b o o k fh o a ls , w h i c h h o w e v e r h a v e la t e l y b e e n c o n f id e r a b ly r e d u c e d ,
. _' . and almoft levelled. In fpring the veffels can be allowed to
draw feet water; in fummeronly 26 inches. In autumn
the navigation from VifhnCi Voloihok to Peteriburgh is
performed in little more than a month; infummer in three
weeks ; and in fpring only a fortnight is required. In the
year 1 7 7 7 , 3485 barks paifed through the canal.
The veffels being fleered down the Mafia, acrofs the lake
Ilmen to Novogorod, defcend the Volkof, and enter the
Ladoga canal, a plan o f which is annexed to that o f Viihnei-
Voloihok. This canal was begun in 1 7 1 8 , by order of
Peter I . ; and was finiihed during the reign o f the emprefs
A n n e : it was carried at firfl only as far as the fmall village
o f Kabona, to a rivulet o f the fame name, which falls
into the lake to the eaft o f Schluffelburgh ; but now reaches,
without interruption, from the Volkof to the Neva. Its
length is 67 miles and aa f ; and its breadth 70 feet.
Its mean depth o f water in fummer is feven, and in fpring
ten feet. It is fupplied by the Volkof and eight rivulets;
the latter, being received into refervoirs, are admitted into
the canal by means o f flood-gates ; and the fuperfluous water
is difcharged through an equal number o f openings 011
the oppofite fide. The barks enter through the fluices of
the Volkof, and go out through thofe o f Schluffelburgh.
In 17 7 8, 49 2 7 veffels paffed through the canal o f Ladoga.
A fchemehas been lately projected to form a water communication
between the Ladoga and Bielo Ozero to the Duna,
in order to unite the White Sea and the Baltick, and to improve
the inland commerce between Archangel and Peterf-
burgh. The only part of this plan yet finiihed is a fhort cut
• o f about feven miles from the Volkof to the Sjas.
The
The grand projeCt o f uniting the Cafpian and the Baltick CHAp-
with the Black Sea by the junction o f the Don and the * / .
Volga, was planned by Peter the Great. Thefe two rivers
approach each other within the diftance o f 40 miles in the
province o f Aflracan; and the two rivulets Iloffla and Ca-
mafhinfka, the former whereof falls into the Don and the
latter into the Volga, are only feparated by an interval o f about
five miles. Could thefe two rivulets be made navigable and
united by a canal, the Black Sea would be joined with the
Cafpian and the Baltick. With this view Peter I. fent Perry®,.
an Engliih engineer, to the fp o t: the canal was begun under
his infpe&ion, and a cut was actually made the length o f a
jnile and an h a lf; but the fcheme was dropped, from an idea
that it was not practicable. Being revived, however, by the
prefent emprefs, profeffor Lovitz was entrufled with the execution
o f in Having taken a level o f the ground between the
Iloffla and the Camafhinika, he traced out the canal, and was ■
preparing to begin the work, when, in 1 7 7 4 , he was wantonly
murdered by the impoflor Pugatchef. According to
the plan o f Lovitz^ the direCt diftance between the two rivulets
is only five miles; but the great difficulty would con-
fift in deepening their beds, and procuring a fupply o f water
fufficient to render them navigable. The Don, however,
being only 40 miles from the Volga, and land-carriage in*
this country being extremely cheap and eafyj it is imagined
that the advantages refulting from the projected canal would ;
be fcarcely equivalent to the expence o f forming it.
* See Perry’s State o f Ruffia. .
C H A T .