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30 and 72 North lar.
50 and 150 Eaft long.

BOUNDARIES.] IT would be deceiving the reader to defire him to depend upon the accounts given us by geographers, of the extent, limits, and fituation of these vaft regions. Even the emprefs of Ruffia and her miniftry are ignorant of her precife limits with the Chinefe, the Perfians, and other nations. Tartary, taken in its fullest extent, is bounded by the Frozen Ocean on the North; by the Pacific Ocean on the Eaft; by China, India, Perfia, and the Caspian Sea, en the South; and by Mufcovy on the West.

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Kamtfchatka is a great peninfula, which extends from north to fouth about feven degrees thirty minutes. It is divided into four diftricts, Bolcherek, Tigilfkaia Krepoft, Verchnei, or Upper Kamtfchatkoi Oftrog, and Nifhnei or Lower Kamtfchatkoi Oftrog.

MOUNTAINS,] The principal mountains are Caucafus in Circaffia, and the mountains of Taurus and Ararat, fo contiguous to it, that they appear like a continuation of the same mountain, which croffes all Afia from Mongalia to the Indies and the mountains of Stolp, in the North.

SEAS.] Thefe are the Frozen Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Caf pian Sea.

RIVERS.] The principal rivers are, the Wolga, which runs a course of two thoufand miles; the Oby, which divides Afia from Europe; the Tabol, Irtis, Genefa or Jenfka; the Burrumpooter; the Lena, and the Argun, which divides the Ruffian and Chinefe empires.

AIR, CLIMATE, SOIL, AND PRODUCE.] The air of this country is very different, by reafon of its vaft extent from North to South; the northern parts reaching beyond the arctic polar circle, and the fouthern being in the fame latitude with Spain, France, Italy, and part of Turkey,

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Nova Zembla and Ruffian Lapland are most uncomfortable regions; the earth, which is covered with fnow nine months in the year, being extremely barren, and every where incumbered with unwholefomě marshes, uninhabited mountains, and impenetrable thickneses. The climate of Siberia is cold, but the air is pure and wholesome; and Mr. Tooke obferves, that its inhabitants, in all probability, would live to an extreme old age, if they were not fo much addicted to an immoderate ufe of intoxicating liquors. Siberia produces rye, oats, and barley, almoft to the 60th degree of northern latitude. Cabbages, radines, turneps, and cucumbers, thrive here tolerably well; but fcarcely any other greers. All experiments to bring frait-trees to bear have hirners been in vain but there is reafon to believe that induftry and patience may at length overcome the rudeness of the climate. Currants and ftrawberries of feveral forts are faid to grow here in as great perfection as in the English gardens. Herbs, as well medicinal as common, together with various edible roots, are found very generally here: but there are no bees in a'l Siberia. Aftracan, and the fouthern parts of Tartary, are extremely fertile, owing more to nature than induftry.The parts that are cultivated produce excellent fruits of almoft all the kinds known in Europe, efpecially grapes, which are reckoned the largeft aud fineft in the world. The fummers are very dry, and from the end of July to the beginning of October the air is peftered, and the foil fometimes ruined, by incredible quantities of locufts. Mr. Bell, who travelled with the Ruffian ambaffador to China, reprefents fome parts of Tartary as defirable and fertile countries, the grafs growing fpontaneoufly to an amazing height. The country of Thibet is the highest in Afia, and is a part of that elevated tract which gives rife to the rivers of India and China, and thofe of Siberia, and other parts of Tartary.

METALS AND MINERALS.] It is faid that Siberia contains mines of gold, filver, copper, iron, jaffer, lapis lazuli, and loadstones; a fort of large teeth found here have occafioned difputes among naturalifts, whether they belong to elephants or fifhes.

ANIMALS.] Thefe are camels, dromedaries, bears, wolves, and all the other land and amphibious animals that are common in the north. ern parts of Europe, Their horfes are of a good fize for the faddle, and very hardy as they run wild till they are five or fix years old, they are generally headftrong. Near Aftracan, there is a bird, called by the Ruffians baba, of a grey colour, and fomething larger than a fwan: te has a broad bill, under which hangs a bag that may contain a quart, LE more; he wades near the edge of a river, and on seeing a fhoal or fry of fmall fifhes, fpreads his wings and drives them to a fhallow, where he gobbles as many of them as he can into his bag, and then going afhore, eats them, or carries them to his young. Some travellers take this bird to be the pelican.

The forefts of Siberia are well stocked with a variety of animals, fome of which are not to be found in other countries. Thefe fupply the in habitants with food and clothes; and, at the fame time, furnish them with commodities for an advantageous trade. Siberia may be conf. dered as the native country of black foxes, fables, and ermines, the fkins of which are here fuperior to thofe of any part of the world.— Horfes and cattle are in great plenty, and fold at low prices. The bor grunniens of Linnæus, or grunting ox, which inhabits Tartary and Thibet, has a tail of uncommon beauty, full and flowing, of a gley and filky texture. Thofe tails are a confiderable article of exportation

from Thibet. The Indians faften fmall bundles of the hair to a handle, which they ufe for fly-flaps; the Chinese dye tufts of it with a beautiful fcarlet, to decorate their caps, and the Turks employ it as or naments to their standards, by fome erroneously called horfe-tails. POPULATION, INHABITANTS, MANNERS,

CUSTOMS, DIVERSIONS, AND DRESS.

bable conjecture as to

We can form no pro.

the number of the inhabitants in Tartary; but, from many circumftances, we muft conclude, that they are far from being proportioned to the extent of their country. They are in general ftrong made ftout men ; their faces broad, their nofes flattifh, their eyes fmall and black, but very quick; their beards are scarcely visible, as they continually thin them by pulling up the hairs by the roots. The beauty of the Circaffian women is a kind of staple commodity in that country; for pa rents there make no fcruple of felling their daughters to recruit the feraglios of the great men of Turkey and Perfia. They are purchased, when young, by merchants, and taught fuch accomplishments as fuit their capacities, to render them more valuable against the day of fale. The Tartars are, in general, a wandering fort of people. In their peregrinations they fet out in the fpring, their number in one body being frequently 10,000, preceded by their flocks and herds. When they come to an inviting fpot, they live upon it till all its grafs and verdure is eaten up. They have little money, except what they get from their neighbours the Ruffians, Perfians, or Turks, in exchange for cattle; with this they purchafe cloth, filks, ftuffs, and other apparel for their women. They have few mechanics, except thofe who make arms. They avoid all labour, as the greateft ilavery; their only employment is tending their flocks, hunting, and managing their horfes. If they are angry with a perfon, they wish he may live in one fixed place, and work like a Ruffian. Among themfelves they are very hofpitable, and wonderfully fo to the ftrangers and travellers who confidentially put themfelves under their protection. They are naturally of an easy, cheerful temper, always difpofed to laughter, and feldom depreffed by care or melancholy. There is a ftrong resemblance between the north. ern and independent Tartars, and fome nations of Canada, in North America particularly, when any of their people are infirm through great age, or feized with distempers reckoned incurable, they make a fmall hut for the patient near fome river, in which they leave him with fome provifions, and feldom or never return to visit him. On fuch occafions, they fay they do their parents a good office in fending them to a better world. Notwithstanding this behaviour, many nations of the Tartars, efpecially towards the fouth, are tractable, humane, and are fufceptible of pious and virtuous fentiments. Their affection for their fathers, and their fubmiffion to their authority, cannot be exceeded; and this noble quality of filial love has diftinguifhed them in all ages. Hiftory tells us, that Darius, king of Perfia, having invaded them with all the forces of his empire, and the Scythians retiring by little and little, Darius fent an ambaffador to demand where it was they propofed to conclude their retreat, and when they intended to begin fighting. They returned for anfwer, with a fpirit fo peculiar to that people, "That they had no cities or cultivated fields, for the defence of which they fhould give him battle: but when once he was come to the place of their fathers' monuments, he should then understand in what manner the Scythians used to fight."

The Tartars are inured to horfemanship from their infancy; they feldom appear on foot, They are dexterous in hooting at a mark, info

much that a Tartar, while at full gallop, will fplit a pole with a arrow, though at a confiderable distance. The drefs of the men is very fimple, and fit for action; it generally confifts of a fhort jacket, with narrow fleeves, made of deer's fkin, having the fur outward; trowfers and hofe of the fame kind of fkin, both of one piece, and tight to the limbs. The Tartars live in huts half funk under ground; they have a fire in the middle, with a hole in the top to let out the fmoke, and benches round the fire to fit or lie upon. This feems to be the common method of living among all the northern nations, from Lapland eastward to the Japanese Ocean. In the extreme northern provinces, during the winter, every family burrows itself, as it were, under ground; and we are told, that fo fociable are they in their difpofitions, that they make fubterraneous communications with each other, fo that they may be faid to live in an invifible fociety. The Tartars are immoderately fond of horfe-flesh, especially if it be young, and a little -tainted; which makes their cabins extremely naufeous. Though horfeflesh be preferred raw by fome northern tribes, the general way of eating it is after it has been smoked and dried. The Tartars purchase their wives with cattle. In their marriages they are not very delicate. Lit. tle or no difference is made between the child of a concubine or flave, and that of the wife; but among the heads of tribes, the wife's fon is always preferred to the fucceffion. After a wife is turned of forty, fhe is employed in menial duties, as another fervant, and as fuch muft attend the young wives who fucceed to her place; nor is it uncommon, in fome of the more barbarous tribes, for a father to marry his own daughter.

The defcendants of the old inhabitants of Siberia are ftill most of them idolaters. They confift of many nations, entirely different from each other in their manner of living, religion, language, and countenances. But in this they agree, that none of them follow agriculture, which is carried on by fome Tartars, and fuch as are converted to Chriftianity. A few of them breed cattle, and others follow hanting. The population of Siberia has been much increased fince it became a Ruffian province; for the Ruffians have founded there a number of towns, fortreffes, and villages. Notwithstanding which, it prefents but a void and defert view; fince, by its extent, it is capable of fupporting feveral millions more than it at prefent contains. For the manners and cuftoms of the other Tartars belonging to the Ruffian empire we refer to our account of that country.

RELIGION.] The religion of the Tartars fomewhat resembles their civil government, and is commonly accommodated to that of their neighbours; for it partakes of the Mahometan, the Gentoo, the Greek, and even popish religions, Some of them are the groffeft idolaters, and worship little rude images, dreffed up in rags. Each has his own deity, with whom they make very free in cafe of disappointment in any purfuit.

But the religion and government of the kingdom of Thibet and Laffa, a large tract of Tartary bordering upon China, are the moft remarkable, and the moft worthy of attention. The Thibetians are go verned by the Grand Lama, or Dalai Lama, who is not only fubmitted to, and adored by them, but is aifo the great object of admiration among the various tribes of heathen Tartars who roam through the vast tract of continent which ftretches from the banks of the Wolga, to Cores, on the Sea of Japan. He is not only the fovereign pontiff, the vicegerent of the Deity on earth; but, as fuperftition is ever the strongek

where it is moft removed from its object, the more remote Tartars abfolutely regard him as the Deity himself. They believe him to be im. mortal, and endowed with all knowledge and virtue. Every year they come up from different parts to worship and make rich offerings at his fhrine: even the emperor of China, who is a Manchou Tartar, does not fail in acknowledgments to him in his religious capacity, though the Lama is tributary to him, and actually entertains, at a great expenfe, in the palace of Peking, an inferior Lama, deputed, as his nuncio, from Thibet. The opinion of those who are reputed the most orthodox among the Thibetians is, that when the Grand Lama feems to die either of old age or of infirmity, his foul in fact only quits a crazy habi tation to look for another younger or better, and it is difcovered again in the body of fome child, by certain tokens, known only to the lamas or priests, in which order he always appears. In 1774, the Grand Lama was an infant, which had been difcovered fome time before by the Teyfhoo Lama, who, in authority and fanctity of character, is next to the Grand Lama, and, during his minority, acts as chief. The lamas, who form the most numerous, as well as the most powerful body in the State, have the priesthood entirely in their hands; and, befides, fill up many monaftic orders, which are held in great veneration among them. The refidence of the Grand Lama is at Patoli, a vast palace on a moun tain near the banks of the Burrumpooter, about feven miles from Lahaffa. The English Eaft-India company made a treaty with the Lama in 1774. The religion of Thibet, though in many refpects it differs from that of the Indian Bramins, yet in others it has a great affinity to it. The Thibetians have a great veneration for the cow, and alfo highly refpect the waters of the Ganges, the fource of which they believe to be in heaven. The Sunniaffes, or Indian pilgrims, often vifit Thibet as a holy place, and the Lama always entertains a body of two or three hundred in his pay. Befides his religious influence and authority, the Grand Lama is poffeffed of unlimited power throughout his dominions, which are very extenfive, and border on Bengal.

Another religion, which is very prevalent among the Tartars, is that of Schamanifm. The profeffors of this religious fect believe in one Supreme God, the creator of all things. They believe that he loves his creation, and all his creatures; that he knows every thing, and is all-powerful; but that he pays no attention to the particular actions of men, being too great for them to be able to offend him, or to do any thing that can be meritorious in his fight. But they alfo maintain that the Supreme Being has divided the government of the world, and the deftiny of men, among a great number of fubaltern divinities, under his command and controul, but who, nevertheless, generally act according to their own fancies; and therefore mankind cannot difpenfe with ufing all the means in their power for obtaining their favour. They likewife fuppofe, that, for the most part, thefe inferior deities abominate and punish premeditated villainy, fraud, and cruelty. They are all firmly perfuaded of a future exiftence; but they have many fuperfti tious notions and practices, Among all the Schamanes, women are confidered as being vaftly inferior to men, and are thought to have been created only for their fenfual pleasure, to people the world, and to look after household affairs; and, in confequence of thefe principles, they are treated with much severity and contempt.

LEARNING.] The reader may be furprised to find this article in an account of the Tartars; yet nothing is more certain, than that under

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