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X.

CHAP. is sometimes Danaetz or Danaets, and Tdanaets; hence the transition to Tanaïs is not very equivocal; nor can much doubt be entertained concerning the origin of the appellation bestowed by the Antients upon the river. In what a variety of languages has this word Don, with its roots and ramifications, been used to signify a river, a lake, or cities near the mouths of rivers! Don, Donets, Dun, Den, Dan, Danau, Tan, Tane, Ain, An, En, &c. &c. Thus we have Jordan; Tanis, a name of SAïS, on the NILE; Tan y bwlch, in Wales; Danube; Thames; Ain, and Colerain, in the north of Ireland; Eden, in the same country; Tyne; and many others.

Celo

Chlebnoy.

As we advanced through Celo Chlebnoy, we beheld, at a distance upon our right hand, the DON, rolling in a very majestic and devious course, while the full moon cast her light upon its waters. We halted for the night at a place Bestuzevka. called Bestuzevka, almost a solitary hut in the midst of wide plains; and we were somewhat struck by the singular manner in which a pea

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nt cantioned us not to sleep there, but by all means to proceed another stage. Trifling circumstances of this kind often excite the suspicious fear of travellers; and in this lonely situation we were puzzled by conjectures,

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X.

whether an attempt were made to lead us into, CHAP. or out of, a snare: it ended, however, like many such adventures, in nothing.

The next morning, June the seventh, we travelled very expeditiously through Celo Staroy Ivotinskoy,

to the town of WORONETZ, situate upon a river Woronetz, of the same name, near to the spot where it falls into the DON.

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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-Nix-
ney Momon-Dobrinka-Metscha-Kasankaia, first
Stanitza of the Don Cossacks.

CHAP. IN the reign of PETER THE GREAT, when that

XI.

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.

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.

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