that it lasts, is proportionally warmer, the thermometer rising from 70 deg. to 80 deg. above 0.  Vegetation then proceeds with uncommon rapidity; the shrubs and plants expand as if by enchantment; and the country assumes the luxuriance and beauty of a European summer.  Forests of pine and larch are scattered over the country, the trees of sufficient size to be used in building, or to be sawn into boards; there are also willows, birch, aspen, and alder, in considerable quantities.

The land animals are the same as those in Greenland.  The rein-deer, this beautiful and useful creature, is found in considerable herds, but has not hitherto been domesticated, being only hunted for its flesh, which makes an agreeable variety of food; and its skin, which is an elegant and necessary article of clothing, as the fur is always richer in proportion to the intensity of the cold, against which it forms an excellent defence; they are hunted with dogs, and formerly used to be easily killed with the bow and arrow, but the introduction of fire arms has proved much more destructive.  When hard-pressed, they soon take to the water, and swim so well that a four oared boat can scarcely come up with them, but an Esquimaux in his kaiak more readily overtakes them. Hares are tolerably plenty.  The Arctic fox also is numerous; their skins are used for the purposes of commerce, and their flesh is esteemed preferable to that of the hare. Black bears are frequently killed, and are relished as food by the Esquimaux.  But the most formidable among the tribes of these regions is the Polar bear, whose ferocity and courage render him an object of terror even to the well armed European.  The dog is the most useful of the quadrupeds to the Esquimaux; he bears a strong resemblance to the wolf; is in height about the size of the Newfoundland, and is well furnished with a thick hairy coat, peculiarly adapted to the climate.  As a hunter, his scent can trace the seal or the rein-deer at a considerable distance, and he does not dread, when in packs, to attack even the white bear itself.  His chief value, however, consists in his qualities as a draught animal; for this he is carefully trained from his infancy, and undergoes severe and frequent floggings to break him regularly into the team.  He becomes then remarkably submissive, comes at his master’s call, and allows himself quietly to be harnessed to the sledge.  In fastening them care is taken not to let them go abreast:  they are tied by separate thongs, of unequal lengths, to a horizontal bar on the forepart of the sledge; an old knowing one leads the way, running ten to twenty paces a head, directed by the driver’s whip, which is often twenty-four feet long, and can only be properly wielded by an experienced Esquimaux; the other dogs follow like a flock of sheep, and if one receives a lash, he bites his neighbour, and the bite goes round.  Their strength, and speed, even with an hungry stomach, is astonishing; and to this