Page:Polar Exploration - Bruce - 1911.djvu/107

Rh yet in July most of them were in flower, and some of them had their Seeds already ripe, whence we observe the length of their summer." It is a striking fact, although it was recognised two and a half centuries ago that Arctic plants afforded "Nourishment both for Man and Beast," that more advantage was not taken of them and of the "Beasts" this rich vegetation also sustained. Without this rich Arctic vegetation from lichens onwards there could be no musk-oxen, no reindeer, no Arctic hares, no lemmings, no owls, no ptarmigan, no geese, fewer ducks, no purple sandpipers, stints, sanderlings, buntings or any other land birds, few insects, and a scarcity of other invertebrates.

With all these animals, which will be considered in more detail later on, Arctic lands become habitable for the various tribes of Eskimos that live and thrive there, and European races have been able to penetrate parts that could not otherwise have been reached with means that have been at our disposal up to the present time. Without these animals the Arctic tundra of Europe, Asia, and America could not have been crossed and opened up so thoroughly, the coast of Greenland could not have been explored except in the most meagre way, and the great Archipelago of islands—great and small, that stretches towards