it

grows among other timber, the white birch, a fine majestic tree, fifty to sixty feet in height, often two to three feet in diameter, and, for twenty or thirty feet, without branches. When growing in this manner, it is known to naturalists as betula papyracea, which, however, although differing in appearance, is by no means a distinct variety from the common white birch, which merely assumes a tall, spreading, or dwarfish character, according to the situation and soil in which it grows.

The white birch, although the wood, except under water, be not durable, is still a most valuable tree. It is clean, close-grained, easily worked, and useful for common turner's work. Its inner bark contains excellent tannin, and of the outer bark of the large trees, are made the canoes used by the Indians and Canadian voyageurs.

The yellow birch differs only from the white in its outer bark, which is yellowish, being too thin for any useful purpose, and its wood being somewhat tougher; neither will it grow in exposed situations, nor on barren soils. Its fibres are split open, and worked by the Indian women into baskets, ropes, brooms, &c. The gray birch seldom attains more than eight or nine inches in diameter. It is hardy, and differs only from the dwarf white birch in the colour and texture of the outer bark.

The black birch of America (betula nigra) is a magnificent tree, often fifteen to eighteen feet in circumference; its outer bark is rough and dark, the inner bark thick and full of tannin. The wood is finely shaded and variegated, susceptible of as high a polish as mahogany; and furniture made of choice trees is equally beautiful. It is imported in large square logs from America, and used in this country for many purposes. It makes excellent planks for ships' bottoms, but if exposed to the weather, it is not durable. This might not, probably, be the case if it were first well seasoned.

The sap drained in March and April, by incision, from all the varieties of birch, makes excellent vinegar; and a pleasant weak wine may be obtained from it, by boiling and fermentation.

The Russia leather, used for binding books, is prepared with the empyreumatic oil obtained from the outer bark of the white birch. This bark is very inflammable, and used for torches or flambeaux by the Indians and others, when fishing for eels, salmon, &c., at night.

There are many varieties of the maple (acer). Those generally known in America, are the white maple, which is straight and close in its fibres, elastic, and slow in burning. The waved maple, which resembles zebra wood, is exceedingly beautiful, admits of a very fine polish, and is the same as that generally used for the backs of violins.

The great maple (acer pseudo platanus) generally known in America by the different names of rock maple, from its being hard and tough; bird's-eye maple

from its being frequently beautifully mottled, like birds' eyes; curled maple, from its being generally curled in the fibres, and richly shaded. It takes a high polish; and beautiful specimens of this wood may be seen in the ornamental work of the cabins of the American packets that come to Liverpool and London.

The sugar maple (acer saccharinum) differs from the great maple, in its fibres being generally straight and coarser, its wood not being so hard or compact, and its sap granulating more perfectly. From its juice, principally, is made the maple sugar; although all the varieties of maple that we know of, if we class them agreeably to the saccharine matter contained in their saps, might be called sugar maples.

The process of obtaining sugar from the sap of the maple, is simple. In the early part of March, at which time sharp frosty nights are usually followed by bright sunshiny days, the sap begins to run. A small notch, or incision, making an angle across the grain, is cut in the tree, out of which the juice oozes, and is conveyed by a thin slip of wood, let in at the lower end of the cut, to a wooden trough or dish, made of bark, or wood, placed below on the ground.

The quantity of sap thus obtained from each tree varies from one pint to two gallons per day. Those who follow the business, fix on a spot where maple trees are most numerous, and erect a temporary camp, or lodging. When they have as many trees tapped as can be attended to, the sap is collected once or twice a day, and carried to a large pot or boiler hung over a wood fire near the camp. It is then reduced, by boiling, until it granulates; and the sugar thus obtained is rich and pleasant to the taste. An agreeable syrup is also made of maple sap.

The maple ground occupied by a party is termed a "sugarie;" and those who first commence tapping the trees, consider that possession for one year constitutes right for those years that follow. They often receive, without having any tenure themselves of those lands from the crown, a consideration from others for the right of possession.

There are three or four varieties of poplar, which delight, as in Europe, to grow in low soils. A dwarfish kind abounds where the original wood has been destroyed.

The white walnut or hickory (juglans alba), generally called butter-nut tree in America, is common on intervale or alluvial land, and grows to a considerable size. The nut is edible, and contains about the same proportion of oil as the common walnut. The magnolia and acasia grow well only in the southern parts of North America.

Besides these trees, which on account of their appearance or usefulness, are the most generally known, many other varieties abound, among which it will be sufficient to name the alder, wild cherry, Indian pear-tree, dog-wood, bass-wood, horn-beam or iron- wood, the persemon of the south, sycamore, sassafras, and white

and black thorn. The very great variety of smaller trees, shrubs, and herbs, which abound in North America, must be left for the professed naturalist to class.

Sarsaparilla, ginsing, as well as many other medicinal plants, are very plentiful, the virtues of which are as yet but imperfectly known. The Indians have vegetable specifics for all the diseases, except those introduced by Europeans, to which they are liable.*

The vine, generally called, in America, maiden hair (adianthum capillus veneris: Linn.), is abundant, growing usually along the sides of dry hollows, or among old fallen trees, but always in the shade. The leaves of it are infused as tea; its berry affords a delicious jelly, from which the once celebrated "sirop de capilaire" took its name.

A root, called from its colour, blood-root, and from its taste, chocolate-root, is boiled in water, and the decoction used by the Indians as a certain remedy for the most violent attack of cholic. It is also taken by them to remove dysentery, &c., and it alleviates acute pain as readily as opium, without possessing the pernicious qualities of that drug.

A variety of herbs and roots are used by the inhabitants instead of tea, and many of them are grateful to the taste, and probably as conducive to health as the oriental shrub.

Many varieties of wild fruits abound in North America. Vines are discovered growing indigenous in Canada and Nova Scotia. Cranberries are plentiful, uncommonly fine, and as large as cherries in England. Raspberries and strawberries grow naturally in astonishing abundance; also whortleberries and blueberries; black and red currants, gooseberries, and two or three descriptions of cherries grow wild.

The fruit called Indian pear is of the most delicious flavour. Juniper-berries, in many places, are very abundant. Hazel nuts grow wild. There are many kinds of grasses indigenous to the soil of North America; white clover springs spontaneously wherever the land is cleared of the woods.

It seems an extraordinary fact in natural history, that wherever the original forest is destroyed in America, and the land left uncultivated, trees of a different species should spring up. This is always observed where lands have been laid waste by fire. The first year tall weeds, and raspberry and bramble bushes shoot up; then cherry-trees, white birch, silver firs, and white poplars, appear; but seldom any tree of the genus previously growing on the space laid open by the devouring element.†

* The nuns and catholic clergy prepare a vegetable plaster, which never fails to cure inveterate cancer. The secret they do not divulge. The author was acquainted with several persons who have been perfectly cured by them, after being considered past recovery by very able physicians.

+ Sir Alexander Mackenzie observes, that on the banks of the Slave Lake, land, formerly covered wholly with spruce, fir, and birch, having been laid waste by fire, produced subsequently nothing but poplars.

Under the heads of " Agriculture," and "Timber Trade of America," hereafter, see the mode of clearing the forests for cultivation.

The great trees of the fir, maple, black birch, and beech tribes, when once destroyed, do not appear to be succeeded in the ground they occupied, by trees of the same kind.

Vast districts of the forest lands have been laid waste by fire, at different periods; and fires lighted, for the purpose of burning woods, cut down for clearing the soil, have often extended much farther, and devastated the surrounding forest country.* In Europe we can form no conception of the fury and

* We have witnessed many of those great fires, but none so terrible and destructive as the great Miramichi fire of October, 1825: when about 140 miles in extent, and a vast breadth of the country on the north, and from sixty to seventy miles on the south of Miramichi river became a scene of perhaps the most dreadful conflagration that occurs in the history of the world.

It appears that the woods had been, on both sides of the north-west, partially on fire for some days, but not to an alarming extent, until the 7th of October, when it came on to blow furiously from the westward, and the inhabitants along the banks of the river were suddenly surprised by an extraordinary roaring in the woods, resembling the crashing and detonation of loud and incessant thunder, while at the same instant the atmosphere became thickly darkened with smoke. They had scarcely time to ascertain the cause of this awful phenomenon, before all the surrounding woods appeared in one vast blaze.

In less than an hour, Douglas Town and Newcastle were in a blaze, and many of the wretched inhabitants, unable to escape, perished in the flames. The following account was obtained and printed in the papers, for public information, a few days afterwards :

"More than a hundred miles of the shores of Miramichi are laid waste, independent of the north-west branch, the Baltibog and the Nappan Settlements. From 100 to 200 people have perished within immediate observation, whilst thrice that number are miserably burnt, or otherwise wounded; and at least 2000 of our fellow-creatures are left destitute of the means of subsistence, and thrown at present upon the humanity of the province of New Brunswick.

"The number of lives that have been lost in the remote part of the woods, among the lumbering parties, cannot be ascertained for some time to come; for it is feared that few are left to tell the tale.

"It is not in the power of language to describe the unparalleled scene of ruin and devastation which the parish of Newcastle, at this moment, presents. Out of upwards of 250 houses, public buildings, and stores, only fourteen of the least considerable remain.

"The loss of property is incalculable; for the fire, borne upon the wings of a hurricane, rushed on the wretched inhabitants with such inconceivable rapidity, that the preservation of their lives could be their only care.

"Among the vessels on the river, a number were cast on shore: others were fortunately extinguished, after the fire had attacked them.

"At Douglas Town, scarcely any kind of property escaped the ravages of the fire, which swept off the surface every thing coming in contact with it, leaving but time for the unfortunate inhabitants to fly to the shore; and there, by means of boats, canoes, rafts of timber, timber logs, or any article, however ill calculated for the purpose, they endeavoured to escape from the dreadful scene, and reach the town of Chatham : numbers of men, women, and children, perishing in the attempt.

"In some parts of the country the cattle have all been destroyed, or suffered greatly; and the very soil is, in many places, parched and burnt up, while scarcely any article of provision has been rescued from the flames.

"The hurricane raged with such dreadful violence, that large bodies of timber on fire, as also trees from the forest, and parts of the flaming houses and stores, were carried to the rivers with amazing velocity, to such an extent, and affecting the water in such a manner, as to occasion large quantities of salmon and other fish, to resort to land; hundreds of which were scattered on the

shores of the south and west branches."

It is impossible to tell how many lives were lost, as many of those who were in the woods among the lumbering parties, had no friends or connections in the country to remark their nonappearance. Two hundred have been computed as the least number that actually perished in the flames.

The destruction of bears, foxes, tiger-cats, martens, hares, and other wild animals, was very great. These, when surprised by great fires, are said to lose their usual sense of preservation, and becoming, as it were, either giddy or fascinated, often rush into the face of inevitable destruction. Even the birds, except those of very strong wing, seldom escape; some, particularly the partridge, become stupified; and the density of the smoke, the great velocity of the flames, and the violence of the winds, effectually prevent the flight of most others.-Macgregor's British America.

rapidity with which fires rage through the forests of America, during a dry hot summer or autumn: at which period the broken underwood, decayed vegetable substances, fallen branches, bark, and withered trees, are as inflammable as the absence of all moisture can render them. To such irresistible food for combustion we must add the almost boundless fir forests, every tree of which contains in its trunk, bark, branches, and leaves, vast quantities of inflammable resin. When one of these great fires once extend over a few miles of the forest, the surrounding air soon becomes highly rarified, and the wind, consequently, increases to a hurricane. The fire then advances with extraordinary celerity, the flames ascend from one to two hundred feet above the highest trees; the heavens immediately above present a thick cloud of dark or gray smoke, driven furiously onward by the hurricane; the whole forest presents one vast blaze, rolling forward and spreading with inconceivable speed: presenting the terribly sublime appearance of an impetuous flaming ocean, which cracks and roars, resembling thunder, while the giant trees of the forests are falling and crashing before its destructive and tempestuous power.

CHAPTER VIII.

THEORY OF THE CLIMATE OF NORTH AMERICA.

THE temperature of the climate of British America, as well as that of the United States, is extremely variable, not only in regard to sudden transitions from hot to cold, and vice versâ, but in respect to the difference between the climate of one colony or state, and that of another.* In remarking generally on the climate of America, we consider the countries lying between 40° and 47° north, as those to which the mean character of the different seasons in America more immediately applies: a great part of Pennsylvania may be also included within it.

The natural climate of the regions within those latitudes will not differ much from the following outline of the character and temperature of the seasons of America. Countries to the south of those places, have warmer atmospheres, while those to the north experience proportionably much more intense cold; until we have the temperature of the tropics in the one, and that of the arctic regions in the other.

In America, the seasons have generally, though erroneously, been reduced to two-summer and winter. The space between winter and summer is, indeed, too short to claim the appellation of spring, in the sense understood in England, but

* It is said of Pennsylvania, that it is a compound of all the countries in the world.