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.
646 COXE’S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA.
wheel, which requireda conftant fupply of greafe to prevent it from taking fire; and as
the next place in our route, likely to afford a new wheel, was above fixty miles, we
prudently returned to Tver. I confoled myfelf for this delay ; aS it gave us an oppor-
tunity to pay more attention to the town and environs, than our tranfient ftay had per-
mitted. We took up our abode at the fame houfe we had juit quitted, an inn kept by
a German, and one of the new magnificent brick edifices lately erected, but almoft with-
out furniture or beds.
On the following day we made an agreeable excurfion into the adjacent country :
after crofling the Volga over a bridge of boats, and the Tvertza over a raft, we rode
between the banks of thofe two beautiful rivers. We then left the Volga to purfue its
courfe towards the Cafpian Sea, watering, as it pafles, the moft fertile provinces in Ruf-
fia, and bathing the walls of Cafan and Aftracan, and made acircuit in the environs of
Tver: we arsanently {topped to admire feveral delightful views of the new town,
proudly feated upon the fteep bank of the Volga, the country gently floping towards the
river.
Tver lies in the midft of a large plain, interfperfed with gentle acclivities. The
country produces in great abundance wheat, rye, barley, oats, buck-wheat, hemp and
flax, and all forts of vegetables. ‘The forefts yield oak, birch, alder, poplar, mountain-
afh, pines, firs, and junipers. ‘The quadrupeds, which rove in the neighbouring coun-
try, are elks, bears, wolves, and foxes ; wild goats and hares; alfo badgers, martens,
weafels, ermines, ferrets, fquirrels, and marmottes. The principal birds are eagles and
falcons, cranes, herons, {wans, wild-geefe and ducks, partridges, quails, woodcocks and
fnipes, black game ; alfo crows and ravens, magpies and blackbirds, fparrows and ftar-
lings; together with nightingales, linnets, larks, and yellow-hammers. The fith caught
in the Volga are falmon, fteriet, tench, pike, perch, groundlings, gudgeons, and fome-
times, but rarely, {turgeon and beluga.
The fterlet, acipenfer ruthenus of Linnezeus, is probably peculiar to the northern parts
of the globe, and is a fpecies of fturgeon highly efteemed for flavour, and for its roe,
from which the fineft caviare is made. It is diftinguifhed from the other fturgeons by
its colour and inferior fize, being feldom more than three feet in length *. The top of
the head and back are of a yellowith grey, the fides of the body whitifh, the belly white,
mixed with rofe-colour, efpecially towards the mouth and vent, the eyes are of a fky-
blue, encircled with white. ‘The fnout is long and pointed, compreffed and fluted. The
mouth is tranfverfe, with thick prominent lips, which it has the power of drawing in-
wards, with a beard, confifting of four fmall and foft cirri, or wattles. It has five
rows of pointed bony imbricated fcales, one upon the back, two along the fides, and
two under the belly ; the row upon the back begins from the neck, and reaches to the
dorfal fin; the number +, by which Linnzeus afcertains the {pecies, and fixes at fifteen,
varies from fourteen to feventeen. ‘Lhe two fide rows begin from the upper angle of
the gill-covers, and reach to the middle of the tail ; their form is flat in the middle,
with dentated margins turning towards the tail; their number varies from fixty to fee
venty. ‘Lhe two rows, which lie under the belly, reach from the pectoral towards the
ventral fins; they are four-fided, much {maller than thofe upon the back, and thicker
than thofe on the fides. Befides thefe five rows, there are allo fome adipofe bony fcales
between the tail and the vent ; their number invariably five. ‘The reft of the ikin is
* Lepekin’s Reife, vol. ii. p. 154. and Pallas’s Reife, part ii. p. 446.
+ Acipenfer Ruthenus cirris 4. f{quamis dorfalibus 15. Muf. Fred. I. p. 54. and Taun. Sue. 272.—In
the Syft. Nat. p. 403, he defines it, Acipenfer ordinibus 5. f{quamarum offearum, intermedio officulis 15.
without
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
