33 2 
A VOYAGE TO 
0^779* the decodtion of thefe pines, and that it had proved a moil 
excellent remedy for the fcurvy; but, whether from the 
great lcarcity of fugar, or from what other caufe, we could 
not learn, we were forry to find, that it was no longer in ufe 
amongft them. 
The birch was by far the moft common tree we faw; and 
’ of this we remarked three forts. Two of them fit for tim¬ 
ber, and differing only in the texture and colour of the 
bark; the third of a dwarfifh kind. This tree is applied to 
a great variety of ufes by the inhabitants. The liquor 
which, on tapping, it yields in great abundance, they drink 
without mixture, or any preparation, as we had frequent 
opportunities of obferving, upon our journey to Bolche- 
retlk; and found it, ourfelves, pleafant and refreftiing, but 
fomewhat purgative. The bark they convert into veffels, 
for almoft all their domeftic and kitchen purpofes; and 
it is of the wood of this tree the fledges and canoes are alfo 
made *. 
The birch, and every other kind of tree in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of the bay, were finall and ftunted; and they are 
obliged to go many miles up into the country, for wood of 
a proper fize to work into canoes, for the principal timbers 
of their balagcins , and the like ufes. 
Befides the trees above mentioned, Krafcheninikoff re¬ 
lates, that the larch grows on the banks of the River Kamtf- 
chatka, and of thofe that fall into it, but nowhere elfe; and 
that there are firs in the neighbourhood of the River Bere- 
zowa; that there is likewife the fervice-tree (padus folds 
* Krafcheninikoff fays, that the natives likewife convert the bark into a pleafant 
wholefome food, by {tripping it off whilft it is young and green, and cutting it into 
long narrow ftripes, like vermicelli , drying it, and ftewing it afterward along with their 
caviar. 
annuls); 
