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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
ground_n	country_n	river_n	zone_n	16	3	12.6343	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35310	The antient and present state of Muscovy containing a geographical, historical, and political account of all those nations and territories under the jurisdiction of the present czar : with sculptures and a new map / by J.C., M.D., Fellow of the Royal Society, and a member of the College of Physicians, London.	Crull, J. (Jodocus), d. 1713?	1698 (1698)	Wing C7424; Wing C7425; ESTC R2742	334,877	511

fifteen or sixteen days But before we part with our Travelling Merchants I cannot forbear to mention here a certain way they use in those Parts of easing these Reens or Sled-Stags in their Travels it being the more surprising the less any thing of that Nature is practised among the Europaeans tho' I remember to have some Years since seen something not unlike to it in Holland viz. a certain Machine driven forward by the help of Sails upon a Level This is performed by the help of Sails which when the Wind favours they put up in their Sleds so that by this means they are driven along sometimes over the Land covered with Snow sometimes over the Rivers frozen with Ice the Dog and Deer supplying the defect of the Wind in a Country all Level Why the Muscovites Travel by Land into China such as is that vast Tract of Ground betwixt Siberia and Mount Caucasus as the Oars in a Vessel when becalmed or labouring against the Wind. It will perhaps seem strange to those who have some knowledge of these North-Eastern Parts that whereas these Travelling Merchants might with more Ease and less Charge take the Advantage of those great numbers of Rivers which are betwixt China and Muscovy they should choose the way by Land as being both more chargeable and troublesome But besides that it is sufficiently evident out of what has been said that the Grand Tartary betwixt China and Muscovy is not so Desart as has been imagined there are insurmountable Obstacles in these Rivers which are sufficient to deter even the best Seamen in the World much more the Russians who are hitherto not the most expert in Sea-Affairs Not to mention here an almost infinite number of Rivers whose Names are not so much as known in Europe the most considerable both for the abundance of Water and extent of their Course are the Rivers Oby Genessay or Jenessay Lena and Yamour The two first have this Inconveniency that where they disembogue into the Sea they are almost all the Year long so choak'd up with whole Mountains of Ice that they are extreamly dangerous besides which the latter of the two is towards the Mouth of it so full of Cataracts or Water-falls at some Leagues distance from one another occasioned by the Rocks whose tops being all over covered with most delicious Flowers by their odoriferous scent perfume the circumjacent Air that they cannot be pass'd without unlading the Vessel which cannot be done without great Charge The Mouth of the River Lena lying more Easterly is not so much pester'd with Ice as the former and its Course much more easie yet the vast number of Rocks and Shelves which lie very close to one another at the very Entrance of it out of the Sea renders it very dangerous if not quite unpassable to Ships of never so little Burthen except it be to very small Fisher-Boats 'T is true the River Yamour the most Easterly of all would be very convenient for Traffick its course being uniform were it not for a prodigious number of Sea-Bull-rushes which at its Entrance into the Sea grow like a Forest of that thickness that a Man can hardly grasp one of them with both his Arms whereby all Passage for Ships to go into the Sea is quite obstructed All these Difficulties and Obstacles considered who can blame the Muscovites if they prefer the most commodious and shortest Way before the dangers of these Rivers which however are not useless but rather very commodious to them in their Land-Travels from Siberia cross the Tartarian Provinces to the Confines of China forasmuch as they travel with more Ease over them when they are frozen and are more Navigable towards their Sources than towards the End of their Courses During the Differences betwixt the Muscovites and Chineses arisen about the Building of the Fort of Albazin by the first upon the River Yamour these Merchants used to go by Water upon the Rivers Oby and Szelinga as far as the City which bears the same name with the last of these Rivers being built there by the Muscovites for the Conveniency of their Travelling Mercants From this City they travel by Land through the Country of the Tartars of Mongul to the place of Residence of the Chan of Becroesain one of their Principal Chans where also resides the Coutusta-Lama or Vicar of the Tartarian High Priest here by the means of some Presents they obtain Guides and Carriages with a good Convoy who conducts them to the Frontiers if China CHAP. VI. Of the Samoyedes Groenland Livonia and Courland THE Samoyedes or Samogedes inhabit that Tract of Ground which lies North-East of Siberia on both sides of the River Oby extending to the Streight of Weigats in the Frozen Sea their Habitation being under the frigid Zone it self This Country was first discovered to the Muscovites by a Russian Merchant whose name was Oneke who having for a considerable time traded with the Inhabitants in rich Furrs and gathered great Wealth at last made a Discovery of it to the Czar of Muscovy who having sent thither a splendid Embassy they soon persuaded them to submit to His Czarish Majesty paying a certain number of Sable Skins for their yearly Tribute They were formerly comprehended under the name of those the Antients called Shytes or Sarmates it being certain that the word Samoyedes is a Muscovian Word signifying as much as self-eaters composed out of Sam which signifies ones self and Geda to eat because they used to eat the Bodies of their dead Friends mixed with their Venison in the last of which this Country abounds and always was and is to this day their ordinary Food Some would have them to be the same Abii of which Curtius speaks that they sent Ambassadors to Alexander the Great and that they were called Obii from the River Oby Tho' they have no Cities yet do they not live a Vagabond-life like most of the Tartars but have their settled Habitations which are certain Cabans or Huts some Foot deep under the Ground of a circular Figure built Vault-wise a top having in the middle of it a Hole underneath which is the Fire-place round about which they lie during the Winter it serves both for a Chimney and sometimes for a Door thro' which they let in the Air when the others are stopt up by the Snow which falls here often six or seven Foot high During this Season which lasts six Months and keeps them in continual Darkness their Correspondence is maintain'd betwixt them by the Trenches or Walks under Ground from one Hut to another by which means they visit one another the absence of the Sun being supplied by the melancholy light of Lamps fed with Oil drawn of a certain Fish of which as well as of all other Necessaries they make provision in the Summer which Season begins here as soon as the Sun comes to the Equinoctial Line and enters into the Septentrional Signs of the Zodiack and rejoyces

passage to the Boats over the 〈◊〉 Islands The River Volga contains a prodigious Store of Fish of all Sorts a very good Commodity in Mus●ovy by reason of the great number of their Fast-days which both the Tartars and Muscovites catch with a Cord but in a different manner The Tartars fasten to the end of a long Cord a pretty big Stone which sinks to the bottom several great pieces of Wood being fastn'd to the other end 〈…〉 which swim upon the Water All along this great Cord many littles ones are fastn'd at some distance from one another each of these has at the end a good●ook baited with a certain Fish which they know the rest to be greedy of by which Invention they catch often Fish of ten twelve and more foot long The Muscovites take also a Cord with a ●ook fastn'd to the end of it this Cord is ty●d about a piece of a well plain●d Board tinn'd over its ●igness about 4 or 5 Inches square which being dragg●d behind a Boat by the reflection of the Sun resembles the Scales of Fish by which means they draw up Fish of a very great seize to the Bait and into the Snare Among other Fish wherewith this River abounds the Sturgeon is none of the least considerable whose Eggs afford that Ragout which the Italians call Cavayar 〈…〉 and the Muscovites 〈◊〉 the Eggs are put into a Paste being prepar'd 10 or 12 days with Salt This Commodity affords a considerable Trade to Muscovy being exported from thence to all Parts of Europe where it is look'd upon as the best of this kind for which reason the Czar keeps this Trade to himself Some Miles below the abovementioned ruined places the Shoar on both sides of the River is very Mountainous yet not ●o but that the Valleys afford very pleasant Pastures The first that appears on the right hand is a Mountain out of which the Muscovites get great store of Salt which being prepared in certain Huts at the foot of the Mountain is sent from thence by the River to M●s●o Almost opposite to this is another Mountain at the foot of which the River Vssa falls into the Wolga On both sides are very fine Meadows bordering upon the Shoar but at some distance from thence are very thick Woods a place of retreat for the Cosacks which makes it very dangerous for Travellors Below this lies the Mountain Diwiagora or Maids-mountain which being divided into several steepy ' Hills of various colours and bearing Pine-trees in so regular an Order as if they had been planted there on purpose makes it appear very pleasant to the eye At the foot of this rises another which reaches near 40 Miles along the River But what is most remarkable here Th● Cy●●● Valley is the Valleys betwixt them which being stor'd with Apple-trees affords very good Cyder being called by the Muscovites Jabla-New-quas which is as much to say as Drink of Apples Some of these Mountains reach a great way into the Country others bordering only upon the River-side At the left side of the River about two Miles from the Shoar lies the City of Samara belonging to the abovementioned Tartarian Province of Bulgar and above 300 Miles distant from the City of Casan It s Form is square its Buildings all of Wood except the Churches and Monasteries which are three in number The River of Samar from whence it derives its name falls about three Miles below into the Volga About 100 Miles from hence is the Mountain of the Cosacks being all bare without any Wood it serves for a retreating place to the Cosacks living upon the Don or Tanais and hath from thence got its denomination Betwixt this and the City of Saratof above 200 Miles distant from hence are abundance of small Islands in this River so that at certain Seasons it has been fordable and consequently very incommod●ous for Ships of Burthen who at such places are obliged to unload part of their Cargo in smaller Boats which they carry along with them for that purpose The City of Saratof is situate in a very fair large Plain about four Miles from the River-side upon a Branch of the Wolga It is inhabited by Muscovite Soldiers who are put there as a Guard against the Incursions of the Tartars called Kalmuches Tartars Kal●uches Inhabiting a vast Tract of Ground which extends towards the Caspian Sea betwixt this River and the River Jaika About Three Hundred Miles lower 50 Miles on this side the City of Zariza The River Tanais the River Don the Tanais of the Antient Geographers advances within a days Journey near the River Volga as some Miles below the said City behind a certain Island called the Isle of Zerpinsko there falls a little River called Kamous which rises out of the before-mentioned River Don into the River Volga but it being very shallow affords scarce passage for small Boats Notwithstanding which there are some who affirm that it might be rendred more Navigable and consequently a Communication be established betwixt these two considerable Rivers Near the first of these two above-mentioned places The first Branch of the Wolga before you come to the City of Zariza near Achtobska Vtska the River Volga divides it self into two Branches whereof one taking its course to the left into the Country carries its Stream for a Mile to the North-East quite contrary to the Current of the great River but afterwards reassuming its former course returns to the South-East till it falls into the Caspian Sea About 40 Miles from hence at 5 Mile distance from the River-side are to be seen the Ruins of a great City formerly called Zaaresgorod that is to say the 〈◊〉 Royal built as it is related by Tamerlain Its Palace and Walls were all of Brick which have furnish'd the City of Astrachan for these many Years with Materials for their Walls Churches and Monasteries A few Miles from this Place lies the City of Zariza at the bottom of a Hill on the right side of the River 49 Degrees and 42 min. Elevation It is fortified with several Bastions and Towers but all of Wood it being a Frontier-Garison against the Neighbouring Tartars and Cossacks and inhabited only by Soldiers who also serve for a Convoy to the Vessels passing this way up and down the River All abouts here and even as far as Astrachan it self the Country except the before-mentioned Island of Zerpinsko which is Twelve Miles long and furnishes the Cattle belonging to the Garison with Grass the Soil is so barren that it affords no manner of Corn which defect however is easily supplyed by help of the River the fertile Grounds about Casan furnishing these Parts and even the City of Astrachan with Wheat at a very cheap rate About Sixscore Miles below the City of Zariza the River Wesowi near a small Island of the same Name falls into the Wolga on the right side as does the River Wolodinerski Vtsga 30 Miles lower

is for the Men to steal Children not sparing even their nearest Relations whom they sell to the Neighbouring Persians leaving the care of their Cattle to their Wives They have an odd Custom at their Weddings to wit for every Man there present to shoot his Arrow into the Floor where they are left till they are rotten or fall of themselves They are all Mahometans using Circumcision and all other Ceremonies of the Turks Their Cloathing is a long close Coat Their Habit commonly of a dark gray or black coarse Cloath over which they wear a Cloak of the same Stuff and sometimes of Sheep's-Skin They wear a square Cap sewed together of a great many pieces their Shooes being for the most part made of Horses Hides sewed only together a-top at the Instep The poorest among them is provided with a Coat of Mail Head-pice and Buckler besides a Scymitar Javelin Bow and Arrows The Metropolis of the whole Country is the City of Tarku Tarku situated within the Mountain among steepy Rocks which are as hard as Flint and afford several most pleasant Springs to the City which contains about 1200 Houses built of Brick-stone bak'd in the Sun after the Persian manner but not so high It is the Residence of one of their Petty Princes but is not surrounded with any Fortifications not so much as a Wall Next to this the most frequented places of this Country are Rustain Boinack and Andre being three several Principalities lying in the Road betwixt Persia and the River Wolga The Town of Boinack is situate upon the ascent of a steepy Hill near the Sea-side That of Andre is built upon a rising Ground near the River Koisu by Ptolomy call'd Albanus which rises out of Mount Caucasus Its Waters are very muddy and its Current very swift The most Remarkable thing here is a certaing Spring of seething Water which arising near the Town and falling at some distance into a Pool makes the Water fit for Bathing About some Miles lower the River Koisu lets out a Branch by the Inhabitants called Askai probably the River Caesius of Ptolomy which running with a very slow Current at last is reunited with the said River near the Sea The River Bustro mentioned in the beginning of this Chapter known by the name of Gerrus in Ptolomy is the Boundary betwixt the Circassian and Dagesthan Tartars And about 25 Miles before its entrance into the Caspian Sea is divided into two Branches the first of which being called Terck or Timenski has given the Name to the City of Terki the Metropolis of Circassia The second Branch is called Kiselar very near as b●oad as the other but not so deep being fordable for the most part of the Summer But before we leave the Frontiers of the Russian Empire on this side it may perhaps not be beyond our scope to insert here short Description of the City of Derbent both for its Antiquity's-sake and its being the Frontier-Town of Persia upon the Confines of the Dagesthan Tartars especially since we intend to treat of some other Parts bordering upon Muscovy in the next following Chapters The City of Derbent is situate in the Province Derbent called by the Persians Lengerkunan upon the very Shoar of the Caspian Sea which sometimes washes its Walls under the 41 degr 51 min. of Latitude It s length reaches from East to West near five Miles but its breadth is not proportionable to its length It is not only the Frontier-place of Persia lying upon its utmost Confines on this side but may well be called the Gate of it reaching from the Mountain quite down to the Sea-shoar The whole City is divided into three distinct Quarters The first is the Mid-City which the Persians affirm to be built by Alexander the Great as also that Wall which surrounds the City on the South-side These Walls are of a great height and about six Foot broad and at a distance appear as if they were built of the best Free-stone in the World but according to the Relation of the Inhabitants the Stones of it are made of Mussle-shells and small pieces of Free-stone beaten and molded together into Bricks which by the long tract of Time are reduced to that degree of hardness as to exceed Marble it self There is even to this day upon one of the Gates remaining an Inscription resembling the Syriack Character as there appears in another Place some Arabick words but so defaced by length of Time as not to be legible The Castle which lies upon the top of the Mountain is also related to owe its Foundation to that Great Conquerour and is now always kept by a very good Garrison of Persians The second Quarter reaches up to the foot of the Mountain being the most Populous as the lower Town which reaches to the Sea-side is not much frequented now being formerly inhabited by Greeks but ever since the Persians regain'd it from Mustapha the Turkish Emperor converted into Gardens The whole Body of the City is encompass'd with a very strong Wall so broad that a Waggon may drive on them without Inconvenience The Inhabitants are all Mahometans except some Jews whose chief Business is to buy such stoln Children as the Neighbouring Dagesthan Tartars bring thither or else some Turks or Muscovites which they having pick'd up in some Encounters they send thither to Market to be from thence further carried into Persia The Mountain above the City being for the most part covered with Wood affords another piece of Antiquity to wit the Ruins of a Wall which if the Inhabitants may be believed formerly served for a Communication betwixt the Caspian and Euxin Seas and extended it self near 300 Miles in length Thus much is ce●tain that in the Ruins appear now in some places six foot high in some others two or three the Tract being quite lost in others And on some of the adjacent Hills are to be seen the Ruins of several old Castles of a four square Form two of which remain unde●o●●sh'd to this day and are Garison'd by the Persians There is a remarkable Monument of another kind near this City to wit the Sepulchre of Tzumtzume of whom the Persians relate the following Fable out of their Poet Fiesull They relate that Essi this being the Name they give to our Saviour coming into those Parts found thereabouts a certain Dead Man's Skul which having taken particular Notice of he desired of God whose Favourite he was to bring the deceased Person to Life again which being done accordingly Essi then asked him who he was he answered that his Name was Tzumtzume that he had been the most Powerful King of that Country where he had kept a vast Court composed of a great many Thousands Musicians Pages and other Servants At last Tzumtzume having asked Essi who he was and what Religion he professed Christ made answer I am Essi and by the Religion I profess all the World is to be saved If this be true reply'd

before parting appoint the Time of their Rendezvouz against next Spring in one of these Isles near the mouth of the Boristhenes The great Exploits they had formerly done against the Turks had gain'd them no small Reputation among the Poles therefore Stephen Batori Prince of Transilvania and afterwards Elected King of Poland having considered with himself that these Cosacks might be of great use to the Crown of Poland not only against the Incursions of the Neighbouring Crim or Precopian Tartars but also might serve as a considerable Addition to the Strength of the Polish Army which consisting for the most part out of Horse would in effect be rendred more formidable when augmented by so considerable a Number of Foot It was upon this Consideration he resolved to put these Vagabond Soldiers into a good Order and Discipline which he effected by granting to them besides their Pay very considerable Priledges and putting them under the Command of a General of their own with a Power to chuse such Officers under him as he esteem'd most fit for Service Having thus reduced them into one Body he gave them the City of Techtimoravia with all the Territories belonging to it which being seated upon the Boristhenes they made it their Magazine and the Residence of their Governour General And to render this Body the more Serviceable against the Tartars he joyned to this Militia of the Cosacks being composed altogether of Foot two thousand Horse for the Maintaining of which he allotted the fourth Part of certain Revenues belonging to the Crown from whence they were called Quartans and by corruption Quartians and were disposed upon the Frontiers most exposed to the Incursions of the Tartars By this Means that Tract of Land which from Bar Bracklavia and Kiovia extends it self all along the Boristhenes to the Black-Sea and is now called the Vkraine which was before a desolate Country was in a little time fill'd with populous Cities and Towns As this Body has done considerable Services to the Crown of Poland by maintaining its Frontiers against the Irruptions of the Tartars so after sometime time it proved very dangerous having several times taken up Arms against the Republick For being once made sensible of their own Strength they refused to be obedient to the Orders of the Polish General Their first Rebellion was in the Year 1587 The Cosacks rebel under their General John Podkowa but being vanquish'd he had his Head cut off In the Year 1596 Sigismund III. King of Poland upon Complaints made by the Turks forbid them to cruise in the Black-Sea which Orders they obeyed for that time but soon after fell into the Polish Russia and Lithuania where they Ravaged the Country under their General Nalevaiko In vain did the King send his Orders for them to retire to their Habitations they on the contrary resolved to maintain their Ground against the Polish Army which was advancing against them under the Command of the Polish General Zolkieuski The Battle was fought near the City of Bialacerkiovia where the Cosacks had the better of it but Zolkieuski as he was a Great General having weather'd the Point for that time soon after got them into the Trap so that they were forced to submit and deliver up their General Nalevaiko who underwent the same Fate as his Predecessor In the Year 1637 the Cosacks revolted again the Occasion was thus A great many Polish Lords having Purchased Estates in the Vkraine the Quarter of the Cosacks and observing that the Boors their Vassals run frequently over to them they were of Opinion that their Revenues could never be well secured as long as the Cosacks enjoyed their Priviledges Having therefore represented them to the King as dangerous to the Republick by reason of the great number of Peasants that daily ran over to them it was resolved That the Polish General Koniespolski should order a Fort to be erected at a certain Point of Land called Kudak where the River Zwamer falls into the Boristhenes which for its Situation they had chosen as a convenient Place to bridle the Cosacks as being not far distant from the place of their ordinary Rendezvouz The Cosacks who were not so simple as not to penetrate into the Design of the Poles resolved not to suffer the Bridle to be put over their Heads and having defeated Coll. Marion who was left there with 200 Men to see the Fort perfected they assembled a considerable Body to prevent the Polish General in his Design But at the very juncture of time when they should have been most unanimous great Divisions arising among the Cosacks they revolted against their General Sawakonowiez whom they Massacr'd and in his Place set up one Pauluck of little Experience and less Conduct in Martial Affairs The Polish General having in the mean while taken this Opportunity to put the Fort in a state of Defence they marched out under their new General Pauluck but were surprised in the Plains near Korsun before they could Entrench themselves betwixt their Waggons according to their Custom so that being destitute of Horse they were easily Defeated by Potoski● the Polish Marshal de Camp Those that saved themselves by flight got into Borovits but being immediately besieged by Potoski and the Place being not provided with Ammunition they were obliged to surrender their General Pauluck with four more of their Principal Officers who were afterwards beheaded at Warsaw notwithstanding their Lives were secured to them by the Capitulation It was also decreed at the Dyet held at the same time at Warsaw that not only all their Priviledges and the City of Te●●htimoravia granted to them by King Stephen should be taken from them but also a new Body of Militia should be erected in their stead But the Cosacks being not discouraged at this Resolution resolved also on their Side to try the utmost for the Recovery of their Liberty and after having protested to the Poles that they would remain steadfast to the Interest of that Crown provided they were maintain'd in their antient Priviledges they fought a second time with Potoski in the Vkraine but with not much better Success than before so that finding their Circumstances desperate they Entrench'd themselves on the other side of the Boristhenes upon the River Statcza where during the space of two Months the Poles attack'd them at several times with great Vigour but were as often repulsed with all the Bravery imaginable so that finding there was no good to be done with these desperate Cosacks they were forced to come to a Capitulation with them and to confirm all their former Privileges and to promise the Re-establishment of their Militia upon the same Foot as before under the Command of their own General chosen by the King But this Capitulation was almost as soon broken as made For no sooner had they cajoled the Cosacks out of their advantagious Post but most of them were either cut to pieces or plunder'd by the Poles Their Militia was not

ready to be cut towards towards the latter end of November or the beginning of December They Sow it but once in three Years but the first year produces the best when the leaves are cut off within a foot of the ground The Stalks are thrown away as useless and the leaves laid a drying in the Sun which done they are put a put a soaking for four or five days in a Stone Trough the Water with the leaves is often stirred till such time that the Water has sufficiently extracted the whole tincture of the Herb. Then the Water is smoothly drawn off into another Stone Trough in order to let it settle for one night The next day all the Water is again drawn off to the settlement and what is thus left in the bottom of the Troughs is strained through a course Cloth and so set a drying in the Sun And this is true Indigo which however the Banyans frequently adulterate by mixing with it a certain Earth of the same Colour And because the excellency of this Commodity is judged by its lightness they have cunning enough to add to it some oyl to make it swim upon the Water The second year the Stalk which was left in the ground the year before shoots forth other leaves but they are not comparable to those of the first tho' they much exceed the Wild Indigo Wherefore they reserve the greatest part of the second Years product for Seed That of the third Year is as much infersour in goodness to that of the second as that is in comparison of that of the first and being therefore in no esteem among forreign Merchants is onmade use of in the Country in dying of their Cloaths After it hath been in the ground three Years they let the Land lye fallow for one Year before they set it again The Banyans in General are the most crafty Traders in the World which makes the Muscovites as do also the English and Dutch in India employ those residing at Astrachan and in other parts of the Empire employ them for their Factors and Hawkers as being the most likely to discover the cheats of their brethren in India Both the Banyans and Armenians residing at Astrachan are very industrious in keeping a constant correspondence with the Indians and Persians in their respective Countries but especially in all the Seaports of the Caspian Sea which by reason of the vast number of Rivers that exonerate themselves into it rendereth the Commerce with Persia and consequently with the Infidels very commodious to the Muscovites Among others the great City Gangea one of the fairest and best in Persia by reason of its advantageous Situation for trade upon the confluence of several Rivers and the great Croud of strangers that resort thither on the account of Traffick is frequently visited by the Muscovian Factors the Banyans and Armenians But Shamachie is the place The City of Shamachi which chiefly furnishes the Muscovites by reason of its nearness to the Caspian Sea with such Indian and Persian Commodities as they stand in need of This City was indeed formerly much bigger than it was now the greatest part of it having been about twenty Years ago ruin'd by an Eathquake yet notwithstanding this misfortune it is still very considerable there being not in all the Persian Empire a City where there is so general a resort of strangers of all Nations to wit of Armenians Banyans Georgians Greeks Turks Circasians and Muscovites the latter of which have their particular Caravansera or publick Storehouse where they truck their Tin Russia Leather Copper Furrs and other Merchandises for the precious Commodities of India and Persia and which afterwards are conveyed into to Russia either by Land by the Way of Derbent through the Dagesthan and Circasian Tartars over the great Desarts of Astrachan to the river Wolga or else are Ship't in the Road of Nizora the most safe and most convenient for Shipping in all the Caspian Sea and from thence are carried up the Wolga to the River Oc●a and so by the Inopea to the Capital City of the Empire The project which by the Command of the present Czar of Muscovy has been set on foot of 〈◊〉 a Communication betwixt the great Rivers the Wolga and the Don would when perfected be of incredible advantage to the Muscovites in trans●●●ing not only their own but all the Sarick Indian Persian and Chinese Commodities into the other parts of Europe especially if his present Czarish Majesty should be so Successful against the Crim Tartars as to make himself Master of the Taurica Chersonesus and consequently of the City and Port of Caffa formerly so famous when in the hands of the Gene●ses and the Port of Erzotra Situate on the black Sea I have hitherto withal the enquiry I could make not been able to be fully instructed in what place it is that this Communication betwixt these two Rivers is to be perfected But thus much is most probale that it must either be effected by cutting a Canal on this side of the first Branch of the River Wolga Communication betwixt the Rivers Don and Wolga near the City of Zariza where the Don advances within Seven Leagues of the Wolga for else by rendring the small River of Kamous Navigable which rising out of the Don falls below the said City of Zaria behind the Islle of Zerpinsk into the River Wolga As to what relates to the Chinese Trade in Muscovy The Chinese Trade how the way thither was first discovered and improved by the Sable Hunters of Siberia and how by the Rivers of Obi Genessay Lena and Yomour and by the conveniency of their sleds drawn by Rain-Deer during the Winter Season they carry on that Trade has been circumstantially related in the first part in that Chapter where we treated of Siberia We have therefore only thus much to add here that as by the help of the Banyans and Armenians 〈◊〉 Muscovites maintain a constant correspondence with the Indians and Persians so with the assistance of those they call Kitachi they keep up their Communication with China These Kitachi go commonly under the Name of Chineses in Muscovy by reason that the Muscovites call all the Inhabitants betwixt the River Oby the Wolga and China which 〈◊〉 properly the Great Tartary by the Name of Ka●●● But in regard the Muscovites as we mentioned in the first Volumns have made such considerable discoveries on that side of late Years as to have built several Cities for the security of their Colonies on that Side they have also by degrees drawn abundance of these wandering People to these 〈◊〉 where after once they became fix'd and began to have a true Sense of the Benefits and Advantage of a Settled Life they have settled themselves in the other parts of Muscovy and prove very beneficial to the Russians to carry on the Chinese Trade by their Correspondence with the several Tartarian Nations Inhabiting that spacious Country betwixt Siberia and