12

JOURNEY FROM St. PETERSBURG TO TZARITZIN.

and they have laid the foundation of a difeafed and valetudinarylife. On the fame day, being the 22d, we arrived in the vici-nity of Murom; and on the 2$ pafled in fight of that town,and travelled as far as Lomova. The warm fandy foil beingthinly covered with fir-trees, had fcarcely any fnow left; andthe ice of the river Okka, over which we were neceffitated toventure our lives for twelve verfts, to Lipna^ had already becomeextremely unfafe, efpecially in the vicinity of the town, wheremany breaches had been made for wafhing leather, woollen andlinen yarn manufa&ured in that place.

Late in the evening of the 24A of February we reachedArfamas ; after having crofled, with fome danger, the ice onthe river Te/ba. The foil, which had been fandy for feveralmiles, near Lipna at once changed into a black, rieh, arable land,occupying all the plains and downs; both being peculiarlyfavourable to the eultivation of hemp. Innumerable bundlesof that plant were fpread out in the open air, in the vicinityof the villages where, during the winter, it is dried in kilns.

The town of Arfamas appears to have increafed in trade, butit has not been improved in its buildings. The narrow andirregulär ftreets, and the antique Ruffian dwelling-houfes builtof wood, are ftill the fame as I formerly obferved. A few rowsof fale-fhops have lately been ere&ed of ftone, on the market-place, near the caftle. In the ftreet leading from the riverTefha to the market, the eye is engaged with the venerableappearance of an ancient church, the fteeple of which hasalmoft loft its equilibrium towards the ftreet, while, on theoppofite fide, the body of the church appears to have confider-ably funk towards a neighbouring glen.

The