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CHAP.

XI.

CHAP. XI.

FROM WORONETZ, TO THE TERRITORY OF THE
DON COSSACKS.

Present state of Woronetz-Climate and productions-
Garden of PETER THE GREAT-Inundation and Pro-
duct of the Rivers-Increase of Buildings-Arsenal-
Commerce, internal and external-Wine of the Don-
Change of Manners, and of Features-Neglect of
Drowned Persons-Tumuli-Malo-Russians-Plains
South of Woronetz-Celo Usmany-Podulok Moscov-
skoy-Mojocks, Ekortzy, and Iestakovo-Locova Slo-
boda-Paulovskoy-Plants-Animals-Trade-Rash
conduct of a young Peasant-Kazinskoy Chutor-Niz-
ney Momon-Dobrinka-Metscha-Kasankaia, first
Stanitza of the Don Cossacks.

IN the reign of PETER THE GREAT, when that.

monarch came to Woronetz to build his first

CHAP.

XI.

Present

Woronetz.

ship of war, there were scarcely an hundred wooden huts in the place. It is now a very handsome town; and its commerce entitles it State of to considerable distinction. By means of the Don, it possesses an easy intercourse with the BLACK SEA. Every year, vessels go laden to Tcherchask with corn; accomplishing their voyage in about two months. In winter they receive merchandize, by sledges, from the Crimea and from Turkey. Its merchants travel into Siberia for furs, and then carry them even to the fairs of Francfort. The Russian Isvostchick is seen at a German fair, and the same person may be found in the remotest parts of Siberia. Sometimes they pursue their course to the coasts opposite to England, and buy English hardware, cottons, Japan ware, &c. with which they travel to all parts of Russia.

and Pro

WORONETZ, from its remarkable situation, is Climate particularly qualified to become a great capital. ductions. It is placed so as to enjoy the advantages both of warm and of cold climates, and it holds an intercourse with all parts of the empire. Nature is so bountiful here in the summer, that plants found in very southern latitudes grow almost spontaneously. The Water-Melon, rarely in perfection anywhere, is as common at Woronetz as the cucumber in England, and it flourishes in the open air, with spicy and aromatic herbs.

XI.

CHAP. Yet the inhabitants experience very great extremes of temperature; having sometimes, according to the thermometer of Réaumur, thirty degrees of cold in the winter, and twenty-eight degrees of heat' in the summer. They use the precaution of double casements to their windows, as at Moscow and Petersburg, and have very large stoves in all their apartments. In the "Journal des Savans Voyageurs," published at Berne in 1792, a commentator attempts to explain the cause of the extraordinary difference observed in the productions of the climate and soil of Woronetz, when compared with those of other countries in the same latitude; by saying that the nature of the soil necessarily supplies that which the climate would not otherwise afford. The earth is strongly impregnated with nitrat of potass in all the environs of Woronetz; and it is to the presence of this mineral that the extraordinary fertility of the Ukraine has been attributed. The whole country south of Tula abounds with it; insomuch that it sometimes effloresces on the soil; and several fabrics for extracting it have been established. The immediate soil below the town of Woronetz is sand; upon

(1) Equal to ninety-five of Fahrenheit.

(2) See Note to p. 116. Voyages chez les Peuples Kalmouks et les Tartares.

a steep mound or bank of which it has been built. It lies in the fifty-fourth degree of northern latitude. The vineyards of Europe terminate many degrees nearer to the equator, and yet the wild vine flourishes at Woronetz. The inhabitants neglect its cultivation; importing their wine, at a great expense, from the country of the Don Cossacks, from Greece, and from the Crimea. It frequently happens in the province of Champagne, in France, that the grapes do not attain their maturity; sugar is then used as a substitute in the preparation of the Champagne wine'. At Woronetz, where every facility for

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(3) The Champagne wine has been imitated in England, with success, by using gooseberries before they ripen, and by supplying the want of the saccharine acid with loaf-sugar. If the process be properly attended to, there is very little difference. Both are artificial compounds. The common Champagne wine drunk in this country is made with green grapes and sugar. The imitation of it, with green gooseberries and sugar, is full as salutary, and frequently as palatable. (Note to the First Edition.) Since this Note appeared, a French translation of these Travels has been published at Paris, with Additional Notes “ par le Traducteur." Alluding to these observations respecting the Champagne wine, he says, C'est sans doute par un sentiment de patriotisme, et pour dégoûter ses compatriotes du vin de Champagne, que le Docteur Clarke se permet de hasarder de pareilles assertions. Croitil que le vin de Champagne se fasse avec du sucre et des raisins verts ou des groseilles, et qu'un semblable mélange puisse passer, même en Angleterre, pour un analogue des vins d'Aï et d'Epernai ?”

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It so happens, that the author's information respecting the Champagne wine does not at all depend upon any conjectures he may have formed: it is the result of inquiries which he made upon the spot, and of positive communication, (relative to the chemical constituents "des

vins

XI.

CHAP. establishing extensive vineyards has been offered by Nature, the cultivation of the vine has been entirely neglected. Gmelin endeavoured to make the inhabitants sensible of the importance and advantage the town might derive from the

vins d'Ai et d'Epernai,") from Messrs. Moett and Company, the principal persons concerned in their fabrication. It was in the town of Epernai, whither the author repaired for information upon this subject, that, in answer to some written questions proposed to Mons. Moett, the following statement was given by that gentleman touching the admission of sugar into the composition of their wine :

"REPONSE à la 3me question: 66

sur les Corps étrangers, tels que le

sucre que peuvent entrer dans la fabrication du vin ?—

66

Peut-être regarderoit-on en Champagne comme une indiscretion, la réponse à cette question, puisque la révélation de ce qu'on appelle Le secret du PROPRIÉTAIRE pourroit nuire à la réputation des vins de Champagne; mais les hommes instruits et éclairés doivent connoître les faits et les causes, parcequ'ils savent apprecier et en tira les justes conséquences.

"Il est très vrai que dans les années froides ou pluvieuses le raisin n'ayant pas acquis assez de maturité, ou ayant été privé de la chaleur du soleil, les vins n'ont plus cette liqueur douce et aimable qui les charactérise: dans ce cas quelques' propriétaires y ont supplée par l'introduction dans leur vins d'une liqueur très eclaire DONT LA BASE EST NÉCESSAIREMENT DU SUCRE; sa fabrication est un secret; cette liqueur meslée en très petits quantité aux vins verts, corrige le vice de l'année et leur donne absolument la même douceur que celle que procure le soleil dans les années chaudes. Il s'est élevé en Champagne méme des fréquentes quérelles entre des connoisseurs qui pretendoient pouvoir distinguer au goût, la liqueur artificielle de celle qui est naturelle, mais c'est une chimère. Le sucre produit dans le raisin, comme dans toute espèce de fruit par le travail de la nature, est toujours du sucre, comme eelui que l'art pourroit y introduire, lorsque l'intemperance des saisons les en a privé. Nous nous sommes plús très souvent à mettre en défaut l'expérience de ces prétendus connoisseurs, et il est si rare de les voir rencontrer juste, que l'on peut croire que c'est le hazard plusque leur goût qui les a guidé.”

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