File:The polar and tropical worlds- a description of man and nature in the polar and equatorial regions of the globe (1871) (14776232914).jpg

Identifier: polartropicalwor00hart (find matches)
Title: The polar and tropical worlds: a description of man and nature in the polar and equatorial regions of the globe
Year: 1871 (1870s)
Authors: Hartwig, G. (Georg), 1813-1880 Guernsey, Alfred H. (Alfred Hudson), 1824-1902
Subjects: Arctic peoples Natural history Polar regions Tropics
Publisher: Philadelphia, Johnson & McClain
Contributing Library: NCSU Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: NCSU Libraries

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y wolf, or the hoarse screech of some solitary bird of prey, are almostthe only sounds that ever disturb the repose of these awful solitudes. Whenthe tropical hurricane sweeps over the virgin forests, it awakens a thousandvoices of alarm; but the Arctic storm, however furiously it may blow, scarce-ly calls forth an echo from the dismal shades of the pine-woods of the north. In one respect only the forests and swamps of the northern regions vie inabundance of animal life with those of the equatorial zone, for thQ legions ofgnats which the short polar summer calls forth from the Arctic morasses are ano less intolerable plague than the mosquitoes of the tropical marshes. Though agriculture encroaches but little upon the Arctic woods, yet theagency of man is gradually working a change in their aspect. Large tracts of THE POLAR WORLD. forest are continually Avasted by extensive fires, kindled accidentally or inten-tionally, which spread with rapidity over a wide extent of country, and con-
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tinue to burn until they are extinguished b)- a heavy rain. Sooner or later anew growth of timber springs up, but the soil, being generally enriched andsaturated with alkali, now no longer brings forth its aboriginal firs, but givesbirth to a thicket of beeches (Betula alba) in Asia, or of aspens in America. THE ARCTIC LANDS. 27 The line of perpetual snow may naturally be expected to descend lower andlower on advancing to the pole, and hence many mountainous regions or ele-vated plateaux, such as the interior of Spitzbergen, of Greenland, of NovaZembla, etc., which in a more temperate clime would be verdant with woodsor meadows, are here covered with vast fields of ice, from which frequentlyglaciers descend down to the verge of the sea. But even in the highest north-ern latitudes, no land has yet been found covered as far as the waters edgewith eternal snow, or where winter has entirely subdued the poAvers of vegeta-tion. The reindeer of Spitzbergen find near 80° N. lichens or grasse

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