Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 2, 1851).djvu/61

and two miles from thence, on the bank of the same river, stands the church only of Chloppigrod. The fairs (which I have elsewhere alluded to) are more frequent in that place than in the whole Russian dominions; for the Tartars, and many other nations from the east and north, resort thither to barter with the Swedes, Livonians, and Russians. There is scarcely any use made of gold or silver amongst these nations; but they exchange ready-made dresses, needles, knives, spoons, hatchets, and other such things, mostly for skins.

Pereaslav is a fortified city twenty-four miles somewhat eastward of due north from Moscow. It stands on a lake, in which, as at the island of Solovki, those little fish, the selgi, are taken, of which I spoke above. The land is tolerably fertile and productive; and, after harvest, the prince is accustomed to amuse himself there with hunting. There is in the same country a lake from which salt is obtained by evaporation. Those who go from Castroma, Jaroslav, and Uglitz, to Little Novogorod, pass through this city. It is impossible to make any calculation of the roads in these parts, on account of the great number of marshes and woods. There is there also a river called Nerel, which rises from a certain lake, and falls into the Volga above Uglitz.

Rostov is a fortified city and an archiepiscopal see. After Great Novogorod, it is held with Bieloiesero and Murom amongst the principal and most ancient of the principalities of Russia. The road thither from Moscow is direct through Pereaslav, from which it is ten miles distant. It stands on the lake, which gives rise to the Cotoroa, a river which, after passing by Jaroslav, falls into the Volga. The nature of the soil is fertile, and the country is particularly abundant in fish and salt. This territory used to belong to the second sons of the grand-dukes of Russia; but their posterity have very recently been thrust out and banished by Ivan, the father of Vasiley.