Biographical Memoir of Peter Simon Pallas. 231 



a scheme, and the consequence was, that he lost two-thirds of 

 his empire. 



Pallas does not leave us ignorant of any of the mysteries or 

 rites of this religion. In general, he displays as much capacity 

 for detailing the customs and opinions of nations, as he proved 

 himself qualified, in his first works, to describe the productions 

 of nature. It is difficult to comprehend why this work has not 

 lx?en translated, while so many insignificant journeys are daily 

 issuing from the press. 



An essential part of the history of nations, that which leads 

 us farther back than all written documents, is the knowledge of 

 their languages. It is by this, and not by any traditions, that 

 we may be enabled most successfully to judge of their descent, 

 and to trace their genealogy ; and there is no government in 

 existence better calculated to favour this important study than 

 the Russian, the subjects of which speak more than sixty dif- 

 ferent languages. The Empress Catherine II. formed the inge- 

 nious idea of getting comparative vocabularies drawn up of all 

 the tribes subjected to her sceptre * ; she herself laboured at it 

 for some time, and directed Pallas, who of all her literati had 

 seen most tribes, and learned most languages, to collect the 

 Asiatic vocabularies, restricting him, however, to the list of 

 words which she had drawn up. It will not afford matter of 

 surprise, that a woman and a sovereign should not have selected 

 these words so usefully, and with such profound views, as a pro- 

 fessed etymologist would have done ; and it is difficult to ima- 

 gine how those whom she appointed her fellow labourers in this 

 work, had not ventured to represent to her the defects of her 

 plan. Besides, it will be perceived that a mere vocabulary 

 could not afford an idea of the mechanism and spirit of lan- 

 guages ; but still it was a valuable work, and one that has been 

 highly useful to othei* literati in their researches. 



The Empress bestowed on Pallas many other marks of her 

 confidence. He was an active member of the Commission appoint- 

 ed in 1777, with the view of making a new Topography of the 

 Empire ; he was named Historiographer of the Admiralty, a si- 

 tuation which obliged him to give his opinion on scientific ques- 



• Linguarum totius orbis vocabularia comparativa, Augustissimse cum 

 collecta. 2 vols. 4to. Petersb. 1786 and 1789. 



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