BIRDS. 419 



every occasion : it is happy indeed for us that it requires no great 

 effort to put it in motion. But the feathers of this bird are still 

 as valuable in another capacity, as they make the softest and the 

 warmest beds to sleep on. 



Of goose-feathers most of our beds in Europe are composed ; 

 in the countries bordering on the Levant, and in all Asia, the 

 use of them is utterly unknown. They there use mattresses, 

 stuffed with wool, or camel's hair, or cotton ; and the warmth of 

 their climate may perhaps make them dispense with cushions of 

 a softer kind. But how it happens that the ancients had not 

 the use of feather-beds is to me surprising : Pliny tells us, in- 

 deed, that they made bolsters of feathers to lay their heads on ; 

 and this serves as a proof that they turned feathers to no other 

 uses. 



As feathers are a very valuable commodity, great numbers of 

 geese are kept tame in the fens in Lincolnshire, which are 

 plucked once or twice a year. These make a considerable ar- 

 ticle of commerce. The feathers of Somersetshire are most 

 in esteem ; those of Ireland are reckoned the worst. Hudson's 

 Bay also furnishes very fine feathers, supposed to be of the 

 goose kind. The down of the swan is brought from Dantzic. 

 The same place also sends us great quantities of the feathers of 

 the cock and hen ; but Greenland, Iceland, and Norway, furnish 

 the best feathers of all : and in this number we may reckon the 

 Eider down, of which we shall take notice in its place. The 

 best method of curing feathers is to lay them in a room, in 

 an open exposure to the sun ; and when dried, to put them 

 into bags, and beat them well with poles to get the dust off. 

 But, after all, nothing will prevent, for a time, the heavy smell 

 M'hich arises from the putrefaction of the oil contained in every 

 feather; no exposure will draw this off, how long so ever it be 

 continued; they must be lain u])on, which is the only remedy; 

 and for this reason old featbeis are much more valuable than 

 new. 



