The
Country Is Extremely Cold, And The Inhabitants Are Under The Necessity Of
Living For Nine Months Of The Year In Stoves.
They provide during winter
for their living in summer[6].
When the whole country is enveloped in
frost and snow, they use sledges drawn by horses, which are very
convenient and useful for travelling; and are even used in summer on
account of the miry bad roads, which are exceedingly difficult and
unpleasant. The river ordinarily freezes over about the end of October,
when the merchants erect booths on the ice, in which they expose their
wares of all kinds for sale, as in a fair or market; and they here sell
great numbers of cattle and swine, and great quantities of corn, timber,
and all other necessaries of life; every thing being procurable in great
abundance all the winter. About the end of November, they kill all the
cattle, sheep, and other animals that are required for winter provision,
and expose them for sale on the river in a frozen state; and the rigour
of the season preserves these provisions for two or three months, without
any risk of spoiling. Fish, poultry, and all other articles of food, are
kept in the same manner. The horses run with great ease and swiftness on
the ice yet they sometimes fell and break their necks. Both men and women
of this country have very good faces, but their manners are exceedingly
bad.
The Russian church is ruled over by a patriarch, whose election or
appointment is dependent on the grand duke, and who does not acknowledge
subjection to the Roman pontiff; and they hold all sectaries in
abhorrence, as people doomed to perdition. The natives are much addicted
to drunkenness, and he who excels in drinking is much esteemed among them.
They have no wine, as I have said before, instead of which they drink
mead, made of honey and water, which is very pleasant when sufficiently
kept. It is not allowed to every one to make this liquor, for which
purpose a license or permission must be had from the grand duke; for if
every person had liberty to make mead, they would drink perpetually like
so many beasts, and would kill one another. From morning till noon, they
are employed in the market-place, occupied in their various businesses
and employments, after which they adjourn to the taverns, in which they
spend all the rest of the day. Every winter, great numbers of merchants
come to Moscow from Germany and Poland, who purchase furs of all kinds,
which are indeed exceedingly beautiful. Among these furs, are the skins
of foxes, wolves, martins, sables, ermines, and many others, from Scythia
and the alpine regions, many days journey to the north of Moscow. Many of
these are likewise carried for sale to Novogorod[7], a city towards the
frontiers of Germany, eight days journey west from Moscow. The government
of that city is democratic, and only pays a stipulated yearly tribute to
the grand duke.
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