RUSSIA. 



vided with verft-pofts. See Coxe's Travels, vol. i. where 

 the road between Peterfburg 3iid Mofcow is defcribed. 



Thofe who have gone from Archangel up the Dwina and 

 the Yug by (hip, and then generally in fledges from Vologda 

 to Mofcow, unanimoufly affirm, that nowhere is more conve- 

 nient and pleafant travelling than in Ruffia ; the eye being 

 incefiantly delighted by the alternation of magnificent forefts, 

 rich paftures and corn-fields, but principally' by the inex- 

 preffible abundance of running waters. (Fletcher, pp. 414, 

 415.) This latter commendation is, however, more fitly ap- 

 plicable to the northern than to the midland and fouthern 

 parts of Ruffia, fince in thefe the rivers have a (low current, 

 and in fummer are nearly Itagnant ; fo that from Mofcow 

 quite to the Crimea fcarcely any other than bad or indifferent 

 fpring-water is found. Suyef, p. 7. 



On no topic are travellers more agreed, than in extolling 

 the fertility of mod of the Ruffian provinces. The foil, they 

 inform us, confifts generally of a black, fat mould, which 

 produces all kinds of corn and grain, orchard fruit3 and 

 garden vegetables, as alfo hemp and flax, in the greateit abun- 

 dance ; and, in many places, even without needing manure. 

 The meadows and pafture-grounds feed incredible droves 

 and herds both of large and (mall cattle : the forefts are the 

 haunts of an unfpeakable quantity of not only the choicelt 

 fpecies of game, but likewife of fuch animals as yield furs, 

 which are every where eagerly fought after : the lakes, ponds, 

 rivers, and brooks, in fhort, nourifh a far greater variety of the 

 moft delicious kinds of fifli, than all the other countries of our 

 quarter of the globe taken together. 



With refped to fertility of foil, the preference is generally 

 given to the province of Vladimir, or fomewhat rather, per- 

 haps, to that of Riazan. The foil is, in the former of thefe 

 provinces, of fuch fecundity, that not unfrequently from one 

 bufhel of fowing a produce of from twenty to thirty bufhels 

 is obtained. Still more prolific is the province of Riazan ; 

 where, according to report, very often one fingle grain of 

 wheat will fhoot out two or more ftraws, and they fo thick 

 and ftrongly grown together, that a horfe cannot eafily break 

 his way through, and growfe can with difficulty rife from 

 among them. Thefe provinces likewife produce honey, 

 wax, fifti, fowl, and all forts of game, in the greateit pro- 

 fufion, and of the bell quality ; even the human inhabitants 

 of them are bolder and more warlike than other Ruffians. 

 If any one fhould think proper to put the Ukraine and the 

 country of the Don Collacks in competition with thefe two 

 provinces, we have only to allege againft it, that, indeed, in 

 many parts of the Ukraine no manure at all is ufed ; becaufe 

 if it were, it would either burn up the farina fecundans of 

 the feed, oroidy produce enormous ftraws and foliage, defti- 

 tute of ears and fruits. The ftalks of the Ukraine corn are 

 lo tall and thick, that they are more like reed-ilems than 

 corn-ltraws. 



Honey and wax are fought for in hollow trees, where 

 the wild bees depofite their treafures, or in trunks of trees 

 excavated for the purpofe of ferving a6 hives, which the 

 boors fence with wires, to preferve them from the depreda- 

 tions of the bears. Several authors repeat the ftory, which 

 lovius heard of the ambaffador Demetrius ; that a boor once 

 looking for honey in the foreft, fell up to the neck in a hoard 

 of it in a large hollow tree, whence, after paffinga couple of 

 days in that fweet fituation, he was extricated at laft by 

 eatching hold of the hind legs of a huge bear. 



No country of Europe abounds fo much as Ruffia in fifti 

 and game, particularly in the choicelt wild-fowl, viz.. the 

 woodcock, the heath-cock, the phcafant, the partridge, the 

 builard, the fnipe, &c. Cavear was already a principal article 

 of commerce in the 1 6th century, and was exported by the 

 French, Dutch, and Englilh to Italy and France, having 



been firft brought hither by Capt. Chancellor, in the reign 

 of queen Elizabeth. It is mentioned by Shakfpeare in his 

 Hamlet : " Cavear to the multitude." But we mult break 

 off. To enter into details of wild and tame animals, of 

 mines and metals, of edible roots and vegetables, of orchard 

 fruits, of flowers and grades, of wild herbs and berries, of 

 the cheapnefs of the feveral neceffarics of life, and the gra- 

 dual increafe of their prices, would fwell this article beyond 

 all proper bounds. We rmift, therefore, content ourfelves 

 with referring the reader for thefe and other particulars to 

 the travellers who have given their obfervations to the pub- 

 lic ; fuch as Herberitein, Jovius, Olearius, Petreius, Mar- 

 garet, Dr. Fletcher, Muller, the two Gmelins, Le Bruyn, 

 Gactceris, Cook, Kerb, Tanner, Kupel, Herrmann, Ham- 

 inard, Guagnino, Coxe, and more efpecially our inqui- 

 iitive and laborious countryman Mr. Tooke ; who have 

 all treated not only of the climate, but alfo of the foil and 

 produce. 



It is eafily conceivable, that in a country of fuch vaft ex- 

 tent as Ruffia the climate muft be extremely various, and this 

 difference may even be reckoned, in fome refpeds, among its 

 advantages. In feveral provinces the winter is of long du- 

 ration, and extremely cold ; the (hort fummer is, however, 

 on that account, the hotter. And in thefe regions, for in- 

 flance about Kolmogor, Archangel, feveral diftrids of Si- 

 beria, &c. the alternations of cold and heat are uncommonly 

 rapid and frequent. The agreeable introduction to fummer 

 and winter, which we call fpring and autumn, is here 

 fcarcely known. Amidlt the burning heats of fummer in 

 thefe parts, you have frequently to contend with piercing 

 cold. A limple change of the wind is ab.le to produce this 

 ludden alteration. In a place nut quite 6o° N. lat. it fre- 

 quently happens that, after a fultry day, towards evening, 

 it the wind veers to the north, fuch a cold enfues as to render 

 a fur cloak not inconvenient. The formidable feverity of 

 the froft makes it neceffary to adopt the pradice of caulking 

 the windows and covering the outfide of the doors of the 

 apartments with a felt made of cow-hair, called by the Ruf- 

 fians voi/si. To the fame extremity of frolt it is owing, that, 

 in fome parts of Ruffia, they have no orchard fruits. 



In general the governments of Mofcow, Nifhnei-Novgorod, 

 and Kazan, together with Altrachan, the Ukraine and 

 Livonia, are the molt temperate parts of the Ruffian empire. 

 Upon the whole, the climate of Ruffia is not unfriendly to 

 health and longevity. Proofs of this may be drawn from 

 the unfrequency of difeafes among the common people com- 

 paratively with other countries, notwithftanding their intem- 

 perate manner of life, from the conliderablc number of 

 aged perfons fcen in Kuffia, though there are few phy- 

 licians, excepting in St. Peterfburg and Mofcow, which 

 fwarni with dodors and furgeons (and where it is remark- 

 able that deaths are earlier), and from the great fertility ol 

 the women. The fudden tranfitions from cold to heat, and 

 vice vcr/ci, which are occalionally experienced in Ruffia, 

 are held umvholcfoiiie by many ; audit mult be Confefled, 

 that this is true refpeding foreigners, yet only for a few 

 years, till they arc enured to thefe changes. For after- 

 wards, ftraugers as well as natives, in fpite of thefe vieiffi- 

 tudes, generally enjoy a good Hate of health in thofe pro- 

 vinces. 



The Ruffian climate has, moreover, even in thofe region? 

 where it is very rigorous and cold, its peculiar advantage* 

 and comforts, among which are the following : the winter, 

 however rude and aultere, is in fome refpect more 1 

 (ant than the winter of countries that boall of equable 

 temperature, From the middle ol November till April, 

 nay, in lomc places from September t-.ll May, it fcarcely 

 evei raini. The loads arc, therefore, u winter not lo 

 5 B .' 



