214 VOICES FROM THE WOODLANDS. 



My leaves afford a yellow dye, and, in spring, are covered 

 with a glutinous liquor, which concretes into a kind of 

 manna. My boughs, when strewed upon the fields and 

 exposed in autumn to the frosts, make excellent manure ; 

 and my wood yields a cheerful red for dyeing with the 

 addition of copperas, deep black and also brown, which 

 is used in dyeing thread for the nets of fishermen. And 

 my bark, how many are its uses ! Thrifty men, who sit 

 beside the blazing hearth when my branches throw up a 

 clear bright flame, and follow the example of their fathers 

 in making their own shoes and those of their families, tan 

 the hides with my bark. Kamtschadales construct from 

 it both hats and vessels for holding milk ; and the Swedish 

 fisherman his shoes. The Norwegian, also, covers with it 

 his low -roofed hut, and spreads upon the surface layers of 

 moss, at least three or four inches thick, and, having 

 twisted long strips together, he obtains excellent torches, 

 with which to cheer the darkness of his long nights. 

 Fishermen, in like manner, make great use of them, in 



