The Musk-Rats could likewise be smelled at night. They had many holes in the shores, even with the surface of the water.
We passed the night in an island, where we could not sleep on account of the gnats. We did not venture to make a fire, for fear the Indians should find us out, and kill us. We heard several of their dogs barking in the woods, at a great distance from us, which added to our uneasiness. [[318]]
[1] Mr. Kalm speaks here of the Swedish Liturgy. [↑]
[2] Perhaps it is the Gryllus campestris, or common black field cricket of Europe, of which Rocsel in his work on insects, vol. 2, Gryll. f. 13. has given a fine drawing. F. [↑]
[3] A still more infallible remedy, is to wash all the furniture, infected with that vermin, with a solution of arsenic. F. [↑]
[4] In Siberia, and in the province of Wiatka, in the government of Cazan, in Russia, the inhabitants make use of the knobs, which are pretty frequently found in birches, to make bowls and other domestic utensils thereof. They are turned, made pretty thin, and covered with a kind of varnish, which gives them a pretty appearance; for the utensil looks yellow, and is marbled quite in a picturesque manner, with brown veins. The best kind of these vessels are made so thin that they are semi-diaphanous, and when put into hot water they grow quite pliant, and may be formed by main force, quite flat, but when again left to themselves, and grown cold, they return to their original shape. This kind of wood is called, in Russia, Kap, and the vessels made of it, kappowie Tchashki, and are pretty high in price, when they are of the best kind, and well varnished. F. [↑]
[5] Though it is very desirable, that the members of the church of England may enjoy the same religious liberty in America as the rest of their fellow-subjects and have every part of their religious establishment among themselves, and that therefore bishops might be introduced in America, it is however to be feared this will prove one of the obstacles to the introducing of English bishops in that part of the world. [↑]
[6] See his Journal historique d’un voyage de l’Amerique. Tome v. p. m. 311, and the 13th letter. [↑]
[7] This account sufficiently proves, that these hares are a species distinct from our European reddish grey kind, and also of that species or variety only, which in the northern parts of Europe and Asia is white in winter, with black tipped ears, and has a grey coat in summer. Upon a closer examination naturalists will perhaps find more characters to distinguish them more accurately. F. [↑]