cxXx 
QUADRUPEDS. 
KA SMT NS 6C PE VAClT OK AL 
pofes. Of the Betula alba, or Common Birch, 2 tree fo ufeful to thefe northern 
nations, they make their fledges and canoes; and cut the frefh bark into fmali 
flices like vermicelli, and eat it with their dried caviar : they alfo tap the trees, 
and drink the liquor without any preparation. With the bark of the alder they 
dye their leather ; but that, and every tree they have near the coaft, is ftunted, 
fo that they are obliged to go far inland for timber of proper fize. 
I muft add, as a vegetable of ufe in ceconomics, the Triticum, Gm. Sib. i. 119, 
N° 56, which grows in great quantities along the fhores, which they mow, and 
work into mats, which ferve for bed clothes and curtains; into mantles, fmooth 
on one fide, and with a pile on the other, which is water-proof. They alfo make 
with it facks, and very elegant bafkets ; thefe, as well as the mats, they ornamen§ 
with fplit whale-bones, and work into variety of figures *. The Urtica dioica, or 
Common Nettle, is another plant of great ufe: this they pluck in Augu/? or 
Septemler, tic in bundles, and dry on their huts: they tear it to pieces, beat, 
and clean it; then fpin it between their hands, and twift the thread round a 
fpindle. It is the only material they have to make their nets ; which, for want 
of {kill in the preparation, will rot, and laft no longer than one feafon +. 
In refpeé to the quadrupeds of this country, I have reafon to think, from the 
great affiftance I have received from the Ruffian academifts, or their labors, that 
my account of them, in my zoological part of this Work, can receive little addi- 
tion. I requeft that the Brown Bear, N° 20, may be fubftituted inftead of the 
Black, N° 1g, as the native of Kamt/chatka. I was led into the miftake by the 
fufpicions of a moft able naturalift. Iam fince informed, by the beft authority 
(that of Captain Kine ¢) that it is the brown fpecies which is found there ; that 
they are carnivorous §, and prey at times on the Argali or wild fheep; but do 
_not attack man, except urged by extreme hunger, or provoked by wounds, or by. 
the flaughter of their young; when nothing but their death can fecure the fafety 
of the perfons who fall in their way. In the firft cafe, they will hunt mankind 
by the fcent, and facrifice them to their want of food, which ufually is fith.or 
berries. —The Kamt/chatkans never read Pope, but obferve his advice : 
Learn from the Beafts the phyfic of the field. 
The Bear is their great mafter; and they owe all their knowlege in medicine and 
furgery, and the polite arts, to this animal. They obferve the herbs to which he 
has recourfe when he is ill, or when he is wounded, and the fame fimples prove 
* Hift. Kamt/chatka, 373. + Same, 375. t See Voy. iii. 304 t0 308, where Mr. 
King gives a full account of the prefent method of hunting. § The reader is requefted, at 
p- 58, 1. 26, to change the word carnivorous into animal. 
equally 
