of Forest Vegetation on Climate. 477 



during the day, though cold at night ; the winter is long and 

 severe. Most of the kinds of grain and fruits of North Ger- 

 many prosper in this climate, when properly cultivated; 

 excepting, however, that in Germany they ripen quicker, and 

 that here the more delicate kinds do not always attain a 

 perfect maturity. 



" Near the forest the temperature is colder than at some dis- 

 tance from it, and the harvest is eight cr ten days later. This 

 difference is especially remarkable in the spring, for at this pe- 

 riod the forest is still covered with snow : oftentimes we are there 

 travelling in sledges, whilst in the neighbouring country, the 

 villagers are already preparing to till the soil capable of cidti- 

 vation. 



M Theobservation, so often made, that great forests, in exer- 

 cising a marked influence upon climate, produce those waters 

 which fertilise lands, is especially applicable to the forest of 

 Bialovvicza. Numberless rivulets are formed in the heart of 

 it; whilst in the woods of smaller extent which surround it, 

 we find only muddy waters, slowly trickling along the shal- 

 lows which they conceal. 



U Considered under these hydrographical aspects, the forest 

 of Bialowicza belongs to the great basin of the Vistula, and 

 more particularly to those of the Narew and the Bug. 



" The Narew, which rises in the forest itself, and which gives 

 its name to a small town of the arrondissement of Bialystok, 

 receives the greatest part of the rivers of the forest, of which 

 the most considerable is the Narewka." 



" The Lsna, after being increased by the waters of the 

 Biala, discharges itself into the Bug, near the little town of 

 Pratulin, on the frontier of the kingdom of Poland. The 

 Narew and the Bug, reunited near Sierock, throw themselves 

 into the Vistida, under the name of the Narew, in sight of the 

 ramparts of Modlin. These two rivers are navigable; the 

 Narew almost up to its source. The Narewka and the Biala 

 bear vessels even in the forest." * [Memoir e, tyc, chap, ii.) 



* It does not fall within the purpose of the present notice, to extend 

 these extracts to matters foreign to the subject ; but, to such as may be 

 curious, it may be satisfactory to know that the village of Bialowicza, 

 which gives its name to the forest, contains a church, fifty-six cottages, a 

 beer-shop {cabaret), and the gamekeeper's lodge (maison de chasse) ; and 

 that these, as well as two hamlets within the forest itself (viz., Teremiska 

 and Pagorzelce, containing from twenty to thirty cottages), and the adjoin- 

 ing villages, are built of wood, the walls made of the trunks of trees, piled 

 up according as they fit to each other, and the roofs covered with planks 

 or shingle. The inhabitants, it appears from the Chronicle of Hartknoch 

 (p. 202.), wear a dress corresponding exactly with that worn by the inha- 

 bitants of ancient Prussia in the days of the Romans. Of the hunting 

 establishments, there is no opportunity of speaking in this place. 



L L 3 



