344 APPENDIX. 



plied from provinces from five to seven hundred miles inland. 

 A large proportion of the corn trade at this port is in our hands; 

 therefore it is interesting to ascertain all particulars respecting 

 the collection and mode of transit of these valuable stores. 



Considering the great importance of wheat, one cannot view 

 without regret the careless and wasteful plan on which graia 

 is conveyed from the corn-growing districts of the Vistula to 

 Dantzic. From Cracow, where the Vistula first becomes nari- 

 gable, down to the lower parts of the stream, the corn is 

 chiefly conveyed to Dantzic in open flats. These are made 

 on the banks in seasons of leisure, and are left to be floated 

 when the rains of autumn, or the melted snows of the Car- 

 pathian mountains in spring, have raised the river far beyoiid 

 the ordinary level. These barges are about seventy-five feet 

 long, twenty broad, and two feet and a half deep. They are 

 made of fir, put together in a very rough manner, and fastened 

 with wooden trenails; the corners being dovetailed and se- 

 cured with slight iron clamps the only iron used in their 

 construction. A large tree, the length of the vessel, runs 

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

 tree rises nine or ten inches from the floor, arid hurdles are 

 laid down upon it, extending to the sides. These hurdles are 

 covered with matting made of rye-straw, and serve the purpose 

 of drainage, there being a vacant space beneath to receive the 

 water which leaks through the sides and bottom of the ill- 

 constructed vessel. This water as it accumulates is dipped 

 out at the ends and side of the vessel. 



The cargo usually consists of from one hundred and eighty 

 to two hundred quarters of wheat, which is simply thrown on 

 the mats, piled up to the gunwale, and left uncovered, exposed 

 to all the inclemencies of the weather and the pilferings of the 

 crew, which consists of six or seven men. The barge is car- 

 ried along at a slow pace by the force of the stream, and is 

 preceded by a small boat with a man in it, who is employed in 

 sounding in order to avoid the shifting banks. The men on 

 the barge merely use oars at the head and stern to direct the 

 vessel in passing under bridges, or in avoiding sand-banks. 

 Their progress in this way is very slow, so that several weeks, 

 and even months, may be employed in the voyage. During 

 this time, if the weather be rainy, the natural consequence is 

 that the wheat begins to grow, and the barge speedily assumes 

 the appearance of a floating meadow. The more rapidly this 

 takes place the better, for the shooting of the fibres soon forms 

 a thick mat, and prevents the raiu from penetrating more than 



