CHAP. cxiJi. coni'fer^. ^bie'tinvE. 2115 



are frequently 800 ft. or 900 ft. long, and 60 ft. or 70 ft. in breadth. The 

 rowers and workmen sometimes amount to 700 or 800, superintended by 

 pilots, and a proprietor, whose habitation is superior in size and elegance to 

 the rest. The raft is composed of several layers of trees, placed one on 

 another, and tied together : a large raft draws not less than 6 ft. or 7 ft. of 

 water. Several smaller rafts are attached to the large one, besides a string 

 of boats, loaded with anchors and cables, and used for the purposes of 

 sounding the river, and going on shore." (^An Autumn near the Rhine.) Every 

 article of provision for the workmen is carried on board these rafts, together 

 with live pigs, poultry, &c. 



In Austria there are immense forests of pines and firs, particularly in the 

 Alpine districts, and in the Tyrol ; and the tijnber is in many instances con- 

 veyed several miles before a stream is met with, capable of floating it to a 

 large river or lake, whence it is to be conveyed to the sea. In these cases, 

 semicircular troughs called slides are constructed, formed of six or eight fir 

 trees, placed side by side, and smoothed by stripping off the bark. These slides 

 are made in such a direction, as always to preserve nearly the same slope ; 

 and while they require in some places to pass through projecting rocks in 

 tunnels, in others they are carried over ravines on lofty piers, formed of tall 

 trees. The first slide of this kind is supposed to have been that of Alpnach, 

 of which some notice will be found in the succeeding paragraph. These slides 

 are ciiiefly made use of in winter, at which time they are rendered more slip- 

 pery, by pouring water down them, which freezes immediately. (See Handbook 

 for Travellers in Southern Germany.) 



In Switzerland, on the Alps, are extensive pine and fir forests ; though but 

 little use can be made of the timber of most of them, except for local pur- 

 poses, from the great difficulty of transporting the trees to the sea, or to a navi- 

 gable river. In the year 1810, when the price of Baltic timber had attained its 

 greatest height, a stupendous, and at the same time successful, effort was 

 made by an enterprising engineer to convey the timber of Mount Pilate to 

 the Lake of Lucerne, whence it might be floated down the Rhone to the 

 sea. M. Rupp conceived the idea of making an inclined plane, which 

 should extend the whole distance, from the top of the mountain to the 

 Lake of Lucerne ; that is, above eight English miles. This extraordinary con- 

 trivance (the construction of which occupied eighteen months, and which 

 was completed in 1812) was called the Slide of Alpnach, and consisted of 

 a trough, formed of 25,000 pine trees, 6 ft. broad, and from 3 ft. to 6 fL 

 deep. Its length was 4400 English feet ; and, of course, to preserve its 

 regular slope, it had to be conducted over the summits of rocks, along their 

 sides, underground, and over deep gorges, where it was sustained by scaffold- 

 ings. The slide was kept constantly moist, and the trees descended by it 

 into the lake with extraordinary rapidity. The larger pines, which were 

 about 100 ft. long, ran through the whole space of eight miles and a third, in 

 about six minutes. A gentleman who saw this great work stated, *' that such 

 was the velocity with which a tree of the largest size passed any given point, that 

 he could only strike it once with a stick as it rushed by, however quickly he 

 attempted to repeat the blow." The speculation, however, did not answer 

 long ; and as soon as the markets of the Baltic were opened by the peace, the 

 Slide of Alpnach was suffered to fall into ruin. (See Edin. Phil. Journ., 1820.) 

 The north of England and some parts of Scotland and Ireland, appear to 

 have been anciently nearly covered with pine forests. The immense tract 

 of country afterwards called Hatfield Chase was once an almost impene- 

 trable forest ; but the trees in it were partly cut down, and partly burnt by 

 the Romans, not only to make a road through the country, but to drive 

 the Britons from their fastnesses. Fallen forests, if the trees be not re- 

 moved, soon become peat bogs ; by the fallen trees stagnating the water, 

 and giving rise to the growth of the Sphagnum palustre, and other mosses 

 and aquatic plants. These continue growing on the surface, and decaying 

 at their lower extremities, till the surface of the sphagnum has risen so 



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