214 LINNAEUS. 



the timbers, and with great difficulty they reached 

 a house situated on an island. 



Here he hired a man to show him the manner 

 of fishing for pearls. This person made a raft of 

 five logs, two fathoms in length, which he fur- 

 nished with a stone anchor, a cable of birch-rope, a 

 pole, and a pair of wooden pincers. When he 

 reached a part which he wished to examine, he 

 dropped the anchor, lay down at full length, looked 

 over the edge of the raft, and on perceiving a pearl- 

 mussel laid hold of it with the instrument. This 

 shell is common in many of our own -rivers, such as 

 the Tay, the Ythan, the Dee, and the Don ; but 

 the pearls which it yields, although frequently 

 large, are inferior in brilliancy to those of the true 

 pearl-oyster, which is a marine, not a fresh- water 

 production. 



The forests having been set on fire by lightning, 

 the flames raged with great violence, owing to the 

 drought of the season ; hence he and his guide, 

 in crossing a part of the woods, experienced no 

 small danger. The wind beginning to blow, a 

 sudden noise arose, and the travellers, imagining it 

 best to hasten forward, ran with all their might 

 to reach the open ground. Sometimes the fall of a 

 huge tree w^as so sudden that they looked aghast, 

 not knowing which way to turn ; and in one in- 

 stance a large trunk fell between them, while the 

 space by which they were separated did not exceed six 

 feet. However, they at length effected their escape. 



Visiting the Laxholms, or Salmon Islands, in this 

 vicniity, he made observations on the fish, for the 

 taking of which an establishment had been formed. 

 He remarked, that the individuals of which the 



