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RUSSI A.

RUSSIA (from Sclav. Rossi or Russi, a small Sclavonic tribe) comprehends a portion of Europe and Asia, exceeding in extent any empire that was ever before included under one form of government. It borders on the Baltic, the Euxine, and the Caspian, and is washed both by the Arctic and Great Pacific Oceans. Stretching from the eastern confines of Asia to the mountains of Olonetz, and from the mouths of the Don, the Volga, and the Kuban, to the Frozen Sea, Russia comprises, independently of islands and promontories, 165° of longitude and 32° of latitude; being 9684 miles in length and 2400 in breadth. It contains a surface of about 4,000,000 square miles, and a population of more than 42,000,000 inhabitants, or about ten persons to each square mile. The population of European Russia, exclusively of the kingdom of Poland, does not much exceed 40,000,000. The chief augmentations by which the empire has been enlarged (for since its provinces were united under one government they have never been contracted) are the following, as stated in

the Russian Court Calendar for 1817:

In

The conquest of Siberia took place in 1573. Yermark, the hetman of the Don Cossacks, rebelled against the authority of Russia, and was obliged to flee before the forces of the czar. this extremity he ascended the Ural mountains, and discovered the vast plains of Siberia. Animated by the idea of founding a new empire, in these unknown regions, he pushed on from conquest to conquest, till he had subdued all the savage tribes from the Ob and the Ural to the Altaian mountains. But, being unable to preserve the conquests which his valor had achieved, he laid the fruit of his victories at the feet of the czar, who not only forgave his rebellion, but rewarded his talents, his courage, and his enterprise. Thus an empire more extensive than Mexico or Peru was added to the Russian territory, by a man inferior to the conquerors of the New World, only because his exploits have not been recorded.' Little Russia was added to the former possessions in 1644; and Livonia, Esthonia, Ingria, Carelia, Viborg, and several islands in the gulf of Finland, were ceded to Sweden, at the peace concluded between the two powers in 1721. White Russia was annexed in 1772; and the Crimea, the island of Taman, and a great part of the Kuban, comprising a vast territory, with about 1,500,000 inhabitants, were wrested from the Porte, by the treaty which the menacing attitude of Catharine II., and her celebrated minister Potemkin, induced that power to sign in 1784. The dukedoms of Lithuania and Courland augmented the accumulating mass in 1793; and the partition of Poland, about two years afterwards, added nearly 3440 square leagues, and about 2,000,000 inhabitants. Georgia was annexed in 1801; and Bailystock in 1807. The war between Russia and Sweden, in 1809, proved disastrous to the latter, and Russia acquired Finland by the peace that was concluded in September of that year.

VOL. XIX.

By a treaty of peace in August 1811 between Russia and Turkey the former obtained the province of Bessarabia, and the eastern part of Moldavia; for by that treaty the Pruth, from its entrance into Moldavia, to its junction with the Danube, and this last river to the Black Sea, were fixed as the boundaries between the two empires. The grand duchy of Warsaw was also aunexed to Russia in 1815, but now constitutes a great part of the present kingdom of Poland.

This empire has undergone much variation in its political divisions. In 1796 Catherine II. divided the whole into fifty governments; a division annulled by Paul in 1800, another, comprising forty-one governments, being substituted in its stead. When the late emperor ascended the throne, he re-established most of the governments which his father had abolished; and a Ukase for that purpose was published in September 1801, by which the forty-one existing governments were increased by five others that had previously been established, and four more were added, which made the number fifty. The acquisition of Finland has been made since that period. The following are its present chief di

visions:

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I. EUROPEAN RUSSIA.-European Russia occupies the north-east portion of Europe; being bounded on the north by the Frozen Ocean ; on the east by Asia; on the west by Sweden, the gulf of Bothnia, the Baltic, Prussia, Poland, and Austria; and on the south by Turkey and the Black Sea. It extends from about 44° to 72° of N lat.; and from 22° to 60° of E. long. from Greenwich. Its length in a right line on the western frontier is about 1940 miles; but from south-west to north-east it is nearly 2180 miles. Its greatest breadth is about 51° of lat., where it is nearly 1520 miles. Its superficial extent has been estimated at about 1,000,000 square miles.

The two distinguishing features of this part of Russia are vast plains, denominated steppes, and majestic rivers. Some of the former consist of an extremely fertile soil; others are saline wastes; while a middle kind produces a scanty supply of vegetation, and are occupied, in summer, by tribes that roam in quest of pasturage. The most noted of these steppes are, 1. The desert of Petshora, situated between the Dwina and Petshora, and extending from 63° of lat. to the shores of the White Sea. This plain is interspersed with forests and small lakes, and is almost destitute of inhabitants, except in the vicinity of Archangel and Mezen. 2. The steppe of the Dnieper, including the Crimean desert, and comprised between the Dnieper, the Don, and the sea of Azof. It consists chiefly of dry sand diversified with salt lakes. The appearance indicates its having once been a submarine bed, the waters of which, by bursting the Thracian Bosphorus, may have flowed into the Mediterranean. 3. The steppe of the Don and the Volga, which occupies a considerable part of the space between these rivers. The great and generally rich plain bounded by the Volga and the Ural is about 2° further north than the latter, and stretches towards the Caspian.

Other parts of the Russian territory, though generally flat, present more variety. The surface, generally speaking, is composed of two inclined planes; one sloping towards the south and south-east, and the other descending towards the opposite points. These declivities meet on

the east side of the empire, about 60° of lat. and thence follow a winding line towards the south-west, till their union reaches 50°, and quits Russia in the vicinity of Smolensko. From this waving ridge, the waters flow on the one side to the Euxine and Caspian; and, on the other, into the White Sea and the Baltic.

The mountains of Olonetz originate in the northern extremity of Lapland, and stretch through about 15° towards the south. The northern parts are constantly covered with snow; the more southern regions with forests, and contain various metals, particularly iron. The mountains of Valday, which are crossed by the road from St. Petersburg to Moscow, have been supposed, by some travellers, to be merely a continuation of the former chain. They are chiefly composed of clay and sand, with occasional blocks of granite, forests, and fertile valleys. This elevated region gives rise to the Volga, the Duna, the Dnieper, and the Ocka. A ridge of hills likewise extends through Moldavia and Bessarabia, along the southern coast of Taurida, and connects the Carpathian with the Caucasian chain. They form the southern extremity of the peninsula, and consist of calcareous matter, supported, as it were, by pillars of marble, trap, clay, common lime-stone, and schistus, in parallel and almost vertical veins, alternating with each other. This singular ridge has the appearance of an amphitheatre along the Euxine. The vales produce the laurel, the olive, the fig, the lotus, and the pomegranate; the cliffs are adorned with the red bark and perpetual foliage of the strawberry-tree; while the sheep and goats, clinging to the declivities, combine with the simple manners of the Tartars to form an enchanting picture.' The Uralian mountains, which separate Europe from Asia, for more than 1200 miles, have already been mentioned in our article EUROPE. This range declines abruptly on the western side. The highest part is in the province of Orenburg, and the most elevated near the western verge of the range. These, however, do not exceed 4500 feet in height.

The principal rivers descending towards the south are the Volga, the Don, and the Dnieper. Those that run in an opposite direction, the Petshora, the Dwina, the Neva, and the Duna, with their tributaries.

The level nature of the soil, and the number of large rivers, are extremely favorable to internal navigation of all kinds. Peter the Great completed the navigation from the Caspian to the Baltic, by opening the canal of Vishnei Voloshok, between the river Twerza, that falls into the Volga, and the Shlina, which terminates in the gulf of Finland. Various other plans of internal navigation have at different times been wholly or partially executed; and the repose of peace, aided by the information which the Russians have derived from their visits to the more improved nations of Europe, will doubtless be employed in promoting the national resources of these vast dominions. Among these improvements, the construction of canals is finding a place, though they are rendered less necessary in Russia than in most other countries, by the

continued intensity of the frost, which makes the conveyance of heavy articles on sledges a matter of ease constantly to be depended on. No sooner has the frost set in than sledge-ways, covered with these vehicles, are opened from the gulf of Archangel to the mouth of the Don, and from the banks of the Irtish to those of the Neva. Some of the Russian lakes are the largest bodies of fresh water in Europe: as those of Ladoga, Peypus, Onega, and Ilmen. Russia also contains several others.

Russia is generally connected with the idea of cold; but this applies only to the northern districts; those of the opposite extreme participate

GREATEST HEAT.

in the temperature, and yield all the products of southern Europe. With respect to climate, European Russia may be divided into three distinct regions; the cold one from 60° northward; the temperate between 50° and 60°; and the warm from 50° to the southern extremity. In the first of these the severity of winter is great, and confines the labors of agriculture to a very limited period. Little vegetation appears before June; but then the accumulated heat of almost continual day renders its progress vigorous and rapid. The extremes of heat and cold at St. Petersburgh during ten years were as follow:

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GREATEST COLD.

Degree of Fahrenheit.

29° below 0.

1783

17th June

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92

30th January

8 ditto

1785

23d July

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1786

27th June

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2d January
9th February

23d December (

12th January

3d and 10th February
7th and 22d December

8 ditto 10 ditto

The varieties of the soil we have already glanced at. Barren deserts occur even in the southern regions, and wide-spread plains, impregnated with salt. The governments of Vofodimir and Riazan are esteemed the most productive. There the soil consists of a rich vegetable mould, and yields all kinds of grain and esculent vegetables. On some of the steppes the grass grows to the height of a man.

The climate here is as changeable as in our of the day, is tempered by refreshing breezes own country. Fahrenheit's thermometer has been from the sea, succeeded in the evening by others known at St. Petersburgh to be at 3° one day, from the land. Here the climate is salubrious; and nearly 37° the next; making a difference of though in some other districts of the south the about 34° in a few hours. Storms of thunder swamps and saline steppes are unhealthy. As and lightning seldom take place in Russia; but autumn advances the nights become cold, and the aurora borealis is very frequent, and the at- this season is the most sickly in the year. In mosphere is often seen to discharge electric fluid. winter the tops of the mountains are covered Near Moscow the rivers are generally frozen as with snow. early as the beginning of November; and the ice seldom breaks up till the middle of March. The buds of the birch expand in May, and its leaves fall in September. In the southern parts of this middle region, particularly in the government of Tula, Orel, Kursh, and Kiev, the climate resembles that of parts of France. It produces apples, pears, plums, melons, and arbutuses. But here, as well as in the former region, the year embraces only two seasons. Snow clogs the path of retreating summer, and a vivid sun at once dissolves the winter's frost. In the southern regions the luxuriance of warm latitudes greets the travellers' eye, and wine and silk, with abundance of choice fruits, are found. Spring begins with March, and continues to the end of May. Nature is then arrayed in her most brilliant colors, and every aspect under which she is viewed is refreshing and beautiful. In June, the influence of the sun becomes powerful, the plains lose their verdure, the springs are dried up, and the rivers cease to flow. Fahrenheit's thermometer, in the shade, often exceeds 100°, September is sometimes far advanced before the fiery glare of summer abates. In this season rain and dew seldom fall; but in the peninsular province of Tamida the heat, during the middle

The Russian forests are perhaps unequalled in the old world, and consist of oak, pines, cedars, firs, linden, and birch. The shores of the Volga, the Ocka, and the Don, are adorned with vast woods of oak, whence it is conveyed to the ports of the Baltic and the Euxine. The Valchonskoi forest, through which the road lies from Viesma to Moscow, extends on all sides to a great distance. The governments of Olonetz, Archangel, Perm, and other northern regions, are likewise covered with forests of unknown extent. Even the road from Petersburg to Moscow runs chiefly through a succession of woods. The fir, the pine, and the black pine, are the prevailing trees in the northern parts. On the Ural mountains the cedar grows in abundance, and is often cut down by the inhabitants for its cones, which yield excellent oil. The larch flourishes in the

north, and is employed in ship-building, and for its turpentine and charcoal. In addition the beech, the elm, the maple, and the poplar, grow in the southern regions. The birch is used in various ways. Its bark is employed in tanning; its leaves afford a yellow dye, its sap a liquor called birch wine, and its wood not only supplies fuel, but is converted into domestic vessels. The linden is likewise equally valuable. Its outer bark is manufactured into carriages, baskets, trunks, and covering for cottages; and the inner rind into mats. The rind of its shoots is platted into shoes for the boors. Its blossom supplies food for bees, and its wood is made into boats.

The Russian agriculture is generally in a very rude state. In the north both the soil and climate are unfavorable to its progress, and a few patches of feeble rye are almost the sole evidences of civilisation; and the thinly scattered inhabitants chiefly derive their subsistence from the fishery and chase. In Finland also the inhabitants grow little grain. See FINLAND.

The productions of this extensive empire, it has been long said, are as various as the soil and climate. Here the gifts of Providence are scattered with a profusion which, while it corresponds with the prodigality of the inhabitants, forms a singular contrast with their indolence, poverty, and unskilfulness in the arts of wealth and comfort. The Russians at once suffer from want, and allow abundance to corrupt; and though they might supply the world they depend on others. The following facts have been recently stated:-The harrow consists of short wooden pegs, driven into thin laths, woven together with willows. The use of the roller is hardly known. A crooked stick frequently serves as a flail. To drain moist lands or swamps is not at all the practice, though they are so numerous and prejudicial to man and beast, and might be converted into the finest corn fields. The steppe lands are employed a short time without manure and then forsaken. When a boor has fixed on a piece of forest land for the purpose of making it arable, together with the bushes and young wood, he cuts down and consigns to the flames, trees which have stood for two centuries, and are fit to be the 'mast of some great admiral.' If he cannot fell such large trees, stripping them of their bark, he leaves them to wither, and kindles the brushwood under them. In burning the dry weeds and grass for the purpose of manure the forests are sometimes set on fire, and consumed for miles. The boor has no conception of artificial manure, marl, chalk, or pond-mud. The land is seldom clean harrowed." Oats, rye, wheat, and barley, are sown in most parts; and raised in considerable quantities. Rice is grown in some of the southern districts; but hemp and flax are the principal objects of culture. In some of the Uralian mountains they grow wild. Hops and tobacco are cultivated in the southern provinces. Beyond 60° of latitude the vegetables resemble those of the northern parts of Norway and Sweden. Between 50° and 60° they differ little from those of Great Britain and Ireland. Almost all sorts of culinary vegetables are cultivated. This region is also plentifully stocked

with fruit trees and shrubs; and vast orchards of apple, pear, plum, and cherry trees appear. Cherries are produced in such abundance that both wine and vinegar are made of them. Nuts and walnuts are likewise plentiful. Various berries are annually gathered in vast quantities, and eaten either raw or preserved. They include gooseberries, currants, strawberries, cranberries, &c. &c.

Maize, rice, and cotton, are among the common products of the south. The fruits comprise chestnuts, almonds, pomegranates, olives, figs, peaches, apricots and mulberries, with grapes and other delicate fruits of southern climates. The vine is cultivated by the Cossacks of the Don, but in an imperfect manner. The watermelon often weighs 30 lbs., and is of an excellent flavor.

Cattle abound in all parts of Russia, and form a principal source of wealth. The breed is often large, and as well as that of the sheep has been much improved; but they are frequently left to seek their own food in the fields and forests. Buffaloes are numerous in the south. The long-tailed sheep, kept by the Cossacks of the Don, and other tribes in the south, yield wool of an excellent quality. The large sheep which range over the steppes of Taurida are covered with coarse wool mixed with hair; but the skins of their lambs furnish a fine colored and valuable fur in great request. The silky-fleeced Tauridan is also a valuable but small breed. Sheep indeed are so numerous in the southern provinces that a common Tartar often possesses a flock of 1000, and a rich one of 50,000. There are also great numbers of swine in Russia.

Notwithstanding the diversity of climate and treatment, the native Russian horses have a considerable resemblance to each other. All are of a compact form, with ram-like heads, and long and meagre necks, but they are hardy and active. In the governments of Moscow, Tambof, Kazan, and some others, the native breed has been improved by the introduction of foreign horses, The Tartar horses are of known excellence. Those of the Cossacks are small but indefatigable. The Russian cavalry is chiefly composed of Lithuanian horses. The Russian nobility pay great attention to the breed of this animal. The ass is little used; but, as well as the camel and dromedary, it is sometimes employed in the southern provinces for domestic purposes. The rein-deer is the principal domestic animal in the north. Goats are common in all the districts; and are kept both for their milk and hair. The peculiar species bred in Taurida sheds its fleece every spring; it is obtained by combing the animal at that season. In both silkiness and elasticity it exceeds the finest wool.

Among the wild animals are the bear, the wolf, the lynx, the fox, the deer, the elk, the antelope, and many other smaller species. Those which are most valued for their furs are inhabitants of Siberia; but hares and rabbits are common to all parts. The wild boar is found on the steppes of the Volga, and the borders of the Uralian forests; and is often hunted by the Cossacks. So much does this animal fatten on the roots and salt plants of the steppes, that he

often weighs more than six hundred weight. The flesh is esteemed a delicacy, and the animal is rarely killed without danger. The antelope ranges in large herds in the south.

Russia possesses nearly all the species of birds which are to be found in Europe. The number of wild fowl that flock to the desolate steppes, marshes, and forests, is almost incredible. Some idea, however, may be formed of their number by their value when caught; a bustard, weighing 20 lbs., is frequently sold for thirty or forty copecs, which is only equal to a few pence. Other game are equally plentiful.

The sturgeon is caught in the Volga, and some of the other rivers, in the highest perfection. The sterlet is also an excellent fish, common in the lakes and rivers; and a rich salmon is peculiar to the Kama, a stream that falls into the Volga. It is from three to four feet in length. To the general diffusion of the common species of European fish through the rivers of Russia, the eel forms an exception, none being found either in the Volga or in the rivers to the east of it. It is also remarkable that the herring and seal are here found in some of the lakes and even the rivers.

ASIATIC RUSSIA.-Asiatic Russia extends from about 37° of E. long., to the eastern extremity of Asia, (more than 5000 English miles), and from the Frozen Ocean to the great range of mountains which separates it from the central plateau. Its breadth exceeds 1500 miles; but it is much narrower towards the east. The whole surface is computed at 3,000,000 of square miles, with about one individual to each. The population is composed of a variety of primitive tribes, intermixed with a few Russian settlers, and a small accession in the east, which from its difference in manners, customs, and appearance, is supposed to be of American descent. The ancient Greeks and Romans extended their Scythian Ocean over the wide regions of Siberia; but Ptolemy, who was better informed, placed an unknown land in that direction: and Marco Polo, with other travellers of the middle ages, obtained some vague ideas of a country in this part of Asia, rich in furs. In the middle of the thirteenth century the Monguls had established a government on the Irtish, in the western part of Siberia, but Russia was then too frequently exposed to the ravages of its eastern neighbours to carry either its arms or its investigations into those regions. Even when her internal divisions had enabled her, in some measure, to consolidate her empire, its southern and eastern frontiers were exposed to hostile attacks, and the northern provinces of Archangel afforded the means of first becoming acquainted with the countries bordering on that quarter. The Samoiedes of the Oby and the adjacent districts visited Russia to barter their furs with the natives. This excited their curiosity, and enterprises were undertaken to the countries whence the furs were brought.

Yermack, one of the principal chiefs of the Cossacks, with about 6000 followers, first entered Siberia in quest of new regions, and vanquished Kutchum, the khan of Siber, took his capital, and suddenly found himself at the head of an almost unlimited empire. Apprehensive, how

ever, that continual efforts would be made to wrest the newly-acquired sceptre from his hands, he endeavoured to secure it by laying it at the feet of the czar. This was an offer too congenial with the Russian disposition to be refused; and, though the conquest was transient, it not only disclosed those eastern countries, but animated the hope of permanent success. The Russians soon after penetrated to the Yenisei, or Jenisei, and, having conquered the Tonguses, enjoined them to prosecute their discoveries to the east. These people fulfilled their commission, and soon penetrated to the Pisida, which is supposed to have been the Angara, on the opposite side of which they found a people, whom they described as 'of good understanding, well set, with small eyes, flat faced, brown color, and inclining to tawney.' But they could not understand their language. The Russians now soon arrived at the Lena, descending its stream to the Frozen Ocean; in 1639 one of their adventurers reached the eastern shore. Thus, in half a century, a few wandering Cossacks and Tungusian hunters, added an extent of country to the Russian empire that stretched one-third round the globe. After this they founded the towns of Irkutsk and Nertschinsk, and established a line of posts along the Amur. The map of the Caspian, constructed by Peter the Great, was an important accession to the progressive geography of that district, and was the first document which represented that sea as stretching from north to south, instead of from east to west, as had been previously supposed.

The mountainous region, at the south-west extremity of Asiatic Russia, has always been inhabited by rude tribes, under independent chiefs, secure in their own fastnesses. Here they have imbibed, and constantly cherished, the spirit of the feudal ages; and, though Russia has made great advances in the work of subjugation, she is yet unable to exact more than a precarious submission, and can only levy her imposts by force of arms, and a chain of military posts.

Asiatic Russia consists of two distinct parts, Siberia and Caucasus. The first is divided into the two great governments of Tobolsk on the west and Irkutsk on the east. The latter government includes the peninsula of Kamschatka. Besides these two governments, the province of Astracan, with parts of Caucasus, Perm, and Orenburg, are Asiatic. We therefore adopt the following general division:

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