178 STELLER'S JOURNAL 



which, with many wishes and longings, we enjoyed ourselves 

 fairly well. The pleasant spring weather brought us still other 

 advantages, besides the mild air, for, after the snow had thawed, 

 we discovered here and there on the beach so much wood that 

 we felt quite encouraged with regard to the charcoal necessary 

 for the work in the smithy. We furthermore obtained many 

 edible and palatable herbs and roots, which, besides being a 

 change, served as medicine for our emaciated bodies.^^s 



pared to Rumford's 'spare soup.' It is drunk hot, like tea, out of glasses 

 or cups." (S) 



«25 In the MS there is here added an enumeration, omitted in the pub- 

 lished version, of these plants and roots. In the following translation the 

 superior letters have been added; they correspond to the botanical identi- 

 fications given below. 



"Among these the following were the most notable: the Kamchatkan 

 sweet grass Sphondylium;^ the bulbs of the liliumfl. reflexo airo purpurea,^ 

 much more plentiful and larger than in Kamchatka; a kind of herbc the 

 leaves of which resemble celery in taste and shape while the root re- 

 sembles parsnip in taste; as well as the roots of kutakhshuA Besides 

 these we ate the leaves of Ceronthe;^ the turions [young shoots] of Cham- 

 naerion speciosiim;^ the roots of the bistort. g Instead of bohea tea we made 

 infusions of the leaves of Vitis idea buxi folio, ^ and in place of green [tea], 

 of the leaves of Pyrola^ and, as second choice, of Veronica humilis mon- 

 tana, flore amplo.i As salad herbs we had Cochlearia,^ beccabunga,! and 

 Cardamine nasturtium."^ 



In the MS some of the plant names are mutilated by the copyist, but 

 they are nevertheless quite recognizable as just given. The identifica- 

 tions, using modern nomenclature, are as follows: 



(a) Heradeum lanattcm Michx. See also, above, footnote 78. 



(b) the Saranna lily, Fritillaria kamtschatcensis (L.). 



(c) Conioselimim kamtschaticum Rupr. (Selimim benthatni Watson). 



(d) the Kamchadal name, variously spelled kutachtschu or koutahschin , 

 for a kind of angelica, Coelopleurum gmelini (D, C), often erro- 

 neously referred to as Archangelica officinalis. 



(e) the sea lungwort, Mertensia maritima (L.), which in some places is 



extremely abundant on the beaches, a single plant covering a 

 large area. 



(f) Chamaenerion (or Epilobium) angustifolium (L.), the purple fire- 



weed. Chamnaerion (in the MS the word occurs in the genitive, 

 "Chatnnaerii") is probably a lapsus for Chamaenerion. 



(g) Polygonum viviparum L. 



(h) the upland cranberry, Vaccinium vitis idaea L. The word in the 



