402 A VOYAGE TO Book IX. 



They arc alfo every where overgrown with pines or 

 pruches, as the French call them, Co as to be prac- 

 ticable only in thofe parts, v.here the inhabitants 

 have cut roads. This fpecies of pine fcldoni exceeds 

 the height of two or three toifes in the open parts : 

 but in valleys where thev are ihelrered from the froft 

 and the piercing winds, they rife to a much greater 

 height. In winter rhe cold is exceíTive here, nothing 

 but fnow and ice being feeoj and the bays aiid har- 

 bours entirely frozen. This fevere weather fets in lb 

 eafly, that though it was but the >tfi of November 

 when we were there, it froze to fuch a degree, that we 

 were obliged to wait till the fun had begun to break 

 the ice; and thus force a way through without waiting 

 till the next day, Icit the froft iliould return; and then 

 it would have been impofiible, and the I'hips under the 

 dreadful necefilty of wintering among the ice. 



This is the more remarkable, as the latitude of 

 Piacentia is only 47 dcg. 10 min. and the bay 

 where we happened to be v/as but little more. 1 he 

 inhabitants of the ifland keep themfelves ihut up in 

 their houies during the winter, except in fair and 

 fun -ihiiiy weather, when they go out with a great 

 deal of pleafure to enjoy the enlivening rays of the 

 fun. 



The whole circuit of the ifland is full of bays 

 and harbours, all fo fpacious and iheltered on all 

 fides by the mountains except their entrance, that 

 the velTels li- in pcrfefl fccuricy ; they all grow gra- 

 dually narrower from their entrance, that at the end 

 of them, tlifre is fcarce room for a fingle vcíTcl to 

 anchor. Some of thefe harbours are a league- and 

 a half or two leagues in length; and their greatefi: 

 breadth labout half a league. But there are alfo 

 others much larger and fome lels ; into them run 

 ieveral rivers and brooks, which befides the fineneis 

 of th.cir w.iter afford great quantities of trouts and 

 other kinds of /relh-water filh, Iceming to vie with 



the 



