strong and excellent vinegar. The leaves of it are used instead
of tea, and the pith is dried and mixed in many of their dishes; the
_morkovai_,[50] which is very like angelica; the _kotkorica,[51] the root
of which they eat indifferently, green or dried; the _ikoum_,[52] the
_utchichlei_,[53] which is much eaten with fish; with many others.

It is said, that the Kamtschadales (before their acquaintance with fire-
arms) poisoned their spears and arrows with the juice of the root of the
_zgate_;[54] and that wounds inflicted by them are equally destructive to
land and marine animals. The Tschutski are reported to use the same drug
for this purpose at present.

I shall conclude this part of the natural history of Kamtschatka with an
account, from the same author, of three plants, which furnish the materials
of all their manufactures. The first is the _triticum radice perenni
spiculis binis lanuginosis_,[55] which grows in abundance along the coast.
Of the straw of this grass they make a strong sort of matting, which they
use not only for their floors, but for sacks, bedclothes, curtains, and a
variety of other domestic purposes. Of the same materials they also make
very neat little bags and baskets, of different forms, and for various
uses.

The plant called _bolotnaia_, which grows in the marshes, and resembles
_cyperoides_, is gathered in the autumn, and carded like wool, with a comb
made of the bones of the sea-swallow; with this, in lieu of linen and
woollen clothes, they swathe their new-born infants, and use it for a
covering next the skin whilst they are young. It is also made into a kind
of wadding, and used for the purpose of giving additional warmth to various
parts of their clothing.

There remains still a vulgar and well-known plant, which, as it contributes
more effectually to their subsistence, than all the rest put together, must
not be passed over in silence. This is the nettle, which, as the country
produces neither, hemp nor flax, supplies the materials of which are made
their fishing-nets, and without which they could not possibly subsist. For
this purpose they cut it down in August; and, after hanging it up in
bundles in the shade, under their _balagans_, the remainder of the summer,
treat it like hemp. They then spin it into thread with their fingers, and
twist it round a spindle; after which they twine several threads together,
according to the different purposes for which It may be designed.

Th