362 THE FIR TRIBE. 



into the lake, the cry of " Idchez " was repeated as before, 

 and a new tree was launched in a similar manner. By 

 these means a tree descended every five or six minutes. 

 The velocity with which the trees descended is almost in- 

 conceivable ; the descent of eight miles was usually made 

 in six minutes, but in wet weather it was frequently effected 

 in three, being at the rate of a hundred and eighty miles 

 an hour ! Perhaps the best way of conveying an idea of 

 this amazing velocity is to state, that a spectator standing 

 by found it quite impossible to give two successive strokes 

 with his stick to any, even the longest tree, as it passed 

 him. The logs entered the lake with so much force that 

 many of them seemed to penetrate its waters to the very 

 bottom. Much of the timber of Mount Pilate was thus 

 brought to market ; but the expense attending the process 

 rendered it impossible for the speculator to undersell the 

 Baltic merchant after the arrival of peace had opened the 

 market for his timber, and so the Slide of Alpnach fell 

 into ruin. 



An interesting description has been given by Howison 

 of the mode of bringing timber to market in the heart of 

 Russia. A Russian proprietor who wishes to dispose of 

 the timber on his property, having completed a bargain 

 with a St. Petersburg merchant, sets his peasantry to work 

 in selecting and felling the trees and dragging them from 

 the forests to the lakes and rivers. This work usually 

 takes place during the winter months, in order that every- 

 thing may be ready for floating the timber to the capital 

 as soon as the ice in the rivers and lakes breaks up. As 

 the ground is generally covered several feet deep with 

 snow, and as the trees judged to be sufficiently sound and 

 large for the market lie widely apart, the workmen employed 

 in selecting them are compelled to wear snowshoes to pre- 

 vent themselves from sinking in the snow. When the 

 trees are found, they are cut down with hatchets, and the 

 heads and branches lopped off. The trunk is stripped of 

 its bark, and a circular notch is cut round the narrow end 



