an account of it,
in its connexion with those incidents, fictitious or true, which have
been formed into one of the most simple, beautiful, and touching tales,
that have ever flowed from the imagination or the heart?

From Tobolsk, Mr. Dobell passed rapidly through the surrounding district
of the same name, visited Ecatherineburg, where he admired, so far
beyond the ordinary limits of the arts, works in marble, agate, and
precious stones, which would have done honour to Italian artists; and
arriving at the geographical boundary that divides Siberia from Russia,
closes the narrative of his travels, which we would willingly have seen
continued to the gates of the imperial capital of the north.

"I assure the reader," he says at the close of his truly
interesting account, "that in my humble attempt to describe
what I have seen and experienced, I have been governed by no
partial motives whatever. On the contrary, I have laboured to
represent every object faithfully as it has affected my senses.
I am, however, conscious at the same time, that it requires an
abler pen than mine to delineate adequately the sublime and
majestic works of nature in the regions I have been describing,
and to portray them to the imagination in all their simplicity,
beauty, and grandeur. Siberia does not possess the climate of
Italy, nor the luxurious productions of India; but she
possesses a fertile soil, a climate much better than is
generally believed, and natural resources of the highest value;
and she presents to the traveller such a magnificent picture of
natural objects, as is no where to be equalled except on the
immense continent of America. There is no longer any doubt but
the greater part of her territory is susceptible of high
cultivation, having a strong fertile soil, covered with superb
forests, and intersected by fine rivers, or watered by numerous
lakes, many of which may fairly be called seas.

"The race of men produced there, are uncommonly tall, stout,
and robust; certainly the best looking people I have ever seen,
particularly those of the Western parts. My readers will now, I
am sure, agree with me, that this country, hitherto considered
the _Ultima Thule_, or the _finis mundi_, has been highly
gifted by its Creator, and only wants population and
improvement to render it the most valuable por