APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 317 



[)arts of Aineiiea, particularly NewfouiuUaud, one of which was like 

 parsly and ate very well, either in soui)S or salads." La Perouse, who 

 landed in latitude 5S'^ 37', finds a French bill of fare, including 

 74 celery, chicory, sorrel, and almost all that exists in the meadows 

 and mountains of France," besides several grains for forage. 

 Every day and each meal the ship's kettle was filled with these sup- 

 plies, and all ate tliem in soups, ragouts, and salads, much to the 

 benefit of their health. Fortlock reports at Port Etches, besides water- 

 cresses, "just above the beach, between the bay and the lake, a piece 

 of Avild wheat, about 200 yards long and 5 yards broad, growing at least 

 2 feet high, which with i)roper care might certainly be made a useful 

 article of food;" at Cook's Inlet he reports "ginseng and snakeroot," 

 Meares reports at Prince William Sound "snakeroot and ginseng, 

 some of which the natives have always with them as a medicine." Bil- 

 lings finds at Kodiak "ginseng, wild onions, and the edible roots of 

 Kamtchatka;" and then again in Prince William Sound he finds " plenty 

 of ginseng and some snakeroot." Vancouver finds at Cape Phipps 

 "wild vegetables in great abundance." Langsdorf adds to the list at 

 Onnalaska " Siberian parsnii), or sweet plant." These, too, I quote 

 precisely, and in the order of time. 



Since the establishment of Europeans on this coast an attempt has 

 been nuule to introduce the nutritious grains and vegetables known to 

 the civilized world, but without very brilliant success. Against Avheat 

 and rye and against orchard fruits there are obstacles of climate, per- 

 haps insuperable. All these require summer heat; but here the sum- 

 mer is comparatively cold. The norliiern limit of wheat is several 

 degrees below^ the southern limit of these possessions, so that this 

 friendly grain is out of the question, llye flourishes further north, as 

 d(j oats also. The su})posed northern limit of these grains embraces 

 Sitka and grazes the Aleutian Islands, lint there are other climatic 

 conditions which are Avanting at least for rye. One of these is dry 

 weather, which is required at the tinn; of its bloom. Possibly the clear- 

 ing of the forest may produce some modification of the weather. For 

 the present barley grows better, and there is reason to believe that it 

 may be cultivated successfully very far to the north. It has ripened 

 at Kodiak. There are numy garden vegetables which have become 

 domesticated. Liitke reports that at Sitka, potatoes tlouvish; so that 

 all have enough. Langsdorf reports the same of Kodiak. There are 

 also radishes, cabbages, caulifiowers, peas, and carrots — making a very 

 respectable list. The same, i)crhaps, may be found at Onnalaska. On 

 Norton Souiul I hear of radishes, beets, and cabbages. Even as far 

 north as Fort Youkon, on the parallel of (57^, iiotatoes, peas, turnips, and 

 even barley have been grown; but the turnips were unfit for the table, 

 being rotten at the heart. A recent resident reports that there are no 

 ►fruit trees, and not even a raspberry bush, and that he lost all his 

 potatoes during one season by a frost in the latter days of July; but 

 do not forget that these i)otatoes were the wall-fiowers of the Arctic 

 Circle. 



Thus it appears that the vegetable i)roductions of the country are 

 represented practically by trees. The forests which overshadow the 

 coast from Sitka to Cook's Iidet are all that we can show under this 

 head out of which a revenue can be derived, unless we add ginseng, 

 which is so much prized by the Chinese, and perhaps also snakeroot. 

 Other things may contribute to the scanty support of a household; but 

 timber will in all probability be an article of commerce. It has been 

 so already. Ships from the Sandwich Islands have come for it, and 



