Chap. II. Northern Coafts ^Europe. . 469 
bad the Charge of the Czar’s Sables, we alked him if 
he would fell us fome ? He anfwered, he would, enquir- 
ing how many we wanted? We anfwer’d, all he had, if he 
would let us have them a Pennyworth, He then carried 
us to the Warehoufe, where there were five Zimmers, 
each Zimmer fifty Pair; among which there were two 
Zimmers of the finefl I ever faw, as black as Jet *, for 
which we paid him five hundred Ducats ; and we had the 
other three Zimmers for eight hundred Crowns, or four 
hundred Ducats. We bought all the Skins he had ; they 
w^ere fealed with the Czar’s Arms. After we had paid 
him his Money, he would treat us again at the Caftle. ■ 
He ordered two Boats prefently to get fome frefh Fifh 
for us ; he killed a young Rain-Deer, and roafted fome 
Wild-fowl that his Servants had brought in. We had a 
noble Entertainment of Fifh, andFowd, and young Rain- 
Deer Venifon, which is good Meat ; we drank Brandy 
and Metheglin eight Flours together ; and the Fumes 
had got up into my Head fooner, had I not every now' 
and then eat a Mufeovite Bifket, the beft Bread in the 
World. The Governor and his Guefts at laft began to 
be top-heavy ; and we all lay do'wn to reft on white 
Bear-Skins, for he had no Beds to lodge us in. We flept 
fix or feven Flours, and then rofe. Our Hoft prefented 
each at our Uprifing- with a Brimmer of Brandy. ’ 
We then w^ent about the Towm to try if there was any 
1 rade to be driven with the Inhabitants. The Governor 
ordered one of his Under-Officers to accompany us ; and 
we bought of feveral People two thoufand grey Squirrels, 
four Dozen of Ermines, five hundred Fox-Skins, the 
greateft Part of them as white as Snow, fix fcore of 
white Wolf-Skins, two hundred Martens of a greyifh 
Colour. All of them coft four hundred Ducats. We 
obliged them to take half in Copper, becaufe it incum- 
bered us, and half in Cafh. We went back to the Caftle, 
whither we fent our Merchandize, and where we packed 
it up in Bales. The packing Cloth was made of the fame 
foruof Stuff as the Sails of the Bark fent to the Ships. 
Our Goods being thus taken care of, we refolved that 
one of our Accountants fhould return with them to our 
Ships. To that end we entreated our Floft the Gover- 
nor to furnifn us with a Bark, which he did ; and we 
hired, three Borandians to affift the Accountant in his 
Voyage ; the Governor paffing his Word for them that 
they fhould be trufty and do us no wrong. For the 
tlire of the Bark and the Borandians Wages, w^e paid 
him ten'Ducats more, and prefented the Borandiafis with 
fome Ends of Tobacco. The Governor engaged to fa- 
nsfy them farther for their Trouble when they came 
back. 
Our Accountant embarking, fet fail, theWind Eaft-fouth- 
eaft, and v/e fell to drinking again with our Hoft the Gover- 
nor. i he Gentleman who had entertained us at Vitzora, 
accompanied us to Petzora, and drank fo hard, that I 
could not imagine wffiere he found Stowage for fo much 
Brandy and Metheglin as he fwallowed. We continued 
tippling four Hours together, and then laydown, accord- 
ing to Cuftom, on Bear-Skins to repole ourfelves. As 
foon as we awoke, our Supercargo defired the Governor 
of Petzora to hire us fome Rain-Deer, to carry us into 
Siheria^ a Province which fome Geographers place in 
Europe, and others in Afia. He furniflied us with feven 
Rain-Deer and feven Sledges ; one for our Supercargo, 
one for our other Accountant, one for myfelf, two for 
our two Seamen, one for our Guide, and the other to 
load our Tobacco and Brandy. The Provifions he fup- 
plied us with, were to laft till we arrived at Papinow- 
gorod, another City in the Province of Petzora, on the 
the Borders of Siberia. Our Fador took what Money 
he had left with him ; and the feven Rain-Dcer beini 
put to the feven Sledges, the Governor ordered anothe^ 
to be got ready for one of his Domeftics, whom he com- 
manded to wait upon us feven Leagues of our way to a 
•Village, where we were to change our Rain-Deer, and 
give them to the Governor’s Servant to carry back. 
For all which he was to have four Ducats. He would 
not let us go till we had drank five or fix Glafles of 
'■Brandy at parting. 
We gave both him and our Hoft of Vitzora hearty 
1 hanks for their kind Entertainment, and then got into 
VoL, IF Numb. iqi. 
our Sledges. The Ways were vel'y difficult to pafs. 
liad no beaten Road, and were four Hours before we- 
could fee any living Creature ; at laft we met four white 
Bears, of an exceffive Bignefs , they croffed our Way^ 
and feeing us, fled into a Wood. Two Hours after we 
came to a Village, confifting of feven or eight Cottages ; 
there was no body in them, the Inhabitants being all 
gone a Hunting.' V/'e alighted out of our Sledges tc? 
bait a little on the Provifions we brought with us. While 
we were eating, five or fix Men, v/ith their Wives and 
Children, returned from hunting, which it feems had 
been very lucky to them, for they brought in with them 
fix Bear-Skins, four Wolf-Skins, a couple of Ermines^ 
and eight Sables. The People of the Place were fur- 
prized to fee us there, and would have fled from us, had 
not the Governor of Petzora’ s Servant affured them we 
were Friends and Merchants, bound for P apinowgorod^ . 
When they underftood we were Traders, they came up 
tons, and viewed us narrowly. They wondered to fee 
fo many Strangers in a Place fo unfrequented. They 
were aftonifhed at our Way of Drefs, our Looks and 
Shape, as alfo at our Language, fo different frpm theirs, 
and fo unintelligible to them ; however, we dealt with 
them, by the Affiftance of our Interpreter ; we bought ail 
the Skins that they dared to fell us ; and they, lent u.n 
Rain-Deer and Sledges, to carry us as far as the Mouth 
of the River Papinowgorod. 
II. When we parted from them, we left the Courfe 
of the River Petzora, and proceeded to that of Papino^^v- 
gorod, the Ways were almoft unpaffable, yet, with 
much Difficulty and Fatigue, our Rain-Deer drew 
us over Mountains and Valleys, through Woods and Fo- 
refts, tor three Hours before we met with Man, Wo- 
man, or Elabitation. When we had travelled fo long, 
and approached near a thick Wood, we efpied five Men 
in white Bear-Skin Robes, after the Mufeovite Fafhion ; 
each of them had a P'uzee on his Shoulder, a Pouch on 
one Side, and a Knife and Sheath on the other, like the 
Borandian Huntfmen. They feemed to make up towards 
us, for which Reafon our Guide, who underftood the Ma- 
nagement of Rain-Deer, immediately flopped them ; and 
by that Time the five Men were advanced fo near us, that 
we could hear them ; one of them perceiving that v/e 
were Strangers, bid us Good-morrow in the German Lan- 
guage, wiiliing they were as free as we were. Cur Su- 
percargo, who was a Native of the Lovoer Saxony, hear- 
ing him talk his own Tongue, affied him what Country- 
man he was ? The Man anfwered him to his Satisfadlion ; 
and, entering into a longer Converfation, they recol- 
lected things in their Minds, by which they underftood 
that they had formerly been intimately acquainted. Our 
Supercargo alighted out of his Sledge, embraced him, 
and demanded hov/ he came there ? The Man replied, he 
was one of thofe whom the Grand King, or Czar, had 
lately baniffied for hunting Sables. 
This is a Crime that is punilbed with Banifhment, and 
that in Mufeovy is equivalent to the Galleys in France. Some 
are baniffied for ten Tears, fome for fix, fome for three, 
fome for more, and fome for lefs ; after which' they have 
their Liberty to go where they pleafe. The more 1 look- 
ed on one of the five Men, the more I thought I had 
feen him before, and alighte*! out of my Sledge to fa- 
tisfy my Curiofity. As foon as I was on the Ground, 
the Man who remembered me better than I did him, 
ran to me and embraced me ; fighing, afked me, in the 
'French Tongue, whence I came, and whither I went ? 
I was fomewhat furprized at it, becaufe I could not yet 
call to mind who he was ; his Habit had ftrangely al- 
tered him ; his Beard was long, and his Head bald ; be-* 
Tides, he was fo fallen away, he was nothing but Skin 
and Bones. Seeing I could not recoiled: where I had 
known him, he told me his Name, and that he had 
drank very often with me at Stockholm. I then remem- 
bered that, indeed, he was the Man to whom I had been 
very much obliged, for the many Civilities I had receiv- 
ed from him in Sweden : He was a Gentleman by Birth, 
a Lorrainer, and was Lieutenant-Colonel of a Regiment 
of Mufeovite Horfe. He would fain have perfuaded me 
to go with him to Mofeow, promifing to procure me an 
6 D honourable 
