b o o k Before the conqueft of Cafan and Aftracan, and while
thefe provinces were under the government o f the Tartars;
the camp, or head quarters o f the khan, was a mart for the
Ruffian and Perfian merchants. But as this camp, according
to the cuftom o f the roving Tartars, was frequently changed,
Aftracan and Terki * became at length the two principal
places o f refort. T h e comroerce however, impeded and-fre-
quently interrupted by the numerous banditti, was precarious,
until by the conqueft o f Cafan and Aftracan Ivan Vaffi-
lievitch II. opened a ready communication between Mofcow
and the CafpianSea; and having garrifoned Aftracan with
troops, rendered it a rendezvous for the merchants trading
to thefe parts, and the chief depofitory o f their feveral commodities.
This.conqueft being completed in the year 15 54,
foon after the difcovery o f Archangel, the Engliih, who had
fettled a regular fadtory at Mofcow, obtained the tzar’s per-
miffion to pafs through his dominions into Perfia, and to
carry on an excluiive trade over the Cafpian.
Jenkinfon was the firft Engliffiman who navigated that
fea. In 1558 he landed.at Manguihlak upon the Eaftern
ihore, pafled by land through the country o f the Turkoman
Tartars to Boghara, capital of Great.Buchariaj and returned
to Mofcow the following year. In 15 6 1 he again failed
over the Cafpian; and, proceeding to the coaft o f Shirvan,
went by land to Caibin, the refidence o f the fophy,; from
whom he obtained for the Engliih a permiffion o f trading
into Periia. Several merchants followed his example. The
laft expedition was made, in 15 9 7 , by Chriftopher Burroughs,
- whofe ihip being, in its return, hemmed in by the ice in the
mouth of the Volga and ffiattered to pieces, he and his crew
* T e r k i was fitu ated near th e riv e r in g , as the fpot upon w h ich it flood is co-
T e r e k , u pon the weftern ihore o f th e C a f* vered with the fea.
pian ; there are no traces o f i,t pow remain-
6 efcaped
efcaped with difficulty, and arrived at Aftracan after many c^ p-
dangers During thefe expeditions the traffick Was chiefly <—-v—-^
carried on tb the ports o f Tumen, Derbent, Baku, and the
coafts o f Ghilan.
The difafters which attended the laft voyage o f Burroughs,
the number o f banditti who frequented the ffiores o f the
Cafpian, and the wars between the Turks and Perfians, ob-
ftrufited the irafant commercé ; and no Engliih veflèl appeared
upon this fea for above a century and an half. At length,
in 17 4 1 , the Britiffi merchants of -St. Peteriburgh, at the
pecfuafion o f captain Elton an Englifbman in the Ruffian
fervibe, renewed their commerce upon thé Cafpian ; arad
eftabliflied a fatStory at Refhd in the province o f Ghilan.
Some difputes unfortunately -arifing, as well between the
Engliih themfelves, as between the Ruffians and captain Elton
; the latter entered into the fervice o f Kouli Khan, and.
sffifted the fophy in eonftruâing fome véffels upon the
Cafpian fea. This circumftance gave umbrage to the court
of Peteriburgh ; and Elizabeth, in 174 6 , withdrew the permiffion
which ihe had granted to the Engliih merchants, of
paffing through her dominions for the Cafpian commerce..
Upon the death o f Nadir Shah in 1 7 4 7 , who, in confe-
quence of captain Elton’s influencé, -had permitted the Engliih
to trade to Perfia, their faétory was pillaged by one of
the pretenders- to the throne o f that kingdom1, and. their
commerce in thofe parts was totally annihilated t..
Having thus iketched the origin and progrefs o f theEng-
liili commerce upon the Cafpian, I ihall now coniider that o f
* See H a c k lu y t , p , 324— 430. S. R . G . to P e r fia . Both thefe accounts,, however
V l.ll.4 2 6— 4 7 3 . contradictory to each other,, fufficiently
f .See Hanw a y’ s Britiih trade over th e p ro v e th e u n fo rtun a te mifunderflandings
Cafpian Sea, in his T r a v e ls , V o l . I . and I I . ; w h ich had arifen b etw een th e Engliih who
and C h a p . X X X I I I . in th e fécond volume o f engaged in this trade,
Cooke’ s T ra v e ls th rou gh th e Ruffian Empire
the