114 RUSSIA IN EUROPE. 



In the cabinet of natural history at Petersburgh, is a rhinoceros 

 dug up on the banks of the river Vaiui, with his skin, and the hair 

 upon it j perfect. 



The Russians are extremely fond of the ringing of bells, which are 

 always to be heard tinkling in every quarter. The great bell of 

 Moscow weighs, according to Mr. Coxe, " 432,000 pounds, and ex- 

 ceeds in bigness every bell in the known world. Its size is so enor- 

 mous," says that writer, " that I could scarcely have given credit to 

 the account of its magnitude, if I had not examined it myself, and as- 

 certained its dimensions with great exactness. Its height is 19 feet, 

 its circumference at the bottom twenty-one yards eleven inches, its 

 greatest thickness twenty three inches." It was cast in the reign of the 

 empress Anne : but the beam on which it hung being burnt, it fell, 

 and a large piece is broken out of it ; so that it lately lay in a manner 

 useless. Mr. Bruce in his Memoirs mentions a bell at Moscow, found- 

 ed in the reign of the czar Boris, nineteen feet high, twenty-three in 

 diameter, and two in thickness, and weighing 336,000 pounds. 



Population. ...The population of Russia has been variously repre- 

 sented by different writers. Some years since it was generally es- 

 timated at about twenty millions. Mr. Bcetticher, a German writer, in 

 his statistical tables, gives the population of the European part at 

 20,882,986, and that of the whole empire at 25 millions. Mr. Tooke, 

 In his view of the Russian Empire, states that by the lists of the re- 

 vision of the empire, drawn up in 1783, as he assures us, with the great- 

 est care and accuracy of examination, there were in the 4 1 governments 

 of which Russia then consisted, male inhabitants 12,838,529. 

 Supposing an equal number of females, the amount will be 25,677,00(5 

 Allowing for the Cossacs and unnumbered tribes and classes 1,720,000 



We shall have for the whole population in 1783 - 27,397,000 



To this number he adds, for the increase of inhabitants in 



12 years, - - - - - - - - 3,000,000 



And for the new acquisitions since 1783, or the nine new 

 governments ------- 5,755,00© 



Consequently the population of the Russian empire in 1795 



was at least -------- 36,152,000 



He afterwards deduces, from a table of the births, deaths and mar- 

 riages in the eparchies of the Greek church throughout the Russian 

 empire, in the year 1799, faithfully extracted from the general returns 

 received by the synod, that the whole number of inhabitants must 

 have then amounted, on a moderate estimate, to upwards of forty mil- 

 lions. 



Professor Storch, in his " Historico-statistical Picture of the Rus- 

 sian Empire at the end of the Eighteenth Century," likewise rates the 

 population of the whole of the Russian dominions at 36 millions of 

 souls. In 1808, according to the tables of Hassel, the population of 

 the whole Russian empire amounted to 41,404,000, and in 181 1 it was 

 calculated at 47,440,000. 



National character, manners, customs.. ..The Russians, pro- 

 perly so called, are in general a personable people, hardy, vigorous, 

 and patient of labour, especially in the field, to an incredible degree- 

 Their complexions differ little from those of the English or Scots ; but 

 the women think that an addition of red heightens their beauty, and paint 



