This amusement was shared in mutually, both by men and women. Occasionally we would try our skill in jumping. Those most expert among the natives, and especially among the women, would for a long time maintain their standing upon their feet, notwithstanding the efforts of those who held the skin to get them down upon their knees. VEGETATION. Of vegetation in the arctic region we can say but little. In the valleys, and along shore, there was a variety of coarse grass. The entire region being destitute of wood, and almost of every species of shrubbery that could really be called such, the soil consequently was exceedingly barren of vines, plants, or flowers. There were, however, a few flowering plants which made their appearance in the transient summer allotted to them. The rocks were covered with coarse moss, and wherever the sun melted away the snow from the hill sides, or plains, or valleys, a small vine would start into life; this vine afforded, as has before been observed, the only bread of the natives. We never learned that the natives north of East Cape ever attempted to plant any seed, or to raise any kind of vegetables. THE FACE OF THE COUNTRY. The shores of the arctic are bold and rocky, and bordered with high, frowning cliffs. As far as the eye could extend in an inland direction, snow-capped peaks, and finally lofty mountain ranges, filled the whole field of vision. FISH. Besides the whale, which is the sovereign of those seas, there are seals, walruses, sharks, narwhal, cod, salmon, &c. FOWL. Geese and ducks are abundant, besides a great variety of other water-fowl. The country bordering on the Ochotsk Sea, a place visited by hundreds of whalemen, presents a scenery in some respects quite different from that of the arctic. While the surface of the country is uneven, interspersed with hills, valleys, and mountains, yet it is quite well wooded, especially on the seaboard. As far north as 60 deg. we have found patches of potatoes, turnips, barley, &c. As soon as the snow leaves the earth, numberless wild flowers of every hue and color, and some of them very odorous, immediately start into life and beauty, and adorn both the valley and hill side. And what is most remarkable in the multitude of flowers which follow the line of retreating frost and snow, we find in nature, as in opposite and antagonistical views and principles, that extremes meet. Vegetation here in this region thrives with the greatest possible rapidity. It seems sometimes to put on the air even of romance, or fiction. One season we were in the Ochotsk Sea, which was the 15th of June, and then we found the country covered with snow; but in less than ten days from that time, the forests were leaved out, and every thing wore the dress of summer. On the shores of the sea in different localities, we found growing in great profusion, berries of various sorts, such as whortleberry, cranberry, blackberry, mossberry, &c.