similar to the European with few exceptions. The southern part mixes but feebly with the California region, and the features are preserved singularly intact even to the banks of the Columbia. Here quercus commences with many others, abies ceases suddenly, and pinus partly supplies its place, nor disappearing from the elevated lands till it arrives in the vicinity of Panama. A collection of plants from its northern part contained about one half common with the north of Europe, and a similar number with Siberia.

III.-THE CANADA REGION.

EXTENT. To the west the Rocky Mountains, and to the east the Atlantic Ocean; in the south a line commencing on the coast in 44° north latitude, thence to the margin of Lake Erie and to the Mississippi, then taking a north, and afterwards a north-west direction. by the north branch of the Saskatchawan river to the Rocky Mountains. Its northern outline is irregular, being determined by the forest; towards Hudson's Bay it crosses the country in 60° north latitude; but attains a higher latitude to the west, till it reaches 68°, near the Mackenzie River.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERS.-Much of this surface is covered with forest. There are no important mountain chains, though smaller ranges separate several large plains. These have generally a fruitful alluvial soil, but wild rocky districts are not uncommon, too dreary and inhospitable to support a vigorous vegetation. The primary mountains of the Iroquois region pass its southern boundary, and separate some plains in the vicinity of the lakes and the St. Lawrence, the luxuriant fertility of which,

according to Murray, is almost unsurpassed, and whose characteristics are limestone rocks, waters highly charged with calcareous matter, and copious deposits of gypsum and marl. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the islands, form an important portion of the region. Here granite, clay-stone, sandstone, and limestone, constitute the basis on which the soil reposes. In Prince Edward's Island the soil is fertile, and though occasional masses of granite occur, scarcely a stone or pebble is to be seen; sandstone is the basis of the island, and clay abounds. In Newfoundland the surface is more rocky, secondary formations prevail, with coal and various sandstones. Of Labrador little more is known than that it is covered with a vast forest, and is unusually inclement for the latitude.

CLIMATE.- This varies considerably, but is everywhere severe for the latitude. Like the United States the extremes of temperature are intense, and with the anomaly that the seasons of Lower Canada run into greater extremes than Upper Canada, or that the range is greater near the sea than inland. Summer and winter succeed each other so rapidly, that spring and autumn are not distinguishable. About the close of October, sharp frosts commence, heavy falls of sleet and snow occur in November, and this state of the weather prevails till the middle or end of December, when it rapidly yields to a clear sky and a frosty atmosphere, which continue till nearly the end of March. A rapid change now takes place; a fervid sun bursts forth, which melting the snows and unlocking the frozen streams, vegetation appears with magic haste, and every spot is beautiful and green with verdure. From May to September inclusive, a warm and oppressive summer prevails.

FLORA.-Unlike the neighbouring Iroquois region, the

forest offers little variety in its trees, these being chiefly spruces, as abies alba, a. nigra, a. canadensis, with occasionally thuja occidentalis, pinus resinosa, and larix microcarpa. Mixed with these are several trees with deciduous leaves, but they do not extend quite so far north, nor so completely enter into the composition of the forest; quercus ambigua, betula papyracea, b. lenta, b. excelsa, populus balsamifera, p. tremuloides, p. grandidentata; and with limits something more southern, acer saccharinum, a. rubrum, fagus ferruginea, ulmus americana. A close compact forest is unfavourable to the humbler vegetation, and thus there is no great variety; and in the present instance is more particularly characterised by shrubs of cerasus, sambucus, viburnum, salix, rhodora, sedum, kalmia, ribes, rubus, rosa, and amelanchier.

RELATIONS.-Among the herbaceous plants are many peculiar species, but almost always of genera widely diffused over other parts of the continent or of Europe. About half-a-dozen genera only seem peculiar. Wherever, during a portion of the year, the climate possesses considerable warmth, there will generally be found representatives of forms belonging more abundantly to warmer latitudes; here, accordingly, are met with two species of panax, two of aralia, and dracæna borealis.

IV. THE IROQUOIS REGION.

EXTENT. I have attempted, in the name of this region, to connect the memory of the brave Indians with the magnificent forests they once claimed as their own. The word was applied collectively to several tribes of North Americans, well known in their day as the Six Nations,

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and closely concerned in the early political transactions of this country. They were the admiration of their cotemporaries, but nothing now remains of them, unless sufficient of their history to adorn a tale. Perhaps a few solitary descendants may be traced out, far from the land of their fathers, but no more. The forests themselves are disappearing under the thrift and industry of their greatest enemy, the white man; the trees that once sheltered the Indian lodge are falling beneath the axe of the regenerator; and the trackless forest, so often traversed by the skilful hunter and dauntless warrior, is now covered with corn-fields, canals, and railroads.

The boundary of this region commences on the coast of the Atlantic in 44° north latitude, and proceeds, just skirting the southern margin of Lake Erie, onward to the Mississippi. It now continues along the edge of the forest on its western shore, approaching it more closely at its mouth than in its northern course; and afterwards crossing Florida in 27° north latitude, with the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, it incloses an irregular parallelogram of about 690,000 square miles.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERS.-This surface is unequally divided by the Alleghany mountains, which slope towards the Atlantic and the Mississippi. The latter has also a gradual and regular ascent from the Gulf of Mexico to the lakes of Canada, of 1,200 feet. Both of these plains abound in a fruitful soil wherever the forest has been removed, but superior fertility and excellence belongs to that between the mountains and the Mississippi. The mountain system, though attaining no great elevation, has a length of 1,200 miles, and occupies a belt of about one hundred, of which two-thirds are estimated to consist of valleys. It traverses the region obliquely from north

east to south-west, and has an average height of between 2,000 to 3,000 feet, the highest summits never exceeding the latter. There are elsewhere some loftier elevations, Mount Washington being 6,428 feet, and the Black Mountain in Carolina 6,476 feet. The Alleghanies are divided into four distinct ridges, and are chiefly composed of primary stratified rocks. This stratification is very generally prevalent, and one of its effects is visible in the numerous cascades, falls, and rapids of the rivers. Gneiss, granite, sienite, and hornblende are frequent in the northern parts, and are equally the basis of the plains as of the mountains. Towards the south the granitic rocks in a great measure disappear, and are supplanted by an extensive limestone formation. Much of the surface of the plain between the mountains and the Atlantic is covered by sand, which in many instances is far more productive than might be imagined, from, it is supposed, a submersion to which it was formerly exposed. There are likewise extensive patches of marsh or moist meadow land, and nearer the sea occasionally inundated districts.

CLIMATE.-With so wide an extent of latitude, there will be much difference in the climate. Generally it may be called a climate of extremes, particularly in the northern part, where this feature is experienced in greatest force. The vicissitudes are great, and accomplished with much rapidity; the extreme of heat and cold even in a single day is immense, and it has been known to be 41°; 28° is mentioned as common. After the hottest days, the nights may be piercingly cold. An American writer has summed up a detail of his climate by observing, that in spring it has the moisture of Britain, in summer the fervid heats of Africa, in June the bland warmth of Italy, in winter the snows of Norway and