Thefe three towns, as well as the numerous villages which
/have fuddenly reared their heads in a country formerly inhabited
only by lawlefs banditti or traverfed by roving
hordes, are filled with Ruffians, with Tartars reclaimed from
their wandering life,, and with numerous colonitts, particularly
Greeks and Armenians, who migrated from Crira Tar-
tary and the adjacent provinces of the Turkiih empire.
The navigation o f the Don and the Dnieper, which rivers
form the. communication between thofe provinces had the
Turkiih feas, remains to be confidered.
• The Don * takes its rife from the fmall.lake o f St. John,
near Tula, in the government o f Mofcow, and palling through
part o f the province o f Voronetz, a fmall portion o f the
. Ukraina-Slobodikaia, and the whole province o f Azof, divides
itfelf near TcherkafkJnto three lireams, and falls in
thefe feparate branches into the Sea o f Azof. The river has
fo many windings, is in. many parts fo ihallow, and abounds
with fuch numerous ihoals, as to be fcarcely navigable excepting
in the fpring, upon the melting o f the fnows; and
its mouth.is alfo fo choaked up with fand, that only flat-bottomed
vefiels, excepting in the fame feafon, can pafs into
the Sea o f Azof.
The banks o f the Don, and the rivulets which fall into it*
are clothed with large tracts o f foreft, whofe timber is floated
down the ftream to St. Demetri and Roftof, where the
frigates for the Sea o f A zof are chiefly conftru&ed.
The navigation o f the Don may poffibly hereafter be
rendered highly valuable, by conveying to the Black Sea the
iron o f .Siberia, the Ghinefe goods, -and the Perfian, merchandize
; which latter commodities, as well as: the products
• * s.k.;g, ix.'p.'ii—h.
of
of India, formerly found its way into Europe through this CHAP-
fame channel * . v -
Since the acquifition o f Ruffian Lithuania, the ceffion o f
the diftriit between the Don and the Dnieper, and the total
difperfion o f the Zaporogian Coffacs, the Dnieper, from its
fource to its mouth, now flows through the Ruffian dominions;
and through this whole courfe, o f above 800 miles,
its navigation is only once interrupted by aferies o f cataradlst,
which begin below the mouth o f the Samara, and continue ’
for a fpa.ce o f above go miles: they are not, however, fo.
dangerous as they have been reprefented; for they may be
paifed in fpring, without much hazard,even by loaded barks.
In Other parts o f the year the goods are landed at Kemenik,
oppolite the mouth o f the Samara, and tranfported about 40
miles by land to Kitchkafe, about 6 miles from the fortrefs
of Alexan:lrovfk, where they are again embarked, and de-
icend the lfream without interruption to Kherfon J. If the
trade ihould increafe to a great degree, the catara&s'might,
at a confiderable expence, be rendered navigable at all feafons
of the year.
IV. The progrefs hitherto made by the Ruffians to efta-
blilh an intercourfe between the ports o f the Black Sea and
thofe of the Mediterranean.
The emprefs, in order to encourage her fubjetfts to engage
this branch o f traffick, has leffened the duties o f import
and export §, and has contributed towards forming a Ruffian
houfe, or company, trading to the Black Sea. Soon after
t J e 5 ho , ir° n p f and th e me,'ch '1n - t M u lle t has defc rihcd thefe c a ta ra fts .
« 0* C h in a, are fometimes fent b y an ¡11- . S . R . G . IV . p . 4 I I j , c
t 0 ‘the Vo),g i,: tb e Perfian I See S . R . G . IX . p . 1 6 ; and
mmodities a re convey ed ac rofs th e .C a f- G n ld eu fta cd t.
might V t ' J r u M th en c e the>' 5 See a lift o f ‘ lie du ties o f export and
1“ d - “ ™ * ' o f im p or t, in B u f. H ilt . M a t , X I . p . g |
the