BLACK-TAILED GODWIT. 65 



odds and ends of what can be made no use of in the house ; 

 while in summer they are never fed, but allowed to roam at will and 

 find what they can along shore and around the island ; they fight 

 incessantly, while, unlike our dogs, should one get undermost, the 

 rest will turn upon hmi and worry him to death. The people are 

 thus frequently obliged to arise even in the middle of the night to 

 save the lives of their animals, or their numbers would rapidly 

 decrease. They are by far too valuable animals to lose so easily. 



Wednesday the 29th. Another rainy day has prevented our doing 

 much outside of the house, and we must be contented to remain 

 within doors. I have been struck with the very unusually large 

 amount of bread that is used all along the coast. It is in reality 

 "the staff of life," in these parts at least. It is raised with a yeast 

 made from the spruce. The fine tender twigs of the young plant 

 are taken, and being boiled in water made into a regular spruce 

 beer. The beer will keep fresh about a week in summer time, and 

 nearly all winter. When fresh it is an excellent drink and much 

 used here in place of water, which, poor at best, is usually taken 

 from ponds, and rarely from springs or running water ; these ponds 

 are the result of the melting of large bodies of snow that drain into 

 the low mud flats, often with rocky bottoms, which abound every- 

 where, high and low : a fair evidence that successive elevations 

 were at one time much nearer the sea-level than they are at pres- 

 ent. When a moderate amount of this beer is mixed with a cup 

 of molasses it forms a yeast-like substance, or raising mixture, which 

 fully equals our ordinary raising compounds. The beer itself has 

 a peculiarly bitter taste, from lack of any article in the boiling to 

 counteract the natural taste of the spruce ; it makes a very palata- 

 ble drink, however. 



Thursday the 30th. To-day I succeeded in obtaining a specimen 

 of the Limosa hudsonica, the hudsonian or black-tailed godwit, 

 also called the ring-tailed marhn. It is a rare bird, even in these 

 regions. It was the only one I obtained on the coast. It was at the 

 time flying rather high up in the air, and with the irregular flight of 

 the spotted sandpiper. Its note, uttered while in the air, sounded 

 5 



