FOREST EXPORTS BY THE BALTIC. 243 



means inconsiderable. In Fullarton's Gazetteer I find it 

 stated : 



' Dantzic has long been regarded as one of the principal 

 granaries of Europe. It was at one time the only port 

 from which shipments were made to foreign countries of 

 the wheat sent down by the Vistula; and although of late 

 years exportation has also taken place to a considerable 

 extent from Elbing, Riga, and Memel, yet Dantzic still 

 enjoys the greater portion of this trade, exporting 

 occasionally 500,000 quarters of wheat in the year, besides 

 flour, rye, barley, meal, oats, and pease. There are two modes 

 of conveying wheat to Dantzic by the Vistula. That which 

 grows near the lower parts of the river comprehending 

 Polish Prussia, and part of the province of Plock, and of 

 Masovia, in the kingdom of Poland which is generally 

 of an inferior quality, is conveyed in covered boats, with 

 shifting-boards that protect the cargo from the rain but 

 not from pilfering. These vessels are long, and draw about 

 15 inches water, and bring about 150 quarters. They are 

 not, however, so well calculated for the upper parts of the 

 river. From Cracow, where the Vistula first becomes 

 navigable, to below the junction of the Bug with that 

 stream, the wheat is mostly conveyed to Dantzic in open 

 flats. These are constructed on the banks, in seasons of 

 leisure, on spots far from the ordinary reach of the water, 

 but which, when the rains of autumn, or the melted snow 

 of the Carpathian mountains in the spring, fill and overflow 

 the river, are easily floated. Barges of this description 

 are about 75 feet long, and 20 feet broad, with a depth of 

 2J feet. They are made of fir, rudely put together, and 

 fastened with wooden trenails ; the corners are dovetailed 

 and secured with slight iron clamps, the only iron employed 

 in the construction. A large tree the length of the vessel 

 runs along the bottom, to which the timbers are secured. 

 This roughly cut keelson rises 9 or 10 inches from the 

 floor, and hurdles are laid on it which extend to the sides. 

 They are covered with mats made of rye straw, and serve 

 the purpose of dunnage ; leaving below a space in which 



