where eked out with large extracts from the most common and familiar books. Upon the whole, we are rather inclined to affign this author a few years of additional probation, before we pass any definitive judgement on his merits as an author, and to look upon his prefent defects as the confequence of inexperience, and a premature thirst for diftinction. As he is neceffarily fecluded from the practice of furgery, we would advife him, if he continues to write on furgical operations, to converfe with thofe who are moft in the habit of performing them, and to enter into all their difficulties, and the occurrences and difappointments they meet with in the practice of their profeilion. After he has thus made himself mafter of the facts, let him labour to explain and do away their difficulties and prejudices, inform them of their errors, and relieve their minds of their perplexities and apprehenfions. Above all, let him remember, that, in proportion to the rarity of a cafe, is the smallness of its importance in practice; and let him either cease to boast of his opportunities, or prove more fatisfactorily to the world that he has known how to profit by them. ART. XII. Travels through the Southern Provinces of the Ruffian Empire, in the years 1793 and 1794. Tranflated from the original German of Profeffor Pallas, Counsellor of State to the Emperor of Ruffia, Member of the principal Literary Societies of Europe, &c. &c. Vol. II. 4to. Longman & Rees, London. 1803. WHILE France and England were profecuting voyages of dif covery over the whole face of the globe, and examining the limits of many regions with a curiofity wholly unknown to those who inhabited them, the Emprefs Catherine indulged her magnificent fpirit, by exploring the empire which the governed; and, without quitting its limits, brought to light as much knowledge, as other princes who fent round the earth to cellect it. To us, whom a few days may convey with cafe and fecurity, from one end of our territory to the other, it is a fublime novelty to hear of learned men being abfent for years on their travels through the dominions of their Sovereign; ranging from civilized to barbarous, and from barbarous to polifhed men; and emerging from froft and fnow into the fine regions of the fun, under the protection of the same name, and the authority of the fame laws. The principal perfons felected by the Academy of Petersburgh. for thefe important excurfions were, Meff. Lepechin, Guldenftedt, Gmelin, and Pallas. Gmelin Gmelin began his travels in 1768 or 1769. His journey was through Mofcow and Paulousk to Azof. From this place he paffed through Tzaritzin to Aftracan; travelled through the north of Perfia; returned to Entzili on the fouth fhore of the Cafpian; and from thence to Aftracan in 1772. He was feized on his return, when only four days journey from the Ruffian dominions, by Usmei Khan, a Tartar prince, and expired in prison at Achmet Kent, in Mount Caucafus. Guldenftedt, in the year 1769, paffed through Tzaritzin and Aftracan to the confines of Perfia, near the western shore of the Cafpian; examined various countries in the eastern extremity of Caucafus; and reached Offetia in the most elevated part of that range of hills. He proceeded to North Caucafus, Cabarda, and Georgia: from thence he paffed into Tmeretia, the middle chain of Mount Caucafus, the confines of Mingrelia, Middle Georgia, Eaftern and Lower Tmeretia, and from thence returned to Killar. In the fpring of 1773, he fet out for Mofdok, and then went upwards to the Malka; thence to the mountains of Befchtan, from which he took the route of Tfchekafh. From this town' he made a tour to Azof, crofled the Kalmius, following at the fame time the Berda and the new lines of the Dnieper, till he arrived at Krementschuk, the capital of New Ruffia, where he was recalled. Lepechin proceeded to the government of Nifhney-Novogorod, to Simbrifk in the province of Kazan, furveyed the courfe of the river Tfcheremfchan, and travelled over much of the district of Orenburg. From Aftracan he croffed the mountains which feparate the rivers Volga and Yaik, and wintered in the Ural of Orenburg on the river Brelaya. In the month of May following, he purfued the courfe of the Brelaya, came to Ekaterinenburg, advanced into the Ural, and paffed the winter at Tobolfk. In 1771, he visited the province of Vratka, and embarked at Archangel to vifit the coafts of the White Sea. After wintering at Archangel, he pursued the fame object, in the enfuing fuminer, as far as the western and northern coafts; and proceeding to the mouth of the White Sea, returned by the Gulf of Mezen to Peterburgh. During the fummer of 1773, he furveyed variousparts of the governments of Pícore and Mohilef, proceeded along the Duna to the Riga, and foon after terminated his travels at Petersburgh. Profeffor Pallas was abfent from Petersburgh fix years. In 1768, he pailed through Mofcow and Mufom to Cafan. After his examination of this province, he paffed the winter at Simbrifk. In 1769, he penetrated to the mouth of the river Yaic, where he examined the confines of Calmuc Tartary, and the neighbouring K 2 neighbouring fhores of the Cafpian. After returning through Orenburgh, he paffed the winter at Ufa, which he quitted the following fummer, and purfued his journey through the Uralian mountains to Tobolík. The next year, he traced the courfe of the Irtifh, after examining the Altai mountains; and remained that winter at Krafnoyarsk, a little town on the Yenifei. From Krafnoyarsk he croffed the lake Baikal to Kiatka. Having penetrated into Dania, he went on between the rivers Ingoda and Argoon thence, tracing the lines which divide Ruffia from the Chinese Mongol Hordes, he returned again to Krasnoyarfk. In the fummer of 1773, he vifited Tara, Yaitzk, and Aftracan, con. cluding that year's route at Tzaritzin on the Wolga; from whence he arrived at Petersburg the enfuing fpring 1774. The travels, of the latter part of which we are now to give an account, were undertaken in the years 1793 and 1794, by the fpecial permiffion of her Imperial Majefty, for the recovery of the Profeffor's health. With this publication, M. Pallas propofes to take leave of the literary world, and expreffes, in a very feeling and affecting manner, thofe warnings of age which have admonished him that he is on the eve of bidding adieu to much more important relations. The first volume of this work contains an account of M. Pallas's journey from St Petersburg to Tzaritzin; remarks made in various excurfions on the fouthern banks of the Volga; a journey in the fpring of the year to Aftracan; another from Aftracan to the lines of Caucafus; obfervations made during a journey along the Caucafus; an account of the nations inhabiting Mount Caucafus; journey from Gengiefsk to Tfherkasf and Taganrof, and from Taganrof to the Taurida-to the defcription of which latter country, the volume now before us is exclufively confined. The population of the Crimea formerly amounted to at least half a million. Its firft diminution took place in 1778; when, in confequence of the peace concluded with the Turks, 30,000 Chriftians, comprehending many artifans and manufacturers, were removed to the country between the Don and the Berda, beyond the fea of Azof. Soon after the Crimea fell under the dominion of Ruffia, and between the years 1785 and 1788, many thoufand Tartars fold their property at the lowest prices, and withdrew to Anatolia and Romelia; whither the furviving individuals of the family of Ghirei, and many nobles, alfo retired; not to mention those who were killed in the troubles, or afterwards deftroyed by the plague: So that, according to Profeffor Pallas, the population of the Crimea is not at prefent more than 200,000 perfons of all nations and conditions. The * This tour was p in five volumes 4to. by M. Pallas The Tartar inhabitants of the Crimea may be divided into three claffes. The Nagays, or unmixed defcendants of the Mongolian tribes, who formed the bulk of the army of Thingis Khan, which invaded Ruffia and the Crimea. Thefe Tartars differ materially from the wandering Nagays, near the lines of Caucafus and the Akhtouba, who fpeak a language lefs corrupted by the Turkish dialect, poffefs more activity and vivacity, a greater difpofition to plunder and rebellion-in fhort, exhibit a purer fpecimen of the genuine Tartar favage, than their brothers of the Taurida, who are emerging from the paftoral to the agricultural itate, and unfolding the first germs of civilization. The fecond clafs is the Tartars who inhabit the heaths, or Steppes, as far as the mountains; and who, in the district of Perekop, ftill retain fome traces of the Mongolian countenance. They devote themselves to the rearing of cattle to a greater extent than the mountaineers, but at the fame time are husbandmen. The third clafs is compofed of the inhabitants of the fouthern vallies bounded by the mountains; a mixed race, which has originated from the remnants of various nations, crowded together in these regions at the conqueft of the Crimea by the armies of the Mongolian leaders. They difplay a very fingular countenance, and are confidered by the other Tartars to poffefs fo little of the true Tartar blood, that they call them, in derifion, Mur Tat, which fignifies renegado. They are not unfkilful in gardening and vine-dreffing; but are, upon the whole, unworthy inhabitants of the delicious regions they poffefs. They are fo difaffected to the Ruffian government, that they are always the first to rife in rebellion against it; and in the last Turkish war, were all ordered to the distance of ten verfts from the coaft, in order to obviate the danger of their becoming fpies and traitors. Profeffor Pallas thinks it would be for the general good, to remove them entirely from these vallies into the interior of the country, and to people their lands with more industrious fettlers. Thefe short and violent abridgements of the progrefs of amelioration, feldom, however, anfwer the expectations which they excite: it is like transfufing blood, inftead of strengthening the Ïystem, and difpofing it to the procefs of fanguification. The Tauridan Tartars, in their love of fplendour, in the exclufion of their women from fociety, and in the unnatural practices which prevail among the other fex, evince fome of the moft ftriking features of Oriental nations. The nobility and the priesthood are highly refpected among them; and in former times, frequently made confiderable refiftance to the power of the Khan, who was always chofen from the family of Ghireis; which family Profeffor Pallas, in oppofi K 3 tion tion to the common notions on that fubject, will hardly admit tohave been direct defcendants of Thingis Khan. The religious ceremonies, nuptial folemnities, and other cuftoms of the Tartars, agree in every respect with those of the Turks, which have been fo often defcribed by travellers. The practice, however, of polygamy, which we fhould have fuppofed more likely to have been adopted than any other, has never obtained among them. Male and female flaves are not common in the Taurida; but the nobility fupport great numbers of idle retainers, who accompany them when they make their entry into the towns, and fwell the pomp of their retinue. Europe, compared with the defpotic governments of the East, enjoys a great liberty of thinking, acting, and writing. There, the activity of the human mind, long fince thoroughly roused, is going on and increasing in velocity. Industry is become a paffion; and even pleasure mimics labour in her amufements and relaxations. Tartars and Turks, like all other favages who are not compelled to toil for their daily fupport, find their minds and bodies to be mere lumber, and are ignorant how to dispose either of the one or the other. A Tartar will fit for whole hours on the fame fpot, with his countenance turned in one direction, and with a pipe in his mouth which he has not even energy enough to fmoke. Hunting alone roufes a Tartar noble from his floth; and he gets up to purfue animals that feem (if the question is to be determined by dignity of nature) to have almoft an equal right to pursue him. In the vocabulary given by Profeffor Pallas, the number of words adopted into the Tartar language from the Genoefe, is very remarkable; a ftill greater number of Greek words has found its way into the fame language; But the Profeffor will not allow, in conformity with the opinion of Bufbek, that any veitige of the Gothic is perceptible in the different Tartar dialects. However favage the Tartars of the Crimea may be in other particulars, in the fcience of eating they rife above themfelves. They have fo far relinquished their ancient food of horfe-flefh, that they will only feed upon colts; and to this diet is added forced-meat balls wrapt in green vine or forrel leaves, various fruits filled with mince-meat, ftuffed cucumbers, and a great variety of learned dainties, which Mrs Glaffe herfelf would not difdain to add to her high-flavoured catalogue. The peninfula of the Crimea, is the only region of the Ruffian empire in which almoft all the products of Italy and Greece might be reared with fuccefs, and in which many of thofe produels grow fpontaneously. Wine, filk, fefame, olive, cotton, a great variety of dyeing drugs, which are at prefent imported from |