UNDER PETER THE GREAT hi

tion. Every piece, when moulded, is stamped withits proper name and loaded when the water is athighest. This, at Tver, 130 English miles aboveMoscow, happens in May, at Kazan in June, andat Astrakhan in July. The Tsar’s own vessels andpeople for several years transported these materials;but, of late, undertakers engage to convey, at certainprice, the timber of a ship of so many guns, fromKazan to the Ladoga Lake; for instance of a 60gun ship, for fourteen or fifteen thousand roubles.They track or warp as the shores allow, up theVolga to the town of Tver, and there, striking off,hold on their course north-west up Tver river,and one river more, till the waters near Turgockand Vishni-Volochok growing small and frequentshallows occurring, notwithstanding the help ofsluices in some difficult parts, are unable to proceedin the latter end of the summer. All this way theygo against the stream ; but in the spring, at thereturn of high water, pursuing their voyage nearBeonets, about twenty-three English miles fromNovgorod, are let by a canal into a little river,issuing into the lake Juna from whence the Volkoffcommencing, they pass it down, under a handsomebridge at Novgorod and descend into the LadogaLake. There the timber is unladen into the Tsar’svessels, such as croyers, schootes , 1 carey bashes,appointed to carry it to St. Petersburg. The navi-gation on this lake is very difficult by reason of thedeep water, few harbours, sorry shipping, and inex-perience of the Russian seamen ; and great is thedanger in passing the three falls, at the entranceinto the Neva. So that many vessels are yearlylost, to the exceeding detriment of St. Petersburg

1 ‘ Schoote ’ is the Dutch ‘ schoot ’ of Charnock {Hist. Mar.Archit., vol. ii. p. 189). The word is spelled schuit in Dutch (seeCalisch’s Dictionary).