482 JVOYA 
and the Emperor ordering him to be fearched, to fee what 
Arms he had about him j there was nothing to be found 
but the Petition. The Emperor having read it, fmote 
his Breaft, and appeared mightily concerned that he had 
murdered an innocent Perfon, faying, “ His Blood 
lhall lie at SeUicoro^s Door, who was the real Caufe of 
his Death.’’ He fent for him, and not being fatisfied 
with giving him a fevere Reprimand, banilhed him 
the Court, turned him out of all his Places, which he 
gave to Najhokin^ with an Exprefs command to enquire 
out Selticoro^s Mifdemeanours. 
This Accident happened not long ago, and yet is not 
much talked of. For it is Death to tell what is faid or 
dope in the Czar’s Court. The Author going once to 
view the Workhoufe, built for thofe that were to manu- 
fadfure Hemp and Flax, juft as it was finilhedj and 
afking the Workmen, what Ufe it was defigned for, 
not one of them durft make any Anfwer, though they 
knew what was the Defign well enough ^ All that he 
could get out of them was, T^'hat God and the Czar only 
knew. The Czar iifed every Night to vifit the Chancel- 
lor’s Regifters, to examine what Decrees had paft, and 
what Caufes were depending. Such poor Gentlemen as have 
nothing to maintain them, but what he gives them, are 
his Spies, of whom he has many in all Places. In his 
Armies, at all wedding Feafts, in all Embaftadors 
Houfes, in all public or private Aflemblies, they tell 
him what they hear or fee, and he governs himfelf ac- 
cordingly. The Czar’s Children are ferved by other 
Children, who are bred up with them, and are well 
educated in all Sorts of Knowledge, fuitable to their 
Birth. 
Trade is now very low in Mufcovy *• two ftlths of all 
the Inhabitants having periflied in the late War ; befides 
the new Impofitions laid on all Merchandize, the Cuf- 
tom-houfe Officers fake away Merchants Goods by 
Force, and compel them to fell them for Copper Money, 
which has funk the Price of feveral Commodities, and 
raifed others as much, and put a Stop to the Currency ol 
Commerce in general. Several great Traders were un- 
done by it ; fome of them fell fo in Defpair upon it, 
that they hanged themfelves •, and others fpent what 
they had, in Cabacks and Brandy-fhops, to drive away 
Care •, which not being ufed to before, their Debauche- 
ries foon put an End to their Lives. Englijh Cloth is 
not fo good a Commodity in Ruffia^ as that ot Holland j 
and though the Latter flirinks above a fixteenth Part 
when ’tis wet, yet the Ruffians prefer it to the former, 
becaufe they are of Opinion that it is only new Cloth 
which fhrinks. The Englijh are to blame to give way 
to their Fancy, and to carry on a Trade with them, 
which the Hollanders manage fo much more to their 
Intereft; their ordinary Cloth and Trifles turning to bet- 
ter Account than the beft Commodity the Englijh can 
bring them, by the wrong Judgment of the Riiffians. If 
the I'rade for Silks to Rerfia and the Indies ffiould in- 
creafe, the Englijh will find it a hard Matter to recover 
their former Privileges and Immunities in Ruffm j for 
the Ruffians are grown ftaarper, and corrupted by the 
Dutch correfponding fo long with thehi. I'hey are more 
numerous in Mufcovy and richer than the Englijh. They 
fpare for nothing to ruin the Trade of England in Ruj- 
and fucceed in it more than fome imagine. They 
bribe the Nobility, by Prefents, to defend and protedt 
them, and render the Englijh contemptible and ridicu- 
lous, by fcandaious Libels and abufive Pidures. 
They looked upon the Engliff, a few Years ago, as a 
ioft and undone People. _ I'hey are fuch perfed Slaves, 
that they have a mean Opinion ot all thofe who are free. 
The Dutch would fare no better, did not they pay dear- 
ly for the Friendfliip of the Favourites and Minifters in 
Mufcovy. They reprefent the Englijh Nation by a Lion 
without a Tail-, with three Crowns on his Plead, turned 
iipfide down, or by Maftiffs, with their Ears and Tails 
cut off. Thefe foolifli droll Pieces were done at a Time 
when they had no Reafon to fpeak very well of the En- 
glijh ^ who had begun a War with them for the leaft Pro- 
vocation in the World. The only Way for the Englijh 
to recover their Reputation and Trade in Ruffia., and to 
IdTen the Credit and Commerce of the Dutch, would 
G E the Book IL 
be for them to fuffer no-body to deal there, but fuch as 
could trade with ready Money, and not upon Truft, as 
their Merchants haVe done for this twenty Years •, and 
to fend an Embaffy to the Czar, to inform him of the 
flouriffiing Condition of the Englijh Dominions ; of their 
Strength, Greatnefs, Revenues, and their Colonies in 
both the Indies i to fbew him Maps of all their Territo- 
ries over the whole Earth, and Plans of their Forts and 
Cities. They ought alfo to undeceive Affanafty Najhokinj 
to whom their Nation has been vilely milfeprefented 
by the Hollanders., and to prefent Cogden Matfeig with 
fome Curiofities that he loves. The firft would make 
it a Point of Policy to encourage them, when he under- 
flood the true Nature of the Cafe •, and the other would 
procure them the Emperor’s Favour, of which he is al- 
ways furc. The Author’s Arguments on this Subject are of 
no Weight now j the Figure the Englijh^^^Gon has made 
abroad lince the Revolution, needs no Embaffy to found 
its Fame. The Ends of the Earth have heard of it with 
Wonder, and the Czar, as the Queen of Sheba did td 
Jerufalem, came in Perfon to be a Witnefs of its Glory, 
.23. Siberia is a large Province, the greateft Part of 
which is If err a Incognita, which reaches to the Walls 
of Cathay. Befides what Account of it I had from the 
Gentleman of Lorrain, I met with feveral Perfons in my 
Travels in thefe Parts, who had been over a great Parc 
of Siberia, and on whofe Relations I can depend. One 
of them in particular, had travelled fo far, that he 
traded with the Chinefe ; and the other, who was more 
ignorant, though not lefs faithful, affured me that he 
went fo far, that he faw a Sea with Ships, and Men 
aboard them, who wore no Hair but on their upper 
Lips, who were richly dreffed, and covered all over with 
Gold and Jewels. Their Garments being quite different 
from thofe of the Ruffians, by the Defeription he gave of 
them, in all Probability, they muft be Chinefe Mer- 
chants j for the Sea could be no other than that of the 
Kaimochites, on the North-eaft Part of Great If artary, or 
that of the Gulph of Nankin in China. The latter^ 
brought fome Chay and Bourdian out of Siberia with 
him. The former is what we call Ifea, the latter, Am^ 
fum Indicum Stellatum, a phyfical Drug. 
The Chinefe Merchants have taught thofe of Siberia to 
drink the Chay with Sugar as we do ; and they take 
it to be an excellent Remedy for all fuch as are troubled 
with any Difeafe of the Lungs, with Hypochondriacal 
Flatus’s, and ill Difpofition of Stomach. They bring it 
to them in Papers, containing each a Pound, the Weight 
and Name being written on each Paper, in Chinefe Cha- 
radters. ' Thofe that would travel through Siberia, are 
fix Years on their Journey, occafioned by the extraordi- 
nary Pleat and Cold of the Climate, which obliges them 
to lodge all the Winter in certain Places, and all the 
Summer in others. Tumbut, or as others fay, Siber, is 
the Capital of this vaft Province ; here the chief W ay- 
vod, or Viceroy, refides. Furss Marten-Skins efpecially, 
which are to be had nowhere elfe, are the principal Com- 
modities of this Country. They eat dried Fifh inftead or 
Bread, which is not to be feen in all the Province, un- 
lefs the Traveller carries it along with him. There is 
plenty of all Manner of Fifii in their Lakes and Ri- 
vers, in which they abound. They feed their Dogs^ with 
it, and even their Cows in cold Weather, which is ex- 
ceffive in Siberia, by which means their Milk, generally 
fpeaking, has a fiffiy I'afte. 
There is abundance of Filbert-trees of a prodigious 
Bignefs, and the Kernel of the Nut is of a Size anfwer- 
able to that of the Tree that bears it. They go a 
hunting in Troops, for fix or feven Weeks together, 
covered over with three or four Skins, and drawn along 
in a Sledge, by thirty or forty huge Dogs. They lie in 
the open Fields all Night, in the midft- of Winter *, but 
they make good Fires about them to warm themfelves, 
and broil their Fiffi. Their Dogs are very expert in 
finding out Martens •, and when they have found them, 
they never mifs taking them. When once the Siberi- 
ans have ffiot them, which they do with a Cufs, fo dex- 
troufly, that they always wound them in the Nofe, that 
they may not prejudice the Skin. Befides, if they do 
not hit them in that Part, it is rare that they catch 
r thern 5 
