There Are Oftentimes There Coines Of Gold, But They Come Out Of Forrein Countreys, Whereof There Is No Ordinarie Valuation, But They Passe According To The Agreement Of Marchants.

Their order in summing of money is this:

As we say in England, halfpenie, penie, shilling, and pound, so say they Poledenga, Denga, Altine and Rubble: there goeth two Poledengas to a Denga, six Dengaes to an Altine, and 23 Altines, and two Dengaes to a Rubble.

Concerning the weights of Russia they are these: There are two sortes of pounds in vse amongst them, the one great, the other small: the great pound is iust two small pounds: they call the great weight by the name of Beasemar, and the smal they call the Skalla weight: with this smal weight they weigh their siluer coines, of the which the Emperor hath commanded to put to euery small pound three Rubbles of siluer, and with the same weight they weigh all Grocerie wares, and almost al other wares which come into the land, except those which they weigh by the Pode, as hops, salt, iron, lead, tinne and batrie with diuers others, notwithstanding they vse to weigh batrie more often by the small weight then by the great.

Whensoever you find the prices of your wares rated by the Pode, consider that to the great weight, and the pound to be the small. Also they divide the small pound into 48 parts, and they call the eight and fortieth part a Slotnike, by the which Slotnike the retailers sell their wares out of their shops, as Goldsmiths, Grocers, Silkesellers, and such other like as we doe vse to retaile by the ounce: and as for their great weight which they cal the Beasemar, they sel by pode or shippond. The pode doth containe of the great weight, 40 pounds, and of the small 80; there goe 10. podes to a shippond.

Yet you must consider that their great weight is not full with ours: for I take not their great pound to be full 13 ounces, but aboue 12 I thinke it be. But for your iust proofe, weigh 6 Rubbles of Russia money with our pound weight, and then shal you see what it lacketh: for 6 Rubbles of Russia is by the Emperors standerd, the great pound: so that I thinke it the next way to know the iust weight, as well of the great pound as of the small.

There is another weight needfull to be knowen, which is the weight of Wardhouse, for so much as they weigh all their drie fish by weight, which weight is the Baesemar, as they of Russia doe vse, notwithstanding there is another sorte in it: the names of those weights are these: the marke pound, the great pound, the weie, and the shippond. The marke pound is to be vnderstood as our pound, and their great pound is 24 of their marke pound: the weie is 3 great pound, and 8 weie is a shippound.

Now concerning their measures. As they haue two sortes of weights, so they haue also two sortes of measures: wherewith they measure cloth both linnen and wollen: they cal the one an Areshine, and the other a Locut: the Areshine I take to bee as much as the Flanders ell, and their Locut halfe an English yard: with their Areshine they may mete all such sorts of clothes as come into the land, and with the Locut all such cloth both linnen and wollen, as they make themselues. And whereas we vse to giue yard and inch, or yard and handfull, they do giue nothing but bare measure.

They haue also measure wherewith they doe mete their corne, which they cal a Setforth, and the halfe of that an Osmine: this Setforth I take to bee three bushels of London measure. And as for their drinke measure, they call it a Spanne, which is much like a bucket, and of that I neuer saw any true rate, but that some was greater then other some. And as for the measures of Wardhouse wherewith they mete their cloth, there is no difference between that and the measure of Danske, which is halfe an English ell.

Concerning the tolles and customs of Russia, it was reported to me in Moscouia, that the Turkes and Armenians pay the tenth penie custome of all the wares they bring into the Emperors land, and aboue that they pay for all such goods as they weigh at the Emperours beame, two pence of the Rubble, which the buyer or seller must make report to the Master of the beame: they also pay a certaine horse toll, which is in diuers places of his Realme four pence of a horse.

The Dutch nation are free of this: notwithstanding for certaine offences, they had lost their priuiledges which they haue recouered this Summer to their great charge. It was reported to me by a Iustice of that countrey, that they paied for it thirtie thousand Rubbles, and also that Rye, Dorpte and Reuel haue yeelded themselues vnder the gouernment of the Emperor of Russia: whether this was a bragge of the Russes or not, I know not, but thus he sayd, and in deed whiles we were there, there came a great Ambassadour out of Liefland, for the assurance of their priuiledges.

To speake somewhat of the commodities of this countrey, it is to be vnderstood, that there is a certaine place foure score miles from the Sea called Colmogro: to which place there resorte all the sortes of Wares that are in the North parts, as Oyles, Salt, Stockefish, Salmon, Fethers and Furres: their Salt they make of saltwater by the sea side: their Oyles they make of Seales, whereof they haue great store which is brought out of the Bay where our shippes came in: they make it in the Spring of the yeere, and bring it to Colmogro to sell, and the marchants there carie it to Nouogrode, and so sell it to the Dutch nation.

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