MOSCOW. 
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vinces of the empire, collected by Alexis, father c hap. 
of Peter the Great, one of the best and ' 
wisest princes that ever sat upon the Russian 
throne. There are also some pieces of me- 
chanism that would now be little esteemed 
anywhere : a toilette entirely of amber : ser- 
pentine vessels, supposed to possess the pro- 
perty of disarming poison of its deadly quality : 
masquerade dresses worn by their sovereigns : 
a few natural curiosities; and among these, 
the horn of a Narvhal, above eight feet in 
length. This kind of whale is found near the 
mouths of rivers falling into the Icy Sea, or 
upon the shores of lakes in the same latitude. 
The horns and tusks of animals, in a fossile 
state, form a considerable article of the internal 
commerce of Russia. Perhaps the ivory ma- 
nufactured at Archangel may have been dug 
up in the north of Russia. Professor Pallas 
informed us, that such prodigious quantities 
of elephants’ teeth were discovered on an island 
north of the Samoiede Land, that caravans come 
annually laden with them to Petersburg. The 
most remarkable circumstance is, that, instead 
of being mineralized, like elephants’ tusks found 
in the South of Europe, they may be wrought 
with all the facility of the most perfect ivory : 
but this only happens when they are found in 
a latitude where the soil is perpetually frozen ; 
VOL. I. M 
