was; but we waited fo long till the third man came back to us; and then, nobody coming out, we knocked again gently, and immediately out came two more, and we ferved them juft in the fame manner, but were obliged to go all with them, and lay them down by the idol fome diftance from one another; when, going back, we found two more were come out to the door, and a third stood behind them within the door. We feized the two,

and immediately tied them: when the third stepping back, and crying out, my Scots merchant went in after him, and taking out a compofition we had made, that would only fmoke and ftink, he fet fire to it, and threw it in among them: by that time the other Scotfman and my man taking charge of the two men already bound, and tied together alfo by the arm, led them away to the idol, and left them there, to fee if their idol would relieve them, making hafte back to us.

When the furze we had thrown in had filled the hut with fo much smoke that they were almost suffocated, we then threw in a small leather bag of another kind, which flamed like a candle, and, following it in, we found there were but four people left, who, it feems, were two men and two women, and, as we fuppofed, had been about fome of their diabolic facrifices. They appeared, in fhort, frighted to death, at leaft fo as to fit trembling and ftupid, and not able to speak neither, for the smoke.

In a word, we took them, bound them as we had the other, and all without any noife. I should have faid, we brought them out of the house, or hut, first; for, indeed, we were not able to bear the smoke any

more

more than they were. When we had done this, we carried them altogether to the idol: when we came there we fell to work with him; and first we daubed him all over, and his robes alfo, with tar, and fuch other stuff as we had, which was tallow mixed with brimstone; then we stopped his eyes, and ears, and mouth full of gunpowder; then we wrapped up a great piece of wildfire in his bonnet; and then sticking all the combuftibles we had brought with us upon him, we looked about to fee if we could find any thing else to help to burn him; when my Scotfman remembered, that by the tent, or hut, where the men were, there lay a heap of dry forage, whether ftraw or rushes I do not remember: away he and the other Scotfman ran, and fetched their arms full of that. When we had done this, we took all our prifoners, and brought them, having untied their fect, and ungagged their mouths, and made them ftand up, and fet them juft before their monftrous idol, and then fet fire to the whole.

We stayed by it a quarter of an hour, or there abouts, till the powder in the eyes, and mouth, and ears of the idol blew up, and, as we could perceive, had split and deformed the fhape of it; and, in a word, till we faw it burnt into a mere block or log of wood; and then fetting the dry forage to it, we found it would be foon quite confumed; fo we began to think of going away; but the Scotfman faid: No, we must not go; for thefe poor deluded wretches will all throw themselves into the fire, and burn themselves with the idol; fo we refolved to stay till the forage was burnt down too, and then we came away and left them.

要

In the morning we appeared among our fellow travellers, exceeding bufy in getting ready for our journey; nor could any man fuggeft that we had been anywhere but in our beds, as travellers might be supposed to be, to fit themselves for the fatigues of that day's journey.

But it did not end fo; for the next day came a great multitude of the country people, not only of this village, but of an hundred more, for aught I know, to the town gates; and, in a moft outrageous manner, demanded fatisfaction of the Ruffian governor, for the infulting their priests, and burning their great Cham-Chi-Thaungu; fuch an hard name they gave the monstrous creature they worshipped: the people of Nertzinskay were at firft in a great confternation; for, they faid, the Tartars were no lefs than thirty thousand, and that in a few days more, they would be one hundred thousand stronger.

The Ruffian governor fent out meffengers to appease them, and gave them all the good words imaginable. He affured them he knew nothing of it, and that there had not a foul of his garrifon been abroad; that it could not be from any body there; and if they would let him know who it was, they fhould be exemplarily punished. They returned haughtily, That all the country reverenced the great Cham-Chi-Thaungu, who dwelt in the fun, and no mortal would have dared to offer violence to his image, but fome Chriftian mifcreant; fo they called, them, it seems, and they therefore denounced war against him, and all the Ruffians, who, they said, were miscreants and Chriftians.

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The governor, ftill patient, and unwilling to make a breach, or to have any cause of war alledged to be given by him, the czar having straightly charged him to treat the conquered country with gentleness and civility, gave them ftill all the good words he could; at last he told them, there was a caravan gone towards Ruffia that morning, and perhaps it was fome of them who had done them this injury; and that, if they would be fatisfied with that, he would fend after them, to enquire into it. This seemed to appease them a little; and accordingly the governor fent after us, and gave us a particular account how the thing was; intimating, withal, that if any in our caravan had done it, they should make their escape; but that, whether they had done it or no, we should make all the hafte forward that was poffible; and that in the mean time, he would keep them in play as long as he could.

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This was very friendly in the governor. However, when it came to the caravan, there was nobody knew any thing of the matter; and, as for us that were guilty, we were the least of all fufpected; none so much as asked us the question; however, the captain of the caravan, for the time, took the hint that the governor gave us, and we marched or travelled two days and two nights without any confiderable stop, and then we lay at a village called Plothus; nor did we make any long ftop here, but hastened on towards Jarawena, another of the czar of Mufcovy's colonies, and where we expected we fhould be fafe; but it is to be observed, that here we began, for two or three days march, to enter upon a vast nameless defart, of which I fhall fay more

in its place; and which if we had now been upon it, is more than probable, we had been all destroyed. It was the fecond day's march from Plothus, that by the clouds of duit behind us at a great distance, fome of our people began to be fenfible we were pursued; we had entered the defart, and had paffed by a great lake, called Schanks Ofier, when we perceived a very great body of horse appear on the other fide of the lake to the north, we travelling west. We ob ferved they went away weft, as we did; but had fuppofed we fhould have taken that fide of the lake, whereas we very happily took the fouth fide; and in two days more we faw them not, for they, believing we were still before them, pufhed on, till they came to the river Udda: This is a very great river when it paffes farther north; but when we came to it, we found it narrow and fordable.

The third day they either found their mistake, or had intelligence of us, and came pouring in upon us, towards the dufk of the evening. We had, to our great fatisfaction, juft pitched upon a place for our camp, which was very convenient for the night; for as we were upon a defart, though but at the beginning of it, that was above five hundred miles over, we had no towns to lodge at, and, indeed, expected none but the city farawena, which we had yet two days march to; the defart, however, had fome few woods in it on this fide, and little rivers, which ran all into the great river Udda. It was in a narrow ftrait between two fmall, but very thick woods, that we pitched our little camp for that night, expecting to be attacked in the night.

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