Siberia

a country of Asia, comprehending the principal Asiatic part of the Ru ian empire. It is bounded on the E. by the Pacific ocean, S. by Great Tartary, W. by European Ru ia, and N. by the Frozen ocean. It extends 3500 miles from E. to W. and 1200 from N. to S. containing the half of Asia. The S. part is fertile, producing all the nece aries of life; but the N. and #, parts are extremely cold, and thin of people, presenting vast marshy plains, covered with almost perpetual snow, and pervaded by enormous rivers, which, under ma es of ice, pursue their course.to the Arctic ocean: there are also ex~ tensive plains called stepps, which are somewhat similar to the sandy deserts of Africa. There are inexhaustible forests of birch, alder, lime, . and millions of noble trees of the pine kind: the Siberian plum and crab, the mountain ash, Tartar i an mulberry and honeysuckle, and Daourian rose, form thickets of exquisite beauty; under shelter of which arise a multitude of plants, particularly the yellow sarine lily and the sibiricum; ‘the roots of the former are a favourite food with the Tartar i an tribes, and from the dried stalks of the other the natives procure a saccharine efflorescence, from which they make a coarse ardent spirit. The principal riches of Siberia consists in fine skins and furs, and mines of gold, silver, iron, lead, and copper. Several kinds of precious stones are found here, particularly topazes of a very fine lustre; it also affords magnets of an extraordinary size, and even whole mountains of loads tene. Coal is dug up in the N, parts, and a yellowish kind of alum is found in several mountains. ‘The inhabitants are of three sorts; the natives of the country, Tartars, and Ru ians. The former dwell in forests in the winter, and in the summer on the banks of rivers. Their garments are the skins of wild beasts, and their riches consist in bows, arrows, a knife, and a kettle. They all live in wretched huts, which they remove from place to place; and make use of raindeer and dogs to draw their sledges. ‘Those in the southern parts are not much more polite; but they have horses with which they haunt, and their houses, though poor hovels, are not shifted from place to place. Of this cla of people, some have no other religion than that of nature; others are pagans and Mahometans; and some of them have been converted to Christianity by the Ru ian roi ionaries. The 'Tartars who live in this country are the most civilized of any foreign nation in Siberia; and those Tartars who are Mahometans are still more so than the pagan Tartars, of whom there are many different hordes or tribes. ‘The Ru ians settled here are much the same as in their Native country. Siberia is the place to which criminals, as well as persons under the displeasure of the court, are commonly banished from Ru ia. ‘Through: this vast tract the Ru ian caravans travel every year, with their merchandise, to China. ‘The principal rivers are the Oby, Lena, Irtysh, and Yenise1; and there are numerous lakes of fresh water, and some of a saline nature. Siberia was reduced under the dominion of Ru ia about the close of the 10th century: the W. part of it is comprised in the governments of Tobolsk, Ufa, and Kolyvan; the E. part in the government of Irkutsh. 728