Sketch of Siberia, gc. 33 
itself in the Baikal. Verchney Udinsk, a populous city on the banks 
of the transparent Selenga, is on the frontier line, and is the great 
mart between Irkutsk and Kiakhta, by way of Selenginsk, which is 
seventy miles distant from Verchney Udinsk, on the frontier. Ki- 
akhta is a regular built town, placed in the centre of a stony, sterile 
basin, but the surrounding hills rising in an imposing manner, spread 
away, and almost redeem the desolation of the vallies, by the grace- 
fulness of their outline. The little brook Kiakhta runs in front of 
the fortress, and is, at this place, the boundary line between these 
mighty empires. A little beyond, is what is called Old Kiakhta or 
the town of Commerce—the residence of the merchants only—no 
officers, or strangers, or women, being permitted to remain init. It 
contains a great number of rich stores, surrounding an oblong hollow 
square, in the centre of which the Chinese reside, and around the 
sides display their goods in the most fantastical manner. ‘These 
men are courteous and affable, but maintain with scrupulous jealousy 
the antiquity of the great empire, and its superiority, and that of its 
descendants, over all other lands and tribes; guarding their borders 
from the profane curiosity of foreigners, with the same suspicious 
policy which is exercised in Canton. In this little district, by com- 
mon consent, they dismiss ceremony in entering the Russian and 
Chinese villages; the best understanding prevails, and the business 
of the Fair, is transacted with liberality and good faith. The Chi- 
nese give no credit, but credit is given by the Russians. This is the 
grand place of exchange between Russia and China, where the for- 
mer send their furs, woollens, and Walrus ivory, and receive in re- 
iurn, the teas, muslins, nankeens, silks, porcelain, pictures, and carv- 
ed trinkets of China. The distance from Kiakhta to Pekin, is one 
thousand five hundred miles, one thousand of which is through Mon- 
golian Tartary, a well peopled territory, nominally subject to China. 
The consumption of tea almost surpasses belief; it is used not only 
by the refined and polite, but throughout Siberia, the wildest savages 
receive it for their furs, and seem not to hold it second in value even to 
spirits and tobacco. ‘Three millions of pounds have been imported by 
Russia in one year, and the annual amount, it is presumed, does not 
vary materially. The choicest furs are not sold in China, but the 
precious ermines of Yakutsk—the best sables—and the finest fiery 
red foxes, are sent to Moscow, and Novogorod, for the use of the Rus- 
sians, Turks and Persians. 
Vou. XVIL.—No. 1. 5 
