EUROPEAN AND ASIATIC SHORES OF THE SEA OF AZOF. Taganrock-Commerce, external and internal-Canal of Communication between the Caspian and Black Sea-Marriage Ceremony of the Calmucks-Consecrated Ensigns of the Calmuck LawDifference between their Sacred and Vulgar Writings-Surmacand -Various Inhabitants of Taganrock-Antiquities-Voyage across the Sea of Azof-Chumburskaia-Margaritovskaia. TAGANROCK AGANROCK is situated on the cliff of a very lofty promontory, commanding an extensive prospect of the Sea of Azof, and all the European coast to the mouths of the Don. Azof itself is visible in fair weather, from the heights of the citadel. At present, the number of inhabitants does not exceed five thousand. The water, as in the Don, is very unwholesome when the winds carry off the salt water; but when a current sets in from the sea, it is more salutary. It certainly was CHAP. XV. Taganrock. CHAP. XV. Commerce, external and internal. was not one of the wisest plans of Peter the Great when he proposed to found the capital of his empire in a place so disadvantageously situated. The water near it is so shallow, that no haven could possibly have been constructed, except by forming canals at an expence beyond all calculation. The ships now at quarantine lie off at a distance of ten miles ; and all vessels, drawing from eight to ten feet water, can only approach within fifteen versts of the town. Taganrock formerly contained seventy thousand inhabitants; but in consequence of a capitulation made with the Turks, it was entirely rased. Its revival may bear date from the establishment of the Armenian colony at Nakhtshivan. At present, all the best houses are in its suburbs. The fortress contains a miserable village, full of ruins; exhibiting, at the same time, traces of very considerable works, which have been entirely abandoned. The inhabitants entertain hopes that the Emperor will visit and inspect the place, and that it will then become a town of the first importance in the empire. There is not any situation in the South of Russia more favourable for commerce, was it not for the want of water. Ships from the Black Sea find here, in readiness for embarkation, all the produce of Siberia, with the caviare, and other commodities of Astrachan; whereas at Cherson and Odessa they have to wait for lading after their arrival. But it is only during three months in the year that commerce can be carried on at Taganrock. In Winter the sea is frozen, so that sledges pass upon the ice to Azof. During the short season of their commerce, the rent of a single warehouse upon the shore is estimated at four hundred roubles. As soon as the first ships make their appearance from the Black Sea, the waggons from the interior begin to arrive1. These ships undergo a quarantine of forty days, during all which time the caravans continue to increase; and before the end of the quarantine, no less than three thousand waggons occupy all the plains below the town. Of this number, six thousand arrive annually from the Ukraine. Taganrock has three fairs in the year: the first upon the first of May; the second, and principal fair, upon the tenth of August; (1) "From November to March the sea is frozen, and navigation seldom safe earlier than April. As soon as the ice is supposed to have passed, a small vessel is sent from Taganrog to Kertch (in the Crimea), and vice versa. After this signal the navigation commences. From April to Midsummer a south-west wind prevails very steadily, which greatly encreases the depth of water, and favours the arrival of vessels. About Midsummer the water is generally deepest, and the sea crowded with small vessels. The harbour admits but few. Vessels may then lie tolerably near the shore; at other times, ships of two hundred tons are compelled to lie in the open sea, fifteen versts (ten miles) from the shore. In Autumn, the Sea of Azof is often no more than fourteen feet at its greatest depth. From Taganrog to Azof is a shoal, or continuation of shoals, with hardly seven feet water, and in some places only five. The number of vessels is generally from six to seven thousand. Of these, about one hundred and fifty, or two hundred, are small craft from Trebizond and Sinope, which bring nurdek, a marmalade of grapes, and beckmiss, a sirup made from various fruits by boiling them with honey. Raisins of the sun are also brought in great quantities. All these are used in the distilleries. Since the destruction of the vineyards, by the late hard winters, the beckmiss has become more necessary. The spirit thus produced is sold all over the empire as French brandy. The Greeks of the Archipelago bring chiefly wine of a very poor sort, which is also used in the distilleries. Of these Greeks, about one third carry the Russian flag; but, as our friend D said, (a merchant who resided here,) Mauvais Russe, Mauvais Pavillon.' They are of very bad character, and very poor. Any Greek who would purchase a house and land, became at once a Russian subject, and enjoyed their protection. The real Russian traders are very few. The European traders were Italian, Ragusan, Austrian, and Dalmatian; and in 1805 a few French, but under English colours, and with Maltese crews. These bring French wine, and German and English cloth. They carry back fish and iron." Heber's MS. Journal. U u CHAP. XV. August; and the third upon the eighteenth of November. The quantity of fish taken in the Sea of Azof is truly astonishing; and these are sent, in a dried state, over all the South of Russia'. They receive fruit from Turkey, such as figs, raisins, and oranges; also Greek wines from the Archipelago, with incense, coffee, silks, shawls, tobacco, and precious stones. Copper comes to them from Trebisond, but of a very inferior quality, and is all sent to Moscow. Among their principal exports are caviare, butter, leather, tallow, corn, furs, canvas, rigging, linen, wool, hemp, and iron, of which last article above a million pouds were exported during the year in which we visited the place. Their canvas is very bad. The copper of Siberia is not brought to Taganrock, as Moscow receives the whole produce of those mines. Yet the greatest advantage which the town enjoys is in being the deposit of Siberian productions. From Orenburg they receive tallow, furs, and iron, which, with the caviare of Astrachan, has only the short passage by land which intervenes between Zaritzin on the Volga, and the Don, a distance of forty English miles3, where Peter the Great projected a canal, 2 and Holes are made in the ice, (1)" In Winter the greatest fishery is carried on. at small distances, and the net passed under from each of these to the next in succession, by means of a pole, until a large tract is enclosed. Christmas is consequently as busy a time as Midsummer, and a mild Winter is ruinous." Heber's MS. Journal. (2) A poud equals thirty-six pounds of English weight; but some writers, among others the translator of Pallas's Travels through the South of Russia, &c., state it as equal to forty. (3) The canal of communication between the Volga and the Don, according to Perry, (p. 3.) would have been 140 versts, because it would have followed the course of and which it was Paul's intention to have completed. A draught CHAP. XV. Canal of tion between the Caspian and Black Sea. of the intended communication between the Euxine and the Caspian Sea, by means of this canal, was first published by CommunicaPerry the English engineer, who was employed by Peter for the undertaking. That is not the least interesting part of Perry's Narrative which relates the conduct of the Russian Government towards him, because it shews the false glare which played about the greatest Sovereign they ever had. Russia was, and is, and ever will be, that point in the great circle of society, where the extremes of meanness and magnificence unite. Peter the Great shuffling with his engineer, to evade the payment of a few roubles, is the faithful archetype of all the Tsars, Tsarinas, Princes, and Nobles of the empire, who would not scruple to rob their own valet de chambre, actuated by the same spirit which induced their heroine Dashkof, after losing thirty roubles at cards, to send thirty of the Royal Academy's almanacs by way of payment". They are a people who cannot be duly appreciated, excepting by those who have not only actually resided among them, but who have seen them when removed from intercourse with civilized nations, and divested of that external varnish so forcibly of two other small rivers; the Lavla, which falls into the Don, and the Camishinka, (4) See the Vignette to this Chapter; also Perry's State of Russia, Lond. 1716. |