488 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



The Gostinnoi dvor, or square 

 market-place, which we see in 

 every town, constructed with 

 double arcades, one above the 

 other, as in an eastern bazar ; the 

 thick baluster-shaped column, tiie 

 pagoda fashion of the old steeples, 

 the facades adorned with painted 

 and glazed tiles, the bulging form 

 of the cupola, and its situation in 

 the centre of the building, sur- 

 rounded by four smaller ones, all 

 peculiarities common througliout 

 the Mohammedan countries of the 

 east, will sufficiently prove from 

 what quarter this people must 

 have drawn its ideas of architec- 

 ture. 



The trade of Kiev, though it 

 has attracted a few settlers from 

 Germany, is extremely dull ; it 

 consists chiefly in exportation of 

 corn and wood to the south, for 

 which salt or money is received 

 in exchange. But a very consi- 

 derable business of transit had 

 been carried on, through this 

 place, during the last year or two. 

 The articles of English manufac- 

 ture, or the produce of our colo- 

 nies, which the French prevented 

 from being introduced by more 

 direct means, found tlieir way into 

 the interior of the continent, by 

 the circuitous route of Riga or 

 Petersburg, Moscow, and the 

 south of Poland. Some parts of 

 Austria and Germany were latterly 

 supplied in this way ; and the 

 quantity of goods was so great, 

 that a mercliant, who had consi- 

 derable, dealings in this line, told 

 me he had sometimes forwarded 

 three or four hundred carts in a 

 single day. 



Expen.se of curriage, as was 

 before remarked, is not very 

 heavy ; and these articles, w hen in 



large quantities, were forwarded 

 under contract for three roubles 

 and a half, or four roubles, each 

 poud, (361b. English,) from Mos- 

 cow to Kiev. As this distance is 

 about 750 versts, or 500 English 

 miles, the rate may be considered 

 as something lower, in nominal 

 value, than the average amount of 

 the price of water carriage in 

 England. 



The necessaries of life were 

 much cheaper here than in any 

 other town of Russia which had 

 fallen within our route ; though 

 the ini)abitants of Kiev complained 

 that a great augmentation of 

 prices in general had taken place 

 during the visit of the Empress 

 Catherine, and that they never 

 afterwards sunk to their former 

 value. 



The town has become, within 

 a few years, a j)lace of greater 

 resort than formerly ; for the fair, 

 which used to be held at Dubno, 

 has been transferred hither by the 

 Emperor's command. It is to this 

 the Polish nobles, and indeed all 

 the jjeople of the country around, 

 meet for the sake of transacting 

 business, and making leases or 

 transfers of land, while at the 

 same time the merchants attend 

 with stoies of provision for sale, 

 which are purchased for the baro- 

 nial household in the wholesale 

 way ; and the concourse is im- 

 mense. .'\t present very little 

 com pany was to be seen except some 

 Greek merchants, who seemed the 

 chief beaux of the ]dace, and dis- 

 pliiyed themselves every evening 

 with their ladies in the gardens of 

 the governor. 



The resident population of Kiev, 

 including its university, is sup- 

 jiosed to be about 20,000; they 



inhabit 



