CHAP. CXIII.

coni'ferte. ^/uie'tinte.

2113

consequence much employed in Roman sculpture, and the latter appellation,pine-apple, has been transferred to the fruit of the ananas, from its resemblancein shape to the cone of the pine.

In more modern times, we find accounts of immense forests of pines andfirs in different countries, but those of the north of Europe and NorthAmerica are the most celebrated.

In Sweden and Norway are enormous forests, consisting almost entirely ofthe Scotch pine and the spruce fir; which, in many places, are nearly in-accessible. “ If the reader,” says Dr. Clarke, “ will cast his eyes on the mapof Sweden, and imagine the Gulf of Bothnia to be surrounded by one con-tinuous unbroken forest, as ancient as the world, consisting principally ofpine trees, with a few mingling specimens of birch and juniper, he will havea general and tolerably correct notion of the real appearance of the country.”( Trav .) The manner of conveying the trees in these forests, over land, to thebanks of a river or the sea, is thus noted by the traveller just mentioned :“ At Helsinborg, some fir trees of astonishing height were conducted by wheel-axes to the water side. A separate vehicle was employed for each tree, drawnby horses which were driven by women. These long, white, and taper shaftsof'deal timber, divested of their bark, afforded the first specimens of the pro-duce of those boundless forests of which we had, till then, formed no con-ception.” The principal river in Sweden by which the pine and fir timber ofthat country is floated to the sea, is the Gotha, by which it is conveyed toGottenburgh. The timber of Norway is floated down the Glomm to Chris-tiania, whence it is called Christiania deal; down the Drammen to Dram, aseaport about twenty miles west of Christiania, whence it is called Dram deal;and down various other rivers.

In Prussia, Russia, and Poland, are also immense pine and fir forests, thetimber of which is brought down the rivers, and shipped into the ports on thesouthern shores of the Baltic, whence it is called Baltic timber. The principalof these ports are Memel, Dantzic, Riga, and Petersburg. The riverMemel being the principal channel by which the pine trees grown in the northof Prussia reach the sea at the town of that name, the timber they produce isknown by the name of Memel timber. In the hofl's, or lowlands, of thiscountry, amber is found in greater abundance than in any other part of theworld ; and it is now generally supposed that this substance is the resinousmatter of decayed pines, changed by the length of time it has been buried in theearth. (See Jam. Jour., July, 1837, p. 173.) The timber shipped at Memelcomes principally from the estates of Prince Radzivil, in Polish Prussia, anilit is always much more abundant than that shipped at any other port of theBaltic ; that of Dantzic is of better quality, and it is floated down the Bugand the Vistula, from the forests of West Prussia and Poland. The bestBaltic timber, however, is that of Riga; and it is the principal kind used for themasts, both of the British and French navies. “ The mast trade,” saysM'Culloch, “ is very extensive. The burghers of Riga send persons who arecalled mast brokers into the provinces, to mark the trees, which are purchasedstanding. They, grow mostly in the districts which border on the Dnieper,and are sent up that river to a landing-place, whence they are transported 30versts (about 23 English miles) to the Dwina; where being formed intorafts of from 50 to 100 pieces each, they descend the stream to Riga. Thetree which produces the longest masts is the Scotch pine. The pieces,which are from 18 in. to 25 in. in diameter, are called masts ; and those underthese dimensions, spars, or in England Norway masts, because Norway ex-ports no trees of more than 18 in. in diameter. Great skill is required indistinguishing those masts which are sound from those which are in the leastdegree internally decayed. They are usually from 70 ft. to 80 ft. in length.”(Diet, of Com.)

The pine timber shipped at Petersburg is at present brought from agreat distance in the interior, all the large timber of the comparatively nearforests having been long since cut down. A Russian proprietor wishing to

6x2