from the bottom to the top with large trails of thick and
fine wood %.
Steller went afhore, where he remained only a few
hours ; during which time he obferved feveral fpecies of
birds which are not known in Siberia : amongft thefe was
the bird defcribed by » Catefby, under the name of Blue
Jay; and which has never yet been found in any country
but North America. The foil was very different from
that of the neighbouring iflands, and at Kamtchatka;
and he collected feveral plants, which are deemed by
botanifts peculiar to America.
The following lift of thefe plants was communicated
to me by Mr. Pallas : 1 infert them however without pre-
+ The recent navigations in thofe feas ftrongly confirm this argument.
For in general all the new difcovered iflands are quite deftitute o f trees;
even the largeft produce nothing but underwood, one o f the moft Eaf-
terly Kadyak alone excepted, upon which fmall willows and alders were
obferved growing in valiies at fome diftance from the coaft. See
p. 1 i8. •
* See Catefby’s Natural Hiftory o f Florida, Carolina, &c. This bird
is called by Linnaeus Corbus Criftatus. I have feen, in Mr. Pennant’s
MS account o f the hiftory o f the animals, birds, &c. o f N . America,
and the Northern hemifphere, as high as lat. 6o, an exadt defcription of
this bird. "Whenever that ingenious author, to whom we are indebted
for many elegant and interefting publications, gives this part o f his labours
to the world, the zoology o f thefe countries will be fully and accurately
confidered.
fuming
fuming to decide, whether they are the exclufive growth
of North America : the determination of this point is the
province of botany.
Trillium Eretftum.
Fumaria Cucullaria.
A fpecies of Dracontium,with leaves like theCannalndica.
Uvularia Perfoliata,
Heuchera Americana.
Mimulus Luteus, a Peruvian plant.
A fpecies of Rubus, probably a variety of the Rubus
Idæus, but with larger berries, and a large laciniated
red calyx.
None o f thefe plants are found in Kamtchatka, or in
any of the neighbouring iflands *.
* According to Mr . Pallas, the plants o f the new-difcovered iflands-
are moftly alpine, like thofe o f Siberia ; this he attributes to the ftiortr-
nels and coidnefs o f the fummer, occafioned by the frequency of the
North winds.. His words are 1 “ Quoique les hivres de ces ifles fuient
aflêz tempérés- par l’air de la mer, de façon- que les- neiges ne couvrent
jamais, la terre que par intervalles,, la plupart des plantes y font alpines,
comme en Sibérie, par la raifon que l’eté y eft tout aufla courte et froide,
a caufe des vents de nord! qui y régnent.” - This paflàge is taken from a.
MS treatife in the French language,relative to the new-difcovered iflands
communicated to me by my very learned and ingenious friend Mr. Pallas,
profeifor of natural hiftory at St. Peterfburg ; from which I have been
enabled to-colleft a confiderable degree o f information. This treatife was
fent to. Monf. Buffon ; and that celebrated naturalift- has made great ufe
o f it in the fifth, volume o f his Supplement à l’Hiftotre Naturelle..
Though