22 
SARYTSCHEW’S TRAVELS. 
parts ; the latter resembling the wild strawberry both in appear¬ 
ance and leaf; but its blossom is rose-coloured. The berries 
have a very agreeable perfume and fine flavour. It is the plea¬ 
santest fruit growing in the northern countries, and is abundant 
in Sweden, Russia, Siberia, and Canada. From the blossom 
and leaves the inhabitants make both tea and a decoction, which 
is in high estimation for pectoral complaints. The richnesss and 
verdure of the meadows, every where overspread with lux- \ 
wriarit grass, might be supposed to denote a prolific soil, and 
yet the repeated experience of the government evinces that it is 
unfit for the production of grain. This is, perhaps, less attri¬ 
butable to the soil itself than to the shortness of the summer 
and the depth of the snow r , which continues on the ground, in 
some places, until June. The w'eather is cold and damp the 
greater part of the year, and not ^infrequently so in that season 
when heat is indispensible for bringing the corn to maturity. 
For this reason, the vegetables and garden fruits are far inferior 
to those in other places lying nearer to the north pole, where, as 
in Archangel for example, they have a better climate. The 
cabbage here has no stem whatever, but shoots forth in leaves 
only. Potatoes, turnips, and radishes, grow but to a very insigni¬ 
ficant size. 
Our road continued dry and agreeable twenty versts beyond 
Mundakan, after which we had to pass through marshes and 
mountains. The moss of these marshes is so entangled with the 
roots of the trees as to form a tolerably firm, but yet movable 
ground, which yields to the tread of the horse. Sometimes the 
traveller sinks in, and requires the assistance, of all his compa¬ 
nions to help him out; but in such cases it is easy to find a safer 
Way, These treacherous spots are termed haidaranen. The 
inoroschka, a fruit peculiar to marshes, is found in great abun¬ 
dance here, particularly in brooks and rallies, which produce 
also some bilberries. The berries of the moroschka, Rubus cha~ 
mczmorus , are of a yellow ish colour, the size of a cherry, and 
of a semicular form, composed of many small triangular grains, 
lying together in double rows. Its pulp is very succulent, in¬ 
closed in a thin brittle husk. 
After a journey of six days, we arrived at Arka, a place belong¬ 
ing to the pedestrian Tunguses, lying about a hundred versts from 
Ochotsk, at the mouth of a tolerably large river of the same 
name, which runs into the Ochota. Our commander overtook 
ns this day with all his attendants, except the boatswain, who 
had fallen from his horse in crossing a piece of water, and was 
drow ned. We found the inhabitants fishing for the keta, w hich 
was very abundant here in this season. The shallowness and*'* 
clearness of the water afforded them the advantage of distin- 
