VOL 



VOL 



the fun, June 2'^, 1778; in which he maintains, that fuch 

 a himinous fpot was an aftual burning volcano, and not a 

 real hole th.rough the mafs of the moon, as Don Ulloa 

 afTerted it to be. This letter is inferted in the Journal dc 

 Phyfiquc for the month of June, 1781. M. jEpinus ob- 

 ferves, that the opinion of volcanoes in the moon was iiril 

 fug-gefted by Dr. Hooke, in his Micrographia, printed at 

 London in 1665 ; in the twentieth chapter of which work 

 he fpeaks at large concerning this opinion. 



Dr. Herfchel, on the 4th of May, 1783, difcovered 

 two fmall conical mountains in the very fame fpot where he 

 had obferved the volcano : thefe are fituatcd in the Mons 

 Porphyrites of Hevelius, juJl by a third mountain, much 

 larger, which Dr. Herfchel had often obferved before. 

 (See Gent. Mag. for Augnft, 1784, p. 563, Sec.) On the 

 19th of April, 1787, the fame ingenious and indefatigable 

 obferver difcovered three volcanoes in different places of the 

 dark part of the new moon. Two of them were nearly 

 extinft, or in a ftate ready to break out. The third fhewed 

 an aftual eruption of fire, or luminous matter. From an- 

 other obfervation he infers, that the diameter of this vol- 

 cano cannot be lefs than 3", and that the diameter of its 

 burning part is equal to at leaft twice that of the third fatcl- 

 lite of Jupiter, with whici; it was compared. Hence the 

 lliining or burning matter is computed to be above three 

 miles in diameter. Phil. Tranf. vol. Ixxvii. part i. p. 230. 



VOLCHOVA, in Geography, a river of Ruffia, which 

 rifes in the Ilmen lake, and runs into lake Ladoga, at Nov 

 Ladoga. 



VOLCHOVSKOI, a town of Ruflia, in the govern- 

 ment of Toboldv ; 32 miles E. of Surgut. 



VOLCI, in ylncient Geography, a town of Italy, in the 

 interior of Etruria. Ptol. 



VoLCi. See VoLSCi. 



VOLCIANI, or VoLsciANi, a people of Hifpania Ci- 

 terior, celebrated on account of the determined reply which 

 they made to the Roman ambaffadors, when they folicited 

 them to renounce their alliance with the Carthaginians. 



VOLCKACH, in Geography, a town of the duchy of 

 Wurzburg, on the Maine; II miles N.E. of Wurzburg. 

 N. lat. 49' 54'. E. long, lo"^ 14'. 



VOLCKERSBERG, a town of Weaphalia, in the 

 bidiopric of Fulda ; 12 miles S. of Enlda. 



VOLCKMANNSDORF, a town of Silefia, in the 

 principality of NeilTe ; 6 miles E. of Neiffc. 



VOLCONDA, a town of Hindoollan, in the Carnatic ; 

 95 miles S. ofArcot. N. lat. 11° 10'. E. long. 79° 10'. 



VOLCZINCY, a town of European Turkey, in Mace- 

 donia; 25 miles W. of Orhei. 



VOLENGO, a town of Italy; 23 miles W. of 

 Mantua. 



VOLERIUS, in j4iiciciit Geography, a river of Corfica, 

 whofc mouth was on the northern coa(l. Ptolemy. 



VOLERY, a great bird-cage, fo large that the birds 

 have room to fly up and down in it. 



VOLGA, in Geography, a river of Ruflia, fometin~.es 

 called by ancient writers Rha, and fomelimes /Iraxis, is de- 

 nominated by the Tartars Idel, yldal, <n- Edel, denoting 

 plenty, and by the Moravians is ilill called Rhau. It is 

 formed by two llreams, one in"uing from lake Scligcr, in 

 the goveriimeiit of Tver ; the other from a fmaller lake, 

 eight miles fro.Ti lake Seliger, which unite togetiier, N. lat. 

 56° 40'. E. long. 51° 20'. Its waters ilTue from fcvcral 

 lakes in t!ie VaUiay frontier mountains. After their union, 

 the river then takes a foutheaft courfe to Zobtzov ; it then 

 changes to north-eaft, paffcs Staritza, Tver, and Mologa ; 

 iR-ar which laft place it changes its courfe to fonth-eall, paflc; 



Vol. XXXVII. 



Jaroflavl, or Yaroflaf, Koflroma, Penza, and Kazan ; after 

 which its courfe is more fouth,pa(Ilng by S'partc, Simbirfk, Sa- 

 mara, .&c. At Samara it inclines a little to the weft, paffing 

 by Sizran, Ciivalinfk, Vollk, Kurdium, Saratof, Kamlif- 

 chin, Tzaritzin, &c.; at Tzaritzin it takes its courfe fouth- 

 eall, and pafling by Tchernoivar, and a number of other 

 towns, forts, &c. in the governments of Tver, Yaroflaf, 

 Koftroma, Nifhney-Novgorod,' Kazan, Simbirfl:, Saratof, 

 and Caucafus ; it enters the C;'.fpian fea at Allrachan, by 

 fevcral large mouths, two only of which are navigable for 

 veficls of 150 tons. It is faid to dillribute itfelf into 70 

 branches, and to form a multitude of iflands before its dif- 

 charge into the Cafpian. This is fuppofed to be the largeft 

 river in Europe, and in its courfe of 4000 verlls, is joined 

 by many other rivers ; a canal is made from it to the Neva, 

 which opens a navigable communication between the Caf- 

 pian fea and the Baltic. 



•The Volga purfues its courfe through many fertile re- 

 gions, and in the inferior part of it, pades by beauti- 

 ful forefts of oak. It very much overflows in the fpring, 

 and is then navigable in certain parts, which at other times 

 are not navigable. Its chief navigation commences at Tver. 

 It lias no catarafts, nor other dangerous places ; and it is 

 faid to become fhallower from time to time, fo as to afford 

 reafon for apprehending that it will ceafe to be navigable for 

 vefl^jls of aiiy tolerable fize. It abounds with fifli, parti- 

 cularly (lerlet, fturgeon, &c. The principal rivers which 

 join it in its courfe are the Kamma and the Oltia ; which fee 

 refpeftively. 



The Volga teems with a vafl variety of fiflt, which not 

 only fupplics the parts adjacent, but the greater part of the 

 empire, with the feveral forts of ilurgcons, with kaviar, and 

 with an incredible number of different kinds of fmaller tifh. 

 This llore of wealth, which no other river in Europe pof- 

 fefles in an equal degree, induces the countrymen about the 

 Volga to negleft agriculture, and to devote themfelves to 

 the fifliery. Among the fifh peculiar to the Volga, which 

 feldom or never come into the collateral rivers, arc the be- 

 luga, the fturgeon, the flerlet, the fevruga, the falmon, and 

 wliite falmon. But of all the fifli of the Volga, the feveral 

 kinds of ftnrgcons, and the white falmon (falmo nelma^ate 

 the beft. The beluga is from 20 to 25 fpans in length, and 

 weighs between 30 and 45 poods. Sturgeons are from 5 to 

 8 fpans long, and from 20 pounds to 2 poods in weight ; the 

 fevruga holds the middle ttation between the beluga and the 

 Ihirgeon ; the red falmon is obferved here only in the two 

 laft months of the year, and then but feldom ; the wliite 

 falmon fwim againft the ftrcam in great numbers, from the 

 beginning of January to fome time in July ; botli thefe are 

 from 3 to 5 fpans long, and at moil weigh 30 pounds. 

 The barbel is often larger and heavier, and the fturgcons 

 the largeft after the beluga. Of all the fubordinate rivers 

 that fall into the Volga, the Kamma is tlie weallhiell in fi(h, 

 and the fifh of the Kamma are held to be the beft flavoured 

 of all in Ruffia ; at leaft its fturgeon, fterlet, and while lal- 

 mon, are preferable to thofe of the Volga. Befides lliefe 

 three kinds, a principal fifti of the Kamma is a fniall f.ilmon, 

 called in Riffs Krafnaya reba, red or beautiful fifh (falmo 

 eriox, or falmo alpinus), commonly Xy, or 2 arlhincs long. 

 There is fcarcely any place in the world where fuch a variety 

 of contrivances and inllriimcnts are ufej for the capture ot 

 fidi as on the Volga, and particularly in the confines of 

 Aftrachan. Thefe inventions may be rt-duced to three, onr 

 comprifing the fiih-weirs, or utfchiugs, the fecoiul the angle, 

 and the third the net. Tlie utfchiugs are various ; but the 

 fortmoft in ufe is that called S.iboika. In the lower regions 

 of the Volga, a fifti-trap called gorodba is generally em- 

 3 N ployed ; 



