ants; and the Crown bestows not such an extent of territory, but so many peasants on its favourites. A Russian peasant was valued thirty years ago at forty rubles; but he will now bring four times that sum, and sometimes even a thousand rubles.

Manufactures.] Leather is a principal staple article of Russian manufacture. The tanned leather (youst) is the finest in Europe; and so jealous are the Russians of keeping their pre-eminence in this article, that nothing certain has yet been ascertained respecting their mode of tanning. One of the chief distinctions of genuine Russian leather is a fragrant smell, which cannot be imitated. The best tanneries are at Serpuchof, Belof, and Tula. The manufactures of isinglass and caviar may be said to be exclusively Russian. The former is made of the bladder of the sturgeon, and the latter of the roe of the same fish. The banks of the Volga and the Ural are the principal seats of these manufactures. Soap is manufactured to such an extent, as not only to supply the internal demand, but also to afford very large quantities for exportation: it is of two sorts, white and black, among the ingredients of which are fish-fat, and linseed oil, and what is called Dutch soap. It is chiefly manufactured by Russian burghers, merchants, and boors. The soaps most esteemed are those of Kostroma, Vologda, Kasan, Arsanias, Moscow, Tzaritzin, Murom, &c. Brewing is carried on to a great extent. The beer of Riga is esteemed the best. Besides beer, large quantities of quass, and mead, birch-wine, cherry-wine, and other varieties of vinous liquors, are brewed. Beer is also obtained from the juice of the birch, which is very spirituous, and causes a great saving of malt. The distillation of brandy is a royal monopoly, and is very extensive and profitable. The privilege of distilling it is vested exclusively-a few provinces excepted-in those nobles who have landed estates. It is computed that 360,000,000 lbs. avoirdupois of grain are consumed annually in the distillation of brandy, the produce of which is estimated at 60,000,000 of bottles. The manufactures of potash and saltpetre are very considerable; the quantity of the latter annually exported from St. Petersburg amounting to 800,000 lbs. In dyeing, the Russians have attained great perfection in almost all its branches, particularly in the dyeing of fur and leather, wherein they are unrivalled. Sailcloth and cordage manufactures are upon a large scale, and furnish one of the most important articles of exportation, as most maritime nations are hence supplied with these necessary articles. Very large manufactories of these are maintained by the Crown, at the admiralty, St. Petersburg, Archangel, and Novogorod. Linen manufactures are very numerous; but are chiefly confined to coarse cloths and stripes, with table cloths. But rich napkins, printed linens, and a small quantity of linens of superior quality, are also manufactured; and a cambric manufactory was established at Yamburg by Catherine II. The finest and best Russian linens come from the government of Archangel; they are of equal breadth to that of other countries, but not so well bleached. The linens made in other parts are not above 14 inches wide. In 1764, the quantity of all kinds of Russian linen exported did not exceed 13,000 arschines, or Russian ells, of 28 inches each. In 1802, the whole value of the linen exported from the different Russian ports in the Baltic, was 3,500,000 rubles, besides what was exported from Archangel. The following table of the importation of cotton-yarn into Russia during five years, may give an idea of the

rapid increase of Russian manufactures of cotton calicoes, &c. The value of the importations amounted in 1822 to rubles in paper, 14,641,483

The following was the amount of Russian manufactures, in 1824 :— Woollen cloths, kerseymeres, serge shawls, blankets, and other

Chintzes are made in the vicinity of St. Petersburg, at Schlusselburg, and at Krasnoi-selo. At the other manufactories, the goods worked are chiefly half-chintzes, common cotton cloths, coarse muslins and stockings. Silk manufactories are numerous. At these are fabricated velvets, taffeties, atlases, gold and silver tissues, Peruvians, brocades, and other varieties, especially beautiful hangings, similar, but inferior to those of Lyons. The silk imported is chiefly Italian, received from Holland, some Persian, Buckharian, Chinese, and a small quantity from the colony on the Achtuba. Gold and silver manufactures are few. As much hardware is manufactured at Tula as to supply a great part of the empire. At the cloth manufactories, the chief manufacture is coarse cloths, principally for the army, and a kind still coarser for the peasants and poor people. There is but one manufactory of fine woollens in the whole empire; namely, at Yamburg. The finer woollens are now manufactured in Russia. Hat and felt-making are carried on largely in every part of the empire; but the former are of a very inferior quality. The Tartars and Bashkirs are most expert in manufacturing the latter; some pieces of it, called voiloks, are made so large as to cover a whole room. Shagreen is manufactured at Astrachan, principally by Tartars and Armenians; it is made of the best parts of the horse and ass hides, impressed with the hard seeds of certain plants, which trodden on, mark the leather. It is exclusively a Russian manufacture. Notwithstanding that iron is so abundant, and iron founderies are seen wherever mines exist, yet the Russians are far from having much skill in iron manufactures. The only steel, which is made at Ikaterinburg, at a royal manufactory, is of very inferior quality. At Petrazavodsk, in the government of Olonetz, is a large cannon foundery, where iron cannon of excellent workmanship are cast. At this place, along with the other

iron mines belonging to the Crown, in Siberia, all the cannon and warlike implements are founded. The Crown has four manufactories of fire-arms, and other warlike weapons, at Tula, Sestralic, Petrazavodsk, and Orel. The works at any of these places cannot be compared with those of private individuals in England or Scotland, of a second or even of a third rank. The nail manufactories supply, in a great measure, with a clumsy wrought article, the demands of the interior; the shores of the Baltic being supplied with this article by foreigners. Wire and wire-work are also imported; as are almost all their needles and scythes. There are various powder-mills in the empire, especially those for the supply of the army, at St Petersburg, Moscow, and Kasan. Those at Moscow produced annually 216,000 lbs. avoirdupois. A number of porcelain and earthenware manufactories exist in different parts of the empire. The refining of sugar is carried on to a great extent at St Petersburg, Riga, and Revel. Clayed sugars, as well as refined sugars of all sorts, are not allowed to be imported; and the duties on imported raw sugars are very high. The importation of all spirits is likewise prohibited.28

Commerce. The Commerce of Russia has advanced considerably of late years; the exports consist almost entirely of raw produce; and in 1805, the exports and imports together did not exceed 22 millions sterling, whilst in 1819 they reached nearly 67 millions. The Russian Commercial Journal of St Petersburg gives a concise view of the commerce and navigation of all the sea-ports of the empire, during the first half of the year 1827. According to this statement, the number of ships that had arrived in all the sea-ports of this empire, from the opening of the navigation to the 1st of September, was 2,957, of which 1882 were in ballast. The number of ships that had sailed was 1971, of which only 25 were in ballast. Foreign goods imported and already cleared at the Customhouse, to the value of 83,957,320 rubles. Russian goods exported, 107,427,640 rubles. Coin, and gold and silver in bars, imported to the value of 5,894,788 rubles; ditto exported, only 2,255,334 rubles. Among the principal articles of Russian produce exported, were flax, 10,461,218 pouds; iron, 47,143 ditto; tallow, 1,370,991 ditto; potashes, 188,283 ditto; raw and dressed hides, 101,610 ditto; corn, value 17,651,181 rubles; timber, 1,283,640 ditto. At Riga, the imports in the month of May were to the value of 1,674,731 rubles; the value of Russian produce exported, 14,801,729 rubles. The exports from Archangel, in the same month, 1,110,321 rubles. The commerce of Russia embraces a much wider field than its manufactures

The following was a list of the Russian manufactories in 1803, throughout the whole empire; and they are supposed to have at least trebled in number since, 17 of the following having been established that same year: Manufactories. Number. Manufactories.

Of gold and silver leaf, gold lace, Ropes,. wire, &c.

Steel, cast iron, needles, and other

articles of iron and steel,

Brass manufactories,

Porcelain, earthenware, &c.

37 Potash,

Tobacco,

26 Sugar-houses,

37 Powder and Starch,

1 Japanned wares,

Number

55

84

6

12

55 Woollen cloth, and other woollen

Clocks and watches,

Colours, dye-stuffs, &c.

Glass-houses,

Linen manufactories,

Cotton

do.

53 Leather,

843

Printed Cotton do.

49

This is chiefly to be ascribed to the vast extent of its territorial surface, the number of seas and rivers by which both the interior and sea-coasts are pervaded and washed, and the vast variety of tribes by which it is inhabited, and nations by which it is surrounded. The Russian commerce may be arranged under the following heads: namely, 1st, The inland trade with China, through Siberia. 2d, That with Persia and the Caspian. 3d, That with Turkey. 4th, The trade of the interior. 5th, The commerce of Archangel. 6th, The commerce of the Black Sea, and the commerce of the Baltic. The three last heads comprise the whole foreign European commerce of the Russian empire.

:

Chinese Trade.] The commerce with China commenced about the latter end of the 16th century, and was chiefly conducted by caravans; but the trade is now laid open on payment of certain duties. Kiakta, in the government of Irkutzk, on the Chinese frontier, 4,200 miles from Moscow, and about 1,500 from Pekin, is the place appointed by treaty in 1727, where the merchants of both empires meet annually to transact business and the bulk of this commerce is monopolized by Irkutzk. This place of rendezvous forms in fact two towns, the one Chinese and the other Russian. It is the only town in Siberia, excepting the capital, with any appearance of civilization. It is garrisoned by a detachment of Cossacks, and is fortified with batteries and bastions. The Chinese conduct their trade by a company, and seldom fail to outwit their Russian neighbours. The Russians exchange fur, oil, tallow, tapestry, paper, knives, hatchets, &c., chiefly for Chinese silks, porcelain, tea, aniseed, musk, tiger-skins, caskets, and ornamental boxes, drugs, sweetmeats, &c. All the tea used in the Russian empire is obtained direct from China through Siberia. The annual quantity brought to St Petersburg ex

ceeds 500,000 lbs.

The Caspian Trade.] The trade of the Caspian is not only carried on with Persia, but also with all the independent Tartarian tribes to the east and south-east of that sea; with Cashgir and Yarkand, in the Lesser Bucharia; and even with the western part of Tibet, and the fertile vale of Cashmire. Russian caravans of 500 or 600 together, have lately, it is asserted, come on horseback to the fair of Ghertokh, or Ghertope, and by supplying the Tibetians with coral beads, cut up the trade in that article from Delhi and Benares. The chief marts of this commerce are Astrachan, Orenburg, Gurief, Terki, Derbent, Tarku, Baku, and Sallian. Astrachan is the chief seat of the Persian commerce, there being above 5000 resident merchants there, many of whom have ships on the Caspian, and export to Persia woollens, furs, iron, steel, lead, linen, and other Russian products, procuring, in return, silk, from Ghilan and Samarcand ; cotton from Mazanderan and Ispahan; as also, drugs, tapestry, gold, pearls, and diamonds, which articles also constitute the trade of Orenburg and Kazan. Great quantities of raw cotton are brought to Orenburg by the Tartars of Khiva, or Khawarazm, who also bring gold and gems to Astrachan. The Tartar havens to which the Russian merchants resort, are those of Mangushlak, and the ports in the Bay of Balkan. From an idea that the gold and gems brought by the Khivensian merchants to Astrachan, were the natural produce of the country, the Russians attempted a settlement in 1720, on the east of the Caspian, in order to pave the way for the conquest of Khiva; but the Tartars suspecting the design at the very first, rose upon the Russian forces, and cut them off. A great trade is carried on at Orenburg with the Kirgisian Tartars, in cattle and

horses. Another equally great annual fair is held at Omsk, whither articles of the same kind, and to an equal amount, are brought by the middle Kirgisian horde. In return for these, the Russians supply these hordes with cloths, furniture, and other manufactured goods, but are prohibited from supplying them with arms, ammunition, and other warlike stores and implements, as they are very troublesome and restless.

Turkish Trade.] The commerce with Turkey is chiefly carried on at the European frontiers of both countries. Tcherkasky, on the Don, is considered as the principal emporium of this inland commerce, which has, however, much declined of late years. The chief commerce with Turkey is carried on, by way of Taganrog, with Constantinople. The chief imports are Grecian wines, olive oil, silk, and cotton, &c. Furs are annually exported by land from Russia to Usungiora and Silemnia, in Romelia, where are annual fairs, and where they are bought by the Turkish shopkeepers. The maritime Turkish trade was wholly in the hands of the Greeks, and is totally distinct from the foreign European commerce which Russia enjoys by means of these seas. To this must be added importations of silk and cotton goods, imported partly by land and partly across the Black Sea, into the Russian dominions, to the value of between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 dollars annually.

Siberian Commerce.] The inland commerce is that conducted in Siberia between the inhabitants and the various roaming tribes subject to the Russian sceptre, and that which is conducted in European Russia. No strangers are permitted to interfere in this trade, which is confined wholly to natives, or Russian subjects. Great numbers of Bucharians are settled in different places of Siberia and Russian Tartary, who, being active, and industrious, carry on a correspondence through different parts of the empire, as well as with their brethren of the same nation in Persia, Independent Tartary, and Hindostan. They, with the Armenians, are the most commercial people in all Russia,-perhaps in the world. Tobolski is chief centre of the Siberian inland commerce, being frequented not only by Russians and Tartars, but also by Bucharians, Hindoos, and Calmucks. The interior commerce of European Russia is far more considerable. The cities of Moscow, Tula, Jaroslav, Novogorod, Volotschok, Pleskof, Twer, Smolensko, are all noted for their inland commerce. Makerief had a great annual fair in July, which was one of the most frequented and most important in all Russia, being every way equal to the most celebrated fairs in Europe, such as those of Frankfort and Leipsic. It was attended by very great numbers of merchants, both Russians and foreigners, who brought goods to the value of several hundred millions of rubles. But in the summer of 1810, the buildings appropriated for magazines and shops were entirely burnt down, and the fair was removed to Nyshni-Novogorod in 1821. Nyshni, built on the confluence of the Oka and the Volga, presents great advantages as the site of a large commercial fair. By means of the two rivers it maintains an easy communication with the richest agricultural and manufacturing provinces of Russia. The productions of China are carried during the month of September over the Baikal Lake, and in spring reach the Volga along with the Siberian caravans. The productions of Astrachan, Persia, and Bucharia, ascend this river, while those of Petersburg, Germany, England, and France descend it, so that the productions of the East and West meet as in a common centre at Nyshni-Novogorod.

Baltic Commerce.] The chief articles of exportation from the Russian