up by the ice for several days ; but, again, she may go down po suddenly that the men have barely time to jump ashore. I know of a case in which the . jcl went down so snddenlj- that the cooper, who happened to be in the hold at the time, A 'Hi down before he could escape ; and of another where a man, after being confined for nearly ii \\\\')\q day, was cut out by the side of the vessel by his comrades. The man's horror of mind during the interval may be imagined ! The ice-fields move away again, and down goes the vessel. The bottom of ^Melville Ray must be perfectly strewn with wrecks. Sometimes the vessel may be able to get through into open water before the floes can close, and here the value of a steamer is apparent. Sailing vessels used to put out their Imats and tow the vessel through, or the men tracked her laboriously along the Hoc sides. The few sailing IN POND'S BAY. 115 vessels now generally make an-angemcnts to get a tow from the steamers under tliese (•ii'cumstaneerf. When once they are in the North water tlie men shout heartfelt shnuts of joy. Now the great danger — the almost only danger of an Arctic summer voyage (o the liead of IJalHn's Bay — is over, and their chances of a cargo are augmented. Sometimes, however, they will be unable to make a passage in time for a lishery in Pond's Bay, and even, as in some years, unable altogether to get across by Melville Bay, and must go round the southern end ol' the great middle field of ice lying down Davis' Strait, and work np the ojiposite coa.st in Ihe p\irsuit of the whale in its migration. The reason Melville Bay is so full of ice is that the floes from the north are jammed in that depression by the north winds, so that, unlike the other portions of Baffin's Bay, it is never entirely free from great fields of ice. i\s the ice is turned up by the iron-shod prow of the steamer a dark, slimy mass is seen, which Wiigs in long strings through the water, like the fronds of the brown tangle* now and then seen floating. Tiiis is known as rotten ice by the wlialers, and the writer was fortunate enough to discover it to be great masses of diatomaceie, and that as described in a former chapter (p. DO). To these diatomaceie the discolouration of the Greenland Sea alluded to by various mariners, from Hudson and Davis to Scoresby, was also due.f In the "NouTii W.^teh." The whalemen are now opposite Cape York, and if close enough the " crimson cliffs of Beverley," dyed pink with the red snow plant, can be seen ; and, perhaps, some of Drs. Kane anil Hayes' friends performing wonderful antics on the ice to tempt the whalers ashore, for the Eskimo here have no kayaks, or boats, these being almost unavailable, owing to the short time the sea is free from ice, and to the fact that the land-floe is continuously attached to the coast-line. Soon the opening of Smith's Sound will be in sight, fjut it is rarely that the whalers can go up there. It is oftm encumbered with ice, and whales do not seem to travel in that direction, l)ut cross Baffin's Bay to the western sliorc of that sea. All this time we have left the whaling fleet, either frozen fast in ^Melville .3ay, or, what is better, sailing in the North water in siglit of Smith's Sound. Let us take tl e more hopeful view of the matter, and suppose that they are en run/e for the " West Land," following up the migration of their gigantic game. They rarely cross north of the Carey Islands, going most f'ro(|iiently southward of that group. Very few whalers liave ever landed on them, but I am informed l)y those who have, that there are numljcrs of the former habitations of Eskimo there. They now reach the opening of Lancaster Sound, and occasionally sail up that inlet. It has l)een discovered by ilessrs. Philpots and Browne that CaiK> Ilorsburgh is in reality the extremity of a large island. J In like manner, it will bo found that there are many miexplored inlets between Jones and Tjancaster Sounds, and l)etwoon Lancaster, I'^clipse, and other sounds lying south of it. AVhales are sometimes killed in this vicinity, but most of the wlialers make with all haste south to Pond's Bay, where they remain generally for three or four * L'liHiniifii fimt/iffifrin, De lit Pvl. + '■ TiMiis. Diitaiiiciil.SiHiit.v, Eiliiitmi/,'h," Vnl. ix. ; "Pas .\u«Iiinil," I8C8 ; and I'lti nniinn'» " MithciliinKcn," 1SG9. i Now kmiwii as " I'liilpot iBlanil," .hoc " .\n account of tho laml in tlio vicinity of Ciipo Hnrslmitrh, lat. 71" It' 21' N., Ion;,', ro** W., ami of the islanil discovcml tlicrc" liy Kd. V. I'liiliiots, M.lt. ('• I'rncccdinga of llic lioyal (.icogniiiliical Society," Vol. .\iii., p. 37'.>). llfi TlIE COUNTRIES OF TlIK WOKLD. wt'.'ks. It is a t'lrninon I'iilciiliitidii among' tliom that if llioy can reach Pond's Bay by the first wwk ill August, tiicy aro tulcraMy sure of a yooil earjjfo. Tills inlet was named in honour of tlu' AstronomiT Koyiil of tluit iiiinie, hut i( is not a hay, as was originally supposed, liut an extonsive inlet of llio sea, the iiiiicrinost portion of wiiieh is ciiUed Eclipse Sound, after the whaler l\di/isf, whiiii lirst sailed uj) it. Its shores are inhahited hy numerous Kskimo, most of whom remove in the summer to the outlet of the sound, to he near the whalers. The land ice f,'enerally lies at this period for several miles off the shore, so that it is difficult to land. How- ever, we are soon visited hy the natives. A darkish speek is seen in the distance, then another, and an(jtlier, until they approach near enonyh to show them to he ]iartios of Eskimo with their doir-sledi,>'es. Afiir off they hail us with cries of " Timno ! Tiniuo,"* which ring clear through the Arctic air, and as they approach nearer, " Pilletey ! PiUetey ! " — "Give us somctiiing! i^'ive us sonicthiny ! " They are a wild-look iiii^' set of fellows, very difTerent in appearance from the mild Lutherans on the other side of the strait, hut, withal, they cannot be denied to he a nianly-lookiiii,'' race of ji.ngans, vastly superior to their civilised Greenland brethren in every physical characteristic. Their object is to trade niirwhal " horns," walrus teeth, skins, orna- iiieiits, whalebone, and, indeed, everything for anything they can get. Muskets are, however, cliielly ill demand, and most of them having obtained these, they are very anxious for gun- powder and jiercussion-caps. At one time they would accept almost any kind of gun, but they are ikiw remarkably good judges both of the workmanship and shooting powers of the weapon. Anything they will sell, and I have seen natives strip themselves almost stark naked when olTercd a ]irice I'or their clothing, nor w-ill they even hesitate to oll'er to trade oft' their chubljy- looking babies, if they think any one is willing to jairchase them. They, however, always show a iireferciice fur useful articles over mere tiys, though a story is told of one who was so captivated by the charms of a fiddle in the pos>r<-ion of one of the seamen, that he olTcred whalebone for it, until finally the owner received enough for his iiistruinent to bring 11 00 in Dundee. They are very tickle, however; for ijcforc the ships left the fiddle was bought back again, in exchange fur a pair of scissnrs ! Baitci- with these natives is a ]ierfect passion, and during the whole time the wiialcrs remain at Pond's Hay their time is passed in one cdntiiiuous round of exeitenieiit , (lashing backward and forward between the shore and vessel, often sleeiiing all night oiled uj) on deck or below, and sometimes on their sledges out on the ice, or inside their upturned skin kayaks. Their wemen and children are brought along with them, the object being to pick up " unconsidered trifles," for nothing is safe from these hyperborean savages, though their brethren in Greenland are now so moralised by the missionaries as to be perfect strangers to dishonesty. Som.' of the women are occasionally not very well behaved, and during our stay a melancholy tmgedy occurred. One of the chief men, suspecting his wife of infidelity, took her out on the ice and plungal his large knife into her heart, killing her on the spot. Gene- rally, however, all goes well, and cur wild friends enjoy to the utmost their annual holiday, to which they look forward through all the long winter and short summer. If you meet them when walking along the ice-Hoes, they will immediately make n.'om for you on their sledges, though it is not practicable to stop the dogs in their wild career. Accordingly, you watch your chance, and tumble down upon the motley occupants of the open sletlge amid shouts of laughter. The natives sit on their sledges back to back, like the people on an Irish car. • A mere Bulutution, equivalent, pcrhnps, to " (looil cheer I " TILE WUALEli IX TUK '• XUUTU WATEU." )17 Tliore is no coverinjy of any sort in the summer, but boliind are an upright pair of reindeer liorn.-i, en wliifh hanjj extra lines, whijis, traces, hunt in<j utensils, &e. Every article is of li ruder make than those of the (Jreenlanders. Wood is searee, and a piece of iron hoop has its j)rice anioufj these denizens of the snow. Their kayaks and umiaks (open llat-skin Iwats) are liuilt on exactly the same i)lau as the (Jreenlanders', but larger, and of a ruder construction. Must of the women are sliyhtly tattooed, but all are taller and healthier-lookiny than tlw Greou- A STBANUEn srEUMACETi WHALE. (Catodon inacrocephalus.* ) Jaudors. Goinjif ashore, you are received kindly by them, but they are not always to be trusted. One of our crew, liaving wandered off from his companions, was enticed into a hut by some of them, and there stripped to his shirt (and that he with difficulty saved), in which woful plight he rcturniHl to (he vessel. Their habits are those of the rudest pagans, though in a slight .sketch such as this, i-i which they are only incidentally met with, it is impossible to say more. • Th(! .SiH'rmnccti whiilo is chiefly a ilinizon of thn wiirmcr n prions of the riicific. It is, honrvcr, not uncommon cfF tho north-west const of America, iind even iiscenda within the Arctic rejjions north of Bchrins's Strait. Though I'ahricius mentions it as frcqiientinpf the southern jmrtion of Davi.s' Strait, and as known to the Eskimo under the name of A'-yH/i/i/- or Ki:iiil,lirl;miil.-. it is icrtainly a very rare Cetacean in the Xnrtli .\llantic. and is at ]iresrnt on!y known to thc^ Orccnliindcnj from traJitiuu. 1 have never heard of mure Hum one bcint; killed in llaliin's Bay in modem times. 118 THE COUNTOIES OF THE WOULD. Pr. Kanu's account of (be Smith's Sound Kskimo, with some variations, gives a fair account of tlieso riiilc ciiildren of the snow and ico-iieids. ^Vhen the whalers move away the Pond's Bay natives settle down again to the ordinary routine of their iiurd struggle for existence, but it is said that the dissipation tiiey indulge in during the few weeks the whalers are in their vicinity ojjcrates badly ujjon them, thougii it ought to bo noted that they do not care lor spirits, and that rum is seldom offered them. They are very migratory, and mo\o up and down the coast at different times of the year. Like the nation generally, they are rapidly decreasing, their number being now nmch smaller than in former times. They collect in one or two little communities, principally for the convenience of meeting with the whale ships, and mostly in Pond's Bay and Cumberland Sound. Some years ago a whaler hindiHl at a locality where in former years natives used to come off to the ship, and was horrilied to find the first hut full of dead bcKlies, black and stiff. The second visited was the same, and so on with the half-dozen of which the settle- ment consisted. Small-jiox does not appear to have troubled the western natives much,, though in earlier tim'.s several thousands of the Greenlanders died in a few years of this fell disease, and many thousands more with what the old writers call the " black death," a plague which in the Middle Ages desolated Europe. On the "West Side." September is now approaching, one of the pleasantest of autumn months in more favoured regions, but in thsse dreary latitudes it is the season in which the nights are bef^inning to be cold and dark, and sleet, snow, howling blasts and crashing icebergs, warn tlie navigator that the winter with its icy terrors is approaching, and that all who know what is good for them ought to be preparing to leave for another country. Hitherto the days have been sunshiny and warm — almost too warm — though out at sea the gentle breeze blowing over the ice-fields keeps it always cool. However, a ramble on land is not so pleasant. Without shelter of any sort, the sun's rays, reflected from the glittering snow-banks and bare lichen-covered rocks, are overpoweringly warm, and the perspiring traveller, floundering it may be through snow-wreaths, soon sits down exhausted, most likely tempted to quench his thirst by eating snow, a practice which, as every mountain tourist knows, only aggravates his craving for water. Out on the ice-floe, which is our usual place of promenade, the heat is still more oppressive, even if our "constitutioiiid" be not disturbed by somewhat unpleasant companions. It is about this period that the lO-floos arc breaking up. Of this the writer retains a rather unpleasant recollection. Walking one morning, fowling-piece in hand, along the edge of the floe, I noticed a crack in the ice which could be easily stepped over. Having forgotten my snow goggles, on returning, half- blinded with the glare of the snow, I was suddenly brought to a standstill by plumping into the now broadening crack between the separating fields. Luckily I came up at the edge, and while cndeavoin-ing to scramble out, was in no way reassured by observing a Polar bear- thwarted in itt! endeavours to procure a seal for breakfast — watching me attentively from an ice hummock close at hand. There was just a possibility that the bear might have mistaken me i'or a seal, and as my lethal weapon was now so damped by the souse it bad undergone. THE WIULEB'S UOSIE-COMIN'O. 119 my situation was not the ploasuntest. Luckily it was observwl from tUo Hliii), and ii l'(!W riflc-bulicts, landin<f in disagreeable proximity to the bear's head, soon frightened it away. Night is the pleasaiitest time to go a-field. That is, we call it night by courtesy j but for three or lour months it is just as light at midnight as at midday. However, the sun gradually sinks lower and lower, until it ajipears merely as a great shining ball on the edge of the horizon, and then slowly disa])peai's below it. It is at first rather confusing, this mixing up of the old conventional night and day, and sometimes ridiculous mistakes occur. Yet there is always something about night in the Arctic regions which indescribably stanijis it as night. There is out at sea the same unwonted calmness and stillness in the air, and in all the surroundings, which I have noted as characteristic of a (Jreenland settlement at the "midnight time." The sun gleams with a subdued glare over the golden-tinted snow-fields and ice-floes, and the bergs float along, with the mild light reflecting from their glistening sides, like silver castles in that <piiet summer sunlight. The snowy ivory-gull* flits now and then about the Immmocks, or sits dreamily floating along on the broken pieces of ice. The noisy swarms of mollemokesf — the spirits of old Greenland skippers the sailors affirm — gorged with blubber, have now returned to the ice-floes ; pnil the only noise heard is the angry cackle of an obese I'rovdlaria, crowded out of its sleeping-place by its fellow. The rotjes, looms, and dovekies, which all day long blacken every pool in the ice-floe, are now sitting in long pensive lines on the edge of some floating liiece of ice. A seal, resting to stare round just at our stern, or a small family party of walruses floating along on the ice, are the only living things about. A temporary excitement may be raised at the sight of a huge bear which has approached, having scented out the smell of supper from afar off; or the stillness of the midnight air in Ilyperlwria is broken by the shouts of the crew, who tumble up half-dressed from below, the twirling of pulleys, and the "flop" of ropes as the boats are hastily lowered, for a whale has just blown in dole* far uieitte ease not a hundred yards from the ship. Autumn and Home. All is over now. The twilight has given way to the alternate night and day. Tlie nights are cold, and in the morning a " raw fog," which goes to your very bones, meets yon as you come on <leck. Storms of wind are not uncommon, and the noise of the bergs crashing togetlier, though beautiful to peoi)le abounding in more sentiment than is usually harboured aboard a whaler, is rather disquieting to the captain's mind, lie accordingly moves "suth'ard," in advance of the weather, and in pursuit of the whale, which now begins travelling along the westward shores to its winter <piarters somewhere out of the limits of fixed ice, but where, is not known. Short halts are made at Home 13ay, Clyde River, and other localities, the names of which hardly express the real geographical nature of these ])laces. Most of them are inlets of the sea of great but unknown extent, never penetrated by man ; iuid, unless the Admiralty choose to spare one of their idle ships, and a few of the many ollicers wearing out their lives ashore on the cheerless joys of half-pay and prosjicets, most likely never will be. By the beginning of r«gophUa iburnca. t riocclliiriii glacialit. ]H) THK coi;NTaiE.s OK Tin: wuiti.n. OctoliiT tlit'v lire (i]i]iositi' what is inarkfil mi tlic rliart iisCaiK' IIi)o|iL'r. Soiitli ol' tliis lips nn fxtoiisivo sound, mil indiciitcd on tlio usual fliarts, known to llii! wlialers as " Vakicf jord," or litorally, Kskiino-fjord, from the nunilior of nativL's who woiv fnuiid tlit'i'f when it was diseovored, though low, if any, are there now. If the whaler has not a caryo yet, he cither i^ovs south to Cuinherlund Sound (Keiiiisoak), or to a little liarlioiir known as " lian;,'- inan's Cove" (from the eireunistanee of a nwtive heinj^ found susjieiided hy a line over a (.lilf when it was first entered), or the majority retreat into this " Vakiefjord" — or rather into a little cu/ tie mic just off it. Here tlio shijis lie seeure while tiie autumn storm ra^es outside; and every niorniny the boats go out waitiny Cur the siyht of whales. This is ealleo' " rock-iKisiiiif." It is nut very smres.sful, hut still there is a eliiince of their olitaining " a lisli." If one he eii]itiircd the vssel conies out and assists in towing it into the liarliour, there to he "made olV," or striiijied of its hhihber and whalelMiiie, While in Vakiefjord, the idlers on hoard, siieh as the eiij^'iiieer, eaptain, surf.;eon, &c., iiniuse themselves reiiuleer- huntiiiy', and oeeasioually have a pot-shot at a wolf, niimhers of whieli aliound in this loeality. It was for this reason that the Eskimo ahandniied the locality — they eould not kee|i their (lo},'s from the wolves. Aeeordiii','' to his industry, or the state of his ear^^o, the whaler will now move iiome. It is not often that he stays later than the 'MHh of October, tliou<4'h it sometimes ha]>iu'ns that those who }>;o into Cumberland .Sdiind will even iiiciloiif>' their stay until the ln.-'jiinninH: of Novemiier. This later locality is the Jleta Inconujta i.f .Sii' Martin Frobislicr. Of late years it has become a favnuritc liauni of the whaler, many of the ships, iiarticiilarly the American, wiiiterinjj there to ca|)tiiio whales in early spring. They are assisted in this by tin.' natives, who are now amazinoly Amcrieanised, speaking broken MiiHlish after the iransatlaiitic fasliion, and accomplished in many vices not altogether pi'ciiliar to our American cousins, but which, nevertheless, they have the responsibility of liaviiit;' iiitr ■liiced into this locality. Tho'i.i' British territory, by right of discovery and proximity to Hudson's Bay and the l)oininionof Canada, 1 should not be sur])rised were the Americans (in case the locality Irecomes valuablej to claim it by right of occupation, and on aecount of their nation having jiroihieed a citizen who lirst surveyetl it in a rough way. Formerh all the localities hereabout had .some llavour of that ijuaint [liety of the old navigators who thoi glit, that when they went so far atield, they witc taking their lives in their hands. The " Cape of (iod's .Meny " is on our lee, named in all sanctity by .John Davis, of Urisfol ; but immediately to the south of this is (let us say"! Cape .'^ilas Y. Dolhip of Dolliipville, Arkansas, who jircsented a jack-knife and a keg of dried ;i]iples to the "expedition" of his entlnisiastic countrymen, to whom we owe the somewhat jieciiliar iKuncnclature whieh has now overlaid the ancient one atlir.cd to the ^fela Incognita by the gallant cajitains of (iueen Hess's reign. IJy the lirst week of October there are few of the whalers which have not left for home. F<ir thf next few weeks stormy weather may be expected. Gales are sure to bo experienced olT Ca])e Farewell, and across the Atlantic a calm is a rarity indeed in the month of ()<'tober. It is seldom that more than a fortnight is occupied at this season in running between land and land. The old whalers were rough navigators. Some of them knew no more of scieiitilic navi- gation than was comiirised in taking "a latituile" by tlio ipiadrant. Having obtained latitude got in a rough way, they " put her into it," ami " ran down the coast." Sometimes Il --mPi 1/ ' '! rm iff ■ 16 122 THK C'OUN'TUIKS OF TIIK WDHW). the liind-fall, thanks to good seainaiiship and hotter hick, was tolerahly fair. At other times it was not so good, and i)riihaliiy the west ol" Ireland would he the first land- fall. However, so long as they did not miss the British Isles the whaler of the ancien regime was content. He was a rough, hut a courageous, hardy sea-dog. In war-time he frc(iuently took out letters of marque as a privateer, and, generally speaking, not only defended liimself, hut is even rumoured to have^ in some ca;jes, made up for a bad voyage by a profitable raid on " Benny's " merchantmen. Traditions are indeed still e.x.tant of the stout fights the last-century whalemen made for liberty and cargo with the French cruisers who hovered around them. One is said to have fled off all his ammunition until he took to loading with cheese, and, finally, as a last resource, fired, with his last pound of powder, the poker and tongs. The "Parthian shot" was successful. The Frenchman sheered off, under the belief that his once-despised enemy was only beginning to lire chain-shot. Still many wore captured ; but fourteen or fifteen years ago, when the writer of these lines was more intimately acquainted with the pemoii iiel of the whaling fleet than he has been since, he was acquainted with old men who, as very jou-ig ones had lain in the French prisons, captives in the first Napoleon's wars. Another terror, almost as much dreaded, was the press-g.ang. Knowing when the wha'ors were likely to return, cruisers lay ofE Shetland and the Pentland Frith, ready to fill up their coiTii>loment of men with the excellent seamen whom tiioy could always find in abundance or board the whaling- vessels. To avoid this jiestilent necessity of war-times, the men were in the habit of taking the boats as soon as they arrived on the Scottish coast, a!id then cautiously working their way to port along the coast, keeping in shore, avoiding towns, and keeping a ^aarp look-out seaward. The apjirentices and ofiicors, who were not pressible, then took the ship home. The wha'ing captains of modern times, though rather inclined to be rough in their manners, and, from much association with each other, and little with the rest of the world, to err on the side of " over-bumptiousness," are yet skilful seamen, well acquainted with the m3'istery of modern ravigation and the best nautical instruments. They make a sure land-fall, and by the middle or end of October are signalling for a pilot for the Pentl'ind Frith, if necessary ; and as they generally reserve coal enough to he able to steam down the coast, are usually in Dundee within a few days of sighting Cape Wrath. It is pleasant to see again the familiar merchantmen, the sleepy towns, the bays, the trees, the cows, the horses, and other signs of a world fitted for civilised man. By long habit and tradition certain courtesies are e.'cpected to bo paid to a whaler by the old-fashioned coasters. One of them is to "broom" a whaler. A passing vessel will send a man into the rigging to wave a broom. This is equivalent to asking " What's the cargo?" The whaler's boatswain replies by a downward sweep of the broom for every whale on board, and at the conclusion he is always treated to a friendly cheer from the coaster. It is needless to say that, apart from the "crow's nest," which has ]irobably not yet liet>n removed from the rigging, all seafaring men know a whaler by her build and general rig. For days pas. the vessel has been thoroughly cleansed, and by the time she drops into harbour, and the wives come on board to welcome their errant husbands, everything is ".ship-;,iiapL' Bristr'l fashion." The oil is discharged in a few weeks, the men paid olf, and for some time the vessel lies " laid up in oi-dinary," with nobody l)ut the ship's keejier ou board. By February, hovifever, she must be again fitted out, and in March the good ship takes her departure to the MAN IN THE FAR NORTH. 123 frozen North. The seamen in the whalinj;^ trade rarely know of any other branch of seafaring life. JIany of them have never seen corvi grow since they were boys, and all of them are greatly wedded to their life. They think th. ■^ is no life like a whaler's life. Thoy appreciate their stirring adventures, and are insjiirited by the gambling element which enters into it. Poetry they have little of, yet in talking with these rough, honest men one is frequently led to believe that they can appreciate the spirit of the linos in their honour if they fail to understand their metre : — " Calm through the heavenly sen on high Comes out eacli wliite and quiet star ; So eahn up ocean floating sky, Como one by one upon WTiitc quiet sails from the gi-im icy coasts That hear the battles of the whaling hosts ; ■Where homeward crews with feet and flute in tunc, And spirits roughly blythe make music to tho moon." CHAPTER VT. M.\N IN THE Far ^sorth. Wr. miglit linger long in the Arctic regions, t'asciniiting as are these seemingly inhospitable lands ; wo might spouk of Iceland, its sagas .md its songs, its warriors and its scalds, even tliough little of tliat island lies within the Arctic Circle. We might describe Novai Zcmlai, and recall William Barentz and liis adventures, and the romantic story of the discovery of his wintering-house and relics a few years .igo; or we might sketch Greenland more fully, and run in imfioinii'ion round the circumpolar lands discoverco by Ross, Franklin, Parry, and others. Of these, however, the map will give the outlines, and their general features and character we have already described in sufficiont detail in the preceding chapter. Our space is limited, while tho Arctic regions are almost unlimited ; for we do not yet know their extent. We must, therefore, devote our last chapter to man and society as they exist in the lands chilled by the " nortli wind's breath." IjANisH LiFK IN Greenland. Tho popular idea of a residence in Greenland may be summed up in a very few words— cold, train-oil, and l)lulibcr, with general misery thrown in to fill the interstices iif the disnuil picture. In reality it is no such thing. Tho European resident may drink train-oil if be can alTord it, and cat blubber if he iircfers this article of diet, and his tligestion can bear it. As for misery, he can get that anywhere without going to Greenland for it. From Cape Farewell up to a little north of Upernivik, in 7;i^' 1^' (p. ION) north latitude, the west coast of Greenland is dotted with little Danish trading posts. U'l- TIIK Cf)rXTRIES OF THE WORLD. The east coast, and all outside of tlieso limits, are left to Polar boars and the handful of Eskimo who dispute possos.^ion of the ice-bound coast. As for the interior, it is no man's land. These little Danish outposts of civilisation are very primitive settlements. We have liyured some ol' them on pp. ^0, I !•, 10 1-, llis, H^J. A few dogs, generally never more than four or live, with their families, and a little collection of Eskimo, constitute the jiersoiuiel AN AllCTIC SN(IW.STI)HM. of the setdoments. The trade <if Oreenland is a strict moiiojioly of the Crown, wlmse odicials are jilaced there lo superintend it. The iJovernment conducts the commerce solely on ])riiiciple8 of philan(hro]iy, the interest of the natives beinfr the chief object in view. The residt is that the I'^skimo are, within the r)ani.sh limits at least, prosperous, educated, and C'liristianiscd little fur-clad folks, and iC they be scmiotimea in want that is due to no fault of the T)anish Government, but mainly to their own improvidence, or to the many slips "between the cup nnd the lip" which fall to the lot of the hunters of Koals and whales, and the fowler of eider ducks and gceso. It 'vonld be dilticidt, within moderate limits, to impress upon a reader who has been taught to associate Urwi' ami ARCTIC ANIMALS. U5 niid wbale oil, Iceland and ice, the whol.oi.-mo fact that neither idea is exactly correct. Ice there is enoujrh in Grcmihuid, but tliere is also a pleasant life, such as the kindly Danes, who have miulo that country their home, chose to make. Perhaps I can best transfer to the reader my own imi>ressions if I sketch here a Danish settlement as it first came under my notice some years ago. The settlement is iu about 09" N. VIEW or (UT.EN Al <.r>TA's VALl.EV, KINO WILLIAM'S LAND, ..Asl GliLENLANU. V ' ude, and tlic sketch may do service fur alnmst any >1 them. First, however, it must be in'cniised that the Danes have liad mudcrn settlements in Greenland since 17:21, the fcelandcr.^, who discovered it in the tenth century, having' previously lived in the son)!: li fji-rds until about tlic year IVHI. T/ct us, then, suj)])ose ourselves landed from the ^-.1.; ,l)ip which 1ms borne us from ("o]K'iihai!;en. The Danish shijis are lumberinfj, Miifl-boweil ..!.. v(.,se!.:, never in a hurry, an(^ rarely makin;,'' more than one voy.n^e (iiii'inf,'' the summer months, which is, of cdurse, the only season when Davis' Strait and Hatlin's Bay are open to navij^'ation. Tlicir arrival, it is needless to say, is the ji'rcat ■^"unt of the year. They form the folc connecting-link between Europe oud Ureculaud, 126 THE rOT^NTIilES OP THE WORLD. l)etween the Greenland Dane's land of adoption and what ho yet fondly talks of as "home." Let U3 suppose, tlierefore, that the Eskimo pilot has guided us through among the icebergs into one of the little iuirbours of liis country. The rusty battery on the cliff has been tired, the white cross of Daneborg has been run up, the scarlet and yellow-hooded ladies, in their skin jackets and b s, on the cliffs have raised a treble cheer, which the bass lungs of the boys and men have caught up, the anchor rnttles through the hawse-holes, the " Governor " and the priest have boardetl us, and in a few moments we land in the Hat- bottomed skin boat, or umiak. AVe ji' p >hn"e on the ice-shaven rocks, and are in John Davis's " Land of Desolation." It • \ but the snow is not yet off the ground. There is a snowy-looking sky overhea.i, uugh the air is clear, and the calving of the icebergs far oft" can be heard with a distinctness unknown in southern latitudes through the clear, rarilied air. We arrive just as the birds of passage arrive, and all nature has gut thawed out of the winter bonds of frost and snow. We live in the "kirk loft," the attic above the church, and a (jueer little wooden structure, black pitch on the outside, it is. It is built of drift logs, and beyond the fact that it serves for the legitimate purposes of a church now and then, its walls are chietly utilised by the Eskimo as the place for hanging their muskets, spears, and harpoons. These lethal weapons festoon it like votive offerings in a hyiierborean temple of Neptune. We have been engaged all tiie morning in getting in our household gods, and now we are L'itting talking of our future life in tiiis distant portion of the world, as we look out of the window, taking a binl's-oye view of the settlement. The snow-storm which, soon after our arrival, welcomed us, has now abatetl for a while, and the sun being now high in the sky the bare ice-polished rocks appear black, above the s..rrounding whiteness. Here, tumbling over a cliff, is a mimic cascade, formed by the melting of last winter's snow, or a liollow where the water has accumulated until it forms a little lake, bordered by a thicket of sedge and other Arctic plants, now beginning to sprout above the snow. Not a tree nor a shrub is to be seen. We arc iu North (jreenland, and tiiese sylvan luxuries are not to be found here. Our ajmlogctic guide, jealous of the honour of his country, however, assures us that in South Greenland there are birches high enough to conceal the reindeer, and rumours even that one sixteen feet high has been soon in some of the sheltcretl fjords of Frederiekshaab district. In this ])art of the northern world, however, we are content to gaze with wonder on an inch-and-a-half stem, which is exhibited in front of the Governor's house, as the limit to which an Arctic forest tree in the " seventies " can attain. All else is snow and bare rounded rock, alternated with many swampy valleys; and far beyond is the inland ice; v.hile seaward shows itself in Hcets of icebergs, and to the ear is patent by the dull, sullen sound which every now and again strikes the car, as one is detatched from the glacier, or is (lashed against its neighbour, when the disi)l:iccd water rolls in like breakers on the tidcless beach. A few I'lskimo huts — humble turf mansions — are scattered over the rocks, and the inmates are boiling coffee over a tire made of Arctic dwarf birch, iu front of the trap-Uke door. In winter they burn oil as fuel in their soap-stone lamp, but just now they are economical. Coffee is, however, the Gvcenlander's great luxmy. A stimulant he yearns for; and us spirits are dunied to him by a paternal governuK'nt, he supplies DANTSH LIFE IN GREENLAND. 127 the want with black coffee, hurntr on a stune, and rou^'lily bruised with stones as the beans are enclosed in an old leather mitten. A woman, who has been trying to clean some eider-down on the rocks, has been lately driven within doors by the snow, and is now hurrying down to the shore to dress a seal, which her husband — a chubby Eskimo — has just landed out of his kayak. He is now — his share of the labour over — putting his little .skin and lath canoe on the frame, where repose the rest of the canoes belonging to the "eoloni." All of the smaller fry — the hoods of their skin jackets over their ears — are running down to see if Johannes' seal is fat, and in good condition, and the dogs are scenting the plunder from afar. Already a fierce-looking wolfish brute has seized hold of a fathom or two of intestines and is off (pursued by half a dozen little boys and girls), howling, as ever and anon the well-aimed crack of the long whip tells that the bit has come out. Over on a little island, just off the shore, other women, more careful, have removed to dress theii' seals. Here they get rid of the dog nuisance, and the rocks are spotted brown with seals' flcili drying for winter's use. On frames are suspended long festoons of the intestines pliiitcd like the "gimp" on ladies' dresses. Bones and refuse lie everywhere about, giving forth that odour — an arrant and a sealy smell — characteristic of a Greenland settlement. The men are "loafing" about, sitting on the flat roofs of the huts, or leaning against the turf embankment of the church end, which seems to answer the place of the street corner in more southern climes. Lines of boots made of dressed seal-skin, with their dogskin socks, arc hung out to dry, and women are busily engaged ruljbing them with a piece of wood. This is called the himek or boot-stick, and well-to-do folks always require at least half- a-diiTU pairs of boots, because they must be frequently changed if wet by i)erspiratioii, or otherwise, and rubbed soft with the " kuinck-slicL" This kamek-stick is often familiarly called the " reiser kone," or travelling wife — it being the wife's special province to rub the boots until thej' are in a condition to be worn again. In Greenland, if you don't wish to be " cut," you must make the fii-st calls at the houses of the residents. Indeed, the custom is a Danish one, and, moreover, a rather awkward one, but still it is absolulely necessarj- to obey it, if you wish to keep from offence. We have already peeped in at the Governor's or Colonibestyrer's — literally the " best man in the colony " — to deliver our oflicial letters, and as we are invited to his house later in the evening, we shall drop over to the Lutheran priest's. We reach his sitting-room under the ])il()tago of a strange-looking Eskimo servant girl, with a high topknot and gaudy boots of dyed Icutlior, tiirough the kitchen, for Greenland houses are built more with a view lo warmth (ban elegance. Most of the Greenland oflicials speak English, and as " Ilcrr Partor" is a "Kandidat" of Copenhagen University, he is no exception to the rule. We accord- ingly sip the inevitable coffee, and hear the ways of our Arctic parson's life. He has been upwards of forty years in the country, and expects to die there. Ten years is, however, the rule. On the expiring of that pei-iod of expatriation the zeal of the young missionary has usually evaporated to that extent that he accepts witb avidity the smallest parish in Jutland or Zealand. In reality, however, there is little of the missionary in bis calling, his duties partaking more of those of a parish priest than anything else. They have only " Danish church " every third Sunday — that bi,ing about as much as the European residents are supposed capable of standing of Herr Partor's ministrations, though the natives are 128 THE COTTNTRIES OF THE WORLD, favoured with a littlo discourse every Sunday. As our residence k in and over the church wo are Cully sensible of the (act. The men sit at one side, and the women at i\w other, after the fashion among the Danish peasants. An Eskimo plays the orj^pn, the voices of the congrcjT'ation joining' rather sweetly in sinjfing the Eskimo version of Luther's hymns. If the day be warm we are deeply conscious of the fact that divine service is proceetling in 7(l" N. latitude, for throu!>:h the keyhole and the cracks in the door there proceeds an odour of stale seals — a fact not at all surprising, considering that the whole THE BLl'E ARCTIC lox. (I'lllptS J,n(JOJ)\(s) andienco is engaged, more or less, in the capture and preparation of the flesh and skins of tlioso animals, and that all of thorn are <lr('ssed in their hides. Even under the Tjutheran gowii of the priest there pooji hairy trousers and j'lskimo boots, and the dogskin collar of his skin jacket appears mingled in the most familiar manner with his ruff — or "millstone," as the Danish hoys irreverently style that distinguishing clerical ornament of the Scandinavian cleric. The Arctic vicar's parish is one hundred and forty miles long, though sparsely peopled enough. He only visits it in the winter. While other jiarsons keep their cob, our northern friend has his dogs, his sledge, and his ancient dog-driver. AVith these he skims over the frozen sea in winter, though the support of his ravenous team in these times when seals are scarce, is a source of great anxiety to the reverend geutlemaa's miud. In DANISH LU'K IN (iUEKNUVND. J^i) Orcenlitnd, as among the Danish peasants, no niiiUer what time yon tali, cufTcc is ofTcrOil to yon, and wliile wo drink wo examine liis IjooIcs. Tlie llluKlruli'il IjhikIuii NewfiK, we lind, "taken in" lierc, in addition to its Danish imitation. Tiie Tauchnil/. editions of Tliackeray, Dickens, and Troilope arc invariable occupants of a {Greenland ofiiccr's library shelves, in addition to Danish theolojjical writers of less note but mure unction; we also find some volumes not less familiar, and reeoj,'nisc in them that sui)erlative reputation which consists in an author's work reaching the wiudow-sill of a Greenland VIKW m- OMENAK, NOIITH OUEENLAXI). (Prom an Onjiiial S^•rfc^.) priest. The parson lives far from " homo," one would think, but yet the father of his colleague paid him a visit only a few years ago, and, on the whole, our host is not inclined to look upon his lot with the same degi-eo of commiseration as we are apt to do. "We leave the prosy old gentleman in a dogskin, and look in upon the doctor — a more cheerful sort of gentleman — if we could only strike upon a language which we mutually imdcrstood. However, we cheerily " break I)read," the bread, however, bearing about the same proportion to the li(iuid consumed as the halfpenny worth of broad did to the " intolerable deal " of sack in Falstaff's bill of fare. The doctor has passed sixteen or seventeen years in Greenland as one of the two district surgeons, and is as hap])y as need be. lie is an enthusiastic naturalist, and in the Royal Museum at Copenhagen ranks as somebody. lie has just returned from a long tour of inspection 17 180 THE COrNTUIKS 01' TIIK WOULD. in his boat — wliicli is liis liroiislinm — and is now busy componnding a cathartic for a greasy-looking Eskimo who has over-eaten himself at the last debauch of seal's Hesh and cofl'ec. AVe have now got pretty well over the upper crust of the " coloni " — the Danish residents, though more numerous here than in the neighbouring settlements, being less than a dozen — and so we go back again to the church to dress, in order to meet the "society" of the place. "Dressing" in Greenland consists in washing our hands and faces, and re-tying our neckerchiefs. The short spell of sunshine has brought out clouds of mosquitoes, which annoy us dreadfully. Indeed, the natives are not exempt; and later in the year wo see some of ''vcm covering their faces with the most doleful of black muslin " mosquito bars." Flowers are beginning to peer out in the sunny chinks of the rocks — saxifrages, waxy jiyrolas, the l\)lar rhododendron, and the blaeberry. We ramble over the rocks, in after-days familiar enough to us, with crowds of natives staring open- mouthed at us, and a troop of snarling dogs yeljjing at our heels, until we come to the " Governor's," or Colonibestyrer's, house, a wooden building of one storey, such as is figured on p. Hi, with doors and window-sashes, and pleasant muslin curtains at the windows. It is company day at Ilerr Colonibestyrer's — the regular state Sunday-night's party after t/ie ship arrives. A knot of Eskimo are here also, watching the arrival of the comj)any, and gaping with awe and wonder at the last Copenhagen bit of finery on the Arctic dandy, who even here finds his unwelcome way. After a circuitous route through the kitchen, we are usheral into //le room of the gubernational mansion, the type of all such apartments in the Greenland "colonies." The furniture consists of a sofa, which has done duty for a long line of Governors ; a still older bureau, a long stove surmounted by a statuette of the Great Napoleon, a portrait of IJyron, iiuother of good King I'Vederick the Seventh of Denmark, with some photographs, and the usual etceteras of a room. The floor is white scoured, and the windows full of Indian crosses, geraniums, roses, and fuchsias. There is a piano — the last thing we should expect to meet with in Greenland. There is also a sleepy cat, and, above all, an antique eight-day clock in the passage, which strikes six as wo enter, and is, to my mind at least, the most Christian-looking piece of furniture we have yet seen in (he coimtry. Strangers arc rarities in Greenland, and our arrival all the way from lilngliind is quite a sensation to this quiet outpost of civilisation. Accordingly we find a little party waiting to receive us. Through clouds of tobacco-smoke we return (heir greetings, as room is made for us on the sofa. It is not a fashionable party, but we all enjoy ourselves nevertheless. All the men wear sealskin trousers, and most of them sealskin "ancraks," or blouses, covered with checked cotton. ■ All the men, ■women, and children wear the inevitable sealskin boots, beside which our clumsy English boots look so odd tint wo are fain to push them out of sight. Everybody is there : the captain of //le sliip and his mates, the wife of the Colonibestyrcr from over the fjord, Ilerr Pastor, and Fru Pastorinde, whom the lady from " over the fjord " kisses in quite a home-like fashion : it is so hypocritically British. Then there is a broad- backed gentleman, who is the "assistant" trader; the doctor, and his wife and children, besides the Governor's family, including a young lady in pink muslin, an unwonted garment, which, like the piano, is an agreeable surprise to eyes long unfamiliar with it. DANISH 1,1FK IN UH KEN LAND. lai Tlieru is iiiucli talk, and, it, is IWirud, not ii litllu smiMlalmis ffossi]), (or tittlu-tattlu and evil spoaiiiny: aru bits of civilisation not frozen out ol' Greeidand. Wo liavo a, little music, and the lady in pink muslin grinds out, for our special benefit, the " llutcateher's Dauf^liter" on an accordion, just brouy:lit out from Denmark, beiny apparently under the belief that the ditty in question is tin- Jiritish National Anthem, 'ihis younj^ lady, and her brothers and sisters, have all been born in Oreenlaud, as were also their father and mother, and none of them liave as yet been out of the country. Except in that indescribable " somethin}^" peculiar to peoide who live long in isolated parts of the world, neither would seem to have suffered much from their voluntary expatriation. The room in which we are seated is pleasantly decorated with bouquets of (jrcenland wild flowers, and the windows are brij^ht and fragrant with the plants of a softer clime. All the men smoke long pipes, to which they help themselves from a rack on the wail ; and the ladies gossip, until an Eskimo girl, in a topknot and seal- skin jacket and trousers, announces dinner — "supper" they call it — in another room. The Governor then says " Ve's'ko " — if ynu please — and, after the customary fashion, wo pass through the kitchen to roach the dining-room. The meal consists of Greenland and Danisii fare : rye and wheat bread — of which everylwdy takes two pieces at a time — reindeer, mattak (whale's skin boiled to a jelly, and very good) ; smoked salmon, sliced very thin, and eaten rawj raw ham, stoupos of Kuleralik, another Greenland dish, composed of a fish allied to the halibut,* smoked, but very oily and tasteless ; ptarmigan, hermetically sealed 111 tins since last winter; "schnapps," or Danish corn-brandy; Greenland and Bavarian beer (" baierske " they lovingly call it) ; claret, or " rodvin," besides Danish butter and cheese. After these solids and liquids succeeds a cup of a very weak licjuid, which is expressively enough called The-vdiid, literally "tea water." Tea is, however, very little drank, coffee supplying its place. The ladies of the house, after the Danisli fashion, wait on the guests, scarcely sitting down at the table. At first there is a little awkwardness, but it is a custom among the very best class of pco]>le, the children sometimes acting in the same capacity, and is considered not to derogate from their dignity in the slightest degree. It is only a piece of high-bral Scandinavian courtesy. The meal finished, the host says, " Velbekome ! " and wo all shake hands, and say " Velbekome ! " — may it agree with you — and adjourn to the next room, where a veteran, in very wide sealskin trousers, confidentially imparts to rne the information that in the good old times the fashion wiis to kiss when the guests separated, but that it had long boon discontinued on account of strict impartiality in the osculation not being observed. Then many more pipes, and more,-" tabak," and very much more rum and water. There is also introduced on the table an abundance of Danish punch, a liquid compounded of a bottle of claret, one of ruin, one of water, with sugar to suit, and a slight amount of "Swedish banco," a fiery beverage, tasting like sweotenetl East Indian arrack. Just as we are beginning to lose sight of each other in the smoke, a sailor make his appearance to report to the captain that two icebergs are sailing into the little harbour, down below the window, and are likely to injure the cable. The alarm proviiii';' groundless, the man — no ways loath — is pressed to • Tliis liah U llippoglossiii piiiguit of niitimili»t8, and is in iiMlity :i small spcciua of lmlil)ul. ISJi THE COIINTHIES OF THE WOULD stay, for, like tlic mariner in Dilxlin's sonf», he bears the reputation of " playing the tiddlo like an angel," and the rnt)m being cleared, those who have not got over their dancing days waltz and danco reels until the old log-house shakes. The snow still continues, but it does not interfere with the general hilarity, for the seamen are in the midst of a ball which tlioy have given to the native hclleH in the empty storehouse just outside. The sound of their merriment reaching us here, wo have the curiosity to see the fun. Dripping with snow, wo peep in at the door of the ball-room, a low-roofed apartment, damp and dirty. It is crammed to overllowing, and the floor is crowded with spectators, principally the uglier of the girls, and the males who are considered sufliciontly of the haul iuii to mingle in the dance with the " Kablunaks."* The native I'alinurus sits in the window and scrapes the liddie most lustily while the Scandinavian mariners twirl their swarthy partners — hot, perspiring, and odorous of seal-oil — through the " maze " of dances, Danish and (Jrecidandic. One of these dances, called Akhuiiipenijcrnediit, the " danco of eight," seemed to our uncritical eyes to consist chielly of dancing round in a circle, hand in hand, and then breaking olf into a kind of reel, and now and then twisting your partner round. The girls danced wonderfully well, and seemed certainly to enjoy thcniselves amazingly. After the danco each of them adjourned to a little ante-room, where there was a modicum of mild watered schnapps, under the custody of a trusty boatswain, who disj)enscd it in tiiiniblei'uls to the fair {sic) ladies, amid remonstrativo cries of "Ah! umcloo ! " (^lore!). We watched them for a little time and then left, amid indignant murmurs, each "wallliower" expecting to have had the honour of dancing with the 7V/«//,t and of sharing in the gro^ which followed. Some of the girls wore far from ill -looking; one of them, indeed, we were told, was noted as the beauty of North Greenland, though that tells an indeiinito tale, beauty being in Greenland nothing very positive, but a great deal comparative. Wo now return to the " Governor's," where, after iniliibing more rum and water — plebeian but comforting beverage in the cold June night, for the sudden warmth which had tempted f(jrth the mosquito has now given way towards mid- night to a dismal chill, which the wind, blowing from the ice-covered interior (see p. .jS), has intensified — wo adjourn to our cheerless home in the little church. Just as we are preparing to sleep the slumbers of an Arctic diner-out, a rush to the rocks of a few idlers — in these settlements somebody seems never to go to bed — tells us that something unusual is in sight. It is past midnight, but the sun is above the horizon, as it has Jjoen for some weeks past, and will be for many weeks yet t<j come. A boat, with the white cross of Danel)rog flying, proclaims that it contains as passenger some oflicer of the Royal Board of Trade, which controls the Crown monopoly of the trade and government of Green- laud. It turns out to be no less a personage than the Royal Inspector of North Greenland, a grcaf — a prodigiously great — personage — in Greenland. lie is on his tour of inspeeti<'n, and everybody, from the poor Colonibestyrer down to the humblest seal-hunter, will experienct; a rnmmorcial ki>e1-hauling to-morrow from the great man in skin trousers and uniform coat — fit emblem ofllio union of the hunter and irare.wer.atic life which Greenland consists of. " Going to betl " with us means lying down rolled in a blanket on some dogskins on the floor LiiinuH. t KnjfKiihniun, DANISH LIFR IN GREENLAND. U'6 Till' Him sd-cimis in tliroii;^li our liltlu windows, tlioiiyli it is now past midnij^lit, and little fur- dud Culks, will) iiru yut prowliiiy uliout tlio suttiomont, lu'cp in to inspect our domestic arrange- ments. As 1 write, a vision ol' brown greasy faces, with a shock of Maek wiry iuiir in their evii!^, rises up bet'oro me. Troops of woltlsh dogs make night horriblt; with their "long cry," and we are awoke at intervals with their dismal chorus, until at six o'clock the ringing of the workmen's bell is the signal for tho renewal of this hyperborean music, and for sleep being banished from tho eyes of the drowsy strangers in the " kirk-loft " of this little settlement. VlliW CIK C1I11IST1AN811AAI1, NOIITII UllHKXl.AMl. (fViPM lUI O.-i'Jllial Ukrl-h.) So ends a typical day in (Jrcenland. One end is very much tlu' same as another — some arc duller, few arc more lively. From this it appears that Greenland is pretty much like the rest of the world — rather given to scandal and tittle-tattle, and with a little, just a very little, double-faeedness. The "colonists" have quite a mania for writing letters to each other on all ]K)Ssil)lc occasions, and though they are publicly on terms of tho utmost cordiality, yet it is impossible, in the interest of truth, to deny that those good people have a disagreeable habit of abusing each other privately — a knowledge which materially detracts from your belief in the coiileitr dc rose aspect of things. Summer moves along; the snow has all disappeared off the low grounds, except in shady hollows, and tho sun shines day and night with unwonted brilliancy. Tho heal gets sometimes oppressive, though occasionally the cold gets more intense than becomes a July day. One's impression of Northern life, from its very ];n TIIK ((IINTIIIKS OK TIIK WolM.D. isciliitioii from all <lis(iirl)iii^' iiilluciicc's, ivmuiiis liiii^' in tin' iiiciiiory, but (Uir uotu-lHMikH of llusuiliiys fdiivcy nil t'\L'ii iiunv vivid idt'ii than tlio niciv rccolltTtioiis left al'tcr several yoarHlmvo |iussL'il away. I'or niuiitliH ami iiidiitlis \vu have hoard iidtliiiiH' I'rom tlif oiitor world, and wo :ii-i.' i[u\iu content to d(j at Rome as the Roniunw do. Wo arc very little interested in what may lie oiiiii". ()n in Muroiie. We eare nothino' for the ?'////('«, and polities disturb not the quiet e(|uanimity of the sojourners in hio;h latitudes. Intensely eoneerned are we, however, in Iho little alfairs of the settlement, where, in the serviee of seienee, we have fixed our home. It is a matter of iiaramount imjxirtanee to learn that Matthias has killed a bladder-nosed seid j that the iee is pourino' out of the " iee-fjord," shutting oil eoniinunieation by sea; how Kumau'dlat's dog-team all died last week; or how the cooper's half-breetl daughter is to be married next week to Jans Jansen, the famous seal-eatcher of Christianshaab (p. l.'i.'J). Our life is a materialistic one — "sweetness and light" being entities which a (ireenland settlement tends to sparingly impart to existence. In sunshine and in storm we perform our appointed work, enter records, and make observations, and enter records again, which will be afterwards embalmed in "Memoirs" and "Transactions" unheard of in {Jreenland, and little dreamt of Ity the simple-minded peojjle who wateh us as we make them, with a strong susiiicion as to our sanity. Sometimes the monotony of our lives is varied by an excursion to a distant settle- ment, when the rusty old cannon in front of the Colonibestyrer's house are firetl, and the Danish flag is rim up; or we leave on some lonely voyage, in a flat umiui', or skin-boat, up some of the deep fjords, until the icy wind, blowing from the great interior iiicr <le glucc, meets us, anil the water-fowl, which breed in countless numbers on the clilTs, scream at us in derisitju as we turn homeward in baflled sadness at our failure to penetrate to the mysterious eastward. Our life is varied by such incidents from home, and in our (piiet settlement a white stone, or the contrary, marks a day of dog's-meat trading in behalf of our ravenous team, or the sensation of Johannes bringing conviviality in the shape of a new cask of beer, a guileless but most acceptable beverage, which he has brewed out of hops and malt brought from Denmark. At other times there is a funeral winding over the rocks, followed by the doctor's old dog-driver in the tail-end of the procession. To vary matters, our light-hearted factotum, Carl, who scents out any festivity from afar, strikes envy into our hearts at breakfast by the relation of the gaieties of the ball at which he had assisted in the storehouse the night before, and with an account of the mighty seal-catehors and white whale-fishers who were there. Everybody is known by sight or by name, and certainly every one is acquainted with us. Of coui-sc there are the little local jokes, but as a very little wit goes a long way in Greenland, and a poor jest, like ill news, travels aiiace, it is doubtful if any of them would bear rejietition. I am afraid our talk smacked terribly of seals, icebergs, and train-oil generally. Sunday makes a break in our quiet life. I return from a long ramble up some mossy valleys, at two o'clock in the morning, and sleep rather late. Nobody thinks of locking their doors, and people walk in and out of our establishment with the most innocent familiarity. Accordingly, about nine o'clock, I am awoke by a preternaturally long and wontedly mild Eskimo catcchist shaking me in bed, and presentinij a written ])a))er as long as an un]iaid tailor's bill. Tt is nothing more alarming than a rambling intimation from the priest " To the Danish residents who, by the grace of God, DANISH LIKK IN (lUKKNLAND. 135 nrn in " to tlic ulTeot tliat llicrc wouM I'c Daninh cliurcli (o-day, iind windiiij,' up witli tlui imiiDiinrcnirnl that, "n'4 u«iiiil, tin- lirnc would l)i! rci^idatcd \<y tin' ('ulciiiilii'styrcr'H walcli," from which it appears that llw " liuU's-uyo " in quoBtioii in the only ono in tho " colonio," It is, however, so liiffhly thdiijjfht of that thu priest venturuH to dinputH tlio aoeiiracy of our clironometcrs, IjeeauHO they di,snf;'ri'o with ///'• watoli. After Hcrvice, tho people enjoy thunwelvos as best tiiey can, and tho day jjenerally winds up with a supper at the " (Jovornor's," and a ball in tho storeliouso. I often wondered wliat eould be the ideas regardinj; thinj^s non-Grivn- landio of tho Danish ehildren horn in (Jreeidand. Wiiile workiiifi; at my table 1 am visited liy troops of chubby, hcalthy-lookinf;' little ones — Knud and Ili'lfja, and little So|)heuH, and all the little skin-dressed Jans<'s, Ilanses, and I'eders of the settlement; while a wonduriufjf grou]) of Eskimo children (p, 1 Id) pet'p in timidly at the low window. They chatter away to me in Danish, not supposing; that it is possilile for any white man not to perfectly understand that lan/^fuajje. To all of it 1 reply at intervals " ja " and " nae," and they seem perfectly satisticJ. Little So})heus, in his well-rubbed sealskin trousers ml jumper, p* !9 himself on the lii{4'hest chair, and is very assiduous in hanilinjj me my paper and •cquisites. He is, I dare say, tellinjif me a W(jnderful story, but I cannot appreciate ..iiuy brinj,' me handfuls of flowers, and wonder if 1 eat thorn. All tbinj^s have their riiisott d'etre in Greenland. They arc a strange nssembhig'e, these children of the far North. All the rude sports of childhood are unknown to them, and they look up stupidly enough in your face when pictures of a horse, a carriage, a tree, or any other thing out of their limited knowledge, is shown them. Their talk is of seal, and whale, of tatterak, tho kittywako gull, or of apalearsoak, the little auk, or of Peder's big neitorsoak or bladder- nose seal, or of Paulns llosbeck's itiiiidk, which has come in from Omenak (p. 1:J0). All these things they seem to know well enough about, for strive as ^heir parents will, they manage to associate too much with tho native chihlren, and learn a trifle too rapidi)' their language and manner of talking, as well as their ways of thinking about evcvything. Their parents will toll you that if they are sent to Europe they get peevish and discontented with their lot, and wear}' to got back to Greenland, and their old associates and scones. Almost every autumn I meet in Copenhagen ladies, associating in the best society of the polished Danish metropolis, and accomplished even beyond the wont of their fair countrywomen, who were born of Danish parents in Greenland, and who passed the early years of their life there. They never conceal their belief that though Denmark is no doubt an admirable country for those who know no better, yet that they weary for the free life and tho wild scones of the far North. Some years ago two young ladies wont to Green- land on a visit to their relatives. Both returned a second season, and one of them married and settled down among tho icebergs, to tho astonishment of the fsishionable folks of Copenhagen, and the supreme disgust of many of tlic young gentlemen thereof ! In (ireonland tho white letter days are not many. Tho King's Birthday (8th April), and Bede's Day, or St. Bede's Day (Sth May), when everybody, by sea and land, makes it a point of having something better for dinner, and drinks more rum and water than usual — albeit there is never any great dereliction in that item — are the chief days of merry-making. But the greatest event in tho year in each little settlement is the arrival of tho annual ship or ships, which bring out the stores and take home the oil, ivory, and furs for the year. It is a J.'iO TJIE COt'NTUIES OF THE WORLD. U general liululay as long as the ship stays. The cliiUron i^o to no school, and the whole po]mlation is too busy ffai)ini>' at the wonders of the sliii) fmni the cliff over the little harbour to go .•^eal-huntiiii.'' or flshinj^. With t/ie ship come out the toy.s of the children, the (incry of the women, .md tlie books, letters, and newspapers of everybody, from thehoni" they leave behind them i n the other side of the Atlantic. It is also a season of enjoyment for the natives, though, indeed, the male portion do not. Iways ajjpreciate the attontion p.iid to the native beauties by the ii.^erloping foreigners. However, self-respect and jealousy, when this could be a virtue, is not a marked feature in the Greenlandcr's charac.er. While the ships are at the settlement, the Danes seem to sp'^nd most of their time in going round picking up news and gossiping with the captains. Unless there be some extraoi- diiiary attraction, the file of newspapers is neglected. Meantime they gain the tale of liDW the world has been moving, during the past year, from the captains; but no sooner does the last shi]) sail than the parcel of the BiiyMdd, Tvlvijiuif, or lierliiigske T'ulende is taken down from tlie shelf, and, with wondroiis self-denial, some of the philosophical residents limit themselves to two papers y/c;- di'iH. In the winter there is the seal hunt, and even sometimes u wandering Polar bear (p. L')?), which lias put the natm-alists to shame by wandering about in the winter, in spite of tlicir assertions to the contrary, may be surprised and swooped on by the owls, which, with the luavks, ravens, and ptarmigan, are the only teu'Jiered winter residents of lireenland. Books and letters lill up the leisure time durinf.- the winter, and visits paid on the dog-slcdgcs to the neighbouring settlements relieve the monotony of the months of darknijs. Indeed, in some of the journals, written early in the century by the old niissiona ' -, the demand on their hospitality by the numerous visitors is complained of as making terrible inroads on the winter provisions, which in those days there was little opportunity of renewing when exhausted. At such settlements as Julianehaab (p. 141), and (itlicis in South (ireenland, though the country is ])leasantcr iu the summei', and exem•^.lons uj) (lie fjords are really charming,* yet, owing to the inclement weather and the want of sledging ice, they are si., "'it. from the rest of the woild for sei'en :.ionths in the year. The Danes are at borne rather u slow-moving race. In Ureenlani' tl. y are conservative to the last degree, and a Greenland "fogy" is a fogy indeed. In TO" North latitude there are jjlenty of them. For instance, there lives — or used to live, for I speak of years gone by — an old gentleman at Omenak, who had been sixty years in the country, and always loudly declared that in his youth the summer days were clearer, and the winter ones e.lde., the icebergs bigger, and cvrything different than in these latter ilcgenorate ones.f In the summr Ti half of the Danish families, and mos^. of the Eskimo ones, often run short of fresh food — c .1 of seal flesh in bad weather — and have to r(?sort to salt jwrk, young sea-gulls, and a few fish, while during the winter there is a suiierabundanee. Yet they never think of an ice-house, though the shores are strewn with fragments of bergs, and the bays are * .S<'i' " Skctchos of Life in OrcenliinJ," )iy S. N. I!. (Geographical Afai/a:im\ 187G.) We Jo not pi'rhapa rovoal nny scrnt vlun wr sUito our Imliuf thiit it is lo the necomiJliHluil wife of the former lioveriior of .So'ith Ureen- liiiui, ami Vrcsiileiit of the lioyal (ireenland Hoard of Trade, that we .'ire indelited for these pleasant sketches. + Did not (ild Nestor, in tile hoyhood of the world, lament after the siinie strain r— " I never saw, nor shall I si>o, 8\i( h men as Perithous and Dryas, shepherds of the ijeojile ; and Cceneus and Exndiu.'f, and the godlike rolyphemuu, and Th. ...as. ';,in of iKgeus— men like the immortals themselves.'" UKATH OF TlIK I'OI.All IlKAll : A WIXTEU SCENE IN NOUTH ''IKKXI.AND. 18 138 THE COUNTRIES OP THE WORLD. full of gigantic ones. In most cases the Eskimo are even too improvident to lay by a store of any kind for an evil day. If you suggest it, you will be told that "it is impossible j it lias never been hej'i)rc ! " This is the Jiiiale of any proposal of this description — it lias never been done before, and, of course, cannot be done now. The officials of the Danish Governn ent in the far North are men of the highest respeetabilily, and are not unfrequently rehired officers of the army or navy. The country is divided, for the purpose of trade and government, into two royal inspectorates, styled respectively North and South Gr:enland. These inspectorates are divided into several colonies or districts, each presided over by a Colonibestyrur, who resides at the chief settlement, besides various " udliggers," generally a cooper or carpenter, who can be trusted with a moderate cpiantity of rum. The average value of the articles exported is under £50,000 — oil being the item of greatest value, though hair seals bring more than i5,000, and blue foxes (p. 128) are nearly an equal sum. After i)aying the cost of Government, and the uine vessels whieL are employed in the trade, there will remain a profit of more than £6,000, not including the interest of JLGl',426, at 5 per cent., which represents the capital which the Government has sunk in Greenland, and the royalty paid Ijy the private company which work the cryolite mine. Tlie net revenues from the trade for the last century have been estimated at £160,000. From the gross revenue a proportion is set aside to be expended by the Parish Councils, called Mmiiiwl or Parmsut, elected by universal suffrage, for the support of the aged and infirm, the widows and orphans, and for such necessary public works as, on a very small scale, Greenland requires. By the last census there were 236 Europeans in Greenland, and 9,607 natives, though many of these were of mixed blood, la 1871. there were 368 births and 263 deaths, and the women outnumbered the men by nearly 600. Altogether there are in Greenland 176 inhabited places. From what we have said it will be apparent that summer life in Greenland is existence in no " Land of Desolation," as John Davis designated the country. Our space will neither permit us to describe further the amusements of the long day in the far North, nor even to touch upon winter life, which we have now and then mentioned. Suffice it to say that to those who have made up their minds to make snowy Greenland their home, there is nothing very forbidding in the country. Many of the residents, who uave on!y looked forward to passing a few years of comparative exile in that country, have returnetl to end their life there ; and few who have ever passed no matter how short a time in the Danish Arctic provinces, but have lookeil back with satisfaction and even gladness to the life among the icebergs, the glaciers, and the Eskimo. An anecdote is often told in Greenland ajjrojws of this, and with it I may conclude these brief sketches of Danish Greenland life. A Moravian missionary, after a long residence in Greenland, returned to Saxony. Naturally his friends congratulated him on again fixing his residence in his native land, and supjwsed that he would find Germany an agreeable change to Greenland. On the contrary, he reified, he did not — life "at home" was too dull for him. In answer to liis astonished friends, he explained the seeming paradox. " In Greenland there was always something to amuse or interest one. Now it was seal-catching which was the subject of interest — now reindeer hunting — now the bladder-nose arrived on the coast — now the saddlo-back seal. THE SAILOR'a; LIFE IN THE FAR NORTH. 139 Anon the whale was blowinj;' in the ofling — at another time the narwhal appear in droves oft' the coast. The long winter had scarcely become wearisome before the long, briglit summer was come. Then there were the ships arriving from Europe— other ships leaving. The absence of all news from Europe was compensated by the jileasuro of receiving so much every year all at once. In fact, in Greenland there was always something new. In Saxony, on the contrary, one day was like another — v/carisomely monotonous ! " The Voyageh's Life in the Far North. The whaler's route, and the whaler's general routine of existence, we have already briefly sketehetl. His life is by no means monotonous, and would have been a state of delirious excitement for the old Saxon priest who i-ejected the dulness of German village life. The whaler's voyage across the Atlantic is generally calm, and no sconer does he reach the Greenland coast than his mind is kept continually on the stretch. Navigation during the long dayliglit, without being absolutely dangerous, is yet not unattended with that potentiality of risk which gives zest to a voyage in the smooth waters of Baffin's ]5ay. There is scarcely an hour of the day or night during which ice does not grate against the vessel's side ; any one who will take the trouble of examining a whaler arrived from the North will have no difficulty in seeing in hei scarred timbers the witnesses of hci- ciicounters with the " thick-ribbeil ice" of the regions she has been navigating for so long ])ast. Passing "the bay" (see p. Ill) is an exciting time, and "the bay" is no sooni^' L,iiined — supposing the vessel is not destroyed — than the whaler is on his battle-g. ■ ! Once then', there is an unpleasant uncertainty as to how long the seamen are tu .iH' \\ed i" bo in bed. The "watch" may have just turned in, when a cry of "A fall! a till! will turn every one out of bed, his elotlies in his arms, and vvliile the boats are being Inwercd, and even pulled off, the men will be hastily dressing piecemeal. Every man is interesti'd in the success of the voyage, and the certainty that his exertions will help his purse renders laggards rare phenomena on board a whaler. The "making off" is a stimulating labour, slightly unpleasant at first, but in time ceases to be so, for fresh blubber has really no smell ; while the excitement of ".pulling on to " the unsuspecting whale, harpooning it, and finally, often after many hours of toil killing the gigantic animal, is an experience before whiuli every other in the annals of the chase pales. \'isits from or to the Eskimo, or a sail in search of whales about comparatively unknown inlets, and along shores romantic in their misty obscuritj', vary the monotony of the "off-time," when " fish " are scarce, and the captain more and more desponding every time he comes down from the "crow's- nest," and more and more inelineil to pay greater attention to that hot rum and water which is not ui fre(|uently — though more rarely now than once — the weak point of the whaler. There arc snowy days and many dull hours, in which the old books are read over and over again, and the last Dundee newspaper, which was just put on board before sailing, spelled through and through from the first advertisement to the last. Venorablo tales— which were tolerably fresh six months ago, though stale enough now — are told once more, the listeners keeping up a faint show of pretending that they are new, though nobody is deceived as to the patriarchal age of the jest. A very small joke goes a long 140 THE COUNTIUES OK THE WORLD. way in Baffin's Buy — sis it does in Greenland — nor is the quality of the wit particularly strained. I'lio stories are all excessively local, as might be expected among men of one profession, all from one port, and few of whom have ever followed any other branch of a seafaring life. Many of the whalers have never seen corn grow, and have forgotten wlial a tlowcry land little Britain is. Snow and ice, "lish" and "Yaks" (Eskimo), " unies " (narwhals) and " sea-horse " (walrus), are the favourite subjects of conversation when a party of whaling captains meet together over their grog, or to consult about their OUOLI' OV OKEE.NLANU liSKI.MlJ clllLUKEN. (fVoin Ori'jimil ria'I'ojfiiiih!' } affairs. On a smaller — and probably a rougher — scale, the same conversadon goes on in the "galley," though, contrary to what might be expected, "society" in the " 'tween-decks " is by no means very democratic. The " barpooners " (or " harpooncers ") as they arc invariably called, have a mess to themselves, a boy to wait on them, to bring their rations from the galloy, and their grog from the steward's pantry ; and altogether are very great men. Tliey are, in fact, warrant odicers, who may look to be oai)tains at no distant period, provided that they are " scholars," and can " pass the Board " in Dundee. Then there is the " spectioneor " — or blubber king, who superintends the stowage ol' the cargo — the sail-rii:dcor, oarjn ntor, and cooper, who, being in a manner civilians, are only tolerated by the great men alongside of whom they have a relative rank, and by whom tbey are esteemed very respectable men — in their way — though not bred to the sea and to " the trade " from theii THE .SAILORS LIFE IN THE FAR NOUTII. 141 youth upwards. The "loose hurpooneer " is jilso a great man is liis own esteem and tluit of the boat-steerers. In due time he will become a full harpooner, and then a boat-steerer will take his place, and a line manager — or seaman who looks to the running out of the line after the whale is struck — will succeed to his dignity and p.iy. 1'liere is then the democracy of the seamen, the ship's apprentices, and lowest of all, the " green hands " — generally Shetlandmen, or "shoremen," who have been induced by necessity, or more frequently by curiosity, to try a seafaring life for a few months. IJut as they can neither " reef, hand, Ml.« i;l Jl LlA.M.llAAI:, ^0L111 OUtL.SL.iM). (i rum Ull Onju.ill S/.iMc nor steer," and can do little bettor than pull bo.nts after a rude fashion, stow blubber, and clean decks, their pay is small, and their dignity less, while their capacity for bearing jibes and jeers niu>.t be necessarily great if they wisli to lead a moderately peaceful life, and are (>inuloiis of smoking many ])ipes liy the cook's fire. The food on board a whaler is jilciitifid but n>ngh. No class of seamen are better provisioned or more sumptuously grogged. The number of meals t;iken in the day is generally three; liut if whales be killed, they are simply indednite. At no matter what hour of the day or night a whale is killed, a meal is the invariable ]ireliuiinary to "making oil," and rum is served out to the men with a liberality unknown, and which would be dangerous in lower latitudes. In addition to the ordinary articles of seamen's dietary, the whaling sailors have freijuently fresh messes. Ducks, and. above all, sea-fowls — such as 142 THE COUNTKIES OF THE WOELD. guillemots, looms (the Danish lomrla), dovekies, and rotjes — are among the mos<; familiar artielos which t'cstoou a whaler's rigging. After they have hung sulliciently long to get tender, they are made into " scouse," " sea-pie," and other similar mysterious dishes, in which the stout stomach of the seafaring man delights. The cabin table is well sujjplicd with preserved meats, hams, and fresh meat, which preserves very well in the rigging througliout the voyage. It is tender, and possibly even somewhat high-flavoured towards October. But that is a trille to hai"dy appetites. Altogether, a whaler's life in the far Xortii is not the least desirable phase of a sea life. He is fed better, he lives in a healthier climate, has more food, and generally better and more money and less monotony than sailors in almost any ot'ier employment. He is at once a seaman on the Atlantic and a " fisher- man " in Baflin's Bay, and the conjunction of employments is apparently pleasant, for few who ever enter upon the employment desert it, and many follow it from father to son. The yachtsman's life in the Arctic seas we have already more than once touched on, and need not revert to. !Most of the amateur sailors within the Arctic circle visit the- North for hunting or for amusement. Occasionally they vary it with an attempt at amateur exploration, but few of those who have attempted it have, either from want of training in themselves or their crow, been so successful as to call for particular remark. The explorer pure and simple has a graver work before hira. Most frequently he is a stranger to the North, and in this case everything is new to him, and what would be novelty to any one becomes doubly so to the enthusiast, whose mind has for j-ears ,)een dreaming of what is now a reality. His mind is daily tortured with anxiety, or the disap* pointment which makes the heart of man bitter, for in the ice-choked seas of the North, more than in probably any other part of the world, is the truth of Pliny's maxim, demonstrated — "That on earth there is nothing certain, unless that nothing is certain;" or he is exulted by hope of accomplishing what no man has yet accomplished, as his vessel gets free from the icy barriers which a few hours before rendered all progress impossible, and once more sails in an open sea and free. Again he is stopped — again he is free ; hope and despair alternately excite or depress him, until the inevitable winter arrives and imprisons him for five or six months. His life is a gambler's life. He is throwing for a great stake, and yet his success or his failure is in many respects independent of skill. The Arctic explorer's success or failure is to a great extent dependent on what, for want of a better name, is called luck. He may be the best and Iwldest seaman who ever trod a deck — a Xares, a Markham, or a Stephenson— and the ice may — as the voyage of the Alert and Di.«'ii>'eri/ only too completely demonstrated three hours after sighting it — render his efforts futile. On the other hand, the most indifferent of seamen may meet with open water, and sail to a latitude, and attain a reputation, denied to his predecessor, who really deserved the applause of the world a great deal more. In a word, failure in the Arctic regions does not necessarily mean want of skill or perseverance, any more than success demonstrates the jMssession of these qualities. It was this alternate hope and fear that actuate 1 the old navigators — men of whom it might be truly said, that they " feared it not, the spirit which dwelleth in the land of ice and snow." Whethei they sought for a North-east or a North-west passage to Cathay and Cipargo ; whether, io other words, they dreamt of reaching India, China, and Japan by doubling the northern THE EXPLOREK'S LIFE IN THE FAU NORTH. 143 end of Jluroix) and Asia, or of America, they were buoyed up by the same alternate Lope of success and fear of failure. They 1 bought that the continents might tennitiate northerly in a narrow part, as they knew America did in the south, and that after doubling this (.'ape they might reach an open sea and a free. Thence they would sail into the Pacific of Galboa, down by the lordly Spanish Miiin. There would they take little of the good things there to be found — they vvoidd freight their ships with gold dust in the land of Cathay, or with diamonds and rubies in the mysteri(jus Indies of the mighty Genoese — ballast them with piles of Spanish doubloons, with sacks of Portuguese milreis, with bushels of pieces of eight! Seekers after shadows they were, no doubt, all of them — dreamers of dreams. Hut they sought after shadows wliich in their eyes were very substantial, and dreamed dreams wbich even now we acknowledge were grand old dreams. Their enthusiasm consoled them for all misfortunes, and buoyant hope carried them forward under repeated failure. When the thick ice grated against their vessels in the cheerless Xorth, and the chilly wind caused them to shiver in their furs, they whispered unto their souls to take courage; for before the Howers bloomed again in merry Kngland they should be in fair land, where coral reefs fringed the palm-shaded shore, where the soft tropic winds wore wafted seaward laden with the odours of spices, of myrrh, and of frankincense; where the dark-eyed maidens wrapped themselves in jewelled roWs ; where the bondsmen were clad in goodly garments ! Wintering in the Arctic regions for exploring ships has now been almost reduced to a science, from the hour the ships get frozen in, housed over, or banked up with snow. Health and amusement are carefully attended to by warming and ventilating apparatus on board the ships; exercise, theatres;, schools, newspapers, sicientitic observations, and abundance of other methods of entertainment, which must be familiar to many of my readers who remember the varied articles of outfit put on board the Alini and Dincovcry, and the still later descriptions and sketches which were published after their return. Yet still the winter is dreary enough — the long darkness, combineil with the uncertainty of the future, and a frequent attack of home sickness, making winter life on board an exploring ship, even under the best of auspices, not very desirable (p. 15). Whalers are occasionally frozen in if they delay their stay too long in the Arctic regions, and though they are generally provisioned for twelve months, yet, in any case, they suffer greatly. The hardships of the beleaguered Diutin, of Hull, in the winter of lS0(i-7, must be .still fresh in public recollection, and how she gradually floated southward, out of darkness into light, arriving on the coast of Shetland in early spring with half her crew dead or scurvy riddled. Others, chiefly American vessels, winter in Cumberland Sound and that vicinity, near the mouth of Davis' Strait, in order toc.itch the whales on their spring migration. In that latitude, though the winters are gloomy and cheerless to the last degree, yet there is no continual darkness for several months as there is further north. At (jne time walrus luniters used to winter on Spitzbergen, and even Novai Zemlai. Those men were chiefly liiissians or Norwegians, but though of iron constitution, thev suffered terrible hardships. Some sjamen have also wintered on Jan Mayen, on which was a volcano, but wore iniable to survive the winter.* • Pinkerton's "Collection of Vojmrcs and Travils," Vol. ii.; Laharpp, "Historic Gcmralc dcs Voyages," Vol, xH. ; Harris' Collection, Vol. ii. ; Duffcrin's " Letters from High Latitudes, ' &c. lu THE COUNTRIES OP THE WORLD. Till'. Nativks of tiik Arctic; IIkoioxs. Hitherto wv li;ivi' only siuikcii ol' the Arctic r('<;'ion3 as a dreary land into which explorers penetrate, and a few Danes live for lontyer or sliorter periods, lint forliiddin^ as tlie country is, it is the home and the native hnid of thousands of people, civilised and savajj^e, who prefer its solitudes to the more invitiny countries wliieh lie to the south of it. Amonj^ these we maj' !)0 expected to include the Icelanders. Iceland is, however, an essentially Kuropean island, and will he sketched at a later jieriod when the North Sea isles are the subject of a chapter. Indeed, only a small port ion of the country is within the Arctic regions of the geography, and the very title of tiio country is a misnomer, as we liave already pointed out. It is a dreary enough lava Held, however, only a few dales and tlat districts near the coast being iidiaViitabli — the (!(l,(l(KI or 70,000 inhabitants dividing their time between tilling a little land, rearing dwarfish sheep, cattle, and jMinies, and capturing, salting, and drying the lish which are found in sucli abundance off their shores. Of late years the scener}' of Iceland, its geysi'rs and volcanoes, as well as its easy proximity to Kin-ope, have made it a favourite haunt of the ubi<)uitous summer tourist, so that the inhabitants have, in addition to their' natural resources, the additional one of preying on the birds of passage who come to see them and their island. The island was discovered and settled in the ninth century by emigrants from Norway, no aboriginal inhabitants haviikg ever existed here. From the earliest period these eiiiigfh were distinguished for the turbulent character of their disposi- tion, their love of freedom, and their love of letters. AVhile the rest of ]''urope was steeped in ignorance, the Icelanders cultivated letters, and their sagameu and skalds conij)osed the popular histories which have since received so much attention from modern scholars. The same love of learning distinguishes the inhabitants at the present day. They still speak the purest dialect of the Danish, and have numerous works either written in or translated into their mother tongue. They are hospitable and kind, though primitive in many respects, and dress in a picturescpie and rich costume, of which they are immensely proud (p. 115). They are said to inherit the cliaracter of their forefathers, and give an trndless amount of trouble to Denmark, which now owns the island. It is, in fact, the Ireland of the little Scandinavian kingdom — the inhabitants bearing, in more senses than one, a remarkable likeness to the people of the Emerald Isle. It ought to be added that they are honest and moral even beyond the high standard of the Danes; and that though poor, it is rare to lind one of them who cannot both read and write. They are very jiatriotic, and are fond of studying the history of their country, in the ancient sagas and poems. At one time they numbered 100,000, Init in IS/O the census only showed (i!),7(!-"5, and since that date they have been decreasing, numbers now emigrating to the United States and Canada, the people being discontented with their lot, notwithstanding the liberal constitution granted to them by the Danish King on the 1,000th anniversary of the se. lenient of the island in 1871. If these colonists be successful, many more will follow, so that in time we may expect to see the ancient glory of the " island grand " fade and disappear. Regarding its scenery, and the (piaint customs of the inhabitants, much information is now made accessible to the English reader by the works of Symington, Forbes, Burton, and numerous TIIK NA'nVKS Ol" TIIK AlK'TU; liK.dloXS. 145 olluM- wi'itoi-s of j,'rcator or less note. Of tlio Hudson's J5iiy oHU'crs in tlie fiir Northom l)ok'a<ruoml forts of the fur countries we shall speak in suoceedinf; chapters, and of the life of the Siberian residents— free or bond — we may have occasion to touch on in a future volume. The aborif^inal inliahitants of Polar lands we have more or less fully sj)oken of in another and companion work. The hardy men who have chosen the Arctic regions for their home are the Kskimo (pp. 7:5, 77, lOH, lid, &c.), the Sanioyedes (I'late V.), tiie Lapps (j). '62), the Ostiaks, and similar allied tribes, who mam— as in the case of the Eskimo— over UKLANIIIC FEMALE COSTIMICS. le^'arding- the whole stretch of Arctic America, and oven part of Asia; and in the case of the othei-s, over the northern parts of Europe and Asia. In many respects they are similar in apiK-arance and habits, and all of them tij^ht a stout battle for life with the iron skies they live under. Indeed, it is a little difficult at first siffht to distinffuish a Samoyede from a Siberian (pp. .'Jd, ;i7), and either from an Eskimo. The habits of men are moulded by the physical agents by wlu(?h they are surrounded. Hence tho Northern men, though they may differ in religion and in minor customs, will have a general similarity of life, whether they are known a.s Eskimo or Kamtskadal, Ostiak or Koriak, I^app or Vogul — whether they live in the co'.d continent of Europe, in Nortliern Asia, or in those cheerless regions • whnro tlip inovinp; islrs of wiiitir slidcik By night with noisca of tho Nortliirn si'a." 19 146 THE COUNTKIES OF THE WORLD. CHAPTI'lt VII. TiiK Flu Cointkiks or North Amkuic.v. IN the winter of LSUu, some time about Cliristmns, there was ii eoinmercial triinsiictioii eimct^'il at Ottawa, the capital of tiio (lion nowly-eroated Doiniiiioii of Caiiachi. A elork handed over a few Treasury Hills, and a fiM.'t(ir reeeivod them. Tlirco hundred thousand pounds was their amount J but with the payment of that sum a famous old company of merchantmen sank into mere hucksters — buyers and sellers of furs — and the last of the pi'reat monopolies ceased to be. The sum was paid by Canada as the jirico of llie cession of the political rij,dits and privile<ifes of the "Honourable Conijjany of ^lerchant Adventurers tradin<f unto Hudson's Bay." From that day forth they ceased to have any power over the huj^c tract of North America, usually styled Rupert's Land, or the Hudson's Hay Territories, and became, in the eye of the law, as the rest of the traders who did their business in the wild forests, j)rairies, and Arctic-like wastes that stretched on to the Frozen Sea under the rule of the land that Jacfpies Carter cxphu'cd. The Hudson's Hay Company was as nolhiuH' (•om])ared willi the East India Company; but yet, in their own small way, they wen; a close imitation of that lordly corporation. It was a mere commercial association which, with a few clerks, ruled more than half of North America — a territory larger than all Europe — after a fashion despotic and irresponsible enough, and yet, on the whole, just, wise, and to the honour of tlic Jinglish name, a more joint-stock company of traders, who yet, at their own sweet will, under their own banner of Vro pclle el cute — for peltry and hide — declared war and made peace, and without a single soldier held in awe and loyal subjection fierce tribes of Indian warriors, all across the broad continent of America. The last of the old proprietary governments — they saw the gorgeous career of the East India Company, and its decline and fiill. They witnessed Louisiana ceded by his most Catholic Majesty of Spain, and the Seigneurs of New France become subjects of Great Britain and again of the new-born Dominion of Canada. They witnessed the ruin of the Darien enterprise. They saw the South Sea Bubble buret, and a dozen rivals come to nought. They remembered when all North America consisted of the "plantations of his Majesty," they remaining lo^al and iittached when the colonies broke from the mother country. They survived eleven sovereigns, and died in the reign of the twelfth. In a word, the history of the Hudson's Bay Company is the history of the fur countries and fur-trade of North America. Wherever the furs were best there they reigned ; wherever the trade was most profitable their forts, and their all-embracing monopoly, ex- tended. The American Fur Company bad posts on their border lands, and a score of private traders lived on the offpom-ings of their hunting ground. But at the fulness of their power the Hudson's Bay territory consisted essentially of the fur countries of North America. No description, however brief, of the interesting border country itetween the Arctic regions ivnd the land of corn, of cotton, and of wine, can bo wrilten without a sketch of the rise and fall of the great Fur Company. In its day it was the fur-trade, and it ruled anU explored the fur countries. Till-; (iliKAT Fl'lt COMPANY. 147 Wu — ami In (i-f I ^lH■ak of iIhjm; who i'l'1iioiu1ii.'1' the ('oiiiiiaiiy lid'oru it ccUbcd lu Ijo a political powur — who knew tho Coiiiiaiiy in its i)aiiiiy days; who drank its yood wine and atu ol' its sail; wiio liohnohhcd in its pickutud forts with tliu sturdy llvti)'-" «i, {jreat and oakuu tublw laden with buavur-tails, liulTalo-tony:uL's, and luigu roasts of muosc und of elk and of oarihou ; dishes of tender antelope, and luseioiis salmon from the rivois of its enijiire of territory; ptarmigan from Hudson's Hay, oulaehau,* most delicious of fishes from A'aneouver Island, and snowy hares from tiie J]>kimo, alony: the shores of tho Arctic Sea; we who shared its stirriny enterprises, and lloated down far western rivers in its birch-baek canoes ; who have been honoured by seeiny our names carved on tamarau " lobsticks " on the Albany Ki\er, and on cedar ones on the Colundjiu or Fraser, in return for ri'i/ules of rum, tea, and tobacco, larjjessed unto its voyayeurs • we who were, in a word, o/' //, have pleasant memories in relation to the yreal corporation, and may l)e excused if we linger fondly over its history, even at a time when tiie world — when the world has not forgotten it— .'s disi)osed to hold its achievements cheaply, and to dwell with undue severity upon its misdeeds and shortcomings. The IIuuso.s'.s Bav Co.mi'any .vnd their L.\.nds. About the year 10G7 there was living in a dull set of chandjcrs in the Temple a retired soldier, who, after having done knightly service for his Royal uncle of the " sacred memory," was busy with endless chemical experiments, never productive of much good to the world, and rather injurious to the slender purse of " Fiery llupert of the Rhine" — the gentleman in (piestion. lie had always been on the eve of some great discovery, but had never made it, for " Rujiert's drops " is but a slender jieg on which to hang a chemist's reputation; and now his Serene llighnes>: the I'rinco Palatine of the Rhine was fast settling down to being a sort of Miecenas to every needy adventurer who found his way with a plausible scheme to tho further side of Temple Bur. Rummaging through the dusty tomes of the Temple Library, he read how ii. 125;i Marco Polo, the great Venetian traveller, saw in the tent of the Grand Khan of Tnvtary furs and sables " Ijrought from the North, from the land of darkness." The idea struck him, that could these furs be got now, what a splendid scheme it would Ije. Just then he was waited on by a man who had travelled much in North America, and was well acquainted with tho wild Indian ti'ibes not far from the shores of Hudson's Bay. This was M. de Groiseliez, a Frenchman, almost as full of ideas as the prince himself, but, tm this particular occasion, occupied with one more than ordinarily feasible. He fired the imagination of tho Palatine liy his pictures of the exceeding aljundance of fur-animals on the shores of Hudson's Bay, and the great profit which could be made from them. The result was, that after an experimental trip had proved successful, the influence of Prince Rupert succeeded in forming a joint-stock company of noblemen and gentlemen for the purpose of pursuing this fur-trade. Furthermore, his cousin, the king — for what back-handed (/oiuriir history does not inform us — granted to this company of "Merchant Adventurers trading unto Hudson's Bay" a charter investing them with a monopoly of the furs and lands of tlie borders of nil the streams flowing into Hudson's- Bay not ocenjiied by tho snfijppts of any ("hristian })rince ; and, furthermore, • The I'licilii' ISiiiolt lilsjiieriix pii'ijiiii/:). UK Tin; (orNTiiiKs ok tiii: wohm). tli(< pi'ivili';,'!' to niiiki' " will' iiiiil iiciicc with llic pcoiilc not siilijrcls ol' iiiiy Clirisliiin priiu'i'." Tliis was (Ind'd tlic iliid dl' Miiy, l('p(I!>. Tlic nilvoiitiirors fjriuliiiilly oxtciulcd llicir ciitiTprisi', until, IIMI years later, they pusscsscil 15,') oslaMishiiients, in charLTO <if 1!.') cliiel' liictorH, !lS I'hiet' Iradiu's, ]'):l elerks, and I, :!(!(» oilier servants, liesidcs liavin^ a hup' nuinlier of natives under their control. Theso Iradiny; districts (Ihirly-ei^^hl, in niiniher) were divided into live departments, and extended over a country nearly as hi;; as Europe, thouj^h thinly peopled hy some 1(10,(1(10 natives — Eskimo, Indians, and half-broeds. viKW 1)1- VAi,i:, UN lai; riiAsKu laviui, mkitish iummiha. or course, such a successful Coniiiany as this was not lonj^ in heing opposed, and the story of the rival traders is not the least. interesliiiLf or smallest item in its chronicles. Previous to the year 17S.'] the adventurers had many petty rivals to withstand, hut these they chiefly got the better of by fomenting divisions and animosities among the Indians of the interior, so as to terrify any one from engaging in trade in that ((uarter. This has been an old trick of theirs when any Indian tribe was likely to condiine with another against them, and now they turned the same time-dishonoured weapon against their commcreial enemies. Nor were they at all scrupulous as to the means by which they ousted their rivals from their domains. Tliere stand on record two cases in which ships had attempted to enter Hudson's Hay for the purpose of trade by sea. These tlio Company seized and drove ashore, pleading — so, at least, runs the talc — that tliey were lost by stress of weather. TiiK tui'iii:n(s UK iuks, U!» "*^?-w^^^^^?sfe?'^-:^ Itu animals: 11EAVE118 (CujlJr Omaiiitisis), TlIK C'oi'IiKUliS 1)K Bois. Tlic I'V'UC'li fur-ti':i(l(i's from ('iiniulii ulsn not ii little iiiinoycd (Iicni. Tlic St. Liiwi-ciKo run tlironyli tlif licait ol' a country wliicli, in tiif times we speak ol', was rieli in I'ur animals, the sultlors bcinH' I'l-'w anil cultivation ytill rarer. The i'ur-tiaJu was 160 TIIK COUXTKIES OF THE WOHI.O. iiyrcoablo tu tliu liylit, volatile disjiusitiini of llic French lialjUinil, who tluis ill time iiiuiioiwhsc'd thu trado oiitsidt' the Britisli torriturios iiropur, and l)L'ainie, as he is iu the person of his doseendants lo this day, active — tliong'h then he was a somewhat more important peisonage than he is now — in the collei' on of peltiies. Tiie Freneh liad not only yieat com- panies wliieli, in importance in those days, rivalled the Ilndson's Bay traders, but numerous private individuals were engaged iu the same lucrative trallic. Indee<l, " La Compagnie de la Nouvelle France " was very much the same in constitution as that '!' their suhse(juent British rivals. They had the disposal ol' all settlements formed or to ue formed in Canada, or New France, as it was then called, with the power of fortifying them, or of making- war or peace just as they thought nwst conducive to their interests. So anxious, indeed, was the Freneh King to back up this association, <'onstituted iu lO;2s, that he made it a present of two large ships, and raised twelve of the {)rincipal members of it to the rank of the nobility. It was, however, a failure, (irtat enterprises of colonisation and exploration in distant countries have never been the strong point of our French neighbours. But the freedom which the fur-trade received from the dissolution of the monopoly of one great Company gave a mighty impetus to the elTorts of individual adventurers. The lieeuce of a sa\age life, and the profits derived from the trade, attached to it the "jetsam" and "flotsam" of F'rance, Canada, and other countries, and all the waifs and strays which invariably turn up whei. anything which entails much labour aud great danger, but ])r(jmises a chance of profit and a certainty of adventure, is to the front. Furs, however, soon grew scarce in the vicinity of the settlements, and accordingly the Indians, accomiianicd by the ••'II' I'.uirs lie hiiin, or rangers of the woods, went with them on their expedition. Tims iu lime arose a class who became as well acquainted as the savage trappers themselves with the best huntinj^'-grounds, and wiio were able, liy their fricndshij) with distant tribes, to persuade them to bring their })cltries in to the trading posts, Itight and lel't — east, west, and north — the cjnireurs de OoU extended their operation^, until they tra\clleil Ihinugii a country peopled only by treacherous savages, more than 2,0U0 miles from the settled portions of Canada, their only means of suljsistenco what their traps cr rifles could supply; their sole m-'ans of travel, the birch-bark canoes in which they navigated the lakes and rivers which formed their highway into the interior. Washington Irving, who in his youth had associated with old men who remember the later — though it may be the waning— glories of the Canadian fur-trade, gives a lively picture of the palmy days of these (jallic adventurers in search of ])cltry : — " Every now aud then a large body of Ottawas, Ilurons, and other tribes who hunted the countries boniciing' on the great lakes, would come down in a squadron of light canoes, laden with beaver-skins and other sjwils of their year's hunting. The canoes wjidd be unladen taken on shore, and their contents disposed in order. A cam)) of birch-bark would be iiitched outside of the town, and a kind of primitive fair opened, with that grave ceremonial so dear to the Indians. An audience would be demanded of the Governor- (leneral, who would hold the conferencv; ,vith becoming state, seated in an clbiw-cliair, with the Indians ranged in semicircles before him, soafod on the groiuid, and silently smoking their jtipes. Speeches would lie made, presents e.vchanged, and the audience would break up in universal good hutnoiu'. T\K CANADIAN Fill! TKAUE. 161 Now would ensue u brisk ti-afTic with the incrcluints, and all Montreal would bo alive with naked Indians runninf,'' from slioj) to shop, bargaining for arms, kettles, knives, axes, blankets, bright-coloured cloths, and other articles of use or fancy; upon all of which, says an old French writer, the merchants were sure to dear at least 200 per cent. There was no money used in this trafhe, and after a time all payment in spirituous li(iuors wn" prohibited, in consequence of the frantic and frightful excesses and bloody Ijrawls which they were apt to occasion. Tlicir wants and caprices being supplied, they would take leave of the Governor, strike their tents, launch their canoes, and ply their way up the Ottawa to the lakes. .... IMie French merchant at his trading-iKist, in these primitive days of Canada, was a kind of commercial patriarcii. With the lax habits tind easy familiarity of his race, he had a little world of self-indulgence ami misrule aroiiiid him. He had his clerks, canoe-men, and retainers of all kinds, who lived with him on terms of perfect sociability, always calling him by his C'liristian name. Tie had h'.s harem of Indian beauties, and his troop of half-breed children; nor w.as there ever Wiiating a loiiting train of Indians hanging .about the establishment, euting and drinking at his expense in the intervals of their hunling expeditions." In fact, by slow degrees, and sometimes rapidly too, the conrciirs de hoh descended, as did tlu'ir successors, the Western trappers, into white savages. They lost in time a relish for white men's w.ays and white men's civilisation. But just in proportion to their love of a savage life did their use to the fur-merehants of Montreal increase. These merchants supplied them with an outlit, and dispatched them on their perilous errand. Fearlessly they would find their way up the great rivers and their tributaries, launch their frail skifCs on unknown lakes, and land whenever tliey saw the smoke of wigwams or t'"" hope of beaver, careless or fearless whether their scalps might not have to p.iy forfeit for their temerity. " Sometimes they sojourned for months among their savage allies, assimilating to their tastes and habits with the happy facility of Frenchmen, adopting in some degree the Indian dress, and not unfrefiucntly taking to themselves Indian wives. Their voyages would extend often to twelve or fifteen months, when they returned in full glee down the Ottawa, their canoes laden with rich cargoes of furs, and followed by great numbers of the natives. Now would come a period of revelry and dissipation — a continued round of drinking, gaming, feasting, and extravagant prodigality, which sufficed in a few weeks to dissipate all their gains, when they would start upon a fresh iidvcnture, to be followed by fresh scones of riot and exfravagnnce." Their conduct, both in camj) and in town, became so disgraceful, that, to jire. ■■nt their pernicious example corru])ting the already indifferent morals of the Indians, the fiovernment was induced, by friendly inlhience, to so far control the trade .as to grant liciuies to pursue it. 'i'hese licences f(n' a time acted as a check on the lawless advm- lurers, as they were only bcstowetl on persons of good character, and in time as a reward to iilliccrs and their widows, who, not being of the material out of which conrfiirs de liui.1 were made, sold their privileges to merchants and others, who soon brought about tlie old system again. In fact, thonsh the generalisation may .admit of exceptions, the dc that id morals did U(< together. The " great army 152 TIIK CorNTlUKS OK TIIK WOULD. of fur-tradors " sworo droadfiilly " in the fur oDuntrios, and conimittod all manner of other wickodiiosses, wliicli arc popularly sujipowed to appertain to the morals of those of loose tonjiriios. Tiio military posl:^, however, which wore cstahlislied in tlie interior, did a great deal to restrain the lawless trapjK'r and trad(!r, thoug'h the fur-trade aj)j)earod at this time to he quite an eindemie. iCven the military olliccrs wer(; seized with it, and eagerly Kiimu AMKlill AN riNK rdUKST. heffged licences to engage in this lucrative liranch of trade. They, however, conducted the husiness in a more onh'rly manner, and to distinguish themselves from tlu' fur-tradcrr piir cl xhi/p/c, designated tliemst>lves "commanders." Many of the scenes of the most stirring tales of romantic advcntiu'e, and the hiiirhreadtli escapes from — and .sometimes attacks hy — the treacherous Indians connected with the early history of Canada arc laid round these military fur-trading posts. Donhtless, many of these New AVorld "commanders" were gentlemen of hut indifferent reputation ; hut they were no worse, if no liettor, than the "gentlemen" wIki fouglit under Marlhorough or De \'illars in the Old one. m TIIK lUSK OK TllK NOUTli-WESTKUS. 163 AN AMFllIC AN TllAI'TKIt ol Till. .1A(7/.A la.lilMl.. Til K NoUTII-WKSTKIts. Just i\1« lit tliiit time rose llio <;'i''^'i' i''^"' *" ^'"^ IIiuIsdu's Uny Company, wliicli Iniil liitlu'i'to led nitlu'r ii slocpv if liicr.itivo cxistcnco aldiin' the Antic slunvs nf Ilialsoi.'s l!;iy. Tlic ('onipiiiiy hiul, nidrcnvcr, iis wu liiivc seen, liecii ciirryiiii; tilings with ;i nitluT liiyli liiiuil, anil iinl l)eing very moral, of strikinyly ' .bi tlioinsclvos, they could 20 154 THE COUNTUIES OF THE WORLD. acarccly have expected tlieir riviils to bo imieh mure eoiiseiciitioiis. Coiniietition by the rival Canadian Fur-tnulinj^ Coini)aiiies — under tlie new British rule oi' tiiat country — was carried to sueb a ruinous extent, and the natives were so demoralised with spirits, tliat the whole trade became disorganised, and the traders ruined alike in purse and morals. This could not last long; and now commenced the work of the great opponents of the Hudson's Bay Company, vi/., the North-west Fur Conijjany of Montreal, which was made up o." a combination of the chief merchants engaged in the fur-trade of Canada. From small beginnings it spread until it became the most powerful organisa- tion of the kind in North America. Hitherto the Hudson's Bay Compmy had only paid their eiiijilajjcs by salaries; but now the North-westers introduced another system, that of advancing the chief oflicers by their merit into the condition of partners, in fact, the method now in vogue in the Hudson's Bay Company, which was roused from their fat lethargy by the activity of their ojiponents. In the year 178S, the gross capital of the new adventure lid not exceed i. 10,000; but by exertion and energy it was brought in eleven years to triple that amount. The sleepy " lludson Bays" were astounded at the nuignidcence of the new comers, and old traders yet talk, with something like awe, of the lordly North-westers. It was in those days that joung Washington Irving was their guest, when ho made bis memoral^le journey to Montreal as the New England attorney's clerk. The agents who prcsitled over the Company's affairs at head-quarters were, as might be expected, very imiwrtant personages indeed. They were veterans, who had grown grey in the wilds, and were full of the traditions of the fur-trade. Hound their grizzled heads were bound the laiu'cls of the North. They were, in fact, a sort of commercial aristocracy in Quebec and Montreal, in days when nearly everybody was more or less directly interested in the fur-trade. To behold the North-west Company in all its state and grandeur, it wa:^ necessary to witness an annual gathering at Fort "William, near what is now called the Unmd Fuiinjc on Lake Sujierior. Here two or three of the leading partners from Montreal proceeded once a year to meet the partners from the various trading places in the wilderness, to discuss the affairs of the Company during the preceding year, and to arrange plans for the future. On these occasions might be seen the change since the unceremonious times of the old French triulers, with their roystering conreiirs tie LoU. Now the aristocratic character of the Briton — or rather the feudal spirit of the North Briton, for the " JIacs " j)redominated — shone out gloriously. Every partner who had charge of an interior post, and had a score of retainers at bis command, felt like the chicltain of a Highland clan, and was almost as important in the eyes of his dependants as in his own. " To him," writes the author of " -Victoria," " a visit to the grand conference at Fort AVilliani was a most inii)ortant event, and ho repaired there as to a meeting of Parliament. The jjartnors from Montreal, however, were the lorils in the ascendant. Coming from the midst of luxurious and ostentatious life, they quite eclipsed their compeers from the woods, whose forms and faces had been battered and hardened by haixl living and hard service, and whose garments and equipments were all the woree for wear. Indeed, the partners from below considered the whole dignify of the Compauv a-^ rejjrcsentod in their own pi;rsons, and conduLted themselves in suitable stylo. They uticended the THK N'Oimi-WKSTIOKS IN S'I'ATK. 155 rivpi'« in throat state like snvoreijjns mnkinyf a progress, or rather like Highland chiefs niivig'niing' tlioiv siihjoot lakes. They were wrapped in rieh furs, their huge canoes fn.'iglileil witli every cunvenience and luxury, and managed l)y Canadian voyageurs, as (ibpilient as Highland clansmen. They carried up with them cooks and hakcrs, together with delicacies of every kind, and ahundancc of choice wines for the hanquet which nttoiulod their great convocation. Happy were they, too, if they could meet with any distinguished stranger — above all, some titled memher of the British nohility — to accompany them on this stately occasion, and grace their high solemnities. Fort William, the scene of this important annual meeting, was a considerable village on the banks of Lake Superior. Here, in an immense wooden building, was the great council-hall, as also the banqueting-chamher, decorated with Indian arms and accoutrements, and the trophies of the fur-trade. The house swarmed at this time with traders and voyageurs from Montreal hound to the interior posts, and some from the interior posts bound to Montreal. The councils were held in great state ; for every member felt as if sitting in Parliament, and every retainer and dependant looked up to the assemblage with awe as to the House of Ijords. There was a vast deal of solemn deliberation and hard Scottish reasoning, with an occasional swell of pompous declamation. These grave and weighty councils were alternated by huge feasts and revels, like some of the old feasts described in Highland casdes. The tables in the great bancjucting-room groaned under the weight of giime of all kinils — of venisuu from the woods '.'ud (isli from the lakes, with hunter's dolieaeics, sncli as bnffaloes' tongues and beavers' tails, and various luxuries from Montreal, all serveil u]) by oxi)eriene('d cooks brought for the purpose. There was no stint of generous wine, for it was' a hard-drinking period — a time of loyal toasts and Bacchanalian song i.nd brimming bumpers. AVliile the chiefs thus revelled in the hall, and made the rafters resound with bursts of loyalty aii;l old Scottish songs, chanted in voices cracked and sharpened by the Northern blasts, their meirinicnt was echoed and prolonged by a mongrel legion of retainers — Canadian voyageurs, half-breed Indian hunters, and vagabond hangers-on — who feasted sumptuously without, on the crinnbs from their table, and made the welkin ring with old Fi'cncli ditties, mingled with Indian yelps and veilings." " One or two partne"s," it is added, " recently from the interior posts, would occasionally make their ap|iearanec 'u New York in the course of a tour of pleasure or curiosity. Ou these occa.^ions there was always a degree of magnificence of the purse about them, and a ]ieculiar propensity to expenditure at the goldsmiths' and jewellers' for rings, iliains, brooches, necklaces, jewelled watches, and other rich trinkets, partly for their own wear, ]iartly for presents to their female acquaintances — a gorgeous prodigality, such as was often noticed in former times in West Ini'lan planters and Eastern nabobs flush with the spoils of Oriental conquest." The Hudson's Bay Com])any had only confiued their operations within the limit of lliis original grant, and now prosecuted their trade with very great vigour. But llio " Nor'-westers " jnished away north and west until they had reached the Rocky ^Inunfains, and even 1)eyond, on to the waters of Peace River. No doubt the Hudson's Bay Couipaiiy timk alarm at these new rivii's, but it is more than probable (hat .-hey 1 •,(: TIIK ('(H'XTHIKS OF THE WOTtT.P would liiivc Ix'Oii iiiKiiipo-fd liiul not an accident jiisl then occurred which changed llie aspect of att'airs. Lord Selkiric, an enerfrotic Scottish nohleman, havinjf attempted to cstidilish a colony on Red River (ai'terwards the nucleus of the Caniidian Province of .Maiiitohn, was violently opjiosed liy the North-west Fur ("oinjiany, who found the ]ihiins on wliieh he proposed to settle liis colonists useful for hutl'alo-hunting and i>reparing the fi'reat '■upplies of "peniniiean" (ground dried meat and tallow), wliich formed (he travelling food of tlieir fur ])arties. This strongly incensed the Earl against the New Com])any, and to euahle him tlie ln'tter to punish them he went homo and tiouglit so large a nuinher of Hudson's Bay shares as tr) (il)tain a conf rolling voice in (he direction of that corporation. This inlluenee he now exerted against flic llouiishiiig and ohnoxious North-west Comjiany. ilousing up the "Hudson JJnys " from their indolence, a vigorous competition commencpl, and continued for some years. Wherever the North-westers established a fort their opponents liuill another in close ])roximity. Every metliod which artilice and fraud could suggest, or even oj)en violeiu'e comjmss, was adopted hy them to outwit each other, or to obtain the furs of the Indians. At lirst friendly, when trade did not intervene, they had no mercy when the interests of their rival Companies were concerned. Forts were taki'ii and l)urut, the ollicers in charge and the servants imjirisoned and half starved, and sometimes even obliged by famine to surrender; tlie furs on the way to the rende/A'ous were intercepted and apjirojiriated, and the wh(de trade turned into a furious conflict. The Governor-General of Canada sent out warrants and jiroclamations in vain ; these were c<jually treated with the most sovereign contem])t in a land where "the kings's writ runneth not," nor had he any power to control the refractory fur-traders. Things went on in this fashion until they culminated, in 1S1(!, in a battle, in which seventeen men and three ofiieers of the Hudson's Hay Company, including Governor Semple, were killed. This was perhaps the most serious casualty which the rivalry occa- sioned, but still it did not abate the lighting. Now all parley was at an end, and the password was "war to the knife." Ofliccrs and men were absolutely engaged by cither Companv for little other jmrpose than iigliting; and though ostensibly occupied in the fur-trade, their chief recommendatiovi for the posts they held was their pugnacity. These stories form jiart of the stock-in-trade of a Hudson's IJay host's repertoire to this day. This could not go on very long; and accordingly, in 18^1, both Companies began to see the folly of their proceedings. The trade was ruined. The Indians were demoralised by " tire-water." The prices given for the furs were out of all proi)ortion to tlioir value, and nobody was benelited unless it wore a bellicose clerk, or othei' emphtijc, who had distinguished himself in this guerilla kind of commerce. Tiie result was that the two Comjianies coalesced under certain stipidalinns, Parliament granting them some additional privileges which it would be out of the province of these chapters to describe, Tin: Cri.MiNATio.v, Hkcmm;, and Pam. oi tiik (Ikkat Ww TiiAnKiis. Tlie new organisation retained tlie name of (he lluilson's Ray Company, an<l under this title it continuel (o jirospcr until its trading jiosts extended right across British America, and even within the limits of the I'nifed States, to (he very shcrcs of 158 THK COT'NTRIES OF TTTE WORLO. the Pacific, wlicvp, indcrd, now lis cliicf cstiiMislimonfs nro situated. By-and-by, as tlio Company spread its win^s, and orossod llio Rocky Mountains into Oropon, wlicro its traders liad no real rifjlit, tliov were annoyed liy less jiowerl'iil liitl more irrilatih!^ opposition. I'lvery Western liaekwoodsman "wont into" fur-lnulinu^ on a small scale, and "calculated to do a right smart chance of a trade." IJiit he reckoni'd without Iiis host, or, rather, his next door neiglihour oecupyinjj the picketed fort on Ihe prairie. No sooner did Angus JI'Tavish or Dugald M'Donald, the Hudson's Bay traders, hear that I'^phraim ]']. Goliath was ahout to go up the Cohimhia or Willamette llivcr on a trading expedition, than he would start oil' ahead with a plenteous supply of goods. Intimately acquainted with the country and the people, the legitimate trader would soon make raj)id progress. From their mat or board lodges on the banks the sleepy Indians would crawl down to the water's edge and buy powder, shot, and vermilion to paint their squaws and their own dusky checks, and blankets to cover their nakedness, offering tlio Hudson's Bay trader the usual furs in exchange. Now began the trader's policy. Either ho refused any pay at all, or gave them the goods at a ridiculous loss to himself — all the time drumming in their cars that " we are your good friends, not like those miserable Boston men;"* and loft amid the plaudits of the Indians to repeat the same game olsewherOi Well ho knew that the Indian, having once obtained what ho wanted, would not take the trouble to come down to the water's edge when Ephraim E. Goliath's canoe load of " notions " made its appearance ; or they would want them at a price which it was out of the power of the small capitalist to agree to. The Hudson's Bay Company could iiffonl to lose on one trip, knowing that they recoup themselves on the next. Tiio petty trader was, however, ruined, and ceased in futui'o to be an opponent in the field. In regions where they had the exclusive right of trade, thoy could invoke the strong arm of the law — in the shape of force; but that, in other regions, was a rather dangerous card to play. In British Columbia, for instance, their exclusive right, licence, or lease to trade expired in 1S59, when that country was constituted a British colony. In the settled parts the Company had to stand much competition. But in the Northern districts they had, and have to this day, notwithstanding that it is a province of Canada, virtually the monopoly of the fur-trade, no one, as yet, finding it to their profit to oppose them. They have their forts — such as they are — their organisation, their established routine, and intim.ate knowledge of the Indians, and can, therefore, beat in open competition any interlopers. Here they -would either attempt the old Oregon trick of underselling the trader, or, what is much easier, and nearly as cheap, show the Indians that it is to their profit to deal with no outside trader. They know every Indian in their "district" by head-mark, and soon hoar who has been tempted by the big price of the "fur-traders" to sell a fur last summer, .ind a bl.ick mark is ]iut against his name in their " trading lists." For long, it may bo, the offender heai's nothing al)out it. Regularly ho p.ays his visit to the Hudson's B.ay fort, laden with furs. Then ho is a welcome visitor, .and departs * On tho Nnrlh Pncifio roast Iho Imliims call all Amovioans " Tioston mm," most of Iho onilior tradorn .being from Pioston. On the otliir hand, tli(' EnRlish aro calloil " King Cioorgo men," most of tho discovcrius of (,'uok ami Vancouvd- lii.ing in Guurgu III.'s nign. Tiir; nKcAY of the "Hudson iuys." 150 with tliu customary iu'wciit. Bui (Hii; inil'oi'tuiiiito wiiilci' ill-luck Ijcfiills tlio liajilcss liiiiitoi', line!, hull' starved uud shivui'iiijf, ho crot'iw iij) to llio iludsuii'ij JJuy I'ort to bug ti'L'dit for 11 low pouiuls ol' jxjwdor and shotj a coiiplu ol: beavur-traps, and a bhiukot. Tlicii, ho hoars ol! his old 'oH'ouoo, and is nut over-politoly told " to yo to the man ho tradod that black fox's skin to throe years bel'uro — In: will bo sure to yivo him credit/' On the whole, the Indian becomes couvincod that, after all, it is better to trade with the Old Hudson's Hay Company. Their forts are always to be found. AVhon he is "hard up," he can yet credit; and when too old to hunt, ho will not be allowed to starve, il' he be known as a former yuod hunter and faithful customer of the Company. At other times the Comi)any adopted a course which was not so pleasiny to its eiiiijliij/cK, namely, buyiny up a powerful rival. I know of an instance where, many years ago, this plan had to bo adoj)tod. A smart youny skij)por from Boston came out to the North-west coast in a spankiiiy now briy, laden with every kind of Yankee " notion," and pursued his trade with such spirit tluit he was ruininy the Company completely. With a sorry heart, they bought his ship Imm him at a high (iyure, and had no sooner done so than they recollected that they would have to buy him too, otherwise he would have gone back, provided another briy, and adopted the same course ayain. So, with a very wry face, they bought up the New Englander, and made him a chief trader in the Company at once ; and there he is still, for all I know to the contrary, one of the hiyhost diynitaries of the Company, and, what is curious, one of the most intense Britons in its service. 1 believe ho stands alone as on Amoricau converted to an Enylishnuui — we have not a few instances of the reverse 1 I'or long' there were evident signs of decay in the Old Company, and its best friends often Wondered how it could have stood so lony, with its oriyinally rather crazy constitution continually battliny with Parliamentary commissions and iwjuiries. Ayain and again it was " sat on " in St. Stephen's, but its friftids i)ullod it through. Then it got into a lawsuit with the United States, about recomponse for infringements on the rights secured to them by that treaty; but the Scotch factors were too much even' for the Philadelphia lawyers, and the Treasury at Washington had to contribute to the one in Gracechurch Street, London. The old shareholders, with the intuitive shrewdness of old times, saw the troubles ahead, and, in lS(i3, to the horror of the commercial world, which was shocked — albeit that is not a weakness of Capol Court — at their impropriety, so widely diileront from the traditions of the Conipau}-, were persuaded to sell out for a high figure to a New Comjjany of Proprietors. I was " in the country " at the time, and well remember the consternation excited by this unseemly feat of the venerable Corporation. The Company's shares were quoted on the Stock Exchange, and, worst of all, for the first time for two hundred years, at a discount! The New Comi)auy began, like the ])roverbial broom, to sweep clean. Thoy proposed many improvements, and discussed tlio tpiestion of making a railroad through their territories. They talked of introducing colonists, and of many otlier tilings which wiser heads had lony before proved to bo incompatible witli the fur-trade. But with experience came reilection, uud tlien began the Dominion of Canada, whicli, with tliat earth-hunger which is peculiar *:o new and growing countries, cast envious eyes on the Hudson's Bay lands. They even llnvatiMU'd to contest the charlor. and linvo Canada from Maine to the Arctic Ocean, They Wouid liave them without paying for thoia cither. They would go to law and win likewise. leu THE COUNTRIES (IK TlIK \V((UI,I). Meantime saf,'er men than the " Ciinadian ministry" intervened, and pcrsuiuled (ho Dominion to i)ay the Company for their rif,'iits, real or suiiposcd, and tiic (.'onipany to jiart with them. To this they a{,'ree(l, and sold tiieir birth rif-iit t'nr liie very sulistantial mo.s of pottage represented by i:j()O,O()0. And so, in the words of (lie Lor<l President as lie dosed the last Seottishl'arliament, eamo " the end of an old, old sonj,'." The " llouourable Comiiany VIEW OP THE " ilATTLE.sNAKE (aiAI)E," I'AVILLOK MOIXTAIN, BRITISH tOLLMlllA ; AUITIUE .NEAKH 1,UUU lEI.T. of Merchant Advcntm-ors trading; nnto Hudson's Hay," and elsewhere, from that day ceased to have any of their old privilejj;'es, und with the exception of a mile aronnd each of their forts, they ceased to be lords of the soil. As a merchant Coni]iany they still exist, but as a proprietary jrovernment they will no longer l)0 known : the world is too advanced for monopolies. Nevertheless, the Hudson's Bay Adventurers did good service in their day and generation. They preserved peace among the Indian tribes, when in the rest of America there was continual war between the white man and the red. They no doubt impovervshed the Indian in .some small degree by tempting him to kill off the fur animals TIIK IlfPSOXS HAY f'liMI'ANY. 101 ■n?r: i-npiiily tlian Xatuiv iiicrcu^'il ihrin. Hut, on tlw otlici- Imiid, the I'lir- wciv of littl ' use to tlic ludiiiii alt T he liinl <Intlicil liimscir, ami tlie trailer^ Miiiplii'il liim with arlivle? of 'nlinitc'lv iimre value to the hunter, which lie eouij I>y no pussiMlity have ohtaiiu-J for THE Sl'iaCE IIU Ul NOKrU-Wtsl- AMEKKA. ^.lliM j;i'li:iMu' ) himself, iloreovor, deer, moofso, and elk fwapiti) skins were not traded — l)eing too hea\7,' to transport — and therefore the main source of the Indian's food was not affected hv the fur- trade. The best proof of this is, that in a district wliere the Company had lniiir had a tradir.c^ fort, I bought from the Indians a deer, cauyht in a ]>itfa]I, for one ball and a charLfC oi: powder, and another one for a few leaves of tobacco. Again, in districts where deer were 21 102 THE fOT'NTmF.a OF TIIK WORLD. not abiuiJnnt, gnlmnii wen- so iiloiitiful tlint, n» nt Fort lliii)urt, llio trndors iniinnvrd the fort ^'iii'deii!! with tliciu. Tlic Coinpiiiiy, owiiif,' to tlicir iiioiU)|H)ly, liiul nil iiifcrost in not elciiriii^' a cniiiitry iiltiifjatlier of t'nr iiiiiiimls, and, as a matter of fact, tlii'v iicriodically "laid over" certain districts, for so many years, from liein^j liiint(}<l. Now, no jirivatc traders would have done tliis. Uesiiles, a iiriviiti- trader, wherever he dares in the faeo of the law, uses spirits as an article of traile, which the Company vidiintarily, alter the Xortli-Wcst eompetitioii ceased, abandoned as an article of tralUe, though tlify could ;^ot twice the amount of furs at half the price hy f,'iviii<f rum for them. Moreover, tlio ("oiiipaiiy used to jjivo a proportionately hif^her price for inferior furs, such as musk- rats, merely in ordo» to i)revent the Indians from being' teini)ted to exterminate the more valuable animals. When the veteran hunter grew aged — be he "Dig'ger" (p. 173) or " f'hippeway," the lowest or the hijjhest of hii; race — his old patrons took care of him ; and the best answer which can bo given to those who have painted the Company's rule in the worst colours is the fact that to this day the Indians, to a man, prefer rather to trade with the Company than any other traders, and that even among the worst tribes an odicor in their employ is alinipst as safe as within the pickets of his fort. Rarely have the Company been at war with the Indians, tluaigh one or two of their forts have been taken; but this was invariably in the country of the hostile Indians; and if any of the otiicers have been killed, it was not owing to a feud with the Company, but merely to some private cpiarrel or accident; whereas the American Fnr Company, immediately outside their borders, are perpetually at feud with the neighbouring Indians. They were, moreover, if the keenest of merchants, the most hospitable of hosts, and the many scientitle expeditions which passed through their territories could never have done their work save for the much-abused "Company's" aid. Therefore, we are justitied, from these and other fa<'ts — which might be (juoted, were not "the countries of the world" wider than the Hudson's Jbiy territories — in asserting that the rule of the great Fur Company was, on the wlnde, benelicial to North America, as well as to the Indian tribes, and that it did honour to the British name. Those who remember the old times cannot but feel some regret at the decease of the great corporation; and as the writer of these lines passes their warehouses in (iracechiirch Street, be cannot help rcixtaling to-day what he wrote j'cars ago of the Comj)any in a sketch, the chief ]iassages of whicb are reproduced here, the words of Charles Lamb'.s lament over the South Sea Company : — " This was once a house of trade, a centre of busy interest. The throng of merchants was here, the quick pulse of gain; and here the forms of business are still kc]it up. tlifnigh the soul be long since lied." TUK Kflt 'IKADK \u CIlAl'TKli VIII. The FfR Countihes: The Tun Tuadi: am) tiii; Frn TitADEns. l.\ tlie year Is7<l ho who writes these lines wrote a brief luirrntivo of the rise, ileLliiie, ami fall of the gnat Fur Company. As tlie aceount is quite ibrjjotten, nppeariiijj as it did as an ephemeral niaf^azine, \w intended to reproduce some of its passages in this work, but believed that much of it must be long ago obsolete. In Europe there have been wars anil revolutions — kings have been put up and kings have l)een pulled down. In America events move even still more rapidly. lie found, however, that of all things the fur-traders, lar out of tlie limits of cultivateil lands, stood still. Consulting a famous factor of the dead monopoly, he was assured that tiio affairs of the fur-traders are, like the laws of the Medes and Persians, unchangeable. One goeth and another cometh, but their business is the same. A fur may be worth more one year, and less the other, but in the end it is the same; it is only a matter of a few shillings. It is trapped in the same way, it is traded after the same fashion, it is sent out of tlu' country and sold in London with the same formalities. When the fur animals cease to exist then will also the fur-traders. Meantime, therefore, what was true some years ago may be true yet, and so without fearing that I mislead my readers, I may perhaps draw upon my notes of 1*5 70 for a description of those main features of the fur-traders, fur-trade, and fur-trappers of the present day. Fur TitADiNo. A typical " fort " of the Hudson's Bay Company was not at best a very lively sort of affair, though sometimes, built on a commanding situation at the bend of some beautiful river, and backed by wave after wave of dark pine forest, it was not unpicturesque in appear- ance. Fancy a parallelogram of greater or less extent enclosed by a picket twenty-five or thirty feet in height, composcnl of upright trunks of trees, placed in a trench and fastened along the top by a rail, and you have the enclosure. At each corner was a strong bastion built of squared logs, and pierced for guns which could sweep every side of the fort. Inside this picket was a gallery running right round the enclosure, just high enough for a man's head to be level with the top of the fence. At intervals all along the side of the picket were loopholes for musketry, and over the gateway was another bastion, from which shot could bo ix)ured on any party attemjjting to carry the gate. Altogether, though perfectly incapable of resisting a ten-pouuder for u couple of hours, it was strong enougii to resist almost any force that the Indians could bring against it. Inside this enclosure were the storehouses, houses of the emploiji», wells, and sometimes a good garden.* All night long a watchman would pass round this gallery crying out at intervals, with a quid of tobacco in his cheek, the hours and state of the weather. * Sec thr cnsnivinfrs in Stilton ami C'lioadle'a "North- West Piiasage by Land," and in •• TUl- Kacea of >I;inkiud," Vtl. I., p. 21G. 164 THE COT-NTl;ir.S OF THE WORLD. Thi^ was a proeaut ion in i:iso of tii-o, and the "callinj^-" was to prevent him from falling asleep fur any length of time. Some of the le<b important and mure distant ontjiosts were only rough T'.tle loo- tiibins in winter — cahins among the snow — svithont picket or other onelosurc, where a "postmaster" resided to sn]ierintcnd the affairs (^f the Company. The winter hut figured on the opposite page might well stand for the portrait of such a humble "post." The mode of trading was peculiar. It was an entire system of barter, a " ni.iOe " -r: "typical" beaver skin lu/ing the standard of trad This was, in fact, the currency of the country. Thus an Indian arriving at one of the Company's posts, with a bundle of furs which he intends to sell, jiroceeds, in the iirst instance, to the trading-room; there the trader separates the fur- into lovs, and after adding them up delivers to the Indian a number of little pieces of wood, indicating the number of "made beavers" to which his hnnt amounts. He is next taken to the store-room, where he linds himself surroi'ndeil by bales of blankets, slop coats, guns, scalping-knives, tomahawks (all made in Birmingham), powder-horns, flints, axes, &e. Each article has a i-ecogniscd value in "made beavers."' A slop coat, for instance, may be worth four beavers, for which the Indian delivers up twelve pieces of wood; for a gun he gives twenty; for a knife two, and so n, until his stock of wooden cash is expended, more especially to the west of the Rocky Mountains. In others, the following is the system in vogue, which I describe in my late friend Mr. J. Koast Lord's words: — "The standard of value throughout the territories of the Company is the skin of the beaver, by which the price of all other furs is rogtdated. Any service rendered or labour executed by Indians is jiaid for in skins, the beaver skin being the unit of coniimtation. To explain this system, let us assume that four licavers are eipiivalent in value to a silver fox skin, two martens to a beaver, twenty musk-rats to a marten, and so .v.. For example's sake, let us suj)pose an Indian wishes to purchase a blanket or a gun from the Hudson's Bay Company. Ue would have to give, say three silver foxs' or twenty beaver skins, or two hundred musk-rats, or other furs, in accordance with the proper relative positions of worth in the tariff. The Company generally issue to the Indians such goods as they need up to a certain amount, when the summer supplies arrive at the posts, these advances to be paid for at the conclusion of the hunting season. In hiring Indians east of tlie Cascade Mountains, whilst occupied in marking the boundary line, our agreement was always to pay them in lieaver skins, say two or three per day, in accordance with the duty rc(piired ; but this agreement did not mean an actual jiaymeut in real ^kins — a matter that t ■ us would have bee" impossible — but that we were to give liu' Indians an order on tlie nearest trading pist of tlie Hudson's Bay Company to supjily him with any goods he m'ght select, uji to the value of the beaver skins specilicd.* This wa> writtcri some years ago, Fort Colville being the ]iarticular fort which the writer had in his mind's eye, and the spread of eivilisatitin, and conse<piently of dollars, has slightly altereil the system of trading on the Pacific slopes. But essentially the ideas are the same as then. At every post, or at least at every district, there is a tariff established which varies little year by year. 'J'he Indian cannot understand the varying price of furs, and, accordingly, the Company takes * "At HcmK' in tli< AViUemi sc," ji. ■)". This work abounds in interesting purticuliirs ngiuJinf? lit" in llio fur lountrit's I 165 THE COrXTKIES (IF THE WOKLD. the worth dC tliis (.•luuig'o, und, uiik'ss the fall be of long ciiiitiiiuiiuce, gives the same price for the furs a^ I'lmnerly, when it wiis hiyli, or vice rc/'-v,/. Therefore, as IJr. l(ae jioiuted out to the Select C(jiuinittee of the ]Iouse of Coiiiinons, the Company loses on some t'nrs, but it compensates itself on others.* The Indian need not, however, attempt to beat down the price. The tariff is unchangeable. If he be not pleased, he is at perfect liberty to go to the next sliop; and this, combined with the fact that the Company sells nothing to the Indians which is not of the best quality of its kind, has gone far to gain the confidence of the natives in them over the American traders. At some of the forts the Indian is introduced, while liartering, into a narrow passage, the end ot which faces a window, like the window of a railway i>r theatre ticket-olliec. Here tl noble savage" conducts his negotiations witii the trader. After linishing he is presented with some trilie in addition tn the payment for his furs, and makes room for sume one else. The passagi; is crooked, for the simple reason that experience tells the merchant that the Indian is apt, in a heated bargain, to shoot him from behind ! Tiiio Flu Tu.idehs. The officers of the Company have been el'isseil as follows : — First, the labourer, who is ready to turn his hand to anything: to become a trapper, fisherman, or rough carpenter, at the shortest notice, lie is generally employed in cutting firewood for the consumption of the establishment at which he is stationed, shovelling snow from before the doors, repairing all sorts of damages to all sorts of things ; and, during the summer, in transporting furs and goods between his \m}<.\ and the noare/it depot. He is "ften called a coi)iuieiir. Next in rank is the interpreter. lie is, lor the most part, au intelligent labourer of pretty long standing in the service, who, having picked uj) a smattering of some Indian language, in addition Ui his native Gaelic or Canadian-French, is useful in trading with the natives. After the interj)reter comes the po.stmaster, usually a promoted lalwurer, who, tor good behaviour or valuable services, has l)een ])ut on a footing with the gentlemen of the service, in the same manner that a private soldier in the army is sometimes r/iised to the r.ink of a commissioned officer. Ney.t are the apiirentice-elerks— raw lads, ^\^t\ come out fresh from school, with their mouths agape at the wonders they beholij ]^l Hud.son's Ray. They grow more sensible and sedate as they j)ass throngh the firs^ five year< of their apjirenticeship, when they attain the rank of clerks. The <lerk, afte^ a munber of years of service, )>ecomes a chief trader (or half sharclmlder), and in a few years more he attains t<. the liighw*^ rank in tiie service— that of chief factor. All other officers of the Coni])any, such as MWi^tn* and shiji-captains, equally pass through these grades, and »ake relative rank, thoii^, of MAvtm, they are not appi'iit ice-clerks a( any time. Frecjuently nowadays this initiatory training is also disjiensed wi'.'i in the case of the onlinary mercantile officers. The average salariiM of tlie clerks vary from 120 to tlOO, with board, and clothing at a littii> o\er ('out pn<e; wliili' tli^ emolunicrifs of the higher ofliOPrs vflry accurding to the '(i\ ideTid. They are ahnfisl invariably Scotchmen, while the labiiurors arc Orkney men, French-Canadians, aii<J NKrvvct^ians. Indeed, for a long time, 110 yeung man in Orkney liad niiioh clumee of his matriiiKMiial i)ro]K)sals being favourably • Report of Select C'ouuiu.tit. on tlu lliulsun'a Bay Ci>snjKiA>- (1867), j). 3G. 'J'lIK I'L'I! TKADEriS. 107 received until he bad sluwn liis manhood by havint,' made a voynj^o to the "Xor'-wast." Not so many young nioii ol' good family now enter tlio sei'viee as t'oniiei'ly, the prospects of jiromotion not being so great, and wlicn promotion does eonio the imjtits are k^ss than tiiey used to be. Tlie hiliourers are ]iaid miserably — oidy about 11 or ■'Jds. per month — but still the {"omjiany have no great dillieidty in obtaining their eom;)leinent cil' men. AVinter is dull enough in these snow-choked forts. The furs have to be sorted, looked to continually, and j)aeked. Then the olfieer occupies his leisure time in reading wltat books he has, telling interminable >tories, sleeping, hunting, or in pre))aring specimens of natural history, in the study of which not a few have attained eminence. I have heard of a fort where the inmates were so hard pressed by t'lnnii that, as my informant told mc, " they absolutely began to write commentaries on the (iospel of Ezekiel ! " A^ the s]iring advances the olliecr repairs the fort, and gets the furs out to a rendezvous, where the fii ■'tionary in charge of the "brigade" nu'cts him and others, and delivers over his ■I. ires. The rivers are the chief highways in these roadless lands. Often then' is immense troulile before the furs can be brought to the coast. The rivers maybe so shallow that they have in plaei^s to bo deciieni'd for the passage of the canoes, and sometimes the winter snow overtakes the convoy and his bales before he can rea<-li the ren(le/vou.s. Cases have been known, not only in whidi the horses had to lie kille<l, but in wliich even tiie hair had to Im; singed off the furs, to broil the skin for food. The furs are now taken down to Mctoria or Montreal, sprinkled wuli I'um, jiacked in old rum casks, or in moth-tight rooms, and despatched by <juick-sailing doulile-manned sliijis to Englaiul. To the annual sales come the fiu'-dealers from every ])art — Russians, Hnlgarians, I'oles, (Jreeks, Jews, and Gentiles of all nations, vracechurch .Street, London, is then a study for the ethnologist. The dividend is declared by the "Governor, Deputy-Governor, and Committoe," who preside ovjr tlie sharchidders in London ; and the ])rogramme for the following year settled on. And so the routine of the great Fur Company jiroeeeds. Living far in the outer world, these exiles derive their notions of the ways of the rest of mankind, either from books — often of rather an ancient date — from a raw, newly- arrived clerk, to whom Kirkwall or ln''oruess were cities, from a rare visit to a frontier town, or from some semi-civilised traveller, naturalist, or ^jiortsuian, who may lind his way, after long journeyings, to the traders' bepieketed fort. SiiiK'times a lio;iry old factor Would go to Montreal, or even to London and Paris, and come back with a w.mdrous di^jiiay of nickuacks, peculiar photographs, and the midispnted jirivilcge to talk like Sir Oracli', and to shoot with the long-bow for the remainder of his natural life. They londuct — or ilid conduct — their business much as business was carried t<ii in Charles II.'- reiyn ; and lbc\ talked of the world as it was when they left it raw lads, jicrhais forty or uioro years l)efore. nuclling \v:is still sn]iposed to be the " correct thing among gentlemen," and it was thouolit (jiiile indispensable to a " gentlenan's honour to call out anc^tiier geutleman,' with wiiom tlie challiiioer had lised on tciins of friendship for many years, and must, perforce, slmidd the liuliet not do its wicked work, therefore live in enniilv a "'ood many more yet. Many of the Comjiany's ollicers are. however, jiolitu and iven |iulis!it'd gentli'Uien. Our \ knew who was a good classical si-iiolar, and more familiar with Tnnso, in- THE COrNTiilKS f)F TIIK WOIU.ll. l)nMti>, aucl Alficri tli;in any ono uli.^in I have,' met siiico tliut dafo. With tlicir wild !-iirroiindi:iifs these pooplo sudU liecanie lialf cipiii'tier, hall' .savag'O ; tho polite s^ide of their exi~ti'ii(o I'lily to lie uncovered when — rare event — a str:ui;;er eanie anuiiiyst them. Some of tiie (illieers were men of "g'(Mid family," and jiroud of their <jcntle blood and long- desciMit ; and all the more so that they were .Seotehinen, and had a forty-linked eoiisinship amoni,"- Ilig'hland lairds and cateraiH. Not hss ])roud ^^ere they of their eonneetion with //'■ Company. They never looked ujwn lliemselvcs iii tiie lii'-ht of mere eleiks of a il U AXIMM.S ; THE WuLVEUIXE, OU OI.ITTOK. (Glllo Iksous.) I'ommoreial corporation, but talked most cnntemptiiously of " fpiill-drivers " and "eonnfer- jiimjiers'' irenerally. Xo Government derk was prouder of his apjiointment, nn youny Ka>t Indian "writer" in tlie palmy days i.f Jnhn Company more exultant over his, tiian wor.' tlie young elerks in tho !,n'eat Fur Com))any's employ. And with reason ti.o ; for manv of them, witiiin a year or two of their entrance on iluty, were (.nivernint;- a disirict .i^ iur^e as Seotlaml, (liiuly pi'opled, no doulit, hut with nneheeked and almost irres]ionsiljle power, ovi.T the destiny r)f the few hundred savau'es who trapiied turs for his masters. T.'leii from l.eine; merely in receipt of a salary, they rose to he " traders" anil " factors." When ihey were " i>artners " in the ('omjiany, they shared in its |)i'olits and had in tlic'r turn the •Jiakin* ;iTid luun.iidiio- nf factors and «»iiief fa«jtors : the In'adship of a dejiartmeni w;;5 Iiardly t>ryrud their rwieh, and they mio-ht evei\ attain the summit of al! Immau grroatness, anj become '' fabvjrnor-Oeiieral of Kup»rt's Land." 170 THK COrXTItlES OF TllK WUKLU. M liL'ii tliL- yor.iiy: uli'rk went out to "tlie countrv," a wife iis a cumpagnon tie vot/age was out of the (juestion ; and most freijuently, when lie was aljle to many, like the other pioneers of our dciiendencies, he was i'ar distant from tlie women of his own race, or from civilisation of any sort. Accordingly, it was common among the servants of the great Fur Companies to take u diiughtcr of the land to wile, not only because lew white women cared to take up tlieir lot with the rovers of the wide fur countries, but that it was also a matter of policy to ingratiate themselves with the powerful Indian tribes among whom they were thrown. So sons and daughters were born to the -Macs and Pierres, and the blood of Indian warriors mingled with that of "iieiland lairds " and French boiu'geois, the traders, the trappers, and the coj/iigearx of the great Fur Company. Between the husbands and wives there could, of course, be little sympathy. The uncivilised wife clung to her customs and her people, while the husband treated her not as an eijual but an inferior. However, in course of time, as a fort gr.'w older, there arose up around it a number of half-breed girls tolerably well educated, not unintelligent, and no way delicient in beauty. Add to this a handsome ligure, and that peculiar sweetness and nuivclc peculiar to the half-breed, and it is not to be wondered at that she should soon charm the young ollieor out of the recollection of the fair-haired Scottish lasses \v^ had left in the Glen of Tramowhusky. Moreover, when it is considered (and you may be sure Donald ^I'Donald, the '"pushing" young clerk, was not at all delicient in rcHection that way) that these young ladies were often the daughters of the great factors and other oillcers of the Company, the wedding of them can scarcely be calletl an act of giwit self-denial. The old factor would not be apt to forget his son- in-luw when the next batdi of chief traders was to be made, and, moreover, dying often possessed of an abundance of filthy lucre, would render his daughter's husband independent of the Company. It used to be a tradition that to marry a " white " woman and bo an Fnglish- man meant ruin to a youthful eiuplaye of the great fur-traders. Most of these savage-mated men otlia'ated their children tolerably well, and though tlie Indian clings to them keenly, yet very often they turn out very well. Those who have taken unto thi'ui "some savage woman" do not often return with their aboriginal sjwuse anil her dusky brood to Britain, but remain in the country. In British ('nlMiiibia, Manitoba (Red River Territory), the \'ailey of the Willamette, in Oregon, and iitlier localities, many of the Company's otReers and servants have settled down as farmers. Indeed, there are certain localities in the^^ provinces and states where the population is all of that type. Whether their descendanli^ will be for good or evil to the West is a ])roblem, though many will not hesitate to decide that it will be for- evil. I cannot bring myself to so sweeping a conclusion, lor as yet the experiment has not got a fair triid. KJucatiim and association with a superior race will do much for the next generation. Vacillation and uant of strength of mind seem the weak points in the half-breeds' characters. The girls are sometimes no better than they should be, and the boys often drunken and disreputable, freiiuently combining in their person the bad qualities of both races. However, some have been in the local legislatures, and others have held commissions in the army, although, jierhaps, neither otiice will afford a striking proof of their mdrality. Among my accpiaintancoB are embracetl one or two tolerably honest lawysro and several doctors — not more deadly than ordinary, but wh"se dM.O<y countenances THE FOOD OF THE FUU COUNTRIES. 171 tell tbat if they traced their ancestry back to their grandfathers it would assuredly land them in a wigwam ! The disciiiiine maintained in *'ie i'orts and travelling-parties of the Company, though free and easy, was yet within certaii limits sever*, and was rarely rebelled against. It wai often a wonder to me how a party o^ grey-haired roi/ai/mirn would obey a more boy, against whom they co\ild have rebelled with in p\niity. The reason' of this was probably owing to the docile character of the French-Canadian and Orkney men, and to the traditional (•■■</ir!l ill' riii-/i'< of the ('ompany. I only know of one instance of downright rebellion, and tiiat was in u very remote tort on tlie Stekin River, in Alaska. Incensed bevdud all endurance at the drunken madness of the olHcer in charge — a half-l)reed — one of tiie men, a French- Ciinadian, shot the latter. Few offences of a serious nature are, however, ever cominitt<'d in the fur countries — at all events, we hear little about them. They were either condoned, nr suniniarily jmnished by the Company, without coming before any court. If an Indian murdered one of the Company's servants, he was pursued, captui-ed, and hanged ; if not at the moment, at another time, though it might be years afterwards. The French-Canadian, i)uz/led l)y tlie endless " Maes," usually designated his ofiicers by nicknames. Thus, he knew ils'ieur Mackenzie le rouge, M. Mackenzie le blanc, M. Mackenzie le Loi-f/tif, M. Mackenzie le picot^, M. M'Donald le ijrimde, M. M'Donakl le jmire, M. M'Donald le hra^-cruvhe, and so on, according to some distinguishing mark or personal pecuiiarity. He was hai-d worked, and poorly paid, but yet thoroughly believed in /" CmiiiJiii/ine, and looked \ii)on it in the light of little better than treason if you ventured to doubt whether " the Company " was an independent jMswer, of which Great Britain was only a iwwerl'ul ally, and America the natural enemy! A marked distinction was kept up between " men " and " gentlemen " in all records of the Comi)any. All alx)ve and including the rank of clerk were ijenllemeii, all beneath were only wen. The Food of the Fin Covntuies. The genflemen in the forts all dined together; if it wore a largo fort, in the "hall," but from this meal their wives were excluded. The fare on those occasions was, in the interior forts, often poor enough, and had a tendency to run upon one particular article. At one season it was all wapiti, at another all beaver, and at a third buffalo. If beaver were in — it was beaver boiled, beaver smoked, beaver roasted, and bcaver-tail. If salmon were running in the river, the fort table had salmon until we wi.-ihed for a salt herring. At some of the forts on the borders of the great prairies east of the Rocky Miiuntains the delicate prong-iiorned antelope (Plate VI.) appeared occasionally in the bill of fare. Sometimes there wore mighty hunters in the fort. Then it was that the grizzly was slain, or in the dull winter davs the roaming brown bear would be rooted out of its hyber- nation, valiantly slain, and borne back to the fort in ffiumph, the resinous pine torch lighting the luinl:ers and the p(U'tcrs through the gloomy forest at the waning of the day. Such a scene is portrayed in our cut on p. 181. At some of the far Northern interior forts, where the furs were only taken once in every two years, and the "outfit " once in the same interval, the officers' supply had to be limited enough. At Fort there prevailed a tradition that the "outfit" for the personal needs of the unfortunate wight iu 17'Z TlIK COl'N'l'UIKS OK TIIK WOULll. clmi'<"'e used to be ten pounds of powder, tifty pounds of lead, and a iwund of lishiug-tatkle. But New Caledonia (or what is now the northern portion of British Columbia) was the it'/e tioir of unfortunate clerks, and to that rejjiou were banished all who had offended the powers that wei'c at Fort A'ietoria or Vancouver. At the great dep6ts ou the coast the chief officers dined in suini)tuous style, with no lack of old Hudson's Buy [tort, kept many years in the Company's cellars in London before it mode the sea voya<>:e to the North I'acilie, while in others the dietio necessities were so incapable of beiuff varied that to keei) up table discipline the otlieers fed on red salmon and the men on white — the one, in other words, on f^ood lish, the 'other on bad; though both were e(|ualiy cheap to the Company. In fact, it was a favourite remark with the old factors at N'ictoria — when descanting (tn the vices and extravagances of the new comers, whom the gold mines had attracted to " the country," compared with their model men, the '• old settlers," and the Hudson's Bay roi/iii/fiirii — to remark, witli a cnunt-Miance expressing a fear of the decay of the constitution, "that eommnn working-men absolutely eat red salmon ! " When travelling, " pemmican," or tallow mixed with pounded dry buffalo meat, and run into skin sacks — and now so familiar to any readers of Arctic voyages — was the favourite food, broad was often never tasted for years ; and though, in times of scarcity, they were often hard pressed, yet, when provisions were abundant, the men were well fed, and indeed were merry considering their hard work. In addition to a suit of clothes, generally consisting of a blue cloth "capot" (or one made out of a blanket), leather trousers, made after the Indian fashion by his wife, a striped cotton shirt, and a fur cap, with a game belt of variegated worsted, or even netted silk, and often a gorgeous "lire bag" for hdlding pij)e, tobacco, &c., and a carrot of tobacco per aiuuiii/, the Comjiany used to allow each man j/er diem, eight jwunds of solid meat of buffalo, venison, horse, &('., and ten pounds if there was bone in it. In the autunni months, in lien of meat, each man would receive two large geese, a few ducks, and fish was supplied in like proportion. Sometimes in wet weather, or in uuiking long " portage," there would be served out a glass of rum ; but though both officers and men were rather addicted to a carouse when they could compass it, yet generally they had perforce to be very temperate. I have befo 'c me a note of the daily cousumj)ti<)U of drieil buffalo meat at Fort PJdmonton, in the buft'alo country on the Saskatchewan I'hiin. At the date of the statement (February i, 18oS), there were living at that j)ost twenty-seven men, nineteen women, and forty-eight children, in all ninety-four ]H(rsons ; and to this family the officer in charge daily distributed no less than 10(i lbs. of meat! However, to prevent astonishment at this enormous butcher's bill, it ought to be mentioned that this was their exclusive food — no bread, potatoes, or other vegetables being, in general, eaten with it. At New Year each family received a little rum, a few pounds of Hour and " grease," and a beaver, or piece of elk, &c., which was called the " regale." On New Year's morning they called upon the officer in charge of the fort to wish him the com]ilinu;nts nf the season, when (hey were treated to sweet cakes and a glass of rum. The day wound up with a ball, and I have j)articularly observed, in the journal which is kept in each fort, that on January 2nd there is this suggestive entry ; " No pnij/er-f (hln niurniii;/." If you listened to the men, there was no evil which Id Qanijhiijnii; was not guilty of conniving at, and their wrongs wera endless. They would tell you, for instance, how, when a man's UiUUKK INDIAN* UV TUK SlKltUA *EVAUA MOLMTAlNd. 171 THE CUUNTltlKS OF TUK WOULD. LMii;.iy:iMnoiit waH iij), li(! c'oultl iR'VLT {^ct out of tlio Cuiiiimiiy ; ho wiw either in debt, or hJo iiccdunts were scattered all over tlie country. GeiieruUy, however, wlieii you bojjfan to iiKjuiro into tlieso wroiiy;s, it would he found tliat most of them were fjroundiess or cxaf,''},'ei'ated. Still, the Conii)any after their own fashion exaeted a very fair return for their money. The PiioKiTS ok tiik Fun Trade. Alnuit the profit H of the Company there has been grave misajjprehension. Certainly at first these were enormous. In tiie hostilities between the Freneh and Fnglish from 1(!S>^ and 1088 they lost Jt,llS,01t, yet in 108 !• a dividend of fifty per cent, was declared, and in lOS!) one of twenty-live per cent. Tiie capture of fortresses by the French at intervals between lOS^ and ltii)7 cost them i!t7,.jO(). Yet, shortly after the pence of I'treeht, they had trebled their capital with a call of only ten per cent, on the shareholders. No wonder that in those days, and for long after, a Hudson Bay share was never in the market. An old gentleman (one of the most celebrated, historically, of all the heroes of fur-trade, now deceased) told me that, when he establishetl Fort Dunvcgan, on Peace lliver, near the Ilocky Mountains, the regular price of a trade musket was Uocky ^fountain sables piled up on each side of it until they were level with the mu/.zlc. The sables were worth in England at least £3 apiece, and the musket cost in all not over £1. The price of a six-shilling blanket was, in like manner, thirteen beavers of the best qualities and twenty of a less excellent descrijjtion. At that time beaver was worth ;i2s. jier lb., and a good beaver would weigh from lib. to IJlb. Gradually the Indians began to know better the price of a musket and of their furs, and to object most decidedly to the one being piled along the sides of the other, which rejwtrt sayeth was lengthened every year by two inches, until the barrel reached colossal dimensions. Finally, a pestilent fellow discovered silk as a substitute for the napping of beaver hats, and from that dates the decline of the Hudson's Bay Company. The Company held by their beaver skins until they saw it was hopeless. This fur has never since rallietl in price. So rapid was the fall that, while in IS-'JO beaver was tls. Cd. per lb., in 1810 it had fallen to 3s. 5d. As beaver was the staple of the fur-trade the profits rapidly decreased. At the present moment beaver is obtained from the Indians at Victoria, Vancouver Island (where there are numbers of fur-traders besides the Hudson's Ba}' Company), for 5s. per lb., and is worth in London about Ss. or Os. Just now the dividends of the Company are very moderate. But, of course, there is the value of their forts and "plant," the land round those forts, which may eventually (as did that on which the town of Victoria is now built) rise immensely in value, and their sailing vessels and steamers, besides the various sums which they have received as indemnity from the United States and the Canadian Governments., and as the ]>ri('e if the town site of Victoria and other places built upon their land. I may add that I lately read in a publication which, if not authoritative, ought, from its enormous circulation to be so, that £20,0(10,000 have been cxtrcted from the profits on the furs bought from the Indians, and that notwithstanding the Company have done nothing for the amelioration of the aborigines, .and have in their territories neither church nor school, i'lie lirst statement may be perfectly correct; the second can only be characterised as untrue. THE I'lU IIUNTKHS. 173 CHAPTKR IX. ThK Fill ('oINTIIIls ; Till'. lIlNlKKS AM) TIIK lIl-NTl\fl (illOI'Mis. WiiKN tlio wrifff ul' tliuse psiyes first lanik'd in Nurtli-Wost America — tVw as a.re tliu years lliat have elapsed since tlien — it was a very dilTcreiit cimntry from wlmt it is now. Tliu old romance of the fur West had not died out of it, jirosuic civilisation had as yet little alTcctcil the j^reater jmrtion of it, and even the new life hud, whut is now fast disap- pcarinfi;, a picturesque aspect of its own, due to the siiddon overturniti},'' of the dreamy past. It was then, us it is still, a rcjjion of dense forests, snowy j)eaks, and rai)id rivers — ii laiiil interesting;' botii to the f,''eojfraphcr and naturalist, as well as to the meri' lover of wild adventure and the hairbreadth escapes connnon to the stirring life of the fur-trader. Was it not in this reyion where thut most redoubtable of travellers — Captain Lemuel (iulliver, of London, whilom of Lilliput and Laputu — located the wondrous land of Hrob- iliii<jna<r, and where the old Greek pilot, Juan do Fuca, wus sent to fortify the strait which now bears his name, in case the Kn<;lish should pass through it from the Atlantic to the Pacitie? It wus the land where Cook won some of his luurels, und where CJcorye N'ancouver ;;rew famous. It wus the scene of Lewis und Clarke's famous adventures; and is better known to the general reader as the country which Washington Irving encircled with a romuntie interest by his "Astoria" und "The Adventures of Captain lionneville." To botanists it hud a wider and even more enduring interest, for here lay the scene of the researches of Archibald ^lenzies, David Douglas, Jeffrey, Uurke, Creyer, and many others, the fruit of v.'hose lubours blooms in our gardens und pinetu ; while the wild tale of their wanderings forms a lit subject for the story that circles round a western camj)-lirc when the days grow short and the nights grow dark and dreary. It is a wide region of gloomy pine forests and green sunny prairies ; of dismal sage brush plains and of rugged mountain ranges; of rivers up which the salmon ascend in countless numbers; and of (piiet plucid lakes, from the bunks of which the deer look down on the ])assing voi/ayeiir, startled by the unaccustomed sight of a human being. It is here where the gold-miner sifts the glittering sands, where the peltry trader holds sway, and where the Indian roams in all his pristine freedom. ' >, , '.lo down into the warm Californian v.illevs, or on to the green prairies of the Willamett.^ and t! e Sacramento, and you may see the oak trees und the sunny tenices darkening vith Icbcious grujies, fruits, and tlowers, or league after league yellow with u harvest whitli lielp- to feetl Europe. It is a land of many climates, of many Indian tribes and races, and the home of a generous manly race, who are fast idling up all the solitary places of the greut region they have invaded. Such, at a glance, is North-West America. To me the North-West Inis even a deeper and a more himan interest, for I visited 't at a time the like of which can never come back again. For years I wandered over many ot the wildest ami least known parts of the country, and was fortunate enough to be the comi)ani()n of mai'v of those who have helped to make its history — shaping their "old course in a country new" — and to mingle in many of its wildest and mi;st stirring ..«>. ^> ^> ^/S^. \.a^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 11.25 1^ ISO 28 |25 U& 12.2 1 •u 1^ i I.I i:^ I- — 6" U IIIIII.6 VI ^J ^% > /: 0^ >* y /J Photogt'Bphic Sciences Corporation 73 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. USSO (716) 872-4503 •^^ M ^ 5 176 TlIK C'OUNTRIKS OV TlIK WORM). enterprises. "All of this I saw, and i>art of it 1 was." During the years I spent in the region sketuhwl out 1 was every now and again coming npon some links which Connected us with the past, just as in the depths of some quiet forest we come upon the remnants of a long ])ast and fi/rgottcn race. In Resolution Cove, in Nootku Sound, where Cook records that he laid his vessel uji lor repair, 1 disinterred the bricks of the armourer's forge, vitrilicd and fresh as if it had been built but yesterday. The lordly S]ianish Dons who once held Nootka had left their traces in cannon balls and Mexican dollars, which are still occasionally dug u\> on the site of the old fort. The Indians still remembered, by tradition, the story of their surrendering Nootka to ^'ancouver; and no historian could have told it in (piainter words; — "The men began to cultivate the ground, and erect a fort and stockade, when one day a ship came with papers for the head man, who was observed to cry, and all the white men became sad. The next day they began moving their goods to the vessel."* The Spanish features were not uncommon ; and Indians lived there who could count ten in Spanish, and repeat many traditional words of that language. The grandson of old ^Iu<pii!la, whose name occui)ies so prominent a i)lace in the records of those stirring times, still ruled Nootka Sound, when, with ii solitary companion, I i)aid it a visit for the lirst lime after he had murdered the crew of a trader six months before. The visit I am likely to remember for sonic years to come; for then was it that I had the dismal satisfaction of hearing a lively discussion on the (to inc) rather interesting cpiestiou of whether it would not be beUer, for slate Jielicy, to cut oft" our heads, on the i>rinciple that headless men tell no talcs, That the "ayes" were in Hie minority in IMoipiilla's council this record is the proof. Vancouver's name they jiroiiounced quite distinctly; and 1 still found in I'ligct Sound a last connecting link Ix'lweeii his day and ours in the person of old Seattle, chief of the tribe wliich occupied the site of the modern town of that name. What thoughts must have been running through the mind of thai old man as he glanced over the wonderful story of the se\enty years which had coine and gone since George ^^llleouve^'s stalely ships sailed up I'uget Sound 1 know not, for the leathern eounlenanees of these Indians, like dead men's faces, tell no tales. At all events, all that he seemed to remember of the great sailor (and that he related with extreme gusto) was how the jiig- lailcnl boatswain's mates used to give three dozen to the men of a morning; and the reminiscence was (piite in keei)ing with the martinet character of the man ! The medals that Lewis and Clarke distributed among the Indians at the mouth of the Columbia could still be sometimes seen in the Chinook lodges, though that tribe had long disajipeared, with nearly all the Columbia and Willamette tribes, from their old homes. Old " Astoria " viiijaijeum I sometimes still come across, though on the site of the old fort a smart Yankee village had sprung up, and it was looked upon as quite an antiquarian feat to point out the site of old Fort George which the irate British officer — who had i)ressed all sail after the last war broke out with America, expecting to surprise a rich arsenal — declared most irreverently he could blow to pieces in a quarter of an hour with a lU-poundcr. The son of Pierre Dorion, whose escajie with his heroic mother, after the niurder of his father, is so graphically porti-ayed by Irving, was my companion for weeks together before I • See " Sprout ; Bcones (ind Studies of Siivage Life," j). 26. Tin; iri; niw ri:i;s. 177 knew how historically interest in j,'' was my com [my n mi il,j voi/age ; and the grandson of the ine-eyed Concomoly, chief of the C'hinooks, the marriage of whose danghter to the factor of Astor is so amusingly related, trudged side hy side with me for many :i summer's day. (';ij)tain T-oiineville was not to me, as he is to many, merely an abstraction, invented hy 'in; novelist on which to hang many a iiuaint old tale of love and war, but a hearty, genial old veteran, who fought his battles anew, when he got so ready a listener as I.N THE KUCKV MOINTAINS was the writer of these rcenlloetions.* Of all the old botanical explorers I saw or heard more or less. I gathered eonos from the very trees which Douglas himself did, and his initials, rudely cut, could yet bo deciiihered on the bark of a pine-tree. Tulmie, to whoso resoarehes Hooker was so indebted when publishing his "Flora Boreali- Amerieana," was yet living in the country, a hale chief factor in the great Fur Ci'inpany; but, if the truth must be told, rather more interested in a pelt than in a plant. .V lonely grave, however, marked the last resting-place of tiairdner; and the li'iili'n lie iiiiiii of the Columbia was the death-jilace of more than one scientific explorer. •Sec tlic author's Skitclns uf Jlcn and Maniu'is un tlio Tacilic slijca o£ tlio Kocky Jlountains.. iji Uick.ns's All the \\„r lloio,,!, 1.SG8 tt s,j. 23 178 THE COUNTRIES OF THE WOULP. I saw Nafuro in her wildest condition, and yet saw aliso rnougli to show that she will not long remain thus. Already the Pacific railroad is changing the whole asjiect III' the region through which it runs. The forests will he no longer wide unbrok- n >eas of trees ; the lumberman and the railway contractor will soon humble their majest; ^Vhen the prairies Ixjconie " real estate," and the river cascades only " water privileges,' then the noble forests of Xorth-West America will be only so much lumber — "middlin' good " for " sluice l)oxes " and " clapboard shanties," but no great things at that either. A race innocent of sentiment as of science, and ignorant of the grand old past, are filling the places tliat a few years ago knew them not ; and though they may bring many of the advantages of civilisation, yet with them will depart much that was fair and of good report in the pleasant past. We propose, therefore, while it is possible, to present in these chapters some brief sketches of the countries on the western slopes of the Rocky Jlountains, mingling with them and diver- sifying the more scientific matters by some glimpses of the wild life and denizens of these regions. We may also be pardoned if, while passing through these great forests and prairies, wo sj)cak of the men who pursue their callings in that great lowland — the simple-minded, lightsome-hearted voyageur, strong in his belief in ]n compagnie as an independent jiower; the 'honest miner," who shouts to us as we pass his claim on the creek down in the valley; the stalwart backwoodsman, whose axe rings on the hill-side, and who hails us as a brother— on I3' of a more theoretical sort — as we pass his logging camp; the sinewy, leather-shirted "mountain boy," whose trust is not in jiriiices or in presidents, but in his beaver and marten traps, whose geography is limited lO the circuit of his own travel, and whom you can incense in no worse way than by venturing to cast a reflection on the " plugging " jwwer of the " five foot o' holler iron " he carries over his shoulder; or the swarthy Indian who steers our canoe down some unexplored river, and whose race is disappearing before the flood of civilisation " like ghosts before the cock- crow." While we can, therefore, let us snatch from oblivion some little fragments of what Xorth-West America was when we knew it in the gladsome years of the decade coming to a close. " The earth hath bubbles as the water hath ; " surely these are not " of them." The Free Trappek. The fur-trade V)retl up a class of men the like of which the world never saw before and will never see again. The progress of the settlements and the failure of the peculiar calling by which llioy made their profit have Ictl to their decay, and will soon lead to their entire extermination. In future years they may be included among the creatures of romance, imless those who know them more intimately than in books narrate their experiences of them and rescue some of their characteristics from oblivion. They wi.-re a product of the fur countries of North .Vmerica quite as much as the beai-, the beaver, or tiie marten, and infinitely more interesting. The countries which only thirty or forty years ago, or even loss, were the scene of their adventures are now thickly populated. Where they pitched their camps are busy towns, and on the scenes of their bloody lights with the savage Indians, children play unconscious of the mouldering remains of the " great, victory " which their father's plough ever and anon brings to the surface. THE FHKK TKAl'rRn. 179 It was in the iPiilniy days of the fur-trade, when lieiiver was tliirty !?hillin<rs or two jmunds per pelt, or when Rocky Mountriii martens wortli three or four ^^uineas apiece i)ilcd on •either side of it were the price of a trade musket worth twenty shillings (p. 171), that the free trapper flourished. He trapped for no particular company, but was courtetl by the lioiittjevii, as the head men of the traders were called, of all, and he sold to whom he pleased, fn the summer these men would start out in bands, and, as convenient places for their business presented themselves, would drop off in twos and threes, with their s(|uaws and horses, until they came to some great valley, when they would set their traps in the streams, and, ii" sport preseutal itself, camp there for the whole summer. Their camji usually consistetl merely of an Indian leather lodge, or some brush rudely thrown together. II' the neighbourhood was infested by Indians they would have to keep concealed during tiie ilay, as it was rarely that some high-handed act, or the jealousies of business, did not render a meeting between the trappers and redskins a matter of life and death. For the same reason the trapper would generally visit his beaver traps at night, and, fearful of the echo of his rille alarming the prowling savage, would subsist on beaver flesh, even though buffalo, elk, deer, or antelope (Plate VI.) were abundant in the neighbourhood, and the Kocky Mountain goat and sheep skipped on the cliffs around his haunt. Heavers, either smokcil or fresh, formed the staple article of food of these niountaiu men ; and to this day a beaver's tail is looked upon as a prime luxury. " He is a devil of a fellow," you will hear old grizzled hunters remark of some acquaintance of theirs, " he can eat two beaver tails ! " And I (juite agree in the estimate put upon a i\m who could devour so much of what is abont as easily masticated, and not half so digestible, as a mess of whipcord seasoned with train-oil and castoreiun ! If the trapper w ere ordinarily successful, he would load his horses with the " packs " of beaver skin.s, and make for the " rendezvous " — generally some trading {wst, or some.' imes some quiet valley where game and grass abounded. Here the traders would meet the trappers, business would commence, and the winter would be spent in riotous living and debauchery. Duels were common, the general bone of contention being the relative merits and reputation for virtue of the resi^ctive squaws. Every trapper had his v 'ft^ .;»i'!cted from one of the Indian trilx>s with whom he was on ordinarily decent terms, and to wl. >m he was united in Indian fashion. To be a trapper's bride was looketl \x^\\ by an ludian or half-l)i'eed damsel iis the height of all good fortune, and a pretty life she leu u( r husband ! \othing in the trader's stores was too tine or too xpensive for her; and next to being decked out herself in all sorts of finery, her horse was the object of her solicitude. She was always pettish, and running away to her tribe, with her infatuated Inisband in hot pursuit ; oi sometimes she would, to the scandal and delight of the gossips in the rendezvous, elope with some Indian buck, or more favoured trapper. Often these men, even despite the exorbitant charges of the traders and their winter debauches, nuule large sums ; but they never saved. Indeed, they thought themselves Iuck. if they were able to " pull through the winter," and enough remained to them to start out tor another summer's campaign. Even that did not cause them nnich anxiety; for a good tmpper of acknowledged rojiutation had never any trouble — to such an extent had coni])etitioii gone, and so large were the tradere' profits — in getting credit for all he wanted. Trapi»ors were 180 THE COl'XTItlKS OF TIIK WuULD. not iti the 'iiiliit of insuring,' tl<oii- lives, citlierwise learned aetimries uuiilil, no ilniLf, Iipax been nl.le lo tell us cxaetly what were the risks c.f their Imsiness ; hut some AVestern statistieian— jirohahly .1 triuler in the hahit of jfivinj,''" trust "—estimated the life of the Hocky ;Sr.puntaiii trapiier at an nvora<,'e, after ho had iiiirly entered the hiii^iness, of unly three yoars and a half ! His life was continually in danger from Indians, from hunger and thir>l, from exjiosnre, and his mode of life. AVhile llouting' down some turhident river iu his "du:;-out/' >UltTII AMEUICAX INDIAN (CHOW). or travelling through a Rocky ^lonntain pass in the depth of winter in an endeavour to roach the rendezvous, he carried his life in his hands. He was missed some winter, and little was thought of it. Ho might have <jono to some other trading post. By-and-hy the news would ooze round among the squaws ; others told their hushands how sueii and such a tribe of Indians had killed him; and then his horse would he seen, and anon his rifle; and, perhaps, years after, his hones, surrounded by his greasy headed leather hunting dress, would he found, as tra]ipors were looking for heavers hy the banks of some nameless stream. Then some of his com- panions would vow to avenge his death, and the first Indian of that tribe would suffer for TlIK FKKK TlJAI'l'KU. J^l i( if mot alone in tlie woods or otliiT sulitiivy \>];h:o. Tin.' Indian would ]>c '• ,\yo\\;j;ci\" in lilic uianiit'i- liv his friends ; and so tiie oniUe-s vendettas ol' tlie West oi'iy'inated and still jjo on. run ANMMALS : milNlilNO llnMI: TlIK UEAll 0' KU. I: may l)e asked, AVliat could tempt men to follow such a busine.-s ? Thcvc was [■ cliarni in the thnnHisjli freedom and independenee of the life, which attracted free spirits to it. rew ol the adventurers, I believe, ever seriously inten<led to follow the profession for life when ti.'-v iirst wandered "'way West." They probahly purposed making a little money, 1st Till-; ( nr.NTiatS <ll-' TIIK Wiilil.!). rosortoil ns a last cxiicdiont t(i IVirt'o. Waiting until th'.' trader was asloc'i), he lioppuil to tlio stalilo-ilocir, apiilieil his Idadud rillu to the key-holo, and in a cmi-k Idcw '.\w lock nil'. In another minute the trader, armised liy the noise, was on the ground ; but only just in time to see his delitor I'areerin;:^ ,i"}ously on the haek of the white horse over the jirairic, waving his cap, and gallojiing at sueh a rate as to jnit jiursuit out of the question. A remarkable man, hut one nuieh less known, was Albert I'l'eillVr. Like Carson, he was in the irregular Mexican cavalry; iiuleed, he was lieutenant-colonel of the same regiment. lie was a man of a very >ingular aiipearanee. His red heard grew in patches, the intcivcning s[)ace apiiearing burnt and discoloured. This was owing to his having lieen poisoned liy sonic of the Indians' arrow-poisons years before. He wore blue goggles to shield his weak eyes; yet, tlxiugh they were weak, they wore bright, clear, antl (piiek. llis face was alni(i>t ghastly in its signs of suffering, and he walked stitily with a cane, being scarred with nearly twenty wounds, carrying in his body some Indian souvenirs of bidlels, and licaring two frightful marks where an arrow had pierced directly through bis body, just below the heart. A native of Friesland, he came to the l.'nited States some thirty years ago, and ihiring all that time served as an Iiulian pacilleator, tighter, and tra])per, or as a yuide to p.i-ses in the mountains known only to himself and the Indians. An accjuaintance of mine ii-c.l to relate an anecdote of PfeiiVer. They had started on a lour together, and as they rode alniig, "the colonel " gave him various directions how to behave in case they were attackeil by Indians; linishing by saying, in his slightly broken ICnglish, "And now don't /''/iici, if me be wounded, you kill me u/ oiicc, for I will not fall alive into dere iufcrni;/ hands : dey tor/«/r one horr/bly. And if you be wounded, / ki// i/mi, i/ou Hue. Don't fail ! " Another sjx'cimen of the mountain man was a*' old fellow whom I may call Seth Baillie. (That was not his name, but it will do as well as any other.) Seth was rather an intilligcnt man; and during our rambles I used to l)e greatly entertained by listening to his opinions on men and things, on all of which he pronounced with the utmost conlideiice, though his education (as far as book learning was concerned) was limited, and his range ol observation equally so. Still, like all M'estern folk, he looked upon himself as "particular smart," and a "right smart chance" of an "argitier." In one of the rougher settlements of the Willamette, in Oregon, I had been asked to stand umpire in the following case : — One day an old settler's boy had eome home from the backwoods district school, and told his parents that the sun was many millions of miles away from the earth. The lather was a school guardian, and was horror-struck at what he styled, " sich intidel talk ; " so the poor schoolmaster was discharged. " Who was ever thar' to measure it, I'd like lo know!" the old farmer remarked to me when telling of the atrocious "intidel talk" of the quondam schoolmaster. Thinking the story would amuse Uaillie, I told it to him, without, however, venturing an oi)inion on the merits of the case. ^Ir. Ikillie remarked, " He raytlier thought the old 'coon's head was level on that yer question." He proceeded to give his reasons for the faith that was in him. " I once hecrn talk like that afore, down to the settle///tv//«. One fall I was down Ihar' to do tradin', and when settin' in the store thar' I heern a kind uv half schoolmaster talkin' like that. Sez I to him, 'Mister, ilo you say the 'arlh is rotuul'-' ' Wal,' sex, he, kind o' laughin' like, ' men uv science say so.' ' Men uv science,' sez L/ THE FREE TUAPPER. 185 • 1)0 darned.' I know a siyht better. Did you over come across the plains ? '* ' No,' sez the sclioolmuster. 'Then/ sez I, 'you don't know nothin' uhout it; for I com'd across the plains and see'd so far furnenst me, yon couldn't see no further. Neow, ef the 'arth war round, heow would that have bin? Neow, once afore 1 heeru u darned fool like THB WHITE-HEADED BAQLE OF NOnTlI AMERICA. (Halitltm leuCOCtl'halnii,) you ' (sez I to the schoolmaster, and the boys in the store larfed like mad) ' talk like that, and I didn't say much, but went to hum, and put a tatur on a stump outside my lodge. Neow, in the mornin,' that tatur was just whar' I put it. Neow, ef the 'arth had turned round, whar* ud that tatur hev' bin— eh?' But he didn't say nothin', but giv* a 24 * Prairies ( a tho (»«tcm aide of the Kocky Mountaing. 186 TUE COUNTEIES OF THE WOULD. kind of laugh. ' No/ sez I, ' cf the 'arth turned reound thar' would lit' the tulleut sciitterin' uv the nations you ever did see. No, mister/ wez 1, ' the 'arth'a as Hat as n paiieake, and I know it.' And witli that he vamoozetl." DiiilHe liad been a good deal enij)loyed as guide to emigrants (or, as he call«l them, ' emigrunters "), for whom he hud a supreme contempt. The only job of that sort he over lookal back upon witii pleasure was the piloting of a troop of United States cavalry for service in the Indian war of 1S55. lie greatly admired the "smartness" of the major in command, and the way he settled a troublesome account. They had lost a wagon here, and sold a horse there. A soldier had sold or bartered his carbine now and then; and, in fact, their accounts were in such a state that to present a report and to account for everything to the <piartermuster-general was imiwssible. At last they came to the Columbia lliver, and to a place where there was a good deal of dry timber. "Are there any falls about here, Bnillie?" the major asked. Oh, yes; there were falls not over a mile ahead. "Well, then," the major thought, " we'll build a raft ; the road's pretty bad." On the raft was jjlaccd a broken wagon, a three-legged mule, five or si-x broken carbines, an empty cask, and a few other such valuables. The major wished to guide it along with ropes, and, though Baillie assured him that the current was so strong that this was impracticable, he insisted. At last the men shouted that they could hold on no longer. " Well, then, let go 1 " was the answer; and over the falls in a few minutes went the raft and its contents. "The major cussed a small chance for show's sake," Baillie remarketl, " but arter a while he winked, and sod to me, ' I guess that's an A. Q. Q* way o' squarin' accounts ! ' Everything — and something more, too — that was missing, got scored opposite to it in his book : ' Lost on a raft in the Columbia lliver ! ' " But of all the men Baillie knew, those for whom he had the greatest contempt were the "shootin' gentlemen." Sometimes, when he went down into the settlements, he was asked to act as guide to parties of town sportsmen, his character as a hunter being deservedly high. "They come/' Baillie remarked, "in their store clothes, biled rags, and satin waistcoats, with lots of pro-vision and whisky (which ain't to be laughed at, though), though a hunter takin' pro-vision into the mountings with him is the greatest notion I ever heern tell on. Afore they camp at night, they load their rifles, in case of bars; next mornin' they fire 'em off, in case they're damp; and that, Cap'n, as you know, don't bring the deer within a mile or so of the camp. Going out, they see nothin', and swear there ain't no game areound. They then take a few drinks of old rye, which makes them talky, and then thoy begin somethin' about the darn 'lection ticket, or to shootin' at marks. 'Bout this time they get hungry, and so back to camp, and afore their supper is over it's dark. They then load their shootin' irons again — and so the same old game goes on. Darn me ef it don't, Cap'n I When it's about time fur them to go to hum, I tell 'em to hold on and not to fire, and so I go out and shoot 'em a varment of some sort apiece to show when they go back to the settlements as their shootin', they meanwhile pickin' berries and talkin' 'lection. I guess they like that about as well. Then they don't wash their * Assistant qaarteimaster-Keneral. THE FREK TRAPPER. 187 faces for a day, tear their store clotlies a, l)it, and go back to the settlements as Mg as a do{4- with a tin tail, and jest almut iw nat'ral — skulp 'em ! " liaillie in his day had endured many hardHlii]>B. He liad made meals on many anomalous things from the animal and vej^etahie worlds, including a jiair of old mocassins, sago-hnish leaves, grasshoppers, and beaver-skins; and liad nioro than once eaten his horse from under him ; but he declared that on old carrion crow was the most unpalatable article he ever dined on.* In reference to this (and the phrase he also ai)plied metaphorically to many things in life, which, though not unbearable, are yet scarcely to bo wished for) lie used to say, " 1 kin eat crow, Cap'n, but I don't hanker arter it I " These "free trappers" were chielly foimd in the Far West, and in the regions where there was no monopdy of the fur-trade. The Hudson's JJay Company deiiended on the Indians, and only employed these former cxiiensive and unruly aiden when the exigencies of competition demanded. The American companies bought chiefly from them, but they had also covenanted servants. These free trappers trapped, as we have said, for no one in particular, but sold to whomsoever they thought to make the Iwst barga'i with. Being therefore nearly confined in their operations to United States territory, they were mostly Americans. But as late as IS 17 at least there was an old officer of the English army, who had been at Waterloo, who followed this business in his declining years. He was then about sixty, vigorous and athletic, and his manners, intelligence, and general address were quite out of keeping with the rude buckskin costume of the wilderness in which, like the rest of his fellow-trapiwrs, he was clothed (p. 153). At that date Mr. Bryant cstimatetl the free trapjjcrs and traders of the Rocky Mountain region at from iiOO to 1 ,000. " Adventure, romance, misanthropy, and sometimes social outlawry have had their influence in enticing or drawing these persons into the savage wilderness." Volumes could be fdled with the traditional history of their ways and life, which yet linger in the West. They were simple as children, yet, like all men who live much alone, and, above all, who know some things not familiar to the rest of the whites with whom they now and then come into contact, had an immense opinion of their own importance and acuteness. Some idea of the dangers of their calling may be gainetl from the fact that it was estimated — probably by some trader who had given them credit — that after they had once entered upon the business the average duration of their life was not more than three and a half years. Some lived to be old men, and many others were killed off before they had well set their first traps. Yet they loved their perilous trade. The passionate excitement was akin to a mania, and from what I have heard I see no reason to doubt the justice of the summing up of their character which w.is made by one who knew them well. "No toil, no danger, no privation, can turn the trapjier from his pursuit. In vain may the most vigilant and cruel savage beset his path; in vain may rocks, and precipices, and wintry torrents op]>ose his progress : let but a single track of a beaver meet his eye, and he forgets all dangers and defies all difficulties. At times he may • In this he agreed with the Into Prince Liicion Bonnpartc, who remarked on one occasion that in all his omittiological expeditions in America, he had been always ubio to make a "comfortable meal" on anything bo eamo across, " except a Turkey buzzard and an alligator. ^ 188 'iiiK (•orNTitiF.rt OK TirK \vonr,r>. 1h> noon witli liix tnipH on liifi Hliuuldcr, htiiTt'tiiii; hift wny ncroHR rnpul HtreaniH ninidiil floating lilocks uf ice; lit other timog ho is to he t'oimd with IiIh trapn on liifl Imck, cliinhiiiff the most riiggc<l mouiitiiing, tirnlinff or dcHcomliiiff thu moHt Fri^fhtfiil ])rc<-i|iic(>H, HcurchiriK', by fiiiifw iniicccsHilili' to till' liorsc, mid never liefore tnnldcn liy white men, for HpriiifrH and liikeA unknown to iiis comnidew, iind wliore he may meet with hid (iivourito jjiime. Such iH tho ini)nnlaini>ei', tlie iiardy trii])iH>r of the AVent; and Hueh u« we have Hlij^htly Hketclied it is tho wild Ro))in Iluod kind of life, witli itH Htnin^e ])opulaoo now cxiuting in full vi^nr amnn^ the Rocky Moiintain»." It is forty years sinoo these words woro written, and the West is the West no lonper 08 deserihed in these lines. A railway spans tho continent ; towns and villages spring np liko mushrooms. The fur animals retreat from their old haunts, and even lieeomo extinct. New trades, quite as prolitahli; and less dangerous, supply an ouHet for the energy of the {x^pulution, and the changes of fashion nnd the discovery of scienct. nuvo even mode tho furs, which once gave employment to these hardy men and profit to the fur-traders, no longer of the same value. The full of Uie price of beaver in particular rang their deafh-knell. The few who still pursue the business of trapping do it more owing to former association than from any great profit to bo derived from it. Indians and half-breeds have now monoiioliHod this pursuit, and even they, owing to the expense of transportation and the enhanced prices of lalxnir, do not find it sufficiently profitable to follow, except when no other work offers itself. The world is fast filling in; it has left no jilace for romance; and the hunter and trapper are among the " provisional races," which must disappear before the plough and the reaping-machine. And perhaps it is better after all I ThK IIlXTIXO GlIOf.NDS. It is difficult for an untravelled Knglishman to grasp a sufficient idea of the extent of the fur countries of North America. They really compromise more or less all British North America and the colder portions of the Unitetl States. In familiar parlance the Hudson's Bay Territories — that were — were the part of America included under the designation of the " fur countries." Now, the Hudson's Bay lands, over which they exercised the exclusive right of trade and rule, were British North America, the Pacific end of that large tract, and the Canadian colonies — including Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Prince Kdward Island — on the East Coast excej)ted. From the British Iwundary line on to tho Arctic Sea all was theirs; throughout all this dreary land "the Company" was king, and few kings on the earth had ever such an extensive realm. Rivers and lakes intersected it everywhere. Prairies were in the centre of it ; stunted woods to the North, and still further to the shores of the Frozen Sea — on to the very Pole if they chose — stretched tho Arctic wastes. From Pembina, on the Red River of the North (p. 189), to Fort Anderson, on tlie Mackenzie River, is as great a distance as from London to Mecca. From St. Mary's Post to the Pelley Banks is further than from Paris to Samarcand. Still, throughout all this large territory the Company is practically the ruler, and more than the ruler, for it clothes, feeds, and maintains nine-tenths of its subjects. The country is thinly peopled by Indians of many triljes. Indeed, a thickly-ptpnlated country would he Ui.iuv arable o % u a § o y. a a 190 THE COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD. to the broecling and increase of fur animals, and as there is almost no cultivation in any part of it, hunting, and trapping, and trading furs, and conveying them to the fur posts, and from the fur posts to the rendezvous, are almost the only occupations the country affords. Roughly speaking, the fur countries outside of Canada proper and British Columbia — though all British North America, Newfoundland alone excepted, is included in the Dominion of Canada — may bo classed as follows : — There is the wooded region, occii- I)ying the country northward from the settlements of Canada along the shores of tiie Hudson's Bay, and extending down the valley of the Mackenzie and Peace Rivers, nearly to the Arctic Ocean. In this region are several lakes : one of the chief of them is Lake Athabasca, hemmed in on the north and east sides by granite rocks, about 500 or COO feet in height. It is studded with nimiei-ous islets, bristling with pine-trees, which, according to a simile of tlie Abbe Putitot, gives it the ajipearance of being studded with masts. The climate is milder than most of the Mackenzie \'alley, the Valley of the Peace River being more especially known for its great fertility, and the excellence and abundance of its timber, and its mineral wealth of coal, asphalte, suljjhur, gypsum, iron, and gold, especially in that j)ortion of it on the western side of the Rocky Mountains. The Athabasca and Slave Rivers bring down annually a quantity of silt and other iletritus, which is gradually converting the estuary of the ilackcnzie into a huge swamp. The waters of the Great Slave Lake are charged with lime and vegetable matter, and bring down enormous quantities of drift wood and uprooted trees. Lake Aj-lmer, which runs into the Great Slave Ijake, is so close to Lake Sussex, the source of the Back or Great Fish River,* which Hows in the opposite direction into the Arctic Ocean, that on many maps the two are joined, and the Great Slave Ijjike is thus represented as forming the anomaly of a double outlet. Fort Rae is one of the most important stations in this region. The sandy soil in this vicinity is wholly destitute of vegetation, and wood itself is very scarce. The Great Fish River is rich in salmon, trout, carp, perch, and other fish ; the banks are frequented by the trumpeter swan, and a variety of ducks, geese, and other birds, while the caribou, or reindeer, and the musk-ox are plentiful. The Mackenzie itself is — " A full-fod rivLT, winding slow By lioi'd8 upon an ondlcss plain." The Abbe Petitot estimates its total length at 2,500 geographical miles, and its basin as embracing an area of 2,500 geographical miles. There are only five or six rapids, occasioned by spurs jutting out from the main chain of the Rocky Mountains. There are eleven trading stations in the Mackenzie district/ eight residences of French and one of English missionaries ; the Athabasca district having eight trading and four missionary stations. The vegetation along its banks is poor. The white fir, birch, alder, asjxjn, and willow are the chief trees. The Banksian fir is also seen, but gets more and more stunted, until at the sixty-third parallel it ceases. At the outlet of Great Bear Lake, where sometimes tiie temperature falls as low as 70" below zero, the poi)lar, according to the observations of Dr. Rae, ceases. The birch and the fir, even the " steppe-fir," cease at OSi", but willows fringe * Or rather the Oreat WhaU River, that being th« "great fiih," the prounce of which in the eituarjr lent iti name to the river. THE WOODED FUIl COUNTIUES. 191 the delta of the Mackenzie and the banks of the Peel River. The higher grounds are bare of vegetation except lichens, the Ledum, or Labrador iea, which is sometimes employed as a substitute for the Chinese herb, and the Andromeda tetragunu, which is greatly used for fuel. The Abbe Potitot, a late writer on this regicii, holds out no encouragement to colonists in this section. The culturable ground is only to be found alongside the Liard River, and in a few uplands, such as that on which I'^ort Simpson is situated, where potatoes, vegetables, and cereals grow, and even wheat ripens in favourable seasons (pp. 20, 22). The (jrcat Bear Lake is larger than the Great Slave Lake. From October to the middle of July it is covered with ice, varying from seven to ten feet in thick- ness. The more exposed situations are swept by the most violent snow-storms, called "kamatsan," which often wholly bury its solo trading station, Fort Frauklin. Dreary though the region is it is frequented by large herds of reindeer, while the rivers jield excellent salmon and enormous quantities of white lish. The trade done in the region of the Athabasca and Mackenzie Rivers is wholly conlined to furs, such as those of the bear — cinnamon. Polar, and grizzly — the fox, lynx, marten, wolf, glutton, ermine, musk-ox seal, and musk-rat, and the plumage of the trumpeter swan and eider duck. The Atha- basca and Great Slave Lakes are rich in martens, lynxes, sables, and foxes. Fort Good Hope yields gluttons (p. 1G8), beavers (p. 119), wolves, and a few black foxes, whose skins bring £30 in England, and f>vcn £10 in America. " Great Bear Lake is noted for its otters and beavers, which animals are also found along the course of the Mackenz'o River, while from the shores of the ^Vrctic Ocean are brought skins of musk-oxen, bears, and white foxes, and swans' plumage." Desolate this region may be to civilised man, yet 00,000 pounds' weight of furs and skins must be annually, on an average, sent cut of it. Here money is unknown — l)eaver being the unit of exchange. A beaver's skin, or pclii, as a rule, represents 2s. Thus the skin of a bear, musk-ox, or silver fox is worth four pelus, or 8s. ; ermine and musk-rat skins average six for a shilling, and the black fox skin, the most costly of all, one pound apiece. The North-West Territory is dividetl into two districts, of which Athabasca and Mackenzie are the most northern. I'lach distri'>t is, of course, presided over by its chief trader or chief factor. The chief forts, sue as Garry, Nelson, and others, are built of stone, but they are thinly scattered over an immense territory. The author from whom we quote gives a good idea of the distances between these stations by comparing one of the districts to France, and imagining a post at the mouth of the Stnne, aiiother at Paris, a third at Bordeaux, a fourth at Brest, a fifth at JIarseilles, and so on for eight or ton forts. Once a year, in the early part of .Time, he fells us all flic trilmtary forts in the Mackenzie districts send their furs to the chief station, in canoes and ball en ii^, whence the Mackenzie flotilla convey them as far as the portii(ji', La Loehe, a journey which takes at least two months. Here the furs are exchanged for European goods, brought by boats, whieh have come up from Fort Garry or Norway House, and the boats, having exchangwl their respective cargoes, retrace their steps. The furs are taken to York Factory, in Hudson's Bay, and from thence are transported to liondon. The European goods are tiiken to Fort Simpson, where they are distributed to the officers of the different forts, who are thus enabled to pay their debts to the Indians, and make I9ft THE C0UNTEIE8 OF THE WORLD. advances of amtBunitioii; tobacco, hatchets, knives, blankets, and provisions, Tho incthot', of paying the Company's officers has somewhat changed since the new re'jme ciime into power. Still, however, the chief officers have no fixed salary, being allowed a share of the profits. This has never for the chief factors been less than JtGOO, or for the chief traders less than i300. The clerks get from £75 to 4100 per annum; the postmasters from £40 to £75; the half-breeds, who take charge of the boats on their annual journeys, from £!J8 to £45, and the ordinary labourers, or voyageurs, ki\. All these salaries are exclusive of board and lodging. The white and half-breed jjopulation of the Mackenzie district numbers about 1,000, and includes natives of England, Scotland, Ireland (very few), the Hebrides, and Canada. The half-breeds are chiefly Franco-Canadians. The pure French element is centred in the missionaries. There are about 10,000 Indians and Eskimo trading along in the Athabasca and Mackenzie districts, but some of them also frequent the northern parts of British Columbia — especially since the Omineca and Peace Uivcr diggings have been discovered — and the United States territory of Alaska. The "limestone district" in this rer/ime, as Sir John Richardson tells us, are especially well wooded, but the woods are, of course, extremely stunted by the iiortlieru blasts. Travel is not easy, and the difficulty of transporting supplies, &c., to this far-away section of the fur countries is extremely great ; hence the prices which they bring. This question I have already discussed briefly, but as it is little understood I may quote a passage from Major Butler, which is thoroughly « pro/ion of the point which I wish to impress upon the reader. "The earth," writes the hero of " Akim-1'oo," "knows not a wilder sjwt than the barren grounds of Fort Providence. Around lie the desolate shores of the Great Slave Lake. Twice in the year news comes from the outside world— !iews many, many months old — news borne by men and dogs through 2,000 miles of sno •; and yet even there the gun that brings down the moose and the musk-ox has been f'org, .' in a London smithy; the blanket that covers the wild Indian in his cold camp has bi.,^ woven in a Witney loom ; that knife is from Sheffield ; that string of beads is from Birniin^ am. Let us follow one of the ships that sail annually from the Thames bound for the supply of this vast region. It is early in June when she gets clear of the Nore; it is mid- June when tho Orkneys and Stornaways are left behind; it is August when the frozen straits of Hudson are pierced; and the end of the month has been reached before the ship comes to anchor off the sand-barred mouth of the Nelson River. For one year the stores that she has brought lie in the warehouses of York Factory; twelve months later they reach Red River; twelve months later again they reach Fort Simpson, on the Mackenzie. That rough flint guttj which might have done duty in the days of the Stuarts, is worth many a rich sable in the country of the Dogrels and the Louchaux, and is bartered for skins, whose value can be rated at four times their weight in gold ; but the gun on the banks of the Thames and the gun in the pine woods of the Mackenzie are two widely different articles. The rough old flint, whose bent barrel the Indian will often straighten between the cleft of a tree, or the crevice of a rock, has been made precious by the long lalmurs of many men ; the trackless wastes through which it has been carried; by winter famine of those who have to vend it ; by the years which elapse between its departure from the workshop and the return of that skin of sable or silver fox for which it has been bartered. They are IIACKWOOUSMEV AND INDIANS. FREE TH.vnE IN FUUS. 193 short-siglik'd men wlin liold that hocaiiso tliu Hint <^iin niul tlic sable possess such different values in Loiiilon, these avtieles should also possess their relative values in North Anieriea, and arij'ue from this that the Hudson's ]Jay Company treat the Indians unfairly. They are short-sighted men, I say, and know not of what they speak. That rough old Hint has often eost more to put it in the hands of that Dogrih hunter than best linisiied central-fire of Bess or Purdy. But that is not all that has to be said about the trade of this Company. ON THE PAOirir nAII.WAY. M Free-trade may be an admirable institution. Unfortunately for the universality of British institutions, free-trade has invariably been found to improve the red man from the faee of the earth. Free-trade in furs means dear beaver, dear martens, dear minks, and dear otters; and all these "dears" mean whiskey, alcohol, high wine, and pjison, which in their turn mean, to the Indian, murder, disease, small-pox, and death. . . . Now, the Hudson's Bay Company are in the position of men who have taken a valuable shooting for a very long term of years, or for a perpetuity, and who, thereupon, are desirous of preserving for a liituro time the game whieli they hunt, and also of j)reserving the hunters and trappers, 25 1<J1 TUE COCNTUIK.S OF THE \VOI!l,l). who are tlieir servants. Tliu Ircc-trailcr is a man who takes his shooting for the term of a year or two, and wishes to destroy all he can."* Tlie names yiven to the forts express the minds of the men who named them — " llesohition," " rrovideiice/' "Good Unite," "Enterprise," "lleliuuee," " Conlldenee." The life of the " wintering partners " was hard. " Ood knows their lives were hard. They tame generally from the remote isles or Highlands of Seotland. They lell home young, and the mind tires when it thinks uiwn the remoteness of many of these fur- stations. Dreary and monotonous beyond words was their home life, and hardship was its rule. To travel on foot 1,0U0 miles in winter's darkest time, to live ujion the eoarsest food, to see nought of bread or sugar for long months, to lie down at night under the freezing bra'iehes, to feel eold, such as an I^nglishman in England cannot comj)rehend, often to starve, always to dwell in exile from the great world — such was the routine of their lives. Who can tell what memories of early days in the far-away Scottish isles or Highland glens must have come to these men as the tempest swept the stunted pine-forest, and the wreck and drift hurled across the frozen lake, where the dawn and the dark, separated by only a few hours' daylight, eiosetl into the long, dark night. Perchance the savage scene was lost in a dreamy vision of some lonely Scottish loch, some Druid mound in far-away Lewis, some vista of a iireside, when the storm howled and waves ran high upon the beach of Stornaway ."t And dreary little " forts " they arc, in many cases only a few huts roofed with i)ine bark, without pickets, bastion, guns, or aught else that we associate with a ibrt. Sometimes the anomaly of the name is too much, and they are called " houses," or simply "posts." The white iish {Coregoiius alius) is the staple of this dreary region in the winter. It is au inhabitant of all the lakes, and is celebrated for the delicacy of its flavour. Dr. King describes several Indian tribes as subsisting u])on it ; and at many of the f ur-tradinj; iwsts it forms the principal food for eight or nine months in the year. It is a rich Iish but so pleasant is it to the palate that instead of causing in time satiety it becomes day by day more agreeable j so much so, indeed, that those who live upon it, though deprived of bread and potatoes, never tire of it. When in season it is loaded with fat, particularly between the shoulders, where it forms a considerable lump. The thick-walled stomach is considered a particular delicacy by the voyageurs. In October the " attchawmeg," as the Crees call it, the jwUnuii blaiic of the French-Canadians, i.{a.\is the lakes and enters the rivers to spawn. It somewhat resembles a herring, and like that Iish speedily dies when taken out of the water. It generally weighs two or three pounds, but has been known to attain to seven or eight. The fish are taken in winter with gill nets. Holes are made in the ice with a chisel, at a distance of ten or twelve feet from each other, according to the length of the net, when a line is passed beneath them by means of a long pole, and readily conveyed from one hole to another, with the assistance of a forked stick, until it arrives at the last. The net is then strung upon the line, to the en jf which a largo stone is fixed, to keep it from expanding and rising from the bottom with every waft of the current, as it otherwise would do. In ■)verhauling or searching a net, the two extreme holes only are opened, wluin the net is veered away by one person, while the net is hauled from under ^ '■ Till' liiiat Lone Umd," p. 213. t Biitlcr : •' Tho AVilJ Nortli L,iinii," p. 94. THK (iEOORArilY OF THE I'UK lUUM'UlEM. 1!I5 as (lio iofi by nnothpr. In aiitflin^ for fish in winter no other process is required tlmn that ofcuttiiif^ a round hole in flic ico, from one to two feet in diameter, and h'ttinjf down a baited liool<, which should be kept in motion, not only for the purpose of preventiiijj^ the water from freezin<» round about it, but more readily to attract the attention of the iish."* The " liarrcn grounds," or the strip of sterile treeless country along the north shores of the Hudson's Bay and the coast of the Polar Sea we have already descrilied (p. ™(>). It is almost entirely destitute of wood, the peaty soil only supporting a few dwarf birches, stunted willows, larches, and black spruces ; or when composed of quartz and sand, covered with lichens. The lakes of this Arctic portion of the fur-countries, even when completely land- locked, are stocked with fish, though, as a rule, one lake discharges itself into another, so that the lacustrine features of the barren lands are chains of narrow-linked lakes. The cariiiou, or reindeer, and the musk-ox, roam in great numbers over this tract, but the fur animals proper are rare, and the trade to be derived from buying skins from the forlorn earihou-cating Chippeways, who wander in a few scattered families over this region, is scarcely profitable enough to keep permanent posts in it. The Prairie region is Manitoba, long known as the Red River Territory. It is the richest and most inviting of all the old Hudson's Bay lands, consisting as it does of rich prairies, waiting for the plough to be run through them. They were never really fur- countries — being kept for growing supplies for the fur-traders, for killing buffalo to make pemmican, and as a haven where the wearied fur-trader and fur-trapper might retire in peace to end his days in pursuits more or less agricultural. The population consists chiefly of half-breeds, but, as we shall presently describe, is now getting settled up by Canadians and other whites. British Columbia, and the rest of British America, will form the subject of an early chapter. Meantime wc may conclude this aceoimt of the fur-countries proper by the very fitting remarks which Major Butler makes on the aspect of the prairie region. The old chartographers represented the centre of America as filled with a great ocean. They erred only, as Major Bi ler points out, in the description of the ocean which they placed there. It is of grass, and tlie shores are the crests of mountain ranges, and the dark pine forests of the Sub-Arctic regions. "The great ocean itself docs not present more infinite variety than does the prairie-ocean of which we speak. In winter, a dazzling surface of purest snow ; in early summer, a vast expanse of grass and pale pink roses ; in autumn, too often a wild sea of raging fire. No ocean of water in the world can vie with its gorgeous sunsets; no solitude can equal the loneliness of a night-shadowed prairie. One feels the stillness, and hears the silence; the wail o'' the prowling wolf makes the voice of solitude audible; the stars look down through infinite silence upon a silence almost as intense. . . . Some French writer, speaking of these prairies, has said that the sense of this utter negative of life, this complete absence of history, has struck him with a loneliness oppressive, and sometimes terrible in its intensity. Perhaps so ; but for my part the prairies had nothing terrible in their loneliness. One saw here the world as it had taken shape and form from the hands of the Creator. Nor did the scene look less beautiful because nature alone tilled the earth, and the unaided sun brought forth the flowers " (p. 201). " Namitivc of a Jouniey tu the Sliores of the Arctic Oceiin,' Vol. i., p. 117. 11)(J TUE COUNTRIES OF THE WOULD. CHAPTER X. TiiK Fi li CoiNTHiKs: Till'; Fni Animai,'<. To cniimomle the diiof iinimtils tlie skins of which liavc been cmiiloyed either is articles of dress or as materials to decorate the f^'arinents of civilised races, is not a very difficult task. Now one is in fashion, now another. In one year some i)articidi.i' animal is j)ri/etl for its hide, and unless tlie fashion declines, the unfortuuMtc idol of female vanit}' will get almost hunted to death. In a short time, however, caprice will reject it for another, and then the discarded favourite will have space to increase and midtiply in the wilds which are invariably its home. Nearly all the mammals of the fur conntries yield " peltries." Even the birds' skins find a market in Europe and civilised America. The swans, geese, and ducks are of many species, and are found in enormous abundance. In the winter they collect in millions at the mouths of the rivers, and wherever any open water is found. The air is alive with their cries, an<l at any alarm they arise in clouds from their swampy feediny-grounds. Another most characteristic bird of the fur countries is the white-headed or sea-eagle (p. 185). It is equally familiar perched on a rock on the shores of Hudson's Bay or A''ancouver Island, or on the branch of a blasted pine in the heart of tho Continent, watching an opiwrtunity to dart on the fish which its keen sight may have detecteil in the waters beneath. It is, however, applied to no useful purjxjse, as are most of the other numerous binls found through the wide stretch of North America, and which have been described in many volumes.* Neither spate nor the general interest of the subject will admit of any but the more imjiortant fur animals being des(;ribeil in this chapter. Chief among these are the sables or martens. The true llussian sable {Muslela zihellinu) is not found in America. The darker skins are much valued, these bringing three times as much as many of the poorer ones. In Henry VIII. 's reign the wearing of sable was j)rohibited to all below the rank of viscount. In America are, however, to be found several species of marten. Among these animals the principal place is due to the Hudson's Bay sable (M. Americana), of which about 12,000 are annually bartered at the Company's posts. It is lighter in colour than the Russian sable, but nearly all of those which are sold in the shops arc artificially darkened in colour. It is in the highest order — like most furs — in the winter-time, when the lustre of the surface is great. At the commence- ment of summer tho dark tips of the hair drop off. This alters its colour to a pale orange-brown, little lustrous, and on account of its light colour, of little value. AVhen bought, the trader tests its value by suspending tho skin by the tail, and seeing how the long hair falls back, revealing tho fine downy fur beneath. In 18.'3(), at Cumber- land House, three martens were bought for a coarse knife worth about sixpence, though the same skins could be sold in London for at least five guineas. In Vancouver Island, , • RicliarJson ; " Fnuna Borcali-Amcricann ; " Baiid's " liiiJs of Xoitli America," &o. itlicr i,s s not n lartiftilr.r idol of ivice will ease ami Is of Uio rope ami ive fouml hs of tliii jvies, and ,her most 185). It ^'^ancouver telling an he waters numerous 1 described kvill admit lief among not found I much as prohibited n\il species Bay sable ny's posts. :h are sold —like most commence- r to a pale «e. \Vbcn seeing how at Cunibcr- iice, though nver Island, IIVDRAL-LIC MISI>Jf; IS CALIFORNIA. u u: W X lOH TIIK CorNTIIIKS ni' Till', WdUM). owin<; In llic comiianitivc wnrmlli ol' tlu> climafc not iicniiitfinpf of n lionvy pi'"wtli nf fur, till' iiini'ti'ii is wortli little or iiotliiii"'. T snw mniiy in tlio vicinity of Hrown's River, ni-nr tho centre of tlin isliuxl (p. 1U7), Imt noitlior tlio [nilians nor tho hunters attiichml to our pnrty eiirod nuitii iilioiit killiiifj tliom. On the other liand, tliose from tho Northern Iloeky Afoinitains iire wortli from tittecn to twenty dollars. Even in Canada there is a jjreat variety. Skins taken north of tho St. Lawronee in tlio Labrador iliroetion are worth from SOs. to S.'is., while those of New Brunswiek are not valnwl at more than ."Ja. or (is. These animals appear jwriodieally in vast numhers, which the hunters re<j,ard as presaging heavy falls of snow, and aeeordinj^Iy a good trap])iMg season. They fee<l on mice, hares, small birds' eggs, and jjarl ridges. They are found everywhere except on the barren grounds, to whieh, being arboreal animals, they do not resort. Their |)eriodical disappearances are very remarkable, in so far that, wherever they go, it must be to some region where there are no fiir-tmding posts ; yet no track has been foun<l of their retreat. This takes place about once in ten years — with great, regularity — and the scarcity occurs simultaneously throughout the whole fur countries. They are caught, according to Mr. Bernard Ross's description, in wooden trajjs baited with white-fish heads, pieces of dried meat, or, still better, with tho heads of wild fowls, which tho natives gather for the purpose in tho autumn. When they are at their lowest ebb they will scarcely bite at all, hence it seemed as if " providence had implanted some instinct in them by which the total destruction of their race is prevented." Tliey are not difficult to tamo, and when enraged they arch their back and hiss in a manner somewhat like the domestic cat. The fisher, black cat, or pecan (JA J'cniianfii) is another 8i)ccios of marten. It is tho Chippcweyan Thrt. cht>, or great marten, and in appearance bears a strong family likeness to both the wolverine and its other congeners. Its habit and food are much the same as its rolntivcs, and to a marten-hunter it is almost as great a ])est as a wolverine. Being very powerful for its size, it will tear down tho wooden traps with ease. "Its regularity in visiting them is exemplary. In one (juality it is, hnwever, superior to tho wolverine, which is, that it leaves the sticks of tho traps lying whore they were jdanted; while the other beast, if it can discover nothing better to hide, will nir/ie them some distance off." It is easily ca>ight in the steel trap, in much tin same way as foxes. About 1],0(I0 is the average number imported from North America. At one time its fail was worth from Cs. to i)s., and formed a common ornament of flic cap of the Polish Jew. It is now only worth about from (Id. to i)d. The fur, though coarse, is valued from its black colour, and bring about £1 each. The skins of tame black cats, with the tail and ears cut off, have been imposed on people ignorant of furs as those of the " fisher " — why so called it is difficult to s.ay, as it does not go near tho w.ater. The Iiaum marten (ilf. afjielinum) .and tho stone marten {M. sa.roriim) are l>oth Enropoan species. Their fur, when dyed, forms a near imitation to flic Ijost sable. The latter is often called the French sable, because tho French excel in dying it of a natural hue and gloss. By some naturalists — and not without reason — tho American pine marten is looked upon as only a variety of the Siberian or Russian sa1)lo, and indeed some of the so-called species are considered to be only clim.atic viirieties of tho others. Tlio mink {Piitorins risoii) is another well-known fur animal. The American species riiK I'l'ii ANrsrALH. 199 is Hiiid to 1)0 (linV'rt'iit I'roiu tlmt ol' I'JiiniiH', Imt |py iimiiy tlits Miiililii lidraiUi of Norway is bfliuvuil to l»o idcnlii'iil. It is iKiiuitii-, uiid iiii i'X|)i'rl lisiiur, yd livon imii'li upon biiils, raifu, mid other hiiiuII aiiinmU. It i.s oasily wiiiturud liy iiiiy kind of tni|i, and nioro gciicnilly by wliat aro cuilod "(load Calls," such as aro ooninionly usod to caloh various i'ur animals, liy inakiiif^ tlioin pull a loy or otlior weiyhl down on tlionisulvos wlion thoy aru (iii^oiny at tlio liait. It is uIhu ouufj^ht in tm]m liku thouo oinployod in tho cajitiiru of tlu; martens. In !oiij,'tli it is twonty inolios on an avorayu from llio tip of tin; nose to tliu root ol' tho tail, and tho tail itsull' is about ton inulios in lon;,''th. it is found all over tho North Ainorioan Continont, and tliou^fli anothor ttpueios (/*. uiyreiiceiilvn) has boon dosorii)od in Audubon and Haolimaii's work on " Amorioan Unadrupods," it is ])robablo that this is nioroly tho oonimon mink inidor throo yoars of aj^o.* I', lumjUatuUi and P, Noveljorucvitm aro more doubtful. In 1S50, :J15,()00 woro tradod in North Auierioa. Of lato yoars it has rim'ii in prico, and sovoral yoai-s ayo it roso from Is. to l;!s. or I Is. This was vory fatal to tho mink — ►io fatal, indood, that Ihoro was an attempt to brood it in doniostioatioii. Tho " minkorios," howfvor, Mr. Uowan tolls us, did not pay, tho fur of tho tamo mink boiny nmoh inferior tu that of tho wild aninud. Tho wolverine, or ylutton {(Julo Imcim, p. lOS^, has boon tho subjeet of endloss misropresentutions and fables by the earlier writers, and its history is to this day surrounded with a good deal of mystilication. The aeoount in Goldsmith is probably tho best und most innocent summary of all tho errors whioh had boon written on it up to his time. Its habits uro similar to those of the marten, but though, as a rule, it lives on birds, hares, and mioo, it will occasionally kill sickly or disabled doer. The chief thing remarkable about it is that it follows the footsteps of the trapper to prey on the hare, marten, beaver, or other animal that may be caught in his traj), or to feed upon the bait; or perhaps it is directed by scent to the trapped animals, as it is almost impossible to fully believe in the intelligence of an animal which imdorstands the mission of a hunter. The very stronge.st vik/ies or concealoil stores it will break into, and after satisfying its hunger it will carry oft' all tho pieces of meat to some distance, and then bury thom in the snow. Mr. lloss tells us that their hidden stores can be recovered by following tho animal's footjjrints, but in general thoy are quite uneatable, as the wolverine, to protect its secret hoards from the attacks of other beasts of prey, besprinkles all its larder plentifully with its urine, which has a strong and most disagreeable odour, and proves a good preservative in most civses. " But tho desire for accumulating property," writes tho eminent fur-trader and accomplished naturalist, whom we have already quotctl, " soems so deeply implanted by nature in this animal, that, like tanio ravens, it does not appear much to care what it steals, so that it can exercise its favourite propensity to commit mischief. An instance occurred within my own knowledge in whidi a hunter and his family, having left their lodge unguarded during their absence, found it on their retm-n completely gutted ; the walls were there, but nothing else. Blankets, guns, kettles, axes, cans, knives, and all other paraiihcrnalia of a trapper's tout, • liu.is; " CiimiJmn N»turiiUst," Vol. vi. (1861), p. 30. 200 THE COrNTIUE.S OF THE WORLD. had vaiiisliod, and (ho tnii !is left l)y llio Ix-ast showed who had been the thief. The family set to work, and hy (iiivrully f'ollowinjj up all it.s paths, recovered, with some tridinjif exceptions, the whole of the lost property. The damage which it does to a lrai)pinr>'-road is very gvoM ; indeed, if the animal cannot be killed it is as well to aljandon it, as it will not only break the traps and eat the bait or animals caught, but also, out ol' sheer malice, will carry away the slicks and hide them at sonic distance. To kill or catch it is very difficult. An old stager is a regular bugbear to the Indians. ' Master,' said one Ki-u animals: the i.ynx. (I.yiir. Canmlcusiii.) to mo, in bis own language, ' f can't hnnt furs; the wolverine eats the martens and baits, and sriashes my traps. I put a stool trap for him ; he got in, Imt released himself by screwing off the nuts confining the spring with his teeth. I set a gun; he cut the cord attached to the trigger, ate my bait, and broke the stock; what shall I do?' As the infallible strychnine had not then made its appearance in those parts, I could offer him neither advice nor assistance, and but little consolation." Its centre of range is in the coldest portions of the North; it has even been known to visit Jlelvillc Island, in lat. 75", The fur of the wolverine is of a dark nut-))rown, and is chiefly used in (ivrmany for trimming i-loaks. The American wolf is found in several varieties — or species, as they arc callcHl by THE FUR ANIMALS. 201 some. They nro shot, trapped, cmi^ht by pitfalls, and poisoned, especially by strychnine. The type of thoni all is the fjrcy or strongwood woli' (C((«/« occ/i/en/n/it, var. flvUeun). There are at least five species of fox in North America, the black, silver-grey (or kit fox), and Cioss iox being varieties of Vulpes fulvns. The black and silver-grey are highly valued as furs, the skins often bringing from £l(t to L'li), and sometimes even idl) each. lie therefore is a fortunate trapper who can bring to a trading-post a few of these skins. ' 1'y cord the him the 75". • for It is i^eldMm seen in thii; country, only the luxurious Russian nobles, and others of like wealth and laste, buying it. Foxes are captured by wooden trajis, by gin or steel traps, by set guns, by sna^'ing, by hook and line, by hunting, by unearthing, and by ice traps. Hook and line is an out-of-the-way method iidopted for capturing a land animal. It consists simply in baiting a hook with a tish or other substance, watching the bait, and when the fox bites hauling it in and killing it bel'ore the fox has time to out the line. It is more a curiosity in " trapj)ing,'' than anything else. Ice traps are more suceessfid thiMi wooden ones. A block of ice of some weight is tilted on end at an angle of aliout 15". A piece of stick sw])poi-ts it, the lower end resting on the bait. The fox enters the tra]), and in tugging at the bait brings the block of ice down upon iiim, when it either kills or ini])risons him until the hunter arrives and gives the unwary Northern Reynaru tiie 26 Of 10 THE COUNTWKS OF TUK WUKLD, coup lie fjrdcc, if indeed he does not already find him frozen. Tlie Yellow Knife Indians and the liskimo also adopt tbis method of capturing the white foxes of the shores of the Arctic Ocean. The Canadian otter [Liilra Canaihmis) — "a magniiied mink" — is also a valuable fur animal, wliieh is extensively trapped for its skin ; its ilesh being rank i nd unpalatable. Unlike the beaver, when caught it does not leave its foot in the trap, and escajie. A good skin is worth from 20s. to 25s., but there is nothing which varies more in price than furs, fashion being the main agent which regulates the fluctuation of the prices. The Lnlra Coli/oniwa is probably a distinct species found on the Pacific coast. The Chinese and iiussians use the fur, but it is inferior to that of the British otter, about 500 of which are annually collected. The sea-otter {luihi/dni marinu) is ([uite a different and infinitely more valuable fur. It is found iu the North Pacific, and will be noticed ia due course. Tlie raccoon [Vroci/oii Inlor, p. 209), and the lynx, or loup-cervier {Li/nx CdiuiJentir) (p. 200), we can only mention as well-known animals of North America — a variety (/'. //cnuni(/rii) of the 'coon being also found on the North Pacific shores. Its skin is now little valued. Tlie skunk [Mcji/iilis Americana, occiJeulatis and bicolov) may also lie passed here as hastily as the reader, if he were wise, would pass this enfant dit diaOle — as the vaj/ayeurn call it — in its native haunts j while the herds of Iniffalo which roam the great central plains of America are too wt'l known to need more than a me. lOn in this jilace. The musk-ra(, or inus(piash [Flljcr /jUjetieits and /'. Osoj/oosennU) , is more interesting. It forms "houses" something like those of the beaver. The Indians kill them by spearing them through the walls of these houses, making the approach cautiously. Their ilesh is eaten by the trappers, but it is not to be commended. Tiiere are at least four varieties of it — the black mus(juash, the pied musqisash, the wiiite musquash, and the oi-dinary brown one. About one million skins are annually traded over America, but since it has ceased to Ijc used as a napping for hats it is not so highly valued. It is also used as a " lady's fur," but the skins, though very pretty, are not wortli more than lOd. or Is. in Canada. The stoat, or ermine {Mi(>ifcki crmineu), is probably as well known in Europe as in America, and its fur is also extensively used for tlie less expensive description of trimming. In the time of Edward III. it was, however, restricted to the Koyal Family, and it is still the fur with which the robes of judges are Irimmed. The black spots are snp2)licd by the animals' black- tipped tails. "Miniver" is ermine studded with black spots made of the skin of the black Astracan Irunli, and worn by people of certain rank on State occasions in l*lngland. In summer the skin is brown, and of no value. It is only iu the winter or white coat that it is called ermine by the fur-traders, and known in commerce. In the time of Charlevoix it was exported from Canada, with other small furs„ under the litle of nienua pcUcteriei. It is everywhere mimcr.us, but very few arc now imported into England, the value being so trilling as scarcely to repay the cost of collection. In Siberia and Norway, liowever, IJiey :nv a considerable article of trade, being taken in the former country in traps baited with (lesh, while in the latter they are, accoriling to Dr. King, either shot with blunt arrows, or taken as garilen-mice arc in England — by a Hat stone projipiMl up by a 1)aited stick, wiiich falls down on the least touch and crushes them. Iu winters of unusual severity it is said THE FL'I! ANIMALS. 203 to miffrate, Imt goncvally it prefers, iC wit'.iin reach of a fiir-postj to domesticate it.-elt' iu tlio trader's Louse, where it may Ije heard the livelong nijjlit pursuing' the Miis /eiicoj)ii,i, or white-footed mouse, on wliicli it feeds. On the nortliern shores of Smith's sound the oflircrs of the A/e7-f and iJ/nrnrcrj/ found <jreat numhors preyinjy on the lemming', and in their turn were devoured by tlio snowy owl (p. l.'J7). Lynx, we may add, is used for cloak-linihi^s aud faein<js. Tiie demand is consideraljle, and the animal is only referred to for the sake of describing the medicated cabin in which it is eani,'-ht, in describing which we shall Iwrrow the notes of Mr. Bernard lloss, on the fur animals of the Mackenzie River district. It is the most efficacious m«.':iod of capturing the animal. " A round inclosuro of some three feet in diameter is made of small willows or branches of trees, loosely j)lanted in the snow, and about four feet high. Two entrances are left at the opposite sitles, each fitted with a snare. In the centre of the indosure the medicated skin is placed, inserted in a cleft stick about eight inches distant from the snare. The snare is more commonly tied to the middle of a loose stick, about thirty inches long by three in diameter, and which is supported on two pronged branches set ou each side of the entrance. When circumstances are favourable, the ' to5sing-pole' is sometimes used, and it is the most certain fashion. The animal, on scenting the castoreum, inserts its head, or sometimes its fore-foot, into the noose, which, owing to the long tips on the l^'nx's ears, remains securely on the neck when once passed there. After enjoying aud rolling itself in the perfume, it moves off, but on finding the stick thumping after its heels it l)ecomes alarmed, and makes for the nearest woods. The stick soon catches in the bushes, and in a short time the animal, instead of cutting the line, strangles itself, or, if caught by the paw, remains fixed until the hunter arrives to, give it a roiij) ile i/niW. Ou stune occasions it will gain the top of a lofty tree, aiul ou springing off, to rid itself, as it fancies, of the stick, it hangs itself in a superior manner, and puts the trapper to the trouble of cutting down the tree, which is gcneralh' a large one." The lynx is also valued as an article of food, both by the Indians and the " winterers." The beaver is also attracted by its castoreum (piite as surely as the lynx; hence the trapper's aliirmation of anything being very certain is that it is "sure — sure as beaver medicine.'" The beaver (Cui/or fiUKidi'ii-i'iK, p. 1 10) was at one time the most important of all the fin* animals. Owing to its low jiriee, it now ranks among the least important, and as tli(> habits of the animal have been often described, among others by the author,* it is unii('ie-">iary to dwell upon its natural history, about which much nonsense has been wrilttMi. AVhen the price fell, the animal was getting extinct. It has now multi]»lied again; but of late years, owing chiefly to the growing scarcity of other furs, beaver has ;ig;iin been rising iu price. The co\nitry is also getting opened up, so that we may soon expert this as well as other furs to have an enhanced value. Till' habits of the western (Pacific) beaver are, I believe, dilfcrent from those of the beaver as found iu Canada and the eouiitry east of the Rocky Mountains, though the species seem the same. I have never heard of the nicely-plastered, dome-shaped house in the former region, though all writers agree that they are found iu the latter ".lournal of till' Linnran Society" (Zoolcig}), Vul. x. aOi THE COUNTlilES OF TUK WOULD. part. On the western slope of the Rocky Mountains their " houses," when they have any — for they sometimes live in holes in the banks — look like a large bundle of sticks thrown on the surface of a pond or still river-reach. They, however, always, when necessary, erect dams across streams. This is done for many reasons — to deej)en the water round their camp, enabling them to dive and so escape, and also to lloat down trees they may have cut on the banks, as a ])rotcction against severe winters which would freeze shallow water to the bottom, to prevent their beds being flooded, and therefore to equalise the height of water throughout the year, and, according to Mr. llowan, "for the amusement it affords them." If there is likely to be a freshet, they will cut an opening in their dams, and so let the water off. When forced by the n'-s itiiyiiKtiie eaulrcniis to live on beaver while exj)loring the interior of Vancouver Island, we i.sed to break down their dams — and that, even with the aid of the a.xe, was no easy matter — and shoot the beavers out (>f ambush when they came down stream in a hurry to see what was the matter. It was cruel sport, but the hunter's life is not, at best, a very humane one, and hunger generates a loose code of morals. Tor the Irajjping of beavers I must refer the reader to ^Ir. Rowan's work on Canada, the si)ecial treatisi," by Mr. Morgan, and to my own paper and the rcferciiccs there given, only cautioning him that he nnist not believe all he hears about the beaver. It is an intelligent — very intelligent — animal, but it is not superhuman in its wisdom. It weighs, when full grown, over 10 lbs., and its llesh, when smoked, is by no means contemptible. In the Hudson's Bay Territory — that was — we have seen that beaver is the standard of trade. In former times it was also the currency of the backwoods settle- ments of the United States and Canada, and to this day it forms the crest of the young Dominion. The beaver lias also influenced the jihysical features of the countries it is found in. Some of the smaller lakes and many of the meadows in the beaver country are due to them. " First of all, the small brook is dammed ; by and by the dam becoines solid, and forest trees take root and grow on it ; as otlier outlets of the water occur they are dosed by these indefatigable workers, till at length the pond assumes the i)roportions of a lake, and remains for all time to attest to their powers. The meadows are formed by the draining of the lakes. The beaver has loft mun" iicrnianoiit iiml eiuluiing monu- ments of its existence on the surface of the country than the aboriginal inhabitants of Canada have left, or are likely to leave." * The black bear (rmin .Imeriuaiiiti), and its variety the cinnamon bear, ranges over all North America, as does also the gri/zly (If. horriii/it). The I'olar bear is limited to the shores of the Arctic Ocean (Plate III. and p. 1^37). The fir.st is chiefly a vegciable feeder, and unless when the female is guarding her young, is very harmless. The grizzly, on the contrary, is about the most ferocious animal on the American continent, and is avoided rather than sought after by the hunter. Brown bears are numerous in the wilder sections of Canada, in some parts of which a reward of three dollars is given by the (Jovernment for every one killed, on the ground that their extermination is desirable, owing to the damage they do to flocks. "The Kmijjiiiiit ami S|iort9man in Canada," Iij- J. J. Uuwan (1870), p. 370. 209 TirE COUNTRIKS OF TIIK WOIUiD. By somo the "bnri'cn i^round" bear {!'. nrcl'm) is beliovod lo bo different from the yrizzly. It is certainly identical with the brown bear of Europe. The skins of the bears aiv used for making' riij^ and hammer-elotlis, and in Anieriea lor sledife-riigs. The deer are not fur animals proper, but they are nevertheless characteristic members of the North America fauna. The moose {.Uccx America nn), the largest of the family to which it belong's, is found over most of the wild jwrtions of British North America, though rarer on the western side of the Rocky Jlountains than in the eastern wooded regions. It is by no means an elegant-looking animal, and has the appearance of an " immense Roman-nosed horse," with a long (lexible upper lip, which forms a movable snout, like a short proboscis. It is hunted in ^larch and September. It would be useless to follow it when the snow is soft, as it can then wade through it without difficulty, but when there is a thin crust on the stu'face this greatly impedes the progress of the animal, as it has to lift its feet perpendicularly out of the snow, or cut the skin around the shanks. Their sense of smell is 80 acute that to £ret near their "yard" it is necessary to approach them like most other deer, against the wind. The slightest creak of a twig will startle and alarm them, when they instantly start off on a long trot, which they never abate until fatigue compels them to give in. If a large dog be used to hunt them it will be soon trampled to death. Accordingly, several small curs are usually' employed. They do not attack the moose, but annoy it by snapping at its heels. If pressed, the male usually fights, thus giving t'lo hunter time to come up and dispatch it while it is occupied with the dogs. " Sometimes," writes Mr. Kendall, " they are killed after a run of an hour ; at other times you may run -■•ll day, and have to camp at night without a morsel of provisions or a chiak, as everything is let go the moment the moose starts, and jou are too nuich fatigued to retrace your stops to procure them. Your only resource is to make a good lire, and comfort yourself upon the prospect of plenty of moose meat next day. As soon as the animal finds he is no h)nger pursued, he lies down, and the next morning he will be too stiff to travel far." Cionerally a male, female, and two fawns are found in a yard. In September it is also killed by two persons selecting a moonlight night to go out ali>ng the borders of a lake in a canoe. They then imitate the cry of the male, which, jealous of intruders, rushes down into the water. AVhen it comes near thi;y fire, and if it be not killed outright they follow it in the woods to which it has taken itself next day by means of the dripping blood. Its flesh is good, though coarse, and is tougher than any other kind of venison. The nose and tongue are the tit-bits. The barren ground reindeer {TaninilKs arc/irni) is another typical animal of the fur countries. The woodland caribou {liaiigifer Cii-'iLon), tinother species of reindeer, is found in Labrador, Northern Canada, and over the continent to British Columbia. Its name has been applied to the celebrated gold-diggings of that name in British Cdumbia, on account of the discoverer finding reindeer near William's Creek. It is different from the European species, though, like it, it travels in herds of from eight or ten to two or three hundred. The Indians kill them with bow and arrow, or gun, take them in snares, or spear them in crossing rivers or lakes. The Eskimo also trap them in ingenious traps made of ice or THE rUR AJ;ilIAL3. £0/ snow. Tlicy are so easily approached ami slauf^litereJ that an Indian family will, it is said, sonietinies kill two or three hundred in a few weeks, for their tongues alune. The wapiti, or Canadian stay {Elap/iu^ Caiiai/eimis), is known as the " elk " o.. the Pacilic coast, where it is found abundantly, and highly valued for its venison. Its magnifieent .vntlers average thirty-live to forty-tivc pounds in weight, but will often attain to a niueh greater size. They sometimes measure six feet from tip to tij), and eleven inches in cireumfereneo above the burr. Of the deer we need only mention the common species {CercuH ViryuiiaiiuH), the white- tailed deer {V. leucunta), the mule deer [V. wuci-ulin), and the bluck-tuiled, of the Pacific slope {G. CiilniiiljianH-i). There are various species of fur seal used, the hunting and nature of which we shall have occasion to speak of by-and-by. The hair seals are chiefly used for making leather, and have no value in the ej'es of the fur merchant. Ilai-es, especially the whiti; Arctic and Alpine si)ecies, are used as linings for cloaks, but though beautiful when dyed, are not duralde. At one time they were much used as a substitute for fur, but this employment of Ihem is now nearly discontinued. Rabbit skins are also dyed to imitate other furs. They are also used by hatters, and by the Poles to line their coats and cloaks. Squirrels of various species are classed among the fur animals, but are chiefly in demand for Kussia. About 15,000,000 are sold. Several of the better class are dyed to imitate sable. They are made into boas and muffs, and the hair to a small extent is employed in the manufacture of artists' lieiicils. The fur is light, and tolerably durable. The biidger, both the European and the American species {Ta.vUea vulgarh, T. Americana, and T. Labrailorlca), are classed amongst the coarser furs. The hair of the European species is, or was, however, chiefly used in this country to make shaving-brushes. These are the principal fur animals of America ; but though the bulk of our furs conies from that country and Siberia, yet we are not dopondent solely on them for the supply. The litchot, or polecat of Euroiie, the kolinski of Northern Asia, the nutria, or coypou, of Buenos Ayros and Chili, the hamster of Central Europe, th; porwitzky of the South-eastern territories of Asiatic Kussia, the chinchilla of South America .vnd Africa, the ordinary domestic cat (bred in Holland for that purpose), the opossum, the dasyure, or Australian cat, the goat, sheep, the marmot, the colobus of Africa, the Diana monkey, and even others, arc known in c'onunerce. 13ut it woidd be foreign to our plan to describe them now, more especially as wo may have occasioA in due time to touch ui)on the animals which supply them, as they II lino before us in the countries in which they are respectively found. It niay, however, be c'liivenient to present in this place a brief synoptical summary of the whole fur-trade, more es]iocially as an opportunity to do so will not occur again. It need scarcely be remarked, after what we have said, that all of the furs enumerated are not found in i\\c fur countries of America. It is diflieult to present tables showing the prices paid fur furs in different parts of the fur loiintries. Those vary slightly at different times, but -till more so in dift'oront localities. Above all, the prices which the furs bring in England differ very widely year by year. I have Ijcon miable to obtain any very recent tables. However, the following, which was compiled nearly forty years ago, is valuable, in so far that it exhibits the price of five principal furs in a "palmy " epoch of the fiu'-trade, and is useful as showing the relative value of the furs 208 THE COUNTKIKS OF TIIK WOULD. "in tlie country" and in Ijondon, and iiUo llic proportionate valuo of one fur to another. It was obtained from oltieial materials, and relates solely to the reyion east of the lloeky Mountains cnihraecd in the " Royal Lieeiiee"of the Hudson's JJay (."onipany. At that time tile " Western Distriet " was almost a /rrni iiico'/iiifd : — Ilia rr. .Malliii. ^• ihi'l I'lix. I,.\M\. (Mill. rrimi' Oist. Al'liHi-H sllliplkil to tile lliiliilli-'. 1 — V.I .M iiii'l .. ' Miilki'l ■^"■, Valllr. 1 ' S. .: '1. Xii. .Miiikcl \i, Mi iki' Miiiki'l S (1. All. \ line. Viiliic. € s. .1, Vn lac. ./ No. Vlllllr. iC '■ ■'. S. s. (1. •1-1 (1 1 (tun 20 ;i2 10 lilll -10 10 .'l .'iD 20 20 20 2a HI li 1 dill (iilKiiit 2 wiiie-.^lassis cf 1 rowilcr .... 1 12 (i 11 ' 2 li 11 1 2 10 I 1 1 1 a (i I| is 1,1'iiilcn liiilli'tH . 1 12 (i a 2 li li 2 10 1 1 1 1 a i; (1 1 H Chiinrcs (if Shot . 1 12 (i a 2 li li 2 10 I 1 1 1 a 11 1. 1 10(iim Kliiits 1 12 (! a 2 li li ^ 2 10 I 1 I 1 a 11 1 (i 1 \\L' 1 17 li ii 11 111 li y. 7 10 :i ;t a a 10 11 12 n 1 CiippiT Ki'ttl<' (li t,'!illon> II) 2ii II II IS a7 1 .', 40 IG Hi Hi IS 10 II (1 2 1 Firu-stecl .... 1 12 i; a 1 2 li 1 2 10 1 1 1 1 3 11 (t 4 1 Sriilpinft-knilV 1 12 li a 2 11 '71 2 10 1 1 1 1 a 11 (i 1 File (K-inch) :i .■) II li. 4 la II X .') ') 2 't 2 7 !) Toliiicco-lio.x Mini Iluniini^-Lrl;!^.- :i .') II li 4 la ■/. .') • t o o 2 7 11 J 1 t'Diniii'm lliirti ( unili . 1 12 li a , 2 11 11 TT 2 10 1 i I 1 a li -ii S Awls 1 12 li ai 2 li 11 - 2 10 1 1 II 1 1 a li :tj 1 Dcizcn Brass Itiittdtis , 1 12 C, a| 2 11 li ^' 2 111 1 I n 1 1 a 11 a 12 liniss I''iii,u;(r-i-iii!;.s a .) 4 i.a II _1 .") 2 'i •i 2 7 1 f) Clay Toliaccii-iiiiH'H . 1 12 li a' 2 li li ~. 2 10 U 1 1 1 1 a 11 t 1 I'liiiir-iiKiiiiitcd .Miri-or . 1 12 li a 2 li li ^ 2 10 I 1 1 1 a li 10 1 ruiiiul «f lliails . !» 1.') II IS la 111 II i 1.-, 6 G li 7 1 II :)i fi (liinics (if Tiiliaccd 1 12 li a 2 11 li ^^ 2 10 II 1 1 II I 1 :i 11 » i'l 1 lllunkct ;:i-iKiint) jilaiii III Hi ') II ao 2a .') II - 2,-) II 10 10 II HI U l.'i II 7 sti'ipcil 12 111 HI II ,:ili 27 IS '*' ao 12 12 12 1 1 2 II 12 Mall's Sl(>ii-i'(iat (laiyc) . 12 111 111 II .ili 27 IS S? 30 12 12 12 11 2 II 5 :i liiiy's ,, (laiiiistl . S 2 li 1.') 11 12 11 '< 12 10 II .*! .'i .'» .-I 17 li 2| fi Yards (if tiartciiiii; 1 12 li a 2 11 li 5 2 10 1 1 1 1 a li G n 1 I'air iif ■J'nmsi.'rs 11 12 li 27 , 20 IK 1) 22 10 I) !l II II !) HI II G 1 !) 1 Shirt (Cdttim) . I 17 9| G 19 G 7 III a a a :i 10 G n (^ 1 llaiidkcicliiif (Ciitldn) . 1 12 3 1 2 G y. 2 10 II 1 I 1 1 .a G (1 :> 1 Oiincf' (if Vcrniilioii . 1 12 3 2 G U 2 III 1 1 1 1 a G 1 1 I'int (if Hum fwatcrcd)* 1 12 3 1 2 n 2 10 _L 1 ^_i '. ■■'< G lii in i Mot liMW siiiiplicd ;is ;m .-irlitl ■ .if Ini.li' The foUowinj^ list of the numboi's of the chief furs impurted into England is only approximate, as is drawn up from materials obtained at various dates within the last twenty- tivc years :— Raccoon, 525,000 ; beaver, (iO,(l(l() ; chinchilla, 85,000 ; bear, 0,500; Usher, 11,000; reil fox, 50,00(1; cross fox, l^oOO ; silver fox, 1,000; white fox, 1,50(1; sroy fox, 20,000; lynx, 55,000; martens, 1:30,000; mink, 215,000 ; musk-rat, 1,000,000; otter, 17,500; fur seal, 15,000; wolf, 15,0(10; stone and baum marten, 12,000; s(|uirrel, ;],000,000; fitehet (polecat), (15,001; kolinski, 5:5,410; ermine, 187,101; rabbit, 120,000; wolverine, 11,200; skunk, 1,200; sea-otter, IdO. Of course, a larjyc proportion of each of these furs is exported For instance, in a list published in 1851, it was i-oported that no wolverine, skunk, or sea-ottev were used in this country. Up to the time of the (ireat Exhibition in 1851, monkey was also an unknown fur. But at that time, according to Dr. Lankcster, some black monkey skins, belonging to the genus CnlnhnK, attraete<l the attention of a London fur-dealer, much to the misfortune of the ape family. Since that date they have had little peace, and have hlll.it Valii.-. i ID (i :i (j (1 li s Hi (1 1 3 (; S 7 1) 1 7 , a (i 1 .'1 u 1 :! (i i 1 1 :', li 1 1 1 :'. lo 1 ■» ') •> 17 1 :i 11 HI 1 .-) 1 TIIK iru TliAPK. 209 lii't'n killi'il by tens of thousaiuls in tlio Al'ririin I'orosts. Hut tlio ncj-Tues, boin;,' thus induccil tij uiiiki; Wiir witli niDnkoys, fcusotl to soniu extent to do war aniony tliLMnsolvos, iiiul liuiiij? IVll AMMAl.s; THE llAl lOON (PfOC'm t«ior). iiblc to sell the black skins to Kng'lainl, had not the same tomi)tation to sell their black brothers to America. Furs are all brought to this country unprepared, but in the trade are divideil into felted furs and dressed furs. The former arc used for hat-making', and are confined 27 210 THE CorXTUIKs OK riiK woitr.D. to a few animals wliicli possess hair lit for fcltiny. llari", rabbit, iicutria, boavcr, &c., arc tho tliicf ones eniploj'eil ; Ijiit the ilumaiul is not nearly so extensive as it once was, as silk is Found to be a niueli more economical material for hat-makin<^ than " lieaver." Tiiu particular furs in ilemanil in the chief fur-consuiniiiy countries of tlie world are shown in the following table, to which the same remarks apply as the others : — All ..tl.i.r Ci.iiiiln.- 1.. »lur|, Kux. Muilcii. OIUt. ltU<'|..|.||. .Mu»k Hilt. lJ*!t\cr. ll.inwitiil ltalil.lt. (iiuil. Sh.'i'i.nti.l l^iliil*. i'i.nni);{to ilni..iit,.|. fnitcd St/itcs 3,ill'J 18,400 10.1,008 valiii'. .£42,110 _ 22,123 1,103,111 H. N. Amiii" 11 — 2,21!l — — — — — — — il,i(i:i Uussi.i . . . — ^_ 31,731 — — . — _- . 4.213 Hiinitiur); . . 118,271 lj,736 10,074 (102,000 1,372,420 C.'>,322 000,138 035,800 300,455 100,814 IJrrllK'll — _ — — 23,084 -- — — — — llaniivor . , 2,412 — 30,U0S 79,328 4,438 — — 40.001 — HflKimii . . — — — — — 102,710 11,258 210,358 4,310 l''r.iiuc . . . 3,303 fi.470 — — 72,384 — 320,000 180,247 53,018 28,752 I hong — — — — — — 5,422 Hriuil . . — — — — — — — 19,904 10,830 Other Cumitrii s 2,043 1,061 1,311 1,973 14,441 309 48,018 22,078 38,400 5,H10 Holliiu.l . . — — __ — 1,103,030 154,283 107,203 — 126,029 28,444 17,385 007,298 1,584,389 70,120 2,301,405 1,198,833 2,032,501 £214.101.' The tricks of trappers in America, and of fur-dealers in England, wotild lead us far beside our subject. SulKce it to say that both are not unknown. When beaver is valtiable, the former were in the habit of rubliing blood and sanil into the tlesb side of the skin to weigbten it. To blacken fox-skin is a lucrative bit of knavery, and if skilfully d.ine, has l)een known, even in modern times, to impose on men bj- no means in their noviciate in fur-trading. To sew the head and tail of a valuable fur on to the Iwdy of a similar, but much loss valuable one, is likewise an ancient fraud on very young ti-aders. TIic fur " manufacturers " arc also in their own way not ignorant of the tricks of trade; but space will not admit of touching 01) this branch of our sulijcct. The fair wearers of furs may, however, rest assurcxl that they are not always wearing the skin of the animal which the label professes it to bo. Beaver is often passetl off for seal-skin, and the sable, of the pclisnier, is not invariably that of the zoologist. The Hudson's Hay Company have, or had, sales nf their furs three times in the year. In January the she-bears and musquasb from (^inada, Labrador, and Hudson's Bay are disposetl of. In !March, bears, foxes, otters, wolves, fishers, martens, and minor furs from the same regions, are in the m.irket ; while in Seplember the peltry from North-West America is sold. The other fur com]ianies follow suit. The prices vary much from year to year. For instance, raccoons havo been as low as Cd., and on one occasion, when fashion made a demand for them, they ran up to "iSs. each. I have written so much about the trapper, that the reader might be spared anything more. However, in concluding what I have to say about tlie wide and interesting fur countries, and the varied and valuable fur animals, I may be allowed to end this chaptei' with a passage THE FL'll XKADE. JU from Mr. llowiiu's work relating to trapping lifo in Canada. It oxprcssos so well what [ had intended sayiiif;', that it is only just to ^ive it in the words of the writer who has anticipated nio in the publieatioii of it : — " I suppose tliere is no man who has more pity wasted upon him than the solitary tra])iier. In tlie opinion of those who are unini- liiited in the mystery ol' wooderaft, he is the most wretched of mortals. For months and months, often for a whole year, he lives (juite alone in the forest, or else with one <'omrade only. lie does without the comforts of civilised lite, and the pleasures of society, lie has no church to jjo to on Sunday; no doctors to prescrihe to him if he is ill. In fact, in the opinion of the <^'rey;arious city man, his condition of life is little, if at all, better than that of a prisoner in a dunf,'eon. Ihit there are two ways of lookinjy at most snhjeets, and the trapi^r's life is no exception to the rule. The forest is the dapper's home; there are all his friends, not hnman oidy, but not less dear on that account, lie thinks, and I who have tried the life fully enter into his feelin),'s, tiiat there is no mode of existence so enjoyable as that of the trapper in the Canadian forest. lli; has no church near, it is true, but it by no means follows that he has no reli|i5'ion. On the contrary, there is a reliyion in the pine forest. Xowhere else does he feel so utterly and entirely dependent on the Giver of all <^o(xl. He has no doctor to consult, liut, except in rases of accident, he never wants one; there is no bad drainujje iu the wood, no bad smell, no bad ventilation, no epidemics; he has a daily and nightly tonic in the bracing air; and the pure water is the best of medicine. He has no time for dyspepsia and its companion the 'blues;' his fare is simple, but his .appetite is ijood; and on his fragrant bed of boughs, after his hard day's labour is over, he slec'i)s the sleep that the city man could not buy for millions. To him there is no liiin.'liness so unbearable, no solitude so wearisome, as the solitude of a great city. True, iu the latter case he sees thousands of his fellow-creatures every day, Init of what use are they to him, or he to them? If, while gaping in amazement at the human hive, he ha[i|)ens to get run over by a cab, one or two passers-by may turn round to look at him, or even say, ' Poor fellow ! ' but that is all. Trul\-, in the tra])pcr's opinion, the loneli- ness of the city is inlinitely more oppressive than that of the forest," Mr. Kowan says, and after some little experience of the same life I can contirm his remarks, that when the fur season was ended, he was (juite sorry to say good-bye to the old smoke-stained camp that had been his home for nearly ten months, and on his return to civilisation he felt " as shy as a beaver,'" and often caught himself involuntarily looking on the streets for "tracks." One word more — and this last word to the fur countries apjilies to most of the wild countries we shall have yet to traverse — it is a mistaken idea that men lose sight of each other in the '•' wilds of America." 1 was never so much Impressed with the smallness of the world as when I was a vag.djond there. I was always coming across men in British CoIuml)ia or Oregon, whom I believed to be in Hudson's Bay and Manitoba. Years after I used to almost daily meet in the Strand, or in llegont Street, the friends whom I had biilden good-bye to at Fort Rupert or at lloguo liiver. The truth is, in an unpeo]iled country the men to be kept in view are few. In w great city, or in a tIiickly-j)eopled laud, your next door ueighbo'T is a stranger to you. Hence the seemi g paradox. iu TllK tUL'NTlUKS fiK THE WOHLD. CHAITKR XF. TiiK DoMiN'ioN 01 Canada: Oxtaiiio; Qikdko. IJi' to the year 18(i7, Cunadii was at oiiw a v.v^w and a uircmnsfribeJ term. It was vai,'ao ill so far that the jurisilii'tion of the iiiiileliiieil territories oi' tiio Iliulson's Bay Company were su])])ugcd to beloriff to it, while in reality the ooliiiiy had little, if any, power in tlio fur eoiiiitries. The State was strietly applied lo tiie i)r(iviiii't's ni' Oiitarici and (iiicher, or in JINITIOS OI TllK KIVKIIS hT. I,A» IIKN< H AMI OTTAWA. other words to U])per and Lower Ciinada. In ISIO, they were united into one colony, thoufj;'Ii afterwards they sei)arated, only, however, to lu'come nii'inhers of the eonf'ederation brought, alx)ut in JS(i7. (iradually the Iludsdii Hay Territories came under the eoiitrol of Canada, then IJritish Columbia was added, thi'ii all the maritime colonies, with the exeoption of Newfouiulland, until at the present time the whole of liritisli North America — Newfoundland exee])ted — is classed under the name which heads this chajiter. It was tirst explored — one might almost say discovered — by Jac((ues Carter, in lo.'J.'). From lliOS to 175!.) tho country was ruled ))y the French. In that year, however, (ieiieral Wolfe struck the first blow at Gallic dominion, and in 17t!-'J Canada came under British rule. At that time it comprised part of what is now the I'nited Stales, but in 17S'i the sites of tho after states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, ]\Iiehigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, were surrendered to the young American THE 8TATI8TIUH Ol" CANADA. !il;3 |{i>pulilir. Wlicn, in lH(i7, the eastern iwrtion of the country confoderated under the title «{' tlio Dominion of Caniidu, while owinj,' allegiance to the lOiinlisth crown, and receiving ii (iovernor-deiioral from the mother country, it became to all intents and piu'poses inde- ]ii'ii(leiit, and now governs itself by institutions mainly modelled on those of Kngland. In ;i short time it has absorbed the other British colonies, aii<l in the course of a few years \v(! cannot doubt but that this young and vigorous oll'siiring of IJrituiii will rule all America north of the boundaries of the Tnitcd States. 'I'lu' iircseiit provinces are Ontario, ISLANDS AT THE MOITH OF THE lllVEIl ST. tAWHENCE. Quebec, Nova Scotia, Now Brunswick, Prince Edward I.slnnd, Manitoba, British Columbia, and the great undefined hunting-grounds of the Hudson's Bay Company, which we have already described. These arc known for convenience' sake as the North-West Territory. Each of the provinces has its own Lieutenant-Governor, and Chamber of Ijegislature, and each sends representatives to the Dominion Parliament, whidi meets in Ottawa — the capital. It has— comprising all the male British inhabitants between eighteen and sixty — more than 4;5,00() militia, and the nucleus of a navy. Its area is about •'5,.')0((,',lOO square miles — or only 000,000 miles less than that of the whole of Europe, and excluding Alaska, which should rightly belong to ('anada, over 100,000 miles larger than the United States. The census of 1871 shows a population of .'^..'iTfi.OoO, so that if we now estimate the population at four millions, it will not be too great a number to fix it at. Ontario, 211. THK COrXTUIES OF THE WOULD. for instiuicCj increased in ton years at tlie rate of lO'lO per cent., Quoboc at the rate of 7*^0, Now IJrunswick at 13-;JS, Nova Scotia at 17'iJl — or take tho country as a whole, at the rate of liJ'bl) per cent., though it is believed that it is now even greater. The area of tlio provinces and territory, as given in odicial documents, is as follows : — Nova Scotia, ;2i,7'}l; New IJnniswick, 27,37;i; tiuobee, ll):3,.'J55; Ontario, 107,780; Manitoba, 17,yiO; British Cohimbia (including Vancouver Island), ;i20,000; Prince Edward Island, 1:J,173; and the Norlh-AVes'c Territory — much of which is useless for settlements — about 2,75(1,000 square miles. The population of the various provinces may be taken as follows : — ■ Nova Scutia, ;387,80u ; New Brunswick, 285,777; Quebec, 1, 101,570; Ontario, 1,020,850; Manitoba (in 1870), 11,85^3; British Columbia (estimated), 50,000, which, ho\.ever, includes Indians, who are in the majority; North- West Territory, 28,700, an estimate which com- l)risos the aborigines, who far outnumber the whites, and Prince I'Mward Island, 91,021, Fort}-(ive religious and irreligious denominations are given in the census of 1871 as dividing amongst them the population of Canada. Though some 5,000 people claimed to be "without creed," yet only twenty classed themselves avowedly as Atheists. Of these, nineteen were in Ontario, and one in Quebec. As the French population of Quebec is almost invariably Roman Catholic, it naturally follows that this religious body has tho most numerous adherents in Canada. Next in point of numbers come the Methodists; then closely following on them the Presbyterians and Episcopalians. There aio only about 1,200 Jjws — a fact which, as in the corresponding case of Scotland, speaks cither strongly fo'- the acuteness of the other inhabitants, or tiie poverty of the country — and but 70,800 Quakers. The Swedenborgians number more than .'3,000, the Universalists about a like number, while thirteen of the inhabitants of Ontario were, in 1871, Mo- liannnedans. The origin or the iKipulation of tho colonial offshoots of ICngland is always curious to study. Accordingly, when wo Ic 'i at Canada from this point of view, we iiud that, tho Africans in Ontario were 13,l;35; in Quebec, 118; in New Brunswick, 1,701; and in Nova Scotia, n,2]2. The Dutch in Ontario wore 19,992; in Quebec, 793; in Now Brunswick, 0,001; and in Nova Seoti;;, 2,808. The English numbered in Ontario, |:39, 1:211; in Quoboc, 09,822; in Now Brunswick, 8:3,598; and in Nova Scotia, 113,520. The French were in Ontario, 75,:38-'5; in Quebec, 929,817; in Now Brunswick, 11,907; and in Nova Scotia, .■52,s;3;}. There wore 158,008 Germans in Ontario, 7,903 in Quobee, 1,178 in New Brunswick, and •31,912 in Nova Scotia. Of (jrecks there wore 7 in Ontario, 7 in Quoboc, 1 in Now Brunswick, and 27 in Nova Scotia. There were 2 hall'-breeds in Onlario, but none are recorded from the other three provinces brought into tliis computation. Those are, we ])resume, half-brood Indians. If so, the statistics are erroneous, for througb lut Canada there are niariv such, though, wo presume, they did not choose in tho census so to describe thonisolvos. , i ^lanitoba the m.\joriiy of the population are of this class, ami in Briti.?h Columbia and the North-West Territory, they arc also numerous. The native Indians number in Ontario, 1-1,181; in Quebec, 10,813; in Now Brunswick, 1,380; in Nova Scotia, 1,7<'5 ; in Prince Edward Island, 323; in Manitoba and tlie North-West Territory, 28,300; and in British Columbia, 28,500. There were 8 Hindoos in Ontario, and 3 in Nova Scotia. The Irish wore as usual numerous, though the greater portion of them are Ulster men, or Scotch-Irish, as they are usually called, STATISTICS 01' CANADA. 21E the bulk of (ho Irish emigration flndiiify its way to the United States. From the Emorakl Isle there were accordingly in Ontario, .j5!I, lli; in Quebec, 1:J''5, 17S; in New l^runswick, 100,0 1.*}; and in Nova Scotia, OiJ,S.jl. Italians usually love balmier breezes than those of Canada, but still they muster even in our North American territories, where they form a useful industrious class. They were, in 1S71, in Ontario, .'3111- ; in Quebec, J'-ii^ ; in New Brunswick, 10; in Nova Scotia, li)2. Russian and Poles numbered in the four provinces respectively^ '■V3:l, ISO, 1, and 2S; the Scandinavians, (iSC, l-jl, 200, and 2S3, though of later years a small Icelandic immigration has to be added to these figures; the Scotcdi, .'328,889, 19, 1.58, 40,858, and 130,7 11. The Spanish and Portuguese were 21.3, 112, 22:3, and 251 r-^spectively in Ontario, (iuchec. New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. The Swiss were 950, 17.3, 61, and 1,775. The Welsh were 5, 282, 288, 1,090, and 1,112 respectively. There were other nationalities represented, but the above may be expected as fair specimenf' of the origin of the Canadian people — a people which is being continually recruited from liiu'opo, but has hitherto shown none of that tendency to die out when left to itself, which ethnologists declare is evident in the United States, where the native families are small in proportion to those of the foreigners. The trade of Canada is rapidly on the increase. In 1S67 the exports and imports, including those of Newfoundland, amounted to ly 9,202, 01 5 dols. ; and in 187:5 they had reached the potent figure of 235,30 1,20.3 dols., or almost doubled in six years. The revenue for 1872-3 was 20,118,572 dols., while in 1867-8 it was only 13,087,928 dols. 49 cents. The expendizure in 1807-S was 13,486,092 dols. 96 cents. In 1872-3 it was 20,751,120 dols., 20 cen.s. It ought, however, to be remarked that in the years 1872-3, there was a deficiency of 037,5 13 dols. 21 cents. The net debt of the Pominion in 1872, deducting assets, was 82,187,072 dols. The net debt thus amounts to 21 72 dols. per head, and the net interest to be paid r20 dols. per head. It ought to be remarked that of this debt of Canada not one cent was incurred by war or other worse than useless expenditure. It was all incurred for the construction of public works, of the greatest service to the country, which add to the revenue, and as the population increases, will still more l)e of value and profit to the young country. Among the most magnificent of these public works are the inter-colonial railway, the system of cana's, and " the construction of other works for communication across the Con- tinent," such as the Canadian Pacific Railway, which has, however, not yet (1877) been fairly begun, and will take more than one generation — in the present aspect of affairs — to complete. As a further contribution to an estimate of the material prosperity of Canada, we may add that v.-hilo in 1808 the paid-up capital of all the chartered bar.l's of Canada compelled to make ? return was 28,529,018 dols., and the deposits 3(l,l(i8,530 dols., in 1871 they stood at vospectively 00,413,415 and 78,790,307 dols. In 1871, there were in the Post Office Savings Ranks, 3,587,305 dols. ; in other Government Savings Ranks, 2,958,1 70 dols. 39 cents ; and in the Montreal City and District Savings Rank, 1,739,721 dols. 59 cents— in all, 11,312,213 dols. 15 cents. The combined Government and Hi'nk cirenlation amounted, at the end of the llscid year named, to 40,83.3,3(tl dols. Having thus briefly sketched the general aspects of Canada, so far as figures admit of this being done, we may now, before describing the country in its general relations to the googmplicr and settler, make a few remarks ou each province separately. Some of them we nil 216 THE COUNTRIES OF THE WOULD. have already referred to in our account of the fur countries, where it was necessary to describe the aspects of the old Hudson Bay Dominions, now included under the rule of the Dominion. Ontario. In many respects Ontario is the best, as it is the wealthiest, and most thickly-populated of all the Canadian provinces. Its climate is mild enough to favour wheat and fruit-growiii}^, and the great lakes in the vicinity, as well as the St. Lawrence, with its system of canals, enable its products to be carried far westward into the I'nited States, and soutli\vav<l and eastward into the other provinces, as wel' as to sea, without being ever unshi))voV '!''■ 'vcit expanse of water modifies the summer heats and the winter colds. Accordin i' *'> • ■ '- essentially a country of agriculturists. Of its area of more than 100,000 s.juai..' uiin s — m- about the same as that of Great Britain and Ireland — three- i'ourths are suitable for agriccdtm-f, though at present only about one-quarter is under tillage. Mr. llowan, to whose aci'i)uiit we owe most of our information, considers Ontario the best position of Canada for a lUrincr. As yet land is so plentiful that only the best portions of the country are seized upon for settlement. As it gets more "peopled up," sections now despised will be oc(;upied. At present there is no trouble in any of the provinces for a person ol' souie capital to obtain a partially cleared and fenced farm, without being compcUcHl to resort to the backwoods, and win a home from Nature for himself. The original settlers in Ontario were not, take them one with another, good farmers. They found the soil virgin, and wiien cleared of bush, capable of producing excellent crops of wheat. Wiieat accordingly they grew, and grew season after season, \nitil the soil was exhausted. They had no idea of rotation of crops, or if they had, tlu'y found it easier, and at that time eiieaper, to exhaust the soil than to relieve it by less lucrptive harvests, or were unable, when it was " worn out," to put back again into it, by moans of manure, the elements of which it had been robbal. Accordingly, they moved elsewhere to renew the same wasteful system. Thus their farms may be often had cheapls. These are no doubt for the time exhausted for wheal, but with the expenditure of a little money on manure, and care in growing other crops, they may be al" :i\s brought back again into a high state of fertility. In addition to the crops with which we are familiar in ]']ngland, Ontario produv.es others which we usually associate with a semi-tropical climate. For instance, among her products the Lake province can boast wheat, oats, rye, barley, jwtaioes, turnips, peas, 1 CiiMs, clover, and grass, which grow side by side with maize, grapes, iwaches, and put '^n^■■ tobacco also could be profitably cul' ivuted. The co)intry is well adapted for stock raisin;-, and accordingly Ontario sends large iiuantities of butchers' moat iiiio New J''i)gland, and to the Eastern provinces of the Dominii.i;, where 'umbering, ship-building, fishing, and such-like maritime pur.-iuits so engross uio attention of the inhabitants as to leave them little time for farming. Cheese is exportcl from Ontario to the extent of some two millions of dollars per annum, and fruit is grown very plentifully. Peaches, apricots, aud nectarines ripen in the extreme south and west, and orchard crops and strawbernea rre grown on f large scal'>, as v\ all the 'fge towns there seems an almost inexhaustible demand for this fruit. THE I'KUVINCK OF UXTAUIU. 217 Sweet and water melons rij)cn in every portion of Ciinatla — not in tlic t'ur countries 111-oper — and in Lower Canada every j,Mrden possesses quantities of eitron and nuislc melons of a size to whicii the forced fruit of that name eould seareely attain in iMij^laiid. The irooseberry does not, however, prosper in the provinces under description. Though agriculture is the chief occupation of Ontario, yet lioatinj^ on the lakes and rivers, and lumherin;,'' in the forest, arc enf>;agcd in hy some of its inhabitants. Iron, silver, and copper niinin;f also g'ives some employment, hut the absence and conseijuent cost of coal will always be a great VIIM" (IN l.AKF ONTAKKt. (Irawliack to this industiy. (iaine ibounds in the forests, mil lisli in the lakes, 'i'dninio, the ciiicf town, and ihe seat of t! ■ Provincial (ioverinneni, has a ])cipulution of nearly ."j(>,II(I((, and is a well-built exceedingly pleasant " city," with good public buildings, and an excellent v.nivcrsity, which, uinler good nianagenienf , and the ciintnil of even a moderately intelligent minister of education, might become a seat of learning which would not only attract Canadians, but even the youth of the ncighbo\u-ing I'nited States. At jH-esent, however, it requires a thorough remodelling both in its external and internal arrangements. Ottawa, the eaj)i(al of the whole Duniinion, is another of the Ontario towns. It has an increasing population of about 2:2,(1(10. Hefnre it was si'leclcil as tin' cajiital, on account of its central jiositiun, and its distance from the frontier, it was called Hytown. But since its elevation in the social 28 218 THK COL'NTRIES OF THE WORLD. scale it has wonderfully progressed. The (ioveniineiit buildiii},'.s are handsome^ and linely situated on the summit of a rocky bank overlooking the river, affordiny^ a line view on the one hand of the Ottawa River foamin<j through countless little wooded islands, dashing itself over the falls; on the other of a fine reach of the river which presents itself. All around, as far as the eye can reach — and this is a long way in the clear climate — is the great forest in its glory of colour and form. It is as yet a city in progress, but already there are signr ■ '-nt when it assumes form it will be a solid, substantial, and even liandsomc town. " Ottawa ae resemblance," writes Air. Ru'van, " to the country seat of a rich English noblei whose house is hospitably filled with i)leasant people, while his park stretches far around him in the midst of a quiet rural landscape. But there is one great difference between the two, In an old country, side by side with immense wealth and excess of luxury, squalid poverty and extreme want are always to be seen. It is a signiKcant fact that in Ottawa all the public buildings found in English cities exist, all but one — and that is the poor-house. Man seized upon that beautiful work of nature — the Chaudiere Falls — and turned it into a ten million horse-power saw-mill. The beauty of the fall is much impaired, but it is a wonderful sight to see the logs drawn oi:t of the water by the water into twenty different saw-mills. Each log is first squared by one saw, then cut into boards by another. The rough edges are not wasted. Circulars whisking round with inconceivable raj)idity rip them up into thinner Iwards. Even the edges are utilised, and made into laths by a very ingenious process j nothing is wasted but the sawdust." The town is very cleanly, every house being provided with a hose, with which the door-steps, pavements, and windows are watered and washed in dirty weather. The public conveyances are excellent, and even gaudy — " skeleton Lord Mayor's coaches " they have been called — which are greatly affected by the lumbermen when they come into town out of the backwoods for their periodical "spree." The petroleum wells of Lambton yield 100 barrels of crude oil per day, and the wells of Upper Canada altogether over 10,000 barrels per week. Tin; capital now employed in the trade is upwards of £^1,000,000, and the oil region of Ontario is believed to be very extensive, iloney is, however, dear — with good security bringing eight to ten per cent. — so that this acts as an obstacle to the development of the resources of the country. Land varies in price from 2s. to lOs. per acre, according to situation and soil, but Government lands — generally very far in the outer world — can be lx)ught in Canada at an average of -Is. per acre, though even this is an unnecessary expenditure on the hardy immigrant's part, as the Government has certain regulations by which lands can be " pre- empted " without cost to the cultivator. But as a score of yellow-covered pamphlets describe the method in which this can be done, it is unnecessary to occupy space with it. In Ontario every head of a family is entitled to 200 acres of land, and every adult arriving in the province at or over eighteen years of age, is entitled, without distinction of sex, to 100 acres of Government land free of payment. When we have to speak of emigration to Canada, we shall describe more fully the conditions deraandctl of the occupiers of these free grunts, as well as "the Settlers' Homestead Fund," by which settlers on Government lands are aided by being advanced the cost of a ha1)itab]e house by the (lovernment, at a cost of not more than £11 Is. lid. sterling. There are still in the hands of the (roveriiment T7IK I'HdVrXCK OF (irEHEC. 210 liUi>:u tracts of unflcaretl lands to the extent of 77,t)O(l,400 acres, of which ZSjSOTj-tSO arc survoyeil. The price varies from tenpence, in the Algoma district, to fifteen, shillings in more accessible regions. Quebec. This old homo of the French hahilants — the polite old Seigneurs, who live under their old laws inider a strange sovereign, and while different in manners, thoughts, and religion from the rest of their fellow-subjects are yet loyal British subjects — is a province scarcely so valuable to the agriculturist as Ontario. It has an area of 200,000,000 acres of land, much of which is fertile and capable of cultivation. The climate is, however, even better than that of Ontario. All the ordinary cereals and grasses grow to perfection, while Indian corn is one of the most common crops. Tomatoes also grow to perfection, ami it may be mentioned, for the sake of comparison, that in no part of the United Kingdom will either of the two latter crops ripen in the open air. Its great forests also supply much of the " lumber " of Canada, and though it has no coal, yet the great supplies of peat aid in supplying the place of the former. The fisheries are of immense extent, and very valuable. They supply a great material of export, and breed up a hardy race of seamen. The cod-fishery of the Lower St. Lawrence employs a number of small schooners, and a good deal of fishing is also done in open boats. A fishing village on the shore of the St. Lawrence has a peculiar appearance from the cod-drying platforms or stages, which look like great ladders, " Ij'ing side by side in a horizontal position, some three feet from the ground. These platforms are covered with layers of green boughs, on the top of which the fish, when split and salted, are spread to dry in tlie sun. In the front of each cottage, where one expects to see a garden, there is instead one of those stages, redolent of cod-fish." Each boat, manned by two men, will take in the course of a year about 10,000 cod. Yet the fi'j'nermen are gonerally poor, the "tally system" being here as elsewhere the ruin of the labourer, while the employer grows rich on it. The .Tovsey merchants are the chief buyers, and there being scarcely any competition, the buyer puts Ills own price on the fish, .and finds it to his interest to keep the improvident fishermen in his debt. The result is that the men are little better than bondsmen of the buyers, being in debt to them for their boats, fishing-tackle, and even their clothes and provisions, and sometimes even for their houses and potato gardens. The great River Lawrence runs through this province from the head of ocean navigation to the gulf of the same name, thus giving the country a most commanding commercial position. The scenery on the banks is always pleasing, and sometimes oven magnificently grand, especially among the thousand islands. The climate is very he.althy, the winter being cold and the summer of about the same average warmth as that of France. The dryness of the winter air renders the frequent extreme cold of that season not nearly so unpleasant as it would otherwise be, while the snowfall is even welcomed by the farmer as forming a warm covering for the groun<1, and enabling him to drag his firewood and other " produce " to market with ease on sleds. On the other hand, while the climate is in winter not more severe than that of some of the Western Prairie States in America, the summers are freer from ague, which is the scourge of most parts of the American Continent below a certain latitude. Quebec .and Jronlreal, both old French towns, and still maintaining a good deal of that Old World iipiii'iinuire which is so rare in America, are (he chief cities of 220 THE ('nr\TIUF.S OF Till', Wdlll.l). Mil' proviiici'. The first, wliii'li liiis a iHipuliitiou of 75, (Mill, is tlic capitiil of llio provin-c, while llic liittcr, widi !i ));)|)nliitioii of 1(1(1,(1110, is (ho I'oiumorcial iiu'tropolis, and, iiuloal, tlic iliief port in Ih-itisli Xni'th Anicriia. To travcllt'i-s from Europf, Uiicbec will always liavc the ffwati'st interest. It has liistorie associations which few of the other Canadian towns possess, and llic man must ho dclicient in scntiini-iit wlio can visit the hei^'hts of Ahraliain, or walk under llic shadow of its liattJenicnts, without meniories tiiat take him far hack to tlie days w'nen tlic Hritoii and tlic I'Vencliman i'oujjht iicic for the mastery of tlie Xcw World, (luchec is essen- tially a l''ivnc-h city of two Imndrcil years ay'o. The further one travels west in America, as Mr. llowan remarks, the more American do the cities become. The new niiishroom towns arc Tin: IIIIST IIDISK KliKITKlP IN (H KHKC. redolent of the soil; they were founded, named, and jieopled by the new nation which has taken root in the land. On the other hand, the old ones arc the work of men who carried to thorn the thou<yhts and the skill of the old old world beyond the sea. St. John's, Newfoundland, the most easterly of them, looks like some Irish town, the dirty irregular streets and neglected IriiUoifis having an only too distinctly Milesian aspect. Here is the IJritish policeman, and his prey, the Old AVorld beggar, while the stray pig, which wanders about seemingly quite at home, brings into the mind of the newly-arrived visitor a Hood of recollections of the Green Isle. 'Trom the flagstaff of the city," writes one of the most observing of its visitors, " iv spot to which every newly-arrived immigrant or tourist naturally turns his steps, a magni- ficent ])anorama presents itself to the eyes. The (dd city nestles close tmder the guns of the citadel, as if for protection. A dozen steamers lie at the wharf close under the ramparts, and the sightseer can look down ui)on the decks of forty or fifty largo sailing ships lying at anchor in the stream. Opposite is Point Levi, with its acres and acres of floating lumber, and its high lands, which, in the old wars, were out of range of the guns of the citadel, but which in these days of improved ordnance could command them. But up the river and down the river, what 222 THK t'orXTIill'.S OF THE WORLD, gloi'ioua viuws i what an expanse of blue wnter and <jl*^i*io'is sky ! what mnssos of rock and forests, with the rngj^ed and sliarply-dofinod Ijaiirontido mountains in tlie background, rising apparently sheer out of the water ! There are not many cities in the world so favoured. But every one to his ta-ste. Yankees look on ' tiueebec,' as they call it, as a miserable i)lace, a ' finished city,' a place that docs not go ahead. It is, in fact, an Old World city, and as such inexpressibly refreshing to the Old World tourist, whose eye is wearied of the level uniformity and terribly regular rectangular cities of the West. It is devoutly to be wished that no improving Lord Mayor or energetic municipal council will ever try to adapt Quebec to 1. 10 sealed pattern of American cities. But even if they did their worst, I fancy that Nature would thwart them. The old war-worn ramparts of the citadel are crumbling away ; peace bears harder upon them than war. One cannot help thinking that the richest country in the world might well afford to keep such a fortress in repair. . . . There is no city in the New World that has a more interesting history of its own than Quebec. A monument to the memory of Wolfe and Montcalm reminds the visitor of a passage in their history. On one side is inscribed ' Wolfe,' on the other ' Montcalm.' Nothing more ; but what a glorious junction of names, equal honour alike to victor and vanquished ! " Montreal is also an extremely interesting city. But there the tide of life moves more rapidly, and the signs of the old French times are fast disappearing under the influence of modern progress. Here and there a quaint old building; a street which reminds one of pre-Haussmanic Paris ; and the endless French names are now the chief features which reminds the visitor that here he is treading a city of La NoKrelle France, The island of Montreal is really a garden, and between Montreal and Quebec there are fertile districts richly cultivated, and containing many prosperous settlements. Below Quebec the soil is poorer, the people and the seasons shorter. The wooded lands — especially if covered with hard wood timber — make good farms when cleared ; but then, though easily cleared, they are not so des'i-able as those which comprise timbered upland and " intervale," or meadows which yearly yield excellent crops of hay, without any further labour — a matter of great importance in a country like Canada, where the winters are long. In Quebec district the backwood settler may be probably seen to better advantage than in most other parts of Canada. His "clearing," and first attempt to found a home for himself, must to the thoughtful traveller be objects of exceeding interest. " If approached," writes Mr. Rowan — and I quote this on the whole most authoritative writ((r on Canada, as expressing what strikes me as a most graphic picture of the difficulties of a pioneer of civilisation, in the words of one who gained his knowledge first hand, which the author cannot pretend in this case to do — " from the side of a forest, the first sign of civilisation is the sound of the cow-bolls, which are strapped to the necks of the cattle to enable their owi. rs to find them. A good-toned bell, on a still day, can be heard two or three miles off. The roads leading out of these back settlements are of the very roughest description in the summer, but in winter, thanks to the snow, are level and excellent. Of course, as the settlement improves, the roads improve, and in a very few years the back-settler's home of to-day is in the centre of the settlement, accessible by good roads, and possessing every advantage. For the first seven or eight years the back-settler loads a hard life. Having chosen his land, and purchased it (one-fifth of the purchase-money being paid THE I'UOVINCE OK (JT'EIIFX'. 22;i tlown, a:ul Ihe renmiiidur in four nnniml instalments), lio ])r(icf«ls to build liimsell' n loir housu, about l!S I't'ol by 20 I'cut, which he, root's witii sjilit pino or cudar (' shiiig'lL's '). Externally, these log huts are of the roughest deseripti(jn, no tool being laid upon them but the axe. Internally, however, when the good woman is tidy, they are comfortable enough. 'll:n back-settler, though content with a log hut hinisellj puts up a more pre- tentious building for his hay and his cattle. His barn is generally built of boards hauled from the nearest saw-mill, anil roofed either with shingles made by his own hands, oi' with spruce bark. These buildings are situated in the centre of an open space in the forest, I'lom which it is fenced oil' hy the half-burnt poles, arranged in what is commonly called a ' ripgut ' fence. The crops — {wtatoes, oats, and buckwheat — grow in patches amongst the black charred stumps, and grow so well, too, as almost to hide the latter, though they are two feet in height. Outside the fence the back-settler's stock remain about the neigh- liuiu'ing forest, where I am afraid most of his leisure time is taken up in hunting for them. Ihit, indeed, his leisure moments must be few, for a back-settler has to turn his baud to everything. He must be his own carpenter, his own blacksmith, &c. &c. There is no divisipu of labour in the backwoods. The man and woman of the house do everything. The knowing old settler never breaks his back in tearing a green stump out by the roots. llis mudiis ojierdiidl is somewhat as follows : — In winter, when he has the time to spare, he chops a few acres of forest, hauling ofB the soft wood for logs, fence rails, &c., and tiie hard wood for firing. The waste wood and branches he makes into piles, and burns, when dry, in the spring. In the space thus cleared and burnt, he jjlants potatoes with the hoe, here and there, in little hills among the stumps. In the following year he sows grain-seed, and lays it down as pasture. After seven years the hard wood stumj)s are rotten, and come out easily. The pine, owing to its resinous nature, does not rot so (|uickly, and gives a little more trouble. The land is now ready for the plough, and in the eighth year he takes a croji of wheat off it, and brings it into regular rotation. Say fiiur acres of forest are chopped every year, he will thus have (after the seventh year) ten acres of new land coming in each season, viz,, live of burnt land for potatoes, and live to stump and plough for wheat. The virgin soil needs no manure, and yields niagnilicent crops. When the settler has new land coming in each year, he, from time to time, lays down portions of his longest cleared land in permanent pasture." His life is not all roses; and, indeed, the roses are something he lives to enjoy in the future. The venomous Hies, and the mosquitoes, next to the " woful lack of cash," are his greatest trouble. But even then he has his consolation, for the greater his clearing becomes, the less do these pests annoy him ; they disappear with the forest. In the high lands they are nut so bad, but in swampy ground they are all but intolerable. In the valley of the iNIetapedia, the writer whom I have just quoted mentions that he has known families absolutely routed out of the country by the black Hies. The cattle are also not exempt. The caribou fly, " whose bite is only a shiule less severe than that of a dog," greatly annoys them, until, to obtain relief, they imitate the moose by plunging into the lakes and rivers, and there remaining during the hot jwrtion of the June and July days. But the backwoods have their compensating advantage. In the winter the settler fs sheltered from the blasts, av.l he has always fuel at his haml to warm himself (o his heart's content. His life is u\ I'lll'; (OL'NTUIKS OF Tllli WUKl.l). Olio of toil, Imt it is one of hope also. Kvcry diiy he dovotos to liiliour briiig's him ii day iiCiU'cM' to liis i^oal of iiidepi'iulonce. " Every hour's work ho sjii'iids on his cleurinjj makes him a richer man, every aero ho plouglis, every stump even lie takes out, makes liis farm more vaiuahle. All his work hears fruit, and at the end of ten or lifteen years it is wonderful to see what a transformation the industrious haek-settler has made in the hole -^-^'V^^t- TIIE MOMMENT TO WOLFE AT UlEliEC. he has Iicwn out of the primeval forest." The nido log hut in time gives place to a more elegant and commodious mansion. Nothing is more common than to see on the farm of a successful settler a handsome house, and a little way off the rude little log cabin wliidi, in "old times," gave him and his family shelter. And 1 may add, nothing is more common than to hear the substantial farmer in Canada or the United States talking almost regret- fully of the happy days he spent in the old cabin^ when he was poor in gold, but rieli in hopes, and in all that makes life tolerable. TiiK ritiiviNCE OF (irEnF.c. 225 Liiiid in (iii('I«)c — or Lower Caiinda, or Canada Ka.st, as the people still familiarly call it- tan 1)0 liiuyht at |)ri(,rs viiryinj^' From I."*!!, to ;!s. '>>>i\. per acre, i)ayal>lo hy live instalments, lino iif wliieli is duo on the day of pnrcimse. Indeed, this priee is equivalent to giving away the wild lands, fur the sum exacted in the form of payment will really Imi-dly pay the cost of surveying and making roads. In the valley of the Saguenay is much good land. The valleys of the Matawan, Matepediac, and Ottawa may also ho spoeilied as districts in which the intending ngri('ulturist can secure a settlement. Most of the places are tolerably remote from MEW OF MONTREAL, ritOH TUB BT. LAWULM'.: . the old settlements, for it is almost unnecessary to say that the liest land is not the kind which remains longest unoccupied. However, remoteness becomes soon a comjiarative term. Roads and railways are rapidly made, and the settler, who a few years ago was in the woods, finds himself near to a rising town, and on the line of a railway which skirts his farm. In Quebec province there is what is called the " homestead lan.^," which first origiiuited in the United Slates, and is now found in most parts uf the coim'..ry. This is under the protection of a law by which a certain portion of tlw settler's property is exempted from seizure for debt for ten years after he settles on his land. The law is an excellent one when so framed — as 1 believe it generally is — to grant necessary protection to the enterprising settler without at the same time destroying his credit. It has, however, this disadvantage, that it often is only a cloak for 29 8S6 THE fUUNTlUKS OF TllK WOUr.D. a swindling settlor snapping bis lingers at his first crciIitorH, nnd in tliit rcspoet is tlio antipodes of the English law of distraint, and the corresi)onding Scotch one of " hypothec." In Quehoc, though the greater number of the pcoj)le aro French, yot both the English nnd French languages are spoken. Canada, indeed, presents the spectacle of more than one million Frenchmen — or people of Gallic descent — living quietly nnd contentedly under British rule. But it must bo remembered that these aro not Frenchmen of to-day or oven of the last generation. To them all Republics — (irst, second, and third — aro cfpially unknown. The second Empire they know as little of as tho first. In a word, they are Frenchmen of the ancieii regime — of the old monarchy — and to-day they speak a dialect which their fathers spoko in tho time of Louis Quatorzo. They have, therefore, only a sentimental feeling for France. Few of them ever saw the fair land, nnd, above all, they know when they aro well off. They aro protected in their religion by the Government. They have their own sthoois, and their own priests, and live under a primitive sacerdotal rule, which appears strangely out of place in tho New World, but which is mightily convenient for a lazy politician who wishes a seat without tho nuisance of having to canvass in person the vot'" his constituency. It must, however, be acknowledged, that on tho whole tho p 'otc for their flocks in tho best possible manner, and possibly even better than tuo latter could do through their individual units. To tho French-Canadian Canada is all in all- IIo may emigrate to tho United States in search of high wages, but he rarely settles there ; just as the Frenchman of old Franco always longs, when ho has made a few thousand francs, to return again to his own sunny native land. But it is the same with all the people of tho Dominion. In 1873, 0,000 Canadians returned from " tho States," to again settle in the provinces they had left. In 1759, when they passed under British rule, tho French numbered 65,000. At present their descendants, by tho census of 1871, are 1,082,040, and as the changes in Franco have held out inducements to the inhabitants of Alsace and Lorraine to emigrate, it is possible that the population of Quebec will be reinforced by a considerable contingent from the annexed provinces. As the darker side of the bright picture of the Frenchman under British rule, it must be acknowledge<l that they are excessively ignorant, and that the priests exercise an iron rule in controlling education, and in levying the tithes and other Church dues from its adherents. Quebec accordingly preserves the last remnant of a State Church in America, and some of its sees and conventual institutions are extremely wealthy. The French in Canada also live under their old laws, except in those eases in which they have preferred to substitute the English criminal law and trial by jury for the old arbitrary rule of " intendants," and such like representations of the despotic French monarchy which existed prior to the Revolution of 1792. In Quebec, it may be added, are found the greatest number of owners and occupiers of land under ten acres, and under the influence of old custom, and the French law of inheritance, a continual subdivision of new heritages is going on among the members of a family. The effect of this is pointed out in the remarks of a correspondent regarding Lower Canada. He observes, that for 8ome distance below the city of Quebec, and between that place and Montreal, on 'J'lIK I'UOVINCK OK XKW llIilNSWIcK. til citlicr Hide of the St. Liiwrenco, but riKire csjicciully an fln! Houth, a striin>;or oannot fail Id lie Hti'uck with tlie iMimber of kiiiiiII lioincstfiulti Ncutlurud nil ulon<7, ^iviiii^^ iilmoHt <h(> iiji]U'iiriiii('U of u village Btroct, Thin urisoH froin tiie old Kivnch luw and custom of dividing" tlio proiierty, on the douth of the father, equally ainon^nt all the children ; thu eonsefincnt'o being that, in the com-HU of u few fjeneriitions, a lar^je farm becomeH eiit np into a number of hoineateads, each scarcely capable of sup|)ortin{r the luinily residin;;' upon it, and too small to admit of further scveranco. The haljUaiit, or I'Vench-Canadian farmer, knows no lovo Htrniijrcr than that for Ihh home. The jilace where he wan born, though affordinjj n slender livelihoiid, is dearer to him than all the world. Jn vain for him has the maf^iiilicent West been opened up — his dreams hover round his own fireside and his church j he asks no butter lot than to live where bis father lived, and to die where bis father died. Happy in his Bimplicity, be coi)ies uo man's improvements, and imitates no person's mode of living. Ilia life, bis food, bis enjoyments are all regulated by the oi>])ortunities of tho day. Politeness is a trait, moreover, native to bis character. You may enter a haljilaiil'n house — always clean, with flowers in the window, and walls well whitewashed — and thouyb the man may be tho poorest in the parish, you will be receivetl with so much ease and frankness that you can with difliculty believe such jieople have always lived in such a l)liiee. You may speak execrable French — many l'!n<;lisb people imfortunately do — and make mistakes that would excite the risibility of a saint, yet you never see a smile on tho lace of the habUanl, nor even on the faces of his children. Of course, after you go away, they enjoy the fun amazingly. Your religion, your politics, or your country may, from accidental circumstances, bo distasteful to him, yet as long as you are under bis roof, you never boar a word that could hurt your feeli'igs. In onteri)rise, in boldness of thought and action, the hahUant is far behind tho rest of America; in opposing tho introduction of new improvements and inventions, be is behind the ay;'; but in politeness and good breeding he is immeasurably above any similar class on (bis coni.'nent. Up to ISoi the seignorial tenures of old France prevailed, and their influence is still so far felt that in Quebec liulders of more thaa 200 acres are also more common than in tho other provinces. CHAPTER XII. The Dominion of Canada: New Biunswick; Nova Scotia; Prince Edward Island; Newfoindland; Manitoba; Briti.sii Columbia. The province of New Brunswick has a population of 280,000, and an area of 20,000,000 acres, or deducting St. John, the capital, about one person to every hundred acres. It is 210 miles long and 180 broad. It has a coast-line of about 500 miles, indented with numerous baj's and inlets, and ia intersected in every direction by large navigable rivers. It is thus larger than Belgium and Holland united, and about twc-tbirds as large as England. Generally it 2ii8 TUK CUUM'IUES Ol'- THE WOKLU. is a flat and unclulating country; or its uorth-cast coast, I'rcm tlic Bay Chalcur to the Nova Scotia boundary — 200 miles— scarcely a hill 300 feet hiyli existing. Skirting the Bay of Fundy and the St. John lliver there are some elevated lands, but the only mountains worthy of the name are those bordering the provmce of Quebec, where oval- topped hills range, according to a Government report before us, from 500 to SOO feet in height, clothed with lofty forest trees almost to the summit, and surrounded by fertile valley and taMe land. The country is healthy in the extreme — the ranges of climate being in the interior from D^J" above zero to 18° beio\vr it — but the days during which the thdrmometer I'alls below zero arc rarely more than thirty. In April snow disappears, and in June the apple trees are in full blossom. In August early potatoes art; brought to market, but it is not until September that cereals are ready to be cut. The autumn is, however, a long and 2)leasaut season in liew Brunswick. In November there is usually, very wet weather. By the end of the month the rivers are doocd, and by the middle of December a Canadian winter has fairly set in. It would, however, be a mistake to say that it is a farming country; little or no emigration goes in the uiroction of this province. Nine-tenths of !L are still forest ; hence "lumbering" is one of the chief industries of tiie country. Trobably this fact, much more than the unfavourable character of the coui. try itself, is the reason wliy i'arming is not more pursued. It is not their policy tr, follow a laborious calling '.l which money is made slowly when occupations involving no doubt greater risks, bit at the same time quicker returns, offer attraction to the hardy colonists. Accordingly, lumbering and ship-building — though the introduction of iron ships has unfavouiably affected this occupation — command the attention of the greater part of the population. As railways arc now spreading over the province other industries are springing up, and in time farming — even though its operations have to be compressed into six or seven months — will also be luy^:" extensively followed than it is at i)resent. Its navigable rivers are an important featu:-e in ti;^ mturc of New Brunswick. The St. .lohn, which is 450 miles in length, is the .'hief one (p. il'-il). It is navigable for large steamers to Fredericton, eighty-four miles from the sea, and in high water 120 miles fuixLcr. while the Miramichi is navigable for vesscir, of 1,000 tons for twenty-five miles from its mouth, and for schooners twenty miles further up. The Restigouche is also a fine river, three miles wide at the point whore it fall.': Into the Bay Chalcur, and navigable for large vessels eighteeu miles from its nioutL. The beauty of the New Brunswick forests is celebrated even in America, though the trees are inferior in size to those on the Pacific coast; but the variety of trees found in the former adds charms to them which the sondn-e woods of British Columbia so greatly want. Brilliant scarlet and violet, and every shade of blue, brov.-n, crimson, and yellow may be seen in these forests, as the foliage changes with the advancing season. Wherever the sunlight can penetrate, or the country is divested of wood, the beautiful flora of Canada is seen — LUinui Ciinadeii-ic, which stretches to the Pacific, and is now naturalised in our gardens, the Ledmii, the Pyri la, the PolentUla, and other familiar flowers (p. nW). The fisheries arc valuable, wliilo there are also minerals, Ijituminous coal and excellent freestone included, iu some quantities, though we fear hardly yet of sufTicient value to THE I'KOVINCE OF NEW UKUXSWJICK. 9.i9 FLOWEUS l)t lANADA. make mining a profitable business. Manufactories of woollen and cotton goods, boots and shoes, furniture, doors, sashes, staves, &c. &c., are also in progress, though the sliii)j)ing interest of New Brunswick, which, with that of Nova Scotia, has made Canada the fourth maritime j!30 TlIK COUNTRIES OF THK WORLD. l)ower in the world, exceeds all others in importance. St. John is the most important town commercially, but Fredericton is the plensantcst. It is the residence of the Lieutenant- Governor, and the place of meeting' of the Legislature, and is charmingly situated on the banks of the St. Johi. Driving, riding, canoeing, skating, sleighing, and "traboging" form some of the common amusements of the inhabitants. The people are what is called in America "sociable," as .-night be exi)ected in a robust, athletic, active, intelligent poj.ulation. They have even less Ihan the interior Canadians any exclusiveness or suspicion of the stranger. Emigrants do not come to tiiem in great numbers. They have not been often deceived in new friends, but being very familiar with new faces, owing to their proximity to the seaboard, they form rather a pleasant set of people, among whom the visitors from the "old country" or the intending settler can sojourn with much satisfaction. As canoe-men and boatsmen the New Brunswiekers are famous; as anglers they are scarcely less noted. The rivers all abound in fish. Salmon are plentiful, while the " lake shiner " [Salmo glvverii) is a trout perhaps peculiar to the country. The striped bass {Koccns liiieatiin) is another well-known fish of the New Brunswick rivers. It may be freely caught with bait, but spearing is the favourite mode of capture. The sturgeon {Accijienner Ojeyrhiinchns) measures from six to twelve feet in length, but is not caught by the settlors, though, whether for profit or spi-.rt, its capture by spearing should have charms for the Brunswicker enamoured of either motive to exertion. Eels are also plentiful in all the rivers, but, like the Scotch, the peoi)le of the province have a strange jirejudice against them, founded on their sup- posed resemblance to snakes. Cod, mackerel, herring, and shad may be mentioned among the sea fisheries pro"- ^uted off the shores of New Brunswick; for as a branch of trade the fresh-water fishi nea are almost entirely neglected. To the sportsman the country affords many attractions. To those who knov/ where to go, and how to go about, good sporting may be easily got ; while the stranger may always find good guides among the Melicete Indians who live on the St. John River. Moose are now very scarce, owing to their being recklessly slaughtered for their hides ; but caribou are plentiful in the spruce woods, interspersed with " barrens," old burnt woods, and patches of hard woods, such as the centre of the province from the Bay of Clialeur to the Grand Lake. Other d ,^i and bears are plentiful in the more inaccessible places. Beaver are met with, but fur animals, except otters, musk-rat, and lynx, are rare. Snipe and cock shooting can be had in the latter end of September and October, while partridges are abundant. But the Canadian bird, unlike the English one, instead of being flushed in the stubble, takes to trees. The " pattridge gunner," as he is called, may be seen in the autumn leisurely driving his wagon along an unfrequented road, while his dog ranges the noighlxjuring bush, and when it flushes a bird, '' sets " at the bottom of the tree to which it has taken until its master arrives, to first knock its head off with his rifle, and next to fight for its remains with his setter. The partridge of Canada is, however, in reality, a grouse. There are two kinds, the "birch pattridge" (Tctrao wiihel lulus), and a scarcer and hardly so delicate a species, from a culinary point of view, the " spruce pattridge" [T. Caiiatleiisin). Woodcocks, and wild g^ese of many species, are also abundant during the winter, while fair sport may be had along all the North Coast on the Nova Scotian side; but is not all this, ond more, written in the book of Lcith Adams? THE PROVINCE OF NOVA SCOTIA. 281 Nova Scotia. Tills is perhaps the best known of all the Canadian provinces, from the fact of its having been long a British military and naval station. The province contains about 11,000,000 acres, of which one-fifth consists of lakes and small rivers, and of this area less than half is fit for tillage. The scenery is very diversified with hills, dales, quiet lakes, and little land-locked inlets of the sea (p. 2;jG). Yet both the country and its resources are little known, simply owing to the fact that most visitors only see the vicinity of Halifax, wiiich is by no means a lavourable specimen of the province. The climate, owing to the tempering influence of the sea breezes, is the mildest of any portion of Eastern Canada — the mean for the year being about i-i" — and is corresiwndingly healthy, a fact which may account for the province having fewer medical men in proportion to its population than any other portion of Canada. It is not a good agricultural province, but nevertheless the farmers are numerous, prosperous, and enterprising, and the fisheries are also profitable. So valuable are the latter that the encroachment of the American on them is an oft-recurring subject of dispute between the Government of the United States and of this country. They consist of herring, mackerel, cod, haddock, halibut, hake, pollock, shad, smelt, perch, eels, and lobsters, which latter are usually sold in the Halifax market at about one shilling per dozen. Numbers are, however, being sent in a "tinned" state to lluropo, so that these halcyon days for Halifax lobster eaters cannot long continue. Sjicaring lobsters by torchlight is one of the "sports" of the country, while salmon a' irout are abundant in the rivers and lakes. Timber — pine, spruce, hemlock, and hardwood xiirirted to an immense extent, while tlu; sap, which may bo obtained by tapping the trre in siiiiiig, collectinir the juice and 1 .liling it down, is extensively made into sugar and syrup for honn' consumption — the tnulitional "short sweetening " and " long sweetening" of many a familiar talc. Gairo is '-o abundant, but the mines of coal, gold, and iron are much more importanl. (iold also i~ niincd in about sixty different places, where the quartz is crushed and the precious mct.al oxtni' ''-d in sufficient quantity to make the business a paying concern, though in California the rwk would hardly pay the cost of working. The exports of the province amounted in 1"^; 1 to £1,337,003, while the imports were £2,221,090 in value. Its census then showed .JS7,800 people, of which 20,313 were employed in the fisheries, which yielded, in 1S71, 5,101, 0-'iO dols. Social life in Halifax is very pleasant, the people very refined and respectable in the ■ (rcme, as the many naval and military officers who have been stationed there and mnr>'' . daughters of the land can abundantly testify (p. 233). Cape Breton, which the Duke of Newcastle — George the Third's minister — was so astonished to find wa^ an island, constitutes the highlands of Nova Scotia, and curiously enough was originally settled by Scottish highlanders. Its scenery is fine. " The hills fall somewhat short of mountains, but they rise boldly from the water's edge, and are clothed to the summit with beach, maple, and birch, the bright green of the deciduous trees being relieved by the dark green — almost black — of the fir tribe, which grow in sombre masses in the ravines and ' gulches,' forming an effective setting to the hills." The island is settled by two classes — the Acadian-French, who are fishermen, and the Scotch, who are chiefly cattle graziers. The latter, even to the third generation, still speak Gaelic; 232 THE f'OT'XTKTES OF THE WORLD and tliou<»Ii a fine, lianly, good-lookins' race, are but incflleicnt fanners, wlio have not got thoroug'lily assimilated to tlio changed condition of life here compared with that which they left behind in Scotland. The French have still all the characteristics of their ancestors, the " Acadians," who originally settled it.* Sable Island is another of the outlying dependencies of Nova Scotia. It is twenty-five miles in length, by alwut one and a quarter in width, and is formed iif grass-covered sand-hills, on which herds of wild horses, known as Sable Island FAI.I.S OF THE ST. JOHN UIVF.U, NKW IlllVNSWICK. ponies, jiasture. Xova Scotia took its present name in \i\l\, prior to which dnt(> it was known as Aradie, Frenchmen having first colonised the island in \m\. Prince Edwaud Island. This is one of the amailest, but most beautiful am' fertile jiortions of the Canadian Dominion, yet it is at the same time one of the most liackwanl. The Isle of St. John — its first name— which was dignified with its present titl-' in honour of the Duke of Kent, her Majesty's father, was ceded by the French to Geori,^i' ILL in 1703. The country was then distributed among the hungers-on of the Court, on the simple • Brown'e "History of the Island of Capo Breton" (1869). I'KOVINX'K OF PIUXCK KDWARD ISI.AXP. 233 conditions of the grantees paying a quit rent to the Crown, and of tlie proprietors sent'ing out German Protestants to these hinds in the projiortion of at h-ast two hundred to each of tlio original sixty-seven townships. Willi Ihe exception of Lord Selkirk none of the grantees ever attempted to fulfil tiio conditions on which they had ohtained their land. Even this energetic Scottish nohleman, whose name, and that of his descendant, are so linked with the history of British North America, did not fultil either the spirit or the letter, for he introduced, not German, but Scottish immigrants. The rest of the proprietors Vll;\V 111 IIAI.II.W. NOVA SIOIIA. were, with few exceptions, ahsentees, who neither lived on their lands, attempted to ]ieoplo thi'iii, )ior spent money in improving them. .Afeantime the original Acadian- French, who had been in Ihe coiiiitry prior to its cession to Kngland, remained on the land, much to the annoyance of the new proprietors, who found no small dilfu idty in either removing the S(piatters or getting them to j)ay rent. In every res]ieet this feudal system of land tenure; so opposed to the ideas of the New World, worked badly. The resident agents of the proprietors allowed the rents to fall into arrears to an endK'ss extent, while litigious squatters were ever and anon defying the rights of the descendants of those to whom the island had been granted by young King George. Xo doubt many of the farms were lot on merely nominal terms — such as at rents, or rather whiit are called in Scotland "feus" — varying from about (id. to Is. |icr acre, on leases of II!)'.) years. Ibit the grievance, 30 2iii THE C0UNTKIE8 OF THK WOULD. tlioiiyh a sentimental one, was, nevertheless, iu a country wliure every man aspires to be his own landlord, in the eyes of tlio Aeadians so substantial, that rather than endure it any longer the settlers in many eases emif^rated to where they eould obtain lands on their terms elsewhere prevalent in Ameriea. The Colonial Government tried as far as possible to mitigate the miseliief by buying up the lands from the proprietors, and then reselling them to the settlers. Jiut this only partially met the demerits of the case, for the grantees' descendants cherished as warmly tlie privileges of being landlords as the colonists spurned the idea of being tenants. Finally, the Dominion of Canada induced Prince Edward Island to cuter the Union by buying up, at a valuation, and by a Compulsory Act, the rights of the proprietors. For this purpose 800,000 dols. were voted, and the arbitrators upjiointed for the purpose adjudged to the proprietors sums varying from Is. to £1 per acre in pi.yment of their claims. The remedy was an heroic one, and was not administered without iuUicting injury on the island proprietors. But it was the only available one; and at one sweep feudalism was banished I'rom the New World. This drag has, however, had its effect on Prince Edward Isle, in so far that its progress has been more backward than that of the other Canadian provinces. Another cause is its isolation. Situated at the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, it is communicable only by steamer in the summer, and during the winter is often more or less shut o£E from the mainland by ice. This ice, however, owing to the strong current, does not form a solid bridge, but is "continually moving and shaping itself into walls and barriers, which greatly obstruct navigation. Mails cross these straits with a certain amount of regularity during winter, but passengers only do so when compelled by necessity. The vehicles used for this service are very light boats, sheathed with tin and fitted with sledge-runners. They are dragged along the uneven surface of the ice by straps, which are fastened to the gunwale of the boat. Each man passes one of these straps round the shoulders for safety. Occasionally patches of open waters of great or less extent occur, when men jump in and row. Now other barriers of broken ice as high as housetojw have to be surmounted ; but worst of all .' lolly ' has to be crossed. ' Lolly ' is a description of soft ice, which is too soft to walk over, and too substantial to work a boat through. I can only compare it to that soft, green, and oozy place in a bog or swamp, with which most snipo-shootcrs are familiar, in which the novice flounders up to his armpits, and which reiiuires a cat-like and rapid step to cross. Carrying the mails across these straits is, therefore, an arduous and perilous service ! It is rarely done, though the distance is only eight miles, under four hours of hard toil, and often takes ten or twelve hours. The boatmen are such admirable judges of ice and of weather, that fatal accidents rarely occur, and when it is considered that the mercury is sometimes 10° or ^O*- below zero during these crossings, it cannot be wondered at that Jack Frost sometimes seizes hold of a toe, an ear, or a nose. To drive him away the part has to be rubbed with snow, or if the toe be affected, a little brandy poured into the boot," Kailwa\s are now being made in the provinces, but Mr. Rowan, from whose account of the island we derive most of our information about it, was not, at least in the earlier days of them, enamoured of the Prince Edward " roads." The railway was a bribe to Prince Edward Island to cast in her lot with the Dominion. In a word, to use a fauiiliur Canadian term — and its familiarity shows its frequent occurrence — the island THK I'liOVIXCK OF rUIXt'K KDWAUlt ISLAND. 285 was "railwayed" into ponfedoration, by a process which is now heinff applied to Newfoundland, and the hitch in the working of which, in regard to l$rifish Cohinihia, has been the cause of no little trouble to that far iM-ovince, now lyinff so uneasily in the bosom of the Dominion. "The process of ' railwayinf^ ' a province into confederation is briefly this : — Send agents into the coveted province to raise an agitation for a railroad; 'square' the Press, and foster the agitation by every possible means. Get a llailway Bill passed in the Local Legislature, keeping the cost quietly in the background. Tiiis can be accomplished by liberal promises, a few substantial gifts, and an order or two of St. Mieliael and St. George. Money seems plentii'ul at first, and the railway progresses. Everything goes smoothly, until one morning the province finds it has plunged itself deeply into debt. This debt is made the most of, popular alarm is fanned, and the frightened province, to avoid supposed bankruptcy, throws itself into the arms of its absorbing neighbour. And the worst of it is that in these railways, got up for political ends, there is no small amount of 'axe-grinding' and 'log-rolling.' Contracts are given in such a way as to put money into the pockets of political partisans, and not with regard to the best interests of the country. The Prince Edward Island Railway meanders through the island like a stream through the meadows. It was probably contracted for by the mile, so the more miles the merrier the contractor. Not only did he escape the hills, but by following rivers up to their sources, he escaped bridging. The fences are neither ornamental nor useful, and cattle treat them with contempt. It is possible that I took a prejudiced view of this railway. I only travelled it once, and then I was two hours mill a half late in a journey of forty miles. The delay was accounted for to the satisfaction of my fellow passengers, who were merely having ' a ride on the car ' for amusement. In tlio first place a herd of cattle belonging to a personal friend of the engine-driver, notwith- standing the frantic screams of the whistle, persisted in remaining on the track until the functionary before named, assisted by the conductor and some passengers, got off and (h'ove them homo. Then at a wayside station a picnic party, consisting of almost twenty young people, got in, and were altogether too much for one locomotive, as my friend the driver (who spent a good deal of his time in cruising up and down the line) remarked, ' She was kind of balky at the hills.'" The island is about l-'JO miles in length, and at its widest point thirty-five miles, but the deep indentations of its coast line in some places approximate the two opposite shores to within three or four miles of each other ; so that there is no part of the island where the farmers are beyond convenient reach of a harbour. Farming prospers, and though isolation has its disadvantages, it has its advantages also. The island escapes commercial panics, and as yet the potato, the grasshopper, the Colorado or potato beetle, the army worm, and the rest of the exceeding groat host of agricultural pests in America are altogether or nearly unknown. The soil is good and easily cidtivated, and the climate healthy and invigor.ating. The air seems to infuse new 'ife into visitors, and to be a prophylactic against all ills to the robust, ruddy- face<l islanders. The winters are not so cold as those of the mainland, nor the summers so warm, yet the Atlantic fogs do not reach its hajipy shores. The soil bc'Ug an alluvial deposit of St. Lawrence, stones are unknown in it. The roads in summer and winter ;>:it) ■J'lIK COlNIItlKS (iK THK WnIIl.H. are adiniriible, but in spriiifj aiul autuinu necessarily detestable. Diirinj? the latter season, tliey are composed of a lied of soft sticky mud, and tlicy are mended by beinj^ sim])ly lilouj^licd and liarrowed ! To macadamise them stones must be brounlit over from the niainlaiid, or else they miy;ht be paved with baked bricks or clinkers, like the roads of lldlland, wliich is made u]> of Jtliine mud Cluirlotte Town is the cajiital, and the iimi'kct iinuse, the island <'lub, where not only are barH'ains maile, but fi-ossii) cxchaufi'ed. Till! liiicnl (lovernment keep up a stock farm near the capital for the j)urposo of im- VIKW IN MIVA srclTI V. provinpf the breed of eattlo, for which ])ur|)oso jjood blood is imported from luif^land and other raisinif countries. The jirovince is famed for its trottinji^-horsos, with wondrous wind and iron constitutions. AVinter is the great time for practising the nags. Some of the jockeys sit behind their trotters in light sleighs, others in ordinary ones, while some venture to bestride their coursers. There is a hideous amount of yelling, but little otiier noise except the jingling of the himdreds of ''lis from a hundred sleighs running swiftly and smoothly along on the ice, within tlic track marked out by spruce bushes. " ^leu on foot and boys on skates crowd toward the winning-post in indescribable confusion. An ice-boat shoots past at the rate of thirty miles an hour, and half a dozen runaways is the immediate and inevitable consequeuce. But nobody is hurt. Each com- I'liOVIXt'K OK I'KIN'CK KOWAIfD ISI,ANI). 2.'57 ])i^tit(ii' cliiims the 'lii'ut,' swoariiiy lustily lliat all llie rost ' liruke.' Kncli man is U|ilu'Iil by a cii'fle of his own liaeki'rs ; the judyo is lioniieteil, ami the cniwd, i)t'ii(liii<,'' tho iiuxt lu'ut, is siiiijiliod with alcoholic rolVL'shineiit hy a spoculativu individual who has driven a innicheon of I'um on a sled to the racecourse. liow the winner is ultiuialely decided upon is a mystery, nor does it matter much, I'or the stakes are small, and, as for tho honour anil ^'N'O'' ''"'>' '"''•' cijually divided." The jiojiulation of this island is ahout ',),'), (MKt, lU'ineipally oi' Jviii^'lish, Irish, .Scotch, and Acailian-Frcncii deseiMit. The lii'st are ' v./ CANADIAN I'UIMEVAL FOREST, liniCll IIAIIK CANUE, AND INDIAN I.ODOES. said to belie the general rejiutation of their countrymen for doing well everywhcie, while the French are, if possible, more clannish and even less apt to assimilate. AFany of the Scotch s])cak no language but Gaelic, and the French almost invariably speak the moiher tongue, " live on potatoes and fish, marry in their teens, and seem to have no ambition to improve their condition in life." They are, however, in the minority, tho rest of the Colonists being a much more thrifty set, but preserving even more completely than the Canadians elsewhere tho marks of the land from whence they came. There are only half a dozen policemen in the island, and even these could be dispensed with but for the occasional visits of the crews of English and American ships. The people are divided between the Protestant and lloman Catholic religion, and ecclesiastical feeling i^s THI'. nit'NTHtKS OK TIIK WOUr-I. runs \\\'^\\. Next to farming, sliip-lmilding is tho cliii'l' imliisd'y of Prince Edwanl Island, and there are also a few tanneries, breweries, and cloth mills on the island. The fisheries are also valuable, especially those of lobsters and oysters. In a word, this island is entitled in some degree to be called the garden of the St. Lawrence. Its size offers room for only a few immigrants, but farmers with a small cajjital and agricultural labourers could do well here. The animals are much the same us those of the mainland; and among other game, hares, or as they are called, rabbits [Lepns Ameriraniii), are plentiful. The island of Anticosti, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is not colonised. Altomjits have been made to settle in it, but with little success hitherto. During six months of the year it is shut off from the outer world, and though .1 small farm might pay, yet, so long as there are other places to settle on, it is not likely that this outlier of Canada will have much attraction, except for (Isbermen. There is a good deal of game on it, but take it at its best, all in all, it is even to the lighthouse-keepers, who are accus- tomed to limited society, a very forlorn sort of home. Newfoi'ndland. The oldest colony of England has not yet cut crcd into the newest confederation of its de- pendencies, and, therefore, is not as yet a.jjart of the Dominion of Canada. We may, however, say a very few words about it. It is .'570 miles in length, !iO() in breadth, about 1,000 miles in circumference, has an area of 45,200 square miles, and had in lS(i9 a population of 1'1(),D00. Tlie island presents a barren, ruggal appearance, the cliffs being sometimes 1,000 feet in height, and the interior hills, such as those in tho Avalon Peninsula, ],100 feet in height. Numerous lakes, or " pmds," as they are called, indiscriminately cover the coast j indeed, it is calculated that one-third of the island is covered with water, while the coast is deeply indented with bays and inlets, which supply abundance of harbours. None of the rivers are navigable for any distance, and the interior is entirely \niinhabited, even by Indians. Tlie soil is too sterile to admit of agriculture to any great extent, though some cultivation is done in the settled districts, particularly in the vicinity of St. John's, the capital. About 600,000 bushels of potatoes, as well .as oats, barley, carrots, and other crops, are produced annually; but the fisheri^ form tho chief industry of the population. These are of two kinds — the " shore fishery" and the "bank fishery" — Uie one being followed in the immediate vicinity of the isl.and, the other (Plate VIII.) on the banks of Newfoundland, cod being the chief fish caught, though herrings, salmon, and others are .also abundant in the vicinity of the island. Tho seal fishery in the spring also affords lucrative employment for numbers of men (p. 80), while the lead, silver, and copper mines, now begun to be worked, are destined to add to the riches of the colony. There are as yet no railways on the island, and roads are confined almost altogether to the southern seaboard. Telegraphs have, however, been constructed, and the westward terminus of the Atlantic cable is in Newfoundland. Labrador — which in its general features may bo likened to Newfoundland, and has been already referred to in the description of Arctic and s\ib-Arctic lands — and the island of Anticosti are also included within the jurisdiction of the island. Fogs often envelop the colony for weeks, while the climate is by no moans of a character inviting to settlers. Even trees, such as the fir, birch, willow, and mountain TlIK (()I,(»NV of NKWHtl'Mll.AM); M.WITltliA. i.iU ash, only uttuiii to their iiuixiiiiuin ilevuluiiuiuut in protuctud iilacos. Tliu Ncwloumllaiul iloy is bt'liovwl to l)t' iniligviiuus to tlio isluiiil. At present these are employed as beasts of Inirdcn in the colony dnriny the winter, beiny left to shift for thoiusolves duriny the lishiny season.* Manitoba. The "piniirie province " of Canada has more than onee lieeii spoken of. It is that part of the old Hudson's Hay Territories or Rupert's Liind kninvn as llie Ued River Country. It is, perhaps, the most valuable ayrieultural jKjrtion of Canada, but from its present isolation its value is not so thoroughly appreciated as it will be in time, when a railway joins it with the other i)orlions of Canada. From the province of Ontario on to this central i)lain the country is densely wooded. Compared with the country on tlio I'acille Coast, Mr. Sandl'ord I'"leminy; does not think that it can be called mountainous — the highest point not beiny over ;J,00(l feet above the level of the sea — though a band of rocky hills runs alony Lake Superior, ranging in width from forly to seventy miles. Between Lake SujHirior and Manitolju the drainage of the country is mainly westward, passing into Lake Wiune))eg, and the country for the whole distance is remarkable for the umumeniblo streams and lakes by which it is intersected, so " that the Indian can travel in his eunou almost any rcHjuired direction by making an occasional portage." These waterways consist of long winding sheets of water, separated by rocky ridges. Among the larger lakes may be mentioned Lake Nepigon, which discharges into Lake Superior by the Nepigon River, and is the most northerly reservoir of the St. Lawrence Basin. The general aspect of the country east of Lake Nepigon, as seen from Lakes Superior and Huron, is precipitous and ruggeil, but (o the rear of this wild and frosty frontier the surveys ma*le for the Canadian Pacilic Railroa<l show that the surface descends northerly in easy slopes. " The drainage of the Hat country referred to, us existing between the Nepigon Rasin and the Ottawa Valley. Hows northerly by tlie Rivers Albany and Moose to James's Ray, while the drainage of the rugged elevated belt along Ljikes Superior and Huron passes into the basin of tne St. Lawrence." The agricultural resources of this tract, familiar for many years as the route of the Hudson's Bay traders from the Red River to Canada, before they struck off through a similar country to Hudson's Bay, are not promising. Mineral wealth may, however, be discoverwl in it, and the timber which covers its surface will in time become valuable. Of the general character of the great central jilain of .America we have for long had a more or less general acquaintance. But the explorations of Captain Pallisor, Major Blakiston, and Dr. Hector, and more particularly the surveys of Mr. Sandford Fleming, for the purpose of a route for the proiwsed Caniwlian Pacilic llailw.aj', have given us so clear an account of it, that in the following remarks I shall avail myself of the latter distinguished engineer's official reports, which, by the courtesy of the Canadian Government, have been put before me. This vast continental plain stretches between the Rocky ^fountain Zone on the Pacilic ley's " (ieogrnjihy of Newfoundluiul " (187(i) ; HrrCnra's " Lost in tlio Fogs " ; Jukns' " Excursions in ami imiUiind"; Brown's " Hiatory of tlio Discovery of Xowfoiinill;iiid " (lSG3).&c.; Hind's "Explorations in • Howli (iboiit Nowfoun the lutcriur uf Lubrudor" (186^). 2KI TltK ( nl-Nrnii;s (IF TUT, \V(iltl,I». niili! imd tlit3 Aiiiuiliicliiim /cino mi tlio Atlantic Hide of Nortli Aincricii. Nortliwiii'd it is liniitiil liy IIuiIhiiii'h Hiiy iind tiio Anglic Ocoiui, whilu Houtliward it HprnulM alinnst witluiiit iiiterniptioii to llio (iidt of Mexico. Tiiis vast area, llicivforo, occ'iipios tlio wliolo of North Aincriwi liutwoon tlio eastern and wuHtcrn nmnntaiii svntoniH. Its river systems divide it into two jjreat drninn^re biwins — tiie one, as in the rase of the Missonri, llowiiiff sontherly to a tropienl son, tlio other, as in tlio instance of the Saskatciu-wan anil Atlialiasca, discharjfinjjf into an Arctic or siih-Arctic Ocean. A line drawn from the extreme westerly end of Luke Sajwrior, "to a jHiint where the forty-ninth imrallel crosses the main Iloeky Mountain ranj,^'," would tolerahly closely approximate the dividinj^ line between the southern and nortliern drainage basins. This j^reat plain of Northern America, to which wo shall have occasion yet to refer, when speakinf; of the parts of it politically under the I'nitcd States, is divided through the centre artillcially into " iv > adjacent coimtries under distinct (Jovernmeiits, and naturally into two vast drainage basins, which discharge their waters in opposite directions." If a line be drawn from tlie Lake of the Woods to the east of this Northern prairie district, and on the forty-ninth parallel, it will strike, if dmwn in a nearly strai;;'ht north-westerly course, the jjeiieral line of the ^rackcn/.ic River (p. I'.IO), between latitudes (il'^ and (i.")°, and will pass through [iakes Winnepeir, Manitoba, and AVinnepegosis, Deer Lake, liako AVollaston, Lake Athabasca, fireat Slave Lake, am' (Ireat IJear Fjake, a remarkablo series of sheets of water, rivallin;,'' in size Lakes Krie and Ontario. " These ffreat excavations or depressions in the surface appear to oceiir oil the separatiiifj line, between a broad band of laurentian and metamorphie rocks, and more recent and softer formations. If we take this line as the base of u triunu'le, with one side extending from the base of the Uocky Mountains, and the other extending from the latter place northerly along the flank of the mountains to the Mackenzie River, a description of the leading physical features of the central country will be rendered extremely simple. The triangle will be nearly isosoceles, with sides of from !•(!() (o 1,(1(10 miles each, anil its base will measure in length about I, •'((Id miles. This vast triangle, containing about 3()(),()()(),(M)() acres, may be described generally as a great jilain, sloi)iiig gently downwards from its apex to its base. Its apex is at the foot of the Rocky Mountain vliain, between the sources of the Missouri and the South Saskatchewan, and is estimated lo be about 1,000 feet above the sea level, while its ba.sc, lying along the series of lake expansions from Lake of the Woods to Great Slave Lake, will not, it is believed, average a higher elevation than 000 to 1,000 feet above the sea. The river systems, which cany off the waterflow of the long sloping jilains, are the Assiniboine, the Saskatchewan, the Athabasca, and the Peace. The first two imite their waters in Tiake AVinnipeg before llnally passing out through the Nelson River to Hudson's Bay. The last two are tributaries of the Mackenzie, and through the channel of that river ultimately roaches the Arctic Ocean. Between the Saskatchewan and the Athabasca the River Churchill takes its rise, and flows independently in a generally north-eastern course, falling ultimately into Hudson's Bay. All the rivers of this division of the country flow for a great part of their length in deeply-wooded channels, f'-.quently of considerable width, and, as the materials underlying the jilains are, for the most part, drift or soft rock formation, the channels which has been furrowed out are not much obstructed by falls or dangerous N'ortliwaril it riwU nliiKist xTiiiiios tlic IS. Its river 11! MiHsoiiri, iIi'Ik'wiiii ami II i'l'oiii tliu inillt'l t'ro88us dividing liiiu ii'i'ii AiiR-ricu, it iioliliciilly V ) adjacent iisiiis, wliieli 111' llio Woods t will strike, c ^faflvenzic s Winncjicf,'', Great Slave 1 size Lakes leiir to oeeiir e rocks, and rianj^le, with tendinis I'roiii izie River, a •ed extremely \) miles eacli, .', contaiiiiiif,' )\m\<^ K'<'ntly ky .Mountain is estimated cries of lake eved, averai^c which cany tehewan, the mipeg beCoi'e last two are iitely reaches er Churchill !{»' ultimately a "^■reat part and, as the rniation, the )r dantrcrous 212 THE COUNTHIES OF TlIK WOKLD. rapids, but "•em-ral'v presold, from the base of the mountains, throuf^hont the •creator i)art of their oourse, a uniform descent. Although the trianguhir-shaped territory referred to may be vieweil iu a general description as a great jilain, sloping from its ai)ex downwaixl in a north-easterly direction to its base, its inclination is nnt perfectly uniform and quite unbroken. Several terraces and well-delined escarpments stretch across the country at wide intervals. Much of the surface is gently rolling, and distinct hills and eminences, some of them 500 tc 800 feet above the surrounding level, are occasionally met with. Thi^ central divisior. of the country may be described as pwirio, altho\igh the whole triangidar iViea referred to is not strictly so. The prairie land j)asses into wocKlland in various localities to the north of the Saskatchewan, to reappear in higher latitudes. On Peace River there are extensive i)rairies with extremely rich soil. In other localities there is an agreeable mixture of woodland and prairie, and this character of country appears to prevail as fiir as Hay River, -100 miles north of the 'liver Saskatchewan. Although the prairie region is of vast extent, it is not at all fertile. A very large area adjoining the boundary of the United States, midway between Manitoba and the Rocky Jlountain Zone, is arid and unfavourable for agriculture. In other quarters a great breadth of rich pas! are and cultivable land exists."* The province of Manitoba is in reality a mere speck of the vast Xorth-Western Territories, or Rupert's Land, out of which it is formed. It contains, nevertheless, about 9,000,000 acres, mostly prairie, consisting of rich alluvial soil, so clear that a " buggy " can be driven for a thousand miles over fertile lands capable of growing wheat and other vegetable products, in perhaps as great perfei'tion as any other portion of the tempcrat*? North American Continent. Along the banks of the streams wood abounds, and the natural prairie is covered with rich nutritious grasses. The summers are hot, and the winters colder even than in other portions of Canada, but both s'iisjoi. s are very healthy. Snow disappears and ploughing commences in April, while th' crops are harvestetl in August. The regular frosts seldom set in later than November, while Red River is rarely open for navigation earlier than the end of April. There are thus in Manitoba, as in the rest of the colder portions of Canada, two seasons — the summer, whi.ii is the period of activity, and the winter, a time when the settler rests from his labours. Professor Daniel AVilson remarks, that early in April the alders and willows of the Saskatchewan country are in bloom ; and the prairie anemone then covers the soutl m exposures to the very verge of the retreating snow. May is hotter than in the provinces along the banks of thf St. Lawrence, but the nights are cold, and even during the period of the greatest heats the cold night breeze brings heavy dews, and begets a pleasant change after the sultry houi-s of daylight. To use the language of tlie Rev. Professor Bryce, a resident of the province, "The juncture of the seasons is not very noticeable. Spring glides superbly into summer, summer into fine autumi weather, which, d\iring the equinox, breaks up in a series of heavy gales of wind, accompanied by rain and snow. These are followed by that divine aftermath, the IiKlian summer, which attains its true glory only in the North-West. The haziness and ■bvary fervour of this mysterious season have often lx?cn attributed to the prairie fires. '• Kopoit of I'rogicBfl of the ExpIui;ilion and .Survrys for the Ciradiau Vuiitlc Piilway (1874), p. 8. THE I'KOVINX'K OF BIUTISII COLUMBIA. 213 which rangfe over half a eoiitineut in the fall, and evoke an enormous amount of heat and smoke." The North-West winters are, however, agreeable, and singularly steady. Tlie snow is dry, and rain being unknown, the mocassin is the universal foot-gear, no other kind of shoe being so warm and light. The snow is shallow, but so gritty that it resembles white sand more than anything else, lu'eu in the heart of the Rocky Mountains the snow is rarely so deep as in I'"astern Canada. The dryness of the air of the Canadian winters render them pleasant. It is the sjjring and autumn frosts that the farmer, and esi'L'ciallj the fruit-grower, fears; but it is said that the Red River country is less visited by these evils than the rest of the Dominion. In winter the thermometer will, in ^lanitoba, sink to thirty cr forty degrees below zero, without the inhabitants — well wrapped up and using ordinary precautions — experiencing any unpleasant effect. The buffalo pastures during all the winter by scraping off *he shallow snow to get at the grass, as do also horses and cattle for part of the winter. This portion of the country was originally, as we have already mentioned, settled ))y retired servants of the fur companies ; and their descendants — usually of mixed Indian and white cjxtraction — still ibrm the largest portion of the jiopulation. The Scotch half-breed is decidedly the best. He is more civil sed, is fonder lit' education, and of the ways of ihe white. The French half-breed, on the contrary, is liirely a good farmer, and is more of a hunter, is usually married to an Indian woman, and is ruled by his belle mere, or mother-in-law, of wliom, moreover, he is usually rather prouder than the Scotchman similarly situated. The Scotch settlers generally herd liigether, and do not care much for their French neighbours. Settlers, are, however, liimring in from Canada, and when the means of transjwrt are easier and cheaper, the \alley of the Saskatchewan will doubtless receive a large immigration. 3[any Ice- landers are now settling in the country, particularly near the Eastern line of ilanitoba, on liuke Winnipeg, a section in which it is proposed to establish a new pre; 'nee to be called Kccwatin. Coal is found in the province, and most of the streams have gold in their siMuls, though hitherto tlie precious metal has not been found in that abundance which lias acted as an attraction to the goUl-diggcr. The drawbacks of the country are insufllcient niarki'ts, periodical invasions of grassho])pers, which eat up every green thing, and occasional iiiisciisonablo frosts. The second of these plagues is, however, common to nearly all the western country to the south, while the third is inseparable from so severe a climate as that of Canada.* BuiTisii Columbia. After leaving ^lanitoba the country westward changes. We now enter into a niounlainous region, the eastern boundary of which is the Rocky Mountains, that '.4'icat range which stretches, with few interruptions, imdor one name or another, through the length of North America. In Mexico they arc known as the Cordilleras. Jusl before reaching the Arctic Ocean the range branches into the Alaskan and Yidiou Aloiintains towards Bebring's Strait. It is an exceedingly complex region, the mam range sending off lower spurs westward, while parallel to it runs flic Cascade range— • "The I'laiiii' I'luvim.i;," 1'j- J. C. JIaiiiil. :n (IhTO). 214 TlIK COUNTIUES OF THE WOULD. perhaps from a geog'ra[)hic'al jjoiiit of view oven more important — and the coast range which fonstituto tlif barriers of the Northern portion of Continent facinj^' the Pacific* The physical i;^eography, liowever, of the Pacific slope of the Rocky Mountains, will be best described in a f'utnre chapter, when sketching' the United States possessions comprised within it. Meantime, a few words on British Columbia, the latest, and perhaps the most important adherent of the Dominion, which lies sandwiched between Alaska on the north, and Washinf^ton 'I'l'rritory on the south, may suffice. Up to 18U7 the colony was divided into two separate UN TIIK IIOAII TO TlIK CAlllllOO MINES. IIKITISII COUMllIA. (froill (in Origimt St<li''i.) {jovornnients — those of \'ancouvcr Island and Uritish Columbia respectively — but in that 3'ear tlioy combiniHl, and in 1871 joined the Canadian Coiifodcration. A'aneoiivor Island is 2S(» miles in leng'tli, while the Queen Charlotte Islands, l.'iO miles to the north and west, are composed of three islands sci)arated by narrow cliaiuiels, and extended along the shore for nearly 20(1 miles, ^'ancouver Island, and the other rrr'iii])s lyinj^' off the British Columbian coast, may be looked upon as simply dissevered portions of the neiiifhbourinfj mainland, their ]ihysiral features entirely correspondinff to that re<i;ion. Tliey are for the most part densely wooded with Dmiirjas (ir [Aljifs Doinlnxii), hemlock {.Uiien .)ff'ii:!r'</i), cedar • (;i\-iiit'> '■ OciMii 1(1 Occun " (lS7:ij .-111(1 Miltim and (.'licMrlli '.s '■ Xmlli-Wi'si I'lssrigc liy I,;iiul" will ijivc a pood idea of tlu (omilvy in its more pii'turpsiiiir jispi'cts. THK PKOVINCK Of lUUTISH CUI,UM1!IA. 2U (Thuja giganfen), and otlier eoiiiforous trees of gigantic size, interspersed with an under- growth of various berry-bearing slinibs, whiuh render travel very laborious. The interior is s"arcely so impeded with this matted growtli, but any open land there may be is confined to the coast, and nearly all in the vicinity of Comox, or the southern end of the island, within a few miles of the caj)ital, Victoria, a town of about 4,000 inhabitants. The country is flattish towards the northern end, but the middle portion is especially well woode^ and mountainous, the valleys filled with numerous deep lakes, fed and emptied VIEW Of NEW WEaTMINSTEU, BHITISll CULIMBIA (lookino IP HMSEK RIVElt). (Vmm an OriijinaX Pholojnljid.) I)y rapid streams, few of which arc navigable even by canoes for more than a mile or two, any further progress having to be accomplished by laboriously propelling the skill's by means of poles, varied by the canoe-men ever ami anon jumping into the stream ill order to either case the canoe over shallow places, or to carry it round falls or viijiids (p. -I'.Vl). Some nf the higher hills or mountains attain, as in the case of Mctoria Peak, Mount Albert Kdvvard, and Alexaiulra Peak, the height of 7,181., G,l);}(i, and (■),.')!) !■ feet above the sea. Tlie whole country, more es]>('cially that fronting the Pacific, is intersected by deep fj'irds, or inlets, with high perpendicular walls, to which liere and there the hardy fir clings, its roots laved by the tide. On the shores of nearly alt these inlets, whore the ground is flat enough to build a village, are found tiie broken remnants of the numerous Indian tribes 240 THE COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD. who once so i" nisely peopled the shores, but who are now reduced to less than 10,000 souls. There iiro no inhabitaiit.-i in the interior, the Indians heinj^ ehieliy llshernien, who rarely go i'ar out of sight of their village, while at present, so far as we know, the interior of Vancouver Island afforels few attractions for the scanty number of white settlers who cling to the country in hope of better days than those they are now blessed with. The same words may fitly describe British Columbia to the west of the Cascade range, but to the east of that continuation of the California Sierra Nevadas the country is more open, consisting on the north of a hilly plateau, broken up by low hills, and dotted with numerous large lakes and channelled by nian^- rivers, while the usual fir is replaced by i)ines (chielly I'. pouilcroM), so thinly scattered over the country that in many places it is iiossible to ride through among them, a feat quite impossible in Vancouver Island, and in most parts of the coast region of British Columbia (p. ;21l). The southern portion of the country is still more open, in some jjlaces even partaking' of the character of park-like plfins, well lifted for cattle grazing; but in no case are these open sections worthy of the name of i)rairies, often ai)plied to them, at Wist when compured with the great seas of grass to the east of the lloeky Mountains. The chief rivers are — from north to south — the Stiken (partly in Alaska), the Nasse, the Skena, and the Eraser, the greatest of them all, which falls into the Gulf of Georg'ia, a lovely island-dotted archipelci^'o, in which the strait seiiarates A'ancouver Island from the mainland, and the Strait of Jiian De Fuca, which divides the former from AVashington Territory, ends. Easterly, the rivers are all navigable by steamers of small size, to where they pierce the Cascade Mountains. Here all navigation is stopped, owing to the forma+iou of rapids, or the swift rush of the rivers through " canons ; " though in reality the name is only applicable to the deep cuts, with high walls, through which rivers like the Colorado ilow in Arizona and elsewhere, as in due time we shall notice. The climate in the country west of the Cascade is in summer lovely, and is even worthy of the term Italian sometimes applied to it. The hottest day is tempered by a cool breeze blowing from the snow peaks of Mount Baker in the Cascades, or from the Olympian range in M'ashington Territory, while the bright skies and the wild surroundings make summer life in that country perhaps as enjoyable as in any part of the world. The winters are, however, English in their intense moist ncss, rain falling with unintermitting disagreeable- ncss. The spring, on the other hand, is fre(]uently as early as March. Then the frogs are heard croaking in every pool, and by April the country, when open enough for the growth of flowers, as in the vicinity of A'ictoria, arc yellow with the myriad Guliiimn, or blue with the Gdii/au lily (Giiwnii/ii e!<ci(li-ulea) one of the most characteristic of the ])lants of the North-West, and which is still abundant, notwithstanding the fact that for unnumbered generations the Indians have dug up its bulbs in the autumn, and after roasting them, stored them away in bags for winter use. East of the Cascades the climate is different. The summers are dry and hot, the winters cold ; but the cold is never that of Eastern Canada. Tiie cattle will often graze out during the winter, and the harbours are never closed even in the northern portions of the jtrovince. Indeed, it is not every winter that sailing ships ciuuiot reach \e\v AVestniinster, sixteen miles from the ninuth of Eraser River (p. \l\U), Tlie country is very thinly peopled. Originally a hunting-ground of the lIudson'.s Bay TIIK rHOVrKC'E OF BHITIsn COLUMBIA. 243 Conipanv, it biiist into reputation liy the discovery of gold in Frasor Kiver in 1S5S, and, sul)soiiucntly, by tliu " rush " made to tlie newly-explored Cariboo -Gold Mines near the upper reaches oC that river (p. :II!)). The f^old in Traser is now all but exhausted — only a few Chinese working the " i)lacers " * — but large quantities of it are still taken out of the latter mines. Throut;h the surface metal having been exhausted it can now only be obtained by sinking shafts and other expedients, which require the expenditure of large capital, and therefore allow of Init little chance of private individuals gaining much by lucky " strikes/' as in early days. Of late shallow diggings have been discovered in the northern portion of the province, and also in the south. Indeed, it may be safely said that the whole country, especially to the east of the Cascades, is one great gold-producing country. The towns are chiefly villages, which are, for the most part, scattered along the banks of the Eraser, or in the vicinity of (he other routes to the gold mines. They owed their existence originally to the "gold excitement," and rise and dwindle almost in an exact ratio to the success or decline of the gold mines. The great resource of British Columljia, which is destined to give it future prosperity, is coal: It is of cretaceous age, and therefore inferior to that of England and Pennsylvania, but yet much superior to any other found on the Pacific coast, whicli is (if still later geological date. At present it is only mined at Nanaimo, ninety miles from ^'ictoria ; but as the whole of the cast coast of A'ancouver Island is underlaid by the strata more mines will in time be opened out. There is also coal, but of an inferior description, on tiie southern coast, and it has also been found on the western shores of A'ancouver Island, particularly \r t!ie extensive sounds of Quatseeno and Koskcenio, and in thick beds on the banks of Brown's River, a tributary of the Puntledge, which flows into the sea at the settlement of Coniox (p. I'M). In 1870 the yield of gold from British Columbia was 1,30(1,000 dols., in addition to which silver is found ; and copper is almost cvery- wiiere abundant, while ironstone exists in various places. iranufactures are few ; saw-mills, the fur-trade, the fisheries, and farming) are among the other occupations. Ciold was discovered in 1805 in Leech River, twenty miles from A'ictoria, by the e.-pedition under the command of the writer. Some of these primitive buildings in this "i:\*y" wo have sketched on pp. 218, &c. They may stand as portraits of many other such dwellings in the mus'-'-oom settlements of the Far AVest. For a time considerable quantities of metal were extracted from the bed of the little stream, a tiny town sprung up, and a number of men found employment. The gold, however, soon became exhausted, and as no new dei>osi(s of any extent have been discovered, the diggings are now abandoned by all except a few Chinese, who still occasionally come on what are to those thrif(y Mongols prizes of no small importance. The (isheries are really valuable, and would raidv among the richest in the world were they properly developeil. Tiie rivers abound in sturgeon; cod-banks ire found off the northern coast; halibut is extremely abundant and of enormous size, while, among other fish the very name of which would be strange to the reader, salmon of several species and of excellent (pialities are found in ])rodigious abundance. In the bays they are caught during the season by the Indians by spearing, * I)iKB'"(J^ '" whioli the guld is siattiTcJ in JotaihcJ jfrains, niiKgcls. ic, llirouKli Jciiosits of oaitli, gravul, &c., as Jistiiiguishod from Owiv in whiili the iiiotal must bo e.\traitod from tlio quartz in veins. 248 THE COT'NTRIKS OF THE WOULD. and they ascend tlie rivers in such quantities that at times the (isherinen are compelled (o allow their catch to rot for want of salt to preserve it. It is a tale — and unlike many oC a similar description is perfectly true — that at one of the Hudson's Hay forts so many were on one occasion caught that they were used to manure the fijardens with. Salmon can be bought in Victoria for 2id. j)er lb,, and I have seen the Indians selling them in the streets at the rate of three for a shilling when they ha])pene(l to be very ahimdant. At Alberni, on the western shores of Vancouver Island, the traders bought them for salting at the ■^ i } t ,;:^H3«*'*' .^^jixsjit). ^^^^ - -:l ^ ^^ ,>.iV "^^-i?H^ A BTOUE AT THE LEIXII IIIVEU GOI.U MINES, V.\NCOLVEU ISLA.M), 18G.'). (From all Ol-ii|inol Pholojmjili.) rate of a fish-hook apiece, and at the saw-milling establishment there the men used (o all but mutiny if they had salmon oftener than twice a week for dinner. I may adtl that so plentiful were deer that now and then (he same compliment was paid to venison or •'dcers'-meat." After the rivers fall the sahrmn may bo seen "wobbling" about in the ])ools in the ford, affording most protitablc amusement to the brown bears, who are fond of them, and are easily <'augbt in (raps baited with the fish. The dogfi.=h {Acanthun Sitcklci/i) is also plentifid, and is caught liy the Indians for the sake of the oil in its liver. This Ibrms a considerable article of trade, being used (o lubricate the machinery in the saw-mills of the province and of Pugot Sound. Oysters are also found of small size, but the clam {LiUraiiu iiiiu-inni) is (he mullusk, which, either ])lain boiled, baked, or in ihc form of "chowder" or soup, is most popular as an esculent. The Indians dry it fop I'HE rUOVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 2I» winter food, and its coUuction and preservation are among the most characteristic occupa- tions in a native village. The last fish which I shall mention is the oulachon, or candle tish {Osmerun pacijicun), a species of smelt, which ascends the northern rivei-s in March. It is captured in great numbei"s by the Indians for food, but more particularly for the purpose of extracting the oil from its tissues. This oil, which is, when cold, of the consistency of palm-oil, is used for cooking, and is also eaten by the natives. It has also the good qualities THE CAMFnnV riATM. WIU.IAM's rHEKK, CARIIIOO OOI.D MINES (1863). of cod liver oil without if.s nausea. Probably its use is the salvation of the natives of that part of the coast where chest diseases arc very common. So highly valued is it by the Indians, that when they come to Victoria they always bring some boxes of it with tiiem. One of them remarkal to me that there were only two good things in the world — " rum and oulachan oil ! " British ColumI)ia is not an agricultural country, and no number of pamphlets will ever make it so. The soil and climate are excellent for all crops of the milder temperate /one ; but the open tracts arc small in comparison with those found in the more favoured regions of the United Stiites lying immediately south of the forty-ninth parallel. Clearing land at the present rate of labour will not pay, but when the market is sufficiently great to make it remunerative some of the drier tracts between the Cascades and the Rocky Mountains 32 MO THE COUNTRIES OF TIIE WOULD. -k- will doubtless be cultivated by means of irrigation. In 1871 the sea-goingr vessels which entered the ports of British Columbia numbered 292, with a tonnage of i;31,(i'J0. lu the same year 285 vessels with a tonnage of 127,80 !•, cleared. The imports in 1870 were valued at 1,005,809 dols., while the exports, including gold, were 1,848,80.1 dols. Excluding gold, these exports were supplied by twenty-one articles of home produce; yet, in spite of all her resources, her pleasant climate, and great seaboard, British Columbia ia not prospering. She is a lady with "great expectations." She has been, ever since the llrst (lush of the Fraser lliver gold excitement expired, waiting — a sort of Micawber of Colonies — for " some- thing to turn up." At one time Cariboo was to "make the country;" but that died the death of Fraser lliver. Then "lumber" was to be the fortune of everybody, but there was no market, and the big trees still grew. Then copper, then coal, gold, and sometimes silver have been the materials on which the often sanguine colonists hoped "to hold on." Now and then a Governor more complaisant than ordinary was the coming man who was to "develop their resources," but in due time His Excellency was as the Pro-consuls who had gone before him and came after him. For a brief spell the colonists would decline to put their trust in princes, and try to make the best of what they had. They would salt salmon and send them to Sandwich Island, and to the Roman Catholic countries to the south, or would put them up in tins for whoever would buy them. But somehow or other the province progresses slowly, notwithstanding the political changes it makes. As present the Canadian Pacific Railroad is the something of the future which, when completed, everybody is to grow rich on. But Ottawa and Victoria are on indifferent terms. The railway is slow in completion, and it is doubtful if the longest- lived colonist will survive to see its accomplishment. Meantime the population is not increasing, and the undoubtedly great resources of the country are in that condition so abhorrent to the energetic sojourner in the new country — " undeveloped." The chief obstacle to the progress of British Columbia is its isolation from its sister provinces, and from the mother countrj'. The protective duties of the United States shut out its timber, and even to some extent its coal, from the San Francisco market, while the great distance of England and of Australia interferes with the wants of these countries being supplied from the " Queen Province of the Pacific." Could these difficulties be overcome, British Columbia would undoubtedly prosper. In her there is the making of a great colony, but at the present time it is a pleasanter country to visit than to reside in and win bread from, disagreeable as it is to say so of a land in whoso joys and toils, anxieties and successes, the writer was for some of the pleasanter years of his life a sharer. Concluding Remarks. We have probably given a fuller account of the Canadian provinces than it will be possible to afford to some other portions of the world which will come before us in due course. But we arc anxious, since it is impossible to devote full space to every country, to describe those ^ihich are less known, or which are of more peculiar interest to Englishmen, in greater detail, more especially when the writer possesses particular acquaintance with them. We have, however, left ourselves no space to speak of many features of Canada, TUB COMSrERCE OF THK FOKEST. 251 or of Canudiiin life in its genorul aspects. TIio jn'ople of that country differ in many respects from those of the United States and of I'Inyland. They have an accent of tlieir own — pnrtaliinfj of the fjencral Transatlantic drawl — and in their character they have also some features which at once stamp them as a race lujt yet out of the yristle period, l)ut hardening into the bone of manhood. The men are cipially energetic in business with those of the United States, but are cai)ablo of greater physical exertion. They bear the reputation, jwrhaps undeserved, of being exceedingly careful of their money, tliough, possibly-, a little more scrupulous in obtaining it than some of their neighbours over the border. Sweejiing censure, like sweeping praise, is, however, always dangerous, and in some cases utterly erroneous. Accordingly, it may l)e as well not to generalise upon l)remises, which will undoubtedly be declared erroneous, no matter what conclusions they may lead to. It cannot, at least, be denied that the Canadian women are as healthy in appearance as the men are robust. The true " American " woman may bo pretty, but she soon fades, and she is ageing at thirty. The Canadian girl is, on the contrary', like the Englishwoman, in her prime at that period, and being addicted to out-of-door exercise maintains her freshness longer. She walks on snow-shoes, " trabogens," and " rinks " out of doors, while inside her daily domestic duties take so much of her time that she indulges in little of the lassitude and langoiu" which, u)ifortunately, too often afflict her American sister. The moral character of the people is high. In the town there are rogues, as there always are in large conununities. In the country the peoiile are orderly and peaceable. Farmyards are rarely enclosed. Timber lies all winter on the banks of the stream ready to be floated down when the ice disappears, and yet it is perfectly safe from depredation. In the farmhouse bolts and locks are unnecessary, while the farm implements lie in the field, and the stock often wander all summer through the woods till the autumn, when each owner claims his own. Education is free and compulsory, the teachers being paid by a school-tax levied on every citizen, while every ratepayer over twenty-one is entitled to a vote. Lastly, it may be added that the " manifest destiny " of Canada to go over to the United States is not believed in, except by a very small section of the countrj'. CHAPTER XIII. TiiK Commerce of the Forest. The woods of America were at first its most distinguishing feature. It was the primeval forests that the first settlers had to contend with, and though their pride has been HI many places humbled, yet, doubtless, for long the art of felling giant trees will be the prime art which the backwoodsman must be possessed of. They are not, however, always the enemy of the settler, for in Eastern Canada and the neighbouring United States they contain food also. ibi TUB COUNTRIES OF THE WOULD. " SroARixn," The sugar maple (Acer mccluirluuin) is familiar to nearly ovi'ry one who haw the most elementary knowledge uf America, Spring is the scasdo when (hi' trcos are tappe<l for the juiee out of which the sugar is erystallised. lyirly in April the Indians and settlers, with their wives and families, rejiair to the backwoods for sugar making. The work partakes of all the character of a i)icnic, and, indej)endcntly of (he jirolit made, is enjoyed acconlingly. Their first duty is to improvise i)ails, cups, and stoops out of the birch bark, out of which the canoes are also made. The "sugarie" is then ready to be started. The trees are tapped in V-shaiicd incisions, and a spout of bark inserted into the place. The saccharine ' is (hen ascending briskly, and as it arrives at the cut flows out into the scoop, whieii conveys it into the trough below. A good tree will yield three gallons in a day; but this depends (jn (he season, a warm day being better for it than a cold one, and especially is a sunny day after a frosty night favourable for the flow of the juiee. About one pound of sugar is extracted from four gallons of sap. The sap is boiled until it becomes hard when dropjied on the snow. It is then considered sufKeicnfly boiled, and is strained through a blanket — not always a jierfectly clean one — and joured into bark basins, when it soon hardens. The work of preparing the sap falls to the lot of the men, the women and children being alwa^'s too fully occupied in tapping the trees and ccjlh'cting the sap. Mr. Rowan mentions that one man will sometimes tap 200 or ^00 trees; and that an Indian, with his wife and child, can make (JOOlbs. of maple sugar in one spring. The average run of a tree is twenty gallons in the season; and, strange to say, the tajjpiiig process does not seem to injure it, as it can be bled several seasons after without uttei'ly destroying its health. In 1871 it was e.ilculated that 17,2(i7,00()lbs. of maple sugar were manu- factured in the four oldest Canadian provinces. Passing over the many beautiful and useful trees with which the Eastern American forests abound, and which give them a gayer and more varied aspect than is possiljle in the more monotonous though even more extensive pine solitudes of the Pacific coast, we may pass on to the use to which (jf all others they are put, viz., hewing them down for the sake of their timber. A settler born in the back- woods seems to have a perfect antipathy to trees. He is — metaphorically — born with an axe in his hand, which is to him what the proverbial silver spoon is to more favoured youths. Wi(h that handy American axe of his he slashes and hews .it the great woodland crop which, though he never sowed, he yet reaps. He "clears" the land to sow corn on it, and burns what timber he cannot utilise for fuel or for buildings. If tiio timber be of a size and character fitted f^r being sawn into boards, and his "location" is near a river or lake, the settler finds it more profitable to convert it into "lumber;" and to do this requires careful felling, and an entirely new system of going to work. It is quite a mistake to suppose that land cleared of salable timber is ready for the plough ; on the contrary, it is covered with spare forest-trees unfitted for the axe, bush, and a wilderness of tall stumps. In a few years — fourteen or fifteen, it has been estimated — the slim trees will be thick ones, and again the lumberman may erect his TIIK COMMEKCK OF TIIK KUIiKST; M'MBEKINCi. IM dm lire liiiiis camp and hew again at the forest. In fact, if the Canadian and United States Oovornment Hhowed anytliinf;' like foresight and care, tiiere neeil — over a great ]iiirtii)n ol both countries — ■'■.*' , ^\ m iE-Ji -r-^i Kii"'""- i ^ .\ ' Fa^lJ.liOi'^ lIWi '4^ HT ) U - ';■ SA\V-MI1.LS IN A F0KE8T OF I'INEH. he no outcry respecting the destruction of tlie "lumber" forests. Timber is one of the most lucrative of crops; and if the trees cut down were replanted, as llicy are in many countries, or even care taken to prevent forest fires, which in a very great number of cases are 864 TUE COL'NTKIKS OK TllH WOnLD. cmiscd hy rarclossness nnd wanton migchicf, this iinjwrtniit l)mnt'h of American commerrc might bo ft'd I'di' a i)eriod praeticiilly indolhiiti'. Arlioriciilturc and forestry are, liowever,. sciences tlic iiioaiiinfi's of wliieli are an yet scarcely iiiidei'Ktoo(l in America, and already it is exi)eriencinj»' the exceeding wastefulness of a <'ivilisiiti(in, which consists in destroying-, recklessly every wild beast and every wild tree within its borders. Li'MBKUiWi IV Eastkiin Ameuica. " Lumberinjw," both in Canada and the United States, is an important cm]>loyment. Winter is, over Hirciit portions of the country, u dead season. The settlers are unemi)loyed, and those who have skill in that direction take to chopping the pine woods. It is also one of those enii)loymonts which are well paid. The waj^es arc from ten to thirty dollars per month, and twenty to thirty dollars for a pair of horses, food, in both cases, being provided' by the employer and hirer. In Eastern America winter is the season when lumheriny commences. The first; snow is the sii,''nal for the men to take to the woods to hew down the trees which' have been previously marked by the parties sent out to explore the various timber limits leased from the Government by the mill-owners. In gangs of from six up to twenty men- they go to work. First of all, they build log camps, or "shanties," for IhemscN's, and' "hovels" for their horses, or cattle, if they prefer them. "Each camp has a main or- 'portage road' leading to the nearest settlement or turnjiiko road, which is sometimes as much as fifty, sixty, or one hundred miles distant. Along this road their provisions are ' portaged.' This alone gives work to one team when the gang is large and the distance- great. Flour, pork, tea, and molasses form the stajilcs of their diet. They breakfast before daybreak, dine about ten or eleven, have a 'bite' at two or three, supper at six,, and a 'lunch' before they go to sleeji — not bad living; and at any hour of the day or night that a stranger happens to visit them, on go the kettle and frying-pan, and he is treated to the best they can give him." In a camp of, say, twenty men, there- are the " boss " or foreman, the cook, the teamster, and the teamster's " divil " or assistant, young men, highly paid, and gifted with a profundity of bad language, which they plentifully bestow on their cliarges, the beasts of draught. The latter haul the logs from the stump, and deposit them on the bank of the stream down \"hich they are to- be floated in the spring. These are the officials ; then come the rank and lile, viz., five broad-axemen, who square the logs; the "head swamper," i.e., the engineer or road maker, who, of course, is also an officer, but not so highly paid as the teamster and cook; and four "fallers," or choppers, who initiate the work for all the others. The men are worked hard, but the labour is tolerably lucrative, though, indeed, much. of their wages is swallowed up in the "store" of their cmi)k)yer; and it is only the very provident who come out of the woods in the spring with any great savings. The horses arc fed on oats, but arc too hard worked to last long, though they are selected for their strength, and actually calculated at so much per pound when being bought. In the winter the cold is often intense; the men accordingly consume- great quantities of pork and other fat food. That this diet is best suited for them, is THK COMMKIICK OF THE FOKEHTj LUMnEIUNO. ■ZbH ]>rovc'(l by tlio fnct tlmt tlioy look down on beaver, rabbit, moose, euriboii, ond till other tlocvs' iiu'iit, iiH " having; no strciif^th in it," " The camps are f^encniily Kitiiatt'd in hardwoml land, near a brook or river. Tiiey are built of Hi>ru(e lof^H, well padded with moss, aTid roofed with eedar or pine splits [p. 250]. The hearth is in the centre of the eainp, \vith a Iwneh •or ' deaeon seat ' on each side of the lire. Hack of this are the beds or ' bntiks,' made ol li.ny or hemlock ljou(,'hs, constantly renewed. The htables and hovels are close to the camp, .niul are made in the same manner, but, of course, without the tlreidaee, and with a loft for hay overhead. Neither horses nor men ever suffer from cold in the lumber woods; there is no wind, and (he deeji snow banked up round the camps and hovels adds tjreatly to the warmth." N(ir are the "lo;ifgiiij^ camps " without their amusements. The talk is monotonous after the accumulated stock of anecdotes liaa become exhausted ; and its character is not of the most rclined description ; but, on line Sundays, to get the horses of rival logj^ing camps to pull aii^iinst each other is, to the loggers, sui)erb enjoyment, and is perhaps somewhat more moral than a race at Ascot or at Epsom. Yet they lead a hajjpy life; free from care and in robust health, they earn by their day's toil a sound sleep at night, and if their winter work is dull the smnmer (inale to it is, on the other hand, lively in the extreme. The store of logs accumu- lated on the bank of some stream, the lumbermen leave their camp and prcjiare for the exciting work of the spring campaign. Hitherto, all the rivers have been frozen over; land and water have slept. In spring the world comes back to life. Little by little, slowly and growlingly at first, but eventually with a crash and a roar, the ice-sheets burst asunder, pile over one another, undermine the banks, and then sail down the current, pcrhaiw to reach the sea half meltetl, or to be stranded on meadow or intervales many miles from the rendezvous of all the rivers. Then the lumberman is busy — for " freshet time " is the most critical of all seasons to him. If he neglect to get his logs rafted down he may have to wait another year before the produce of his winter labour can be sold. " If the snow thaws very rapidly, and the freshet rushes to an unusual height, his logs are scattered over the meadows and intervales, and collecting them is great labour. Each log and stick of timber has upon it the private mark of the owner. They all iloat down the stream together, but are claimed and sorted out at the rafting grounds. Here booms are stretched across the river to collect the lund)er, which is made into rafts, and cither floated down by the stream or towed by steam tug d(jwn to the sea, The rivers in Canada have a lively appearance in the months of May and June. Hardly has thi; last of the ice disappeared when the logs commence to run. From daybreak in the morning mitil dark the stream drivers are at work ; some in the water; some walking on the slippery floating logs — as only a lumberman can ; others paddling about in canoes, pushing off their logs from the bank, guiding them through the broken water, and finally making them into rafts. This is a period of very hard and severe work for the men, who are highly paid, and of great anxiety to the lumberer." These floating villages, with their shanties, their blazing fires kindled on an earthen hearth, and the streaming banners waving in the wind as they float down stream, is one of the must eliaraeteristie and impressive sights of Canada during the early spring and summer months (pp. £1£, iJ2n). If a log could speak, it would tell of many an hour's hard toil spent on it, from the day it was first marked for cutting in the heart of the forest to the day it was shipped at Quebec. It would also bear testimony to the honesty of the Canadian people. The 25U TUE COUNTUIES OF THK WOULD. lumber is past away in all sorts of strange pluccs by the fj-eshet — in meadows, in fields, 111 creeks, and g'liUies, far away from the banks of the river, where it lies sometimes for months uiisouifht and unclaimed; but rarely, if ever, is a sfic'-; of timber stolen in C.nada. Nor is this work unattended with danger. lioosely joined together in huge uncouth rafts, the logs are set adrift, and with a few poles and roughly-shapen oars to guide them, the lumbermen in charge go down the currents and rapids of deep i-ivors, swollen and A Li)0<iIN(i CAMl' .NKAll AI.llEHM. I)N THF WKSTKllN SIICIUHS nr VAV( (MVKU ISLANll, WITH 61'llii\c s LAKE l.N rllE ItAlK(tUOVM>. (F.-Udt Or'Jiil.jI yAtifoJit'.",) lldwiiig liercc'ly witli (lie waters fmm tlic melting snow. A large rait in New Hrunswick contains abdut IS,<HI(I 1ol;s, and covers a space <il' sninc ten acres. As long as the logs hold together, all is well ; but, hurried and tumljled over rapids, they often break up; and woe betide the unhappy lumbermen who are on them when the great logs come rolling in fierce confusion one on the other, and go smashing down tiie rapids I'nmi rock to rock till tliey arc cast adrift in some ojien reach ! AVhen sucli accidents occur, as they fiTcpicntly do, it sometimes happens that the logs get so wedged and bound tog'Mlier on the biuw of some strong rapid that they remain immovable, and all the miles ol' logs which are following them are stojipeil at once. It the i l)ecomes necessary to cut the obstructing logs, or " timber jam," as it is called, with axes LUMBERIXG IN EASTKliX AJIKUICA. ■i'ol Only tlic bravest, coolest, and most uxperiinced of the luinberei's cun attempt this most ihiiitferims of all their tasks; for when oiieo he loy-s whieli La- the passaj^e are half cut through, the wei^'lit of the press behind breaks them like stra.vs, and some 10,000 trunks of trees come pluiigingf down with a rush and confusion that but too often render all the coolness and activity i,i those who are trying to escape the avalanche of no avail. During the summer the shanties and the lakes bc>corae a perl'ect solitude. A IIACKWOOIW lIcirKI., LEEl 11 lllVhU IW"'- (FiOmi iiji O. ijiliul l'li..l.i;|. i,./. ) I'nr the " l(ig-clio])|i(M' " li:is become a "log-driver," and '.he tuiliiig oxen ur horses are pcrmitteil to enjciy their siiinini'r rest on tlie farms of their masters. In flie ]iroviiucs of Ontario and Quebec, a large imrtion of the logs are (ransformed at the saw-mills, near the mouth of the rivers on \ihich they have been cut, into sawed lumber, ileals, and planks. It is these mills, in fact, which have (leveIo]icd the country I'lir miles around them, and opened \ip in the heart of the wilderness f'ruitl'ul lands and settlements. As a specimen of how one trade hel]>s another it may be added that one firm of saw-millers alone, emjjloying lli.; men and boys, consume annually 750 tons of hay, -'.j,()00 bushels of oats, .5,000 bushels of turnips, (1,000 bushels of potatoes, l,0(m baircls of I'lirk, !>,000 barrels of flour, and -2, 000 barrels of oatmeal — in all, about .2,00(> tdiis df ]irodiiee alone are absorbed by a single lirm, which is, moreover, only one of many similar.* Mr. C'aniidiun Corn sjior Jiut of the Scotsman, Deccnibir 21), 1870. 33 258 TirE COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD. llownii. to wliose account, of Cuniidian lumbL'ring' wo arc indebted for muili of this description — and llie description applies eipially to all Eastern America — \ery truly remarks tliat to tlie ininiiin'aut this Inisiuess presents no attraction. It is one that cannot easily be overdone by comjietitioii or swamped by cheap European labour. Lduj^ education is necessary for any one to become an adept in the use of the axe. It is really a tine-art sij^'lit to see a tliorou,n'h axeman at work. IIow easily — almost without an effort, one would think — he swings the axe over his head, but every time brinj^s it down within a hair's-lireadth (if the rig'ht place! Not a IjIow is wasted. At every stroke a hug..' wedge-shaped chip flies; and with a sound that makes the silent forest echo, the great tree shriven, creases, and tiicn crashes to the groui* ' bringing along with it often a thicket of its smaller relatives, which have grown up mm. its shade. The work of an axeman is wi'll calculated to bring into i)lay all the muscles of the body. Accordingly, the y/// //•!(/'/«'' of the Canadian and State of Elaine men — who are all accustomed to this work — is splendid. Most of them an imusiially tall, and without having that yellow sickly colour so common in the America;-, townsman. The luraliorman who passes his life in active, healthy work, inhaling Ihe reviving breath of the pine forest, has not an ounce of snperlhious fat, while every muscle is developed to its normal siz<.'. In addition to the lumber trade proper, there is an increasing demand in Canada for the minor products of the forest, su<h as (.'anada balsam, spruce gum, oil of hemlock (,////>< Cdiuiih'iixix) , hemlock bark, sassiifras root (.S'. oJjiciiKii'i'), sumach for dyeing, &c. An extract has been obtained from the hemlock bark which puts all the tanning properties of the bark into smaller space — always a desideratum in a country where the labour of transport is great. This trade also aids the lundjcrman ; for by causing numbers of hemlock trees to be stripp- 1 of their bark, it leaves then* ready for cut'ing into logs. These hemlock trees, when growing, are graceful in appear- ance, their foliage being peculiarly feathered; but when old, the bark gets rough ami gnarled, anil the foliage loses that iiencilled grace which it j)ossesseil in its younger growth, thus proving fabe to the song in its honour, which says — " O hciul.xK- tr. O licniluik tri'*' ! hnw fnitlifiil ;i)'- tli\- liniinlira In l^?l the exports of Canada amonnfed to 7-'!, '.*.•'. ,7 1^ ihillars, .': / of this sum 20,817,71') dollars must be credited to her forests. Muidi capital is embarked in liie trade, and immense energy, foresight, and enterj)rise are developed by it. In addition to the sums i'xjK>nd«>J in wagcit and in provisions for men and beasts, great expense is often iiieinred in fz/fwiiMg timber slides in rivers which are interrnpted by fulls. So important, how«?ver, is it in the interests of the cimntry ihat the rivers should be suitable for rafting down logs, that on some of tlie n.iiii liiannels, such as ti e Ottawa, the (fovernment has, very properly, '-barged itself with the Jonstruction and niaintenance of the chief timber slidtv. The yearly expense of transporting timber froTii the districts where it is h^wn to Quebec \* estimate*! »i aljout 70(I,0(IIJ didlars, and at least three months are consume*! in its tranHp/rt; Ihe interest of that money i)eing necessarily lost in the interval. Ilufting, more<.»ver, can only !ie conducteil at certain seasons; and, accoi-dingly, tlie Qnc'.jec merchants have to a/-cninu!ate large stock.s to lie < \er all the winter, so as to be ready for the sprinjf fleet, tlms locking up cipitul to the extent LUMBEIUNd ON TlIK NOllTK PACIFIC COAST. 259 (if ul.'out two niilliotis of dollars, with intorcst on the same lost alto^'ctlici- for sis mouths. All ovoi' Xoi'th AiiiL'i'iea luinhci'iujj is followed on a more or less extensive seale. It is, however, only in the ji^reat forests of the North, and alun;,'' the eour.scs of the rivers and lakes, that it ean be iiursued jn'olitalily as a braneh of coniuR'ree. Aecordinj^'ly we lind it pursued here and there in the vieinity of all the hij^her rivers, and riyht on to the bottom of Lake ^liehigan, where, at Green Bay, for example, there is considerable work of this description <li)ne. As we get further and further from the sea, and water cdnimunieation gets less and less, lumbering ceases to be a tr.idc, and is only followed for the juirpose of supplying duniestic nrliirining wants. In the central regions of the Continent, indeed, the matfricl itself ceases. When we cross the U(jcky ^lountaiiis the business begins again. At first we find snail saw- mills, for the purpose of si:pplying the gold-diggers with "shiice-box" lumber, and other timber used in building Ikjuscs or in mining ojierations. Small mills arc also fnund in the vicinity of the settlements; and when we reach the sea again the business attains the dignity of commerce, and great saw-mills ship it off fnjm the Pacific sea-board as it was shipped from the Atlantic. Puget Sound, Vancouver Island, and the sea-board of IJritish Columbia, are the chief localities in the north ; while further south, here and there on the coast of Washington Territory and Oregon, the trade is followed; and in California, in addition to many smaller saw-mills for hjcal purp(jscs, then; are great logging or saw-milling establish- ments in the red wood (iSfqii/jin Hfii/jwrrireiiK) forest, which exieiid along the coast up to lat. \-?,'^. Lumbering on the Pacific and Atlantic sides of the Continent arc, however, some- what different. In the first region, the trees are different in species and more gigantic in size, owing to the milder and wetter climate; tlu i, little snow falling in the winter, and the rivers rarely being frozen up, lumbering is not followed in the winter alone, but all the year round. Again, labour being high, ...;'l the virgin forests as yet almost untouched, it is neither practicable nor necossary to go so far back into the wilds to obtain logs as iu Canada and "the States;" indeed, operations are carried on almost on the sea-board. To complete this sketch, therefore, of the earliest, and one of the most wide-spread of American industries, I must describe lund^cring on the Pacific separately.* LCMBERIXG ON 'niH NoHTll PaCIIIC Co.\ST. The work at a saw-milling establishment, say in Vancouver Island or Puget Sound, as elsewhere, consists of two main ilivisions, namely, getting the timlter from the woods, and cuKing it up into planks, at the mills. The saw-mill nwner oeciusionally undertakes the W(irk in the woods on his own account, but more usually' i lakcs a contract with a "logger/' whf. engages for a certain jirice to deliver logs into the mill-jiond close to the mill. Having secured his "claim" to a iiortion of forest land bordering on the water, the "logger ' proceeds to make a "main" road from the ni.'st densely-wooded jiart of the land to the water-side, jommonly to some small bay. At the water-side end of the road * In iliawin^ iiji tliis d. s.i i|i(i,in, tlioci^'li !^|if'akins; nf wlutl I am pcr.soually I'^imiliar with, I liavi- lui ii nnatly iii- iMili'il ti) n >ti's Hiipiilicd lur liy my fiii nil, the Hon. Gillicrt Jlaliolm Simmt, Cummissioncr nt Indian Affairs in Uritiah ■(.'oliiinbia, and fomicrly Agiut-Oum lal of tlio I'rovinco, wlio in von- intimatoly aciiuaintcJ with the whole siihjeet. }^-'^J. 200 THE COrXTHIKS OF THE WOULD. liu llKikcs n slide till' \v:ilci-. Much c-hipin'il (111 cviTv h>ii\ [if siiiodtli In^s, down wliirh tlio Id^'s lirouLflif from the forest roll into ,,o'y,'r, it luiiy 1)0 iiddud, has, as in the Ivistcrn States, jirivate marks > that it may be at oiiee reeoi^niseil and clainicd if it should i^o adrift. " lioums " are jilaeed aeross to coiifme the lo^'s until a siiliicieiil i|iiaiitily is obtained to f(iriii what is ealied a " boom of loin's " for the mill. The loytfer ne.\.t selects a snitabif s]iot lor his hut, and i'or a hovel for the oxen eni[)loyed in drauying' the loys, oxen beiny here iiiiivers;illy em]iliiy('il in jirefrrciiee to horses. Alimit a do/eii men an/ eii}4'ai>'ed for the dill'ereiit operations of eleariny away the brushwood, euttiii}^ the tree liown, barking- it, and sa\\iii^' it across when felled into the reijuired len<jths, and for driving' the team of oxi'ii. A cook is also employed lo i.ke charge of the house and stores, and to cook fur tlu' parly. This small csiablishnieut iu the forest is called a " lo!;ging eampi" and at these camjis, as in loi.'-giiig cainjis generally, the traveller generally receives a hearty welcome, and abundance of good wiiolesome fare— eolfee, fresh bread, venison, salmon, beef and pork, potato,^ , dried a])ples, fresh butter, pickles, &e. The work is very hard, and can only be done by men long accustomed to it. Most of the log-gers come from Canada or the State of Elaine, wlure they have been used to tiie axe from boyhood. iMirojieans are hardly worth their I'ood until they have been smne lime at iL Removing the brushwood, called "swamping" (p. -•')!), is the only portion <if the work that a "green hand" can undertake, and he must be a handy man to make a ligure at that. The choppers and the teamster lire the highest jiaiil men. They receive from fifty to sixty dollars (tlO to iM) ])er month, with food. The others are only jiaid from ill to IS per month, with food, whicii, it ma\' be added, is invariably the rule wiien workmen are employe! .il such estabhshnients on the I'acille coast. Where the placi,' is distant from a mill, and boards cannot lit- olitained, the house is built of logs, with moss stuffed between them, and the roof is made of lor.g splmls of Cedar {T/mja ifii/diilcn). It is warm and wat n'-tigiit. The inside is a large room, \i'ith open sleeping "bunks" jilaced round. In the centre is a wood lire, and above it a wooden open chimney coming down through the roof, like a vast extinguisher. In one corner of the room the cook has an American iron cooking-stove, while a long table and benches, at which the men take their meals, complete the furniture of these arti/ans of the forest. The axe used in chopping is a small one, of American nudse, with a long handle. The Knglish mamifacturers, though furnished with sam]ik-s of this axe, do not seem to have succeeded in making it so as to satisfy the woodmen. A true woodman hardlv knows what to do with his hands unless he has an axe in them. It seems indispensable to him, and it is astonishing how (|iiickly and well he ran fell trees, make roads, or Vmild houses with it. I'aihug the axe, the lumberman, like most AVesti^rii men, is fond of whitlling, and wIkmi sitting in the summer (vening- in front of his ifteu ]iictures(piely-situated cabin, is usually seen leisurely and artlessly shaving down a "shingle," or, still better, the soft cheese-like white ]iiiic, if hi' be fortimalo enough to lay iiis hn;ids on a piece. Tlie loggers of liic North- West are a line, manly, intelligent set of meiu.. The\ have generally been fairly eilucated, and havi! seen a g-ood deal of the world. Ila'vinii' few opjiort unities of siicnding- money in Ihe woods, and being well paiil, those oi' them who resis' the tem|ptation to sjiend their earnings v hen they visit the towns are able to save mousy, and can get on to be logging contractors themselves. I,L-M13EKIXU OX THE NORTH PACIFIC COAST. 2«1 Tho otlior ])(iitiiiii of the work, nanu'ly, at the saw-mill, may now be noticed. IVuiu lil'ty to sixty imn ire cmiiluj-eJ at a hirge mill, in the capacity of eii<;inei'rs, lireiiien, loy-haulcrs, u:iiH';--.iwyer.s, eircuhii--sawyers, cross-cutters, tilers, blacksmiths, and men ein|iloyed in can\ mi;.;' and stackin;.? the planks. Several oi' these occupations recpiiri' special skill, but many are .'pen to the ordinary labourer. Consequently, the men at a A M MlinU WIIAIir CIN TllK NOIITII I'ACIl IC I UAST. mill are, on an avornfrt'. scarcely ecpial fo tlmso in (he log'trjn^' camps. There are more rouyh cliaracters amonj^' the p(Mi|ili> at the mill. The married men at a siiw-mill live ill sMiiill \Mi.i(lcu ciittau'es , the unuian-i'd men have one or two barracks or <liirmitories. i Tliere is a ('"ik-hou^e, uitli a larn'i' ni >^-li'iiise adaclied, where the men have their three "^l <Iail\ meals. They work frum six to six, with only hall' an hour for di 'er. 'I'he wafre? « of the lab.iui-ers are about L") or Lii jut innnlh, with boanl and lod^'ini;- , and the skilled men recrive, ;ieconliny' to the.r oi'CMpatioiis, I'mm tS to Ll~ and tl-'i ).;m- uiontli, lioard and lixlffiuLf. The proprietois usually have a lar^e fjeneral shop at the ini'l to supply tho wants of the men and their liiinilies. The mills are tyenerally driven by steam [lower, the ■2(jZ TlIK LUVNTlilES OF TUK WOlil.l). reriiso of the logs s'.ii)i)lying abumlanee of fuel. The saws consist of ii])ri!jflit " t^iin<^ " saws iiiid " firciiliir" siiws. The wood oil l)oiii<r sawn is run out of tlio mill <in tu the wharf, and the shijis' crews (ahu it into tiic vessels, wiiich load "how on "' to (lie wharf (p. it'll). AVith the exccjition of tlie cetlar, which is used for making' shinj^lcs for nioliuLf, anil hy the natives for canoes and a dozen other uses, the A^ues JJuiii/lduli, is the only " incrcliantable " wood in larj^e quantities of the Ibrest trees north of the Cohnnhia llivcr. (In California they have the red wood, the scented cedar — Ciiprc-isitu l.dii'stiiiiiiua — and other trees, but these do not extend to the great lumbering region of the North.) The Douglas fir is called indiscriminately, in foreign markets, Oregon, I'uget Soinid, Vancouver or red lir, pine, &c. It grows all over the Xorth-West, though not north of !Milbank Sound, in oi"' N.L. Though contracting greatly in drying, yet, from its strength and power of bearing tension, it is the best of Xorth-West conifers. The white fir (Picca), to the unscientific observer, looks in the forests not uidike it, but its wood is soft, and not believed to be durable. A cargo of masts or of sawn tinil)er would bo spoilt if it were known that white firs were amongst it. The .Ujici JJoiii/ldsii grows very sound. Those from the I']astern provinces who have been accustomed — as, for instance, on the Ottawa — to see tracts of fine-looking forest useless from the unsoundness of the trees, are surprised to find such a liealthy forest growth in the Xorth-AVest. The price of the sawn wood, or " hnnber," is from lOs. to Us. per thousand feet of " board measure" (twelve inches square and one inc'h thick), for ordinary lengths, saj', from twenty to thirty feet. Large jiieces cost more; llni.ring boaiils, planed on one side, tongued and grooved, cost £1 I)er thousinid feet. As a "merchantable" wood, the yliie<i Doiiylaull Aoas not enter into competition with the Swedish or Canadian yellow pine. It is a stronger, coarser, and more durable wood, and more resembles the ))itcli pine of the South States than cither the Swedish or Canadian. It is possible to make planed doors and window-frames, or llooring, of selected pieces of AZ/ia BouglanH, and these look well and wear well ; but the wood is specially fitted for rafters, joists, and heavy carpentering work, in which the Canadian and Swedisli timber would be less suitable. Ouing to its conipactne.ss and tough strong fibre, the Al/ies Ihiuglusii is not so easily sawn or worked as the softer pines, and is, therefore, less liked by the carpenters. Large quantities are exjjortcd to flic northern ])arts of China, the Sandwich Islands, the west coast of South America, and to Australia. The freight is too high to enable it to be brought to England at a profit, except in the form of masts. In 1S71, Is2,f00 dollars worth of lumber were exported from British Columbia. From the first days of San Francisco, that town and a large portion of the State of California have been su))pliod with this wood by the saw-mills of Pugot Sound, 800 miles north of San Francisco. The wood, the cribs or cofl'er dams, forming part of the " made" ijround on which a great portion of the city stands, also the wharves, the wooden houses, the heavy carpentering in the brick and stone structures, and all the agricultural require- ments of i\w. districts accessible to the wood merchants of San Francisco, are supplied by this wood. The rod wood, or re<l cedar {Sr/fwiii! .semjierr/rfihs), which is lighter and smoother, and used for door and window-frames, is the only wood for general use obtainable in any quantity in that portion of California which borders the ocean. San Francisco thus looks to Puget Sound for her sujijily of fir wood. LUMBKlflXd ON TIIK XORTll rAril'It' (DAST. 2();{ Tlioiv uro lit) finui- treus in tho world for iniists) and yards tlian llic Ahiet 'Diiiiylnxii. 'I'lic wood 111' tlit'si' is ]iri)l)alily siijierior to flio lies! Ilii^a pini' that caii 1m/ got. 'I'iioso \vlii> luivc tried the Dotij^'las and tlu; SDntiiern States j]iteli jiine ]iret'er tlic loriner. It is \ised ill the navies of vari <iis J'"iirojiean countries.* Tliero would be a lar^^-e cDiisutiiiition of this Wood in Mritaiii for the mercantile navy if the higli freight diil not chock it.s importation. Of late }ears, also, many of our merchant vessels use iron masts. Mastinj^ jiieces can be <jot rif all .sizes, from live inches in diameter to I'nrty inches; the larye pieces heiufi;', of course, much more easily obtained than the small. 'I'he price, free on liiiardj in the \orth-AVost, is, accordin}^ to size and cliaracter, so niucli per running' foot. It is only a portion of a tree, of course, which has all the rciiuisites for making a mast (ir a yard. The height of many of the trees as they grow in tho woods is very great. "I have been tidd," writes INIr. Sproat in his notes, "that there was a tree lying on the gi-diind, in some part of I'uget Sound, which measured over Km feet as it lay; but I am inclined to tiiink the feet must have been short in this case. I can speak of what I have myself seen. The highest (lag-])ole in luirope is the Douglas lir one in Kew Gardens, near London, which measures ItJo foot. This tree was sent home by ~^ a friend of mine from the North-AVi.'sfc coast, and jiresenteil to the Gardens. Another iliig-pole, still larger, was sent home by the same gentleman for the Great Exhibition of 1S():J, but arrived too late; and this, which measured I So feet, was broken by being knocked against a bridge in the River Thames as it was biiug conveyed iip-stream on the deck of a small steamer. The last-mentiiinod pole had no greater diameter than twenty inches, being meant for a llag-jiole. As it grew in the woods it measured 2:11 fe;'t, for I myself measured it after it fell. It was oiie of the shortest of live trees, all of which broke in the felling. Heds of branches were prepared to receive them, but tour of tho trees, one after the other, received injury in falling. The beds of branches wore very carefully attendcxl to for the last tr?e. Just as it was about to fall, a puff (if wind blew it in the ojiposite direction, and the tree crashed down between the other trees, and, ha])pily, fell on the bare gromd uninjured. l?eds of branches are only required in felling these long slender poles ; the largest full-proportioned trees fall without breaking the trunks." The gigantic stature of the Douglas lir is not conlined to that tree. The Menzies spruce (p. I(il) and others are equally tall, and even thicker. I have measured a cedar [T/injn (j'i(j(inieii), on the Xittinat River, in "S'ancouver Island, which was forty-five feet in circumference; and, of course, the "Rig trees" of California [Seipioiii or WiHiiiiihiiili pii/iinlea) are very familiar by reputation to every one. In a future chapter I \\\:\\ have a little to sav of these and other Californian wonders. 4- *S(i' l-'iirlpiV "Vr'v/c Ks.s.iy (.n Viinpoiivrr Istinii" (ISC'^) ; Spront's " Hiitish ("'uliiniliia " (187.")) ; Anderson'* "Till' Diiniinlim iit tho Wist— l'ri.!ii F,s*iy" (187'^) ; I.'imlin Ilniwn'a " I'rizi' I'ssay on Itritisli C'olmubiii " (1863) ; anu tho works o{ JLiyno, ILictio, I'oniberton, Rattray, •■il4'i otlurs on tlic I'rovince. 204 Till-: COL'NTRIKS OF THE WOULD. CHAPTER XIV. TiiK Umtkd States: The Fluthkst West. The precedinf? chapters Lave afforded us glimpses of the physical f^'oography of North America. Partially the Dominion of Canada shares in the physical features of the United States. Like it, it falls naturally under three divisions — the Eastern, the Central, and the Furthest West, or Pacific region, lint it is only when we consider the United States that we see the marked character of these three great gccigraiiliical regions of the Northern portion of the Continent. Accordingly, we may arrangi; what wc have to say of the Great llepublie and its pc()i)le under these heads. Infurniatiun about the I'nitcd States being so easily accessible, and the subject being too extensive to be anythiiifj but sketched in the space we can all'(U'd to it, in accordance with tlic jilaii already describi'<l, we shall merely trace a few of the more i)romincnt features of the I'liitcd States, and mainly those which, \inlike the statistics, manufactures, towns, [lojuilatioii, and settlements, are not changeable, and liable to be altered before the pages which dc^crilic them have bei'u long before the reader. Physically considered, therefore, with reference to its conformatii'U, climate, and j)roduetions, the United States may be divided intd three groat and tolerably well-marked regions — the mountain slope of the Kast, or Atlantie seetidu, the central )ilains, and the mountain region of the West. lA'aving the first two to lie described in future chai)tors, we may briefly characterise the last, as consisting, in the words of Dr. Urycc, of an elevated ]ilateau, extending through !.")'• of latitude, and from (JOIJ to], 001) miles broad, sui)ported on the east by the great chain (jf the Kocky i\lount:iins, and on the west by the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges. Tiie plateau, in its miildle iuul broadest jmrt, comprehends the States of Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado and ^\'voming, and lias an area of ;J.jO, 0(1(1 s<iuare miles. In its eastern and southern part- the beio-ht is bctwi'eii ■'),0()0, and 6,000 feet, but in Western Utali and Nevada from 1,(100 to o,O00 feet, while north of the llundwldt River, where the waters divide, it exceeds 1,00() feet. It is divided into two unecpial jwrtions by the Wahsatch Mountains, whose highest summits reach from 1,000 to 7,000 feet above the plateau— that is, from s.OOO to 11,000 feet above the sea — and are always covered with snow (p. :J(!5). The western part is the largest, and is about 100 miles long from cast to west, and -'300 broad. Spurs from the bounding ranges descend into it, and it has several short ridges of hills running north and south, of recent volcanic origin, and rising 1,000 to tjOOO feet above the j^-eneral level. The valleys between are about twenty miles wide, and of great lendtb, but often they are cut off by low cross-ridges connecting the higher north and soutli rant;'es. Almost wholly shut in by mountains, and having its own system of lakes and rivers, this region is a])tly termed the Great Basin. Much of the surface is covered with saline and alkaline in- crustations, which give off a blinding dust under strong winds. The country is almost rainL'ss, and the waters are most salt and brackish, and one lake at least is saturated with salt, iuul withotit life of any kind. Except the IHunboldt River, and the few streams descending from the snow-clad peaks of the bounding ranges, and soon lost in " sinks," i 1 34 A CANON IN THK WAUSATCU JIOUNTAINS (UlAli TKlllUTOin ). 266 Tin; fOI'N'TKIER OF TIIK WORLD. tlio only freflh water in the basin is Lake Utah, with the River Jordan iAstiing from it, and Pilfering the Groat Salt Lake. It is only near these waters that fertile trails and thriving si'ttloments are found; the rest of the basin is a hopeless desert. The tract of Utah, east of the Wahsatch Mountains, is equally sterile, and we have there an area somewhat liuj^or than Siuiin or Portugal, unfit, save in a few favoured spots, for the permanent ulidde of eivilise«l man. The south-eastern part of the platt^au consists of an arid broken country, into which strata the Colorado, and its tributaries, the (irand and Green Hivcrn, have cut through several hundreds of miles caflons or gorges from 2,000 to tjOOO feet in ilcpth, not only in the soft beds of chalk and sandstone, but oven through several hundred feet of the underlying hard granite (p. 288). These vast caflons render much of the country (piite impassable by man and quadrupeds. Kmerging from its cafionod plateau, about the tliirty-fifth parallel, the Colorado wanders tlirough sultry valleys from 1,000 to 2,000 feet in height, the country becoming more arid and sterile as the head of the Gulf of California is approached. In this wide region of the West vast tracts are occupied by mountain ranges, and much of it must ever remain untenanted. It contains, however, one of the finest states of the Union, the great state of California, and the maritime region or Pacific slope. West of the Coast range and Cascade Mountains is a well- watered and fertile region, with a fine climate and rich vegetation. In it are comprised most of Alaska, Vancouver Island, and British Columbia, Washington Territory, and Oregon. Before saying a few words on each of these political divisions individually, wo may describe more generally and systematically the physical features of the Great Paeilic slope. In doing so we will divide our original materials, published and unpublisluHl, acfpiirod during many days' weary wandering afoot through the whole region to be described from California to Alaska, and from the sea to the Rocky Mountains. There are three great ranges of mountains which materially affect the physical geography of the Pacific slopes of the Rocky Mountains. These are (1), the Rocky (or as it was formerly and ought still to be called, the Chippewayan) Mountain range, stretching into South America under the name of the Andes;* (2), the Cascade range; and (3), the Coast range, a low and comparatively insignificant chain bordering the region immediately off the coast. All of these chains run nearly north and south from — or as far as we have yet explored — Alaska, until, entering California, they change their names in some instances, but are <fe facto to a great extent the same ranges. This is eminently true of the Cascade range, which runs down through British C()lum1)iii, Washington Territory, and Oregon, until, in the southern portion of the last-named • I am well nwaro that thi« is only a swooping gcnemliwition, for, siipokiii<; in strict orogmpliiciil language, there iiro many hrealca in the continuity of the chain. 'nui.H, tlio Sierra JIadre of IFcxieo lies several degrees, both of latitude and longitude, distant from the marest point of the lioiky Mountains, and the Andes are but imperfectly represented in the hilla of the Istlimus of Panama, while tliese again are only distantly connected with the mountains and tablj lands of Upper Jlosquito, of Honduras, and tiuatemala, or with the volcanic cones which stand out in isolated beauty from the Plains of Nieamgua and San Salvador. Still, I cannot but thinls that Julius Frocbel takes up an untenable position when ho entirely denies tlio connection of the mountains mentioned. — "Smithsonian Kcport" (1851), p. 'i.'iS. TIIK I'lIVsrCAl. GEOanAPIIY OF NORTH-WEST AMERICA. 2fi7 Ktatc, anil in Nortlipr.i Calit'ornia, it gutu somewhat broken up into various spure of tliL' Siskiyou rav^c, and oxtcndin>r, hy connmitiny HpuM, far to tlio cast, it forms lilt' lamoini Siurra Xevaiias of California.* It lias a breadth varying from fifteen to lii'ty miles, and an average height of alwut 7,00(1 feet, though jn-aks in it have a much f;reuter elevation. Its average distance from the I'aeilic Ocean is about 1,200 miles. Its main crest is crowned by several peaks of considerable magnitude, and particularly by ^louiits Jefferson and Hood, and trends due north. On the northern frontier of California it is marketl by Mount I'itt or McLaughlin, and by Shasta Uutte, when it dellects eastward, again to be turned south at Lasscns Butte in the Sierras. t In the range are many extinct as well as active volcanoes. To enumerate all of the former would be to mention almost every summit of the r.uigc. The following may sullice as exam])les : — In the autumn of IStij I visited u curious crater in the mountains between Tort Klamath and Rogue River. It lay at an altitude of some :2,000 feet, and the crater was about seven or eight miles in circumference. The walls were comjioseil of blackish lava and reddish scoria?, with pumice. Obsidian, ur volcanic glass, was scattered around, being also found all over the country adjoining tlie mountains, where it is used by the Indians to make arrow points. At a depth of 800 feet, in the crater, was a lake of fresh water with nn island in the centre. This lake is now one of the sights of Oregon. It is undoubtedly of the same nature as the Geiuunder Mcer, the I'ulVermaar, and the Mecrfelder Maar in the Eifel, and the island is only the (op of that cone which we often see in craters. In Nevsula Territory is another, 1(10 feet in length by ~00 in breadth, in which no bottom has lii'cn found at 70(J iect. Alouut Scutt jiresents the appearance of a truncated cone, and is doubtless also an extinct volcano. There are many peaks covered with perpetual or all but jK'rpetual snow, for some of them are also active volcanoes. Mount Hood, \\,ili') feet in height, is one of these j'^Mount Uaker, which, in company with my friend Mr. Edmund T. Coleman, a well-Known memlier of the Alpine Club, and the lion, Mr. Darwin, a 'ferritorial Judge, I attemptetl to ascend in lS(i(i, but was repulsed by the Tukulhun Indians encamped near its base, is another. Colenum, by dint of characteristic mountaineering skill and cncrg}', succeeded in gaining the summit by another route after I had left that part of the country, and found its height by aneroid to he 10,61;3 feet. I'or the first time he established the presence of glaciers on the mountains, a fact j)!i'i i .nsiy doubted, though they are now known to be found even in the Coast range close t'l the I a. The mountain is a prominent object from the southern end of p N'auuou er lsl;i-d, and is generally viewed with no inconsiderable pride by the dwellers in those jiarts. The chief rivers of this region rise in the Rocky Mountains, or some of its trilmtiuy si)urs, aiul though tlic Cascade range gives various tributaries to the rivers which flow into the Pacific, none of them, with the exce}>tion of the ^Vil!amette, Rogue River, Chehalis, and some smaller streams, all rising on the western slope either of the Cascade or of the Coast range, can be truly styled rivers. Scarcely any * Fur II full description of the i)ii'tures(iuo asjiiuts of this raiigi', sue Cliiruucu King's " JIountaiuui.'iiu){ on th(^ I'licilic ' t " I'aiiiio liailioaj Kipoits," Vol. VI. (Geolog)'). Q .. \ ^.\ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) y A 1.0 1.1 lU 11.25 ■ 1.4 1.6 V] <^ n ^/,. >V 7 %^^ ^ ^ ^^^ 4V^ .<^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 20S THE COUNTRIES OF THE WOUT-D. of these iniiintnin an independent existence, but unite with some of the larjjer rivers l)C'l'ore reaching the sea. Vancouver Island and (oiueen Charlotte I.slands do not jwssess any rivers of conse(|uenee. All of these arc wild streams brokea by falls, rapids, or cascades, rising in lakes or in the melting of the interior snows, and wending a tortuous course through gloomy pine forests. They eventually fall into the seu witluiul forming an estuary. Only one river of the slightest conse(iueuce arises on (lie eastern or arid side of the Cascades. This is the Deschutes, which, after keeping along the base of the mountains, diushing over falls and rapids, between high Willis, jciins llic' Ciilumbia not far from Celilo, " the drifting sand," a little sand-choked post of IIil: railway which runs round (he Oallcs of the Columbia River for twelve miles. Many of these streams from the Cascades are intermittent, being almost dry in the morning, and (lowing full in the afternoon. This is owing to the melting of tho siiuw by the midday sun, and the stoppage of the melted water by the niglit frosts ill the high elevations where their sources are. The same fact has been observed in (he H'lcky Mountains, and other mountain regions. Some of the rivers, like the Columbia, are exposed in portions of their course in long narrow lakes, which have received distinctive names, though in reality only jiart of the river which (lows in at one end and out at the other. .Many of them, like the llio de las I'lumas (or Feather River), a tril)utary of the Sacramento, and the Willamette, are subject to great (loods, by the sudden melting of the snows, and freijiiently cause great <lamage, MS the town oC Sacramento has good reason to know. Wet seasons also is another cause of these destructive Hoods, the amount of rain falling in the winter being often very great. The Cascade range is extremely imjwrtant, in so far that it acts as a great barrier between two sub-divisions of the Pacilic slo])e — the western, <>r maritime, which is mild in climate, and in general densely wooded, and the east, or region between tiie Cascades and Rocky Mountains, which is dry, cold in the winter, warm in the summer, and in general treeless, or only slightly wooded. The plants and animals of the two regii Ms are also widely dilTerent ; in fact, though they have a general likeness, yet the two sides of the Cascade range throughout its entire extent might be classed as entirely different sections of America. The western slope is the one in which the largest number of settlements are, and (hat ehietly selected tor the town sites. The eastern has few attractions fur tlie agriculturist, unless ill the well-watered valleys, or in jilaces wherer irigation can be ap|ilied. (Jold and silver mining have been the causes which have led to the few settlements in it, but sago bni>-li i-j its great feature. All of Vancoiiver Island partakes of the character of the western slope, though tlio.se jiortioiis of British Columbia cast of the Ca.scades, owing to their more open character, and more northern jiosition, are not so arid as the corresjioiidiiig regions to the south. Hence the chief settlements, wilh the exception of New JVestminster and Yale on Kraser Iliver, are found there. The greater portion of the forest south of lat. 'fZ^' is comixiseil of .////('.« Jjiiii'/hhii/, the economic value of which we have already described. Tills liee does not extend north of Milbank Sound, and south of the limits of Oregon it liecciiiie- laie. or no longer a Coast tree, the iiiciea.sed warmth of the more soidhcrii regions causing it to letivai to the interior mountains, where, retiriiitj liiji-lier and liiirlier as it XUE PHYSICAL GKOGUAPIIY OF NOUTH-WKST AMI'.IMCA. 20» roaches further to the warmer regions of tlio south, it liolds out an Aljiiuo oxistenoc, having fvn been found in Mexico, but nowhere out of tlie limits of this district is it seen in IK'rfection, or forms a feature in the scenery. It is this region with which I am most laniiliar, and where the scene of my rcsearclies lay for a considerable time. As I have bu\d, the great bulk of the forest consists of the cmiifcr named, the (rce atfaining its CBYSTAI. lAKE IN CALU'UltNIA. maximum of develo])tnunt between N'aneoUVcr Island and the ('(plunilna Uivcr; imrtli and w'utli of these limits, its number or magnitude is less iMi]>orlaut. Here it forms the almost sole tree which cumbers nearly every footbreadth of She forest, gniwing in almost any soil, and nuiintaining an uncertain fuoting in the elii?iks of the rocks, where one would think it impossible to find soil enough to nourish any )>lant, far less a tree of its size; and it may even bo found in places so close to the sea that the waves nnist wash iis trunk and roots. In the interior of the country, a little back from the coast, -I'z/f'.v Ml ■■/I'li.H/.iihi disputes the |M)ssessiou of the ti'rrilory with ,U//<'.v /liiii,f/,ix//, rivalling it in height and lieaiily, thoujj:h not in economic value. The heudock [Afjicn Mi'i/i'iiaiumi) 5 70 THE COUNTRIES (JF THE WOULD. forest is lighter and more airy than the Douglas fir one, and the tree not hranching so near the trunk, is (in my opinion) conducive to a more open and lightsome t'oret-t than the dark gloomy Abies JJouglam, Here is a "savage wood," which Dante r '' have taken tor the model of that in which he found himself astray — -»D(1 o'cn to tell It woro no litzy tiuk, how sitviigo wild Thai forest, how robust und rough ita growth." Tliere the only sounds which break on the ear are the tap lop of the woodpeckers, the drum of the grouse among the bracken or bush, or the rush of some mountain stream, which now, in the summer time, runs trickling along, but in the winter, swollen with the great rainfall of this wet region, roars through its rocky bed, flooded from bank to bank, \indcrmining the loose soil, and carrying off with it, as a sacrifice to its fury, a perfect hetacomb of noble trees, which lie athwart its current lower down, in great drills accumulating every year. Under the shade of these trees few living things prosper. A startled deer ambling through the forest, or a black bear crashing ita way through fallen timber and crab-apple bushes to the mountains, are alraut the only creatures seen. Few birds inhabit the trees, and the only living things which seem to prosper are the squirrels, which feed on the seeds of the firs. In the more >>i)cn places by the banks of streams, and in rich river bottoms, the broad-leaved maple [A<:er macrvphyllum), with its bright green leaves in summer, and yellow ones in autumn, adds a ])leasant variety to the scene ; and the swampy places are invariably distinguished by the Oregon alder (AlnuH Oregana), and the crab-apple (^Pi/rnn riviilaris); while during the lovely June weather the bright white flowers of the dog- wood (Coriitts Nidfullii) are reflected in the deep pools as the traveller glides down a river in the cool of evening. Here is also found, for the first time, I'iiius monlivola, the Western representative of the Weymouth pine, but unlike it all, nowhere forming forests, but only growing in solitary clumps of two or three trees, in a few places. The gloomy foliage of the Douglas fir, and the lighter evergreen of the hemlock, are varied by the broad glossy frond-like branches, with their silver undcr-surfacc, of the Piceas. Here and there may also be found the yew {Tuxim hrecifolia), and Henry's graceful juniper {Juniperun Henrynnii, 11, Br. Campst.) ; while the laurel-like leaves and smooth mahogany- coloured bark of Arbiitiin Menzifnii, here and there, in open ])hR'es, relieves tne dead uniformity of the forest. Ascend the great rivei-s of this region in summer time, and the canoe voyager will find Menzies spruce (.1. Meiiziexij,, p. 101), and the cottonwood (Populns iiiimUiJ'erd), shwlding its downy seeds in sheets on the water, the most characteristic trees. Prairies are few. The soiitii-eastern end of ^'ancouve^ Island, and the Willamette Prairies, are the chief open places, though here and there are other little grassy parks shut in by woods on every side. It is in these open places that (rarry's Oak (Qnercns Garryanu) dots the plain — as near Victoria — everywhere eschewing the forest, and rarely foimd except in similar situations. A dense growth of shrubs, consisting of huckleberry, thimbleberry, and salmonbcrry, and in open places the red flowery currant, now so familiar in our shrubberies, impede the THE PHYSICAL OEOORAPHY OF NORTH-WEKT AMERICA. 27J the the and arc traveller, while in the proper season the birds and the Indians are in search of the berries, Accordingly, we always find dense thickets of these shrubs in the immediate vicinity (A the native villages, these bushes having been naturally planted by long generations of Indians, wliile the mock orange [Pliilaihl/ihu^ macropelalui), the wild cherry {Cetatun mollis), &c., add further variety. The shrubxiy i., all bright-blossomed, and htimming-birds flit from (lower to flower in search of inse* ts, so that these thickets are often the prettiest part of tlie North-Wostern forest; the hu'»o pine wastes striking one with a feeling of awe rather flian with a sensation of pleasure. When a storm arises the trees sway backwards and l■orward^, creaking and groaning, and every now and again one snaps, and the crash of its fall brings a dozen smaller ones, and innumerable branches from the neighbourin;» trees, to the ground, waking up the sleeping wayfarer in these forests with teiroi". When the thunder echoes through them, and the lightning plays down the tree, the effect is grand, no doubt ; but the traveller feels that he could enjoy it better at a distance, and under shelter. During the dry weather of summer the trees, rubbing against each other, catch fire, and often great tracts of fine timber arc destroyed. In the vicinity of the coast this is doubtless often due to Indians and himters leaving, as is their universal custom, their camp-fires unextinguished; but I have often seen forests high up in the mountains on fire, and frequently come across tracts in the interior only covered with burnt stumps in localities where no human being probably ever trod before, so that I am convinced they are set on fire in many cases by natural causes. Prairies — or breaks in this great forest — are, as we have already remarked, few. Still tliey are found, such as in the vicinity of Nisqually, in Washington Territory, where, however, the siirrounding forest is encroaching again on the pmirie, and more especially near the Willamette River, where there are extensive tracts of fine open grassy land. As we get further south the open places get more common, but in the north they are rare indeed. The southern end of Vancouver Island is one of fhese localities, and is often taken b^ the untravelled colonists •IS a specimen of the country. In reality it is an exception. Some yeare ago I mode a journey through this region, and as I may, perhaps, more easily convey to the reader an idea of such pleasant oases in the pine forest, as wc'' nr, i.y contrast the forest itself, I ni.-vy sketch this journey, more especially as it will afford a re.'-'f to the drier geographical details given in more systematic form. Ti -T Whitk Oak CorxTnY. In the sunshiny spring days of the year of grace, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, there came unto me — "our right trusty and well-boloved cousii^," the writer of this doleful talc — semi-royal commission appointing me sole leader and Crovernment agent of an exj)edition to explore the unknown wilds of Vancouver Island ; and (for my sins) in a weak and inexperienced moment, I accepted the proposed honour, for was not I the choice of the people ! In discharge of my duties therewith connected, one glorious Jnly day, ever to be remembered, not only here but in many other lands where the companions of those anxious but yet happy times are scattered, in company with my ever faithful esquire — whom, in the impossibility of asking his per- mission to designate more clearly, I may conceal under the then disguise of A.B m-i THE corxTniKs of the world. 1 made a mnsi prosnir journey afoot lliroiiffli this White Oak region at the Kouthern end of A'ancoiiver Island; through a district, wliich, perhaps I might offend honest men who (here live, and 1 hope prosper, if I railed saviige, but yet whieh my conscienee will scareely allow me to style as ])artaking in a pre-eminent degree of the amenities of civilisation. Afy readers will hear with me if 1 ask them, in imagination, to aecomi>any us on this the first of many journeys which, in iny capacity of cicerune, I shall invite them to share with me hefore we part company. After many devious weary wanderings through bush, through forest, and through fenhmd, we were encamped one July evening on the l)anks of the Sooke lliver, which arises out of a lake in the interior, and (lows into the l)ay of the same name on the Straits of Juan l)e Fuca. Our can)p was pitched; we were resting from our labour and making as merry as explorers, careless of all the world, and out of it too, in no man's land, can be. The cam])-lire was bla/ing cheerily, the axe was ringing in the quiet summer air as the stalwart backwoodsmen of our party hewed down more timl)er fur the watch-llre. The river was silently llowing past, and, save the cello of our voices, and the startled cry ot son<o wild-fowl, (here was nought to disturb (he indescribable quietness and stillness of the beautiful summer evening, so characteristic of (he region we are describing. Tomo Antoine, our lri(|uois hunter, bad killed a deer; we had (inished the evening meal, and the party were lolling on the ground round (lie (ire, talking or making entries into their note tu- sketch-books. The as(rouonier and 1 are in eonsiil(ation ivgarding the "value" of u certain altitude of the sun, and we have dually come to the conclusion that we are in nearly about longitude l-.'S'-' \l' •"5(1" west of (jireenwich, and therefore not much more than between twenty and thirty miles from ^'ictoria. That fair town wo have not seen for many a sunrise and sunset ; and charming though savagedom rt.uy be, yet none of us could deny that (he tein]i(a(ion (o visit the haunts of civilisation was exceedingly sd'ony. We had, however, no iii(en(ion (hat way; but before many hours circumstances fell out which led to a change in our plans. We are just on the Iwrders of civilisation. Settlers are, we know, not without calling distance, but we are too tired to go a-gossi])ing to-night, much as the craving to get ii]) the leeway of the world's history since we dropped out of it may be on us. A curiosity similar in kind if not in degree brings us, however, two visitors. One is a (|uondani French-Canadian i-i,ii„(jfnr, of the Hudson's Bay Company, now scttleil hereabouts in semi-baibarism, with a little f'u-m, an old Indi.in squaw, who rule- him, and an endless brood of black-eyed, half-breed children, who, in their turn, rule both. He speaks but little, and that in indifferent French. Our thirsty hunter, Tomo, liowev.-r, manages to learn that for a consideration he could let him have a bottle of rum, the resul( of which is that Tomo looses his go"geous scarle( sash, gets jiarticularly talkative, and (he riijidficnr is ordered out of cam]), peaceably if he so desires, if not, with the alternative of being kicked, lie accepts the former, and loaves. Not lung after, a strange-looking Indian makes his ajipearance, from down river, in a shallow canoe. His village is only a little way off, and he has just looked u]i in a casual friendly way to see if we have (inished supper, what we want, and if he can steal anything. He gains nothing by his visit, and is proposing to leave, when Tomo, who is always fully alive to the delight of ])laying " big In'jun," sues in this promising youth a useful henchman to jwck home his deer and TIIK ^\TSTKI{N' SI,()I'K OF TIIK C'ASCAPK MOUNTAINS, 273 jjeneriiUy to kick about, and begs that be may bo allowed to try to persuade bim to accumiiaiiy the expedition. Ho receives a hint, however, not to allow his tongue to b.iast I fOLLAHI) STATION, ON THE OLD STAOE-COACIl llOl'TE, LAKE UONNEK, CALIFORNIA. too freoiy regarding the salary he is to receive, otherwise our dusky friend may fix his do.iand a little too high. Tomo, in his turn, rather overshoots the mark, and in much 86 274 THE COUNTRIES OF THE WORI.r. voluble Taonpfcintli, talks to tlio bavlmrian of Sookc. He jiieturcs the delights of the <'X])C(litioii, the ovor-aljuinlanco of food — -(saying iiothiiij^ aho\it the many, very many, Iianyan days we had experiiuced, and had yet in store for us) — the wonderful affaliility of his " hyass tyhee," or great chief, to all which he of Sookc replies by the only linglisli jihrase he knows, and which seems to tickle his fancy oxcecdinglj' — " (iood Ileavings ! " As Tomo concludes one of his fictions, the Indian ojjcns his eyes and his mouth, and exclaims " (Jood Heavings!" " AVe have almost nothing to do, eat, drink, and grow fat and merry," Tomo relates. " Good lleaving.s ! " " A^'e are quite a band of brothers, everybody is as good, if not better, than another, and the Indian is, if jwssible, better treated llian the Whites." " Good Heavings ! " Then taking courage at the success of his romances, Tomo " piles the agony " a little higher. " IndcL-d, in every village where we come to, we rule the roast, stay as long as we like, and go where we choose!" The Indian is fast yielding, but he has one little question to ask : " How much pay do you get for all this?" Tomo gets fifty dollars per month, but he has no intentiim of giving the Indian one-half of that, so he meekly confesses that as the labour is so light, and the loving-kindness so aViundant, we are forced to accept of one-quarter of a dollar jtcr diem ! At this startling announcement, the magnate of Sooke springs into his canoe, and as he turns a bend of the river there comes lloating back a derisive and most emphatic " Good Ileavings ! " AVe never saw him again. However, in process of cross-questioning, our visitor let out some little trifles which led me also to drop down the river before nightfall, and to return determined to visit A'ictoria before the next four-and-twentv hours passed by. 1 intimate my intentions to those whose duty it is to act upon them. I gave my lieutenant, !Mr. P. J. Leech, 11. E., written directions where to meet me within the next week, and in an hour all the camp is slumbering save Leech, B , and I, who hold a privy council by the smouldering fire, arranging our respective i>lans. ^ Gradually, all sleep as soundly as proverbially do men of sound consciences. AVhether we all came under this heading I have my strong suspicions, for our party is a wondrously motley one — hardly two of the same nationality, very few of any recognised religion, though there are S'jveral university graduates, and oiic ex-parson, on the roll ; but all are handy enough with rifle, axe, pistol, and paddle. A more heterogeneous party of ten men, who worked more homogeneously together, or better or heartier, I think would be hard to find. I never have since, and have long ago despaired of doing so. At all events, they are all sleeping soundly enough when B and I shake ourselves out of our ^luekinaw blue blankets at an early dawn next morning, blow up the (ire, and boil the coffee-jwt, while we breakfast staunchly on the remains of last night's pork and beans. Our blankets are strapped on onr backs, our pistols and knives adjusted, and wc bid farewell for a time to the "Y.l.E.E. camp." AVe half ford, half swim the river, and are soon tramping down the Indian trail on the other side. Our dress is light, if not gaudy — a pair of shoes or mocassins, leather or canvas trousers, either of which can stand by themselves, an old felt hat, and a grey flannel shirt. Western dandies are rather divided regarding the method of wearing this latter garment. Some tuck it in after the manner of the civilised, but my worthy 'squire wears his shirt hanging loose outside his trousers, in THK WKSTr.ltX SI.OPF. OF THE CASCADE JIorXTAIXS. 275 I'lvo, I'liif^int style, like a Dcvonsliirc cartoi's "smoek." Altogetlicr, the garb is li;^lit iiml airy, if not ovor-i)icturt's<iut' ; uiul wo oaro little for that, for eritics are not many Ix'ivabontH. We soon arrive at tlie Indian viilajfe. It is yet early morninjj', and udlKxIy is about. An Indian viUajfe in this part of the world consists of one or two lon<j )>arollelof^ranis of boai-ds fastened with withes of eedar (T/inJii i/li/iiiilen) to ii|iri;^ht pok , with square holes nut for doors. You enter by a i)assafi;e with hiy;h hiiards at either side, and the interior is ron<fhly divided off by a bi-cast-hij^h partition half-way across into the lo<lgi', for eaeii family. The roof is Hat, and consists of b.iards, which are loose enoiif^h to allow the smoke from the lire in the middle of the lloor to escape out. Sometimes it gfets overpoweringly sti-onjf, and then the boards are moved aside. The roof serves for a dryinfj-placu for bi-rries, salmon, &c. ; and, in the season, there is an ever-unctions drippinj^ from the lUt split salmon^ which are Ijciiij; there smoketl and dried for winter provender. As it is, there is a peculiarly ancient and fish-liko smell around the Sooke villajje. A few monjjrel curs yelp and sneak off as we approach, and a half-awake old fisher of salmon creeps out to see what's the matter. IIo seems not to have been a-bed last night, and as we jjlayfully suggest this to him, he merely yawns, and points out to us the lotlge where we may liiid the object of our search — the youth who was to put us on the ^'ietoria trail by a shorter cut than going round the head of the bay. We subseipiently learn that our sleepy friend is a fashionable jihysieian, and has been making " tamanawos," or something akin to the Old World " scoreery," to cure a patient of his. On this we humbly apologise to the excellent gentleman for insinuating that 1 • had been spending the evening in dissipation — vinous or otherwise — and shove onr canoe off the fishy beech. Just then, two damsels, who are setting out on a berry-giithering expedition, I'cg that we will give tlicni a lift. We gallantly consent, on the exi>ress condition that they shall assist in paddling, keep (piiet, and indulge in no flirtations with the youth who is speeding ns on our journey. It is a true Western summer morning. All is still. Tiie sun is just a])pearing alx)ve the forest of gloomy firs in the east, struggling through the heavy fog which drapes everything in its mantle, causing the trees and rocks to look like ghosts in their weird-like indistinctness, and becoming the source of many a quaint Indian legend. The fog clearing away allows us a view of the pretty land-lock cove we are paddling through; a few pleasantly civilised-looking houses of some of the few settlers are seen. Yonder is the M 's, perha])s the oldest settlers outside of the Hudson Bay Comiwny's people in the island, a worthy Scotch family, with sons and danghtere, to three gtmerations, within their household. Not far off is another old covenanting Scot, of whom an amusing story is told, viz., t!»at when the Bishop offereil to baptise his grandchild, he politely asked to be excused, preferring, as he told his lordship, in his instinctive horror of Episcojiacy, to "wait till n rey'lar minister cam' doun ! " ^"ancouver Island has always been — fortunately or imfort.inately, opinion difftsrs — an elysium for gentlemen of the African race, and accordingly oui Indians, who ars now getting, as usual, very talkative, and inclined to seek an excuse for being idle, point out to us with the paddle the abode of what they call the chn/f, or black man, whom they affect to exceedingly despise. This ])artieular negro, who in s s 270 THE COUXTIUES OF THE WOULD. / early life was a " Held Imnd " ' iti Uuorgiu, bears the reputation of having the thickest skull uf auy man in the N'orth Paeitie, and as soun us ever he gets under the inllueiiee of rum, boasts loudly and deeply that ho can split u cheese with it. Accordingly, at the present moment, ho is a-bed with a slight headache; for, the other day, when in Victoria, he had attempted this i'cut, and luid nearly succeeded, when some of the spectators quietly substituted u grindstone for the cheese ! He manfully butteil the substitute until any head but his would have been broken, and declares that if ho had only got time, he would have succeeded in smushiiig the grindstone too I With such tales, B , who seems to know everybody, beguiles the way, and the I)eals of laughter with which his sullies of Iiuliun wit ure received by our companions, make the woods and cliffs echo ugnin. We hear a plush of paddles, and a cunoe emerges out of the mist, und, according to wont, sidles alongside. It contains the chief on his way home from some detached fishing camp ; and, after he has grutilied his curiosity regarding many iMirticulurs, begged a liftle tobacco, and tried to borrow a dollar, we bid each other u luzy cla-haw-i/a, and move off. This chief, who was then an old man, is said to be the only jierson saved from u wrecked ship on these shores many years ago. All the jMioijle were drowned except a buby, who was adopted by the then chief, and brought up as his son, in due time succeeding him. This is a current story thoroughly believed in the tribe ; and, indeetl, we huve no reason to doubt this strange tradition, for he is almost as fair as a white, tliough continual exposure to the weather has bronzed him rather more than his white neighbours. He is very proud of his descent, and frequently boasts that he is as good as any white man. Wherever the ship came from, or aught else about it, is now for ever lost. At all events, the " White Chief " is now — or was, for I speak of a decade ago — and has ever been, one of the veriest savages in Vancouver Island, and can speuk not one word of any language but his own. His tribe is a small one, and at one time was wholly carried into slavery by the Pachenats farther along the Strait. It is still early morning, and few sounds disturb the culm stillness of the solitary scene. The sweet tinkle of the cattle bells, as their owners crop the fern in the woods, strikes our ear through the fog, and a few hours later the blows of the wootlman's nxe will come echoing from among the tall trees. A white-headed eagle {llaliachts leuco- cejihalan, p. 185) sits perched on the summit of a lofty jjine, intent after a salmon, numbers of which are now making the waters of the bay ripi)le. This fish eagle is found all over the American continent, and nowhere more abundantly than here. The young, until its fifth year, is brown-coloured, without the marked white hcml of the adult, and looks entirely like another bird. Out of the mist also comes the long weird cry of the crane [Anlea herodius), and B thinks he can detect the peculiar sound of the bittern, or "stake driver" {Botaurns leiiligiHOsiin), but we do not see it, and it therefore alone stands in the list of Vancouver birds on the authority of Mr. Lord.* The ravens {Curvus cannvorux), and especially the peculiar North-Western fish-crow (Conm cauriHun) sit croaking after the manner of that ilk, on some old salmon-drying frames • llie " Xaf uiiilist in British Culumbiu and Vancouver Island " (1807) ; K. Brown, " Synopsiu of thg Biida Oi Vancouver Island."— J'/ic Ibit, 18G8. THE AVE8TERN HLOPE OF THE CASCADE MOL'NT.UNS. •ill along the shore. Tlicy are, as ull the wurld over, hinls of ill-onicn and suixir- stition, and furcUill ruin, wur, and all sorts of disaster to the ears of tlie liupless tribesmen. No less a bird of suiMirstition is the owl, of whiuh five species, viz., the j^reat horned owl {Jiiiio rirffiniuiiiix), the screech or mottled owl (Svopn Ano), the snwhct owl {Myvtale (icatlica), the snowy owl {Ni/clea iticea), and the little or pigmy owl {Ufauculiuia i/iioma), are found in Vancouver Island uiul neighbouring territory. Indians arc frightened to hear owls hooting in tlic woods or near their loilges. Then they think they must have offended the dead in some way, by si>eaking re- garding them. For this reason, Indians will always avoid mentioning the dead by name, and only refer to them in a roundabout way. We get to the head of the cove, and we are again landed in the bush, to make the best of our way to \'ic- toriu. Having rewarded our boatmen, and at the same time declined the young Indian damsels' modest rwjuest to be presented with our pocket hand- kerchiefs, we bid them good-bye, and they luddle back with an alacrity fully accounted for when we learn that there is to l)e a great feast, or " potlach," at Chowitzen or Beeher Buy, to which our friends are bound. Wo scramble over rocks covered with a stone-crop (Si'ihim Kpal/iiilijolium), now in full yellow flower, and through among spirea and rubus bushes, every now and then tangling our feet in the matted carpet of salal {Gaiill/icrla ■ihullon), (>r stumbling, over and barking our shins on the knotty " snaggs " of fallen trees, now concealed by THE MdTllKll or THE lOKEaX (Sfjuoiu spi.J.mlciO. lAI.UOllNIA. 278 THE COrNTltlES OF TIIK WOULD. / \ lii'rl)ii;;i'. Wo yooii, however, miiko the Victoria (mil, iintl merrily jo^ on our way, ilis« euHxiii^ our eniiij) life, future jiIiuih, ami many other thinjjs in whieli tiio reader of Ihi?! narrative ean have but little interest. We wore now aj^ain in tiie iiiidxt of a denne ))ini- forest with tall trees — every ono (it for a 8i)ear for tho Titans when they warre<l ajyaiuHt tho ffinls — on either side of us. Tho rudo little path whieii tho wettlerd have hewn out of tiiis donto wooded muss in every now and again harred hy one of theite foruttt jriantn, which the wind has thrown athwart it. How painfully silent are these (ir forestH of tho North I'acitic! At ono iH)rtioii of my life it was my happy lot every morninf^ to walk through part of a great tropical forest in Central America. Fragrant (m1oui"s of many (lowers and spices wero waftwl in tho sultry air, and everywhere the forest rang with tho scream^^of tropical hirda of gorgeous plumage, and tho chatter of tho long ring-tailed monkeys,* wiiich swung themselves from * anch to branch, and tree to tree, in utter astonishment at this degenerate descendant of theirs, who was ]>ermittcd to walk afoot, while they disported themselves among tho leaves of tho india-rubber trees, and oto tht luscious fruits from among the waves of flowers which rolled from forest tree to forest tree, until, as you looked from a lising groimd, the whole exi)anse of country Ijoforo you seemed in places like a sea of foliage and (lowers. Above all, (illing up as it were every vacant space, was the never-ceasing din and hum of insect life, which arose from among the trees. That forest seemed like ono huge temple where ten millions of unseen choristers sang a never-ending hymn of praise to the " Unknown God ! " Here, 10" to the north, all is different. There are odours, but they are those of iir-troes and turpentine, and you may listen for hours without hearing the sound or beholding the sight of living being. Wo sit down ond draw breath for a few minutes. From overhead comes a gentle tapping, and from a tree close at hand another similar sound ; we look up and find that it proceeds from two species of woodpeckers boring tho tree for insects. They are Audubon's Piciis llarriii and P. Giiin/iieri, the only two species found on the island. AVe almost repent what wo had soid about the scarcity of life in the forest, for down jumps from a tree a little brownish scpiirrel, which stares at us for a second, then, tail on end, skips along a fallen tree, tears open a fir cone, extracts tho seed, and then skips off on tho errand ho is bound. There are several species of squirrels in the North Pacific Slope of the Rocky Mountains, but this is the common one {Seiiinm Doiiff/nnii). In tho mild climate of this region it does not hybernate, but may be seen all the year round jumping alwut, fearlessly approaching the traveller, and then tossing up its tail as it runs off scolding and barking. As we are moving off, a pretty fawnf ambles into the pathway just before us, and after eyeing us for some time, again trots into the bush, and in a minute is lost among the thick foliage. Ais we jog along, the woodland scene, though monotonous, is yet varied by glimpses hero and there of little lakelets, surrounded by alders and willows, while in more open places, when the soil is good, the beautiful maple-tree makes its appearance. Enlivened by the scene, my companion makes the wood ring with his merry Frenqli-Canadian chanson a I'aviron. As we proceed, making tho forest echo back the chorus, we rouse up * Atcki paiiuciu. f Ccrviu Columliiaiim, TIIK WIWTKItN SLOI'E OK TIIK CASCADK jroL'NTAIXS. aro from among tlio Imnlios n mini who linn bcfii resting,' flioru " for ii sik-II." lie is nf tall sliitiirc, troiiit'iidniis lircii<llli of Mliuiildcr^, iiiitl iinil'iisi; lioard, (Ir'skciI pirKv niiifli after our own I'lDiliicin, Imi yd willi a " ttoniutliing " wliicli iil uni'c KtiiMi|>H him as iiuving hccn once very (lilTori-nt from what hu i» now. lie nhoulders hin Ueur and rille, and keejm step with us on the narrow trail in din^rli! lile with ax nnu'li case as if he had only a raldiit on his >lioidder. Ho insists thai he hau met me somewhere; he iti sure it was in Cains t'ulle;;e, Camhridge. I lun iterleetly certain i' vas not, Imt do not care to remind him that it was once on the way to the Cariboo (Jil -Mines in IJritish Coluinhia, where I was particularly astonished ut the profuse variity and vehemence of the exjiletivcs lie addrcHBcd to his tnule, mid found on impiiry that he was a (.'andjridge grudiuite, and rumoured to he an ex-curate. lliu old ''acdty of apostro]iliisation sceineil in no way to have descrtetl him, for he vented anathemas on 'nerylliinf.f and everybody very freely, as we discoursed to}^ether for the next fi;w miles. AVhat did we talk about? AVoodcraft and the noble art of venery ? Xot at all. AVitli nic he discussed Aristotle's Natural History, and the never-failiny subject of the authorship of the Jictters of Junius, aliout which he seemed to have a speciall^heory of his own; and wiln iJ ho was once or twice nearly cominf^ to blows, about some inirlicular question in lluxions, coneerning the merits or demerits of which I knew nothing. After in vain attempting to convince my companion, who was a mathematician of no mean degree, he would whip the deer from his shoulders, and seizin/ a bit of burnt stick which might happen to be handy, on the barkenc<l trunk of a tree would protract a iiguro over which the two would argue so long, that I had frequently to remind them, that time was short, and art was long, and Victoria many an hour's tramp yet. Our newly-found friend was a hunter by iirofession, and lived in a lodge in the vast wildcrncb.'^ of fir-trees close by. He was particularly anxious to know the latest ([notation of venison in the Victoria market, and on our failing to enlighten him on this topic, he turned off the trail a few hundred yaitls to a rough hut, where lives another hunter, by name Saul (surname unknown). Apparently the intelligence was unsatisfactory, for his feelings burst out at the evil tidings conveyed to him by "Saul the Hnnter" in a torniulo of the kind of expressions which may possibly be known to such of my readers as may have made the acquaintance of Squire Western. Just then we parted from him as he turned off the trail to his lodge, after being forced to decline his professed hospitality, in the shape of " pot-luck," as tha sun was past meridian. It m.-.y astonish some reiulers (o hear of such an extraordinary personage on the " Sooke Trail," but those who have lived in gold countries, and esiwcially any one familiar with \'ancouver Island in those days, would have little hesitation in lixing ujwn our acquaintance, or his match. Indeed, so familiar were men of his stamj) in ISOI, that he seemed ne\er to be surprised at meeting two rough-looking follows in the usual casual way who coidd discuss literature and i^cience with him, and never once hinted a query as to who we were. Indeed, if we had only cared that day to have turned off the trail a few miles fin-ther, we could have come across two brothers in many ways — the verbal impropriety omitted — similar, who had been jirofessional huntei-s for years, and were perfectly well known to me, and hundreds more, in this / 280 THE COrXTHIES OF THE WORLD. capacitj'. Yet the one was a clerk in holy orders, and the other a physician., and both graduates of a university. The one is now practising medicine in England, and the last time I saw the other was when he was doing duty in a London church. At that period biironets were driving carts, and peers' nephews keejjing taverns. One of the latter was a waiter in the first hotel in which I lived in Victoria, and when I left the country it was the heir to the honours of the Red Hand of Ulster who drove the dray with my luggage lo ihc stiMmcr. All society was turned upside down, and to our Old Worlil canventiouiil ik it ions the contrelemps was sometimes rather ludicrous, as the previous sketch illustrates. We had not long parted from the clerical hunter before the scenery changctl, and the pleasant ceuntry, scattered with Garry's oak {Qiiercm darrijani), began to appear. Farm-houses and corn-fields now became fiimiliar; we had entered the district of Metchosin, which in those days returned a member to the Vancouver House of Parliament, as, indeed, also did Sooke, where there were not a dozen voters. The last member this Western old Sarum elected had never seen his constituents or the "county" he was supjKised to represent. He had once made an attempt to reach it, but found the forest on fire, and turned back again, and was elected by the faithful on the credit of nobody TIIE WESTERN SLOPE OK THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS. 281 ojiixising Iiim. I may add that this hon. gentleman, when I last heard of him, was following tlie profession of restaurant keui>er on a very small scale in a Scottish town. INIJI.VN (intl Ul NOUrilEllN CAUI'OU.MA, A.Ml 1 AMILV. Very quickly the Metthosin district spread out before us in all its beauty, and wc were clatal by the sight of human beings, male and fenuile, the latter having been rarities to us for a long time past. ^lany birds new to us met our eye, and we tlusli the Californian quail [Loji/iorfi/.v Culi/urnica, p. 280), which had been lately imported and set free 86 282 THE COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD. in tliis district as a useful addition to the island list of game birds. The English rabbit had also been set free, but it was, we believe, soon killed off by pot-hunters, a ealuinity not much to be deplored, if it bade fair to become a nuisance anythinjj like that which it has proved in Australia. We also occasionally saw tlio king bird, or bee master {Tyraiinii-i Qtrullnciish), quarrelsome, jealous, and i>ugnacious, as usual with its genus. Had it been night it is quite possible that it might have cultivated a nearer acquaintance with the panther of the West {Felii coiicolur), which is common iu this district, and a great pest to the farmers. It is, however, rarely seen, and seldom attacks man, tliough a member of our party on the Pachenat River (San Juan) was followed by one after nightfall. Wo are now in a comparatively civilised country, and the sight of fields, and above ail the oak groves, through which we can see some distance ahead, delight us who have been so long accustomed to the trackless, viewless fir woods. We are approaching a piece of country we are familiar with, from having reached on our hunting trips from A'ictoria, and the rural tavern marks the place where tiie known and unknown districts meet. Tiie good-humoured landlady looks uixin her hungry guests in much the same light as did her prototype, in " David Copperlield," when, with the help of the waiter, he iinislied the hotel dinner on his way to scliool. She used to be a great fern collector, in wliioh capacity I had cultivatetl some slight acquaintance with her. My face, however, she seems to have forgotten, or to have failed to recognise me in my present siu'roundings. As I had no desire to remind her, for reasons connected with our journey to ^'ictoria, I share in the amusement created by her showing me an Osmiiitilc, or Iloyal fern, closely allied to the English species, which she had picked up near Langford's Ijako. Sin; wishes she knew the name, but there is nobody hereabouts could tell her. " If ilr. Brown was still to the fore, I daresay ho could tell me all about it, I),', he, poor fellow, we have seen the lust of!" In the cool of the long summer evening, w ■ pursue our journc}-, every now and then passing pleasant houses where we know we .■ Id both be right welcome, and getting glimpses of pretty lakes, and anon of the sea. Ai nass a party of naval ollicers returning from cricket, who hail us, and ask if we have "heaid anything of the E.Kploring party ? " Thougli astonished, we avoid the question, as we see tiiey Ix-long to a ship arrived since we left. Just as the sun is setting, we cross tlie fine harl)our of Esquimault, from Belmont to the little village of Esquinuinlt, as the Indian name of Tsoi'mathlet lias been corrupted into. Throe war-sliips are lying in the luiibour, and a merchant vessel. It is the only harbour near liore where hirgo sliips can ei.tcr, Victoria only admitting small vessels. Accordingly, all Her Majesty's ships, and most large merchant ships, lie here, and have their cargoes conveyed to Aictoria, three miles oil', cither by sea, or by a capital road wliidi unites llie two towns. The village is, of course, full of " lil)ertymcn," in tlie usual "libertyman's" condition, and a few little middies, who gather around us as we halt for awhile in the dusk at one of the hostelries. They also inquire after our Jiarty, and now we learn the secret. Some person or persons unknown had spread a rcjwrt that we had all been lost or killed in the mountains, a circumstance to which our long absence, and the froiiuenf, Indi;in miu'ders occurring at that time, only give grounds for too ready a credence. Wj scarcely " enjoy " the story, and iu a few minutes more take the road for N'ictoria, very TirK WESTEKN SLOPE OF THE CASCADE MOUXTAIXS. 28J X footsore, and very weary ultogether. The road is a jileasant one, now amidst dark tirs, now in an oak grove, and anon with the sea gleaming through among Arbutus or ^liulrona (./. Mcuziesii) trees. We cross the two bridges, run the gauntlet of the usual number of Indians, who infest the road in harmless, lazy idleness, and outer the town of ^'ietoria, at that time, in the winter, possessed of some 6,000 inhabitants, but in the summer with perhaps only 1,000, the rest being off in the wilds, gold mining or gold hunting. "We get the key of our "town house," and in ten minutes are sound asleep on the floor of my cabin. In a few days more we rejoin our companions at the harbour of Cowitchan, and what we did, and what they did, and why we visited Victoria, le^ other documents tell.* Such is +he region immediately west of the Cascades, in the latitude of "N'an- couver Island, \,hich, though not in the United States, we have, for the sake of con- venience, taken as a type of that portion of the American Republic immediately south and north of it. Still further to the north, near the limits of trees, there are stunted forests, dwarfed by the chill blasts from the Arctic Ocean. The southern limit of this region is the southern range of Abies alba (the white fir), and the comr lencement of ilenzies spruce (p. 101), which is found as far north as lat. 57^ 10', and luxuriates in the parallel of Sitka (lat. .'J7''"0:5'.) f Further south agiiin, in the region of Southern Oregon, we find pines, such as the sugar-pine, common, oaks of another species frequent, and forming beautiful groves, while the trees are festooned with the wild Californian vine, and the oaks are hoary with a peculiar species of mistletoe. Further south we get into the forests of retl-wood (Sefjnoiu sempervlrcns), so characteristic of the Coast regions of California, but which, curiously enough, never go beyond lat. 42°, this being entirely confined to the State. Here also appear a new and characteristic group of coniferous trees {Pinii-i /imiffnin, P. miiricafu, P. lubcrculaia, P. Coulleri, P. ilejlexa, P. Bohnulerl, &c.), which are limitetl to the sea-coast. Among the firs peculiau to the Coast range in this region is tlio Santa Lucia, or incense tir (Picea bmclcafa), which has hitherto been only found in one locality in the Santa Lucia ilountains. Various species of cypress also appear, while a new group of shrubs iniknown in the North add variety to the landscape. To enumerate them would be beyond the province of a popidar work. However, it may be noted that there are found the box elder, the buck eye, the Western spindle tree, the Californian lilac, and among a profusion of flowers, the silver-leaved lupine, yellow lupine, the nine bark, and a host of other species. J • "Vancouver Island Exiilorations " (Vktorin, V. I., 186i5); "Pas Innerc Jer Vancouver Insel," Petennann's Ciop-aplusehe MMhttlmioen (I8G8) ; Cas^'cU's " Illustrated Travels," Parts 8, 0, 10, 28, 29, 3.!, 34, 35, 3C, &c. t fioijfnard's " Ve<jttation de Sittha" (" .Miiiioires de rAcadeiniu do St. Petcrsbourg," Sur. VI., t. 2), and "Smithsonian Heport" (Flora of Sitka), 18G". X "Geological Survey of California" (Botany), 1870. -f- 284 THE COUXTRIES OF THE V/OULD. CHAPTER XV. The United States : The Pacific Slope. The region between tlio Cascades and the Rocky Mountains is very different from that lictween the former range and the sea. Towards the north it is not so distinct from thu other side of the mountains as further south, the amount of moisture in the former district approximating the two. Immediately soutli of Fraser River, a little cat-tus {ppuntiu), which creejjs on the ground, is one of the most characteristic plants, and this attains its northern limits about the Fraser. The country is thinly scattered with Piiiwi pond rom, which, here and there, form park-like regions, while a Jinii/iernii and a few oaks are also here and there found. I'^asterly it is bounded by a great bai^in or desert which lies beyond the influence of the moisture of either the Cascades or Rocky ilountains. Most of the finer plants of this region have been introduced in our gardens by Douglas, Jeffrey, the author, and others. In the vicinity of the Kootanie are some beautiful ])rairies, and altogether this region is an infinitely more enticing one than that on the other side of the Cascades. Further south, however, the country is by no mea'is so inviting. Whole tracts are witliout water, and often leagues are covered with lava or volcaiiic (IcLi-ls. Tiie black pine {P. cou(urta), which is also found on the sea-coast furthir north, thinly clothes considerable tracts, even where there are no springs, wbile the moistcr regions support P. jw/idfromi. The sage-brush, however, frequently tells the tale of a thorough desert. A sage rabbit (Lepim (irfi'/iiixitv), a cayote wolf {Cuiiii lalranx), a prairie chicken (Pei/iociielttn phasianellun), sage fowls {Cm/riir/rcii-i itniji/inxiauus), an antelope (Plate VI.), a mule-deer, or worst (if all, a half-naked Shoshonee Indian, bounding out of some rocky canon with a demoniac yell, are nearly the only creatures to be seen, unless, indeed, we add rattlesnakes, which make the vicinity of a camp-fire hereabouts liy no meaiis agreeable to a nervous man, who has, however, no business east of the Cascades. Towards the southern portion, .Jiiui/ieriiS oiriilciilalin (the Western juniper) is about the only timber on t!ie bare hills, and upon this the soldiers sent to check the maurading Indians liave to depend for timber, though, indeed, sometimes this failing, recourse hius to be had to the sage-brush, which gives out some degn e of heat, though it burns up like a wisj) of straw. Further south, tiie country becomes even barer — an utter desert — "a waste and weary land, where no man comes or hatli come since the making of the world." Some parts of the district, such as the great jilain of the Columbia, are entirely without trees. A little way above the Dalles of the (^)lunlbia River stands, or at least st(>od, a solitiiry ])ine, generally known to the Koijiiyciu-H (if the fur companies as "Ogden's tree." This was the last tree for fifty miles. All of the jilaiiis between the Rocky and Cascade Mountains are not, however, uniform. Here and there are spots — oases in the desert — with a vegetation different; owing to moisture and other causes on the Blue Mountains, and other similar ranges in this district, we get forest wlien we reach a certam elevation, if the height of the range be sufficient to intercept any of the moist breezes from ..lie Pacific, which the Cascades usually precipitate 280 THE COUNTIUES OF TILE WOULD. before ihcy can reach this treeless eastern rejyion. Tliis country jyradually merinres into the Colorado Desert ; but of tins we may liave something to say by-and-by, and will, therefore, not confuse the reader by describinfj it in strict physio-geographical sequence. rerhap» ho who runs may read, in the following outline of a journey I made into the regiou immediately east of the Cascades, more information in a less severely didactic form about it than from a more dry description. As a contrast, therefore, to tho sketch in the preceding chapter, I need not hesitate to give it. Eastern Okeoox. It fell out in the halcyon days of 'l!5, that I was roving to and fro — a plant-hunter- on the Rocky Mountain slopes — into this valley, and out of that, up one mountain and down another, now staying at a hospitable little Western settlement a few days, and after- recruiting, diving once more into the wilds, trusting to my usual good luck that I should come out with a whole skin. In the course of these wanderings, I landed by devious paths in the little village of Eugene, in tho State of Oregon, not far from the head waters, and at the height of winter steam navigiition of tho Willamette lliver, a tributary of the- Columbia, on which is situated Salem, tho capital, and still lower down the larger and more thriving town of Portland. It is now a station on the railway ; but in those davs there was no railway in Oregon, except twelve miles around the Dalles of tho Columbia, and Eugene was a somewhat primitive place, though fresli and cheerful enough when one- got familiar with it. A Methodist " meetin' house," and a big wliite painted hotel, were tho chief buildings. The female portion of tho poj)ulation went to the former, while outside tho latter, from " morn till dewy eve," there was always seated a by no means- select body of citizens, whittling sticks and chewing tobacco in a ruminating and solemn manner. Nevertheless, Eugene and the Eugenites, with their pretty little one-storeyed wooden houses scattered over the prairie-like expanse of village, with the tall fir-trees around, and the river flowing past, had an excellent opinion of themselves. Eugene Iwastcxl of two papers, the Slafe Journal, devoted to the interests of the Republicans, and the Itecieio, an equally violent Democratic partisan. Now, every other day these rival sheets announced '•' Lieut. John 'Si.. M'Call's Co. A, 1st Oregon Cavalry, would shortly leave for an expedition east of the mountains, as an escort to Pengra and. Oildel, who are about to lorato a military road to the Owyhee couiitrj', and at the same time act as an escort to Air. Superintendent Huntingdon, who was to meet the Snake- Indian chiefs, in order to endeavour to form a treaty of peace with them." These military tjentlomen, in company with the empty stage-coach whicli rumbled once a day into- ]']ugene, formed the chief items of sensation to the sleepy little ])lace. Now, to " John JI. M'Call," as the gallant lieui ant was widely known, I had a s])ocial letter from the Governor of Oregon, enjoinuig on him to show me what attention lay in his power; and 'Ending that it was my intention to attempt to penetrate alone into- liie Country to the east of tho Cascades, I was strongly advised that if I valued my scalp, I had better accept the escort of " Co. A " on their proposed expedition. Accordingly, on the 17th July, our whole party left the little frontier village, amid the cheers of tho "loafers/' THE EAHTEUX SLOPE OF THE CASCADE MOUNTAIN'S. 287 ■who sat chewing and whitthiig in the hotel " stoiip," and the regrets of the I'air Eugenites. I overtoolc the party in tlio evt-ning, eneamiied a few miles out on the ^I'Kenzie fork of the Willamette, under some ])leasant maple-trees, with droves of horses grazing around, cattlo for our own consuin|)tion herded on the prairie, and the (luarterniaster husily making oat "forage warrants" (lor we had not yet (piite left civilisation, as this ahundantly showed). The scene looked quite like a Tartar cueanipment, and I could not help remarking the difference between English and American ofhcers; that while the former going on an expedition of this nature would have provided all sorts of inij^ssible apparatus and ward- robe, usually supposed to he necessary to gentlemen of the British Isles when they go "roughing" it out of sight of their homes, tiiesc worthy AVestern men, accustomed all their lives to such journeys, had not deviated one whit from what they would have worn <lown in tho settlements, and appeared Iiere at the base of the Cascade ^lountains, on the ■eve of undertaking a long summer's expedition into the outer world — even of Oregon — in all the accustomed glory of white shirts and standing collars, alarming ties, and that shambling slip-shod style of uniform that Transatlantic luililiiirei delight in on all occasions, be it in Washington or on the Willamette. Discipline can scarcely be exjiectcd to be found in great perfection among a mob of soldiers hastily "scared up" on the Indian frontier, every man thinking himself as good as the President, or his colonel ; hut, nevertheless, everything went on very smoothly, and if even a private did occasionally address his conunanding officer by his Christian name, requesting at the same the favour of a chew of tobacco, why, no great dignity was sacrificed, and no great harni was done.* Tor two pleasant days our route lay among the outlying settlements of the AVil- lamyttc, among rounded knolls, or as they are called here " liuttes," t with neat little primitive farms, at the base of rocky bluffs, whore rough voices hailed us cheerily, and" shouted to us to "take care of your har!" an advice no doubt tendered in the kindliest spirit, but sounding rather unpleasant to men perfectly t'amiliar with the whole rtiiiomile of the Shoshonees' sci.'')iiig-knife ! Tho country was well watered and well wooded, and many were the roaring mountain ci'cclvs we had to cross or swim "when ford there was none." Our daily routine was much the same. At daybreak the bugle sounded the r'vc'iUe ; all commenced ])acking up, and the cooks to prepare our modest breakfast, of which the inevitable pork and beans formed the staple. The horses were then driven iiji, every man lassooing his own and saddling it ; for no horseman of the Western, be ho captain or ])rivate, would ever think of allowing any one else to do it, knowing well that a wrong adjustment I'f the blanket, or a girth too much or little, may cost him his life — or what is just about the same thing — his horse. The mules wore then packed with the usual ejaculations in Spanish and I^nglish, for muleteers declare that tho nature of that animal is much • Two of our iiuili-tccru were liulf nnil qiiaitir cnstrs, rosivctivrly tin- f-Timlson ;inil son of I'itrro ilorion, whose ntiiiii! anil ilcids Imvc liicn cuMjiatnl in Wasliiii^-ton Irvinf^'s "Astoria." t A usi'ful I'Vi'mli-Canailian yoiiiiijiiir' » t<-rm to cviiri'ss a romuliil cli'vation tno low for a mountain, out too liif;li to 1)0 cullud a hill. This distinction is, howovir, not strict y adhered to, i.y., Sliast^: Uutte (iiioro thiia 14,000 feet). 288 THE COUNTKIKS OF TIIE WOULD. too demoniacal to do anything withoutt using towards it (to speak mildly) very bad language. Tliose ejaculations arc generally nicely graduated — caranibo ! carajo 1 I madre de dios ! ! ! sacramento III! diabalo ! ! ! ! I Such soft " Castilian words " coming floating to Vll:\V 01' THE CA.NOXS 01' TllK COLOUADO. your cars upon a calm summer evening in some silent mountain vallc}', have decidedly a fine effect ! Then came up in the rear the cattle herds. Our march was rarely prolonged beyond midday, though we often halted much earlier, to allow of the ovcrloadetl train resting for the grass, or for convenient camping places. We spent the rest of the daj' reconnoitring the neighlwurhood for plants, fishing in the mountain streams, hunting deer through the long dark wooded dells, or in sleeping under THE EASTEKN SLOPE OF THE CASCADE MOUXT.UNS. 880 n Inish, each as his own iiulividiml penchdat inclined liitn, the lnij;lc calhnt» us biick to canij) for suppt>r, which was served on the mihtary chest. Tiie eveninj^ was spent, until dark, tellin{j round the watch-lire tales of our former adventures, or those " hear and rattlesnake " stories for which the Western frontier is so notorious, after which each SNAKE IN'DIANS OF or.EnON. man rolled himself in his blanket, under his own particular tree, with the stars for our lamps and the sky for a canopy, until the cheery \mg\(i again woke tis at daybreak to make our toilet in those gray misty summer mornings by the banks nt' some nameless stream, and then to resume our ha]>py march further and further from tiie haunts of civilised man, from the country of the little known into that of the still less known. The widely scattered "clearings" liecame fewer and fewer, until a "claim shanty," consisting of a few logs raised in the middle of a " land claim," to fuliil the bare 37 290 TIIK fuLXTKlKS 01' THE VOIil.D. letter of the law, was the only nppcaraiue of tlio tide of civilisation liavinjf flowed llni» i:\r. The road (siieli as it was) booanie worse and worse. Then wo rode thrun;;ii tindier and in si^Mit of tiie middle fork of the ^VillanR'tte, ylidin<f alonj;' between wooded hanks of jiine and eedar, and the niajile iu its snininer <jrcen, when we snddenly emerged n[ion a pleasant eneamj)nient, with tools and eookinjif utensils and tents scattered aronnd ; Imt like the eanip of the Assyrians, all was vacant. Soon the party began to retnrn. They had been out jjathering berries for more than a week, a favourite sort of i)ienic ]iarty amonj; the simple-minded jK'ople of Lon<^ Tom ("reek, aiul used (under the supervision tif some grave senior) like eamp-meetinys, without the preaching, by the young j>eoi)Ie of tlio.-e primitive sections for much the same i)urposes as garrison balls and llowcr shows arc by those hailing from better-known places on this side of the ifdfi' Old World. As the young men and elders of the party emerged from the bush, bearing deer from the mountain, grouse from the woods, and strings of speckled trout from the (recks, and the prairie belle.-), bearing baskets of the yellow salmonherry, the huckleberry, and the strawberry, some (jf us could not help tirnking that they do things much better here than in France. AVith certa'u misgivings that we had made a mistake in leaving civilisation wo crossed the river, past the last frontier house, killed a rattlesnake [Civldhin liici/'fr, Haird)* ■which was coiling itself \\\> inconveniently near to where we were abcnit lying down, and wrote in our journals that we had ridden seventeen miles through cultivated valleys, well watered and wooded, but that we were now in the wilderness. No longer was our eye refreshed with a sight of a smdjurnt I'rontier damsel, wild as a deer, but ■with a refreshing innocei^ce of cities. How severely the loss was felt may be iniaginetl when a trooper declared that " He'd give a barrel of whiskey for the sight of a gal ! " t)n the loth, after travelling for a distance of sis miles through canons and thick woods, over many small creeks, by the banks of the river, with no cultivation, though good spots here and there, we met three Indians returning to the Siletz Reservation from i\[r. Simpson's party, whicii was a little ahead, and who informed us that we could encamp on a small prairie thinly scattered with timber and separated from the river by a piece of rich timliered land. Here we found an old hunter's log cabin, and accordingly christened it "Cabin Prairie." Next day our route lay through dense timber, and after passing jMr. Simpson's party of Indians making a trail, we had to drive our horses before us, scrambling over fallen trees and among rocks, up steep inclin ;s, until we came to a point which was named " Point Look-out," where we had great dillieulty to get our horses over, and where ■we lost one mule in the river. Here we encamped, driving our horses across the river, but little or no pasture could be found, and we spent a portion of the day cutting grass with our knives for them. The next eight miles was through wooded river ttottoms, when a party went ahead to clear some of the worst impedi- menta, swam the river again, climbed a steep mountain trail (for we were now entering among the foot hills of the Cascade jMountains), and emergctl into a beautiful prairie valley shut in by mountains, but covered with grass, a good creek flowing through it, * Kattlosnnkos are iisuiilly s.niil not to romo to the west of the Cascades. I liave killed thorn frequently in Lane county, Oregon, and similar country. THE EASTEUN SLUl'K <»^' Till; CASCADK MorXTAINH. 291 •and with Hliiuly woods on the border, so lliiit uno iniirlit fuiii-y hiiiisclf !ii tho "irii]>|.y Viillcy iiC lliisst'liiH." It WHS totally iiiiiiihuhiti'd, save l)y a very curious dijaiiiilatcd horso, which the drummer-hoy rodo all the afternoon. This forlorn hriite was covered -witli somuthintif, scarcely hair, and aecordin<5;ly we set it down as the famous woolly horse which ISarnum exhihited as having l)een captured hy Fremont ii> this rcj,'ion. Tiiidition, however, lingers in the N'allcy of the ^Villanlette, that once upon u time a half-savajje Missourian and his three sons came here, and found u lew rcnoj^.ulc Indians, whom they mana<i;ed, with the help of the Klamath Indians, to "civiliso off the lace of the earth," huntiufj them in the valley with theii rilles as if they were wild beasts, and ■then nppropriatinjr their squaws. We could see their houses and the remains of tho Indian lodfjos, but where they had ^^one to we had no o]i])i)rtunity of learning. We were, however, led to believe that the}' were coucealetl somewhere in the woods until our de])arture. During the next two days the country was jiretty similar, and we encamped (after travelling live miles) on a little prairie, so deligiitfid a scene that it set us wishing for " that lodge in some vast wilderness," which most of us, after passing so many lonely years wandering among the Indian villages of tho North, and in solitary encampments, had got over. The trail therein lay through woods of line timber — white cedar {Thuja ijhjiutlvu), red cedar {LUjocedntt i/fciu-n'iin), and we now noticed, for the first time, the stately sugar ])ine (Piiiiin Ldiiiljeiiiuiiti), with the sweet exudations from which it derives its name, and which is one of tho huntery cathartics. A rhoth)dendron and a honeysuckle {Lunkevu JJunylanii) added variety to the sombre woods, hitherto only diversilicd Ijy an undergrowth of Ixsrry bushes — the bright salmonberrj' llowers {RhIjuh Kpfclabilis), and the more modest thimble- berry {lluljits NutitiiniK), and the waxy sal-al {Ganll/icria shallou), forming an undergrowth like a carpet throughout the woods — a sure sign of poor stony ground. The stately alder {Abm-i Uri'i/iiiia), with its dark green leaves, affected moist ground everywhere, in company Avith the hemlock, most graceful tree of all. The North- AVestcrn conifers began to disappear from the woods, the silver lir [I'icea yntiK/is), sui)plying its place. Now and then we would break through thickets of the mountain laurel [Ceaiinl/iiii rcliiliiiux), sending an almost •ovcriKjwering fragrance from its glistening leaves as we trampled it down under our horses' feet. Amid these pleasant scenes we had a day of disasters — two mules with their loads bad rolled over a precipice and were dashed to j)icces, and another, after rolling end over end (after the manner of mules), had survived and i)acked its load into camp. Part of tho loads was recovered, but a side of bacon up a Douglas pine-tree will remain as a monument of the passing of the first expedition through these mountains. Some emigrants had attempted it in 185."}, and we could yet see remains of their disastnnis trip, in which some of them died of starvation. I have seen some of them in the ^'alley of the Willamette, and they used to declare that in the bed ui a creek thcj' saw a metal which they were mre was gold, and parties even went out to search for it, but did not find it. It was, they said, " in ciiunks as big as hen's eggs," but we had all been too long on the Pacific coast to Ijoliove such tales, generally classifj ing them with tho proverbial " bear and snako stories." Our track had hitherto been always in general in the south-east direction, and to-day it lay by the banks of the Middle Fork, seeing little but the woods and forest-clothed hills of the Pass. We frequently noticed "sign" of bears, wolves, and panthers. Deer were seen, and »0i TIIK CUUNTItlES OK TIIK \VUUI,D. trimt, iilniiidiiiit. Tlu nu'ks wcio till Vdlt'iiiiic (tni])), uiul tliu soil samly, mid witli (lio exc('|itioii mI' till Wdiidcd rivti' iMittoins, niri'ly lit I'm' cidlivalion. VVu ciiriiiiipod in an (pen s|i:irc in liir woods, witii ynod piistui'i', Imt of siii.dl cxtL'iit, nnj tlic soil stony aiul ]iooi'. \Vf liiiil oiiiiu ten niiUs, and nanicil tin' oanip tlii! "corral" (a Spanish tt'rni in t'oniniiin use on tlio Coast to si^fnii'y an enclosed ])l.i(!e lor liorses). We saw aroinid iicre many Indian liouuli cncaniimLents, 1ml apparently old, and renniants of days lonj,'' o'one by, when tlio Indians used to coino huntino' here. I had here tin; niisrortuno to lose iny horse, and alter vainly rollo\vin<;' his trail, mounted lieiiind a ^'""^1 Samaritan, hopiny to meet some Indians and purchase another. We travelled fourteen miles ht'l'ore campin<f, over a fair track with a "•ood creek portion of the way, and latterly leadinj,' over a countr} with many sti'cp places, where we had to ride hy an almost perpendicular path. In one of these wooded oidchcs we met a niindier of ("yuse Indians and a white man, all dressed in most ooro'eous array of huckskin and heads, erossiuf^' lor horses to the Willamette country, and as we emerj^cd into the "pine openino" a hill-track, covered with j^'ood f,''rass, and thinly scattered with yellow jiine (/'. /i(ii((ln'<isii), I was deliohted to ayain recover my laithfid horse, which had been found hy tiie rear-yunrd. The scenery was here very line — on evi-ry side hold wooded mountains, with the head-waters of the Willamette siiarkliny hetween the trees, and the snows of Diamond I'eak in the distance. After every jire- l)aration had hcen maile, we eommeneed the passage of the Cascades into Kastern Oregon. The ascent was coin[)aratively easy, crossing over many mountain creeks, throuLfh woods, where I saw many trees of a species of yew {Td.viix Ijrcri/o/iu), until the elevation hegan to 1)0 jKn-ecptihle ill the l''lora. Plants which were long ago in fruit in the valleys were here in partial llower, while on the summit they were in full bloom. Thickets of rhododendrons {li. Ill ax I mi Ilium), with their huge bunches of pink (lowers, stood out in line contrast to the drifts of snow, giving one a faint idea of the splendid rhododendron thickets of Sikkim, Himalayas, so graiiliically portrayed by Dr. Joseph Hooker. Occasionally a mngnillcent species of mountain lily would bloom by the side of some beautiful saxifrage, and the shrubbery of the ceanothiis would add fragrance to the mountain air. The scene from the summit of the jmss (1,111 feet) was grand in the extreme. The bold snow-covered crags of Diamond Peak, with its old cater, and the " Three Sisters," a])pear to the north, and on the left, away to the south, the tops of Scott's Peak and Jlount Williamson, while the wooded valleys and lesser heights of the Cascade range lay below, and off to the east appeared the long slope of llat-wooded country, with the peaks of the " Three Brothers," the only break in the monotony of the view. Drifts of snow lay in shady jilaces, and green grassy spts formed halting-])laces by the side of mountain streams. Kow and then a beautiful mountain lake, unsuspected before, lay glistening in all its cpiiet beauty in some unbroken valley. As we began the descent, a marked change was apparent in the country. Instead of moist woods, oin- route lay by an easy descent through groves of pine thickly scattered over that country {P. coiitortu), encumbered with no undergrowth, and the soil a mass of volcanic ashes and pumice-stone. At two p.m. wc were right glad, after a weary ride of twenty-six miles, to reach the head-waters of the Deschutes, or Falls River (lat. l.'J" 27' ti." N.), here only a little crock meandering through a world of rich grassy meadows — a sort of "horse hesvan" — but with little of the chaiacteristics which •I 1' 294 THE COUXTIUES OF TIIK WOKLD. it possesses near its mouth. This river lower down Hows through high canons — along tlio banlvs of whieli you may be Jying of thirst, yet fail to reach the water — and falls into the Columbia about eighteen miles above the Dalles. Ueschutes River arises by several fork<, some of which take their source in the marshes, another in a lake which we named " Sinnmit Lake " (which we had seen on the right hand descending), that communicates liy a small creek with another sixteen miles in length lower down (named "Crescent Lake^'), and this is again connected with a third among the mountains, styled, in honour of one of the party, " Lsike Oddel." Our camp* here was ],i200 feet below the summit, and though cold at nights, tlie mosquitoes in the early portion of the evening were very troublesome. Chipmonks {Ttimiui Townseiul) were very abundant here, and so continuously " popped " at, that I verily believe they even yet come out of their holes in the expectation of finding a pistol-bullet aimed at them. Herons, cranes, and grouse were plentiful near the river, but otherwise few birds were seen in this solitary region. As our provisions did not come up for two days, we provided ourselves with trout, which \.ere cauglit in great abundance by hooks baited with field-crickets or " grasshoppers " {.Lcheta tiii/ni), an insect abounding all over the eastern side of the Cascades, and as a pest almost equal to locusts. The winds which every now and then sweep over this desert-like tract will blacken the rivers and lakes with them, and the miserable digger Indian draws the main portion of his substance from these insects. On the 29th of July we began to direct our course in a E.S.E. direction, over a level desert flat, with a soil composed of volcanic ashes, and thinly scattered with a forest of Finns conlorhr, a scrubby looking free at best, abounding in resin. To the E. and N.E. lay a long stretch of flat land, i)robably ninety miles in breadth, of a similar character to this, but whicb we found to be impracticable to traverse, on account of the almost entire want of water in it; the creeks flowing from the Cascades sinking into the sandy soil before flowing far into this desert tract. Mr. Thompson attempted to explore it^ and though he carried water portion of the way, both he and his party suffered fearfully. Pah-nine, the celebrated war chief of the " Snakes," told me that after the battle in which Lieut. Watson was killed he traversed this waste. " I determined," he said, " never more lo fight against the whites, and separated f r -m my brother, We-wow-weya, and hoped to flee to a country where the white man could never reach me. So I took my horses and my men, my squaws and my children, in the direction of the dying sun, and went over the dry country between there and Quei/ia (Deschutes lliver), filling the stomachs of ante- lopes with water, fur l/icre h mnc (here, and I came to a valley where my men hunted and my women gathered berries, and I thought that the whites had forgotten me, and that I was safe. But, when I came back one night to my lodges, the fires were out, my warriors slain, and my women and my little boy taken prisoners. jMy heart was sad, and again I fletl, wifteless and childless, poor and hungry, with no food for the winter, with none to dress • According to the "Pacific Kailroad Siirrcys" (Vol. A'l., Aiipoiidix ('., p. 29 of AiiiicnJicos), ncBcluitos liivcr is 4,411 feet above mean tide at Benecia, California. I presume tlicir observiifions were taken at the same jilaee ns oiufl. The other altitudes on our route were as follows :— Klamath Ijikc (hit. 42" 17' 10" 2 N.), 4,180; Klamath Itivcr (Int. 42° 31' 31" 4 N.), 4,196 ; Klamalh Mareh, 4,.')12. This latter ohscrvntiim, taken from tlio Nime authority, dill'crs lOutU from ours, as do most of them, Lieut. AViUiaiiison making the elevations greater. THE easii:kx slo?k of the cascade mouxtains. 295 / y\ my Jeer, with none to make, with none to cook mj- food. I was poor after I fought with Uie whitoi^, I'ur you burnt up my dried meat and my ammunition, and took away my horses; but now I was poorer tlian ever. My people said, let us go to AVe-wow-weya, wlo has goi'e to join IluUuek at the rising sun, and band together against tlie whites: we can but be killed. Hut I said, No ! and all winter I lived by the border of Silver Lake, Icillmg my horses for foo<l, and my heart was sad and weary, until the warm days came again, but still I hunted and lived poor. You see I have no horses, aiul how miserable we are. I woidd not go against the whites, for I was sick of war, and blood, and scalps, and so we hunted the elk and the antelope, and gathered irociiK* and ff(/Mi/sii,-f and /.■u!!", and got trout from the lake, until Huntingdon's messenger came telling me to come and make peace, but my young men on the hills saw the soldiers were coming, and said they would be killed, but 1 knew that Huntingdon would not tell a lie, and so I came weary :ind ashamed on foot." I have given this extract in order to show the character of the l>eople we were entering among, but more particularly for the geographical data it affords. 'J'lie " Three Brothers " are the only breaks in the nearly level landscape in that (lireilion, and the snow peaks of the Cascades gleaming through the trees, diversify the \ic\v <(> the right, and now and then a cool breeze tempers the hot summer's day as wo slovly in long lile traverse this arid tract. There was no undergrowth in the groves of pine, but here and there occasionally bushes of the wormwood, or as it is uni- vi rsilly called, the " sago " [Artemesia triJeulatci), so characteristic of the whole of llie country we were iiow entering, began to appear, and with the exception of the "black ]mie '' formerly mentioned, a few sugar pines, and one not unlike it in foliage {P. pon- ih i-o-s(() there was no timber. After a march of eleven miles, we halted on a bramh of (Ik; Deschutes River, where we found a tolerably good stretch of meadow ground in Ihe iiiuucdiate vicinity of the river. Deer were plentiful, and the beautiful little humming- biids lllltcd about among the few ilo'.vers which the invigorating moisture allowed to sjning u]) here and there among the long swampy grasses. A journey over these wastes, tlKiigli interesting from a topogra-,ihijal jioint of view, is yet to a "general reader" about :i< entertaining as the time-lmnourcd sea journals kept by the mates of merchant vessels, w'.ereii: is recorded with minute accuracy how the wind " in the iirst part of these twenty- liu;r hours was E.N.]!;. \ E., and how in the second portion it was ditto, ditto, and in the iluii-wateh ditto, ditto, the boatswain's hands emploj-cd as before, ditto, ditto, the trades- men at their trades, and the hands employed variously ; lat., by dead reckoning, so-and-so." Ihit the exigencies of geography reijuiring such, more especially since so little can be said, the readei-s will pardon mo if for the next five days I trouble them with a somewhat monotonous nairative. The track continued much as before, only more hilly and varietl, more sugar-pine, and the country more open ; and so for sixteen miles, until we came to a creek named " Miller's Creek," with good water and a little grass, in the prairie-like openings near the river. Hitherto, though a sharp look-out had been kept, we h.id seen no Shoshonee Indians, biit this evening our scouts came in with very long faces, describing the "great mocassin" tracks crossing our trail after we had come into camp, and as every one knows that this- • Ifiipliiiiilieiia (Ait). f Gamaiaia cietilenta (Dougl). iw, THE COUNTRIES OF THE WC^RLD. \\r^ the " siffn " of that tribe, we slept with only one eye shut. Indeed, thouyh wo could obtain no siyht of our pursuers, yet it was only on arrival at Fort Klaniuth lliat wo leanicil I'rom the Indians there that we had been dogged by three lodges of "Snakes" llio whole of our journey, seeking an opjwrtunity to stampede our horses, or capture an odd scalp (ir two when it could be done without the disagreeable accompaniment of running their heads THE 11I,00MF.11 CUTTlNr, (IN THE rALIl 11' llAILWAi. against a leaden bullet. Once, as we crossed Fremont, the " Pathtiiider's " trail, the tracks of mocassins and "barefooted" (unshod) horses, with camp-fires not extinguished, began fjrrieviously to alarm us, and to suggest very serious jokes about the period of time we should be favoured with the possession of our individual scalji-locks. However, we alterwards found that we were unnecessarily frighten'' .1 ; it was only the Superintendent o|' Indian Affairs for Oregon, on his way with his band of Cynse scouts to try and make a treaty of peace with Pah-ni-ne. The next day, travelling over a similar country, only with more open spaces and finer trees, we came to a spring g\ishing out in the form of a large creek from the ground. Fremont doubtk^s mistook this for the y-reaf Klamath Lake, in liis THE rACIFIC SLOPE; KASTERX OUEGON. 297 expedition of ISia-'t, and the river, which I have mentioned as permeating it, he thought to be the Klamath (or, as he spells it, Kamalli) lliver, but that Hows out of the lower lake proper, and the former is probably Williamson's lliver. His camp here was about lat. <1£° 51' 20" N. long. U\" -M' At". In these errors he has been followed by other writers. Antelopes {.Intilocaprd Amerkitmi) were jjlentiful in the vicinity, but the horse-lly rendered our horses almost frantic, sucking their blood, so much so that we VIEW OF SIl.VKU IITV, NEVADA. luid to enclose them with a circle of smoky lires, and when riding to bo continually switching them off, until the poor animals were perfectly bespattered with their blood. These, and mosquitoes (which "crowd" into their ears), are the great pests of horses, though the latter only trouble man, and disappear as settlements and clearings progress. So troublesome are the latter insects on some ol' the tlals of Fraser River, as to render them uninhabitable in summer, and I have known horses in tl-.eir agony to jump into the river and be drowned. For the last two days — in fact, immediately after getting over the summit — the 38 298 THE COUNTBIES OP THE WOHLD. ^: " Manzanita/' of Califomian celebrity {.Irdoslafifijlos ylauca), and the "Chinquapin" {Canlaiwjisin chri/nuphi/lla), beyan to apjjear, along with the diminutive Atbiitun toiuenlusa. Two Indians were seen on horseback, and waking up at night, I could see the light of a camp-Kre gleaming among the trees somewhere on the other side of the marsh. On the 2nd of August, after travelling ten miles, we cume to a straggling creek, with a great extent of rich grasses by its borders, but the soil very poor and sandy. We named this stream — the only one for several miles — "Rifle creek," from the circumstance of our finding a ritle, shot-jwuch, and powder-horn complete, suspended in the trees. The pouch contained two flint arrow-heads, used evidently to raise fire, and the rifle had been apparently purchased or stolen, or was the gift of a white man. Underneath was a fire, in which most probably the body and possessions of its former owner had been, in accordance with the customs of the neighbouring tribes, burnt; but how the rifle escaped we could not tell. Having no desire to rob the dead Indian's pyre, we merely kept the arrow-heads as a memento, replacing the rifle ; but one of our packers was not so delicate : looking upon it as a fair prize, he tinkered it up, and within an hour shot an elk with it. Scott's Peak was here directly abreast of us, and is a truncated cone of a very marked character. On the morning of the 3rd of August we were early astir, and after a march of seven miles turned down again to a beautiful prairie near the Klamath Itlarsh, where the party lay over for several days, and the animals revelled in a paradise of clover. We could see Indians in canoes gathering the pods of the yellow water-lily on the marsh, and tracks of the grizzly bear did not make our woodland botanisings any pleasanter. Here I l»de good-bye to my gallant cumpitgnuun ile voyage, from whom I had received so many kindnesses, and accompanied by Lieutenant M. Rl'Call, and an escort of si-\ troopers, rode over the ridge to the westward to a fort establishetl in Klamath Basin, and supposed to be distant between fifteen and twenty miles. A pleasant ride had we over a low ridge, and spur of the Cascades, through a fine grove of yellow pine (/•". jwuderona), where we shot a skulking cayote wolf {Caiiis latmiin, Say), and then descended into a valley where Indian sign was plentiful ; until from an eminence the lovely prairie of Klamath Basin, shut in by snowy mountains with cold rivers meandering through the valley, and studded with groves of trees, like wooded islands in a sea of grass, burst upon our astonished view, so long accustomed to the arid track over which we had been passing. We crossed the " Fort Creek," a stream of icy-cold water (which springs out of the ground in one torrent), our horses almost hidden amidst the luxuriant herbage, and then passed through a mile or two of country, which required recollection of where we were not to suppose was some old English park. We arrived at the fort just in time for dinner, but covered with dust, and most unpresentable figures; for here in the middle of the Indian country were several of the Oregon ladies, of whose jwliteness generally, and more par- ticularly of the " square meal " we received that August evening, I daresay the lieutenant and I have some very grateful memories to this day. There were also a number of children here, semi-civilised youths, learned in all the dialects of the Chinook jargon, and in the relative merits of Maynard's carbine and the old jagcr. They were, however, about to erect a school, which promised to impart some- thing more substantial to them. The valley of Klamath Basin is excellent soil, but cold THE PACIFIC SLOPE I EASTERN OREGON. 299 I springs eomo down from the snow-capped mountains, which shut it in on every side, so as to render tiie ff round so cold that snow lies for such a time that cattle cannot subsist here in the winter, and garden produce, with the exception of beets and turnips, do not come to any size. Down l)y the borders of Klamath Lake and Sprague's River the snow lies only for a short time, and there the Indians winter their horses. Close by the fort flows an icy cold stream, which rises directly out of the ground not far distant. This Fort Creek joins Wood's lliver and Crooked Creek, which empty into the Klamath Ijake some three or four miles down. During the few days we passed at Fort Klamath, ^lajor Rheinhardt and his ollicers took us on an excursion down Wood's River, meandering through grassy meadows to the great Klamath Lake, and back again on horseback over the green prairies by evening, with a picnic dinner under the groves of pine, will live in the memories of some of us. At Fort Klamath wo overtook the Hon. W. P. Huntingdon, Superintendent of Lidian Affairs for Oregon, who was awaiting a messenger whom he had despatched to Pah-nine, war chief of the Shoshonees, with a view to make a treaty of peace. !Mr. Hun- tingdon was good enough to invite me to join him, and as the distance was not great, and such a sight would not be soon likely to be seen again, I occupied myself in rambling round the hills until his messenger returned. Our visit had createtl some stir among the neighbouring tribes, who were suspicious of the import of it. Accordingly, one day a messenger arrived from a distant tribe to make inquiries what it all meant. He was informed, and invited to stay. Major Rheinhai-dt at the same time offering him fodder for his horse, and food accommodation for himself. He steadily refused, however, and would receive neither bite nor sup with the whites, bringing provision from the Klamath Indians in the vicinity of the fort, and sleeping in the open air. This cavalier stayed long enough to satisfy himself of our intentions, and then left as he came, refusing presents or any kindness which might seem to compromise him with the whites into surrendering his freedom. In the immediate vicinity of the fort were a number of Klamath Lake Indians, a people at no time of a very exalted morality, but now thoroughly debased. The northern tribes have a thorough contempt for them, and used to come south and capture them as slaves. It is, however, a common practice of many of these tribes — Shastas, Umjxiuas, Klamath, Pit River, &c. — to sell their own children as slaves. Mr. Stanley, an artist, who travelled for some years on this coast, tells us that during a tour through the Willamette valley in 1848 he met a party of Klikitaka returning from one of these trading excursions, having about twenty little boys whom tiiey had purchased from the Ump((ua tribe. They have, however, a number of slaves, principally stolen from the Pit River Indians, who are again a race much lower in the scale of humanity. A runaway slave is severely punished among them, being generally put to death. If a woman, she is impaled on a stake in a maimer too horrible to describe. Their other pro- perty consists in beads, horses, blankets, and women. The Hioqua shell (J)eiitti/iiim preciosKiH, Nutt) is highly valued among them, and is generiilly worn by the men through the septum of the nose, the women also occasionally adopting this ornament, and more frequently using it in the form of car-ornaments. The women have a custom of tattooing their chin, and some of tbem are far from ill-looking. They have now for the most part 300 THE COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD. odoptetl a portion of European dress, but nil the women still wear the little brimless liat, like a pitcher. This hat is made of a species of salge, but is quite water tight, and is used for a variety of domestic purposes, such as carrying water or lighted poala, as a drinking vessel, and a trencher for food. They have a belief in a Supreme Being, and think that IIo made the land good and bad — sage-brush, desert, and pasture land — because the Indians quarrelled and had to be separated. Some of them also believe in a place of reward and punishment, and others even go so far as to believe in a resurrection from the dead, and that the place of resurrection will be at tiio Dalles of the Columbia. They have a great belief in their "medicine-men," who excel in the usual tricks of that class of impostors, such as causing blowl to (low from the nostrils, and so on. They have a sujierstitious dread of owls, believing, like all Indiana, that the spirits of the dead go 'into these birds, and that they peck out people's eyes. They bury their dead in mounds in an upright jiosition, but destroy by lire the whole of their property, because it is very inilucky to mention the name of the dead; they do not wish to see anything around which would act as a reminder to them of those who are now dead. I have sometimes heard it stated that they Imrn their dead, but as I saw their graves, I cannot believe that this custom is at least unvariablo. After a death, and in the case of women at certain periods, they must purify for live days at a sacred spring near the fort. Eclipses they believe, with many of the people of antiquity and modern times, portend evil. They have many other superstitions about almost every act of their daily life. They are said to have some knowledge of diamonds, which arc believed to be found in their country. They are also reported to be tolerably honest about the fort, for the good reason that they would soon be found out, and 1x3 most summarily punished. They are not allowed to purchase jiowder from the trader at the fort, except by order from the Superintendent of Indian Affairs ; but they buy all they wish at Yreka, in California, to which place there is a trail from here. Tiiey occasionally go to war against the Pit River tribes, and have a curious methcxl of declaring war. A number of young fellows prowl about the border of the enemy, until they see some women gathering berries, or otherwise engaged, when they seize upon them. Tills indignity is reported to the tribe, when war is the consequence. Throwing in this bone of contention is fully as eifectual as the Roman custom of throwing a javelin into the enemy's territory. They marry either in their own tribe, or in the neigh- bouring ones, and as a natural conseqiience of the increased immorality of the tribe, infanticide is common. The number of males, owing to this and other causes, is also decreasing. As a race, they are swarthier than the northern tribes, but not badly made. I used often to meet them on my rambles through the valleys and groves near the fort, and the}- were alw.ays particularly civil to me when they heai-d that I was an ]"]nglishman. The I'jiglish they both fear and respect, because the earliest knowledge t! ey had of the race was by experiencing the severity and determined character of a Hudson's Bay trader named M'Kay — a son of that M'Kay who blew up the Tonquin — as narriited in " Astoria." Hence the Hudson's Biiy Company's people were long known as the "AI'Kays." Fremont they distinctly recollect, and tell some long story about his spitting on a fish, the exact point of which I could never exactly learn, further than that it was looked upon with great suiierstition, and was supposed to have been productive of no great good. TIIK rACIKir SI,orK: KASTriiX OIU'.OOX. aoi In addition to Indians, many olhoi- wild animals used to dart across my path whilo roaming about in search of llowors.* Tho cayotc wolC (TV/w/v lulntnn) will even now and »i,'ain Hkulk throiiffh the vuliey, or yelp when at a safe distance from me. The silver fox {Vulpes mitcrouriis), so valuable as a Cur, was once seen, and ttu? holes of tlit! badi,''er (TiLviilen AiiiericaiKt) were occasionally stumbled on. The flslier (p. IDs) is common by the Klamath Lake, and tho beaver may be occasionally seen. The lle^i/Ku-ixiiiji (Jiiw/irllii, AT TvoTiK IV Till: sii.vFn minks of vevapa. rather rarer, is sometimes captured with other small mammals, while lln" siifje rabl)its (A. iirlemcwirT and A. ciimpcKlrin) scuttled tin ugh tho low yrass and brusiiwood ver)' commonly. ^Many wild fowl breed in the lakes, and in this vicinity a naturalist might pass many weeks in the spring with great profit. The monarch of all these solitudes is, however, the grizzly bear {Ur-sii-i horribilis), * Kor till! botnny, spp Ilortioultiiral nopnitincnt of "FMinici" (ISCJ), ami " raiific Uailioail Surveys" (Xcw- Ijcitj'., L'ulli'itum), Vol. vi. ^\VilliaIllsoll's HiiiiiH}; " Tiaiisai tiniH nf llw Hiitaniial Soiiity iif Kiliulmiiili,' Vol. ix. 802 TlfK COI'NTHTF,H OF THE WORLD. which abounds in tho monntains. The winter before, the Boldiers, by Burrounding him in parties on horseback, managed to kill a largo number. lie iw rarely, however, tackled by a single hunter, as the danger is great. Not a year passes in Cnlifurnia but Home men arc killcnl by this fierce animal, and further north tho Indians are often maimed in encounters with it. The country eastward I afterwanls visited. It is still drier, for tho fort was built in a moist valley of tho mountains, mountain-walled on almost every side. But this other journey again westward into California I need not describe, as tho gist, so far as space will admit of, I have given already, or will give in due course. It is tho country of the Shoshonee and Madoc Indians, aborigines whose murderous doings have made them very familiar public characters of late years. CHAPTER XVI. The United St.\tes: The Pacific Terbitorie.s and States. After the preceding sketch of the physical geography and general appearance of the region to the west of, and in the vicinity of the Rocky Mountains, we must devote a brief space to a more special description of the political divisions into which this great region is divided. British Columbia has already been spoken of. Accordingly, it is only the states and territories of the United States that demand a few lines at our hand. First, therefore, we must take up Alaska, Or Aliaska, of which the mXK.a is an abbreviation. Up to the year 1867 it was known as Russian America, being a possession of the Northern Empire, ond used solely as a hunting-ground of the Imperial Fur Company, though governed by State-appointed officials. It is the most northern portion of America, and has a coast line facing the Arctic Sea on the north, and the Pacific on the west. Historically it is insignificent j and from a literary point of view its only eminence is due to the fact that it is the locality selected by Eugene Sue for opening +he remarkable travels of his hero, Ze Jnif Errant, a fact which may possibly give it celebrity in the eyes of those to whom geography and treatises are but dry realities. It comprises all North America, from 141° W. long, to the sea, as well as the many islands which stretch seaward along the coast line, in addition to a strip of territory fifty miles broad, extending south-east along the Pacific Coast to the confines of British Columbia in 54" 40' N.L. Altogether, its length is about 1,000 miles, its greatest breadth from east to west 800 miles, and its area about 514,700 square miles. It is for the most part covered with dense forest, and when not rocky and forest-covered consists of swampy plains, and is altogether unsuited for agriculture. The Yukon, or Kwichpak, which rises in British America, and falls into the sea at Norton Sound, is the finest of its rivers. At a distance of 600 miles from the sea it is a mile in breadth, .and TJIK I'ACIFIO UNITED STATES AHV TEUUITOKIES ; ALuiVSKA. 808 Bomo of its tributarius, hucU us tlio Purcupino, which is ruecivcs ut Fort Yukon, would ho reckoufd lurgo rivers iu Euroiw. Such is tho volume of water which it pours into llehrintf Strait, thut ten miles from its principal mouth the surfuce-wutcr sen is fresh. Ainuii<; its niountuins may be mentioned Mount St. Elius, un active voleuno 14,1)70 feet in height, while in Uie peninsula of Aliiisku are several volcanic cones, and in the Island of Umenuk there are volwuioes so large that one rises to the height of !S,UUO feet. The Iinjierial l''ur Company, which in 170!) obtained a grant of tho country from the Tsur I'aul VIII., had their chief settlement at New Archuiigi'l, on the Island of Sitka, and about forty other trading stations. They exiwrted annually about 25,000 skins of fur seal, sea-otter, beaver, &c., and about ;J0,000 walrus tusks, obtained from the more Northern tribes. In 1S(J7 the Uussiau Government sold the whole country to tho United Statea Government for 7,200,000 dollars, not a large sum for so huge a muss of territory, but great when wo consider that it can never be of any vuluo to the authorities at Washington, except for a possible political contingency, which, since British Columbia has thrown in its lot with Canada, is not likely ever to occur. It is at present governed by tho military force stationed at Sitka, though it is proposed to put its control into the hands of tho Treasury; but the trade is of the most inllnitesimal description, and the settlers so few, that it has not been thought necessary to organise a territorial government. The climate of the Southern Coast region is comparatively mild, but excessively wet. The mean temporuture of Sitka is •ti'O'"', and its rainfall abt)ut seven feet per annum. During the winter it raius almost continuously, and the summer and autumn are exceedingly moist seasons. Cereals grow, but do not ripen, though grain, if there were only more oyien land, would i)rosper very well as a cultivated crop. Traces of coal have been found, and gold has in some ploces been discovered in considerable abundance. Salmon abound iu all tho rivers ; and about eighty whalers pursue their dangerous trade off the coast of this far northern possession of the United States. There are said to bo about 8,000 whites in tho country, but this is a very shifting population indeed. The Indians far outnumber them, being about 15,000, in addition to some Eskimo on the northern shores. Sitka contains about 1,000 inhabitants, and is the residence of a Greek bishop and a few storekeepers. The fur trade must, however, always supply the chief trade of tho territory, that is to say, if the fur animals are not exterminated through ignorance or indifference on tho part of the government, and rapacity on the side of tho settlers. Tho trapping in tho interior is chiclly left to the natives; but the fur seal is killed by the settlers, aided by the Aleutians, in such great numbers, that it threatens in time to meet tho fate of the Rhj/tinu, a species of sea-cow once abundant on the islands of Behring Strait, but now so entirely extinct, that a few of its bones are accounted prizes of great value by any European museum. Tho privilege of killing these animals is let out to private individuals by tho government, and the contracts have given rise to not a few scandals of a description with which these pages need not concern themselves. As a specimen, however, of the value of this " fishery," I may note the terms of one of the bids. It offered 50,000 dols. a year rental, with a royalty of ()2i cents on each skin. The number of seals to bo killed was limited to 100,000 a year; the royalty would thus amount to 02,500 dols. a year. The contractor offered a further bonus of 55 cents a gallon for all oil taken from these seals. Each seal is estimated to furnish, on an average, ten gallons of oil. This would 304 THE COUNTUXES OF THE WOULD. make 111,000 a year, or a total of ii,225,000 dols. Tlie contractor, whose bid wo quote, also offered to supply the Aleutians on the St. George and St. Paul Islands with free school facilities, fish, oil, firewood, red shirts, and all other necessities that the .'500 aborigines required, including the luxury of a priest of the Greek faith. Probably the guvernnient thought that the contractors were offering more than they could pny, for, as a matter of fact, the fishery is at present let for (35,000 dols. per aiinitiii. The sea-otter fishery is even more valuable. This animal is found all down the Pacific coast, from Alaska to California, and also for some little way on the Asiatic side. It is, perhaps, the most valuable fur animal in America, and therefore I may devote a • short space to its description, more es-pecially as in the notes which follow I am indebted / for much of the information to my old friend, Mr. Pym Nevins Compton, formerly of the '/ Hudson's Bay Service, and who is, perhaps, as well acquainted with the habits of the sea-otter as any man living. I will, therefore, first quote what he has to say in his own word.) : — ''The sea-otter [ICuIij/dra marina, p. .'305) is an animal whose habitat is confined to the waters of the North Pacific, and is found as far north as the Aleutian Islards, or thereabouts, and as far south as the coast of southern California, on the coaf.t of North America, whilst it also occurs on the coasts of Japan and the northern parts of China. Unlike the common otter of North America {Lufra Canaileunin), it is now nc.er found in the numerous j inlets with which this western coast is no plentifully indented ; buL is always see:', in the / oper. ocean in the neighbourhood of rocks and rocky islets, such as those around Scott's Islands, at the northern end of Vancouver Island, and appears to prefer those localities where very strong tides cause broken water, in which it loves to disport itself. The young, which are produced generally (as far as I can learn) one or two iit a time, and that once a year, are of a rnsty-brown hue, wi.h numerous long hairs of a yellowish colour about the head, and when born are not much more than a foot or eighteen inches in length, but appear to grow rapidly; though it is long before they lose the lirownish colour which with age changes from the rustv hue of the young to a dark chocolate tint, and from that to the Ijcautiful dark black fur of the adidt male. The appearance of the Enhijdra in the water is (although its habits are very similar) very different from that of the seal, nut only in colour (being much darker), but in the shape of the head, that of the seal being very round, whilst that of the sea-otter is of a much more elongated and pointed form. The feet are more like the feet of the beaver than the flippers uf the seal f':i-.iiily; the hind I'eet arc webbed, but unlike the web of the beaver, that of the sc.a-jtter is covered with hair almost, if not quite, to the extremity. It is needless to add that the sea-otter swims and uivcs with extreme rapidity, but docs not sink immediately on being killed like tlie seal. The sii,e of a full-grown male sea-otter is about six feet, though I have frec|uently seen skins measuring upwards of seven fecu without the tail, which is always cut off, and forms a separate item in the trade, and is generally a perquisite of the wife of the fortunate hunter. The females nre rather smaller, and seldom entirely lose the brownish tinge on the fur, and, I believe, never acquire the white head of the old males. Those animals arc rarely seen on shore, though they are capable of walking on land, and are not confined to the awkward though rapid 'flop' (I can find no other word so expressive) of t'le seals wl TFIE PAt'IFIC UNITED ST.VTIW AND TKIUUTORIKS ; ALASKA. 305 wlion on terra frma; but at the breeding seas'^n tliey frequent isolated and barren rocky islands, seldom troubled by man. Their food consists in a great part of shell-lisli, for the SEA-OTTEVB iKnliyllM iriiirinnl. grinding up of which their massive molt.r t(>eth are admirably fitted ; and they are stated by the Indians to be very partial, like the common otter, to a small species of haliotia (//. Kamtschatkiiuia), ear-shell or abelonc, as it is called in California, vhicli is plentiful all along the coas*s of North-West America. The skin of the sea-otter varies much in prico 38 ■•506 THE fOlNTKIES OF THK WOULD. at'cnrding to sizo, colour, finoness of fur, &c., and the best idea one can n'lvn of it is a mole about six or sevon feet long ; but that even gives an inadequate notii/U of the beauties of this costly fur, for costly it is, as a single good skin will, before being dressed, fetch as much as !l'M) in England, and considerably more when prepared and sent to China, wheie they are in great demand. Formerly the sea-otter was killed with the bow and arrow iind spears, but since the whites have supphal the Indians with muskets and ammunition, liroarms have taken the place of the more primitive weapcm ; but I do not think that more animals are killed now than formerly, and in fact the Indians themselves say that the noise 111' the gun frightens the otters (naturally a veiy wary animal), and thaf fewer are seen, and these more ditfieult to approach tiuin in the 'good old tinv^s^ o'' ihe bow and arrow. The otters used to be jnu'chascd by the Hudson's Hi'. C'c ■ by the size; a blai\kct being given for a span of the trader's hand, measurii.. loi^^, uw.iys of the skin, and the Indians cniploy even now all sor*s of means to make the otters as long as ix)ssil)U' (a practice decidedly detrimental in many cases t.) the fur), such a."? putting the skin in a frame after they reach home, wetting the hide with warm water, and scraping it with a shell to make it soft and pliable, and even in some eases pricking it all over with a number of needles tied together, and at the same time tightening »ip the lines at each end by which the skin is attached to the frame, so as to make it reach the required number iif 'spans' in lengtii." It may be added that a trader with a long thumb and forefinger was special!}' ii. request by the fur companies ! Formerly it was very abundant along the Californian coast, and was one of the attractions that induced the Russian Fur Company to establish Fort Ross in lat. .'$8" 30', where for a number of yeai-s (from 1812-lSlO) Aleutians were engaged in the fishery. Mr. Hiftel descrilies these Indians as going out in their kayaks fifty miles to sea, 'H* travelling up and down the coast, usually coming home well laden with skins, Mki worth from sixty to eighty dollars each, At one time the Hudson's Bay Compan" '/:-^l to employ Sandwich Island in the trade. The hunters went up and down the .■< . - m, small vessels shooting the otters. Instantly on the animal being struck, the aquatic Kar.u ,.u swam off to it, or, if necessary, dived in pairs, and it was rare indeed that they did not succeed in bringing the valuable carcass to the surface. Off the coast of Santa Barbara country they are still plentiful, and there are men in that section of California who make a trade of killing them. It only approaches near the shore once a day for food; and when attacked makes no resistance, but - luvivours to escape by sinking in the sea. The skins are chieHy in demand by the wt ' v ' assians, and are also exported to Ciiina, where a market is found for them among the higher mandarins of the Celestial Empire. WaSIIIN'OTON TeRRITORV, OllEfJON', .\XD Tiniio. A very few words will suffice to give the salient features of these three ["....'Cui divisions of the United States. The first two are divided into two almost equal portions, differing widely, however, in climatic, iigriculturid, and commercial character by the Cascade Mountains. The othc.'- -Idaho — is a'fogetbor <■; the c.ist of th 'iscades, and is to tiie west of the Uocky ^[ounlaiiis, thus partaking of (he arid cliv.i-.i. ■• of that region (p. 284) THE PACIFIC UNlTKb STATE.S AM) TKlilUTOlilKS : M'ASlIIN'tiTUN. •M7 a mole ities of -'tell as wliui'o arrow h ailnnijtuii TerrUufj lies south ol' British Cohunbia, and is divided from it In' the Columbia lliver, wliieU runs in the British provinee, and after forming a bar falls into the sea betwe'jn Capes Adams and Disappointment. The territory is S(iO miles in breadth and 220 in length, while of its area of 1 l,79(J,lt)0 acres, only l'J2,010 are improved, very little land Ijeing adapted for agriculture. The region to the east of the Cascades, though open, is in general rather mountainous or dry, while that to the west is densely wooded, the price of labour on the Pacific coast rendering the cost of " clearing " the lanil in most cases out of all i)roportion to its return. The soil, however, is rich, and when, as in the vicinity of the Puget Sound and the Columbia lliver, cultivation goes on, the yield of grain to the acre is very high. The eastern region is, however, well adapted for grazing purposes, while in the vicinity of the mouth of the Columbia, and especially ii Puget Sound, extensive saw-milling operations go on (p. 2.jS). The Columbia is the only navigable river, and vessels of 300 tons can pass up it to the Dalles ot rajjids of the river, where there is a little town of the same name. The scenery on the banks is not fine, the sombre woods to the west of the Cascades mauing the view rather monotonous, while on the other hand the bare wastes to the east of that range weary the eye of the voyager up this noble river. Here and there, however, the traveller has glimpses of the snow-capjied peaks of the Cascade range, such as Mount St. Helen's, Mount Adam (0,570 feet) Mount Rainier (12,:J0G feet, p. -'500), Mount Baker, and Mount Olympus, nearer the coast, and from which a cool breeze daily blows. Some of the rivers are interrupted by fidls, such as the Snoipialami, which falls into the Puget Sound, and some distance from the sea falls over a sheer clitt' 107 feet in height. This is, however, surpassed by the falls of the Snake lli\ci-, a tributary of the Columbia in Idaho, which are said to be only inferior to those ot the Yosemii;' and Niagara. The " Shoshone ialls " of the Snake, just be'ow the Malade, are in clear perpendicular height 200 feet, the river being at this placj about 250 yards in breadth. Gold is mined here and there in \\'ashington Territory, as in idniost every other portion of the United States, but its chief resources are lumber, grazing, hunting, and fishing, all the rivers abounding with salmon, numbers of which are salted, drietl, or put up in tins for exportation. The fur animals, once abundant, are now almost exterminatetl, though deer and other kinds of game are still plentiful, and in the vicinity of I'ugvt Sound and elsew'here give employment to several profi^ssiunal hunters. The Indians, though now niostl_\ removed on " re.-ervations," and as cvcrywlu'rc else on the decrease, aro still numerous, but peaceable. The territory, however, has never recoverttl from th-' tndian war which in its earlier days desolated it. It is not fitted at present for a large pojmlation. 01ynij)ia, the capital, is a small village on Puget Sound, and none of the towns are much bigger, while the white population is not over 2;3,00(l, and is not increasing rapidly. In 1^500 there were a little over l.j,000 Indians in the territory. Oregon is an infinitely more prosperous state. The eastern region is not so well suited either for grazing or agriculture as the eastern region of the territory north of it; but we have iilreadj' spoken sufficiently regarding it. The country to the west of the Cascades, however, is much superior. It is not so densely wooded, the climate 308 THE COVNTUIES OF THE WORLD. is not so wt'l, and tliere arc luinit'i'oiis open valleys and fertile tnieks along the river banks which support a llourisliinjj population of farmers. It is on an average about 200 miles broad and 3(50 long. It contains an area of ()0,975,3C0 acres of land, of which about ],lll!j000 are improved, and a population (in 1870) of 90,878 whites, 2i,500 Indians, more than 3,000 Chinese, and a nt'.niber of other nationalities, including negroes and a few Sandwich Islanders. The population is increasing at the rate of about 5,000 a year. The climate is mild and pleasant, though warmer in the summer, and scarcely so wei 1 ' ' inter as that of British Columbia and the northern parts of Washington Territory, 'isc it is much the same. The mean temperature of Astoria at the mouth of tiio ■ 'jlumbia is iH,^', 43' Fah., while Ccrvallis in the centre of the 'Willamette ^'alley is 30'^, HT . By way of couiparison it may be mentioned that New York in winter has a climate averagi'.ip; one degree below the freezing point, while Albany, the capital of the State, suffers a mean winter cold of 25"', 83'. Few of the products of temperate North .Vmerica but will grow in the State, while cattle, sheep, pigs, and all other kinds of stock are abundant. In Kogue Iliver Valley nothing is more common than to see the iiorclics of the pleasant-looking farm-houses covered with bunches of ripe grapes, while water-melons, Indian corn, antl tomatoes are the most common kind of crops in this l>leasaut region of the world. The scenery is pleasing, and even in j)laccs grand, consisting, especially in the soulhorn portion of the State, of rich, beautiful valleys, iine mountains, forests, and rivers, while the lake country described in the last chajjter, and soon to be t' e site of a big manufactory and a young i)opulation, is very niagniiicent. The Willamette Valley alone is capable of producing 100,000,000 bushels of wheat annually. Already it "raises" 3,000,000 bushels, but it is not all luider cultivation. The I'mpqua, Uogue River, Illinois, Nehelenii, and Grande Rondo ^'alleys are other localities sujjporting a cimsiderable farming population, and destined to support still more. The Willamette is, however, the chief locality for settlement, and in this region arc the principal towns, Portland, Oregon City, Salem, &c., the last namal, though by no means the largest, being the capital. Fruit is also extensively grown, while wool mills are beconiiiig jdentiful, and are run entirely upon the State-grown wool. The iisheries will always be important if ])roi)erly nursed. In addition to incredible numbers of salmon, the sale of which is estimated at ],.jOO,0()0 dollars annually, the sucker fish {Cii/onhiiiiin Sitck/li .') is got in great ntnubers in Lost River, twenty-five miles beyond Ijink River, in the months of April and ^lay. This river, accoixling to ^Mr. Small,* from whom we derive our ir.formation, is deep and sluggish, and yet these fish arc so numerous that they can be thrown on the bank with the greatest case. Settlers have been known to take out in this way as much as a ton weight of them in an hour. Cod, bass, flounder, carj), sturgeon, and smelt are caught in great abundance in the Columbia River and in the bays off the coast, while shell-fish are ecpially plentiful. The gold mines of Eastern Oregon yield plentifully. In Grant County alone 10,000,000 dollars worth were taken out in the seven \ \ • "OrcRon ond Her Kpsoihich " (I8"i). Suo also, fur viry trustworthy informatidii, "The Oiepon Hiindhook iiiid EmiK'niiil's Uuidc?," by J. BI. Slurphy (1873); nnd the nrtiuli' on thu Slutc, liy Jlr. lliiwcs, in Uipley uud Uunuit "American Encydopwdia " (1875). illiili!l!i!'?f:i!lii!iP!li!!!!«'!!»' 'h!, I I o o illiiiliiiiteri: 810 THE COUNTIUKS 01' THE WOULD. years jirior to lS7i, while Jackson and Josephine to the west of the range have done very well. In the former county, from 1852 to ISOS, about 15,0UU.U00 dollars worth were obtained. In the sands at Coos Bay is scattered a considerable quantity of line ^old, and us the tide retires it is washed and amalgamated with quicksilver; the quick- silver thus catching the line gold, and being afterwards driven off by heat, leaves the I)recious metal behind. The same method is pursued at Crescent City in North California and at other places. Silver is also mined, while lead, copper, and iron ])roniisc in time to be prolitable mining industries. Railways now intersect the State, where a few years ago there was nothing but Indian trails. Kven the " Central Oregon," which Thackeray in his satire on the Railway Mania of IS 15 classeil with " Patagoniiin Consolidated" as one of the absurdities of the Stock Exchange, is now an actual reality. It runs from California to the Columbia. Of Idaho, little neetl be said. It is the territory west of Wyoming and Montana, north of Utah and Nevada, and east of Oregon and Washington Territory. It is, from its extreme northern to its extreme southern points, ISS miles long, and varies in breadth from nearly 300 miles at the south to 50 at the north. Its area is 55,228,100 acres, of which 20,003 are oultivatetl. The jwpulation was, in 1870, exclusive of tribal Indians, 11,9S)9, of which 1,271 were Chinese, and the rest Indian or "coloured." Of this number less than, 3/)00 were females. The territory is intersected by rjpurs of the Cascades or the Rocky Mouu! lr.«. under the names of the Bitter Root Range, the Salmon Mountains, and the Blue Ridge. The southern country is more elevated than the north ; but, agriculture, owing to the dryness of the country, cannot even with the aid of irrigation ever be a great industry. Gold and silver mining is the chief occupation of the rather roving iK)pulation. Gold to the value of 1,571,733 dollars, and silver to the amount of 928,207 dollars, were mined in 1873. The winter climate is cold and stormj', and frequently rainy, but the summers are dry and hot. The Lewis or Snake River, the Salmon River, the Clearwater, and a iwrtion of Clarke's River, traverse respectively the east and south parts of the State. The centre and the northern parts, Idaho City, Malade City, Silver City, Lewiston, and Bose City (the capital), each having in 1870 less than 1,000 inhabitants, are the chief towns, and the iwpulation, looked at in its entirety, is about the roughest on the Pacilie slope of the Rocky Mountains. It used to be told as a veritable tale that one Sunday morning, in the first-named town, a citizen was disturbcil by shouts and yells down the street. He rushed out, but returned intensely disgusted and disapiwinted. " Why ! only a man shot; I thought it wor a dorg tight!" was the soliloquy of the muixler-ennuyed Idahoun. Though it is very tempting to generalise on this anecdote regarding the manners and customs of the population of this territory, I should be exceedingly sorry to present it as anything more than u materialised impression of a portion of the ideas that obtained possession of gold miners during the "rough times" of 1802, 1803, or 1801. THE PACIFIC UNITKD STATES AND TERRITORIES: CALIFORNIA. 3U Caukounia. Tlio "Golden State" is not only the greatest of all the United States Pacific possessions, but it is the most typical of them all. Oregon, no doubt, was partially settled by Americans befon,' California was, but all the other territories and states, including even British Columbia and ^'ancouvcr Island, received a contingent from California, while fhey one and all took their ways of life, and their impetus from, what was, prior to 184-8, /a province of Mexico, and, with the exception of a few Europeans here and there on the coast, or living in the interior, peopletl by Hispano-Americans. I believe that it would be impossible to better economise the brief space at our disposal than to simply quote the remarks with which Mr. Hittcl prefaces his classical work on California.* In a few words they present a condensed view of the remarkable features of the State. "I undertake," writes this graphic and most trustworthy historian, "to write the resources of a State which, though young in years, small in population, and remote from the chief centres of civilisation, is yet known to the furthest corners of the earth, and, during the last twenty-six years, has had an influence upon the course of human life, and the prosperity and trade of nations, more powerful tlian that exercised during the same period by kingdoms whose subjects are numbered by millions, whose history dates back through millions of years, and whose present stock of wealth began to accumulate before our continent was discovered or our language was formed. I write of a land of wonders; I write of California, which has astonished the world by the great migration that suddenly built up the first large Caucasian community on the shores of the North Pacific : by her vast yield of gold, amounting, within thirteen years, to 700,000,000 iliillars, which has sensibly affected the markets of labour and money in all the leading nations of Christendom; by the rapid development and great extent of her commerce; I)}' the greatness of her chief port, which at one time had more ships at her anchorage than were ever seen together in the harbours of either Liverpool, New York, or London ; by the swift settlement of her remote districts ; by the prompt organisation of her government; by the liberality with which the mines were thrown open and made free to ail comers; by the rush of adventurers of every colour and tongue; by the prices of lior labour and the rates of her interest for money — double those of the other American States, and quadruple those of Europe; by the vast extent of her gold-fields, and the facility with which they could be worked; by the auriferous rivers, in which fortunes could be made in a week; by antediluvian streams richer than those of the present era; by beds of lava, which, after filling up the beds of antediluvian rivers, were left by the washing away of the banks and adjacent plains to stand as mountains, marking the position of a great treasure beneath; by nuggets, each worth a fortune; by the peculiar nature of the • "Tlip Ifcsmircps of California" (1th Ed.). The liteniture of the Stato is vohiininous. However, in tliis treatise, and in tliat of Cronise ('''nie Natural Wealth of California") and Fisher ("The Califoniians "), as well as in the puhlieations of the " Ca'.ifomian Owilogieal Survey," e.ii)eeially itie eontrihutions of the Director — Professor Whitney — the reader will ohtain anii>li' and all hut exhaustive information on tliis interesting portion of America. mHmmm 812 TllK C'OI'N'rniES OF THE WOULD. niiiiinjj industry; l>y now and slnini^o inventions; by tlio washing down of mountuins; by tilling tlm rivers of tlip Sacramento basin with tliiek mud throughout the year; by lifting a hundred mountains from their beds; by thousands of miles of mining ditehes; by aqueducts, less durable, but scarcely less wonderful, than those of ancient Rome ; by silver mines that promise to rival those of Peru; by quicksilver mines surpassing A .«T1!KKT IN SAN IKANtlStO. those of Spain ; by great deposits of sulphur and asphaltum ; by lakes of borax ; by mud volcanoes, geysers, and natural bridges ; by a valley of romantic and sublime beauty, shut in by walls nearly perpendicular, and more than three-quarters of a mile high, with half a dozen great cascades, in one of which the water at two leaps falls more than u third of a mile [the Yosemite Valley] ; by a climate the most conducive to health, and the most favourable to mental and jdiysical exertion — so temperate on the middle coast that ice is never seen, and thin summer clothing never worn, and that January differs in average temperature only eight degrees of Fahrenheit from July; by 814 THE COUNTRIES OF THE WORT,D. a siiigulftr botany, including the most splendid known group of coniferous tret's, of wiiich half a dozen 8i)eeies grow to be more than ~5U feet high, and onu species tiuit reached a height of loO feet and a diameter of K) feet in the trunk ; by a peculiar zoology, composed almost of animals found only on the coast, and including the largest bird north of the Equator [the Californian vulture], the largest and most formidable (juadruped of the continent [the grizzly bear] ; by the importation in early years of all articles of food, and then by the spealy development of agriculture, until her wheat and wine have gone to the farthest cities in search of buyers, and until her markets are unrivalled in the variety and magnificence of home-grown fruits ; by the largest crop of grain and the largest specimens of fruits and vegetables on record ; by a society where for years there was not one woman to a score of men, and where all the men were in the bloom of manhood ; by the first large migration of Eastern Asiatics from their own continent; by the first settlement of Chinamen among white men; by the entire lack of mendicants [?], paupers [?],and almshouses; by the rapid fluctuations of trade; by the accumulation of wealth in the hands of men, most of whom came to the country poor ; by the practice — universal in early years — of going armed ; by the multitude of deadly affrays and extra constitutional courts [viligance committees], which functionaries punished villains with immediate execution, and sometimes proceeded with a gravity and slow moderation that might become the most august tribunals. I write of California while she is still youthful and full of marvels; while her population is still unsettled; while her business is still fluctuating, her wages high, her gold abiindant, and her birth still fresh in the memory of men and women who are yet youthful : and I write of her while she still offers a wide field for the adventurous, the enterprising, and the young, who have life before them, and wish to commence it where they may have the freest career, in full sight of the greatest reward of success, and with the fewer chances of failure." These words are almost a synopsis of the history and resources of the State, and I need only supplement them with a few particulars regarding some of the more interesting, though, indeed, to any one of the points many chapters could be pleasantly devoted. The name California — " Las Califomias " — was originally applied by the Spaniards to the country north of Mexico for a rather indefinite extent, but is now confined simply to the American State of that name annexed to the Groat Republic in 181-8, though not formally admitted as a State until 1850. " Baja," or Lower " California," is the peninsula from Cape St. Lucas to the boundary between the United States and Mexico, and is a part of Mexico. Its breadth varies, and its area is believed to be not more than about 50,000 square miles. The northern and southern extremities of this peninsula, according to Mr. Gabb, consist chiefly of granite rocks and high ranges. Between the spurs of these mountains are numerous small valleys, many of them well watered and fertile. Here, also, are situated the principal mines of the peninsula, which are still worked with success, and in 1867 were producing silver to the extent of 20,000 dollars per month. The middle section is made up of a mountain range called the Sierra Gigantea, or del Gigante, the peaks of which attain an elevation of from ;J,000 to 4,000 feet. The settlements are confined to the eastern part of this range, while along the coast are numerous small valleys, with good harbours close by. These spots are fertile, and well adapted for the growth of tropical products. Most, however, of the peninsula is, owing to the extreme dryness of the climate, barren and forbidding in the extreme. Tin: I'Ai ll-K L'XITKIi STATUS AMt TKUlJlTi iKIKs : ( \I,ir(il;N;A. »J5 N Tlic iinpiiliitioii lias lu'vor exceeded fmiii s,0(i(i tn ],'),()iiii, cliiofly on llie sdulliern CDnst. Tile tisliery dt' tlir ('aliloriiiun " groy wAvAti" {It/hickiaihiflv-i ii/iinriix) at niic time (peeii;iied n iniinlier of vessels, chielly in Seliastian Niscaino JJay, and the iieurl-fisiiery is still piu'sufd aetively, the divers l)eini,'' ehielly Vaiiiii Indians : within the last eentury and a half it has been estimated that from live tn six niilllun dollars wurth of pearls have hueii obtained from the Oulf of California and neijji'hlxjnring sea. So mueli for Lower California, a eonsideration of wliieli onj^ht properly t<> eome under Mexico. Hut it is more convenient to speak of it here, thouj^:h not in political relationshi]) with the T'nited States. T/ie Sfti/c of Ciilifuriiiii, o what the Spaniards used to partly know as " Alta California," extends from the ^lexiean frontier to lat. 1:2", while on the east the parallel of 120^ is its limits. Its area is estimated at something between ].")."), (100 and )(!(l,00il square miles (Whitney), though as many as IS'^jOsl square miles are given in some oflieial publications.* Its climate is very different from that of the Atlantic QoaAi and the Mississippi States. It is divided into a wet and dry season, while that of Lower (,'alifornia is decidedly tropical in its character. Professor Whitney di\ides the State as to its physical character into three different jwrtions, the central being by far the most popidated, and in every respect the most valuable. It comprises the great central valley, drained liy the Sacramento lliver flowing from the north and the San Joaquin from the south. Its length is I.jO miles, and its level area about ]S,0(IO square miles. A striking feature of the Sacramento River is the fact that for 200 miles north from the mouth of the Feather River it does not receive a single tril)utary of any note, though walled in by high mountain ranges. Indewl, the whole of the Great Valley is thus surrounded, and the only break being at San Francisco, where the channel wliich connects it with the sea, viz., the Golden Gate, is only one mile Ijroad at its narrowest portion. In this area are several largo mountain lakes, some of which are of pure and fresh water, .%'hile others are alkaline and without any outlet. The first of these is Lake Tahoe, wliich is 1,.jOO feet deep, and its overflow — the Truckee River — falls into Pyramid Lake, where it sinks or disappears by evaporation. Clear Lake is another sheet of the same nature, while Owen's Lake is the " sink " of Owen's River, and is about eighteen miles in length. Mono Lake is the "sink" of the streams, rising in - e l^ierra Nevada between !Mount Dana and Castle Peak, while Death Valley is the "sink of the Amargosa River, It has evidently been once an extensive lake, but is now a mud flat in winter and a dusky alkaline plain in summer. At the southern end of the Sacramento division of the Great "N'alley there is situated the Tulare Lake, which is not over forty feet in depth, but it has an area of 700 square miles, and is surroundeil by the "tides" or reeds (Svirpiis IncKntrls) which gave it its name. In the Sierra Nevadas of California are several high peaks, the highest. Mount AVhitncy (1 1,SS(; feet), being GOO feet greater than any eleva- tion in the Rocky Mountains, and therefore the highest point in the United States. The second region comprises seven counties north of the parallel of -10*. It is thinly populated, * Waljjor's ".•Statistical Atk3 of the T'niteJ St;ito9'' and '•Riport of the Commissioner of the Vuited .States Land Office for 18G(J." V all) THE C'drNTIilKS OF TIIK \V(»HLP. nnil iinuli of it (diisiKts i>n\y of Imrron volcaiiii \<h\w, lyiiij,' lotwcen inwipittms "thmiH:li not lofty niiiy:os." Tliat j>ortion of California lyiny soutli and oast of the soutlu'rn inosculation of the Coast ranges and tlic Sierra eoniprises an area of fully .00,001) square iijiles. It is also thinly inhabited, exeeiit aioni; tlie coast, and comprises among other portions the San Diego and San Uernardino counties, which have no drainage towards AN llOTEI, IN PAN HIANCISCO. the sea. It is the Great Basin of California. The fertile portion of it is Les Angelos county, which comprises some of the best lands in the State. Towards the south-eastern border of the State is a district 70 miles wide by IIO miles long, wbich belongs to the Colorado River, and is known for its bareness at the Colorado Basin. The soil is chiefly sand, here and there packed into low hills, which are continually shifting. The climate, as might be supposed from the foregoing description, is varied according to the region. If it can be compared with any portion of the world probably Western A CHINK.-JK QLAUTKK IN SAN FUANC'ISCO. 318 t:ie corxTiuEs of Tiri; wokld. ^ Europe would supply tl:e nearest likeness to it. Tlie vinters are warmer and the sumnicrs — '.specially at night — cooler than the Eastern States of America. The rain is chielly oonlined to thi' winter and sj)rinff months, the atmosphere is drier than that of the Atlantic slojie, the cloudy days few, thunder, lightning, hail, snow, ice, and the aurora rarer, the winds more regular, viz., hlowing from the north for fair weather, from the south for storms, wh".c earthquakes, though larely of a severe character, are rather freqi.?iit. There is, as ilr. Ilittel properly remarks, one climate f«r the west slope of the C.iast range between Point Conception and Cape ilendoceino; another for the low land jf the Saeramcr.to Basin ; aucther for the Sierra Nevada and Klamath Basin ; another for the coast south of Point Conception ; another for the Colorado Desert, and possibly even more. We will not attempt to tire the reader by a description of all of these climatic dilferencps. Mest of them are very pleasant an the whole, and altogether the climate of California is an immense improvement on that of the Eastern States of A.merica and most parts of Northern Europe. The coldest winter days are at noon as warm as the warmest in Philadelphia, while the summer weather in Lower California if hot even to excess. San Francisco has about the worst climate — speaking comparatively, not positively, of the atmosphere — of all California. There the CQmmon custom is to wear wo(dlen clothing of the same thickness :iil the year round. In the interior of the State the climate is much warmer, .'nJ thin linen coats aie as'-umed as soon as the summer arrives. One of the inhabitants of that part of the Sta' e expresses himself after this fashion, and his plaint gives a very fair idea of the Co .st climate at the chief city of the State in July : — " You go out in the morning shivering, not vithstanding the fant that j'ou are dressed in heavy \toollen clothing and underclothing, and have a thick overcoat buttoned up to your throat. At 8.80, you unbutton two of the upper buttons ; at 9, you unbutton the coat all the way down; at 9.30, you take it off; at 10, you take off your woollen coat and put on a summer coat; at 11, you take off all your woollen u;i." "'^t on light summer clothing; at 4, it begins to grow cool, and you put on your woollen again ; and by 7 o'clock your overcoat is buttoned to the chin, and ymi shiver until bedtime." The mean of the year at San Francisco is 56*^, of the summer 60", and of the winter 51°. At M'ashington, Bn the other hand, the means are 5(5'07, 7(i*3, and .'5(J()5. The variability of the rainfall is a great drawl)ack to agriculture, and the "drying-up" of the summer has supplied a slang phrase to the Californian vocnbulary, so familiar is it. The dust of summer is also a great drawback to the otherwise delight. 1 climate, but the old residents are quite accustomed to it, though the new arrivals consider the gritty clouds which daily roll along the streets quite unbearable. The scenery of California is very fine at a distance. Near at hand it is disappointing, by reason of the parched appearance of everything. It is only in early spring that the country assumes that blooming appearance which has Ijeen so raved about by passing tourists. Old residents, though not unwilling to hoar their favourite State lauded — and never were people so in love with a fair land as the Californians are with their huge Stale, a single county in which is as big as some of the Eastern States — are rather meadows are talked of, as they remember the d B'.lent when tlie over-ricli tlowery brown summer country they Lad just left. up THE PACIFIC UNITED STATES AND TERRITORIES: CALIFORNIA. 319 The sights of California are many, but liavu ah-eaily been done to death by Uie book-inditing tourist, whom the Pacific raih-oad lias given facilities for descending easily on California. Of course, the Yosemite Valley is the chief of these sights. It is chiefly remarkable owing to the great height and almost vertieality of the walls of the valley, and the small amount of di'bris at the base of the cliffs, that hem in the valley, which 's also remarkable for its comparative iiaiTowness. " The water-falls," wrote Professor Whitney, who has i)ublished the best and fullest description of them, " in and about this valley are also of wonderful beauty and variety. Those for the Yosemite Creek, which descend from the cliffs on the north side, are most remarkable for their height, which is, on the whole, not less than 2,600 feet, but divides into three parts, with one vertical fall of 1,500 feet. The Nevada and ]\Ierced Falls of the Merced River, which flows through the whole length of the valley, combine great height with a large body of water, and are wonderfully grand. The Half-Dome is one of the most striking features of the Yosemite, its elevation being 4,737 feet above the bottom of the valley, with an absolutely vertical face of 1,500 feet at the summit turned towards the Tenaya fork of the Merced, above which it rises. The scenery of the eaiion of Tuolumne River, which flows parallel with the Merced, a few miles further north, is .^, also extremely picturesque and remarkable, especially for the great number of varieties -^ of the cascades which occur at short intervals in the deep gorge, the walls of which are bare, and almost vertical precipices, in places more than 1,000 feet high. The river, which is not much less than 100 feet wide, falls 4,650 in a distance of seventy- seven miles. A few miles further down, the narrow gorge opens out into a beautiful valley, in many respects a wonderful counterpart of the Y'osomite, though inferior to it in grandeur. This is called the Hetch-Hetehy. Ab-^vc iLc Y'osemite valley the scenery of the High Sierra is very attractive, immense conical knobs or domes of granite being a prominent and very characteristic feature of this and other portions of the Sierra. Mount Dana, a little over 18,000 feet in height, dominates over the region above the Y'^oscmite, and from its summit, v.'hich is cpiite easy of access, a magnificent panorama may be had of the Sierra Nevada, with Mono Lake, nearly 7,000 feet below, spread out like a map, and beyond it the lofty, and, in some instances, snow-dad ranges of the Great Basin, while several well-formed and \ large volcanic cones are seen just to the south of the lake." The "Big Trees" arc another of the familar wonders of California. The tree is the Snqituia, or as it was long illed by botanists, the ll'i'lUiii/ttin!<i fiigtiitlen, one of the fir and pine order. It is found in company with the sugar pine, the Douglas fir, and the pitch pine {Piiius ponderosii) , but is much more limited in its distribution thiin any of these widel^'-spread trees. It is found only in California, and in groves or patclies, from lat. JJG** to 38° 15', never at a higher elevation than 7,000 feet, and iie\er much lower than 4,000. There are eight or nine patches of these trees in the State, the largest being that which stretches along the tributaries of King's or Kaweah River, almut thirty miles N.N.E. of Visalia. The trees, unlike, however, those in the Mammoth (irove, Calaveras County, are not in a clump, but scattered among other species. Tiie higlitst yet seen is 352 feet in height, and ilie circumference of some of them near tlio ground is nearly 100 feet, or more than thirty feet in diameter. The trunk uf many of them 82U THE COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD, 1 L six feet above the ground is fifty feet in circumference. One cut down in the Calaveras Grove — (the cutting down is now prohibited by a State law) — measured six feet above the gro md, without the bark, twenty-four feet one and a half inches, and, judging from the rings, was 1,300 years old — or, in other words, it was a very tiny bush at the same time the Roman Empire was beginning to fall in pieces. These trees being now a common sighv for all visitors to make a pilgrimage to, they have received — at least, in the Mariposa Grovi? — all manner of fanciful names, chiefly in honour of passing heroes, which frequently in their turn absurdly give place to other favourites of the hour. The stump of one of them which was cut down has now a house built over it, and is used as a ball-room. We have figured one of these trees at page 277. It is known as the "Mother of the Forest," there being also a father. It is 305 feet in height, and 63 in circumference. The bark has been stripped off for 121 feet. The wood of the big tree is of little value, even were it available, but its close ally, the redwood {Sequoia sempervirens), is extensively used for lumber. This species is found in forests on a narrow belt, 300 miles in length, along the coast, in silurian soil, but it does not cross the Oregon boundary, nor go south of the Bay of Monterey.* It is possible that most of the trees of this species are little, if any, smaller than some of those of the Sequoia semj)ervireiis, I have seen one not far from Crescent City, which had been hollowed out by fire as it lay on the ground, leaving only the fire and a thin shell. A laden mule-train is said to have passed through, nor need the fact be doubted. I have myself seen an elk, or wapiti, hard pressed, take refuge in the angle formed by two fallen trees of this species, and yet fail to leap over them when the hunters approached it, the height being too great for it. The L-yserF the hot springs, and a score of other remarkable though not exclusive features of California, might also be cited among its wonders. It is necessary, however, for us now to devote some space to the Californian mines, and, what is even more inter- esting', the miners themselves. • For some curious speculations regarding these trees, and botanical Listory of California generally, lee Professor Asa Uray, in "Annals of Natural History," Vol xi., 4th series, p. 52 (1873). Casseil FiniR i Oalpih, Bki \t Sinvioi Wob«3, Loklok, E.C. laveras •ve the ;■ from s same )inmon ixriposa [uently f them B have brest," e bark ivere it ed for ig the af the little, le not round, passed hard d yet at for ilusive ivever, inter- lerally.