B A R 



252 



BAR 



te tv,>od, and by lakes, botli of salt water, and of fresh. 

 The soil and the climate are extremely favourable to 

 agriculture. Some of the lauds indeed are very low 

 and marshy, but in general they are either covered 

 with line herbage, or with luxuriant crops of giVn. 

 The southern part of this plain, towards tiie Irtish 

 the mountains of Altay, is by far the driest, but 

 it is likewise the most barren, and the ft alt adorned 

 with wood. Deep forests spread over the north, and 

 overshadow the lower banks of the Oby. From the 

 general appearance of the steppe of Baraba, natural- 

 ists have concluded that it must once have been com- 

 pletely covered with water, and afterwards have con- 

 tained a much greater number of morasses and lakes 

 than at present. The present inhabitants, indeed, af- 

 iir-n, that even within the memory of some of their 

 old men, the acquisitions made by the firm land, in 

 consequence of the diminution of the lakes, and the 

 drying up of pools, reedplots, and marshes, has been 

 very observable. No country in Siberia abounds 

 more in water game of every description than the 

 plain of Baraba. Its lakes swarm with pike, perch, 

 and other species of fish ; and their surface is cover- 

 ed with fowls, whose beautiful plumage yields a very 

 lucrative branch of commerce. 



The people who occupy this steppe are called by 

 the Russians BARABIKZES, or Barabinzians ; and, 

 from the diversity of their features, appear to be de- 

 scended from several different tribes. They had been 

 successively conquered by the Kirghises and Soon- 

 gares ; and when Siberia was subdued by the Rus- 

 sians, their numbers were very small, and they were so 

 stupified by oppression, that they could relate no par- 

 ticulars whatever of their history. The greater part of 

 them appear from their physiognomy to be of Tartar 

 origin ; the long, half-opened eyes of others of them, 

 evidently indicate their descent from the Mongoles ; 

 while the Kalmuc countenances of a third part of 

 them bespeak their affinity with the Soongares, their 

 former conquerors. The vapours constantly exhaled 

 from their lakes and marshes, render their atmosphere 

 so gross as even to affect the complexions of these 

 people, who are in general very sallow ; while the 

 same cause imparts to their minds more than Dutch 

 indifference, and more than Boeotian dulness. Agi- 

 tated by no strong passions, they are almost free 

 from vice, and never guilty of any flagrant crime. 

 Disgraced neither by intemperance, dishonesty, nor 

 violence, they might be regarded as one of the most 

 amiable nations on earth, did not their torpid apathy 

 remind us, that they are not vitious only because they 

 have no temptation, and were they not degraded by 

 their stupidity almost to the level of brutes. Till the 

 conquest of their country by the Russians, they de- 

 rived scarcely any advantage from the fertility of 

 their lands. Scanty herds of cattle and of horses 

 constituted all their wealth ; and fish and wild fowl 

 were their principal food. There are now several 

 colonies of Russians established among them, who 

 rear rich crops of grain, have established some lucra- 

 tive branches of trade, and may in time improve not 

 only the appearance and resources of the country, 

 but also the manners and mental character of the 

 simple, but rude, natives. Every village in the Ba- 

 raba is under the direction of a chief, and every dis- 

 6 



trict is governed by a sort of prince, called a yaouta. Barlwdots. 

 The only advantage connected with this elevation, is ' 

 the respect and seeming obedience which it com- 

 mands. The It.rabinzians were conquered by the 

 Russians in the year 1595 ; yet even after that time 

 were often harassed by the incursions of the Kir- 

 ghises and Soongares ; the latter of whom compelled 

 them to pay an annual tribute. Since the Sibe- 

 rian frontier line was properly defined, they have 

 enjoyed complete tranquillity under the protection of 

 the Russiana. They number about 5000 bows. Most 

 t f them have abjured Paganism, and embraced the 

 religion of Mahomet. See Voyages de Pallas, oc- 

 tavo, torn. vi. p. 436, &c. Tooke's View of the Rus- 

 sian Empire, vol. i. p. 180; vol. ii. p. 64. (k) 



BARBADOES, the most windward of the West 

 India islands, and one of the principal of those be- 

 longing to Great Britain. It is supposed to have 

 been first discovered by the Portuguese, in the cou 

 of their voyages from Brazil, and was then totally 

 uninhabited. They did not make any settlement on 

 this island, but having furnished it with a breed of 

 hogs, for the benefit of such of their countrymen as 

 might navigate the same tract, they left it in the si- 

 tuation in which they found it. The first of the Eng- 

 lish who are known to have visited Barbadoes, were 

 the cre^v of a ship from London to Surinam in 1605 

 Finding it without inhabitants, they took possession 

 of the country by fixing a cross on the spot where 

 James Tower was afterwards built, and they put on 

 it the following inscription : " James, king of Eng- 

 land and this island." The English did not, how- 

 ever, form any settlement in Barbadoes until lG2t, 

 when a few adventurers, under the patronage of the 

 earl of Marlborough, to whom James I. had made a 

 grant of the island, arrived upon it, and laid the foun- 

 dations of the tower, which still retains the name of 

 that prince. The claims of this nobleman, however, 

 were disputed by the earl of Carlisle, who received a 

 general grant of all the Carribean islands from 

 Charles I. After some time, the latter nobleman 

 became the sole proprietor of the island ; but in 1663 

 the family gave up the patent, on condition of re- 

 ceiving a permanent and irrevocable grant of 4- per 

 cent, on the produce of the island exported to other 

 partB of the world ; a burden which, according to the 

 agreement, still falls upon the colonists. The plan- 

 ters, though they felt the disadvantage of the pro- 

 prietary government, were driven into this measure 

 by the crown. The conduct of the Lord Chancellor 

 Clarendon, in promoting it, was afterwards thought 

 so justly reprehensible, as to form one of the articles 

 of impeachment brought against him by the House 

 of Commons in 1667. 



This island, according to Mr Edwards, is about 

 21 miles in length, and 14- iu breadth, and contains 

 106,4'70 acres, most of which are in a state of culti- 

 vation. The soil near Bridgetown, and in the low 

 parts of the country, is formed of a rich black earth, 

 spread on a base of calcareous rock, formed of mad- 

 ripores and other marine concretions. In some dis- 

 tricts the soil is of a red earth, of greater depth, but 

 inferior in richness ; in others it is of a light whitish 

 earth, broken into a grey mould, or hardened into lumps 

 resembling chalk, but actually consisting of indurated 



