b o o k k j g own fnbjefits the Mongols were, entirely ■without the ufe
v..«< o f letters, is faid to have adopted the alphabet and the art o f
writing. But he gives this merely as a eonjedture, and admits
the uncertainty o f fettling decifively to what people-
thefe copper arms and ornaments belonged,, or at what period
they were buried.
A long gallery contains the various dreifes of the inhabitants
in the Ruffian empire, and of many ea&ern nations t
among which the Chinefe are the moft confiderable. One
apartment is filled with the dreffes, arms, and implements;
brought from, the new difcovered iflands between Afia and
America, and from the parts of the continent which have
been vifited by the Ruffian veffefe. Some o f thefe fpecimens
are the fame which are mentioned in the Journals o f the.
Ruffian Voyages, namely,caps beautifully adorned with long
itreamers o f hair like the antient helmets; clothes made
with the ikins o f fea-otters,,of rein-deer, and o f birds painted
red, and ornamented with fringes o f leather, hair, or finews;
alfo wooden mafks, reprefenting the heads of large fiffi and.
fea-animals, which the inhabitants occafionally wear at
feftivals *.
In this gallery are various idols, which Mr. Pallas procured
from the Calmuc or Mongol hordes roving in Siberia*,
many o f whom are ftill plunged in a ftate o f the groffeft
idolatry, and follow the religion o f the Dalai Lama. Some
o f thefe deities are delineated upon canvas; others are o f
clay, painted or g i ld e d a n d a few are o f bEonze, chiefly
procured from Thibet. They are moftly grotefque figures,
with many hands and arms, and fitting erofs legged; and
are fimilar to thofe worffiiped by many fedls in the Eaft
they, are hollow, and generally filled with relicks and fen-
* See Ruffian Di£coveriesr p , 1 1 4 , 16^, 1 53»$ a n d o tk e r . p a rts .
tences
tences o f prayers. Engravings o f the moft remarkable idols chap.
are given in Pallas’s Travels. , VI’
I paid great attention to the collection o f Ruffian
coins, which throw a eonfiderable light upon the early hif-
tory o f this country. The moft antient fubftitutes for money,
which paifed among the natives,: were final 1 pieces o f leather,
or o f martens ikin. j hut in their dealings with io—
reigners, the Ruffians, like the Chinefe at prefenf, ufed to.
exchange their merchandize for gold and fil ver in bullion.
The precife time in which the art o f coining began to be
praaifed in, Ruffia is unknown; but it was moft probably
derived from the Tartars. The coins *■(& ranged into nine
dalles.
i . T h e firft contains thofe that are without infcriptions £
thefe, which are Undoubtedly the moft antient, exhibit in
one or two inftanees an human figure on. horfeback wielding-
a fword but are for the moft part ftamped with the rude
repreientations o f certain animals, and which, according t©>
the ingenious conjecture o f a Ruffian hiftorian +, denote
theirTartarian origin in the following manner.
The cycle or period o f computation employed by the Tar—
tars,,was fimilar to that ftill ufed by the Chinefe and Mongols,
and contained twelve years;, each whereof was fuc-
ceffively marked by the following animals: i . a moufe;;
an cxx ; 3. a tiger ; 4. » h a re ; 5. a crocodile, and fome-
times a dragon ; 6. a ferpent; 7. a horfe ; 8. a lamb ;
an ape ; 10. a hen ; 1 1 . a d o g ; 12. a hog. o f thefe all
croc°dile, the ape, and the hare, appear upon
la :R it f f. A !n c . .V o U l . p . .527.
S T ia gs .o t m o f the. mofl a n t ie a t co in s. 5
I
She