fied at their aspect and strength, fled and perished miserably out of doors with the cold. This excess of cold is sometimes equalled by the too great heat, as in A.D. 1525, when nearly everything that had been sown was burnt up by the immoderate heat of the sun; and such a want of provision followed that drought, that what could previously be bought for three dengs, would afterwards cost twenty or thirty. A great many districts, and woods, and corn-fields, were seen burnt up by the excessive heat. The smoke of this so filled the country, that the eyes of those who walked out were severely injured by it; and besides the smoke, a certain darkness supervened, which blinded many.
It is evident from the trunks of large trees which still exist, that the whole country was not long since very woody; but although the husbandmen give care and labour to the cultivation of trees, all except such as grow in the fields are brought hither from the neighbouring provinces. There is abundance of corn and common vegetables, but none of the sweeter kinds of cherries or nuts (except filberts) are found in the whole country. They have indeed the fruits of other trees, but they are insipid. They cultivate melons with particular care and industry. They put earth mixed with manure into beds of a good depth, and set the seed in them, by which plan it is equally protected against immoderate cold or heat; for if the heat should happen to be too great, they prevent it from suffocating the seed by making little spiral chinks in the earth, which has been thus mixed with manure, while in excessively cold weather the warmth of the manure itself affords protection to the buried seed.
There is no honey in the province of Moscow, nor is there any game, except hares. Their cattle are much smaller than ours, but not without horns, as a certain person has written,[1] for I have seen there oxen, cows, goats, and rams, all horned. The city of Moscow has a very eastward position among the
- ↑ This assertion is made by Miechow (Tract. ii, lib. 2).
