14 
NICOLAIEFF. 
Mounds of earth, and uneven spots, are now the only monu¬ 
ments of its existence ; but when the ground is disturbed, other 
memorials present themselves, in the shape of coins, broken 
pillars, and the like relics usually found in the grave of a great 
'city. 
Nicolaieff boasts several fine churches, and synagogues also, 
of no mean architecture. Jews are the most numerous of its 
inhabitants, and their wealth bears no small proportion to their 
numbers ; in short, they are the great medium of traffic. No 
transaction of business, excepting those connected with offices 
of government, is attempted in this part of Russia, but through 
their hands. Indeed, their influence extends further along the 
empire ; for I am told that many of the Polish-Russian nobility 
farm out their estates to these people, who load the poor pea¬ 
santry of the soil with the hardest yoke of bondage, not allowing 
them to sell any article of their industry but at a price fixed by 
the Jew their master. When these wealthy Israelites enter into 
agreement with the lords of the estate, a clause is generally 
inserted, to oblige each peasant to take annually a certain quan¬ 
tity of brandy from his landholder; for which insidious poison 
he returns a part of the wholesome product of his own labour, 
which was to have been food for himself and family. The effects 
of this mismanagement, on the health, morals, and situation of 
the country people, may be more easily guessed than described. 
But such practices have not found patrons in the government of 
the Ukraine. 
The population of Nicolaieff may be about six thousand souls. 
During the summer months, the admiral, its governor, inha¬ 
bits a very pretty country residence on the banks of the Boug, 
situated in a lofty grove. This last appendage, marks the parti- 
