As We Proceeded On Our Way In The Afternoon, The Western Bank
Became Lower, Or Receded Farther From The Channel In Some Places,
Leaving A Few Trees Only To Fringe The Water's Edge; While The
Eastern Rose Abruptly Here And There Into Wooded Hills Fifty Or
Sixty Feet High.
The bass, _Tilia Americana_, also called the
lime or linden, which was a new tree to us, overhung the water
with its broad and rounded leaf, interspersed with clusters of
small hard berries now nearly ripe, and made an agreeable shade
for us sailors.
The inner bark of this genus is the bast, the
material of the fisherman's matting, and the ropes and peasant's
shoes of which the Russians make so much use, and also of nets
and a coarse cloth in some places. According to poets, this was
once Philyra, one of the Oceanides. The ancients are said to
have used its bark for the roofs of cottages, for baskets, and
for a kind of paper called Philyra. They also made bucklers of
its wood, "on account of its flexibility, lightness, and
resiliency." It was once much used for carving, and is still in
demand for sounding-boards of piano-fortes and panels of
carriages, and for various uses for which toughness and
flexibility are required. Baskets and cradles are made of the
twigs. Its sap affords sugar, and the honey made from its
flowers is said to be preferred to any other. Its leaves are in
some countries given to cattle, a kind of chocolate has been made
of its fruit, a medicine has been prepared from an infusion of
its flowers, and finally, the charcoal made of its wood is
greatly valued for gunpowder.
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