wished to make of us a booty. When all was 
settled, the inspector of the customs, to our 
great dismay, accompanied by several officers, 
came to assure us, that the town would not be 
responsible for our safety, if we ventured to 
embark in the brigantine : this they described 
as being so deeply laden, that she was already 
nine inches below her proper poise in the water. 
The Captain had, moreover, two shallops of 
merchandize to take on board, and sixty-four 
passengers. Some Armenians had already 
removed their property from the vessel ; and it 
was said she was so old and rotten, that her 
seams would open if exposed to any tempestuous 
weather. The Captain, a bearded Turk, like 
all the mariners of his country, was a stanch 
predestinarian : this circumstance, added to his 
avarice, rendered him perfectly indifferent to the 
event. As commander of the only ship in the 
harbour bound for Constantinople, he had been 
induced to stow the cargoes of two ships within 
his single vessel. This often happens with 
T urlcish merchantmen in the Black Sea, and it is 
one of the causes of their numerous disasters. 
To prove the extent of the risk they will en- 
counter, it may be added, that, after our return to 
Akmetchet, the captain filled his cabin with four 
hundred cantars of honey; and Professor Pallas 
was offered a thousand roubles to obtain the 
