FIR TREE. 
223 
It is produced in the greatest abundance in the 
neighbourhood of Lyons in France, and in the val- 
ley of St. Martin, near Lucern, in Switzerland. 
Great quantities of common turpentine are col- 
lected from the different kinds of fir, and particu- 
larly, we believe, from the spruce fir, ( Pinus Abies 
Linn.) from which the Burgundy pitch is prepared. 
M. Duhamel describes the manner in which the 
turpentine is collected on the continent ; and tells 
us, that every year, about the month of August, the 
Italian country-men, in the neighbourhood of the 
Alps, penetrate into the Swiss cantons where the 
firs abound, in order to obtain this useful com- 
modity. 
Each person, before he sets out on his journey, 
provides himself with a horn of tin terminating in a 
sharp point, and a bottle of the same metal, which 
he fastens to his girdle. These people, from the 
nature of their employment, and the mountainous 
country they have to explore, obtain a facility in 
climbing which nothing but practice could enable 
them to accomplish. They will mount in a very 
short time, to the tops of the highest firs, by 
means of cramp irons fixed to their shoes, which 
pierce the bark of the trees, while they embrace the 
trunk with their knees and one hand, the other 
being employed to carry the horn. The turpen- 
tine distills from little bladders, or tumours, which 
are found on the bark of these trees, and which 
the people burst with the sharp end of their horn. 
Into this vessel they collect the turpentine as it 
