Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Pages ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
COXE’S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA. 645
interfeGting each other at right-angles; and would be no inconfiderable ornament
to the moft opulent and civilized country *.
There is an ecclefiaftical feminary at Tver, under the infpection of the Bifhop,
which admits fix hundred {tudents. In 1776, the Emprefs founded a fchool for the in-
{tru€tion of two hundred burgher’s children; and in June 1779, an academy for the
education of the young nobility of the province.
Tver is a place of confiderable commerce ; and both the Volga and the Tvertza
were covered with boats. It owes its principal trade to the advantageous fituation,
near the conflux of the two rivers, which convey all the goods and merchandize fent
by water from Siberia and the fouthern provinces towards Peterfburgh.
The Volga, the largeft river in Europe, rifes in the foreft of Volkonfki, at the dif
tance of eighty miles from Tver, and begins to be navigable a few miles above the town.
By means of the Tvertza, a communication is made between the Cafpian and the
Baltic ; as will be explained in a future chapter. The number of barges which paf-
fed by the town in 1776 amounted to two thoufand five hundred and thirty-feven ;
in 1777, to two thoufand fix hundred and forty-one, and the average number is
generally computed at two thoufand five hundred and fifty. The boats are flat-bot-
tomed, on account of the frequent fhoals, and are conftructed with new planks. The
rudders have a fingular appearance; the handle being a tree of fifty feet long, with a
pole fixed to a broad piece of timber floating on the furface. The pilot ftands upon
a kind of fcaffold, at the diftance of thirty or forty feet from the ftern, and turns the
rudder by means of the long handle. ‘Fhefe boats are only built for one voyage, and
on their arrival at Peterfburgh are fold for fuel.
I have already mentioned the prodigious wafte of wood arifing from the cuftom of
forming planks with the axe. ‘To prevent this practice, which was no lefs ufual
among the fhipwrights than among the peafants, orders were iflued by government,
that each veffel pafling the Tver, in which was one plank fafhioned with the hatchet,
fhould pay a fine of 61. In confequence of this decree the officer, who levied the
fine, collected the firft year 6000l., the fecond 1gcol., the third 1o00l., and the fourth
nothing. By this judicious regulation the ufe of the faw has been introduced among
the Ruffian fhipwrights, and will probably in time recommend itfelf to the carpenters
and peafants.
The rifing fpirit of commerce has added greatly to the wealth and population of the
town. It contains at prefent ten thoufand fouls, and the number of inhabitants in the
government of Tver has increafed in a furprifing degree : a circumftance which fhews
the advantages arifing from the new code of laws. ‘Tver was the firft province in which
that code was introduced, and has already experienced the beneficial effects of thefe
excellent regulations,
Tver being a large town, we concluded that we fhould find no difficulty in obtaining
the neceflary repairs for the carriage, fo as to enable it to convey us, during two or
three days, without requiring further affiftance. ‘Trufting, therefore, to the workman-
fhip of a Ruffian fmith, we fet off at fix in the evening with the expectation of reaching
in four hours the next poft, where we purpofed to pafs the night ; but we had fcarceiy
proceeded ten miles, before we perceived that the wheel, inftead of being ftrengthened,
was weakened by the fmith’s unfkilfulnefs. In this fituation we ftopped at a {mall vil-
lage, where it was not poffible to procure any afliftance, nor even a candle to fmear the
* According to Heym, the circumference of T’ver is fourteen verfts, and it contains two thoufand one
hundred and fixty three houfes, moftly wooden, twenty-fix churches, anda mona{tery. The population is
eight thoufand and fourteen males, and feven thoufand and eighty-one females.
wheel
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
