stage. Trifling circumstances of this kind, often excite the suspicions of travellers; and in this lonely situation we were puzzled by conjectures whether an attempt was made to lead us into, or out of, a snare; however it ended, like many such adventures, in nothing.

The next morning, June 7th, was passed very expeditiously; through Celo Staroy Ivotinskoy to the town of Woronetz, situated upon a river of the same name, near the spot where it falls into the Don.

CHAP. X.

Woronetz.

CHAP.

CHAP. XI.

Present state of Woronetz.

and of Features —

Present State of Woronetz- Climate and Productions- Garden of
Peter the Great - Inundation and Product of the Rivers - In-
crease of Buildings - Arsenal-Commerce, internal and external
-Wine of the Don Change of Manners
Neglect of drowned Persons Tumuli -Malorussians - Plains
south of Woronetz Celo Usmani Podulok Moscovskoy
Mojocks, Ekortzy, and Iestakovo-Locova Sloboda - Paulovskoy
-Plants-Animals - Trade-rash Conduct of a young Peasant
-Kazinskoy Chutor-Nizney Momon-Dobrinka-Metscha-
Kasankaia, first Stanitza of the Don Cossacks.

IN

1

N the time of Peter the Great, when that monarch came to Woronetz to build his first ship of war, there were scarce an hundred wooden huts in the place. It is now a very handsome town, and its commerce entitles it to considerable

distinction.

in

distinction. By means of the Don it possesses an easy inter. Course with the Black Sea. Every year vessels go laden to Tscherkaskoy' with corn, and they accomplish their voyage about two months. In winter they receive merchandize by ledges, from the Crimea and Turkey. Its merchants travel into Siberia for furs, and then carry them even to the fairs of Francfort. How strange are those journies to an Englishman! The Russian Isvostchick is seen at Francfort fair, and the same person may be found in the remotest Parts of Siberia. Sometimes they pursue their course even to the coasts opposite England, and buy English hardware, cottons, Japan ware, &c., with which they travel to all Parts of Russia.

to it

CHAP. XI.

Productions.

oronetz, from its remarkable situation, is particularly Climate and qualified to become a great capital. It is placed so as to enjoy the avantages both of warm and cold climates, and holds an intercourse with all parts of the empire. Nature is so bountiful the summer, that plants found in very southern latitudes grow There almost without care. The Water Melon, so rarely in perfection any where, is as common at Woronetz as the cucumber in England, and flourishes in the open air, with spicy and aromatic herbs. Yet the inhabitants experience very great extremes of temperature; having sometimes, by the thermometer of Reaumeaur thirty degrees of cold in the winter, and

(1) The name of this town, the capital of the Don Cossacks, is generally pronounced Tscherchasky; the terminating syllable koi, which signifies a town, being often thus abbreviated; as in the instance of Tobolskoi, what is called Tobolsky. I have substi

tuted

they

language.

for the i, as being more consistent with the usual practice in the English

CHAP. XI.

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; on 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 vine flourishes at Woronetz. The inhabitants neglect to cultivate it for the purpose of making wine; importing it at great expence from the Don Cossacks, the Greeks, Turks, and people of the Crimea. It frequently happens in France, in the province of Champagne, that the grapes do not attain their maturity; on which account sugar is substituted

in

(1) Equal to ninety-five of Fahrenheit.

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

in the preparation of the Champagne wine3. At Woronetz, where every facility of establishing extensive vineyards has been offered by Nature, they have been entirely neglected. Gmelin endeavoured to make them sensible of the importance and advantages which the town might derive from the growth of vines; but hitherto no attention has been paid to them. The delicious wine of the Don Cossacks is found here in great abundance, but it sells at very high prices. They serve it with a plate of ice, a piece of which is put into the glass when the wine is drank. It is light and pleasant, effervescing like Champagne, but having more the flavour of Burgundy.

Peter the Great endeavoured to establish a Botanic Garden in the neighbourhood of Woronetz, upon a very grand scale. This we visited, and found a complete wilderness of oaks another forest-trees, the underwood growing so thick under the large trees as to render our passage through it impossible. The garden was expressly appropriated to experiments in the cultivation of useful plants, fruit-trees, vegetables, and whatever else might be found likely to answer the purposes of horticulture in such a climate. Notwithstanding all the pains bestowed by that wise monarch upon this institution, it fell into neglect, like many others calculated for the benefit of his people, as soon as his power ceased to enforce the care of it.

Gmelin

CHAP. XI.

Garden of
Peter the

Great.

(3) The Champagne wine has been imitated in England with great success, by using gooseberries before they ripen, and supplying the want of the saccharine acid with loaf-sugar. If the process be properly attended to, there is often very little difference. Both are artificial compounds. The common Champagne wine drank 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.

D D