245 



RUSSIA AND CHINA. 



Siberian merchants a few Chinefe commodities, which 

 they bring with them. 



Formerly the commerce carried on at Zuruchaitu was 

 more -confiderable ; but at prefent it is fo trifling, that 

 it hardly deferves to be mentioned. Thefe Mongols 

 furnilli the diihidt of Nerfliinlk with bad tea and to-^'""""'* 

 bacco, bad fdks, and fome tolerable cottons. They re- 

 ceive in return ordinary furs, cloth, cattle, and Ruffian 

 leather. This trade lafts about a month or fix weeks, 

 and the annual duties of the cuifoms amount upon an 

 average to no more than 500 roubles. About the mid- 

 dle of Auguft the Mongols retire ; part proceed imme- 

 diately to China, and the others defcend the ftream of 

 the Amoor as far as its mouth, in order to obferve if 

 there has been no ufurpation upon the limits. At the 

 fame time the Ruffian merchants return to Nerfliinfic, 

 and, were it not for the fmall garrifon, Zuruchaitu would; 

 remain uninhabited '•'. 



The Ruffian commodities are tranfported by land Irii'l^maa^ 

 from Peterfburg and Mofcow to Tobolik. From thence cnmmm'iint.s 



tlir.jugh bi- 



the merchants may embark upon the Irtifli down to its^'^"- 

 junction with the Oby ; then they either tow up their 

 boats, or fail up the laft mentioned river as far as 



* S. R. G. TIL p. 465. Pallas Relfe, P. III. p. .,28. 



7 Marym,- 



