the Russian service. The wedding took place on the following day, Saturday, Aug. 9, 1800, after a superb dinner. At the doors they were met by the priest. The General was asked, if he was already related to the lady by any tie of blood; on his answering in the negative, the same question was again put to the intended bride, and was answered in the same way. They were asked then, whether the engagement they were about to form was voluntary on their part; and having answered in the affirmative, were permitted to enter a few paces from the church. A bible and crucifix were then placed before them, and large lighted wax tapers, decorated with ribbons, put in their hands; after certain prayers had been read, and the ring put upon the bride's finger, the floor was covered by a piece of scarlet satin, and a table was placed . before them with the communion vessels. The priest, having tied their hands together with bands of the same colored satin, and placed a chaplet of flowers upon their heads, administered the sacrament; and afterwards led them, thus bound together, three times round the communion-table, followed by the bride's father and the bride-maid. During this ceremony the choristers chanted a hymn; and, after it was concluded, a scene of general kissing took place among all present, and the parties returned to the house of the bride's father; here tea and other refreshments were

served to all who came to congratulate the married couple.

"We remained a month at Akmetchet, before my health was again established; during this time I had an opportunity of seeing so remarkable a ceremony at a Jew's wedding, that a short account of it cannot be unentertaining.

"For two or three days prior to the wedding, all the neighbours and friends of the betrothed couple assembled together, to testify their joy by the most tumultuous rioting, dancing, and feasting. On the day of marriage, the girl, accompanied by the priest and her relations, was led blindfolded to the river Salgir, which flowed at the bottom of a small valley in front of Professor Pallas's house. Here she was undressed by women who were stark naked, and, destitute of any other covering except the handkerchief by which her eyes were concealed, was plunged three times in the river. After this, being again dressed, she was led, blindfolded as before, to the house of her parents, accompanied by all her friends, who were singing, dancing, and performing music before her. In the evening her intended husband was brought to her; but, as long as the feast continued, she remained with her eyes bound."

Sir John Carr gives us the following account of the penance which was imposed on an adultress.

In one of the churches I saw a woman doing

penance for the following crime:-she had not long been married before she polluted the bed of her husband, whom she used to keep in an almost constant state of inebriation. One day, when she was indulging with one of her gallants, the husband, whom she supposed stupified with drink, unexpectedly appeared sober, and, stung with jealousy, he stabbed his rival to the heart. The husband was knouted, and sent to Siberia; the wife was ordered by the priest to prostrate herself six hundred times a day for two years before the virgin."

If a Russian woman should kill her husband while he is chastising her, which they sometimes do from the severities they receive, she is buried in the ground, with her head only uncovered, and in this state she is left to perish; sometimes they remain several days before death relieves them. The females in general are treated with great disrespect, and the only chance they have of being comfortable in the married state is when their parents bind the husband by agreement before marriage not so use any unnecessary correction. Many of the married females lead very dissolute lives, frequently accompanying their husbands in their bacchanalian debaucheries.

The amatory customs of the KAMSCHATDALES are very singular. When a man fixes his affections upon a female, he binds himself to the service of

the parents for a limited time, at the expiration of which, he either obtains their consent to marry her, or a requital for his services upon dismission. If he obtain the consent of the father, they proceed to the nuptial ceremonies, which consist in the bridegroom stripping the bride of her clothes, which are purposely bound so fast with straps, girdles, and other ligaments, as to render it a very difficult task. The bride is assisted against his efforts by the interposition of several women, notwithstanding which he persists in his purpose till her exclamations bring them all upon him, and he is used so roughly that he exhibits several marks of their indignation. At length the bride, moved with pity for his situation, and the women relaxing their fury, the man is called back with a plaintive tone by the bride, who confesses his conquest over her. Here ends the ceremony; and the happy pair, the ensuing day, procced to the habitation of her husband. In the course of a week they pay a visit to the parent of the bride, the relations of both parties are assembled, and the marriage is celebrated with great festivity. Some men marry three wives, who live together in an amicable manner, and are seldom or never jealous. When the women go abroad they veil their faces, and if they meet a man, and cannot get out of the way, they turn their back to him till he has passed by. Though the very attempt to procure abor

tion is esteemed a capital crime in a woman, yet, when twins are born, one of the innocents must be destroyed. Infants, as soon as they can stand, are left to themselves by the mother, suffering them to roll on the ground. The children go nearly naked, and begin to walk at a time when a child in Europe would scarcely stand; soon after they begin to run about in the snow.

To enumerate particulars of the various tribes who occupy Tartary would take up too much of our room. The Kundure Tartars live in felt tents formed like baskets, but the Kalmucks construct theirs in a manner to join or take them to pieces. Among these wandering tribes, each wealthy Tartar family has commonly two tents, one for visitors, and the other for their females, who, when they remove, are placed in covered two-wheel chariots. The dress of the women and girls of the Kalmuks differs in several things from that of the other Nagay tribes. The girls wear a sort of cap made of the rind of trees, in the form of a beehive, ornamented with pieces of tin. Coral and small pieces of coin are appended to this head dress. The gown is of silk, has long narrow sleeves, and adorned from the breast to the waist with buttons, tassels, little bells, and rings. A tin case, containing charms, is worn by a strap over the shoulder. The women are the most inelegantbeings imaginable; and perforate the right nos