Historicai the Argoon or Argounia, &c.3 By this treaty the Ruffians affert that
Epochs, they riot only loft a wide territory, but alfo the navigation of the river
Amur, which would have'bee» of great consequence to their remote
poffeffions in Aha"* yet the advantage was gained of a commercial in-
tercourfe with the Chinefe/ In 1727 the limits were continued weft-
ward from the fource of the Argoon ,to the mountain Sabyntaban, near
the conflux of two rivers with the Yenejel tlje boundary being thus
alceftained between the Ruffians and the Mongols fqbjedt to .China.
• The trade with China has been latterly cpndudtqd at Zuruchaitu, on, the
river Argoon, lat.5p.idhg. 117., and -at Kiachta,abouroo^ffi||es^S. of
the fea of Baikal, lat. 51, lpng. 106.* This boundary .bet^en. tw<x
ftatesis. the moft extenfive on the globe, reaching from about;th§, ,65th..
to the 145th degree of longitude; eighty degrees:;(J,atitpde fifty) comt,
pitted-at 3^ geographical miles, will yield th^refult of 3'i2Q;.r^les.|^ts>
hiftory therefore becomes Angular and interefting; hu^it ispjpjh^ble that
the Ruffians will infill: upon extending the boundary to thejiver Amur,
which would form a natural limit, as there are no,. chains, pf-.ip.ountams4
in a proper diredtion-further to the fouth between them- .ejmpirqand
China.
The moft curious ^antiquities feem to be the., ftone 'tQ^|s which.
abound in fome ftepps, particularly near the river-Yepefei, reprefenTing
in rude fculpture human faces, camels, horfemen with lances, -and other,
objedts. ' Here are found befides human bones th'ofe QfthprfeS apd. oxen,
with fragments of pottery and ornaments of drefs.4
. 3 (iesejc.2pp. EpSa Halde, iv.
* Mr. Coic, p, 212, unaccountably fays 350 N. latitude. _ .
* Dec. Rufc. vi. 21a.
CHA P T E R II.
Po.lJlTIÇAL Q rAg’r a ph y.
Religion. —* Ecclefiajiical *> Geography,, —r- Government. — Laves.— Lofiùfàti'on.'—r
. ’Goloniet.—Army.—'N^vy.^Êe^enue'sÆ&MimL Importance aridiRoMms-.\i‘
THE Grecian fyftem ’©!*• the Ghriftiam fâîthÿ* which is embraced* by Reuoips.
.the Ruffians;, has made irioôofiderabîe-progféfs in their Afiatic
poffeffions. Many of the.Tatar tribes in>the St*W. are Mahometans;
and others follow ,the fuperftition of'Dalai Lama, of which anftaèbqnnt' -,
fhall be "given in the defeription df'the. Ghinefe euipitL But' the more
eaftern Tatars are generally addidted to'the Schaman religion, a fyftem
chiefly ïoùridèd on the fél'f-exiftènfcé of mattér, a fpiritual ''world*, and
the .’general reftitution oFJail things^- The Sch'arilânians e?eri Believe
that the Burchans, or gods themfelves, arofe from'the5*general mafs of
matter and lpirijr. x Their “epochs of deftruâion and rçftitùtioh Ibmewhat
refemble thole of the Hindoos&PVWhile|hdriymO rpTôpïs immediately
receive their finlfh decree, the ^virtuous beèbme çhubiîsT or wandering
fpirits, Who are purified b,y traUfmigration, fo dlfo to heebme Bur-
chans, or gods. Between men and gods are the Tèngri,- of fpirits of
the air, who diredt' fubluriary affairs, ana* ill tne trinès ro’impo nan t toman,
but bèheath the moft remote attention of the godss^Thê infernal
regions chiefly contain thofe who have offended -the priefthood; Thia
fyftem*is intimately connected With that *bf the,Dalai Lama, and is fo
widely diffufed that fome have afferted Schamanifm to be the moft pre^
valent fyftem on the globe.* In Afiatic Ruffia it is profeffed by moft
-1 Tooke’s Ruffia,. b y êïj’s' A 42.
• • In his firft volume Mr. Tooke afferts that this fyftem is the parent of Brahminifm ; and that,
the Schamaniant are by Strabo called Germanians, by Clemens Alexandrian* Sarmauians, by iPoh-
phyry Samaritans,
*9 nations.