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situated on the Dnieper, and were formerly under the sway of the princes of Lithuania. By the town of Viesma runs the river of the same name, which at no great distance, viz., two wersts, falls into the Dnieper, and vessels laden with merchandise are carried down by it to the Dnieper and back again from the Dnieper to Viesma.

Mosaisko also is a fortified wood-built town, in the neighbourhood of which is a great abundance of hares of various colours, and the prince is accustomed to hold an annual hunt there. Sometimes also he receives ambassadors from different princes there, as was the case while we were at Moscow, when he received the Lithuanian ambassadors; and it was to this place also that we were summoned from Moscow to receive our discharge, after having fulfilled the instructions of our respective princes. I may further add that, in the time of Vithold, the boundaries of the dominion of the princes of Muscovy extended to about five or six miles beyond Mosaisko.

Biela is a principality, with a fortified city of the same name, on the river Opscha. It is situated amidst vast forests, more than sixty German miles to the west of Moscow, thirty-six from Smolensko, and thirty from Toropetz. Its rightful princes in former days were the descendants of Gidemin, but in the time of Casimir king of Poland, the sons of Jagellon gained possession of this principality, for at that time Vasiley, otherwise called Bielski, the prince of Biela, deserted to Ivan, Vasiley's father, and surrendered both himself and his property to him. In his removal, he also left his wife behind him in Lithuania, and as we have before said, married another woman in Russia. By the latter he had three sons, whom I saw at the court of the prince; and one of them, named Demetrius, was held in great esteem and honour from respect to his father's rank. These three brothers, however, although they lived upon the paternal inheritance which they received from their father from Biela, and derived their