MOGILOFF AND TCHERNINGOFF. 
3 
the stream where the bed was not very broad ; neither were the 
waters so rapid there, nor the banks so high, as in most other 
places. As we travelled onward, it was gratifying to see the 
country which, five years ago, showed only the footsteps of war 
and devastation, now exhibiting every mark of peace and happy 
industry. 
Proceeding through Sourage, we passed on to Vitepsk; and in 
the evening reached Mogiloff, a town pleasantly situated on the 
shores of the Dneiper, with fine churches and handsome houses. 
From my first starting, to this place, the road had been un¬ 
varyingly good, excepting a small tract of bad land which pre¬ 
sented itself soon after our leaving Sourage. Mogiloff is about 
seven hundred and eighty-three wersts from St. Petersburgh; — 
and the reader must hold in mind, that the calculation makes 
two English miles comprise about three wersts Russian. We 
now travelled over rough ground, through v wild forests, occa¬ 
sionally intersected with spots in cultivation ; till, on approaching 
Tcherningoff, we entered a country quite open. All was level 
and bare of wood, like vast downs, for a considerable extent 
before we arrived at the town; but a few tracts, scattered with 
trees, were discernible in its vicinity. The roofs of the cottages 
are thatched here, instead of being covered with wood, and the 
walls look neat and cheerful, from being whitened with a mixture 
of lime and mud. We crossed, by a long bridge of timber, 
over the Sojy to the town, which, being built on an eminence, 
gives a very imposing effect to its churches and monasteries. 
On quitting Tcherningoff, and its thin remnant of woods, we 
found ourselves again in the open country, which now seemed 
boundless. It is known in Russia by the appellation Steppe, or 
Desart; being an expanse of several hundred wersts, varied from 
b 2 
