CEMENTS. 



Lapland Glue. 



The bows of the Laplanders are composed of 

 two pieces of wood glued together ; one of them 

 of birch, which is flexible, and the other of fir of 

 the marshes, which is stiff, in order that the bow 

 when bent may not break, and that when unbent 

 it may not bend. When these two pieces of wood 

 are bent, all the points of contact endeavour to 

 disunite themselves, and to prevent this, the Lap- 

 landers employ the following cement: they take 

 the skins of the largest perches*, and having dried 

 them, moisten them in cold water until they are so 

 soft that they may be freed from the scales, which 

 they throw away. They then put four or five of 

 these skins into a rein-deer's bladder, or they wrap 

 them up in the soft bark of the birch-tree, in such 

 a manner that water cannot touch them, and place 

 them thus covered into a pot of boiling water, with 

 a stone above them to keep them at the bottom. 

 When they have boiled about an hour, they take 

 them from the bladder or bark, and they are then 

 found to be soft and viscous. In this state they 

 employ them for glueing together the two pieces of 

 their bows, which they strongly compress and tie 

 up till the glue is well dried. These pieces never 

 afterwards separate. 



% 



A Glue from Cheese. 



Take skimmed-milk cheese, free it from the rind, 

 cut it into slices, and boil it in water, stirring it 



* It is probable that eel-skins would answer the same purpose. 



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