| 274 THE COMING OF THE EUROPEANS.
able, unaided by man, to occupy the northern re-
gions on the Atlantic; for although these regions
were well adapted to produce their peculiar food,
the winters were too long and cold for such ani-
mals to live through them without artificial aid.
With this aid, however, they can do it, and thus,
under the fostering charge of man, the green mea-
dows and hill-sides, extending over many thou-
sands of square miles between the lakes and the
sea, have been covered with flocks' of sheep and
herds of horses and cows, while the bear and the
moose that formerly had possession of them have
passed away. A few lingering specimens only
remain to roam in solitude within the narrow
limits left to them, and to wonder where their
companions can have gone.
CHANGES IN RESPECT TO PLANTS.
Changes corresponding to these have taken place
on a vast scale in the vegetable kingdom. Multi-
tudes of plants that were introduced into Am erica
by the European colonists, either accidentally or
by design, have since that time become very
widely extended here, and have extirpated or dis-
placed, to a corresponding degree, the original
occupants of the soil. These changes have taken
place sometimes with and sometimes without the
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