178 Of the Checks to Population in Bk. i. 



great and wasting epizooties are frequent among 

 the cattle.* In the districts near the Wolga, 

 though the soil is naturally rich, yet droughts are 

 so frequent, that there is seldom more than one 

 good harvest out of three.f The colonists of 

 Saratof, after they had been settled for some years, 

 were obliged to remove on this account to other 

 districts; and the whole expense of building their 

 houses, amounting to above a million of rubles, 

 was remitted to them by the empress.^: For pur- 

 poses either of safety or convenience, the houses 

 of each colony are all built contiguous or nearly 

 so, and not scattered about upon the different 

 farms. A want of room is in consequence soon 

 felt in the immediate neighbourhood of the village, 

 while the distant grounds remain in a state of very 

 imperfect cultivation. On observing this in the 

 colony of Kotschesnaia, Pallas proposed that a 

 certain part should be removed by the empress 

 to other districts, that the remainder might be 

 left more at their ease.§ This proposal seems to 



tion, which had been observed, were to continue in force, no 

 abundance of food could materially increase the number of people. 

 But the precise way in which such an abundance operates is by 

 diminishing the immediate checks which before prevailed. Those, 

 however, which may remain, either from the difficulty of changing 

 habits, or from any unfavourable circumstances in the soil or cli- 

 mate, will still continue to operate in preventing the procreative 

 power from producing its full effect. 



* Voy. de Pallas, torn. iii. p. 17. torn. v. p. 41 1 . 



t Id. torn. v. p. 252. et seq. 



% Tooke's Russian Empire, vol. ii. p. 245. 



§ Voy. de Pallas, torn. v. p. 253. 



