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Servians, Albanians, Bulgarians , Moldavians, Valekians, Arme-nian's, and levs. In tlie Russian empire are many lakes of verylarge extent. 1. The Ladoga , anciently called Ne o, is ihe larg-est lake in Europe, between the governments of St. Petersburg !!,Olonetz , and Vyborg. 2. The Onega lake is situated in thegovernment of Olonetz. 3. The Tchude lake, or Peipus , lies be-tween the governments of St. Peter,burgh, Pscof, Revel and Riga.4. The Ilmen lak», anciently called Moisk, lies m the governmentofNovogurod. 7. The Baical Lake, otherwise called the BaicalSea, and the Holy Sea, lies in the government of Irkoutsk . Be-sides these there are several of less note. The Russian language isa dialect of the Sclavonic, and the purest perhaps that is now any-where to he found; but they have nothing ancient written in it, ex-cept a translation ot Chrysostom's Offices for Easter , wmcu are atthis day good Russia ; , and intelligible to every boor, though cer-tainly not less than 800 years old. 'I he native Russians are stig-matised by their neighbours as ignorant and brutal, totally re-signed to sloth, and addicted to drunkenness, even to the mostbeastly excess; nay, they are accused ot being arbitrary, perfi-dious, inhuman, and destitute of every social virtue. There isnot a phrase m their language analogous to ours, “ the manners orthe sentiments of a gentleman nor docs gentlemen with them ex-press any tiling moral. They have no sucii distinction. Cunningis professed and gloried in by all; and the nobleman who is detect-ed telling a lie is vexed, hut not in the least ashamed. In thewhole rcglement of the marine by Peter the Great , there is notone word addiessed to the honour, or even to the probity, of hisofficers. Hopes o; reward, and the constant fear of detection raidpunishment, are the only motives touched on. The Russian noblesformerly wore long beards, and long robes with strait sleeves dang-ling down to their aneb-s : their collars and shirts were gem-rail-,wrought with silk of different colours : in lieu of hats, they co-vered their heads with furred caps ; and, instead of shoes, worered or yellow leathern buskins. The dress ot the women nearlyresembled that of the other sex ; with this difference, that their gar-ments were more loose, their caps fantastical, and their -hift-sfeeves three or four ells in length., gathered up in folds from theshoulder to the fore-arm. But now the French fashions prevailamong the superior ranks throughout ail Muscovy. The moun-tains within Russia , as well as those on its frontiers, abound withminerals of various kinds. Gold, silver, quicksilver, copper, lead,iron-ore, very powerful loadstones, mountain-crystal, ame'hysts,topazes of diilerent sort , agates, cornelian, be’rvi, chalcedonyonyx, porphyry, antimony, pyrites, aquamarines, chrysolites,ophites, and lapis lazuli, are found in them, beddes marble, gra-nite, trappe, maria or Muscovy glass, of remarkable size and clear-ness, basaltes, and coal, &c. and in every part of Siberia , butparticularly in the ph.ins of it, are found bones of animals uncotn-naqnly large, mammoth’s teeth (see Mammoth), and other fossils.Hiissia is divided into two great parts by a range of mountainsfailed Oural , or the Bell, which, through tne whole breadth of rt,forms one continual tin nterrupled barrier, dividing Siberia fromthe remaining Russia.—That part ot Russia which lies on this side°f tlui Ouvaiian mountains presents a very extensive plain vergingWestward by an ea-ydescent. The vast extent of Ibis plain has aEreat variety of different climates, soils, and products. The N.Part of it is very woody, marshy, and but little fit for cultivation,i n d lias a sensible declivity inwards tiie White and the FrozenI “ s - The ether part ot this vast plain includes the whole extentalong the Volga as tar as the deserts, extending by the Caspian and‘°e Azov Seas, end constitutes the finest part of Russia , which inSpheral is very rrh and fro tfnl, having more arable and meadow®‘>d than wood, marshes, or barren deserts. The part lying on■ l; - pthvr sideoi the Oural mountains, known by the name of Sibe-la > is a flat tract of land of considerable extent, declining imper-ffpt bly towards the Glacial Sea, and equally by imperceptible de-firt'es ri .ing inwards the S. where at last it forms a great rangemountains, constituting the borders of Ru sia on the side of
- inn. Between the rivers Irtish , Oby, and theGins . , huv - ■ ■
Altaic inoim-i’Y the name
of n ""‘ l ls a very extensive plain, knownere * u ‘ l fo ns kuv-a Slope, viz. the deserts of Baraba, the north-ha' P ar * which is excellent for agriculture; but the southern(j y rt L 11 desert full of sands and marshes, and very mint for cul-tlii' 1 l0n ' ^'Tween the Oby and Eni\;ey there is more woodland11 open ground; and Uie other side of the Enissey is entirely
covered with impervious woods, as far as the lake Baical ; but thesoil is fruitful everywhere; and wherever the trouble has beentaken of clearing it of the wood, and of draining it from unne-cessary water, it proves to be very rich, and fit lor cultivation ; andthe country beyond the Baical is surrounded by ridges of highstony mountains. Proceeding on farther towards the east, the cli-mate of Siberia becomes by degrees more and more severe, thesummer grows shorter, the winter longer, and the frosts provemore intense. With respect to the variety of climates, as well asthe produce of the earth, Russia naturally may be divided intotiiree regions or divisions, viz. the northern, middle, and southerndivision’s. These vveie about 30 years ago subdivided into dif-ferent governments, for the better administration of justice. Thenorthern division, beginning from Lat. 57° extends to the end ofthe Russian dominions on the north, and includes the governmentsof St. Petersburgh, Riga, Revel, Vyborg , Pscov, Novogorod,Tver Olonetz. Archangel, Vologda, Yaroslavl, Kostroma , Vuitka,Perme, and Tobolsk. The middle-division is reckoned from Lat. 57° to 50° and includes the governments of Moscow, Smolensk ,Polotsk , M oghilev Tchernigov, Novogorod-Sieverskoy, KharkovVoronez, Koursk, Orel, Kalouga , Toola, Riazane, Vladimir,Niznei-Novogorod, Tambov, Saratov, Penza , Sinbirsk, Kazane,Oufa, Kolhivane, and Irkutsk . The southern division beginsatLat.50° and extends to the end of Russia on the south, including thegovernments of Kiov, Ekatherinoslav, Caucasus, and Taurida .To this may be added the habitations of Cossacks of the Don.The wild beasts in the northern part of Russia such as rein-deer,bears, foxes, ermins, martens, sables, hares, and squirrels. In themore southern provinces the Muscovites breed black cattle, smallbut hardy horses, sheep, goats, and camels. The breed of cattleand horses has been enlarged by the care, and under the protec-tion, of Peter and succeeding sovereigns. The whole empireabounds with wild-fowl and game of all sorts, and a variety of birdsof prey ; besides the different kinds of poultry, which are raisedin this as well as in other countries. The external parts and pro-vinces of Muscovy are well supplied with sea-Iish from theNorthern ocean, the Baltic or Gulpli of Finland, the White sea ,Black sea, and Caspian ; but the whole empire is plentifully pro-vided with fresh-water-fish from the numerous lakes and rivers,yielding immense quantities of salmon, trout, pike, sturgeon, andbellug. The Russians were converted to the Christian religionabout the end of the 10th century. Since that period they haveconfessed the articles of the Greek church, mingled with manysuperstitious ceremonies of their own. They do not believe in thepope’s infallibility or supremacy ; they hold no communion withthe see of Rome: they use auricular confession, communicate inboth kinds, adopt the Athanasian creed, and adhere to the estab-lished liturgy of St. Basil. They worship the Virgin Marv, andother saints; and adore crosses and relics. They observe fourgreat fasts in the year, during which they neither taste fi-h, flesh,nor any animal-food ; they will not drink after a man who
1. as eaten flesh, nor use a knife that has cut meat in less than
twenty-four hours after it has been used ; nor will they,,even though their health is at stake, touch any thing in which harts-horn or any animal-substance has been infused. While this kindof Lent continues, they subsist upon cabbage, cucumbers, andrye-bread, drinking nothing stronger than a sort of small beer calledqinissi. They likewise fast e»ery Wednesday and Friday. Theircommon penance is to abstain from every species of food anddrink, but bread, salt, cucumbers, and water. Russia lias a con-siderable number of large and famous rivers, as the Dvina orDwina , (he Neva, Dn.eper or Nieper, the Don, the Volga, theIrtis , the Onega, the Oby, the Lena, &e. '1 lie external com-
merce of Russia may be divided in tor two different branches ; 1st,The commerce with the European nations, which is carried on bybuying and selling goods either for ready money or upon credit.
2. The commerce with the Asiatic nations, which is conducted bybarter or exchange of goods. The principal ports belonging tothe first part of Russia are, on the Baltic sea, St. Petersburgh) Riga ,Vyborg, Revel, Narva , Fredericksham, and the Baltic port;Archangel on the White sea , and Kola on the Northern O, ean ;Taganrog on the Sea of Azov ; Kherson, Sevastopol , BalaklavaSou dak, Theodosia, Kerche, and Phanagoria on the Black sea , besides others of smaller note. In these ports commerce is carriedon, as well as in several trading towns situated on the frontiers of