Marym, where they enter the Ket, which they afcend
to Makofflkoi Oftrog. At that place the merchandize is
carried about ninety verfts by land to the Yenifei. The
merchants then afcend that river, the Tungufka, and
Angara, to Irkutfk, crofs the lake Baikal, and go up
the river Selenga almoft to Kiachta.
It is a work of fuch difficulty to afcend the ftreams
of fo many rapid rivers, that this navigation Eaftwards
can hardly be finifhed in one fummer * ; for which
reafon the merchants commonly prefer the way by land.
Their general rendezvous is the fair of Irbit near To-
bolfk; from thence they go in fledges during winter to
Kiachta where they arrive about February, the feafon
■ in which the chief commerce is carried on with the
Chinefe. They buy in their route all the furs they find
in the fmall towns, where they are brought from the
adjacent countries. When the merchants return in
fpring with the Chinefe goods, which are o f greater bulk
and weight than the Ruffian commodities, they proceed
by water ; they then defcend the ftreams of moft of
the rivers, namely, the Selenga, Angara, Tungufka, Ket,
and Oby to its junction with the Irtiffi; they afcend
that river:to Tobollk, and continue by land to Mofcow
and Peterfburg.'
... ^Spme of djefe rivers are only navigable in fpring when the fnow
water is melting; in winter the rivers, are in general frozen.
Before the paffage from Ochotfk to Bolcherefk was Tra!i,Poriof
difcovered in 1 7 16 , the only communication between lh“ u.Mka 10
Kamtchatka and: Siberia was by land ; the • road lay
by Anadirfk to Yakutfk. The furs * of Kamtchatka1
and of the Eaftern ifles are now conveyed from
that peninfula by water to Ochotfk; from thence
to Yakutfk by land on horfe-back, or by rein-deer:
the roads are fo very- bad, - lying either through a
rugged1 mountainous country, or through rnarfhy fo-
refts, that' the journey lafts at leaft fix weeks. Yakutfk
is fituated^ upon thebena, and- is-the principal- town,,
where the choiceft furs are brought in their way to
Kiachta, as well from Kamtchatka as from the Northern
parts of Siberia, which lay upon the rivers Lena, Yana,,
and: Endigirka. At Yakutfk the goods are embarked
upon the bena, towed up the ftream o f that river as far
as Vercholenfk, or ftill - farther to Katffieg ;• from thence:
they are tranfported over a ffiort trait of land to the
rivulet Buguldeika, down that ftream to the lake Baikal,.
acrofs that lake to the mouth of the Selenga, and up •
that river to the neighbourhood of Kiachta..
The furs;, which are generally landed .upon the Eaftern ■ coa-ft o f
Kamtchatka, are either fent by fea to Bolchorelk,. or are tranfported .
acrofs the Peninfula in fledges drawn by dogs. The latter conveyance
is'only ufed in'winter ■: it is the ufual mode of- travelling in that country.
In fummer there. is no conveyance, as the Peninfula. contains. neither
oxen, horfes, or rein-deer. S. R. G. III. p. 478.