44 FORESTS OF SITKA. 



raised even by the Kalushes, who have learned 

 from the Russians the manner of cultivating 

 them, and consider them as a great delicacy. 

 Upon the continent of America, the climate, 

 under the same latitude, is said to be incom 

 parably better than on this island, although the 

 cold is rather more severe. Great plains are 

 there to be met with, where wheat could pro 

 bably be successfully cultivated. 



The forests of Sitka, consisting principally of 

 fir and beech, are lofty and thick. Some of 

 their trees are a hundred and sixty feet in 

 height, and from six to seven feet in diameter. 

 From these noble trunks the Kalushes form 

 their large canoes, which sometimes carry from 

 twenty-five to thirty men. They are laboriously 

 and skilfully constructed ; but the credit their 

 builders may claim for this one branch of in 

 dustry is nearly all that belongs to a barbarous 

 and worthless race of men. 



Wild and unfruitful as this country appears, 

 the soil is rich, so that its indigenous plants, of 

 which there are no great variety, attain a very 

 large growth. Several kinds of berries, parti 

 cularly raspberries and black currants, of an 



