| Retrofped of Dome/ftic Literature.—Vayages, Travels, & ec. 
pry weather, and ceafes when the rainy 
feafon commences. As ali the gold is 
obtained by ablution, thefe Blacks who 
beft underftand the method of working 
it, obtain the greateft quantity of gold. 
‘Fhey obtain it by digging pits about 
fix feet in diameter, and, varying in 
depth from thirty to forty feet.. The 
earth is brought up by bafkets, taken 
toa rivulet, and undergoes a thorough 
ablution : when they have dug about 
four feet deep they meet witha flat ar- 
gillaceous earth, intermingled | with 
{mall grains of iron ore, of load-ftone, 
and emery, all of which are covered 
with little particles and) f{pangles of 
gold. All the rivulets of the valley of 
Natakon convey gold with their wa- 
ter ; the fands and mud, which form 
the bed of them are alfo full of the 
fame metal; the. foil compofing the 
bed of the Colez-Rio-d’Oro produces a 
confiderable quantity of gold, and the 
whole plain of Natakon, From: all 
thefe circumftances Mr. Golberry is 
induced. to believe, that the mountains 
furrounding Natakon contain in‘ their 
becs and caverns the real gold-mine, 
while the Monticuli of Natakon itfelf 
is nothing more than an emanation 
from the main body. In the year 17386 
Mr. Golberry carriéd on a {mall trade 
for gold at Galam : that which he re- 
ceived was made into ear-rings and 
other ornaments ; it was aflayed at Pa-. 
ris in 1788, and it was, according to 
the account of the aifayer, twenty- 
three carats fine. It was fold at the 
rate of twelve francs per drachm; and 
a gold ‘ear-ring from the mine of Na- 
takon, in the form of a heart, of three 
inches in length, weighing more than 
feven grains of fine-coloured gold, was 
examined by M. Sage, profefior of mi- 
neralogy, and one of the directors of 
the mint, and difcovered to be gold of 
the pureft quality. 
“¢ Travels through the Southern Pro- 
wvinces of the Ruffian Empire, in the years 
1793, and 1794, tranflated from the ori- 
, ginal German of PRoFEssOR PALLAS, 
Counfellor of State, Gc. Ge. Voi. i.” 
It is with concern that we find the 
Profeffor announcing this as his farewell 
publication. Old age is creeping up- 
on him, and the warnings of its ap- 
proach are not fufiered to pafs unre- 
garded by. Thefe Travels, it feems, 
were undertaken by the fpecial permif- 
fion of her Imperial Majeity, for the 
recovery of M. Pallas’s health., The 
firft volume contains an account of his 
629 
journey from St. Peterfburgh to Tzarit- 
zin; remarks made in various excur- 
fions onthe fouthern banks of the Vol- 
ga; a journey, in the {pring of the year, 
to Aftracan ; another from Aftracan to 
the lines of the Caucasus: obfervations 
made during a journey along the Cau- 
cafus, anaccount of the natives inhabit- 
ing Mount Caucafus; journey from 
Gengiefsk to Ttherkas and Taganrok, 
and from Taganrok to the Taurida :— 
to the defcription of which latter coun- 
try the prefent volume is exclufively 
confined. | 
The prefent population of the Crimea 
amounts to no more than 200,0c0 per- 
fons, of all nations and conditions, al- 
though it, formerly contained half a 
million of fouls: 30,000 Chriftians, 
comprehending many manufacturers 
and artizans, left it on the conclufion 
of a peace with the Turks in 1778: 
foon after, the Crimea fell under the’ 
dominion of Ruffia, and between the 
years 1735 and 1736, many thoufand 
Tartars fold their property at the loweft 
prices, and withdrew to Anatolia and 
Romelia. | 
_ This is reprefented as the only re. 
gion of the Ruffian Empire, in which» 
almoft all the productions of Italy and 
Greece might be reared with fuccefs 
and in which many of them grow {pon- 
taneoufly*; wine, filk, fefame, olive,” 
cotton, and a great variety of dying- 
drugs, which are at prefent imported 
from the Baltic and the Cafpian ata 
great expence, might be encouraged. 
either in this penin{fula or on the banks 
of Runne and Terek : and by fome ob- 
vious improvements in the prefent 
breed of fheep, woollen manufactories 
might be carried on in the Crimea to 
avery great extent. The Tartar in- 
habitants, however, are flothful and” 
favage ; they are difaifected to a Chrif- 
tien government, and feveral other 
* If the native wines were increafed by 
the impofition of protecting duties, on foreign 
wines, Profeffur Pallas is of opinion, that all 
the internal governments of the Ruffian em- 
pire might be fupplied from the Crimea, and 
the fum of half a million of rubles, now paid 
for foreign wines, be deducted from an unfa- 
vourable balance of ‘trade. The growth of 
filk has been but faintly attempted in the 
Taurida; though Profeffor Pallas thinks it 
_ is not anly capable of that produce but of the 
growth of fugar alfo. How far the ficklenefs 
of the climate would allow of an extended 
culture of fugar, or of filk, may, perhaps, be 
doubted, 
4M 2 gounteract, 
