[280] The time of year for advancing the money varies considerably, according to the nature of the goods, the place of production, and the class of people from whom they are bought. For the goods, consisting principally of linseed and wheat, purchased on the Volga, the Don, and its tributaries, most of the money is advanced as early as September on produce to arrive the next year in June. On tallow to be delivered in April the advances are generally made in the winter, and on that to be delivered in October the advances are made in April and May. For such of the fine wools as are purchased on the estates of the producers, the advances are made about January or February, and sometimes the greatest portion of them is purchased for ready money at the fairs.

[281] The rate of interest in South Russia varies from 8 to 14 per cent. At Galatz and Ibrail money may be safely laid out at from 15 to 18 per cent.

[282] The Greek consul-general in London, M. Ralli, is the head and founder of this house of Ralli Brothers, who have branch establishments in all the great towns in Europe and Asia as far as the eastern limits of the Persian empire. They have recently opened a branch house in Calcutta, where other Greeks have now established themselves.

[283] “Limné Mœoticé” in Greek, “Palus Mæotis” in Latin.

[284] The total tonnage was 393,096 tons.—Blue Book, p. 27.

[285]

[286] I am not certain of the exact place at which the Don becomes navigable.

[287] The Volga was called Rhao by the ancients; the Tatars called it Idél, Adel, or Edel, which signified abundance, generosity, riches. The name of Volga, or Wolga, has the same origin as Boulgar or Bulgarian, and this name was given to the river because the early seats of the Bulgarians were situated on its banks before they moved to their present country on the south bank of the Danube. It rises in the district of Ostachof, in the government of Tver. Its course to the mouth of the Kama is from west to east, and thence it runs to the south into the Caspian Sea. It passes through the governments of Tver, Jaroslav, Kostroma, Nijni Novgorod, Kazan, Simbirsk, Saratof, and Astrakhan, and throws itself into the sea by 70 mouths, forming a multitude of islands. Its course is about 2500 miles (4000 versts) long. It passes several important towns, such as Tver, Ouglitch, Romanof, Jaroslav, Kostroma, Balakhna, Nijni Novgorod, Kousmodemiansk, Tcheboksar, Kazan, Simbirsk, Syzran, Saratof, Tsaritzine, and Astrakhan. It waters fertile regions, and is ornamented on its lower course with fine forests. Its principal navigation begins at Tver. The Volga has the advantage of having no cataracts, or any dangerous passage; but its depth gradually diminishes from time to time, so as to give reason to fear that it may become unnavigable even for vessels of a moderate size. At the beginning of the eighteenth century the salt vessels of Siberia could carry from 130,000 to 150,000 poods⁠[288] of salt; now they cannot carry more than 90,000 poods. Fish is most abundant in it; the principal kinds are the beluga, sturgeon, biella ryba, sterlet, &c.—Vsevolovski, Dict. Géog. Hist. de l’Empire Russe, art. ‘Volga.’

[288] One pood = about 40 lbs. English.

[289] The project of uniting the Volga and the Don, so as to complete the communication between the Baltic, Black, and Caspian Seas, is very ancient. Seleucus Nicanor, then Selim II., and afterwards Peter the Great, undertook the execution of it, and, if it has not yet been effected, the delay must be attributed to other circumstances than to the difficulty of the enterprise. If the Tlavlia, which falls into the Don, and the Kamitchiaka, which falls into the Volga, were rendered navigable, the distance necessary to unite these two mighty streams would only be 3 miles. The difficulty which Peter the Great encountered was, that the level of the Don was higher than that of the Volga by a distance which the academician Lovitz found to be 300 feet. The celebrated Pallas then suggested a junction below the Tlavlia, where the Don, making an angle, approaches the Volga within 50 versts (about 35 miles), and the ground is a bed of sandstone easy to work. They might also be joined by a canal from the Karpovka, on the left bank of the Don, and the Sarpa, a tributary of the Volga; and this would be easy, because of deep ravines and valleys near a convenient point of junction.

Peter the Great, however, united the Voroneje, which falls into the Don, with the Niaza, by a canal; and as the last river flows into the Racovna, the Racovna into the Oka, and the Oka into the Volga, it is possible to navigate from Moscow into the Oka, and thence into the Don.—Vsevolovski, Dict. Hist. de l’Empire Russe, art. ‘Don.’

[290] In spite of the protection afforded by all but prohibitory duties, and the great expense incurred by the nation to support a fictitious system, the manufacturers of Russia are always in a depressed state, and do not gain by this state of things, although their countrymen lose.

[291] This is confirmed by Tegoborski. “The thing,” he says, “which struck me the most during my short stay at Nijni Novgorod in 1852 was the simplicity, and I might almost say the apparent carelessness, with which commercial affairs were ordinarily carried on without the agency of brokers (courtiers). Considering that there were sales to the amount of 10,000,000l. in the short space of three or four weeks, I was surprised to see the Exchange almost always deserted. Many important affairs were concluded without any formality, on the simple word of the parties, in the cafés and restaurants. This method of conducting business is generally in use in Russia, and constitutes a characteristic trait of our commerce. Few persons are aware that at Moscow there is much more business done at the restaurant of the Troitsk (troitski troetir) than at the Exchange. Sometimes, no doubt, a merchant becomes embarrassed and unable to fulfil his engagements, but it is rare that any man of tolerable credit frees himself in regular bad faith from a bargain concluded without the formalities which would render it legally binding.”—Études, vol. iii., p. 287.

[292] This was the number of the corps of the Caucasus when I left the country in 1846, and it was afterwards, I believe, increased.

[293] Sunk on the 24th of September, 1854, at the entrance of the port of Sevastopol.

[294] Published in the Appendices to Dr. Clarke’s Travels.—A discourse under the trigger is the harangue made by a general to his troops when the line is drawn out and the soldiers rest their pieces.

[295] The Russian archine is 28 inches.

[296] The Russian soldiers buy their own lead.

[297] The treasury of the mess.

[298] The name given by the Russians to the empress.

[299] It is impossible in this translation, consistently with fidelity, to preserve the brevity and energy of the original Russian.

[300] This is a Russian mode of expression. To proceed ten versts, they say, To break off ten.

[301] Children and brothers: appellations given by Suvórof to his troops.

[302] Whatever arrives. Suvórof began the attack as soon as the colours arrived, even if he had but half a regiment advanced.

[303] Strength and a half. A common mode of expression in Russia. Suvórof aimed at the style and language of the common soldiers, which rendered his composition often obscure.

[304] Lashes: the literal translation is sticks.

[305] Professor Pallas supposed this to have been a manual of medicine, published for the use of the army.

[306] Here he endeavours to counteract a Russian prejudice, that is favourable to immoderate eating during fevers.

[307] A sour beverage, made of fermented flour and water.

[308] Suvórof had so great an aversion to any person saying “I don’t know,” in answer to his questions, that he became almost mad with passion. His officers and soldiers were so well aware of this singularity, that they would hazard any answer instantly, accurate or not, rather than venture to incur his displeasure by professing ignorance.

[309] The words here are some of them not to be translated, and seem to be the coinage of his own fancy. The Russians themselves cannot affix an explication to them.

[310] A Russian proverb.

[311] Here Suvórof is a little in his favourite character of the buffoon. He generally closed his harangues by endeavouring to excite laughter among his troops; and this mode of forming a climax is a peculiar characteristic of the conversation of the Russian boors. In this manner:—“And not only of the boors, but of the gentry; and not only of the gentry, but the nobles; and not only of the nobles, but the emperors.”

[312] A slight exaggeration of Suvórof’s.

[313] From Hagemeister’s Report on the Commerce of New Russia. London, 1836, p. 120.

[314] Trade and Navigation of the Crimea for 1852, from the ‘Journal de St. Pétersbourg.’