book fome iive fterlets, procured from Ruffia, were thrown into
.— ;— i the lake Maeler, where they propagated *.
They have been fometimes caught in the Gulf of Finland,
and even in the Baltick ; yet they are fuppofed not to
have been natives of thofe feas, hut ftray fiih, which efcaped
from fome veilels that were beat to pieces in paffing the
falls of the river Mafta t .
Sept. 19. Having obtained the valuable acquifition of a
new wheel, we proceeded on our journey in the afternoon,
and were enabled to reach, before the clofe of the evening,
Torihok, which is iituated upon the banks of the Tvertza.
It is a large ftraggling place, confifting chiefly of wooden
buildings, intermixed with a few publick ftrutftures and
houfes of brick, lately ereóted at the emprefs’s expence.
Although Torihok was only forty miles dittant from
Tver, we efteemed it a fortunate circumftance that,,during
that fpace, no accident had happened to our carriage. But
we were not fo fuccefsful on the enfuing day ; for the axle-
tree breaking about fix miles from Vidropuik, we walked to
that village ; and having procured a temporary axle-tree to
fupport our infirm vehicle, we again proceeded in kibitkh
as far as Viihnei-Voloihok, a place remarkable for the canal,
which, by uniting the Tvertza and the Mafta, connects the
inland navigation between the Cafpian and the Baltick.
Viihnei-Voloihok, one of the imperial villages enfranchifcd
by the emprefs, and endowed with confiderable privileges,
has already reaped many benefits from its new immunities.
* Habitat in laeuMselero, quem poten- “ o f Ladoga were beat to pieces, by which
tiffimus Rex Suecia; Frederícus I. exRuffiá « accident the fiih regained their liberty j
all a turn in hoc lacu plantari curavit. Faun. 11 and fome o f them were afterwards taken
Sue. No. 272. «« at Cronftadt, and one catched at Stock-
■f Bruce relates, in his Memoirs, that “ holm, which were confidered as great
“ f°me veflels going for Peterlburgh with . “ curiofities, as none o f them had ever
*4 live fiih, called Sterlit, in paffing the falls been feen in thofe feas before.” 'p. 112..
The
The inhabitants, raifed from the fituation of flaves to that chap.
of freemen, feem to have ffiaken off their former indolence ■ T’ •
and to have caught a new fpirit of emulation and induftry •
they have turned their attention to trade; and are awakened
to a fenfe of the commercial advantages poffeffed by the
place o f their abode. The town is divided into regular
itreets, and is already provided with a large range of ihops
and warehoufes, which line each fide of the canal. All the
buildings are of wood, excepting the court of juftice eredted
at the charge of the emprefs, and four brick houfes belonging
to a rich burgher. During our ftay at Vifhnei-Voloffiock,
we did not fail to examine, with great attention, every part
of the celebrated canal, of which an account will be given in
a future chapter «-..
Having procured a new axle-tree, we quitted on the 2 i f f
Viihnei-Voloihok, croffed the river Shlina, and continued
along a timber road, carried over extenfive morales, and
abounding with innumerable fmall bridges, without railing,
and moftly in a ihattered ftate. I obferved feveral villages,”
as well as fields and gardens, furrounded with wooden pali-
fadoes, about twelve feet in height, which prefented a pic-
turefque appearance. This cuftom of encircling villages
m this country with flakes is very antient: for among the
earlieft laws of Ruffia we find one which enjoins t the pea-
fants, under pain of the knoot, to furround the towns and
villages with palifadoes. Thefe enclofures were probably-
intended as a kind of defence againft the defultory in-
curfions of the Tartar hordes before the invention of
gunpowder; and the practice has been preferved, though no.
* On the inland navigation o f Ruffia in the next volume,
t Haygold, Vol. I', p. 357.
longer