There is anothec very forge dificsS which muft not be-forgotten; and
behind all-the others in fttuation as well as in foil,, prodrio$p'4öad climate.
This ...comprehends the traQt called the Barren Grounds, which .is to
the North of a line drawi?"fronr Churchill, along the North border
of the Rein-Deer Take; to the North o f the Lake of the Hitts and
Slave Lake, and along the North fide of die latter to the r&chy mountains,
which terminate in the North Sea, latitude 5(0. North, 'and Ion*,
gitude 135- Wefts m the whole extent of which no trees ére ^vifible,
except a few ftinted ones, foattered along its rivers, and wifofoaïbe any
thing of fur'foee that can be called earth yet; this fo'ltofpitab'fe region is
inhabited by a people who are accuftomed to. the life.it Requires»f Nor
has bountiful Nature withheld the means of fubfifte»cë$ the reindeer,
which lupply both food and clothing, are fatisfted with the produce of
the hills, though they bear nothing but a fliort curling mol's, on a fpeeites
of which^ that grows oh the rocks, the people themfelves fubfift when
famine invades them. Their finall lakes are not fumifhed with a great
variety of filh, but fuch as they produce are excellent, which, with hares
and partridges, form a proportion of their food.
The climate muft nèceffarily be fevere in fiich acountry as we hlaVe
defcribed, and which difplays fo large a furface of frelh water. Its feve-
rity is extreme on the coaft o f Hadfon’s Bay, and proceeds from its
immediate expofure to the Neath-Weft winds that blow off the Frozëii
Ocean.
Thele winds, in crofling dire&ly from the bay over Canada and the
Britilh
Britilh doroinions oh Sbe Atlantie/as well as ewer the Eaftern States of
North America to that ocean, (where theiy give to tihofe countries a
length of winter vaftonifhihg to tfie inhabitants of the fame latitudes in
EurQpe), oonftniae to retain a great degreeefforee and rnH in their
Jjaffage, even .oyer Atlantic,'particularly at the; time when the fun is
in its Southern jdecBn&tfon, ;T h e fame winds which pome from the
Frozen Ocean, over the barren grounds, and acrofs frozen lakes and
fopwy plains, hounded by the: rocky mountains; lofe theiy Mgid influence^
as they trayfef in a ^Southern * diie&ion, “ till they get tb the
Atlantic Ocean; where they cjofe. their progrefs. Is not this a fufficient
Ciufe foBr the diferenee between, the climate in America, and that 0# the
fame latitude in Europet* if
. It has been frequently advanced, that the difference of clearing away
the wood has had! an aftonilhing influence ipf meliorating the climate in.
foe .former ,: but I am not difpofed to afleafe to thitt OpihMn in ihe
\yteQh it ipjQpcd&rfo effablMh, when I eorfider # e Ve¥y trifling
proportion of the country cleaned, compared with the^tfhote.’ The
ployment pf the axe may haire had fome inconfiderabJe e§e6F; but'I look
to ofooyeaufe?. I mylelf obferved in a country, wMchWs m an abfoKite
Safe #f uat^fpi that tbeiehmate is improving; and fofoefreurifftance Vas
tp me by the native inhabitants o f it. §jSfeeh a'dnihge; therefore,
muft pcqcped from fome predominating., operation in the lyffeift of
the globe wfeicb fo beyond my conjeaure, and, indeed, above foy compre-
henfion, aud: may, probably, in foeedurfe of time, give to Araenca-the climate
of Eufope. It is-well known*, mdefed, thaftHe waters iie^dt'eafibg
there, and that many lakes are draining and filling up by the earth
which.