v.] 



USES OF THE BIRCH TREE. 



101 



that the hand could not be borne in it. Of these, as in Japan, 

 there are many throughout the country, and the}' are greatly used 

 for bathing purposes. At Malka, between Xarchiki and Gunal, 

 there is a spring of sulphurous water of great heat, in close proximity 

 to another wliich is said even during the summer to stand steadily at 

 the freezing point. We were, ho^vever, unable to visit it, and turned 

 northward, passing across a tilndra nine miles in length, and 

 uninteresting enough in such weather. We had the pleasure, 

 however, of seeing Vodki deposited in live feet of water in con- 

 sequence of having fallen asleep upon his horse, Ijut it must be 

 confessed that our amusement was somewhat damped by discovering 

 that our own personal baggage had suffered a like immersion. 



We camped once more in a birch-wood, and but for the 

 proximity of these trees we should have had no little difficulty in 

 making a fire, as the 

 forest was dripping wet. 

 The birch is to the 

 inhabitant of northern 

 regions very much what 

 the bamboo is to the 

 native of the south. It 

 is his general-utility tree , 

 and without it he would 

 indeed be badly off. The 

 stem is used in the con- 

 struction of the sledges, 

 and the inner bark is 

 said to be cut green and - 

 used for food. From the 

 knotty parts of the wood 



good spoons are made, while the multifarious uses to which the 

 smooth and pliant bark is adapted in the construction of dishes, 

 cups, and vessels of all kinds are so well known by every northern 

 traveller as to need no description. The boxes are often much 



BIRCH -BAKK BOX. 



