Another expedition was made in 1654 to t_Account of the Russian Discoveries between Asia and America To which are added, the conquest of Siberia, and the history of the transactions and commerce between Russia and China

collecting sea-horse teeth. A Cossac, named Yusko Soliverstoff, was one

of the party, the same who had not long before accompanied the Cossac

Michael Stadukin, upon a voyage of discovery in the Frozen Sea. This

person was sent from Yakutsk to collect sea-horse teeth, for the benefit

of the crown. In his instructions mention is made of the river

Yentshendon, which falls into the bay of Penshinsk, and of the Anadyr;

and he was ordered to exact a tribute from the inhabitants dwelling near

these rivers; for the adventures of Deshneff were not as yet known at

Yakutsk. This was the occasion of new discontents. Soliverstoff claimed

to himself the discovery of the Korga, as if he had sailed to that place

in his voyage with Stadukin in 1649. Deshneff, however, proved that

Soliverstoff had not even reached Tschukotskoi Noss, which he describes

as nothing but bare rock, and it was but too well known to him, because

the vessel of Ankudinoff was ship-wrecked there. "Tschukotskoi Noss,"

adds Deshneff, "is not the first promontory which presents itself under

the name of Svatoi Noss[173]. It is known by the two islands situated

opposite to it, whose inhabitants (as is before-mentioned) place pieces

of the sea-horse tush into holes made in their lips. Deshneff alone had

seen these people, which neither Stadukin nor Soliverstoff had pretended

to have done: and the Korga, or sand-bank, at the mouth of the river

Anadyr, was at some distance from these islands."

[Footnote 173: We may collect from Deshneff's reasoning, that

Soliverstoff, in endeavouring to prove that he had sailed

round the Eastern extremity of Asia, had mistaken a

promontory called Svatoi Noss for Tschukotskoi Noss: for

otherwise, why should Deshneff, in his refutation of

Soliverstoff, begin by asserting, that Svatoi Noss was not

Tschukotskoi Noss? The only cape laid down in the Russian

maps, under the name of Svatoi Noss, is situated 25 degrees

to the West of the Kovyma: but we cannot possibly suppose

this to be the promontory here alluded to; because, in

sailing from the Kovyma towards the Anadyr, "the first

promontory which presents itself" must necessarily be East of

the Kovyma. Svatoi Noss, in the Russian language, signifies

Sacred Promontory; and the Russians occasionally apply it to

any cape which it is difficult to double. It therefore most

probably here relates to the first cape, which Soliverstoff

reached after he had sailed from Kovyma.]

While Deschneff was surveying the sea-coast, he saw in an habitation

belonging to some Koriacs a woman of Yakutsk, who, as he recollected,

belonged to Fedot Alexieff. Upon his enquiry concerning the fate of her

master, she replied, "that Fedot and Gerasim (Ankudinoff) had died of

the scurvy; that part of the crew had been slain; that a few had escaped

in small vessels, and have never since been heard off." Traces of the

latter were afterwards found in the peninsula of Kamtchatka; to which

place they probably arrived with a favourite wind, by following the

coast, and running up the Kamtchatka river.

When Volodimir Atlassoff, in 1697, first entered upon the reduction of

Kamtchatka, he found that the inhabitants had already some knowledge of

the Russians. A common tradition still prevails amongst them, that long

before the expedition of Atlassoff, one[174] Fedotoff (who was probably

the son of Fedot Alexeeff) and his companions had resided amongst them,

and had intermarried with the natives. They still shew the spot where

the Russian habitations stood; namely, at the mouth of the small river

Nikul which falls into the Kamtchatka river, and is called by the

Russians Fedotika. Upon Atlassoff's arrival none of the first Russians

remained. They are said to have been held in great veneration, and

almost deified by the inhabitants, who at first imagined that no human

power could hurt them, until they quarrelled amongst themselves, and the

blood was seen to flow from the wounds which they gave each other: and

upon a separation taking place between the Russians, part of them had

been killed by the Koriacs, as they were going to the sea of Penshinsk,

and the remainder by the Kamtchadals. The river Fedotika falls into the

Southern side of the Kamtchatka river about an hundred and eighty

versts below Upper Kamtchatkoi Ostrog. At the time of the first

expedition to Kamtchatka, in 1697, the remains of two villages still

subsisted, which had probably been inhabited by Fedotoff and his

companions: and no one knew which way they came into the peninsula,

until it was discovered from the archives of Yakutsk in 1636.

[Footnote 174: Fedotoff, in the Russian language, signifies

the son of Fedot.]

[175]No other navigator, subsequent to Deshneff, has ever pretended to

have passed the North Eastern extremity of Asia, notwithstanding all

the attempts which have been made to accomplish this passage, as well

from[176] Kamtchatka as from the Frozen Ocean.

[Footnote 175: Mr. Engel indeed pretends that lieutenant

Laptieff, in 1739, doubled Tschukotskoi-Noss, because Gmelin

says, that "he passed from the Kovyma to Anadirsk partly by

water and partly by land." For Mr. Engel asserts the

impossibility of getting from the Kovyma to Anadirsk, partly

by land and partly by water, without going from the Kovyma to

the mouth of the Anadyr by sea; and from thence to Anadirsk

by land. But Mr. Muller (who has given a more particular

account of the conclusion of this expedition) informs us,

that Laptieff and his crew, after having wintered near the

Indigirka, passed from its mouth in small boats to the

Kovyma; and as it was dangerous, on account of the Tschutski,

to follow the coast any farther, either by land or water, he

went through the interior part of the country to Anadirsk,

and from thence to the mouth of the Anadyr. Gmelin Reise,

vol. II. p. 440. S. R. G. III. p. 157.

Mention is also made by Gmelin of a man who passed in a small

boat from the Kovyma round Tschukotskoi-Noss into the sea of

Kamtchatka: and Mr. Engel has not omitted to bring this

passage in support of his system, with this difference, that

he refers to the authority of Muller, instead of Gmelin, for

the truth of the fact. But as we have no account of this

expedition, and as the manner in which it is mentioned by

Gmelin implies that he had it merely from tradition, we

cannot lay any stress upon such vague and uncertain reports.

The passage is as follows: "Es find so gar Spuren vorhanden,

dass ein Kerl mit einem Schifflein, das nicht viel

groesser als ein Schifferkahn gevesen, von Kolyma bis

Tschukotskoi-Noss vorbey, und bis nach Kamtschatka gekommen

sey." Gmelin Reise, II. p. 437. Mem. et Obs. Geog. &c. p.

10.]

[Footnote 176: Beering, in his voyage from Kamtchatka, in

1628, towards Tschukotskoi-Noss, sailed along the coast of

the Tschutski as high as lat. 67° 18´. and observing the

coast take a Westerly direction, he too hastily concluded,

that he had passed the North Eastern extremity. Apprehensive,

if he had attempted to proceed, of being locked in by the

ice, he returned to Kamtchatka. If he had followed the shore,

he would have found, that what he took for the Northern ocean

was nothing more than a deep bay: and that the coast of the

Tschutski, which he considered as turning uniformly to the

West, took again a Northerly direction. S.R.G. III. p. 117.]

[Illustration: _CHART of_ SHALAUROF's _Voyage_.]

The following narrative of a late voyage performed by one Shalauroff,

from the Lena towards Tschukotskoi-Noss, will shew the great impediments

which obstruct a coasting navigation in the Frozen Sea, even at the most

favourable season of the year.

[Sidenote: Voyage of Shalauroff.] Shalauroff, having constructed a

shitik at his own expence, went down the Lena in 1761. He was

accompanied by an exiled midshipman, whom he had found at Yakutsk, and

to whom we are indebted for the chart of this expedition. Shalauroff

got out of the Southern mouth of the Lena in July, but was so much

embarrassed by the ice, that he ran the vessel into the mouth of the

Yana, where he was detained by the ice until the 29th of August, when he

again set sail. Being prevented by the ice from keeping the open sea, he

coasted the shore; and, having doubled Svatoi-Noss on the 6th of

September, discovered at a small distance, out at sea, to the North, a

mountainous land, which is probably some unknown island in the Frozen

Sea. He was employed from the 7th to the 15th in getting through the

strait between Diomed's island and the coast of Siberia; which he

effected, not without great difficulty. From the 16th he had a free sea

and a fair S. W. wind, which carried them in 24 hours beyond the mouth

of the Indigirka. The favourable breeze continuing, he passed on the

18th the Alasca. Soon afterwards, the vessel approaching too near the

shore was entangled amongst vast floating masses of ice, between some

islands[177] and the main land. [Sidenote: Winters at the Mouth of the

Kovyma.] And now the late season of the year obliged Shalauroff to look

out for a wintering place; he accordingly ran the vessel into one of the

mouths of the river Kovyma, where she was laid up. The crew immediately

constructed an hut, which they secured with a rampart of frozen snow,

and a battery of the small guns. The wild rein-deers resorted to this

place in large herds, and were shot in great plenty from the enclosure.

Before the setting in of winter, various species of salmon and trout

came up the river in shoals: these fish afforded the crew a plentiful

subsistence, and preserved them from the scurvy[178].

[Footnote 177: These islands are Medviedkie Ostrova, or the

Bear Islands; they are also called Kreffstoffskie Ostrova,

because they lie opposite the mouth of the small river

Krestova. For a long time vague reports were propagated that

the continent of America was stretched along the Frozen

Ocean, very near the coasts of Siberia; and some persons

pretended to have discovered its shore not far from the

rivers Kovyma and Krestova. But the falsity of these reports

was proved by an expedition made in 1764, by some Russian

officers sent by Denys Ivanovitch Tschitcherin, governor of

Tobolsk. These officers went in winter, when the sea was

frozen, in sledges drawn by dogs, from the mouth of the

Krestova. They found nothing but five small rocky islands,

since called the Bear Islands, which were quite uninhabited;

but some traces were found of former inhabitants, namely, the

ruins of huts. They observed also on one of the islands a

kind of wooden stage built of drift-wood, which seemed as if

it had been intended for defence. As far as they durst

venture out over the Frozen Sea, no land could be seen, but

high mountains of ice obstructed their passage, and forced

them to return. See the map of this expedition upon the chart

of Shalauroff's voyage prefixed to this number.]

[Footnote 178: Raw-fish are considered in those Northern

countries as a preservative against the scurvy.]

[Sidenote: Departure from thence in July.] The mouth of the Kovyma was

not freed from ice before the 21st of July, 1762, when Shalauroff again

put to sea, and steered until the 28th N. E. by N. E. 1/4 E. Here he

observed the variation of the compass ashore, and found it to be 11°

15´´ East. The 28th a contrary wind, which was followed by a calm,

obliged him to come to an anchor, and kept him stationary until the 10th

of August, when a favourable breeze springing up he set sail; he then

endeavoured to steer at some distance from shore, holding a more

Easterly course, and N. E. by E. But the vessel was impeded by large

bodies of floating ice, and a strong current, which seemed to bear

Westward at the rate of a verst an hour. These circumstances very much

retarded his course. On the 18th, the weather being thick and foggy, he

found himself unexpectedly near the coast with a number of ice islands

before him, which on the 19th entirely surrounded and hemmed in the

vessel. He continued in that situation, and in a continual fog, until

the 23d, when he got clear, and endeavoured by steering N. E. to regain

the open sea, which was much less clogged with ice than near the shore.

He was forced however, by contrary winds, S. E. and E. among large

masses of floating ice. This drift of ice being passed, he again stood

to the N. E. in order to double Shelatskoi Noss[179]; but before he

could reach the islands lying near it, he was so retarded by contrary

winds, that he was obliged, on account of the advanced season, to search

for a wintering place. [Sidenote: Not being able to double Shelatskoi

Noss returns towards the Kovyma.] He accordingly sailed South towards an

open bay, which lies on the West side of Shelatskoi Noss, and which no

navigator had explored before him. He steered into it on the 25th, and

got upon a shoal between a small island, and a point of land which juts

from the Eastern coast of this bay. Having got clear with much

difficulty, he continued for a short time a S. E. course, then turned S.

W. He then landed in order to discover a spot proper for their winter

residence; and found two small rivulets, but neither trees nor drift

wood. The vessel was towed along the Southerly side of the bay as far as

the island Sabadèi. On the 5th of September, he saw some huts of the

Tschutski close to the narrow channel between Sabadèi and the main land;

but the inhabitants fled on his approach.

[Footnote 179: He does not seem to have been deterred from

proceeding by any supposed difficulty in passing Shelatskoi

Noss, but to have veered about merely on account of the late

season of the year. Shelatskoi Noss is so called from the

Sshelagen, a tribe of the Tschutski, and has been supposed to

be the same as Tschukotskoi Noss. S. R. G. III. p. 52.]

Not having met with a proper situation, he stood out to sea, and got

round the island Sabadèi on the 8th, when he fastened the vessel to a

large body of ice, and was carried along by a current towards W. S. W.

at the rate of five versts an hour. On the 10th, he saw far to the N. E.

by N. a mountain, and steered the 11th and 12th towards his former

wintering place in the river Kovyma. [Sidenote: Winters a second Time at

the Kovyma, and returns to the Lena.] Shalauroff proposed to have made

the following year another attempt to double Shelatskoi Noss; but want

of provision, and the mutiny of the crew, forced him to return to the

Lena in 1763. It is worth remarking, that during his whole voyage he

found the currents setting in almost uniformly from the East. Two

remarkable rocks were observed by Shalauroff near the point where the

coast turns to the N. E. towards the channel which separates the island

Sabadèi from the continent; these rocks may serve to direct future

navigators: one is called Saetshie Kamen, or Hare's Rock, and rises like

a crooked horn; the other Baranèi Kamen, or Sheep's Rock; it is in the

shape of a pear, narrower at the bottom than at top, and rises

twenty-nine yards above high-water mark.

[Sidenote: Second Expedition of Shalauroff.] Shalauroff, who concluded

from his own experience, that the attempt to double Tschukotskoi Noss,

though difficult, was by no means impracticable, was not discouraged by

his former want of success from engaging a second time in the same

enterprize: he accordingly fitted out the same shitik, and in 1764

departed as before from the river Lena. We have no positive accounts of

this second voyage; for neither Shalauroff or any of his crew have ever

returned. The following circumstances lead us to conclude, that both he

and his crew were killed near the Anadyr by the Tschutski, about the

third year after their departure from the Lena. About that time the

Koriacs of the Anadyr refused to take from the Russians the provision of

flour, which they are accustomed to purchase every year. Enquiry being

made by the governor of Anadirsk, he found that they had been amply

supplied with that commodity by the Tschutski. The latter had procured

it from the plunder of Shalauroff's vessel, the crew of which appeared

to have perished near the Anadyr. [Sidenote: No Account of this

Expedition, he and his Crew being killed by the Tschutski.] From these

facts, which have been since confirmed by repeated intelligence from the

Koriacs and Tschutski, it has been asserted, that Shalauroff had doubled

the N. E. cape of Asia. But this assertion amounts only to conjecture;

for the arrival of the crew at the mouth of the Anadyr affords no

decisive proof that they had passed round the Eastern extremity of Asia;

for they might have penetrated to that river by land, from the Western

side of Tschukotskoi-Noss.

In reviewing these several accounts of the Russian voyages in the Frozen

Sea, as far as they relate to a North East passage, we may observe, that

the cape which stretches to the North of the Piasida has never been

doubled; and that the existence of a passage round Tschukotskoi Noss

rests upon the single authority of Deshneff. Admitting however a

practicable navigation round these two promontories, yet when we

consider the difficulties and dangers which the Russians encountered in

those parts of the Frozen Sea which they have unquestionably sailed

through; how much time they employed in making an inconsiderable

progress, and how often their attempts were unsuccessful: when we

reflect at the same time, that these voyages can only be performed in

the midst of a short summer, and even then only when particular winds

drive the ice into the sea, and leave the shores less obstructed; we

shall reasonably conclude, that a navigation, pursued along the coasts

in the Frozen Ocean, would probably be useless for commercial purposes.

A navigation therefore in the Frozen Ocean, calculated to answer any end

of general utility, must (if possible) be made in an higher latitude, at

some distance from the shores of Nova Zemla and Siberia. And should we

even grant the possibility of sailing N. E. and East of Nova Zemla,

without meeting with any insurmountable obstacles from land or ice; yet

the final completion of a N. E. voyage must depend upon the existence of

a free passage[180] between the coast of the Tschutski and the continent

of America. But such disquisitions as these do not fall under the

intention of this work, which is meant to state and examine facts, not

to lay down an hypothesis, or to make theoretical enquiries[181].

[Footnote 180: I have said a _free passage_, because if we

conclude from the narrative of Deshneff's voyage, that there

really does exist such a passage; yet if that passage is only

occasionally navigable (and the Russians do not pretend to

have passed it more than once) it can never be of any general

and commercial utility.]

[Footnote 181: I beg leave to assure the reader, that

throughout this whole work I have entirely confined myself to

the Russian accounts; and have carefully avoided making use

of any vague reports concerning the discoveries lately made

by captains Cooke and Clerke in the same seas. Many of the

geographical questions which have been occasionally treated

in the course of this performance, will probably be cleared

up, and the true position of the Western coasts of America

ascertained, from the journals of those experienced

navigators.]

APPENDIX II.

_Tartarian_ rhubarb brought to _Kiachta_ by the _Bucharian_

Merchants--Method of examining and purchasing the roots--Different

species of rheum which yield the finest rhubarb--Price of rhubarb in

_Russia_--Exportation--Superiority of the _Tartarian_ over the

_Indian_ rhubarb.

[Sidenote: Tartarian, or Turkey, Rhubarb.] Europe is supplied with

rhubarb from Russia and the East Indies. The former is generally known

by the name of Turkey rhubarb, because we used to import it from the

Levant in our commerce with the Turks, who procured it through Persia

from the Bucharians. And it still retains its original name, although

instead of being carried, as before, to Constantinople, it is now

brought to Kiachta by the Bucharian merchants, and there disposed of to

the Russians. This appellation is indeed the most general; but it is

mentioned occasionally by several authors, under the different

denominations of Russian, Tartarian, Bucharian, and Thibet, Rhubarb.

This sort is exported from Russia in large roundish pieces, freed from

the bark, with an hole through the middle: they are externally of a

yellow colour, and when cut appear variagated with lively reddish

streaks.

[Sidenote: Indian Rhubarb.] The other sort is called by the Druggists

Indian Rhubarb; and is procured from Canton in longer, harder, heavier,

more compact pieces, than the former; it is more astringent, and has

somewhat less of an aromatic flavour; but, on account of its cheapness,

is more generally used than the Tartarian or Turkey Rhubarb.

[Sidenote: Tartarian Rhubarb procured at Kiachta.] The government of

Russia has reserved to itself the exclusive privilege of purchasing

rhubarb; it is brought to Kiachta by some Bucharian merchants, who have

entered into a contract to supply the crown with that drug in exchange

for furs. These merchants come from the town of Selin, which lies South

Westward of the Koko-Nor, or Blue Lake toward Thibet. Selin, and all the

towns of Little Bucharia; viz. Kashkar, Yerken, Atrar, &c. are subject

to China.

[Sidenote: The Rhubarb Plant grows upon the Mountains of Little

Bucharia.] The best rhubarb purchased at Kiachta is produced upon a

chain of rocks, which are very high, and for the most part destitute of

wood: they lie North of Selin, and stretch as far as the Koko-Nor. The

good roots are distinguished by large and thick stems. The Tanguts, who

are employed in digging up the roots, enter upon that business in April

or May. As fast as they take them out of the earth, they cleanse them

from the soil, and hang them upon the neighbouring trees to dry, where

they remain until a sufficient quantity is procured: after which they

are delivered to the Bucharian merchants. The roots are wrapped up in

woollen sacks, carefully preserved from the least humidity; and are in

this manner transported to Kiachta upon camels.

The exportation of the best rhubarb is prohibited by the Chinese, under

the severest penalties. It is procured however in sufficient quantities,

sometimes by clandestinely mixing it with inferior roots, and sometimes

by means of a contraband trade. The College of Commerce at Petersburg is

solely empowered to receive this drug, and appoints agents at Kiachta

for that purpose. Much care is taken in the choice; for it is examined,

in the presence of the Bucharian merchants, by an apothecary

commissioned by government, and resident at Kiachta. [Sidenote: Care

taken in examining the roots at Kiachta.] All the worm-eaten roots are

rejected; the remainder are bored through, in order to ascertain their

soundness; and all the parts which appear in the least damaged or

decayed are cut away. By these means even the best roots are diminished

a sixth part; and the refuse is burnt, in order to prevent its being

brought another year[182].

[Footnote 182: Pallas Reise, part III. p. 155-157. When Mr.

Pallas was at Kiachta, the Bucharian merchant, who supplies

the crown with rhubarb, brought some pieces of white rhubarb

(von milchveissen rhabarber) which had a sweet taste, and was

equal in its effects to the best sort.]

[Sidenote: Different Species of Rhubarb.] Linnæus has distinguished the

different species of rhubarb by the names Rheum Palmatum, R.

Rhaphonticum, [183]R. Rhabarbarum, R. Compactum, and R. Ribes.

[Footnote 183: See Murray's edition of Linnæus Systema

Vegetab. Gott. 1774. In the former editions of Linnæus Rheum

Rhabarbarum is called R. Undulatum.]

Botanists have long differed in their opinions, which of these several

species is the true rhubarb; and that question does not appear to be as

yet satisfactorily cleared up. [Sidenote: Rheum Palmatum.] However,

according to the notion which is most generally received, it is supposed

to be the Rheum[184] Palmatum; the seeds of which were originally

procured from a Bucharian merchant, and distributed to the principal

botanists of Europe. Hence this plant has been cultivated with great

success; and is now very common in all our botanical gardens. The

learned doctor [185]Hope, professor of medicine and botany in the

university of Edinburgh, having made trials of the powder of this root,

in the same doses in which the foreign rhubarb is given, found no

difference in its effects; and from thence conclusions have been drawn

with great appearance of probability, that this is the plant which

produces the true rhubarb. But this inference does not appear to be

absolutely conclusive; for the same trials have been repeated, and with

similar success, upon the roots of the R. Rhaponticum and R.

Rhabarbarum.

[Footnote 184: Mr. Pallas (to whom I am chiefly indebted for

this account of the Tartarian and Siberian Rhubarb) assured

me, that he never found the R. Palmatum in any part of

Siberia.]

[Footnote 185: Phil. Trans. for 1765, p. 290.]

[Sidenote: R. Rhaponticum.] The leaves of the R. Rhaponticum are round,

and sometimes broader than they are long. This species is found

abundantly in the loamy and dry deserts between the Volga and the

Yaik[186], towards the Caspian Sea. It was probably from this sort that

the name Rha, which is the Tartarian appellation of the river Volga, was

first applied by the Arabian physicians to the several species of rheum.

The roots however which grow in these warm plains are rather too

astringent; and therefore ought not to be used in cases where opening

medicines are required. The Calmucs call it Badshona, or a stomachic.

The young shoots of this plant, which appear in March or April, are

deemed a good antiscorbutic; and are used as such by the Russians. The

R. Rhaponticum is not to be found to the West of the Volga. The seeds of

this species produced at Petersburg plants of a much greater size than

the wild ones: the leaves were large, and of a roundish cordated figure.

[Footnote 186: The Yaik falls into the Caspian Sea, about

four degrees to the East of the Volga.]

[Sidenote: R. Rhabarbarum.] The R. Rhabarbarum grows in the crevices of

bare rocky mountains, and also upon gravelly soils: it is more

particularly found in the high vallies of the romantic country situated

beyond Lake Baikal. Its buds do not shoot before the end of April; and

it continues in flower during the whole month of May. The stalks of the

leaves are eaten raw by the Tartars: they produce upon most persons, who

are unaccustomed to them, a kind of sphasmodic contraction of the

throat, which goes off in a few hours; it returns however at every meal,

until they become habituated to this kind of diet. The Russians make use

of the leaves in their hodge-podge: accordingly, soups of this sort

affect strangers in the manner above mentioned. In Siberia the stalk is

sometimes preserved as a sweet-meat; and a custom prevails among the

Germans of introducing at their tables the buds of this plant, as well

as of the Rheum Palmatum, instead of cauli-flower.

[Sidenote: R. Rhaponticum.] The R. Rhaponticum which commonly grows near

the torrents has, as well as the R. Rhabarbarum of Siberia, the upper

part of its roots commonly rotten, from too much moisture: accordingly,

a very small portion of the lower extremity is fit for use. The Russian

College of Physicians order, for the use of their military hospitals,

large quantities of these roots to be dug up in Siberia, which are

prescribed under the name of rhapontic. But the persons employed in

digging and preparing it are so ill instructed for that purpose, that

its best juices are frequently lost. These roots ought to be drawn up

in spring, soon after the melting of the snows, when the plant retains

all its sap and strength; whereas they are not taken out of the ground

before August, when they are wasted by the increase of the stem, and the

expansion of the leaves. Add to this, that the roots are no sooner taken

up, than they are immediately sliced in small pieces, and thus dried: by

which means the medicinal qualities are sensibly impaired.

[Sidenote: Method of drying the Roots of the R. Rhaponticum.] For the

same roots, which in this instance were of such little efficacy, when

dried with proper precaution, have been found to yield a very excellent

rhubarb. The process observed for this purpose, by the ingenious Mr.

Pallas, was as follows: The roots, immediately after being drawn out,

were suspended over a stove, where being gradually dried, they were

cleansed from the earth: by these means, although they were actually

taken up in autumn, they so nearly resembled the best Tartarian rhubarb

in colour, texture, and purgative qualities, that they answered, in

every respect, the same medicinal purposes.

A German apothecary, named Zuchert, made similar trials with the same

success, both on the Rheum Rhabarbarum and R. Rhaponticum, which grow in

great perfection on the mountains in the neighbourhood of Nershinsk.

[Sidenote: Plantation of Rhubarb in Siberia.] He formed plantations of

these herbs on the declivity of a rock[187], covered with one foot of

good mould, mixed with an equal quantity of sand and gravel. If the

summer proved dry, the plants were left in the ground; but if the season

was rainy, after drawing out the roots he left them for some days in the

shade to dry, and then replanted them. By this method of cultivation he

produced in seven or eight years very large and sound roots, which the

rock had prevented from penetrating too deep; and when they were

properly dried, one scruple was as efficacious as half a drachm of

Tartarian rhubarb.

[Footnote 187: In order to succeed fully in the plantation of

rhubarb, and to procure sound and dry roots, a dry, light

soil with a rocky foundation, where the moisture easily

filters off, is essentially necessary.]

[Sidenote: The Roots of the R. Rhaponticum and R. Rhubarbarum, equal in

their Effects to the Tartarian Rhubarb.] From the foregoing observations

it follows, that there are other plants, besides the Rheum Palmatum, the

roots whereof have been found to be similar both in their appearance and

effects, to what is called the best rhubarb. And indeed, upon enquiries

made at Kiachta concerning the form and leaves of the plant which

produces that drug, it seems not to be the R. Palmatum, but a species

with roundish scolloped leaves, and most probably the R. Rhaponticum:

for Mr. Pallas, when he was at Kiachta, applied for information to a

Bucharian merchant of Selin-Chotton, who now supplies the crown with

rhubarb; and his description of that plant answered to the figure of

the Rheum Rhaponticum. The truth of this description was still further

confirmed by some Mongol travellers who had been in the neighbourhood of

the Koko-Nor and Thibet; and had observed the rhubarb growing wild upon

those mountains.

[Sidenote: The true Rhubarb probably procured from different Species of

Rheum.] The experiments also made by Zuchert and others, upon the roots

of the R. Rhabarbarum and R. Rhaponticum, sufficiently prove, that this

valuable drug was procured from those roots in great perfection. But as

the seeds of the Rheum Palmatum were received from the father of the

above-mentioned Bucharian merchant as taken from the plant which

furnishes the true rhubarb, we have reason to conjecture, that these

three species, viz. R. Palmatum, R. Rhaponticum, and R. Rhabarbarum,

when found in a dryer and milder alpine climate, and in proper

situations, are indiscriminately drawn up; whenever the size of the

plant seems to promise a fine root. And perhaps the remarkable

difference of the rhubarb, imported to Kiachta, is occasioned by this

indiscriminate method of collecting them. Most certain it is, that these

plants grow wild upon the mountains, without the least cultivation; and

those are esteemed the best which are found near the Koko-Nor, and about

the sources of the river Koango.

Formerly the exportation of rhubarb was confined to the crown of Russia;

and no persons but those employed by government were allowed the

permission of sending it to foreign countries; this monopoly however has

been taken off by the present empress, and the free exportation of it

from St. Petersburg granted to all persons upon paying the duty. It is

sold in the first instance by the College of Commerce for the profit of

the Sovereign; and is preserved in their magazines at St. Petersburg.

The current price is settled every year by the College of Commerce.

[Sidenote: Price of Rhubarb in Russia.] It is received from the

Bucharian merchants at Kiachta in exchange for furs; and the prime cost

is rated at 16 roubles per pood. By adding the pay of the commissioners

who purchase it, and of the apothecary who examines it, and allowing for

other necessary expences, the value of a pood at Kiachta amounts to 25

roubles; add to this the carriage from the frontiers to St. Petersburg,

and it is calculated that the price of a pood stands the crown at 30

roubles. The largest exportation of rhubarb ever known from Russia, was

made in the year 1765, when 1350 pood were exported, at 65 roubles per

pood.

[Sidenote: Exportation of Rhubarb from St. Petersburg.] EXPORTATION of

RHUBARB From St. PETERSBURG.

{ at 76-1/4 Dutch[188] dollars,

In 1777, 29 poods 13 pounds { or 91 roubles, 30 copecs

{ per pood.

In 1778, 23 poods 7 pounds, at 80 ditto, or 96 roubles.

[Footnote 188: If we reckon a Dutch dollar, upon an average,

to be worth 1 rouble 20 copecs.]

In 1778, 1055 poods were brought by the Bucharian merchants to Kiachta;

of which 680 poods 19 pounds were selected. The interior consumption of

the whole empire of Russia for 1777 amounted to only 6 poods 5

pounds[189].

[Footnote 189: This calculation comprehends only the rhubarb

purchased at the different magazines belonging to the College

of Commerce; for what was procured by contraband is of course

not included.]

[Sidenote: Superiority of the Tartarian over the Indian Rhubarb.] The

superiority of this Tartarian Rhubarb, over that procured from Canton,

arises probably from the following circumstances.

1. The Southern parts of China are not so proper for the growth of this

plant, as the mountains of Little Bucharia.

2. There is not so exact an examination made in receiving it from the

Chinese at Canton, as from the Bucharians at Kiachta. For the

merchants, who purchase this drug at Canton, are obliged to accept it in

the gross, without separating the bad roots, and cutting away the

decayed parts, as is done at Kiachta.

3. It is also probable, that the long transport of this drug by sea is

detrimental to it, from the humidity which it must necessarily contract

during so long a voyage.

TABLE OF LONGITUDE AND LATITUDE.

[Sidenote: Table of Longitude and Latitude.] For the convenience of the

Reader, the following Table exhibits in one point of view the longitude

and latitude of the principal places mentioned in this performance.

Their longitudes are estimated from the first meridian of the Isle of

Fero, and from that of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. The longitude

of Greenwich from Fero is computed at 17° 34´ 45´´. The longitude of the

places marked * has been taken from astronomical observations.

Latitude. Longitude.

| | Fero. | Greenwich.

| D. M. S. | D. M. S. | D. M.

* Petersburg | 59 56 23 | 48 0 0 | 30 25[190]

* Moscow | 55 45 45 | 55 6 30 | 37 31

* Archangel | 64 33 24 | 56 15 0 | 38 40

* Tobolsk | 58 12 22 | 85 40 0 | 68 26

* Tomsk | 56 30 0 | 102 50 0 | 85 15

* Irkutsk | 52 18 15 | 122 13 0 | 104 38

* Selenginsk | 51 6 0 | 124 18 30 | 106 44

Kiachta | 35 0 0 | 124 18 0 | 106 43

* Yakutsk | 62 1 50 | 147 0 0 | 129 25

* Ochotsk | 59 22 0 | 160 7 0 | 142 32

* Bolcheresk | 52 55 0 | 174 13 0 | 156 38

* Port of St. Peter and Paul | 53 1 0 | 176 10 0 | 158 36

Eastern Extremity of Siberia | 66 0 0 | 200 0 0 | 182 25

Unalashka (A) | 58 0 0 | 223 0 0 | 205 25

Unalashka (B) | 53 30 0 | 205 30 0 | 187 55

Key: (A) According to the general map of Russia

(B) According to the chart of Krenitzin & Levasheff

[Footnote 190: I have omitted the seconds in the longitude

from Greenwich.]

INDEX.

_Agiak_, an interpreter, p. 133.

_Aguladock_, a leader of the Unalashkans, taken prisoner by

Solovioff, 139.

_Agulok_, a dwelling-place on Unalashka, 137.

_Aischin-Giord_, chief of the Manshurs at the beginning of the 17th

century, 198.

_Aktunak_, an island to the East of Kadyak, 108.

_Akun_ (one of the Fox Islands), 159.

_Akutan_ (one of the Fox Islands), 159.

_Alaksu_, or _Alachshak_, one of the most remote Eastern islands, 65.

Customs of the inhabitants, 68.

Animals found on that island, _ib._

Conjectured to be not far from the continent of America, 69.

_Alaxa_, one of the Fox Islands, 254.

_Albasin_, and the other Russian forts on the Amoor, destroyed by the

Chinese, 198.

The Russians taken there refuse to return from Pekin, 208.

_Aleütian Isles_ discovered, 21. 29.

their situation and names, 24.

Names of persons there, bear a surprising resemblance to those of

the Greenlanders, 40.

Inhabitants described, 41. 46.

Account of those islands, 45. 55.

The manners and customs of the inhabitants resemble those of the

Fox Islands, 173.

Are entirely subject to Russia, 174.

Their number, 289.

Specimen of the Aleütian language, 303.

See _Fox Islands, Ibiya, Novodtsikoff, Tsiuproff_.

_Alexeeff (Feodot)._ See _Deshneff_.

_Aleyut._ See _Fox Islands_.

_Allai_ (a prince of the Calmucs), his superstitious regard for the

memory of Yermac, 194.

_Amaganak_, a toigon of Unalashka, 143.

_America_, most probable course for discovering the nearest coast of

that continent, pointed out, 27.

See _Islands, Delisle, Alaksu, Kadyak, Fox Islands, Steller_.

_Amlach_, one of the Andreanoffskye Islands, 76.

_Anadirsky Isles_, or _Isles of Anadyr_, so called by Mr. Stæhlin,

and after him by Buffon, p. 25. 284-288.

_Amoor_ river, called by the Manshurs Sakalin-Ula; and by the Mongols,

Karamuran, or the Black River.

_Andrianoffskie Islands_, their situation doubtful, 25.

Description of, 74, 75.

Must not be blended with the Fox Islands, 74.

Account of the inhabitants, 77.

Other islands beyond them to the East, _ibid._

Position of the Andreanoffskie-Islands, 289.

_Arachulla_, supposed by the Chinese a wicked spirit of the air, 229.

_Archangel_, voyages from thence to the Yenisèi, 305.

_Artic_, or _Ice Foxes_, description of, 15.

_Asia_, the first report of its vicinity to America, learned from

the Tschutski, 293.

_Atachtak_, a great promontory N. E. of Alaksu, 118.

_Ataku_, one of the Aleütian Islands, 45.

_Atchu_, one of the Andreanoffsky Islands, description of, 76.

_Atchu, Atchak, Atach, Goreloi_, or _Burnt Island_, one of the Fox

Islands, 61.

_Atlassoff (Volodimir)_, takes possession of the river Kamtchatka, 4.

_Atrar_, a town of Little Bucharia, 333.

_Att_, one of the Aleütian Isles, 30.

_Ayagh_, or _Kayachu_, one of the Andreanoffsky Islands, 72.

Description of, 75.

_Bacchoff._ See _Novikoff_.

_Baranèi Kamen_, or _Sheep's Rock_, description of, 328.

_Bear Islands._ See _Medvioedkie Ostrova_.

_Beering_, his voyage made at the expence of the crown, 8.

His voyage (with Tschirikoff) in search of a junction between Asia

and America, in 1728 and 1729, unsuccessful, 20.

Shipwrecked, _ibid._ and death on an island called after his

name, 21.

See _Discoveries, Steller_;

Another expedition was made in 1654 to the Korga, for the purpose of