Fur Company of that nation ; but of which no account has been given
to the world, except of the coast, respecting which some information
may be obtained from the narratives of Captain Cook, Kotzebue, and
other voyagers. The few Indians of Mackenzie River, who have
crossed the Rocky Mountains, report that, on their western side, there
’is a tract of barren grounds frequented by caribou and musk oxen; and
the furs procured by the Russian Company indicate that woody regions,
similar to those to the eastward of the mountains, also exist there.
Langsdorff gives the following list of skins contained in the principal
magazine of the Russian F ur Company, on the island of Kodiak, most
of them collected on the peninsula of Alaska, Cook’s River, and other
parts of thecontinent.
Brown and red bears, black bears, foxes black and silver-gray, (the
stone fox, canis lagopus, is not found to the southward of Oonalaska),
glutton, sea, river, and marsh otters, lynx, beaver, zizel marmot, common
marmot, hairy hedge-hog (erinaceus ecaudatus), rein-deer, American
wool-bearing animal.
The quadrupeds which inhabit the shores of the Polar Sea, are the
same that are comprised in the list of the animals of the Barren
Grounds. On the remote North Georgian Islands, in latitude 75°, there
are nine different species of mammiferous animals, of which five are
carnivorous, and four herbivorous. The following is Captain Sabine’s
list of them :—
Ursus maritimus.
Gulo luscus.
Mustela erminea.
Canis lupus.
Canis lagopus.
Lemmus Hudsonius,
Lepus glacialis.
, These two animals are only summer visitors. Bos moschatus . J They arrive on Melville Island towards the
rp i j middle of May, and quit it on their return Oervus 1 aranu US l to the South in the end of September.
I have not enumerated the seals, moose, or whales, in any of the
lists; nor have I attempted to give a description of any of them in the
text, because my opportunities of examining them were too limited to
enable me to record any new facts ; neither had I the means of correctly
ascertaining the species.
■ I have, in the text, described the different species of animals, from
nature, as correctly as I could ; and I have chosen rather to subject
myself to the charge of proxility than to become obscure by aiming at
too great conciseness, because, in the course of my researches, I have
felt the difficulty of ascertaining the species, from the brief characters
assigned to them by the old writers. I have for the same reason in
many instances repeated some of the generic characters in the account
of a species, particularly in cases where any doubt respecting the genus
or sub-division of the genus existed. In the account of the manners
of the animals, I have borrowed freely from preceding writers ; and
from none more frequently or more copiously than from Captain Lyons,
whose “ Private Journal” contains a great fund of information respecting
the northern animals. I wish it to be understood, hqwever, that
in all cases, unless where a doubt is actually expressed, or where I state
that I have had no opportunity of personal observation, the remarks I
have quoted are sanctioned by the information I collected on the spot.
The nomenclature of colours, made use of in the description, is a
modification of Werner’s, contained in Mr. Syme’s useful little work*.
Before closing this introductory chapter, I have to discharge the
agreeable duty of expressing my obligations to many gentlemen who
have fostered the progress of the work. To the Right Honourable
Lord Viscount Goderich my gratitude is especially due. To his
attachment to the sciences I am indebted for that patronage and aid,
which his high situation in his Majesty’s Government enabled him to
bestow, and without which this work could not have appeared. To
the Right Honourable Thomas Frankland Lewis, also, I am under great
obligations for the interest he has shewn in the advancement of the
work, and for his kindness in forwarding my views. My gratitude is
not less owing to the present Treasury Board, for the readiness with
which they made the grant of money available ; and to the late and
* Werner's Nomenclature o f Colours, with Additions. By P atrick S yme, Flower Painter.
Edinburgh, 1821.