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APPENDIX, N° II. 52 7 
of all Lithuania, and part of Volhynia : on 
finishing the Oginsky Canal, it will become 
the chief track of conveyance for those of 
the Ukraine, and all the other provinces near 
the Euxine, to the Baltic. Unfortunately, the 
trade thereon takes its course to foreign 
ports, greatly to the disadvantage of the 
native merchants. To Memel, situate at its 
estuary, a quantity of timber, mostly for 
ship building, to the amount of some millions, 
is annually floated down ; as well as some 
hundreds of barks, with grain, hemp, flax, 
wax, potash, & c. A trade of equal amount 
is carried on with Konigsburg, by the way of 
Fredericsgraben. By opening water commu- 
nication, by means of a canal, between the 
River Nevegia, falling into the Niemen, and 
the Lavenna, which flows into the Dvina, 
this lucrative commerce would revert to 
Riga, and the traders be exonerated from 
the impositions they suffer from dealing with 
foreign merchants, who fix the prices at their 
sole will and pleasure; and, consequently, 
advantages might accrue even from dealing 
with the same foreign commissioners, in a 
port belonging to their own country. Besides 
the timber floated down the Niemen, from 
five to six hundred large barks frequent it 
annually, most of which return home with 
