178 SIBERIA. 
down the Urakchain, defeated the Tartar Kutchun, khan 
of Sibir, and pressed forwards to the Tobol and the Irtisch, 
and also to the Oby, and in this astonishing expedition, 
subjugated Tartars, Vogules, and Ostiaks. Finding it im¬ 
possible to maintain and complete his conquests with his 
small army, he surrendered them in 1581, by a formal capitu¬ 
lation, to the tzar Ivan Vassillievitch, who nobly rewarded 
his magnanimity and exertions. This conqueror of Siberia, 
however, did not live to witness the full accomplishment of 
this enterprise. He died in 1584; and after his death the 
discovery and conquests which . he had made were prose¬ 
cuted by regiments of Donskoi Cossacks, sent thither for 
, that purpose, as far as the eastern ocean and the mountains 
of China; and in the middle of the 17th century this 
whole part of the world had become a Russian province. 
A person, whose name was Cyprian, was appointed first 
archbishop of Sibir in 1621, and at Tobolsk, where he re¬ 
sided, he drew up a narrative of the conquest. About the 
middle of the 17th century the Russians had extended east 
as far as the river Amur; but Kamtschatka was not finally 
reduced till the year 1711. Behring and other navigators 
afterwards proceeded to discover the other extreme parts of 
Asia. In his first voyage of 1728, Behring coasted the east¬ 
ern shore of Siberia as high as latitude 67° 18', but his im¬ 
portant discoveries were made during his voyage of 1741. 
The Aleutian isles were visited in 1745; and in the reign of 
the empress Catharine II., other important discoveries followed, 
which were completed by Captain Cook. In the south the 
Mongul kingdom of Kazan was subdued in ] 552, and that of 
Astrakan in 1554, and the Russian monarchy extended to 
the Caspian sea. In 1727, after previous conflicts, the 
Russian limits were continued westward from the source of 
the Argoon to the mountain Sabyntaban, near the conflux 
of two rivers with the Yenisei; the boundary being thus 
ascertained between the Russians and the Monguls subject 
to China. The trade with China has been conducted at 
Zuruchaitu, on the river Argoon, north lat. 50° east long. 
337°, and at Kiachta, about 90 miles south of the sea of 
Baikal, north lat. 51° east long. 106°. This boundary be¬ 
tween two states is the most extensive on the globe, 
reaching from about the 65th to the 145 th degree of 
longitude; 80° (lat. 50°) yielding, by the allowance of 
39 geographical miles to a degree, 3120 miles. 
The most curious antiquities in Siberia seem to be the 
stone tombs which abound on some steppes, particularly 
near the river Yenisei, representing in rude sculpture human 
faces, camels, horsemen with lances, and other objects. 
Here are also found, besides human bones, those of horses 
and oxen, with fragments of pottery and ornaments of dress. 
The most singular ancient monument in Siberia is found on 
the river Abakan, not far from Tomsk, being a large tomb 
with rude figures. 
The religion of the Greek church, which is professed by 
the Russians, has made no great progress in their Asiatic do¬ 
minions. Many of the Tartar tribes in the south-west are Ma¬ 
hometans, and others are votaries ofthesuperstitition of Dalai 
Lama. But the religious sentiments of the Schamanians 
are the most prevalent; particularly among the Tartars, 
Finns, Samoyedes, Ostiaks, Mandshurs, Burats, and Tun- 
guses; and they have been adopted by the Koriaks, Te- 
chuks, and people of the eastern isles. On the eastern 
coast of the sea of Baikal, is the rock of the Schamans, an 
idol of a peculiar shape: whilst the Schamanians admit 
one chief infernal deity and his subalterns, authors of evil, 
they also believe in one supreme uncreated beneficent being, 
who commits the management of the universe to inferior 
deities, and they delegate portions of it to subaltern spirits. 
See Schamans. 
The archiepiscopal see of Tobolsk is the metropolitan of 
Russian Asia in the north, and that of Astrakhan in the 
south. There is another see, that of Irkutsk and Nershinsk, 
and some others of more recenf origin. 
Siberia is divided into two great governments, those of 
Tobolsk in the west, and Irkutsk in the east. The smaller 
provinces are Kolivan, Nershinsk, Yakutsk and Ochotsk. In 
the south-west is the government of Caucasus, with one or 
two other divisions, blending Europe and Asia. 
The population of Siberia cannot be computed at above 
3f millions. The political importance and relations of this 
part of the Russian empire principally relate to China and 
Japan. The manuers and customs of Asiatic Russia vary 
with the numerous tribes by whom it is peopled. The 
Tartars are the most numerous; next to these in importance 
are the Monguls, one tribe of whom, viz., the Kalmucks, are 
found to the west of the Caspian, while the others, called 
Burats, Torgats, &c., are chiefly round the sea of Baikal. 
Further to the east are the Mandshurs or Tunguses. See 
these denominations respectively. 
The languages of all the original nations of Asiatic Russia 
are radically different; and among the Tunguses, Monguls, 
and Tartars, there are some traces of literature, and not a few 
MSS. in their several languages. 
The principal city of Asiatic Russia is Astrakhan, which 
see. Azof (which see) derives its importance chiefly from its 
being a fortified post. The chief towns on the Asiatic side 
of the Volga, are Samara and Stauropol. At the mouth of 
the river Ural, or Jaik, stands Gurief; but the chief place 
after Astrakhan is Orenburg, founded in the year 1740, 
and the seat of a considerable trade with the tribes on the 
east of the Caspian. Beyond the Uralian chain the first 
city that occurs is Tobolsk; which see. Kolyvan is a 
town of some consequence on the river Ob, having in its 
vicinity some silver mines of considerable produce, and 
north to this is Tomsk. Farther to the east the towns be¬ 
come of less consequence. On the river Yenisei is a small 
town of the same name, and another called Sayansk. On 
the river Angara stands Irkutsk, supposed to contain 
12,000 inhabitants, the chief mart of the commerce between 
Russia and China, and the seat of supreme jurisdiction over 
eastern Siberia. On the wide and frozen Lena stands 
Yakutsk; which see. 
The chief commerce of this part of the Russian empire 
consists in sables and other valuable furs, for which the Chi¬ 
nese return tea, silk and nankeen. That with the Kirguses 
consists in exchanging the Russian woollen cloths, iron and 
household articles, for horses, cattle, sheep and beautiful 
sheep-skins. On the Black Sea there is some commerce with 
Turkey, the exports being furs, kaviar, iron, linen, &c., and 
the imports wine, fruit, coffee, silks, rice. In the trade 
on the Caspian the exports are the same, and the ^return 
chiefly silk. The principal Russian harbours are Astrakhan, 
Gurief, and Kisl iar, near the mouth of the Terek, but the 
best haven is Baku, belonging to the Persians. The Tartars, 
on the east of the Caspian, bring the products of their coun¬ 
try and of Bucharia, as cotton-yarn, furs, stuffs, hides and 
rhubarb; but the chief article is raw silk from Shirvan and 
Ghilan, on the west of the Caspian. 
In Asiatic Russia the climate extends from_the vine at the 
bottom of the Caucasus, to the solitary lichen on the rocks 
of the Arctic ocean. Through the greater part of Siberia, 
the most southern frontier being about 50°, and the northern 
ascending to 78°, the general climate may be considered 
rather as frigid than temperate; being in three quarters of 
the country on a level with that of Norway and Lapland, 
untempered by the gales of the Atlantic. To the south of the 
sea of Baikal, the climate corresponds with that of Berlin, 
and the north of Germany. The chains of high mountains, 
which form the southern boundary of these provinces, con¬ 
tribute also to increase the cold; so that the sea of Baikal 
is commonly entirely frozen from December till May. The 
finest climate in these eastern parts is that of Daouria, or the 
province around Nershinsk: and the numerous towns on the 
Amur evince the great superiority of what is called Chinese 
Tartary, which is comparatively a fertile and temperate 
region. The change of the seasons is very rapid; the long 
winter is almost instantaneously succeeded by a warm spring; 
and the quickness and luxuriance of the vegetation exceed 
description. 
