38 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



somewhat under their weight, they pass on in a horizontal direction 

 down stream, instead of, as they would otherwise do, diving to the 

 bottom of the pool. 



Here we again studied the construction of the rafts. Tlie 

 minimum diameter of the logs at the thin or front extremity is 6| 

 inches, and midway between the two ends, or between the points 

 nearest to each end at which the tree is sound, a mark is cut, the 

 girth over which regulates the sale rate ; but this system does not 

 prevail in all districts. The length measurements are effected with 

 a rough pair of compasses, formed by a bent wand, kept in position 

 by a tie-piece, and furnished with metal points. The withes used 

 for connecting the logs at the thicker ends are prepared by taking 

 green spruce branches or young trees, ten feet long, and passing 

 them through a fire, in which they are turned round on their axis 

 and burned or roasted. The thin end is then fixed by means of a 

 peg into a hole at the foot of a stout post, when the butt is split, 

 and a picket being introduced crosswise and secured with a bark 

 rope, the branch or young stem is twisted, the workmen walking at 

 the same time round the post, up which the withe winds itself 

 spirally. After this treatment it is sufficiently tough and flexible 

 to be used in the manner previously described. The men who 

 navigate the rafts wear pointed leather shoes, of almost exactly the 

 Indian pattern, under which they are obliged to bind a sort of iron 

 clog with four spikes to prevent their slipping on the wet rafts 

 when passing over dangerous places. 



On leaving the rafts we inspected an earth slide, down which the 

 logs are brought from the forest to the river. In order to prevent 

 their foremost ends from burying themselves in the ground at its 

 foot, a staging of poles is there erected, with a gentle downward 

 slope, its lower end standing a few feet above the ground. As the 

 logs come down they are received on this platform, and from it they 

 are shot out in a nearly horizontal direction. Near this point we 

 saw a remarkable sight. On a spur above us there had once been a 

 mixed forest of spruce and larch. A violent storm overturned the 

 shallow-rooted spruce, not a single tree of this species being left ; 

 but the deeper and stronger roots of the larch enabled them to resist 

 the force of the wind, and they were all left standing. They are 

 now kept for seed. 



Towards evening, after travelling a distance of twenty-eight miles, 

 we reached the forest house at Apsinecz, where we were to pass the 

 night, and where several other forest ofiicers awaited us. Here 



