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602 LE ROY’S NARRATIVE OF FOUR RUSSIAN SAILORS.
In the beginning of my narrative I have obferved, that our failors brought a fmalf
fack of meal, about twenty pounds weight with them to the ifland, I fhall now notice
the ufe to which it was put.
Soon after their arrival they abandoned the ufe of this food, defifting when they had
cooked the flefh of the rein-deer which they had killed; preferving thus about the half
ofit. This remaining quantity they put toa fervice at leaft as neceffary as that to which
the former part had been applied. I fhall proceed to defcribe it.
They readily faw that, while in fo cold a climate, they mutt continually keep up a
fire, they would have very few means for kindling it after thofe fhould be confumed
which they poffeffed; it is true, they had ftore of fire-wood, but little toachwood or
tinder. ‘The barbarous nations in the wilds of America have difcovered a method of
lighting a fire whenever they will: it confifts in the friction of a fquare piece of hard @
wood again{t two pieces of fofter wood, which are faftened to it; while the two foft
pieces are prefied between the knees, the middle hard piece is milled by the hands with
great velocity, fo that by the friction, a heat is occafioned which fhortly caufes fmoke,
and quickly fucceeding flame is excited *.
Our ingenious failors had little knowledge of this American cuftom ; but they knew
that when two pieces of dry wood, one of which being foft, and the other hard, are
of cedar fhoots, which tree grows here to a {mall height, and after the manner of the country by taking
raw and frozen fifh, which they powdered and ate. By thefe means, and by keeping continually at work
and in hourly exercife, moft of them got relieved and reftored to health.
“ Poffibly the cure of thefe fick men is afcribable alone to their exercife and the balfam contained in the
cedar fhoots ; this is nothing other than a turpentine ferving to purify the blood: however it appears front
this that thefe nations make ufe of raw and frozen fith, as a remedy for this complaint, and I mean to ob-
ferve this alone.”
The author noticed before fpeaks of blood as an antifcorbutic (fee page 205 to 206,). ‘* On fuch an
occafion” (that of preventing and healing the fcurvy,) he fays, “¢ we may take a precedent from the Ruf-
fians of Archangel, fome of whom pafs almoft every year the winter in Nova Zemla without being incom-
mated with this diforder ; imitating the Samoiedes in drinking frequently the blood of the frefh killed rein-
cone
Now, one remark. Uponmy reading this narrative to Mr. S. Batigne, before I gave it to the public, he,
on this occafion, obferved, that he gave credit to the efficacy of the blood of animals being drunk while
warm, as well for preventing as even for remedying this diforder ; its volatile nature being calculated to-
hinder the juices of the body from becoming clammy and thick, and to corre&t them when in that difpofi-
tion, in fuch as would make the trial. This malady proceeds from a want of due circulation of the fluids,
which when difordered communicate their bane to the whole mafs of blood. He grounded his opinion, as.
well as on other circumftances, upon the pra¢tice fo common in voyages to America, in which, when the
crew of a veffel is attacked by the feurvy, they make for one of the Turtle Iflands, called fo, from the num-
ber of thefe animals found upon them ; when the fick eat plenteoufly of that food, which, from the quantity
ef blood it contains, and that of a balfamic nature, is the moft preferable of all remedies. —On this fubject
I fhall myfelf remark a cuftom which prevails in the neighbourhood of the Alps, and in other places. When
perfons are affli&ed with pleurifies, or other complaints arifing from the want of the proper circulation of the
fluids, they are accuftomed to drink the blood of the mountain goats. Although this blood be of a hot
nature, it yet produces favourable confequences, from the volatility of its parts ; exciting remarkable tran{-
piration, and promoting {weat.
* See what Father Labat fays in his new voyages to the American Iflands.on this fubjeét, when treating -
of the Caribbees.
«« T mutt obferve in addition, that this is not the only mode of kindling fire which is practifed by the
Americans: fome among them have a particular inftrument appropriate to this fervice. It is to me an ob-
jet of furprife, that the inhabitants of Kamfchatka ufe the fame inftrument.” (Vide the before-cited
work of Miiller, page 257.) The learned author then obferved another place, where fome Ame-
ricans were taking their dinner, but who fled on his approach. He found, on proceeding to the fpot, an
arrow, and an in{trument for kindling fire, fafhioned in the fame manner as thofe ufedin Kamfchatka. In
his remarks, he fays, ‘* It is a board with feveral holes ; with a ftick, one end of which a manthrufts into
one of thefe holes, while he mills the other end between his hands ; and from the quicknefs of the motion
caufes fre, They then apply the fparks to any kind of matter of quick combuftion,””
2
violently
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