Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 2, 1851).djvu/30

placed on rafts and brought down to Moscow. Below the city the merchandize, etc., imported by foreigners, is brought up in ships. The navigation is, however, slow and difficult, on account of the numerous turnings and windings with which the river is indented, especially between Moscow and the city of Columna, situated on the bank of the river about three miles from its mouth, where, by its many long windings, it increases the length of the passage by two hundred and seventy wersts. The river is not very abundant in fish, for indeed, with the exception of mean and common sorts, it has none at all. The province of Moscow also is not over extensive or fertile, for the sandy soil which covers it and which kills the corn with the least excess of dryness or moisture, is a very great obstacle to fertility. To this must be added the immoderate and excessive inclemency of the atmosphere, for as the severity of the winter overpowers the heat of the sun, the seed which is sown cannot in some places reach maturity. For the cold is sometimes so intense there, that in the same manner as with us in summer time the earth splits into clefts with too much heat, so with them it does so from the extreme cold, and water thrown into the air, or saliva spit from the mouth, freezes before it reaches the ground. We ourselves, when we arrived there in the year 1526, saw some boughs of fruit-bearing trees that had entirely perished with the rigour of the preceding winter, which had been so severe that year, that many couriers (whom they call gonecz) were found frozen in their carriages. There were some men driving cattle tied together with ropes from the neighbouring districts to Moscow, who, overpowered by the excessive cold, perished together with the cattle. Several itinerants also, who were accustomed to wander about the country with bears taught to dance, were found dead in the roads. The bears also, stimulated by hunger, left the woods and ran about hither and thither through the neighbouring villages and rushed into the houses, while the rustic multitude, terri-