Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 2, 1851).djvu/29

NOTES UPON RUSSIA.

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CIPALITY AND LORDSHIP OF THE GRAND DUKE OF MUSCOVY, TAKING MOSCOW, THE PRINCIPAL CITY, AS THE STARTING POINT; AND PRO- CEEDING THENCE, I SHALL DESCRIBE THE SURROUNDING AND MORE FAMOUS PRINCIPALITIES ONLY, FOR IN SO GREAT AN EXPANSE I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO TRACE EXACTLY THE NAMES OF ALL THE PRO- VINCES. THE READER MUST, THEREFORE, CONTENT HIMSELF WITH THE NAMES OF THE CITIES, RIVERS, MOUNTAINS, AND SOME OF THE MORE REMARKABLE PLACES.

The city of Moscow then, the capital and metropolis of Russia, together with the province itself, and the river which flows by it, have but one and the same name, and in the vernacular language of the people are called Mosqwa. Which of the three gave its name to the other two is uncertain; but it is likely that the name was derived from the river. For although the city itself was not formerly the capital of the nation, yet it is evident that the name of Muscovites was not unknown to the ancients. The river Mosqwa, moreover, has its source in the province of Tver, nearly seventy worsts above Mosaisko (a worst is nearly the length of an Italian mile), not far from a place called Oleskno, and measuring thence a distance of ninety wersts, flows down to the city of Moscow, and having received some streams into itself, flows eastward into the river Occa. It begins, however, to be navigable six miles above Mosaisko, at which place materials for building houses and other purposes are