24 December 1748. 



worm-eaten and rotten within. At pre- 

 fent the Swedes no longer make ufe of iuch 

 bowls and diflrs, but make ufe of earthen 

 ware, or .v.effels made of other wood, 

 Some knobs are of an uncommon fize, and 

 make a tree have a monftrous appearance. 

 Trees with knobs are very common in the 

 woods of this country *. 



THE roads are good or bad according to 

 the difference of the ground. In a fandy 

 foil the roads are dry and good ; but in a 

 c'aycy one they are bad. The people here 

 are Hkewife very carelefs in mending them. 

 Jf a rivulet be not. very great, they do not 

 make a bridge over it ; and travellers may 

 jdo as well as they can to get over : There- 

 fore many people are in. danger of being 

 drowned in iuch place?, where the water 



is 



* In $ibcri$i and ia the province of Wiatka, in the 

 government of 'Caz,an, in Rnffia, the inhabitants make 

 ufe of the knobs, which are pretty frequently found 

 iin birches, to make bowls and other dorr.eflic utcnfils 

 thereof. They are turned, made pretty thin, and covered 

 with a kind of varnifli, which gives them a pretty ap- 

 pearance ; for the utenfil looks yellow, and is marbled 

 quite in a piturefcjue mcmjer, vyifh brown veins. The belt 

 kind of thefe veflels are made fj thin that they are femi- 

 diaphanous, and when put into hot water they grow quite 

 pliant, and may be formed by main force, quite flat, but 

 when again left to thernfeli'es, and grown cold, they re- 

 tarn to their original fhape. This kind of wood is 

 called, in Ruffta, Rap, and the veffeis made of it, k&p- 

 fowie Tchajbkt, and are pretty high in price, when they 

 ifi-e' of the bcil kind, and well varniftied. F. 



