1779. plant grows wild, and in confiderable abundance: the wo-
oa°b<,r~. men are employed in collecting the roots at the beginning
o f Auguft, which are afterward dried in the fun, and then
laid up fo r ufe. On our fecond arrival, this harveft was juft
over, and had fallen much ihort o f its ufual produce. It is
a common obfervation, amongft the Kamtfchadales, that
the bounty o f Providence never fails them, for that fuch
feafons as are mod hu rtfu l to the far ana, are always the mod
favourable for f if liin g ; and that, on the contrary, a bad
fiihin g month is always made up by the exuberance o f the
farana harveft. It is ufed in cookery in various ways.
When roafted in embers, it fupplies the place o f bread, better
than any thing the country affords. After being baked
in an oven, and pounded, it becomes an excellent fubftitute
for flour and meal o f every fort, and in this form is mixed
in all their foups, and moft o f their other diihes. It is
efteemed extremely n ou r ifh in g ; has a pleafant bitter tafte,
and may be eaten every day without cloying. We ufed to
boil thefe roots, and eat them as potatoes, either alone, or
w ith our meat, and found them very wholefome and pleafant.
It has been already mentioned, that this u fe fu l plant
grows alfo at Oonalaffika, where the roots o f it are ufed,
and conftitute a confiderable part o f their food, in like manner
as in Kamtfchatka.
T h e other plant alluded to is called the fweet grafs; the
botanical defcription is Heracleum Sibericumfoliis pinnatis, foliolis
quinis, intermediis fejfilibus, corollulis uniformibus. Hort. Upfal. 65.
T he time, I took particular notice o f it, was in May, when
it was about a foot and a h a lf high, had much the appearance
o f fedge, and was covered with a white down, orduft,
which looked exceedingly like the hoar-froft han ging upon
it,
ii, and might be rubbed off: it tailed as fweet as fu g a r ;
but was hot and pungent. T h e ftalk is hollow, and confifts '— ,—
o f three or four jo ints ; from each o f which arife large
leaves, and, when at its fu ll growth, is fix feet high.
T h is plant was formerly a principal ingredient in the
cookery o f moft o f the Kamtfchadale diihes; but fince the
Ruffians got poffeffion o f the country, it has been almoft
intirely appropriated to the purpofe o f diftillation. The
manner in which it is gathered, prepared, and afterward
diftilled, is as follows:. having cut fuch ftalks as have leaves
g rowin g on them, o f a proper age (the principal item, b y
the time the plant has attained its. fu ll growth, having become
too dry for their purpofe), and fcraped o ff with fhells
the downy fubftance on their furface, they are laid in fm a ll
heaps,- till they begin to fweat and fmell. On. .growing
dry again, they put them into facks made o f matting;
where, after remaining a few days, they are gradually covered
with a fweet faccharine powder, which exudes from
the hollow o f the ftalk. From thirty-fix pounds o f the plant,
in this ftate, they obtain no more than a quarter o f a pound
o f powder. The women, whofe province it is to collect and
prepare the materials,'are obliged to defend their hands
with gloves whilft they are fcraping the ftalks, the rind
they remove being o f fo acrid a quality, as to blifter, and
even ulcerate whatever it touches.
T h e f f i f i t is drawn from the plant in this ftate by the fo llow
in g procefs. After fteeping bundles o f it in hot water,
they promote its fermentation in a fmall yeffel, by the help
o f berries o f the gimolojl*, or o f the gojubitfa d, being careful
iulofi. GmelV Her. Sib.-
f Myrtillus 'granclis car.uleus.
V o l . 111. IS x 10