466 GALLICIA AND LODOMERIA. 



every kind, as also hemp, flax, and tobacco, and would be better cul- 

 tivated, were there sufficient means of disposing of its produce. 

 Honey and wax ai'e obtained here in great abundance. The manna 

 of this and the other parts of Poland is produced by an herb that 

 grows in the meadows and marshy grounds : in the months of June 

 and July the inhabitants gather it by sweeping it into sieves, with the 

 dew. It is esteemed a great delicacy by the Poles, who dress it in a 

 variety of ways. The woods abound in oak, beech, pine, and fur trees. 



Animals. ...The forests in the northern parts of Gallicia, and those 

 of Warsovia or Masovia in Prussian Poland, contain great numbers of 

 uri, or buffaloes, whose flesh the Poles po\vder,and esteem it an excel- 

 lent dish. Wolves, boars, the glutton, lynx, elks, and deer, all of 

 them wild, are common in the Polish forests; there are also wild 

 horses and asses, and wild oxen. A kind of wolf, resembling a hart, 

 with spots on his belly and legs, is found here, and affords the best 

 fur in the country. The elk, which is common in the northern parts 

 of this country, is a very extraordinary animal. The flesh of the 

 Polish elk forms the most delicious part of their greatest feasts. His 

 body is of the deer make, but much thicker and longer ; the legs 

 Irigh, the feet broad, like a wild goat's. Naturalists have observed, 

 that, upon dissecting an elk, there are frequently found in his head 

 some large flies, and the brain almost eaten away ; and it is an obser- 

 vation sufficiently attested, that in the large woods and wildernesses 

 of the north, this poor animal is attacked, towards the winter chiefly, 

 by a larger sort of flies, that, through its ears, attempt to take up 

 their winter quarters in its head. This persecution is thought to 

 affect the elk with the falling sickness, by which means it is frequently 

 taken more easily than it would be otherwise. 



Poland produces a creature called bohac, which resembles a guinea- 

 pig, but seems to be of the beaver kind. They are noted for digging 

 .holes in the ground, which they enter in October, and do not come 

 ■out, except, occasionally for food, till April: they have separate apart- 

 ments for their provisions, lodgings, and their dead ; they live together 

 by ten or twelve in a herd. In the northern parts of this country, and 

 in Lithuania, are found eagles and vultures. The quails, it is said, 

 have green legs, and their flesh is reckoned to be unwholesome. 

 The remiz, or little species of titmouse, is frequently found in these 

 parts : it is remarkable for the wondrous structure of its pendent nest, 

 formed in the shape of a long purse, with amazing art. 



The domestic animals are numerous ; black cattle, horses of a 

 good breed, and sheep, the wool of which is said to be very fine. 



Natural curiosities. ...The principal natural curiosity of this 

 country is the salt mines of Wieliczka, which have been mentioned, 

 They consist of wonderful caverns, several hundred yards deep, at 

 the bottom of which are many intricate windings and labyrinths. Out 

 '?' ' ~"~ "re dug; four different kinds of salts; one extremely hard, 

 tftese are all brac^o.., * Kll , clearer . a t hi r d white, but brittle; 

 lour kinds are dug in different mines, near rn ^ at fresher. These 

 one side of them is a stream of salt-water, and on 'the otnePHS.; on 

 resh. The descent into these mines is by pits of great depth ; and 

 he galleries and chambers are of immense size, commonly supported 

 by timber, or by vast pillars of salt, out of which material even sub- 

 terraneous chapels are formed: but the splendour and extent of these 

 balme apartments have been exaggerated by travellers. 



