hich serves them as a skin or covering.

_Exterior_, the outside.

Does it not undergo some change during the year?

Each year the bark of a tree divides, and distributes itself two
contrary ways, the outer part gives towards the skin, till it becomes
skin itself, and at length falls off; the inner part is added to the
wood. The bark is to the body of a tree, what the skin of our body is
to the flesh.

Of what use is Bark?

Bark is useful for many things: of the bark of willows and linden
trees, ropes are sometimes made. The Siamese make their cordage of the
cocoa tree bark, as do most of the Asiatic and African nations; in the
East Indies, they make the bark of a certain tree into a kind of
cloth; some are used in medicines, as the Peruvian bark for Quinine;
others in dyeing, as that of the alder; others in spicery, as
cinnamon, &c.; the bark of oak, in tanning; that of a kind of birch is
used by the Indians for making canoes.

What are Canoes?

Boats used by savages; they are made chiefly of the trunks of trees
dug hollow; and sometimes of pieces of bark fastened together.

How do the savages guide them?

With paddles, or oars; they seldom carry sails, and the loading is
laid in the bottom.

Are not the savages very dexterous in the management of them?

Yes, extremely so; they strike the paddles with such regularity, that
the canoes seem to fly along the surface of the water; at the same
time balancing the vessels with their bodies, to prevent their
overturning.

_Dexterous_, expert, nimble.

Do they leave their canoes in the water on their return from a voyage?

No, they draw them ashore, hang them up by the two ends, and leave
them to dry; they are generally so light as to be easily carried from
place to place.

Were not books once made of Bark?

Yes, the ancients wrote their books on the barks of many trees, as on
those of the ash and the lime tree, &c.

Which part did they use?

Not the exterior or outer bark, but the inner and finer, which is of
so durable a texture, that there are manuscripts written on it which
are still extant, though more than a thousand years old.

Is it not also used in Manure?

Yes, especially that of the oak; but the best oak bark is used in
tanning.

What is Cork?

The thick, spongy, external bark of the Cork Tree, a species of oak.
There are two varieties of this tree, the broad-leaved and the narrow:
it is an evergreen, and g