I 16 BY the isthmus of perecop, 
chap, of bustle and commerce. The shores, the Isthmus , 
j and all the neighbouring steppes, are covered 
with caravans coming for salt ; consisting of wag- 
gons, drawn sometimes by camels, but generally 
by white oxen, from two to six in each vehicle. 
Their freight is so easily obtained, that they 
have only to drive the waggons axle-deep into 
the shallow water upon the eastern side of the 
Isthmus, and then they may load them as fast as 
they please ; the salt lying like sand. The sight 
of so many hundred waggons, by fifties at a 
time in the water, is very striking; they appear 
like fleets of small boats floating upon the 
surface of the waves. The driver of each 
waggon pays a tax of ten roubles to the Crown. 
There are various reservoirs of salt in the 
Crimea ; but those of Perecop, used from imme- 
morial time, are the most abundant, and they 
are considered as inexhaustible. Taurica Cher- 
sonesus was an emporium of this commodity 
in the earliest periods of history : it was then 
sent, as it is now, by the Black Sea, to Constan- 
tinople, and to the Archipelago', by land, to 
Poland, and over all Russia, to Moscow, to 
Gate of the Fortification.” Pallas's Travels, ml. II. V - 5 - u P on this 
subject Broniovias is also very explicit. “ Nomen Pra-eopenses ft 
fossd habent! nam PreZecop ipsorum Imp ad fossam tignificat." 
Descript. Tartar, p. 2524. ed. Lag. Bat. 1630. See also his further 
observations, in the Additional Notes at the end of this volume. 
