HI 



ARCHANGEL. 



ARCHIPELAGO. 



442 



adjacent provinces. The less important productions of Archangel 

 which find their way outwards are train-oil, hemp, flax, mats, canvass, 

 skins, and furs. 



The majority of the population of Archangel is of Russian extrac- 

 tion, in the proportion of ninety-five out of every hundred souls ; the 

 remaining portion consists of Samoiedes, Laplanders, and Fins. The 

 inhabitants of the Finland districts, extending along the shores of the 

 White Sea to the gulf of Kandalask, are mostly seamen ; and to encou- 

 rage the peasantry of these parts to engage in seafaring pursuits, the 

 privilege of importing and exporting, and of selling in the towns of the 

 interior has been granted to them on condition of their carrying on the 

 fisheries along the shores of Finmark. The result is that Russia pos- 

 sesses here between 10,000 and 12,000 active and intrepid seamen, who 

 fit out about 500 vessels of different sizes for the whale and other 

 northern fisheries, and for the exigencies of their privileged trade. 



The tenets of the Greek faith are professed by all but a few Samoiede 

 Pagans, and a few of the Fins, who are Lutherans. 



Archangel consists of eight circles, namely, the city and dependen- 

 cies of Archangel, Kholmogory, Shenkursk, Pinega, Onega, Kern, and 

 Mezen. Independently of Archangel itself, the circle of that name 

 contains Nowa-Dwinskaia-Krepost, a fortress about ten miles distant 

 from the capital, on an island of the Dwina, the entrance of which it 

 defends ; close upon the ramparts is a town of about 200 houses, 

 which are mostly used aa stores by the merchants of Archangel. The 

 island of Solowezkoi, in the White Sea, is also within the limits of 

 this circle : it is the largest of a cluster lying about 150 miles N.W. 

 of Archangel, and besides a monastery to which numbers of pilgrims 

 resort, contains a borough town, the inhabitants of which prepare a 

 peculiarly pure kind of isinglass. The chief town in the circle of 

 Kholmogory bears the same name, and is situated on an island in the 

 Dwina, 35 miles S. of Archangel : it has a building-yard for ships, 

 and a school for navigation ; its environs afford pasturage for the 

 finest breed of cattle in this part of the world. The population 

 scarcely exceeds 500. Shmkurtk is the capital of the circle so called, 

 and lies on the Waga, a feeder of the Dwina, about 170 miles S. by E. 

 from Archangel : it is said to have been inhabited by the Tshudes, 

 who are supposed to have been a Finnic race, before the Russians 

 settled In the country ; and the remains of a fort built by them are 

 still to be seen on an adjacent eminence. In the circle of Pinega is the 

 inconsiderable town of the same name, on the banks of the Pinega, 

 which flows into the Dwina. The chief town in the circle of Onega 

 bears the same appellation, and is situated at the mouth of the Onega, 

 which runs into the bay of that name in the White Sea. It lies about 

 80 miles S.W. of Archangel, and possesses a good harbour, is engaged 

 in ship-building, and exports timber, tar, and pitch. The number of 

 its inhabitants is about 2000. Kem, the capital of the circle of that 

 name, which once formed part of the province of Olonetz, and has 

 latterly been incorporated with that of Archangel, is a small town 

 with a harbour, not far from the efflux of the Kem into the White 

 Sea. Kola, or Kolkoi-Ottroy, the principal place in Russian Lapland, 

 in 68' 20' N. lat., 32 30' E. long., is the northernmost town of Russia 

 in Europe : it is situated in the fork between the Tuloma and Kola, 

 which after uniting their waters form a good harbour, and flow into 

 the Arctic Ocean. Its inhabitants, in number about 1200, are employed 

 in catching walruses, cod, and whales, and traffic in furs and hides. 

 There is a copper-mine in its vicinity. Kola is about 630 miles N. from 

 St. Petersburg. It should here be observed that the Fiilleds districts, 

 formerly belonging to Norway, have constituted a portion of Russian 

 Lapland, by virtue of the frontier treaty concluded between Russia 

 and Sweden, ever since the year 1826. Part of the river Pasvig, and 

 the Jacob's Elve, now separate Swedish from Russian Lapland. 

 Neiden and Peise, two places within the latter, are the resort of the 

 native traders. The capital of the circle of Mtztn, as well as the chief 

 town in the territory of the European Samoiedes, bears the same name 

 as the circle, and lies on the river Mezen, 28 miles from the Icy Ocean, 

 where it forms a harbour : it is inhabited wholly by Russians, who 

 number about 2000, and make excursions on an extensive scale to 

 .Spitzbergen and the islands of Kalguiew and Nova-Zembla, and bring 

 back with them the produce of their toils by land and sea, in such quan- 

 ;is to give rise to considerable traffic. Mezen is about 140 miles 

 K. N . K. from Archangel. The other spots deserving of notice in the land 

 of the 1','ir i|i -in Samoiedes are Putt-Oitril; the central point of their 

 dealings, which lies on a lake of the same name connected with the 

 Petehora, consists of about 50 houses, and has 17 villages dependent 

 upon it ; this place is resorted to even by the fur-dealers of Wologda, 

 St. Petersburg, and Moscow, who reach it in October and No.vember, 

 and leave it shortly before Christmas. The natives breed reindeer in 

 such large numbers that many of them possess herds of 1000 each. 

 Pust-Osersk is about 150 miles to the N.E. of Mezen, and lies on a 

 lake near the mouth of the Petshora. About 140 miles S. from 

 Pust-Osersk lies Ust-Zulma, on the right bank of the Petshora ; it 

 contains 120 houses, and has four villages within its district : besides 

 rearing reindeer and raising barley, the inhabitants deal largely 

 with the Russian traders in furs and the produce of their fisheries. 

 And about 60 miles fart], Ishma (or Ishemsliaja- 



Sloliodka) on the banks of the Ishma ; it consists of 64 houses, and 

 has several villages within its jurisdiction. Rye and barley are 

 cultivated near this spot ; the natives breed considerable numbers 



of reindeer, and carry on a thriving trade in furs, tallow, butter, and 

 dried fish. 



The islands of Kalguiew, Warandei, Waigatz, Nova-Zembla, and 

 Tshorni are the chief among the insular dependencies of the province 

 of Archangel. 



ARCHANGEL (known amongst the Russians by the name of Gorod 

 A rkhangdskoe, or ' town of the convent of St. Michael the Archaugel ') 

 is the capital of the province of Archangel, and the most northern 

 emporium of trade in the Russian dominions. It stands on a low flat 

 in 64 32' N. lat., 40 33' E. long., 400 miles N.E. from St. Petersburg. 

 The city extends about two miles along the right bank of the Dwiua, 

 and is 40 miles from the mouth of that river. It is not accessible to 

 vessels of heavy burden, owing to the shallowness of the river and a 

 bar which runs across it, with only 14 feet of water, about five miles 

 below the town. Vessels that draw more than 14 feet water receive 

 or discharge part of their cargo below the bar. Archangel ia the oldest 

 port in the Russian dominions. It was founded in the year 1584, upon 

 a spot previously selected as a homestead by the members of a religious 

 establishment. Russia at this time possessed no port but Archangel 

 in its whole dominions. The city is now become the chief mart of 

 the Russian northern trade, as it was formerly of all the traffic between 

 Muscovy .and foreign parts. The prosperity of the port received a 

 shock from the establishment of St. Petersburg, from which it did not 

 recover till the empress Elizabeth placed its immunities on a level 

 with those of the metropolis in the year 1762. It has since been 

 increasing gradually in importance. During the hundred years which 

 preceded 1827 the exportations of Archangel did not amount to more 

 than 23,350,OOOA, or on an average 233,500^. a year. 



The export trade of Archangel stood thus in the years 1841, 1842, 

 and 1846 : 



Vessels cleared in 



1841 . . 320 



1842 . . 296 

 1846 . . 634 



Value of cargoes. 



575,780 



427,789 



1,063,700 



The shipping of 1846 includes 368 British ships, 266 foreign ships, 

 and 132 coasters. This great increase in 1846 was chiefly owing to 

 the activity in the corn trade. The shipping of 1841-42 does not 

 include coasters. The exports consist of linseed, rye, oats, wheat, 

 barley, flax, tow, tallow, train-oil, mats, deals, battens and ends, pitch 

 and tar. Many of the items here named are carried down the Dwina 

 and its feeders in boats or on rafts, chiefly from the government of 

 Vologda, for shipment at Archangel. The imports, which are gene- 

 rally confined to the town and neighbourhood, are sugar, coffee, spices, 

 salt, woollens, hardware, &c. 



The port of Archangel is connected by canals with the Volga and 

 the Neva, so that it has water communication with the Black Sea. 

 The navigation is open generally from May to the end of September, 

 and during this period the river is covered with vessels and boats of 

 all sizes ; the quays and shores are peopled with multitudes, variously 

 and actively employed ; and the great road from Siberia is covered 

 with travellers and loaded carts and waggons. The houses in Arch- 

 angel are chiefly built of wood : the population is 24,000. There are 

 a sugar-refinery,- royal dock-yard, ship-yards for building merchant 

 and coasting vessels, ropewalks, &c., in and near the town. The most 

 striking of the stone edifices is the Gostinnoi-Dwor, or ' court of the 

 trading guests,' an extensive mart for the exhibition and sale of goods, 

 which is surrounded by high walls, with six large towers, and ditch. 

 The churches are eleven in number, ten Greek and one Protestant. The 

 marine hospital is a building of some extent, and open to foreign as 

 well as native seamen. There are in the town a seminary for ecclesi- 

 astics, a gymnasium, and academies for navigation and engineering. 

 Archangel is an ill-built place ; the two main streets run in a zigzag 

 direction parallel with the Dwina, and are connected by narrow lanes. 

 Its supplies of provisions are brought from a distance, as the soil in 

 the neighbourhood grows no grain or vegetables, and breeds no cattle. 

 An association called the ' White Sea Company,' was formed at Arch- 

 angel in 1803 ; it dispatches a fleet of vessels every year on fishery 

 expeditions to the coasts of Nova-Zembla, Kalguiew, and Spitzbergen, 

 at the last of which the crews frequently winter. Archangel is the 

 seat of an archbishop, and the residence both of a civil and military 

 governor. It has a naval and military arsenal ; from 5000 to 6000 seamen 

 are stationed here. 



(M'Gregor's Statistics; Pi-irate Communication.) 



ARCHIPE'LAGO, a geographical term applied to a sea interspersed 

 with many islands. The sea generally known by this name, when not 

 qualified by some word prefixed, lies between the shores of Greece 

 and Asia Minor. The origin of the term Archipelago appears rather 

 doubtful : the second part of the term certainly is pdagus, ' the sea,' a 

 Greek and Latin word ; and the first part has been conjectured to be 

 a corruption of Argeios, ' Grecian,' or it is possibly a corruption of 



. 



1. Chagos A rchipelagn, in the Indian Ocean, extends from the south 

 end of Diego Garcia (or Chagos) Island, in 7 29' S. lat., to the north 

 end of Speaker's Bank, in 5 40' S. lat., and from the meridian of 71 

 to 73 E. It is. composed entirely of coral islets, of which Diego 

 Garcia is the largest: they have all very deep water close to them, and 

 are covered with tall cocoa-nut trees. These islands abound in land- 

 crabs and green turtle, and have a plentiful variety of fish ; fresh-water 



