Journey from Riga to the Crimea. With some account of the manners and customs of the colonists of New Russia. [Notes relating to the Crim Tatars] / [Mary Holderness].

  • Holderness, Mary.
Date:
1827
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Journey from Riga to the Crimea. With some account of the manners and customs of the colonists of New Russia. [Notes relating to the Crim Tatars] / [Mary Holderness]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    water. They carry from 200 to 500 tons bur¬ then, and are from 200 to 400 feet in length, formed of large trees split into rough boards. The rudder is a single fir tree, at which twelve or twenty men preside, according to the strength required. The most valuable part of the cargo, which is wheat, hemp-seed, &c. is stowed in the centre of the vessel, a space being left around the sides for the package of those goods which a little wet will not materially injure, such as hemp, cordage, &c. This being completed, -the vessel is ready to take advantage of the earliest part of the navigable season. As vsoon as the ice is broken up and clear, the vessel floats with the strong current which succeeds to the removal of the ice, and thirty or forty of the peasants, sometimes with their wives and fami¬ lies, take their passage upon it. The owner or his steward meet the cargo at Riga, where it is either sold to the merchants, or warehoused, according to circumstances. The vessel then is knocked to pieces, and sold for firing, or frequently for paling for the merchants yard, and often fetches no more than from 100 to 200 rubles. .