Biblical researches and travels in Russia

Front matter

a

BIBLICAL RESEARCHES

TRAVELS IN RUSSIA, eUQn Ty thy poubug

Chapter I

Leave St. Petersburgh—The Tchudi, or Finns—Their Language— History of the Finnish Bible—Post-stations, and Posting in Russia—Origin of the Russians— Foundation of the Russian Monarchy—Novogorod—Auxiliary Bible Society established—Schools— Russian Dissenters—Krestzi—Branch Bible Society—Tumuli— PW iesleinag ty oA. ot oo? ot) ae ae

_ CHAPTER II.

Illustration of Eccles. xii. 6—Vishnei Volotchok—Superstition respecting Houses burnt by Lightning—Torshok—Mednoi Yam— The Volga—Tver—Description of the Town—Bible Society— -Karelian Language, and Gospel of Matthew—Klin—Arrival in Moscow . RTO eon oer rte

Chapter. III

Moscow— General Features— Divisions— Population— Public Institutions—Krem’1— Great Bells— Cathedral -— Patriarchal Library — Printing Office and Library of the Holy Synod—New Edition of

Page the LXX.—Greek and Slavonic MSS.—Armenians—Chinese _

Christians—The Holy Oil . . . 2.

2 ° ° ° ° 8

CHAPTER IV. The Slavonic People — ~Name—Language— Alphabet — Biographical |

Sketch of Cyrill and Methodius—Their Translation of the Scriptures— Papal Bull—First Editions of the Slavonic Scriptures— The Ostrog Bible—Character of the Version—The First Moscow Edition—Peter the Great’s Slavonic-Dutch Fgipon ec geyision of the Text, and recent Impressions petaai wan e x ; CONTENTS.

Page

Chapter. VIII

Leave Kief--Jitomir--Eagerness of the Jews to receive Hebrew New Testaments--Jewish Synagogue and Worship—Auxiliary Bible Society—Novograd Volinski--The Petchenegi--Khoretz— Ostrog--Lutsk—Dubno--Veneration for Hebrew MSS.—Jewish Scribe--Rules observed in copying Hebrew MSS.—Editions of the Hebrew Bible--The Bog—Podolia— Emigration of the Jews— Kamenetz--Jewish Wedding--Dominican Monastery—Bible So-

CITY ew ee a AR 8g

. 196

Chapter IX. 3

On the Jews in Russian Poland—Whence they came—Their persons described--Dress--Marriages—Aversion to Agriculture-—Attachment to Palestine—Education—The Talmud—Oral Tradition— tie nal haa ° of Christ--Oppression e ° e ° e e ; ° e e. e ° e e ° e e °

CHAPTER X. The Jews, continued—Different Sects--Rabbanists--Chasidim— ~

Habadim-—-Zoharites--Jewish Missions-- Qualifications of a Missionary to the Jews--Arduous Nature of the Work--Plan of Operation--Necessity of Caution--Support of Converts .

» 233

CONTENTS.

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Page

Chapter XI

The Dniester--Khotin—Hills of Moldavia---Moldavian or Wallachian Bible--The Goths--The Version of Ulphilas--Bretchani -—

Turkish Frontier--Affecting Quarantine Scene—-Potemkin’s |

Monument--Banditti of Robbers—Kishenef--The Gypsies--Bessarabian Bible Society—Bulgarians—Bulgarian Language, and Version of Matthew--Serbian New Testament--Greek Metropolitan in a Cask—Trajan Walls—Bender—Tiraspol--Mongolian Tumuli--Odessa Bible Society—Funeral of the Greek Patriarch .

Chapter XVII

Leave Taganrog—Armenian Town of Nakhitchevan--Tcherkask— Kozak Bible Society--The Kozaks--Cross the Don into Asia— The Boundary of Asia and Europe--The Volga--Tzaritzin—Sa- _ repta--Morayian Colony, and Missionary Efforts--Kalmuck New

» 275

. 370 xi CONTENTS.

Page Testament--Banks of the Volga—Atel-- A Jewish Monarchy on the Volga—Khazaria, and Khazarian Language--Arrival at Astrakhan 399

Chapter XVIII

History of the Karass Turkish New Testament--Difficulties impeding its execution --Its Character and Dialect--Subsequent Impressions--Orenburgh Tatar Version--Dickson’s Turkish Version-- Martyn’s Persic New Testament--Glen’s Persic Psalms--Scottish WA Teabia i P, ath hat ey ta Pot eRe Ege ets a la oo fine

Chapter XXIV

Narcissus, the Armenian Archbishop—New Sect of Ali—Abdulghune—Casiphia, Ezra viii. 17—Georgian Literature —Georgian Bible—Ossetinian Gospels—German Millennarians--Tiflis—Recross the Caucasus—Return to Petersburgh 2. 6... 512

BIBLICAL RESEARCHES TRAVELS IN RUSSIA;

INCLUDING A Tour in the Crimea,

AND s

THE PASSAGE OF THE CAUCASUS:

WITH OBSERVATIONS

ON THE STATE OF THE RABBINICAL AND KARAITE JEWS, AND THE MOHAMMEDAN AND PAGAN TRIBES, INHABITING THE SOUTHERN PROVINCES OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE,

or. 4

WITH MAPS AND PLATES.

By E. HENDERSON,

AUTHOR OF “ICELAND, OR THE JOURNAL OF A RESIDENCE IN THAT ISLAND,” &c.

ae

PUBLISHED BY JAMES NISBET, 21, BERNERS STREET, LONDON.

Waugh and baie W. Oliphant, pd White and Co. Edinburgh; M. Ogle, and Chalmers and Collins, Glasgow ; and R. M. Tims, Dublin.

M.DCCC XXVI.

Preface

Tue following pages contain the narrative of a journey performed by the author, in the years 1821 and 1822, in company with his friend Dr. Paterson, and, in t, with Mr. Serof, Assistant Secretary to the Russian Bible Society. They embrace a period of eleven months, and carry the reader through twenty governments of the Russian empire.

The object of the Tour being to advance the interests of the Bible Society, a greater degree of prominence is given to its proceedings than is commonly to be met with in books of travels. At the same time, as much of the detail has already appeared in the Eighteenth Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, it has been deemed unnecessary to swell out the present work by tedious repetition ;

but, in its place, the reader is presented with the

V1 PREFACE.

results of certain investigations instituted by the author, during his residence in Russia, on the subject of the Finnish, Karelian, Slavonic, Russian, Tatar, Persic, and Georgian versions of the Scriptures, which, he flatters himself, will, to a certain extent, go to supply a desideratum hitherto found to exist in Britain, in reference to this department of Biblical literature. |

Much of the ground here traversed has already been. described by British travellers—a. circumstance which, to some minds, might appear to supersede the observations contained in this volume; but as different men, having different objects in view, and habituated each to his own peculiar mode of observation, may be expected to contemplate the same things in a different, light, it may not be deemed presumptuous to affirm, that at least some new matter is here presented to the public. —

The author has only to add, that recent information amply confirms his anticipations relative to the speedy emergence of the Russian Bible So- — ciety from that obscurity which, for a time, has brooded over its existence: the most rigid scrutiny in regard to the conspirators having proved, that not one individual who took any part in the affairs of that Institution was, in any way, implicated in the late plot against the government.

May He by whom kings reign, and princes decree justice, incline the heart of the Emperor

BIBLICAL RESEARCHES,

Chapter I

Leave St. Petersburgh—The Tchudi, or Finns—Their Language _ —FHistory of the Finnish Bible—Post-stations, and Posting in Russia—Origin of the Russians—Foundation of the Russian Monarchy— Novogorod—Auziliary Bible Society established— Schools— Russian Dissenters—Krestzi—Branch Bible Society — Tumuli— Valdai.

Previous to our departure from the Russian metropolis, we were occupied for some time in making the different preparations and arrangements, that were necessarily required fora journey of such extent as that we had projected. From His Excellency Prince Alexander Nicolaevitch Galitzin, Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs and National Instruction, and President of the Russian Bible Socizty, we were not.only favoured with letters of introduction to the principal civil and ecclesiastical authorities of the governments through B pa LEAVE ST. PETERSBURGH.

which we were to pass, but also with an, open letter, to be used in case any obstacles might be thrown in the way of our progress at any of the posting stations: Through the same kind influence | we obtained a free podoroshnaia, or order for post horses, which also serves the purpose of a passport to any part of the empire. This order otherwise stands the traveller in two copecks for eaeh verst, computing from the point at which he starts, ~ to the limit of his journey. | Committing our families to the gracious providence of God, in whose cause we were about to embark; and having been commended in prayer to his all-pervading and ever-present aid, we. left the Bible Society House about three o’clock in the afternoon of the 2d of March, O.S. 182]. As we set out with the hope of reaching Moscow before the breaking-up of the winter roads, we had our carriage mounted on a sledge, the wheels lying horizontally below the vehicle, and ready to be used, should the state of the roads render it necessary. It was our intention to travel with three _ horses, which is by far the most.convenient and expeditious mode, but we ordered four for the first stations, in consideration of the quantity of snow that had fallen a few days before we started. We had, however, only proceeded a short way through the city, when we found it necessary to procure two more, a circumstance which occasioned us some detention, so that it was past four o’clock ere we reached the gate. In the immediate vicinity of the capital we were subjected to considerable inconvenience from the deep indentations made in

ISHORA. © 8 the snow. by the immense number of sledges that were continually passing and re-passing, which occasioned a motion in the carriage precisely similar to that produced by the dashing. of the billows against a boat in a gale of wind.

Our first station was a village called dediart from a river of the same name, and corresponding in Russ to ingria, the designation of the province which now forms a considerable part of the government of St. Petersburgh. Upwards of a century before the time of Peter the Great, the whole of this province, with several of the neighbouring districts, was attached to the Swedish conquests im the East Sea provinces, but was re-conquered by that monarch in 1703; and, having subsequently become the seat of government, is now gradually rising in value and importance. Since the building of the capital, numerous colonies have been formed by Russians and Germans; and, though the marshy nature of the country has greatly impeded the progress of culti-— vation, yet there is every prospect of a rapid improvement, from the recent introduction of the system of draining, and other causes necessarily called into operation by the continually increasing wants of the metropolis.

- The greater proportion of the inhabitants of this province consists of Finns, who are called, in their own language, Suoma-lainen, or, ‘‘ the inhabitants of fenns,’"—a name strikingly descriptive of the country, inhabited from time immemorial by the ‘different tribes of Tchudic origin. In contradistinction from the Finns proper, those about the

B2

4 FINNISH LANGUAGE.

village of Ishora give themselves the appellation of Ingricot, and belong to the Russian Church ; the rest, forming by far the greater part of the population, are Lutherans. Their colloquial dialect has some admixtures of the Russian; but its predominating characteristics are Finnish proper, which language they perfectly understand, and such of them as can read have thus access to the treasures of Divine Revelation, through the medium of the editions of the Finnish Bible, now currently printed and brought into circulation by the Russian and Finnish Bible Societies.

The Finnish language, which, independently of its collateral branches, the Esthonian and Lap- ' ponian, consists of not fewer than twelve subordinate dialects, differs, in its essential characteristics, and the whole of its structure, from the Gothic and Slavonic; and is peculiarly remarkable on account of the number of its cases, which amount to thirteen,* and are not mere modifications of the ablative, as has been imagined, but: really expressive of the different relations of the nouns to which they are postfixed. Neither substantives nor adjectives exhibit any distinction of gender ; and, instead of our full and separate possessive pronouns, the Finns generally append certain abbreviated forms of the pronoun, after the manner of the Semitic dialects. The verbs have only two tenses, the past and the present: it being only possible to express the future, by adding to

' * Some writers reckon fourteen; but apres eee as the nominative and vocative are alike.

FINNISH LANGUAGE. a the form of the present some word indicative of a future action, or state of being. The principal accent is invariably placed upon the first syllable ; and the last is as invariably left altogether unaccented. The language possesses a singular beauty, arising from the number of its vowels and diph- _ thongs; and it has this peculiarity, in common with the Mongolian, and other Asiatic languages, _ that there is always one principal vowel in a word, which is said to govern the other vowels that occur in it, on which account they must always be of the same class.

At one time, this language was thought to _ be nearly allied to the Hebrew; but the words that have been produced to establish the connection are neither so striking in point of resemblance, nor so numerous, as those which might be. furnished from any of the other European languages. It possesses a number of words adopted from the Russian and Swedish languages, especially the latter; which is easily to be accounted for, by adverting to the relations in which the Finns have stood to the nations by whose in- - habitants these languages are spoken. But of the three cognate dialects above specified, the Lapponian has been most inundated, owing, in all probability, to the paucity of native words for expressing religious objects, or, indeed, any objects not strictly connected with their uncivilized mode of life. In the Lapponian version of 1 Tim. mi. 16, not fewer than six of the words are of foreign origin; and, of these six, not fewer than five are Swedish.

6 - FINNISH BIBLE.

Certain resemblances between words occurring in these dialects, and the Gothic of Ulphilas, are also deserving of notice; although they must be accounted for on some other principle than that of genealogical relationship. But the affinity existing between them, and the Hungarian and Turkish, demands a more profound application of philological research, than has ‘hitherto been bestowed on a subject so intimately connected with lucid ideas relative to the family dependencies subsisting among the nations of Europe. So much, however, appears certain, from the essential difference between the Tchudic and the other European languages, that the original stock, by whom - the former were spoken, must have struck off from the primeval seats of the human race, by a route entirely different from that followed by the other — tribes which settled in this quarter of the world : that is to say, they must either have passed along the western shores of the Caspian, and up the Volga, to the regions to the west and north of the Uralian mountains ; or, which is more probable, they prosecuted their nomadic course through the countries now known by the name of Independent Tatary, till they were ultimately arrested in their progress by the Arctic Ocean, the North Sea, and the Baltic. On this hypothesis, it is easy to conceive how the Tchudic, Hungarian, and Turkish - should be, more or less, related to each other.

Into Finnish the New Testament was translated soon after the introduction of the principles of the Reformation into Finland, and printed at Stockholm, in quarto, 1548. Besides Luther's Preface,

FINNISH BIBLE. 7

- it contains another by the translator, Michael Agricola, at that time Bishop of Abo ; in which he states, that the translation was made from the original Greek, with theassistance of the Latin Vulgate, and the German and Swedish versions. About the | same time, a version of the Psalms was undertaken by Paul Justén, rector of the High School in Abo ; in which work he engaged his scholars, by way of exercise, and which, after having been revised by. Agricola, was published at Stockholm, in the year 1551. It contains a curious address to the reader, composed in rhyme, and is, perhaps, the most ancient printed specimen of the kind in the Finnish language; in which a description is given of the pagan idolatry of the Finns, especially that practised by the inhabitants of Tavastahus and Karelia, or that part of Finland which comprehends the governments of Viborg and Olonetz, from the termination of the Gulph, and the shores of the Ladoga, to those of the White Sea.

In the course of the same year, several detached portions of the Old Testament left the press; in his preface to which, the Bishop regrets the impossibility of his publishing more at that time, owing to the want of funds, but pledges himself to proceed with the translation of the remaining books, and to publish them, in case he met with encouragement from the sale of these editions. In consequence, however, of certain: political obstacles, nearly a century passed away before the natives of Finland were furnished with an edition of the entire Bible in their vernacular

language. Atlength, in the year 1636, the Fin-

8 - FINNISH BIBLE.

nish clergy petitioned her majesty Christina, Queen of Sweden, to confer upon them this boon ; on which, orders were given to prepare an accurate version, and the task was committed to Eschillus Petreus, Divinity Professor in Abo, and afterwards Bishop of that see, Martin Stodius, Professor of the Oriental Languages, together with Henry Hoffman and Gregory Favorinus, two Finnish clergymen, whose general learning, and critical knowledge of the Finnish language, peculiarly qualified them for being associated in the work. It was printed, in folio, at. Stockholm, 1642.* Of this version, another edition was printed at Turusa (Abo), 1683—5, in quarto, chiefly owing to the zealous exertions of Bishop Gezelius, who obtained from government an order for the appropriation to this important object of certain corn-tythes, which have since been known by the name of Bibel Tryck-Tunnan.

Of the New Testament, editions were printed, in 1732, in octavo ; 1740, in duodecimo ; and 1774 and 1776, in octavo; but, excepting two quarto editions, printed in 1758, and 1776, the latter of which was published by subscription, no further ‘attempt was made to print the entire Scriptures, till the introduction of the Bible Society’s operations into Finland, in the year 1811. For twenty years previous to this period, no copies were exposed for sale; and it is stated, in a document drawn up at that time by authority, that there ‘was not then a copy to be obtained at any price.

FINNISH BIBLE SOCIETY. 9

With a view to carry into effect certain resolutions of the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, which had been formed in consequence of representations made to them on the subject of Finland, my friend and: colleague, Dr. Paterson, proceeded, in the Autumn of 1811, from Stockholm to Abo, where he was cordially received both by the civil and ecclesiastical authorities; and, following up his proposition, relative to the formation of a Finnish Bible Society, with an offer of £500., which he had been empowered to make by the Committee in London, he had the satisfaction to find, that the object of his mission was warmly approved of by the leading persons in the town... On a report of the proceedings. being forwarded for the sanction of his Imperial. Majesty, he was pleased, not only to grant them permission to act agreeably to the plan of biblical operations which had been presented to him, but also a donation of 5,000 rubles from his own private purse, with a view to promote the distribution of the Finnish Scriptures. This act of Imperial generosity encouraged the parties to. proceed still farther in the establishment of a Finnish Bible Society, the eventual formation of ' which took place in the Spring of 1812.

It was in this way that Finland was made the avenue, and my esteemed friend the instrument, through which the grand subject of the Bible Society was first officially introduced to the notice of the Emperor Alexander, and the primary link formed of that chain which was destined to com-

10 POSTING IN RUSSIA.

prehend within its benevolent compass the whole extent of the vast empire of Russia. |

On the formation of a Bible Society in the Russian metropolis, in 1813, some of the first measures adopted by the Committee consisted in making preparations, along with the Committee in Abo, for issuing a number of copies of the Finnish Bible and New Testament, in some measure adequate to the urgency of the demand ; in consequence of which, editions of both, in octavo, left the press in 1815 and 1816. Complaints, however, having been made of the inability of the Finns to read so small a type, owing to the weakness of their eyes, it was proposed to publish an edition in quarto; towards which the British and Foreign Bible Society contributed £500., and his Imperial Majesty granted to the Finnish Society a loan of 30,000 rubles, free of interest, to be repaid in the course of five years, reckoning from the time that the said quarto edition should be ready for distribution.

Owing to the divine blessing on the enlightened zeal and indefatigable exertions of the aged Archbishop, and other directors of this Society, ramifications of which now exist in every part of the country, there is great reason to hope that the time is not distant, when every hut in Finland shall be enriched with the treasures of Divine Revelation. sae

With the exception of “bape at and Spaskaia Polist, the post-stations between Petersburgh and Novogorod furnish few or no accommodations for

POSTING IN RUSSIA. ll travellers ; being merely the houses of the smotritels, or posting-agents, and in no respect differing from other houses in the village, except it be in the noise occasioned by the incessant call for horses. At the two villages just mentioned, however, the post-houses have more the appearance of palaces than inns ; and, on entering them, you are gratified by finding that the expectations raised by the exterior are by no means disappointed. The rooms are kept in good order, and almost any thing that is called for may be obtained. These houses, of which there are a few more on the Moscow road, were built by order of the Empress Catharine, and have recently undergone a thorough repair. ; | The stages in Russia are, in general, from twenty to thirty versts* in length; but in some more uncultivated parts of the empire they are nearly forty. At each station is an agent of the post-office, who registers the passports of travellers, and gives orders for the necessary supply of horses; and a head person among the boors, called the starost, or ‘ elder,” who sees the orders executed. On the road from Petersburgh to Moscow, the horses are furnished by peasants, who, besides the allowance paid by travellers, enjoy certain privileges, such as freedom from taxes, &c. In other parts of the country, where fewer horses are required, the posting-establishment is farmed out to the lowest bidder, who is obliged to provide a guarantee, that he will pay

* A verst is equal to about three-quarters of an English mile.

12 NOVOGOROD.—SLAVONIANS.

the rent to government, and supply the necessary number of horses. \ In addition to the two copecks per verst, which the traveller pays on taking out his podoroshnaa, he pays at every station the progony or posting-money, which is rated at five copecks per verst for each horse, except on the road between the two capitals, and in the Polish provinces, and those of Mew Russia, where it is eight.

Having lasiedeth without halting during the night, we descried Movogorod about four o'clock the following afternoon; and, as we approached it, the imposing appearance of its churches and spires, upwards of sixty in number, forced upon our minds the conviction, that the accounts we had read of its ancient extent and =esgutiien were by no means exaggerated. b

‘This city, known in the Icelandic annals by the name of Holmgard,* was the original metropolis of Russia. The Slavonians, a people of Sarmatian extraction, appear on the page of history as early as the fifth century of our era, inhabiting the countries to the north of the Danube.

* The name of Holmgard, or “ Insular Town,” was most probably given to this city by the Scandinavians, from its local situation ; for there is every indication of its having been formerly surrounded by water. Even at this day, the narrow, tongue of land towards the north is intersected by a small river, connecting the neighbouring lake with the Volchof. The word gard, or gorod, is common both to the Gothic and Slavonic dialects, signifying a city or town; hence, from the numerous towns in Russia compounded in part of this word, the inhabitants of the north gave it the name of Garda-riki, or the “ kingdom of. towns,” and not unfrequently Garda, without any other designation.

ORIGIN OF THE RUSSIANS. 13

In the course of two or three centuries later, a branch of them struck off through what the classical writers of antiquity accounted the regions of impenetrable night; and driving back the Techudz, or Finns, their original inhabitants, possessed themselves of the country to the south of the Ladoga, where they formed a medium of communication between their kindred tribes in the south, and the different nations of the north. About this period the Varagi, a Scandinavian people, inhabiting the coasts of the Baltic, and distinguished for their maritime habits, held the different nations in this quarter in a state of tributary subjection. To them the Slavonians also submitted for a time; but, becoming impatient of the yoke, they ultimately - threw it off, in the hope of enjoying a noble independence. It was not long, however, ere they were taught by experience, that the principal foe to the repose and happiness of unorganised society is to be found in its own bosom, and that the feuds and quarrels of native chieftains are more to be dreaded than the rule of foreigners, conducted according to the principles of universal law. Distracted by internal commotions, it cannot be matter of surprise, that they should follow the sage counsel of Gostomisle, the first recorded magistrate of Novogorod, and invite foreign princes to come and establish a regular government among them. The invitation was re ioe by Ruric, a Varago-Russian prince,* who, with his two bro-

* Varago-Russian: The origin of this name has not yet been exactly determined ; but it is beyond dispute, from the connection in which it occurs in Nestor’s annals, and the comment he

14 ORIGIN OF TIE RUSSIANS.

thers, Sineus and Truvor, repaired to the shores of the Ladoga, and after remaining some time in a town of the same name, fixed his residence in Novogorod, where, in the year 864, he founded the Russian monarchy, the sceptre of which continued to be swayed by his descendants upwards of seven hundred years. In consequence of the settled form of government which now obtained, and the extensive rule which these northern Slavonians, and such of the Tchudi as were leagued with them, exercised over the surrounding regions, this city acquired such a tremendous importance,. that the saying became proverbial— makes upon it, that it belonged, not to any division of people - inhabiting the country now known by the name of Russia, but to some Scandinavian tribe, from which, in all probability, as Schlézer conjectures, the Swedish district Ros-lagen derives its name. At one time it was fashionable for interpreters of Scripture to trace, in Rosh and Meshech, (Ezek. xxxviil. 2. in the Hebrew) the names of Russia and Moscovia, but a more intimate acquaintance with history has suggested the importance of sounder principles of interpretation. The fact is, both names are modern: the latter takes its date from the building of Moscow, in the twelfth century: and the former was imported along with Ruric and his Scandinavian associates, and from them, in process of time, derived upon the principal branch of the Slavonie stock, in the same way as the name of the Angles was — given to the inhabitants of South Britain. The absurdity of applying the name Meshech to Russia cannot be better exposed than it is by the fact, that, about half a century ago, it was so applied by a Jewish Rabbi, when reading Ps. cxx. 5. “ Woe is me that I sojourn in Meshech :” the consequence of which was, that the prayer for the Emperor, which was printed in the Jewish liturgies up to that date, has been omitted in subsequent editions, and is never used in their synagogues, except some Christian be present, who, they have reason to believe, under: stands Hebrew !

NOVOGOROD. 15

« Who can withstand God and Great Novogorod 2?” Nor was its power unfelt during the period of its existence as a republic. For centuries it’ kept the Russian princes in the south, whither the seat of government had been removed, in a state of perpetual alarm; and it was not till the iron sceptre of Ivan Vasilievitch almost levelled it with the eround in 1578, that its political influence was annihilated. | : | Towards the middle of the thirteenth century, the merchants of the north of Germany began to enter into extensive commercial relations with the Russians, and, among other places, frequented Movogorod, which their vessels reached by the Neva, the Ladoga, and the Volchof. Were, about the year 1277, they established a regular factory and consulate, which soon rendered it one of the most flourishing and important of all the mercantile stations supported by the Hanseatic league. Whatever importance may have attached to it, as a point of transition in the trade at that time carried on overland between Asia and Europe, there can be little doubt, that the principal basis of the Novogorodian commerce consisted in the native productions of Russia, which abounded in the greatest profusion, and were obtained at so extremely low a price, that it became one of the most lucrative sources of wealth to embark in the operations of Hanseatic enterprise. When at the zenith of its glory, Novogorod is reported to have contained nearly 400,000 inhabitants; but it is probable this estimate includes the vast concourse of strangers who frequented it

16 NOVOGOROD.

for the purposes of trade, during some of the sunimer months, but left it again before winter. At present, the number, including the military, does not exceed 15,000. The town is divided by the Volchof into two parts: that on the left side of — the river is called Sophiiskaia, from the cathedral of St. Sophia; and the other, on the opposite side, Torgovaia, from Torg, ‘‘amarket-place,” “ trade,” &c., being the spot where the Hanseatic commerce was carried on. The streets are of considerable, width—a circumstance which, besides contributing to the healthiness of the place, must _ prove of great advantage in case of fire; but the houses, with the exception of the residences of the Governor, the Archbishop, and some few others, wear but a. paltry appearance, and are mostly built of wood. In summer, the town is rendered agreeable by the number of gardens, abounding in fruit-trees, which are attached to the houses.