The barren Grounds or Tundri.-Abundance of animal Life on the Tundri in Summer.-Their Silence and Desolation in Winter.-Protection afforded to Vegetation by the Snow.-Flower-growth in the highest Latitudes.-Character of Tundra Vegetation.-Southern Boundary-line of the barren Grounds. Their Extent.-The forest Zone.-Arctic Trees.-Slowness of their Growth.-Monotony of the Northern Forests.-Mosquitoes.-The various Causes which determine the Severity of an Arctic Climate.—Insular and Continental Position.-Currents.-Winds.-Extremes of Cold observed by Sir E. Belcher and Dr. Kane.-How is Man able to support the Rigors of an Arctic Winter?— Proofs of a milder Climate having once reigned in the Arctic Regions.-Its Cause according to Dr. Oswald Heer.-Peculiar Beauties of the Arctic Regions.-Sunset.-Long lunar Nights.-The Aurora.
A GLANCE at a map of the Arctic regions shows us that many of the
rivers belonging to the three continents-Europe, Asia, America-discharge their waters into the Polar Ocean or its tributary bays. The territories drained by these streams, some of which (such as the Mackenzie, the Yukon, the Lena, the Yenisei, and the Obi) rank among the giant rivers of the earth, form, along with the islands within or near the Arctic circle, the vast region over which the frost-king reigns supreme.
Man styles himself the lord of the earth, and may with some justice lay claim to the title in more genial lands where, armed with the plough, he compels the soil to yield him a variety of fruits; but in those desolate tracts