FROM TULA 
250 
chap. Ceio Nikitskoy. The country around this place 
■ X ' , has, of late years, been much cultivated. For- 
merly it resembled the rest of those deserts 
which the Russians call steppes, so frequent south 
of Woronetz. The soil here, notwithstanding its 
recent desolate condition, consisted ol nearly 
two feet of good black vegetable earth, lying 
upon marl. The plants we observed in flower 
on this day ( June fifth ) are all known in England ; 
the Bird's-foot Trefoil, the Purple Mountain Milk 
Vetch, the Germander, the Globe Flower , and the 
Wood Anemone. Nikitskoy was once in a low 
and swampy spot, and exceedingly unwhole- 
some; but the inhabitants moved their village 
to the more elevated situation it now holds; 
and being too lazy to use the materials ol the 
houses they had abandoned for their new settle- 
ment, it was deemed expedient to set them on 
fire. The flames, communicating to the peat, 
whereof there is abundance near the place, 
continued burning for six months with great 
vehemence, in despite of all the efforts made to 
extinguish them. The inhabitants now suffer 
greatly, owing to a scarcity of fuel; yet they 
make no endeavour to collect the peat, and to 
dry it for their hearths. We saw here a curious 
funeral ceremony. The lid of the coffin, formed 
of one entire piece of wood scooped like a canoe, 
was not put on till the deceased was laid in his 
