the district are primitive, and in one or two places only do they rise so
as to deserve the name of a mountain-ridge, their general form being
that of an assemblage of low hills with rounded summits, and more or
less precipitous sides separated by narrow valleys. The soil of the latter
is sometimes an imperfect peat earth, and in that case it nourishes a
few stunted willows, glandular dwarf-birches, black spruce-trees, or
larches; but more generally the soil consists of the debris of the rocks,
which is a dry coarse quartzose sand, unfit to support any thing but
lichens. All the larger valleys have a lake of very transparent water,
often of great depth in their centre, and occasionally these lakes are
perfectly land-locked, though they all contain fish. More generally one
lake discharges its waters into another, through a narrow gorge, by a
rapid and turbulent stream, and most of the rivers which flow through
the Barren-grounds are little more than a chain of narrow lakes connected
in this manner. The small caribou or rein-deer, and the muskox,
are the principal and characteristic inhabitants of these lands, and
the description by Linnaeus, of the Lapland deserts frequented by the
rein-deer, applies with perfect accuracy to this corner of America.
“ Nullum vegetabile in tota Lapponia tanta in copia reperitur ac haec
Lichenis species, (Cenomyce rangiferina) et quidem primario in sylvis,
ubi campi steriles arenosi vel glareosi, paucis Pinis consiti; ibi enim
non modo videbis campos per spatium unius horse, sed saspe duorum
triumve milliarium *, nivis instar albos, solo fere hocce lichene ob-
ductos.” “ Hi Lichene obsiti campi, quos terram damnataw. diceret
peregrinus, hi sunt Lapponum agri, haec prata eorum fertilissima, adeo
ut felicem se praedicet possessor provinciae tabs sterilissimae, atque
lichene obsitae.” Being destitute of fur-bearing animals, no settlements
have been formed within the Barren-grounds by the traders,
and a few wretched families of Chepewyans, termed, from their mode
of subsistence, “ Caribou eaters,” are the only human beings who
reside constantly upon them. Were any one to penetrate into their
lands, they might address him with propriety in the words used by the
* The Swedish mile is 5^ English miles.
Lapland woman to Linnaeus, when he reached her hut, exhausted by
hunger and the fatigue of travelling through interminable marshes.
« O thou poor man, what hard destiny can have brought thee hither,
to a place never visited by any one before ! This is the first time I
ever beheld a stranger. Thou miserable creature ! how didst thou
come, and whither wilt thou go* ?” Parties of Indians occasionally
Cross these wilds in going from the Athapescow to Fort Churchill, but
they almost always experience great privations, and very often lose
some of their number by famine. Hearne, in his first and second
journeys, traversed them in two directions ; Sir John Franklin, in his
first journey, travelled within their western limits ; and Sir Edward
Parry, in his second voyage, obtained specimens of the animals of
Melville peninsula, which forms the North-east corner of the Barren-
grounds. The Chepewyans, Copper Indians, Dog-ribs, Hare-Indians,
and Esquimaux visit them annually for a short period of the summer
season, in quest of caribou.
The following quadrupeds are known to inhabit the Barren-grounds:
Ursus arctos ? Americanus.
maritimus.
Gulo luscus.'
Mustela (Putorius) erminea.
„ „ vison.
Lutra Canadensis.
Canis lupus, et varietates ejus variee.
„ (Yulpes) lagopus.
„ „ 3, var. fuliginosa
Fiber zibethicus.
Arvicola xanthognathus.
Pennsylvanicus.
borealis.
,, (Georychus) trimucronatus.
}i „ Hudsonius.
3J w Groenlandicus.
Arctomys (Spermophilus) Parryi.
More or less carnivorous
or piscivorous. They
V prey much on the animals
in the following
section.
> herbivorous.
Lachesis Lapponica, p. 145.
d