RAT. 
307 
are drowned 5 many destroyed by water fowl, or ra- 
pacious fish ; those which escape rest awhile, to 
bask, dry their fur, and refresh themselves. If the 
inhabitants find them in that situation, they treat 
them with the utmost tenderness, and endeavour to 
bring them to life and vigour. As soon as they have 
crossed the river Penchim, at the head of the gulf 
of the same name, they turn southward, and reach 
the rivers Judoma and Ochot by the middle of July. 
The space is most surprising, on consulting a map 
of the country. The flocks are also so numerous, 
that an observer has waited two hours to see them 
all pass. Their return to Kamtschatka in October 
is attended with the utmost festivity and welcome. 
The natives consider it as a sure prognostic of a 
successful chase and fishery : the first is certain, as 
the rats are always followed by multitudes of beasts 
of prey. They equally lament their migration, as 
the season is certainly filled with rains and tempests. 
Among the principal articles of food in Kamt- 
schatka is the saranne, Lilium kamtschatcense Linn.; 
the women are employed to collect the roots of this 
plant in the month of August, after which they are 
dried in the sun and laid up for use. But it is not to - 
the labours of the females alone that the Kamtschat- 
kans are indebted for these roots. The oeconomic 
rat saves them a great deal of trouble. The saranne 
forms part of the winter provisions of that little ani- 
mal: they not only gather them in the proper season, 
and lay them up in their magazines ; but at times, 
X 2 
