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with great certainty: although the raw and unpolished peo-ple there have no knowledge of their signification, and aremuch less in a state to publish any thing concerning them.In another place, page 16 of his work, he ascribes theignorance of the present inhabitants to its proper cause,—thedestructive depopulation produced by the constant warfareamong the Tartarian tribes who inhabit those districts.
In a note upon this passage, he says, “ In the year 1720,when some Russian regiments went from the city ofTobolsky up the river I-rtisch, they found there many anti-quities and temples of idols; and I have been told by theTobolskian Tartars and Russians , that from this riverfarther towards the west, south, and south-west from thecity of Tobolsky, between the sources of the rivers Toboland Ischim, whither very few people frequented, there wereto be found great numbers of images cut in stone, of menand beasts, and that the ruins of several cities were dii-cernible in those deserts. And as the mountains of Uiu-tauand Kit-zic-lau, which are called Arr-tagg and KarrAagg, liebetween the said rivers, on the first of which the greatTamerlane , or Timur-Beck, when he passed by with hisarmy, erected obelisks; and near which place the greatOgus-Chan had his residence. See FHistoire de Tim. Beck.tom. ii. p. 36 and 81. So this relation is indeed very pro-bable ; but 1 much regret, that during my stay in Siberia ,I had no opportunity of going to visit them in person.”
In those countries the course of nature appears to be re-versed. In southern climes, the rivers in general run fromthe south to north into the Mare Glaciale, or Frozen Sea;therefore, presuming that this author’s description, where,he says, between the source of the rivers Tobol and Irtisch,that it is to the south-west of Tobolsky where we see thisapparently rise, is an immense desert district between die45th and 55th degree of N. latitude, of course including thatwhich M. Badly speaks of, and which district of country iscalled Step, Yschimsca, lying about 200 English miles to thenorth-east of the Caspian Sea . It should be remarkedthat, in the Sclavonian tongue, Step is another term forDeserta.
Of the Fixed Stars . —To what has preceded uponthe celestial sphere, the following may be added. Theapparent motion of the stars, and their different altitude,are occasioned by the diurnal motion of the earth, and thedifferent position of a spectator on its surface.
And although the fixed stars keep their relative places