80 WESTBOTHLAND. 



May 27. 



In the morning the continued rain pre- 

 vented my pursuing my journey till noon. 

 The bark of the large smooth kinds of 

 Willow is here used for tanning leather. 

 The smooth bark of the upper branches, 

 cut into small pieces, is chosen for the 

 purpose, the coarse part on the bottom of 

 the stem being useless. 



At noon I departed from the place where 

 I had slept, and continued to pursue the 

 same bad road as the preceding day, which 

 was indeed the worst I ever saw, consisting 

 of stones piled on stones, among large en- 

 tangled roots of trees. In the interstices 

 were deep holes filled with water by the 

 heavy rains. The frost, which had but just 

 left the ground, contributed to make mat- 

 ters worse. All the elements were against 

 me. The branches of the trees hung down 

 before my eyes, loaded with rain-drops, in 

 every direction. Wherever any young 

 birch trees appeared, they were bent down 



