Chap, III. from Muscovy to China. 
957 
bers of the^beft Sables and Hcheft Farrs being found 
here. This Country is fubjeft to the Governor of 
Jakutshy^ and the Woods in this Neighbourhood are 
all ftrongly guarded in order to prevent the Chinefs 
Tartars from hunting any Sables here. 
To the Shores of thefe two Rivers, there come an- 
nually a Sort of People out of the Wands which lie in 
the Sea, but fo near the Shore, that from thence they 
may be eafily feen. Thefe People appear very Well 
dreffed in very fine Furr Surtouts, under which they 
wear filken Coats almoft as rich as thofe of the Perfians. 
They are tall, have large Beards, and make a noble 
manly Figure. They come in fmall Barks to the Si- 
berian Tartars^ and buy Girls and Women of them, 
of which they are very fond, giving for them rich Sa- 
bles and black Fox-skins ; which they report they have 
in great Quantities on their Wands, and earneftly foli- 
cic the Siberian Tmgufians to come and trade with them. 
They pretend that the Province o'i Jakutskoy was for- 
merly fubjeft to them ; and their Language bears a 
litde Similitude to the jakutfehian. 
11. Northwards of thefe two Rivers rifes the River 
Ogota^ betwixt which and the Uda^. near the Shore, and 
all along in the Sea, as far as the Icy Cape, abounds 
with Whales, Sea-horfes, and Sea-Dogs. Kamfatka, 
and the Country farther along by the Sea-fide, is inha- 
bited by a People called Xmi and Koeliki, each of which 
have a Language peculiar to themfelves. Thofe who 
live near the Sea are cloathed in Seal-skins, and dwell 
in fubterraneous Caverns *, but thofe who inhabit the 
inland Country are generally rich, and very much ac- 
cuftomed to Hart-hunting ; they eat all their Flefh and 
Fifh raw, and wafii themfelves with nothing elfe befides 
their own Urine *, and are a very fly, treacherous People, 
that never keep their Words. Their chief Arms are 
Slings, in the^Ufe of which they are very dextrous, and 
can throw a great Way. All hereabouts, near the Icy 
Cape, the Winter Snow lies on the Ground, though it 
is not very deep, and chiefly falls in the Beginning of 
the Winter, all the remaining Part of that Seafon being 
free from Snow. There is a Gulf which comes up to 
Kamfatka, that affords prodigious Qjantities of Sea- 
Horfes, and other Sea Fifli, which are alfo caught in 
great Numbers. 
If we put to Sea at the Icy Cape, we find, that the 
farther out we fail, the Courfe of the Sea is ftill the 
more interrupted by the Multiplicity of Iflands ; and 
not far above Kamfatka is a Palfage which the Seal- 
Fifhers and others make very good Ufe of. All Ana- 
dieskoy and Sahaliska are inhabited by the already de- 
feribed Nations called Xuxi and Koeliki. The River 
Salazia abounds with fine Herrings, Sturgeon, Sterbeth, 
andNebna. [And in the Inland Country fomewhatdiflant 
from hence, all along by the Simanikd, are feveral Win- 
ter-houfes, which are inhabited by his Gzarifli Majefty’s 
Cojfacks, who colledt his Taxes and Toils. But not- 
withftanding that feveral Sables and Linxes are caught 
in this Province along by the feveral Rivers, yet the 
Simonikoe of Muskoy yieWs the mofl; confiderable Re- 
venue, the greateft Quantity of Sables being caught 
there. The Climate of this Icy Cape, called in Muf- 
covite Dialed, Swetoinos, otherwife the Holy Cape, is 
extraordinary cold, it freezing fo hard, that the Sea is 
covered with thick Ice in feveral Places, which driven 
into mountainous Heaps by the Wind from Year to 
Year, increafes and flicks fo fafl together that it feems 
but one Clot ; From which, according as the Wind fits, 
are fometimes broke off great Pieces, which difperfe 
themfelves, and in Procefs of Time, in a boiflerous 
Sea, become new Mountains of Ice : It fometimes hap- 
pens that this Sea is frozen up for two or three Years 
fucceffively, and it was obferved that it continued fofrom 
1694 to 1697. 
12. From hence let us proceed farther on to the 
great River Lena, which rifes out of the South- weft 
near the Lake Bakail, where the Provinces of Si- 
beria and Daour are divided from each other. Upon 
this River \\tsJakutskoy,t\\t Capital City of this Northern 
Province : From which Town in Summer-time, it is 
cuftomary for fmall Barks to coaft it along by the Shoar 
Side, and go through the Cape to Salazia, Onodiejkoy^ 
and Kamfatka, in Search of Sea-Calves Teeth and Train 
Oyl, ^c. The Neighbouring Heathens, or Tartars^ 
make Ufe of little Leathern-Boats on this River, which 
are very fwift. The Country about the City of Jakuts-^ 
koy, and the River Amga, is inhabited by a Sort of Peo- 
ple called Jahitifians, vvhofe Habit is very particular, 
their upper Coats being made of various colour’d Furrs 
fewed together, and the Edges bordered all round, with 
a Border about a Hand’s Breadth of Back’s Hair, but 
in every Thing elfe made fomewhat like the German 
Fafhion, and open at the Sides and behind. The? 
have long Hair, wear no Shirts, and believe that there 
is a great Being above in Heaven, who gave them Life, 
and lends them Food, Wives, and Children. And 
they celebrate a great Feftival in the Spring, in which 
they make Offerings of Kumis, or Arak, diftilPd from 
Milk, to this Being: And during the Continuance of 
this Feafl, they do not drink themfelves, but make 
great Fires, and continually fprinkle i\ns Kumis, ov Arak„ 
towards the Eaft ; which is their Manner of Offering. 
When any one of them dies, his neareft Relation is bu- 
ried alive with him ; from the fame Principles that, in 
feveral Places in India, the Women accompany the 
dead Bodies of their Husband on the flaming Funeral- 
Pile, in order to enjoy their Company in the other* 
World. 
About one half of their Language agrees very well 
with that of the Mahometan Tar tars near Tobolskoy, whicL 
is derived from the Bulgarian. They take as many 
Wives as they can maintain. Their .chief Beafts of 
Burden are their Stags, upon which they alfo ride, and 
thereby in a little Time go a vaft Way : They are a va- 
liant and a quick-witted People, and feem to be great 
Lovers of Truth. When the Governor of Jakutskoy 
proves to be a Perfon who governs remifsly, they do 
one another all poflible Mifehiefs, by robbing, pillaging, 
and all other Exorbitancies : But when they have one 
that holds the Reins very tight, they are quiet and obe^ 
dient, and no Outrages are heard of amongft them ; 
but they praife his great Wifdom, and wifli he may 
continue long in that Poft. They venture to tell us* 
that their Anceftors originally came from Kalmockia.^ 
from whence they were driven by the Ruffians, and for- 
ced to take up their Quartars in the cold Parts of this 
Diftridl. They are very much afflicted with the Scurvy, 
which they foon drive away, by eating raw Filh, and 
taking of Deugti, which is a Sort of Tar. . 
13. Jugogayers, a Sort of Heathens alfo which 
inhabit Part of this Country, ufually, when any of their 
Relations die, cut off all the Flefh of his Corps to the 
Bones, dry the Skeleton, and hang it with Glafs- Corals 
of all Colours, carry it round their Hutts, or Dwellings* 
and thus pay Idolatrous Worfhip to the deceafed. 
Along by this River Lena are annually found feveral 
Mammuts Teeth and Skeletons, which fall off from the 
Mountains, and out of the frozen Earth near this Ri- 
ver ; thefe Hills, by the Current of Ice from the high- 
fwoln Waters in the Spring loofing great Pieces, 
which are tumbled down into the River. The feveral 
fine Rivers which defeend from the South and fall into 
the Lena, are the Witim, Olekina, and Maya, along 
which are great Multitudes of fine black Sables,- and- 
other Furrs : In Winter 1000 Ermins being to be 
bought of the Tartars for three or four Roubels. All 
about the River Maja, as alfo at the Source of the 
Lena, at Wergolenkolfo and Kirenga, grows all Sorts 
of Corn, the Land being very fertile, and fervino- 
to fupply the Province of Jakutskoy, and that at 16 
cheap a Rate, that an hundred Weight of Rye- Meal is 
commonly fold for ten or twelve Pence, and all Sorts 
of Cattle are proportionably cheap j fo that living here 
doth not coft much,, but Money is very fcarce. 
To take our Progrefs further along this Sea- Coaft, 
from the Lena to the River Jenifea, which Extent hath 
not yet been travelled further by any, either by Water 
or by Land, than to the River Tarjida, by Reafon the- 
Sea is too full of Ice, and is 'utterly unnavigable : Moft 
of the Inhabitants between Tarjida zndi Jenifea are found 
to be Samojedes, and a Party of Tungoefehian Xartars 
and 
