116 FORESTRY IN LITHUANIA. 



churches and public and private buildings in Vilna, and 

 daily improvements are still making. The present number 

 of inhabitants is about 40,000, of whom one half are Jews. 

 'The Jewish population seem all engaged in buying and 

 selling ; the men hawking their goods about the public 

 places, and the women seated before their shop doors 

 knitting stockings, and loquaciously inviting the passers 

 by to purchase of their wares. They all dress in the 

 fashion of the Polish Jews ; the men with black silk or 

 stiff long robes, in eastern style, girt upon them, and 

 round caps turned up with fur, with bushy beards and 

 long hair, shining with oil and curled ; the females are 

 somewhat more European in their attire, with rich head 

 dresses, ornamented with mock or real gems, according to 

 their ability. The great majority of them look dirty and 



'Taking leave of my Vilna friends I directed my 

 course towards Troki, the ancient residence of the Grand 

 Dukes of Lithuania, which lies about twenty miles to the 

 north-west of Vilna, We reached this district town, which is 

 beautifully situated on the lake Bressal, in the evening. 

 This lake has a communication with the river Villia by 

 a canal. The ruins of an ancient ducal palace are still 

 prominent on one of the little islands which spot the 

 bosom of this extensive lake, whose waters are clear as 

 crystal. Troki is said to have been founded by the Grand 

 Duke Gusdemin in 1321. It was burned down in 1390, 

 and ruined by the Russians in 1655. The present town 

 is divided into three parishes. In one of the churches is 

 an image of the Virgin, which occasionally attracts a 

 number of pilgrims from the surrounding country. The 

 houses are built of wood. The scenery around the lake 

 is remarkably fine in a country like this, where the eye 

 is so seldom relieved from the sameness of prospect of 

 extensive plains and woods ; and the evening being fine, 

 I greatly enjoyed it.' 



Conterminous with the government of Vilna on the 



