{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_19534/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_19534","id":"gutenberg_19534","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19534","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - Other","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Russia"],"text":"Produced by Robert J. Hall\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: MOSCOW.]\n\n\n\n\nRUSSIA\n\nAs _Seen_ and _Described_ by Famous Writers\n\n\n_Edited and Translated by_\n\nESTHER SINGLETON\n\n_Author of_ \"Turrets, Towers and Temples,\" \"Great Pictures,\" and\n\"A Guide to the Opera,\" and _translator of_ \"The Music Dramas of\nRichard Wagner.\"\n\n\nWITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\nNew York\n\nDodd, Mead and Company\n\n1909\n\n\n\n\n_PREFACE_\n\nThis is intended to be a companion volume to _Japan_, and therefore\nfollows the same general plan and arrangement. It aims to present in\nsmall compass a somewhat comprehensive view of the great Muscovite\npower. After a short description of the country and race, we pass\nto a brief review of the history and religion including ritual and\nceremonial observances of the Greek Church. Next come descriptions\nof regions, cities and architectural marvels; and then follow articles\non the various manners and customs of rural and town life. The\narts of the nation are treated comprehensively; and a chapter of\nthe latest statistics concludes the rapid survey. The material is\nall selected from the writings of those who speak with authority\non the subjects with which they deal.\n\nThe Russian Empire is so vast that it would be impossible to give\ndetailed descriptions of all its parts in a work of this size:\ntherefore I have been forced to be content with more general\ndescriptions of provinces with an occasional addition of a typical\ncity.\n\nE. S.\n\n_New York, April 21, 1904._\n\n\n\n\n_CONTENTS_\n\n\nPART I\n\nTHE COUNTRY AND RACE\n\nThe Russian Empire\n  _Prince Kropotkine._\n\nSiberia\n  _Jean Jacques Elisee Reclus._\n\nThe Russian Races\n  _W. R. Morfill._\n\n\nPART II\n\nHISTORY AND RELIGION\n\nThe History of Russia\n  _W. R. Morfill._\n\nChurch Service\n  _Alfred Maskell._\n\nThe Creeds of Russia\n  _Ernest W. Lowry._\n\n\nPART III\n\nDESCRIPTIONS\n\nSt. Petersburg\n  _J. Beavington Atkinson._\n\nFinland\n  _Harry De Windt._\n\nLapland\n  _Alexander Platonovich Engelhardt._\n\nMoscow (The Kremlin and its treasuries--The Ancient Regalia--The\nRomanoff House)\n  _Alfred Maskell._\n\nVassili-Blagennoi (St. Basil the Blessed)\n  _Theophile Gautier._\n\nPoland\n  _Thomas Michell._\n\nKief, the City of Pilgrimage\n  _J. Beavington Atkinson._\n\nNijni-Novgorod\n  _Antonio Gallenga._\n\nThe Volga Basin. (The Great River--Kasan--Tsaritzin--Astrakhan)\n  _Antonio Gallenga._\n\nOdessa\n  _Antonio Gallenga._\n\nThe Don Cossacks\n  _Thomas Michell._\n\nIn the Caucasus\n  _J. Buchan Teller._\n\nKhiva\n  _Fred Burnaby._\n\nThe Trans-Siberian Railway\n  _William Durban._\n\n\nPART IV\n\nMANNERS AND CUSTOMS\n\nHigh Life in Russia\n  _The Countess of Galloway._\n\nRural Life in Russia\n  _Lady Verney_\n\nFood and Drink\n  _H. Sutherland Edwards._\n\nCarnival-Time and Easter\n  _A. Nicol Simpson._\n\nRussian Tea and Tea-Houses\n  _H. Sutherland Edwards._\n\nHow Russia Amuses Itself\n  _Fred Whishaw._\n\nThe Kirghiz and their Horses\n  _Fred Burnaby._\n\nWinter in Moscow\n  _H. Sutherland Edwards._\n\nA Journey by Sleigh\n  _Fred Burnaby._\n\n\nPART V\n\nART AND LITERATURE\n\nRussian Architecture\n  _Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc._\n\nSculpture and Painting\n  _Philippe Berthelot._\n\nRussian Music\n  _A. E. Keeton._\n\nRussian Literature\n  _W. R. Morfill._\n\n\nPART VI\n\nSTATISTICS\n\nPresent Conditions\n  _E. S._\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n  MOSCOW\n  ARCHANGEL\n  REVEL\n  SIBERIAN NATIVES\n  SAMOJEDES OF NOVA ZEMBLA\n  ROOM OF THE TSAR MICHAILOWITCH, MOSCOW\n  CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION\n  A RELIGIOUS PROCESSION, KOLA\n  SHRINE IN THE CONVENT SOLOVETSKII, KOLA\n  ST. PETERSBURG\n  THE HERMITAGE, ST. PETERSBURG\n  HELSINGFORS, FINLAND\n  REINDEER TRAVELLING\n  MOSCOW\n  THE KREMLIN, MOSCOW\n  VASSILI--BLAGENNOI (ST. BASIL THE BLESSED), MOSCOW\n  NOWO ZJAZD STREET, WARSAW\n  HOTEL DEVILLE, WARSAW\n  THE DNIEPER AT KIEF\n  LA LAVRA, KIEF\n  NIJNI--NOVGOROD (BRIDGE OF THE FAIR)\n  FROM THE RAMPARTS OF THE KREMLIN, NIJNI--NOVGOROD\n  PLACE TUREMNAJA, ODESSA\n  SEBASTOPOL\n  KHARKOFF\n  TIFLIS\n  THE WINTER PALACE, ST. PETERSBURG\n  RUSSIAN FARM SCENE\n  THE TSAR'S DINING-ROOM, MOSCOW\n  ST. ISAAC'S CATHEDRAL, ST. PETERSBURG\n  ST. ANNE RESTAURANT, WIBORG\n  THE RED SQUARE, MOSCOW\n  CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER, MOSCOW\n  STATUE OF PETER THE GREAT AND THE ADMIRALTY PALACE, ST. PETERSBURG\n  THE THEATRE, ODESSA\n  THE LIBRARY, ODESSA\n  THE TSAR NICHOLAS\n  THE TSARINA\n  KALKSTRASSE AND PROMENADE, RIGA\n\n\n\n\n_THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE_\n\n_PRINCE KROPOTKINE_\n\nThe Russian Empire is a very extensive territory in eastern Europe\nand northern Asia, with an area exceeding 8,500,000 square miles,\nor one-sixth of the land surface of the globe (one twenty-third\nof its whole superficies). It is, however, but thinly peopled on\nthe average, including only one-fourteenth of the inhabitants of\nthe earth. It is almost entirely confined to the cold and temperate\nzones. In Nova Zembla (Novaya Zemlya) and the Taimir peninsula, it\nprojects within the Arctic Circle as far as 77 deg. 2' and 77 deg. 40' N.\nlatitude; while its southern extremities reach 38 deg. 50' in Armenia,\nabout 35 deg. on the Afghan frontier, and 42 deg. 30' on the coasts of the\nPacific. To the West it advances as far as 20 deg. 40' E. longitude\nin Lapland, 18 deg. 32' in Poland, and 29 deg. 42' on the Black Sea; and\nits eastern limit--East Cape in the Bering Strait--extends to 191 deg.\nE. longitude.\n\nThe Arctic Ocean--comprising the White, Barents, and Kara Seas--and\nthe northern Pacific, that is the Seas of Bering, Okhotsk, and\nJapan, bound it on the north and east. The Baltic, with its two\ndeep indentations, the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland, limits it\non the north-west; and two sinuous lines of frontier separate it\nrespectively from Sweden and Norway on the north-west, and from\nPrussia, Austria and Roumania on the west. The southern frontier is\nstill unsettled. In Asia beyond the Caspian, the southern boundary\nof the empire remains vague; the advance into the Turcoman Steppes\nand Afghan Turkestan, and on the Pamir plateau is still in progress.\nBokhara and Khiva, though represented as vassal khanates, are in\nreality mere dependencies of Russia. An approximately settled\nfrontier-line begins only farther east, where the Russian and Chinese\nempires meet on the borders of eastern Turkestan, Mongolia and\nManchuria.\n\nRussia has no oceanic possessions, and has abandoned those she\nowned in the last century; her islands are mere appendages of the\nmainland to which they belong. Such are the Aland archipelago,\nHochland, Tuetters, Dagoe and Osel in the Baltic Sea; Nova Zembla,\nwith Kolgueff and Vaigatch, in the Barents Sea; the Solovetsky\nIslands in the White Sea; the New Siberian archipelago and the\nsmall group of the Medvyezhii Islands off the Siberian coast; the\nCommandor Islands off Kamchatka; the Shantar Islands and Saghalin\nin the Sea of Okhotsk. The Aleutian archipelago was sold to the\nUnited States in 1867, together with Alaska, and in 1874 the Kurile\nIslands were ceded to Japan.\n\n[ILLUSTRATION: ARCHANGEL.]\n\nA vast variety of physical features is obviously to be expected in\na territory like this, which comprises on the one side the cotton\nand silk regions of Turkestan and Trans-caucasia, and on the other\nthe moss and lichen-clothed Arctic _tundras_ and the Verkhoyansk\nSiberian pole of cold--the dry Transcaspian deserts and the regions\nwatered by the monsoons on the coasts of the Sea of Japan. Still,\nif the border regions, that is, two narrow belts in the north and\nsouth, be left out of account, a striking uniformity of physical\nfeature prevails. High plateaus, like those of Pamir (the \"Roof\nof the World\") or of Armenia, and high mountain chains like the\nsnow-clad summits of the Caucasus, the Alay, the Thian-Shan, the\nSayan, are met with only on the outskirts of the empire.\n\nViewed broadly by the physical geographer, it appears as occupying\nthe territories to the north-west of that great plateau-belt of the\nold continent--the backbone of Asia--which spreads with decreasing\nheight and width from the high table-land of Tibet and Pamir to the\nlower plateaus of Mongolia, and thence north-eastwards through the\nVitim region to the furthest extremity of Asia. It may be said to\nconsist of the immense plains and flat-lands which extend between\nthe plateau-belt and the Arctic Ocean, including all the series of\nparallel chains and hilly spurs which skirt the plateau-belt on\nthe north-west. It extends over the plateau itself, and crosses\nit beyond Lake Baikal only.\n\nA broad belt of hilly tracts--in every respect Alpine in character,\nand displaying the same variety of climate and organic life as\nAlpine tracts usually do--skirts the plateau-belt throughout its\nlength on the north and north-west, forming an intermediate region\nbetween the plateaus and the plains. The Caucasus, the Elburz, the\nKopetdagh, and Paropamisus, the intricate and imperfectly known\nnetwork of mountains west of the Pamir, the Thian-Shan and Ala-tau\nmountain regions, and farther north-east the Altai, the still unnamed\ncomplex of Minusinsk mountains, the intricate mountain-chains of\nSayan, with those of the Olekma, Vitim, and Aldan, all of which\nare ranged _en echelon_,--the former from north-west to south-east,\nand the others from south-west to north-east--all these belong\nto one immense Alpine belt bordering that of the plateaus. These\nhave long been known to Russian colonists, who, seeking to escape\nreligious persecutions and exactions by the state, early penetrated\ninto and rapidly pushed their small settlements up the better valleys\nof these tracts, and continued to spread everywhere as long as\nthey found no obstacles in the shape of a former population or in\nunfavourable climatic conditions.\n\nAs for the flat-lands which extend from the Alpine hill-foots to\nthe shores of the Arctic Ocean, and assume the character either of\ndry deserts in the Aral-Caspian depression, or of low table-lands\nin central Russia and eastern Siberia, of lake-regions in north-west\nRussia and Finland, or of marshy prairies in western Siberia, and of\n_tundras_ in the north,--their monotonous surfaces are diversified\nby only a few, and these for the most part low, hilly tracts.\n\nAs to the picturesque Bureya mountains on the Amur, the forest-clothed\nSikhota-alin on the Pacific, and the volcanic chains of Kamchatka,\nthey belong to quite another orographical world; they are the\nborder-ridges of the terraces by which the great plateau-belt descends\nto the depths of the Pacific Ocean. It is owing to these leading\norographical features--divined by Carl Ritter, but only within\nthe present day revealed by geographical research--that so many\nof the great rivers of the old continent are comprised within the\nlimits of the Russian empire. Taking rise on the plateau-belt, or\nin its Alpine outskirts, they flow first, like the upper Rhone\nand Rhine, along high longitudinal valleys formerly filled up with\ngreat lakes; next they find their way through the rocky walls;\nand finally they enter the lowlands, where they become navigable,\nand, describing great curves to avoid here and there the minor\nplateaus and hilly tracts, they bring into water-communication\nwith one another places thousands of miles apart. The double\nriver-systems of the Volga and Kama, the Obi and Irtish, the Angara\nand Yenisei, the Lena and Vitim on the Arctic slope, the Amur and\nSungari on the Pacific slope, are instances. They were the true\nchannels of Russian colonization.\n\nA broad depression--the Aral-Caspian desert--has arisen where the\nplateau-belt has reached its greatest height and suddenly changes\nits direction from a north-western into a north-eastern one; this\ndesert is now filled only to a small extent by the salt waters of\nthe Caspian, Aral and Balkash inland seas; but it bears unmistakable\ntraces of having been during Post-Pliocene times an immense inland\nbasin. There the Volga, the Ural, the Sir Daria, and the Oxus discharge\ntheir waters without reaching the ocean, but continue to bring\nlife to the rapidly drying Transcaspian Steppes, or connect by\ntheir river network, as the Volga does, the most remote parts of\nEuropean Russia.\n\nThe above-described features of the physical geography of the empire\nexplain the relative uniformity of this wide territory, in conjunction\nwith the variety of physical features on the outskirts. They explain\nalso the rapidity of the expansion of Sclavonic colonization over\nthese thinly-peopled regions; and they also throw light upon the\ninternal cohesion of the empire, which cannot fail to strike the\ntraveller as he crosses this immense territory, and finds everywhere\nthe same dominating race, the same features of life. In fact, as\ntheir advance from the basins of the Volkhoff and Dnieper to the foot\nof the Altai and Sayan mountains, that is, along nearly a quarter\nof the earth's circumference, the Russian colonizers could always\nfind the same physical conditions, the same forest and prairies as\nthey had left at home, the same facilities for agriculture, only\nmodified somewhat by minor topographical features. New conditions of\nclimate and soil, and consequently new cultures and civilizations,\nthe Russians met with, in their expansion towards the south and\neast, only beyond the Caucasus in the Aral-Caspian region, and\nin the basin of the Usuri on the Pacific coast. Favoured by these\nconditions, the Russians not only conquered northern Asia--they\ncolonized it.\n\nThe Russian Empire falls into two great subdivisions, the European\nand the Asiatic, the latter of which, representing an aggregate of\nnearly 6,500,000 square miles, with a population of only sixteen\nmillion inhabitants may be considered as held by colonies. The\nEuropean dominions comprise European Russia, Finland, which is, in\nfact, a separate nationality treated to some extent as an allied\nstate, and Poland, whose very name has been erased from official\ndocuments, but which nevertheless continues to pursue its own\ndevelopment. The Asiatic dominions comprise the following great\nsubdivisions:--Caucasia, under a separate governor-general; the\nTranscaspian region, which is under the governor-general of Caucasus;\nthe Kirghiz Steppes; Turkestan under separate governors-general,\nWestern Siberia and Eastern Siberia; and the Amur region, which\nlast comprises also the Pacific coast region and Kamchatka.\n\n_Climate of Russia in Europe_.--Notwithstanding the fact that Russia\nextends from north to south through twenty-six degrees of latitude,\nthe climate of its different portions, apart from the Crimea and the\nCaucasus, presents a striking uniformity. The aerial currents--cyclones,\nanti-cyclones and dry south-east winds--extend over wide surfaces\nand cross the flat plains freely. Everywhere we find a cold winter\nand a hot summer, both varying in their duration, but differing\nlittle in the extremes of temperature recorded.\n\nThroughout Russia the winter is of long continuance. The last days\nof frost are experienced for the most part in April, but also in\nMay to the north of fifty-five degrees. The spring is exceptionally\nbeautiful in central Russia; late as it usually is, it sets in with\nvigour and develops with a rapidity which gives to this season in\nRussia a special charm, unknown in warmer climates; and the rapid\nmelting of snow at the same time raises the rivers, and renders\na great many minor streams navigable for a few weeks. But a return\nof cold weather, injurious to vegetation, is observed throughout\ncentral and eastern Russia between May 18 and 24, so that it is only\nin June that warm weather sets in definitely, reaching its maximum\nin the first half of July (or of August on the Black Sea coast). The\nsummer is much warmer than might be supposed; in south-eastern\nRussia it is much warmer than in the corresponding latitudes of\nFrance, and really hot weather is experienced everywhere. It does\nnot, however, prevail for long, and in the first half of September\nthe first frosts begin to be experienced on the middle Urals; they\nreach western and southern Russia in the first days of October,\nand are felt on the Caucasus about the middle of November. The\ntemperature descends so rapidly that a month later, about October 10\non the middle Urals and November 15 throughout Russia the thermometer\nceases to rise above the freezing-point. The rivers rapidly freeze;\ntowards November 20 all the streams of the White Sea basin are\ncovered with ice, and so remain for an average of 167 days; those\nof the Baltic, Black Sea, and Caspian basins freeze later, but\nabout December 20 nearly all the rivers of the country are highways\nfor sledges. The Volga remains frozen for a period varying between\n150 days in the north and 90 days at Astrakhan, the Don for 100\nto 110 days, and the Dneiper for 83 to 122 days. On the Dwina ice\nprevents navigation for 125 days and even the Vistula at Warsaw\nremains frozen for 77 days. The lowest temperatures are experienced\nin January, in which month the average is as low as 20 deg. to 5 deg. Fahr.\nthroughout Russia; in the west only does it rise above 22 deg..\n\n_The flora and fauna of Russia_.--The flora of Russia, which represents\nan intermediate link between those of Germany and Siberia, is strikingly\nuniform over a very large area. Though not poor at any given place,\nit appears so if the space occupied by Russia be taken into account,\nonly 3,300 species of phanerogams and ferns being known. Four great\nregions may be distinguished:--the Arctic, the Forest, the Steppe,\nand the Circum-Mediterranean.\n\nThe _Arctic Region_ comprises the _tundras_ of the Arctic littoral\nbeyond the northern limit of forests, which last closely follows\nthe coast-line with bends towards the north in the river valleys\n(70 deg. N. lat. in Finland, on the Arctic Circle about Archangel, 68 deg.\nN. on the Urals, 71 deg. on West Siberia). The shortness of summer,\nthe deficiency of drainage and the thickness of the layer of soil\nwhich is frozen through in winter are the elements which go to\nthe making of the characteristic features of the _tundras_. Their\nflora is far nearer those of northern Siberia and North America\nthan that of central Europe. Mosses and lichens cover them, as\nalso the birch, the dwarf willow, and a variety of shrubs; but\nwhere the soil is drier, and humus has been able to accumulate, a\nvariety of herbaceous flowering plants, some of which are familiar\nalso in western Europe, make their appearance.\n\nThe _Forest Region_ of the Russian botanists occupies the greater\npart of the country, from the Arctic _tundras_ to the Steppes, and\nit maintains over this immense surface a remarkable uniformity\nof character. Viewed as a whole, the flora of the forest region\nmust be regarded as European-Siberian; and though certain species\ndisappear towards the east, while new ones make their appearance,\nit maintains, on the whole, the same characters throughout from\nPoland to Kamchatka. Thus the beech, a characteristic tree of western\nEurope, is unable to face the continental climate of Russia, and\ndoes not penetrate beyond Poland and the south-western provinces,\nreappearing again in the Crimea. The silver fir does not extend\nover Russia, and the oak does not cross the Urals. On the other\nhand, several Asiatic species (Siberian pine, larch, cedar) grow\nfreely in the north-east, while several shrubs and herbaceous plants,\noriginally from the Asiatic Steppes, have spread into the south-east.\nBut all these do not greatly alter the general character of the\nvegetation.\n\nThe _Region of the Steppes_, which covers all Southern Russia,\nmay be subdivided into two zones--an intermediate zone and that\nof the Steppes proper. The Ante-Steppe of the preceding region and\nthe intermediate zone of the Steppes include those tracts where\nthe West-European climate struggles with the Asiatic, and where a\nstruggle is being carried on between the forest and the Steppe.\n\nThe Steppes proper are very fertile elevated plains, slightly undulated,\nand intersected by numerous ravines which are dry in summer. The\nundulations are scarcely apparent to the eye as it takes in a wide\nprospect under a blazing sun and with a deep-blue sky overhead.\nNot a tree is to be seen, the few woods and thickets being hidden\nin the depressions and deep valleys of the rivers. On the thick\nsheet of black earth by which the Steppe is covered a luxuriant\nvegetation develops in spring; after the old grass has been burned\na bright green covers immense stretches, but this rapidly disappears\nunder the burning rays of the sun and the hot easterly winds. The\ncolouring of the Steppe changes as if by magic, and only the silvery\nplumes of the _kovyl_ (_Stipa pennata_) wave under the wind, giving\nthe Steppe the aspect of a bright, yellow sea. For days together the\ntraveller sees no other vegetation; even this, however, disappears\nas he nears the regions recently left dry from the Caspian, where\nsalted clays covered with a few _Salsolaceoe_, or mere sands, take\nthe place of the black earth. Here begins the Aral-Caspian desert.\nThe Steppe, however, is not so devoid of trees as at first sight\nappears. Innumerable clusters of wild cherries, wild apricots, and\nother deep-rooted shrubs grow in the depressions of the surface,\nand on the slopes of the ravines, giving the Steppe that charm which\nmanifests itself in popular poetry. Unfortunately, the spread of\ncultivation is fatal to these oases (they are often called \"islands\"\nby the inhabitants); the axe and the plough ruthlessly destroy\nthem. The vegetation of the _poimy_ and _zaimischas_ in the marshy\nbottoms of the ravines, and in the valleys of streams and rivers,\nis totally different. The moist soil gives free development to\nthickets of various willows, bordered with dense walls of worm-wood\nand needle-bearing _Composita_, and interspersed with rich but\nnot extensive prairies harbouring a great variety of herbaceous\nplants; while in the deltas of the Black Sea rivers impenetrable\nmasses of rush shelter a forest fauna. But cultivation rapidly\nchanges the physiognomy of the Steppe. The prairies are superseded\nby wheat-fields, and flocks of sheep destroy the true steppe-grass\n(_Stipa-pennata_), which retires farther east.\n\nThe _Circum-Mediterranean Region_ is represented by a narrow strip\nof land on the south coast of the Crimea, where a climate similar\nto that of the Mediterranean coast has permitted the development\nof a flora closely resembling that of the valley of the Arno.\n\n[Illustration: REVEL]\n\nThe fauna of European Russia does not very materially differ from\nthat of western Europe. In the forests not many animals which have\ndisappeared from western Europe have held their ground; while in\nthe Urals only a few--now Siberian, but formerly also European--are\nmet with. On the whole, Russia belongs to the same zoo-geographical\nregion as central Europe and northern Asia, the same fauna extending\nin Siberia as far as the Yenisei and Lena. In south-eastern Russia,\nhowever, towards the Caspian, we find a notable admixture of Asiatic\nspecies, the deserts of that part of Russia belonging in reality\nrather to the Aral-Caspian depression than to Europe.\n\nFor the zoo-geographer only three separate sub-regions appear on the\nEast-European plains--the _tundras_, including the Arctic islands,\nthe forest region, especially the coniferous part of it, and the\nAnte-Steppe and Steppes of the black-earth region. The Ural mountains\nmight be distinguished as a fourth sub-region, while the south-coast\nof the Crimea and Caucasus, as well as the Caspian deserts, have\ntheir own individuality.\n\nAs for the adjoining seas, the fauna of the Arctic Ocean off the\nNorwegian coast corresponds, in its western parts at least, to that\nof the North Atlantic Gulf Stream. The White Sea and the Arctic\nOcean to the east of Svyatoi Nos belong to a separate zoological\nregion connected with, and hardly separable from, that part of\nthe Arctic Ocean which extends along the Siberian coast as far as\nto about the Lena. The Black Sea, of which the fauna was formerly\nlittle known but now appears to be very rich, belongs to the\nMediterranean region, slightly modified, while the Caspian partakes\nof the characteristic fauna inhabiting the lakes and seas of the\nAral-Caspian depression.\n\nIn the region of the _tundras_ life has to contend with such\nunfavourable conditions that it cannot be abundant. Still the reindeer\nfrequents it for its lichens, and on the drier slopes of the moraine\ndeposits four species of lemming, hunted by the _Canis lagopus_,\nfind quarters. Two species of the white partridge, the lark, one\n_Plectrophanes_, two or three species of _Sylvia_, one _Phylloscopus_,\nand the _Motacilla_ must be added. Numberless aquatic birds, however,\nvisit it for breeding purposes. Ducks, divers, geese, gulls, all the\nRussian species of snipes and sandpipers, etc., cover the marshes\nof the _tundras_, or the crags of the Lapland coast.\n\nThe forest region, and especially its coniferous portion, though\nit has lost some of its representatives within historic times, is\nstill rich. The reindeer, rapidly disappearing, is now met with only\nin Olonetz and Vologda; the _Cervus pygargus_ is found everywhere, and\nreaches Novgorod. The weasel, the fox and the hare are exceedingly\ncommon, as also the wolf and the bear in the north; but the glutton,\nthe lynx, and even the elk are rapidly disappearing. The wild boar\nis confined to the basin of the Dwina, and the _Bison eropea_ to\nthe Bielovyezha forests. The sable has quite disappeared, being\nfound only on the Urals; the beaver is found at a few places in\nMinsk, and the otter is very rare. On the other hand, the hare and\nalso the grey partridge, the hedgehog, the quail, the lark, the\nrook, and the stork find their way into the coniferous region as\nthe forests are cleared. The avifauna is very rich; it includes all\nthe forest and garden birds which are known in western Europe, as\nwell as a very great variety of aquatic birds. Hunting and shooting\ngive occupation to a great number of persons. The reptiles are\nfew. As for fishes, all those of western Europe, except the carp,\nare met with in the lakes and rivers in immense quantities, the\ncharacteristic feature of the region being its wealth in _Coregoni_\nand in _Salmonidoe_ generally.\n\nIn the Ante-Steppe the forest species proper, such as _Pteromys\nvolans_ and _Tamias striatus_, disappear, but the common squirrel,\nthe weasel, and the bear are still met with in the forests. The\nhare is increasing rapidly, as well as the fox. The avifauna, of\ncourse, becomes poorer; nevertheless the woods of the Steppe, and\nstill more the forests of the Ante-Steppe, give refuge to many\nbirds, even to the hazel-hen, the woodcock and the black-grouse.\nThe fauna of the thickets at the bottom of the river-valleys is\ndecidedly, rich and includes aquatic birds. The destruction of\nthe forests and the advance of wheat into the prairies are rapidly\nimpoverishing the Steppe fauna. The various species of rapacious\nanimals are disappearing, together with the colonies of marmots; the\ninsectivores are also becoming scarce in consequence of the destruction\nof insects, while vermin, such as the suslik (_Spermophilus_),\nbecome a real plague, as also the destructive insects which have\nbeen a scourge to agriculture during recent years. The absence of\n_Coregoni_ is a characteristic feature of the fish-fauna of the\nSteppes; the carp, on the contrary, reappears, and the rivers are\nrich in sturgeons. On the Volga below Nijni Novgorod the sturgeon,\nand others of the same family, as also a very great variety of\nganoids and _Teleostei_, appear in such quantities that they give\noccupation to nearly 100,000 people. The mouths of the Caspian\nrivers are especially celebrated for their wealth of fish.\n\n\n\n\n_SIBERIA_\n\n_JEAN JACQUES ELISEE RECLUS_\n\nSiberia is emphatically the \"Land of the North.\" Its name has by\nsome etymologists been identified with \"Severia,\" a term formerly\napplied to various northern regions of European Russia. The city\nof Sibir, which has given its name to the whole of North Asia,\nwas so called only by the Russians, its native name being Isker.\nThe Cossacks, coming from the south and centre of Russia, may have\nnaturally regarded as pre-eminently the \"Northern Land\" those cold\nregions of the Ob basin lying beyond the snowy mountains which\nform the \"girdle of the world.\"\n\nLong before the conquest of Sibir by the Cossacks, this region was\nknown to the Arab traders and missionaries. The Tatars of Sibir were\nMahommedans and this town was the centre of the great fur trade. The\nRussians themselves had constant relations with the inhabitants of\nthe Asiatic slopes of the Urals, and the Novgorodians were acquainted\nwith the regions stretching \"beyond the portages.\" Early in the\nSixteenth Century the Moscow Tsars, heirs of the Novgorod power,\ncalled themselves lords of Obdoria and Kondina; that is of all the\nLower Ob basin between the Konda and the Irtish confluence, and the\nstation of Obdorsk, under the Arctic Circle. Their possessions--that\nis, the hunting grounds visited by the Russian agents of the Strogonov\nfamily--consequently skirted the great river for a distance of 600\nmiles. But the Slav power was destined soon to be consolidated\nby conquest, and such is the respect inspired by force that the\nsuccessful expedition of a Cossack brigand, on whose head a price\nhad been set, was supposed to have led to the discovery of Siberia,\nalthough really preceded by many visits of a peaceful character.\nEven still the conquering Yermak is often regarded as a sort of\nexplorer of the lands beyond the Urals. But he merely establishes\nhimself as a master where the Strogonov traders had been received\nas guests. Maps of the Ob and of the Ostiak country had already\nbeen published by Sebastian Munster and by Herberstein a generation\nbefore the Cossacks entered Sibir. The very name of this town is\nmarked on Munster's map.\n\nIn 1579, Yermak began the second plundering expedition, which in\ntwo years resulted in the capture of the Tatar kingdom. When the\nconquerors entered Sibir they had been reduced from over 800 to\nabout 400 men. But this handful represented the power of the Tsars\nand Yermak could sue for pardon, with the offer of a kingdom as\nhis ransom. Before the close of the Sixteenth Century the land had\nbeen finally subdued. Sibir itself, which stood on a high bluff on\nthe right bank of the Irtish, exists no more, having probably been\nswept away by the erosions of the stream. But ten miles farther down\nanother capital, Tobolsk, arose, also on the right bank, and the\nwhole of the north was gradually added to the Tsar's dominions. The\nfur trappers, more even than the soldiers, were the real conquerors\nof Siberia. Nevertheless, many battles had to be fought down to\nthe middle of the Seventeenth Century. The Buriats of the Angora\nbasin, the Koriaks, and other tribes long held out; but most of\nthe land was peacefully acquired, and permanently secured by the\nforts erected by the Cossacks at the junction of the rivers, at\nthe entrance of the mountain passes, and other strategic points.\nHistory records no other instance of such a vast dominion so rapidly\nacquired, and with such slender means, by a handful of men acting\nmostly on their own impulse, without chiefs or instructions from\nthe centre of authority.\n\nEven China allowed the Cossacks to settle on the banks of the Amur,\nthough the treaty of Nerchinsk required the Russians to withdraw\nfrom that basin in 1689. But during the present century they have\nbeen again attracted to this region, and the Government of St.\nPetersburg is now fully alive to the advantages of a free access\nby a large navigable stream to the Pacific seaboard. Hence, in\n1851, Muraviov established the factory of Nikolaievsk, near the\nmouth of the Amur, and those of Mariinsk and Alexandrovsk at either\nend of the portage connecting that river with the Bay of Castries.\nDuring the Crimean war its left bank was definitely secured by a\nline of fortified posts, and in 1859 a ukase confirmed the possession\nof a territory torn from China in time of peace. Lastly, in 1860,\nwhile the Anglo-French forces were entering Pekin, Russia obtained\nwithout a blow the cession of the region south of the Amur and east\nof the Ussuri, stretching along the coast to the Corean frontier.\n\nAnd thus was completed the reduction of the whole of North Asia,\na territory of itself alone far more extensive than the European\ncontinent. In other respects there is, of course, no point of comparison\nbetween these two regions. This Siberian world, where vast wildernesses\nstill remain to be explored, has a foreign trade surpassed by that\nof many a third-rate European seaport, such as Dover or Boulogne.\nEmbracing a thirteenth part of the dry land on the surface of the\nglobe, its population falls short of that of London alone; it is\neven more sparsely peopled than Caucasia and Turkestan, having\nlittle over one inhabitant to 1,000 acres.\n\nAccurate surveys of the physical features and frontier-lines are\nstill far from complete. Only quite recently the first circumnavigation\nof the Old World round the northern shores of Siberia has been\naccomplished by the Swedish explorer, Nordenskjoeld. The early attempts\nmade by Willoughby, Chancellor, and Burrough failed even to reach\nthe Siberian coast. Hoping later on to reach China by ascending\nthe Ob to the imaginary Lake Kitai--that is, Kathay, or China--the\nEnglish renewed their efforts to discover the \"north-east passage,\"\nand in 1580 two vessels, commanded by Arthur Ket and Charles Jackman,\nsailed for the Arctic Ocean; but they never got beyond the Kara\nSea. The Dutch succeeded no better, none of the voyages undertaken\nby Barents and others between 1594 and 1597 reaching farther than\nthe Spitzbergen and Novaya Zembla waters. Nor were these limits\nexceeded by Hendrick Hudson in 1608. This was the last attempt\nmade by the navigators of West Europe; but the Russian traders\nand fishers of the White Sea were familiar with the routes to the\nOb and Yenisei Gulfs, as is evident from a map published in 1600\nby Boris Godunov. However, sixteen years afterwards the navigation\nof these waters was interdicted under pain of death, lest foreigners\nshould discover the way to the Siberian coast.\n\n[Illustration: SIBERIAN NATIVES.]\n\nThe exploration of this seaboard had thus to be prosecuted in Siberia\nitself by means of vessels built for the river navigation. In 1648,\nthe Cossack Dejnev sailed with a flotilla of small craft from the\nKolima round the north-east extremity of Asia, passing long before\nthe birth of Bering through the strait which now bears the name\nof that navigator. Stadukhin also explored these eastern seas in\nsearch of the islands full of fossil ivory, of which he had heard\nfrom the natives. In 1735, Pronchishchev and Lasinius embarked\nat Yakutsk and sailed down the Lena, exploring its delta and\nneighbouring coasts. Pronchishchev reached a point east of the\nTaimir peninsula, but failed to double the headlands between the\nLena and the Yenisei estuaries. The expedition begun by Laptiev in\n1739, after suffering shipwreck, was continued overland, resulting\nin the exploration of the Taimir peninsula and the discovery of the\nNorth Cape of the Old World, Pliny's Tabin, and the Cheluskin of\nmodern maps, so named from the pilot who accompanied Pronchishchev\nand Laptiev. The western seaboard between the Yenisei and Ob estuaries\nhad already been surveyed by Ovtzin and Minin in 1737-9.\n\nBut the problem was already being attacked from the side of the\nPacific Ocean. In 1728, the Danish navigator, Bering, in the service\nof Russia, crossed Siberia overland to the Pacific, whence he sailed\nthrough the strait now named from him, and by him first revealed\nto the West, though known to the Siberian Cossacks eighty years\npreviously. Even Bering himself, hugging the Asiatic coast, had\nnot descried the opposite shores of America, and was uncertain as\nto the exact position of the strait. This point was not cleared\nup till Cook's voyage of 1778, and even after that the Sakhalin,\nYezo and Kurile waters still remained to be explored. The shores\nof the mainland and islands were first traced by La Perouse, who\ndetermined the insular character of Sakhalin, and ascertained the\nexistence of a strait connecting the Japanese Sea with that of\nOkhotsk. This completed the general survey of the whole Siberian\nseaboard.\n\nThe scientific exploration of the interior began in the Eighteenth\nCentury with Messerschmidt, followed by Gmelin, Mueller, and Delisle\nde la Croyere, who determined many important physical points between\nthe years 1733 and 1742. The region stretching beyond Lake Baikal was\nexplored by Pallas and his associates in 1770-3. The expeditions,\ninterrupted by the great wars following on the French Revolution,\nwere resumed in 1828 by the Norwegian Hansteen, whose memorable\nexpedition in company with Erman had such important results for\nthe study of terrestrial magnetism. While Hansteen and Erman were\nstill prosecuting their labours in every branch of natural science,\nAlexander von Humboldt, Ehrenberg, and Gustav Rose made a short\nvisit to Siberia, which, however, remained one of the most important\nin the history of science. Middendorff's journeys to North and\nEast Siberia had also some very valuable results, and were soon\nfollowed, in 1854, by the \"expedition to Siberia\" undertaken by\nSchwartz, Schmidt, Glehn, Usoltzev, and associates, extending over\nthe whole region of the Trans-baikal to the Lena and northern\ntributaries of the Amur. Thus began the uninterrupted series of\nmodern journeys, which are now being systematically continued in\nevery part of Siberia, and which promise soon to leave no blanks\non the chart of that region.\n\nThe work of geographical discovery, properly so called, may be said\nto have been brought to a close by Nordenskjoeld's recent determination\nof the north-east passage, vainly attempted by Willoughby, Barents,\nand so many other illustrious navigators.\n\nSuch a vast region as Siberia, affected in the west by Atlantic,\nin the east by Pacific influences, and stretching north and south\nacross 29 deg. of latitude, must obviously present great diversities\nof climate. Even this bleak land has its temperate zones, which the\nSlav colonists are fond of calling their \"Italies.\" Nevertheless\nas compared with Europe, Siberia may, on the whole, be regarded as\na country of extreme temperatures--relatively great heats, and,\nabove all, intense colds. The very term \"Siberian\" has justly become\nsynonymous with a land of winds, frosts, and snows. The mean annual\ntemperature in this region comprised between the rivers Anabara\nand Indigirka is 20 deg. Fahr. below freezing point. The pole of cold,\noscillating diversely with the force of the lateral pressure from\nYakutsk to the Lena estuary, is the meteorological centre round\nwhich the atmosphere revolves. Here are to a large extent prepared\nthe elements of the climate of West Europe.\n\nTravellers speak of the Siberian winters with mingled feelings of\nterror and rapture. An infinite silence broods over the land--all\nis buried in deep sleep. The animals hibernate in their dens, the\nstreams have ceased to flow, disappearing beneath the ice and snow;\nthe earth, of a dazzling whiteness in the centre of the landscape,\nbut grey in the distance, nowhere offers a single object to arrest\nthe gaze. The monotony of endless space is broken by no abrupt\nlines or vivid tints. The only contrast with the dull expanse of\nland is the everlasting azure sky, along which the sun creeps at a\nfew degrees only above the horizon. In these intensely cold latitudes\nit rises and sets with hard outlines, unsoftened by the ruddy haze\nelsewhere encircling it on the edge of the horizon. Yet such is the\nstrength of its rays that the snow melts on the housetop exposed\nto its glare, while in the shade the temperature is 40 deg. to 50 deg.\nbelow freezing point. At night, when the firmament is not aglow\nwith the many-tinted lights and silent coruscations of the aurora\nborealis, the zodiacal light and the stars still shine with intense\nbrightness.\n\nTo this severe winter, which fissures the surface and rends the\nrocks of the rivers into regular basalt-like columns, there succeeds\na sudden and delightful spring. So instantaneous is the change that\nnature seems as if taken by surprise and rudely awakened. The delicate\ngreen of the opening leaf, the fragrance of the budding flowers,\nthe intoxicating balm of the atmosphere, the radiant brightness of\nthe heavens, all combine to impart to mere existence a voluptuous\ngladness. To Siberians visiting the temperate climes of Western\nEurope, spring seems to be unknown beyond their lands. But these\nfirst days of new life are followed by a chill, gusty and changeful\ninterval, arising from the atmospheric disturbances caused by the\nthawing of the vast snowy wastes. A relapse is then experienced\nanalogous to that too often produced in England by late east winds.\nThe apple blossom is now nipped by the night frosts falling in the\nlatter part of May. Hence no apples can be had in East Siberia,\nalthough the summer heats are otherwise amply sufficient for the\nripening of fruit. After the fleeting summer, winter weather again\nsets in. It will often freeze at night in the middle of July; and\nafter the 10th of August the sear leaf begins to fall, and in a\nfew days all are gone, except perhaps the foliage of the larch.\nThe snow will even sometimes settle early in August on the still\nleafy branches, bending and breaking them with its weight. Below\nthe surface of the ground, winter reigns uninterrupted even by\nthe hottest summers.\n\nWith its vast extent and varied climate, Siberia naturally embraces\nseveral vegetable zones, differing more from each other even than\nthose of Europe. The southern Steppes have a characteristic and\nwell-marked flora, forming a continuation of that of the Aral,\nCaspian and Volga plains. The treeless northern _tundras_ also\nconstitute a vegetable domain as sharply defined as the desert\nitself, while between these two zones of Steppe and _tundra_ the\nforest region of Europe stretches, with many subdivisions, west\nand east right across the continent. Of these subdivisions the\nchief are those of the Ob, Yenisei, Lena, and Amur basins.\n\nBeyond the northern _tundras_ and southern Steppes by far the greatest\nspace is occupied by the forest zone. From the Urals to Kamchatka\nthe dense _taiga_, or woodlands are interrupted only by the streams,\na few natural glades and some tracts under cultivation. The term\n_taiga_ is used in a general way for all lands under timber, but\neast of the Altai it is applied more especially to the moist and\nspongy region overgrown with tangled roots and thickets, where the\n_mari_, or peat bogs, and marshes alternate with the _padi_, or\nnarrow ravines. The miners call by this name the wooded mountains\nwhere they go in search of auriferous sands. But everywhere the\n_taiga_ is the same dreary forest, without grass, birds, or insects,\ngloomy and lifeless, and noiseless but for the soughing of the\nwind and crackling of the branches.\n\nThe most common tree in the _taiga_ is the larch, which best resists\nthe winter frost and summer chills. But the Siberian woodlands also\ninclude most of the trees common to temperate Europe--the linden,\nalder, juniper, service, willow, aspen, poplar, birch, cherry,\napricot--whose areas are regulated according to the nature of the\nsoil, the elevation or aspect of the land. Towards the south-east,\non the Chinese frontier, the birch is encroaching on the indigenous\nspecies, and the natives regard this as a sure prognostic of the\napproaching rule of the \"White Tsar.\"\n\nConflagrations are very frequent in the Siberian forests, caused\neither by lightning, the woodmen, or hunters, and sometimes spreading\nover vast spaces till arrested by rivers, lakes or morasses. One\nof the pleasures of Siberian travelling is the faint odour of the\nwoods burning in the distance.\n\nThe native flora is extremely rich in berries of every kind, supplying\nfood for men and animals.\n\nThe extreme eastern regions of the Amur basin and Russian Manchuria,\nbeing warmer, more humid and fertile, also abound more in animal\nlife than the other parts of Asiatic Russia. On the other hand,\nthe Siberian bear, deer, roebuck, hare, squirrel, marmot and mole\nare about one-third larger, and often half as heavy again as their\nEuropean congeners. This is doubtless due partly to the greater\nabundance of nourishment along the rivers and shores of Siberia,\nand partly to the fact that for ages the western species have been\nmore preyed upon by man, living in a constant state of fear, and\nmostly perishing before attaining their full development.\n\nThe Arctic Seas abound probably as much as the Pacific Ocean with\nmarine animals. Nordenskjoeld found the Siberian waters very rich\nin molluscs and other lower organisms, implying a corresponding\nabundance of larger animals. Hence fishing, perhaps more than\nnavigation, will be the future industry of the Siberian coast\npopulations. Cetacea, fishes, molluscs, and other marine organisms\nare cast up in such quantities along both sides of Bering Strait\nthat the bears and other omnivorous creatures have here become\nvery choice as to their food. But on some parts of the coast in the\nChukchi country whales are never stranded, and since the arrival\nof the Russians certain species threaten to disappear altogether.\nThe _Rhytina stelleri_, a species of walrus formerly frequenting\nBering Strait in millions, was completely exterminated between the\nyears 1741-68. Many of the fur-bearing animals, which attracted\nthe Cossacks from the Urals to the Sea of Okhotsk, and which were\nthe true cause of the conquest of Siberia, have become extremely\nrare. Their skins are distinguished, above all others, for their\ngreat softness, warmth, lightness, and bright colours. The more\nAlpine or continental the climate, the more beautiful and highly\nprized become the furs, which diminish in gloss towards the coast\nand in West Siberia, where the south-west winds prevail. The sables\nof the North Urals are of small value, while those of the Upper\nLena, fifteen degrees farther south, are worth a king's ransom. Many\nspecies assume a white coat in winter, whereby they are difficult\nto be distinguished from the surrounding snows. Amongst these are\nthe polar hare and fox, the ermine, the campagnol, often even the\nwolf and reindeer, besides the owl, yellow-hammer, and some other\nbirds. Those which retain their brown or black colour are mostly\nsuch as do not show themselves in winter. The fur of the squirrels\nalso varies with the surrounding foliage, those of the pine forests\nbeing ruddy, those of the cedar, _taiga_, and firs inclining to\nbrown, and all varying in intensity of colour with that of the\nvegetation.\n\nOther species besides the peltry-bearing animals have diminished\nin numbers since the arrival of the Russian hunters. The reindeer,\nwhich frequented the South Siberian highlands, and whose domain\nencroached on that of the camel, is now found only in the domestic\nstate amongst the Soyotes of the Upper Yenisei and is met with\nin the wild state only in the dwarf forests and _tundras_ of the\nfar north. The argali has withdrawn to Mongolia from the Siberian\nmountains and plains, where he was still very common at the end of\nthe last century. On the other hand, cold and want of food yearly\ndrive great numbers of antelopes and wild horses from the Gobi\nSteppes towards the Siberian lowlands, tigers, wolves and other\nbeasts of prey following in their track, and returning with them in\nthe early spring. Several new species of animals have been introduced\nby man and modified by crossings in the domestic state. In the\nnorth, the Samoyeds, Chukchis, and Kamchadales have the reindeer\nand dog, while the horse and ox are everywhere the companions of\nman in the peopled regions of Siberia. The yak has been tamed by the\nSoyotes of the Upper Yenisei, and the camel, typical of a distinctly\nEastern civilization, follows the nomads of the Kirghiz and Mongolian\nSteppes. All these domesticated animals seem to have acquired special\nqualities and habits from the various indigenous or Russian peoples\nof Siberia.\n\n\n\n\n_THE RUSSIAN RACES_\n\n_W. R. MORFILL_\n\nThe vast Empire of Russia, as may be readily imagined, is peopled\nby many different races. These may ethnologically be catalogued\nas follows:\n\nI. Sclavonic races, the most important in numbers and culture. Under\nthis head may be classified:--\n\n(1) The Great Russians, or Russians properly so called, especially\noccupying the Governments round about Moscow, and from thence scattered\nin the north to Novgorod and Vologda, on the south to Kiev and to\nVoronezh, on the east to Penza, Simbirsk, and Viatka, and on the\nwest to the Baltic provinces. Moreover, the Great Russians, as\nthe ruling race, are to be found in small numbers in all quarters\nof the Empire. They amount to about 40,000,000.\n\n(2) Little Russians (Malorossiani), dwelling south of the Russians,\nupon the shores of the Black Sea. These, together with the Rusniaks,\namount to 16,370,000.\n\nThe Cossacks come under these two races.\n\nTo the great Russians belong the Don Cossacks, with those sprung\nfrom them--the Kouban, Stavropol, Khoperski, Volga, Mosdok, Kizlarski\nand Grebenski.\n\n[Illustration: SAMOYEDES OF NOVA ZEMBLA.]\n\nTo the Little Russian: the Malorossiiski, with those sprung from\nthem--the Zaporoghian, Black Sea (Chernomorski), and those of Azov\nand of the Danube.\n\n(3) The White Russians, inhabiting the Western Governments. Their\nnumber amounts to 4,000,000.\n\n(4) Poles, living in the former Kingdom of Poland and the Western\nGovernments of the Empire. Their number amounts to 5,000,000.\n\n(5) Servians, Bulgarians, and other Slavs, inhabiting especially\nBessarabia and the country called New Russia. Their number reaches\n150,000.\n\nII. The Non-Sclavonic races comprise either original inhabitants\nof the country who have been subdued by the Russians, or later\ncomers. Among races originally inhabiting the country, and subjugated\nby the Russians, are included--the Lithuanians and Letts, the Finns,\nthe Samoyeds, the Mongol-Manzhurians, the races of eastern Siberia,\nthe Turko-Tartar, the Caucasian, the German, and the Hebrew.\n\n1. The Lithu-Lettish race inhabits the country between the western\nDwina and the Nieman. In numbers they do not amount to more than\n3,000,000. The Lithu-Lettish population is divided into the two\nfollowing branches:--\n\n(a) The Lithuanians properly so called (including the Samogitans\nor Zhmudes), who inhabit the Governments of Vilno, Kovno, Courland,\nand the northern parts of those of Augustovo and Grodno (1,900,000).\n\n(b) The Letts, who inhabit the Governments of Courland, Vitebsk,\nLivonia, Kovno, Pskov, and St. Petersburg (1,100,000).\n\n2. The Finnish race--known in the old Sclavonic chronicles under\nthe name of Chouds--at one time inhabited all the north-eastern part\nof Russia. The Finns, according to the place of their habitation,\nare divided into four groups:--the Baltic Finns, the Finns in the\nGovernments of the Volga, the Cis-Oural and the Trans-Oural Finns.\n\n(a) The Baltic Finns: the Chouds (in the Governments of Novgorod\nand Olonetz); the Livonians (in Courland); the Esthonians (in the\nGovernments of Esthonia, Livonia, Vitebsk, Pskov, and St. Petersburg);\nthe Lopari (in northern Finland and in the Government of Archangel);\nthe Corelians (in the Government of Archangel, Novgorod, Olonetz,\nSt. Petersburg, Tver, and Jaroslav); Evremeiseti (in the Governments\nof Novgorod and St. Petersburg), Savakoti, Vod, and Izhora.\n\n(b) To the Finns of the Governments of the Volga, who have become\nalmost lost in the Russians, belong the Cheremisians (in the Governments\nof Kazan, Viatka, Kostroma, Nijni-Novgorod, Orenburg and Perm).\n\n(c) To the Cis-Uralian Finns, who occupy the country from the borders\nof Finland to the Oural, belong the Permiaks (in the Governments\nof Viatka and Perm); Ziranians (in the Governments of Archangel\nand Vologda); Votiaks (in the Governments of Viatka and Kazan);\nand Vogoulichi (in the Governments of Perm).\n\n(d) Among the Trans-Oural Finns are also to be numbered the Ziranians\nand Vogoulichi (the first in the Government of Tobolsk, and the\nsecond in the Governments of Tobolsk and Tomsk); and the Ostiaks,\nwho, according to the places of their habitation, are called Obski\nand Berezovski.\n\nThe Finns amount altogether to 2,100,000.\n\n3. The Samoyeds, in number 70,000, live in the territory extending\nfrom the White Sea to the Yenesei; to these belong the Samoyeds\nproperly so called, the Narimski and the Yenesei Ostiaks, the Olennie\nChoukchi, etc.\n\n4. The Mongolo-Manzhourian race amounting to 400,000. Among this\nrace may be remarked the Mongolians properly so called, on the\nSelenga; the Kalmucks, a nomad people in the Government of Astrakhan,\nas also in Tomsk, in the country of the Don Cossacks, and partly\nin the Government of Stavropol. The Kalmucks appeared first on\nthe eastern confines of Russia in the year 1630. About a century\nlater we find them become the regular subjects of the Tsar. They\nseem, however, to have found the Russian yoke irksome, and resolved\nto return to their original home on the coasts of Lake Balkach,\nand at the foot of the Altai Mountains. Nearly the whole nation,\namounting to almost 300,000 persons, began their march in the winter\nof 1770-71. The passage of this vast horde lasted for weeks, but the\nrear were prevented from escaping by the Kirghiz and Cossacks, who\nintercepted them. They were compelled to remain in Russia, where their\nterritory was more accurately defined than had been done previously.\nThe Kalmucks are obliged to serve with the Cossack troops, but\ntheir duties are mostly confined to looking after the cattle and\nhorses which accompany the army. Their religion is Buddhism, and\na conspicuous object in the aouls, or temporary villages which\nthey construct, is the pagoda. Their personal appearance is by no\nmeans prepossessing--small eyes and high cheekbones, with scanty\nhair of a very coarse texture. In every sense of the word they\nare still strictly nomads; their children and tents are carried\nby camels, and in a few hours their temporary village, or oulous,\nis established. To these also belong the Bouriats, by Lake Baikal;\nthe Toungusians from the Yenesei to the Amur; the Lamorets, by the\nSea of Okhotsk; and the Olentzi, in the Government of Irkutsk.\n\n5. Races of eastern Siberia: the Koriaks, living in the north-eastern\ncorner of Siberia; the Youkagirs, in the territory of Yakutsk; the\nKamchadales, in Kamchatka. Their number amounts to 500,000.\n\n6. The Turko-Tartar race amount in number to 3,000,000. To their\nbranch belong the Chouvashes, in the governments of Orenburg, Simbursk,\nSaratov and Samaria; the Mordvinians, in the same governments as the\nChouvashes,[1] and in those of Tambov, Penza, and Nijni-Novgorod;\nthe Tartars of the Crimea and Kazan; the Nagais, on the Kouban\nand Don; the Mestcheriaki, in the governments of Orenburg, Perm,\nSaratov, and Viatka; Koumki, in the Caucasus; Kirghizi, Yakouti,\non the Lena; Troukhmentzi and Khivintzi; Karakalpaks (lit. Black\nCaps), Teleouti, in the government of Tomsk, Siberia.\n\n[Footnote 1: Some writers consider the Chouvashes to belong to the\nFinnish race.]\n\n7. The Caucasian races inhabiting Georgia, the valleys and defiles\nof the Caucasian Mountains have different appellations and different\norigins. Among them may be noticed the Armenians, Georgians,\nCircassians, Abkhasians, Lesghians, Osetintzi, Chechentzi, Kistentzi,\nToushi, and others. Their number is about 2,000,000.\n\nThe languages of the Caucasus must be regarded as a group distinct\nboth from the Aryan and Semitic families. They are agglutinative,\nand are divided into two branches.\n\n(a) The Northern Division, extending along the northern slopes\nof the Caucasus, between the Caspian and the northern shores of\nthe Black Sea, as far as the Straits of Yenikale; its subdivisions\nare Lesghian, Kistian, and Circassian, each with its dialects.\nFormerly the Circassians numbered about 500,000, but large numbers\nof them emigrated to European Turkey, where they were dexterously\nplanted by the government to impede the social progress of their\nBulgarian and Greek subjects.\n\n(b) The Southern Division, comprising Georgian, Suanian, Mingrelian,\nand Lazian.\n\n8. The German race, in number about 1,000,000. The Germans are\nchiefly in the Baltic provinces, in the government of St. Petersburg,\nin the Grand Duchy of Finland, and the colonies, especially those on\nthe lower Volga, the Don, the Crimea, and New Russia. The Germans\nhave acquired great influence throughout the country; they are\nrepresented in the court, in the army, and in the administration.\nHere also may be mentioned the Swedes, amounting to 286,000.\n\n9. The Jews inhabit especially the former Kingdom of Poland, the\nWestern Governments, and the Crimea. Their number amounts to 3,000,000.\nAmong the Jews the Karaimite are noticeable, living in the governments\nof Vilno, Volinia, Kovno, Kherson, and the Taurida. Among the Europeans\nand Asiatics who have come in later times to settle in Russia, are\nGreeks, amounting to 75,000, in the governments of New Russia and\nChernigov; French, Italians, and Englishmen, in the capitals and\nchief commercial towns; Wallachians or Moldavians (now generally\nincluded under the name of Roumanians), in Bessarabia; Albanians;\nGipsies, especially in the territory of Bessarabia, amounting to\n50,000; Persians, to 10,000, etc.\n\n\n\n\n_THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA_\n\n_W. R. MORFILL_\n\nI shall follow the divisions given in his first volume by Oustrialov.\nHe divides Russian history into two great parts, the ancient and\nmodern.\n\nI. Ancient history from the commencement of Russia to the time of\nPeter the Great (862-1689).\n\nThis first period is subdivided into (_a_) the foundation of Russia\nand the combination of the Sclavonians into a political unity under\nthe leadership of the Normans and by means of the Christian Faith\nunder Vladimir and the legislation of Yaroslav.\n\nAccording to the theory commonly received at the present day, the\nfoundation of the Russian Empire was laid by Rurik at Novgorod.\nThe name Russian seems to be best explained as meaning \"the seamen\"\nfrom the Finnish name for the Swedes or Norsemen, Ruotsi, which\nitself is a corruption of a Scandinavian word. It has been shown\nby Thomsen, that all the names mentioned in early Russian history\nadmit of a Scandinavian explanation; thus Ingar becomes Igor, and\nHelga, Oleg. In a few generations the Scandinavian origin of the\nsettlers was forgotten. The grandson of Rurik, Sviatoslav, has\na purely Sclavonic name.\n\nChristianity was introduced into the country by Vladimir, and the\nfirst code of Russian laws was promulgated by Yaroslav, called\nRousskaia Pravda, of which a transcript was found among the chronicles\nof Novgorod.\n\n(_b_) Breaking up of Russia, under the system of appanages, into\nsome confederate principalities, governed by the descendants of\nRurik. This unfortunate disruption of the country paved the way\nfor the invasion of the Mongols, whose domination lasted for nearly\ntwo centuries.\n\nDuring their occupation the Russians were ingrafted with many oriental\nhabits, which were only partially removed by Peter the Great, and in\nfact many of them have lasted till the present day. The influence\nof the Mongolians upon the national language has been greatly\nexaggerated, as the words introduced are confined almost exclusively\nto articles of dress, money, etc. Had the conquests of the Mongols\nbeen permanent, Russia would have become definitely attached to\nAsia, to which its geographical position seems to assign it.\n\n(_c_) Division of Russia into eastern and western under the Mongolian\nyoke 1228-1328. This is a very dreary period of the national history.\n\n(_d_) Formation in Eastern Russia of the government of Moscow 1328-1462,\nwhich by the energy of its princes became the nucleus of the future\nempire; and in Western Russia of the principality of Lithuania,\nand its union with Poland 1320-1569.\n\n(_e_) Consolidation of the Muscovite power under Ivan III., who\nmarried the daughter of the Greek Emperor, and succeeded in expelling\nthe Tartars, and making himself master of their city Kazan. He was\nfollowed by his son Vasilii, who was succeeded by Ivan IV., who\nhas gained a very unenviable reputation on account of his cruelties.\nAlready the yoke of the Tartars had begun to have a very deteriorating\neffect upon the Russian character, and the more sanguinary code of\nthe Asiatics had effaced the tradition of the laws of Yaroslav.\nMutilation, flagellation, and the abundant use of the knout prevailed.\nThe servile custom of chelobitye, or knocking the head on the ground,\nwhich was exacted from all subjects on entering the royal presence,\nwas certainly of Tartar origin, as also the punishment inflicted\nupon refractory debtors, called the pravezh. They were beaten on\nthe shins in a public square every day from eight to eleven o'clock,\ntill the money was paid. The custom is fully described by Giles\nFletcher and Olearius.\n\nAnother strange habit, savouring too much of the Tartar servitude,\nwas that recorded by Peter Heylin in his _Little Description of\nthe Great World_ (Oxford, 1629), who says: \"It is the custom over\nall Muscovie, that a maid in time of wooing sends to that suitor\nwhom she chooseth for her husband such a whip curiously by herself\nwrought, in token of her subjection unto him.\" A Russian writer\nalso tells us that it was usual for the husband on the wedding\nday to give his bride a gentle stroke over the shoulders with his\nwhip, to show his power over her. Herberstein's story of the German\nJordan and his Russian wife will perhaps occur to some of my readers.\nShe complained to her husband that he did not love her; but upon\nhis expressing surprise at the doubt, she gave as her reason that\nhe had never beaten her! Indeed the position of a woman in Russia\ntill the time of Peter was a very melancholy one. Her place in\nsociety is accurately marked out in the Domostroi, or regulations\nfor governing one's household, written at the time of Ivan the\nTerrible. As this book presents us with some very curious pictures\nof Russian family life in the olden time, a few words may be permitted\ndescribing its contents. It was written by the monk Sylvester,\nwho was one of the chief counsellors of Ivan, and at one time in\ngreat favour with him, but afterwards fell into disgrace and was\nbanished by the capricious tyrant to the Solovetzki monastery,\nwhere he died. The work was primarily addressed by the worthy priest\nto his son Anthemus and his daughter-in-law, Pelagia, but as the\nbulk of it was of a general character it soon became used in all\nhouseholds. Nothing escapes this father of the church from the\nduties of religion, down to the minor details of the kitchen and\nthe mysteries of cookery. The wife is constantly recommended to\npractise humility, in a way which would probably be repulsive to\nmany of our modern ladies. Her industry in weaving and making clothes\namong her domestics is very carefully dwelt upon. She lived in a kind\nof Oriental seclusion, and saw no one except her nearest relatives.\nThe bridegroom knew nothing of his bride, she was only allowed to\nbe seen a few times before marriage by his female relatives, and\non these occasions all kinds of tricks were played. A stool was\nplaced under her feet that she might seem taller, or a handsome\nfemale attendant, or a better-looking sister were substituted.\n\"Nowhere,\" says Kotoshikhin, \"is there such trickery practised\nwith reference to the brides as at Moscow.\" The innovations of\nPeter the Great broke through the oriental seclusion of the terem,\nas the women's apartments were called. During the minority of Ivan\nIV. the regency was committed to the care of his mother Elena, and\nwas at best but a stormy period. When I van came to the throne the\ncountry was not even yet free from the incursions of the Tartars.\nIn Hakluyt's voyages we have a curious account of one of these\ndevastations in a \"letter of Richard Vscombe to M. Henrie Lane,\ntouching the burning of the city of Mosco by the Crimme Tartar,\nwritten the fifth day of August, 1571.\" \"The Mosco is burnt every\nsticke by the Crimme, the 24th day of May last, and an innumerable\nnumber of people; and in the English house was smothered Thomas\nSoutham, Tosild, Waverley, Green's wife and children, two children\nof Rafe, and more to the number of twenty-five persons were stifled\nin oure beere seller, and yet in the same seller was Rafe, his\nwife, John Browne, and John Clarke preserved, which was wonderful.\nAnd there went to that seller Master Glover and Master Rowley also;\nbut because the heat was so great they came foorth againe with much\nperill, so that a boy at their heeles was taken with the fire,\nyet they escaped blindfold into another seller, and there as God's\nwill was they were preserved. The emperor fled out of the field,\nand many of his people were carried away by the Crimme Tartar.\nAnd so with exceeding much spoile and infinite prisoners, they\nreturned home againe. What with the Crimme on the one side and\nhis cruelties on the other, he hath but few people left\" (Hakluyt,\nI. 402).\n\n[Illustration: ROOM OF THE TSAR MICHAILOWITCH, MOSCOW.]\n\nIt is well known that the English first became acquainted with\nRussia in the time of Ivan the Terrible. In the reign of Edward VI.\na voyage was undertaken by Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor,\nwho attempted to reach Russia by way of the North Sea. Willoughby\nand his crew were unfortunately lost, but Chancellor succeeded in\nreaching Moscow, and showing his letters to the Tsar, in reply to\nwhich an alliance was concluded and an ambassador soon afterwards\nvisited the English court. In spite of his brutal tyrannies, for\nwhich no apologies can be offered, although some of the Russian\nauthorities have attempted to gloss them over, the reign of Ivan\nwas distinctly progressive for Russia. The introduction of the\nprinting-press, the conquest of Siberia, the development of commerce,\nwere all in advance of what had been done by his predecessors. He\nalso had the leading idea afterwards fully carried out by Peter\nthe Great of extending the dominions on the north, and ensuring\na footing on the Baltic.\n\nThe relations of Ivan with England are fully described in the very\ninteresting diary of Sir Jerome Horsey, the ambassador from this\ncountry, the manuscript of which is preserved in the British Museum.\nHe was anxious to have an English wife, and Elizabeth selected one\nfor him, Lady Mary Hastings, but when the bride-elect had been\nmade acquainted with the circumstance that Ivan had been married\nseveral times before, and was a most truculent and blood-thirsty\nsovereign, she entreated her father with many tears not to send\nher to such a man.\n\nThe character given of Ivan by Horsey is very graphic, and is valuable\nas the narration of a person who had frequently been in intimate\nrelations with the Tsar. We give it in the original spelling:--\n\n\"Thus much to conclude with this Emperor Ivan Vasiliwich. He was a\ngoodlie man of person and presence, well favoured, high forehead,\nshrill voice, a right Sithian, full of readie wisdom, cruell, blondye,\nmerciless; his own experience mannaged by direction both his state and\ncommonwealth affairs; was sumptuously intomed in Michell Archangell\nChurch, where he, though guarded daye and night, remaines a fearfull\nspectacle to the memorie of such as pass by or heer his name spoken\nof [who] are contented to cross and bless themselves from his\nresurrection againe.\"\n\nPassing over his feeble son, we come to the era of Boris Godunov,\na man in many respects remarkable, but not the least that he saw\nthe necessity of western culture. His plans for educating Russia\nwere extensive, and several youths were sent abroad for this purpose,\nincluding some to England. But his reign ended gloomily, and was\nfollowed by the period of the Pretenders (Samozvantzi), during which\nRussia was rent by opposing factions; and almost ended in receiving\na foreign sovereign, in the person of Ladislaus (Wladyslaw), the\nson of Sigismund III., the King of Poland. The Romanovs finally\nascended the throne in the person of Michael in 1613. The son of\nMichael, Alexis, was a thoroughly reforming sovereign, and took\nmany foreigners into his pay. With the reign of Ivan V., son of\nAlexis, closes the old period of Russian history.\n\nII. The new history from the days of Peter the Great to the present\ntime.\n\nThe reforms introduced into Russia by Peter the Great are too well\nknown to need recapitulation here. There will be always many different\nopinions about this wonderful man. Some have not hesitated to say\nthat he \"knouted\" Russia into civilization; others can see traces\nof the hero mixed with much clay. One of the darkest pages in the\nannals of his reign, is that upon which is written the fate of his\nunfortunate son, Alexis. All Russia seems but one vast monument\nof his genius. He gave her six new provinces, a footing upon two\nseas, a regular army trained on the European system, a large fleet,\nan admiralty, and a naval academy; besides these, some educational\nestablishments, a gallery of painting and sculpture, and a public\nlibrary. Nothing escaped his notice, even to such minutiae as the\nalteration of Russian letters to make them more adapted to printing,\nand changing the dress of his subjects so as to be more in conformity\nwith European costume. All this interference savoured of despotism,\nno doubt, but it led to the consolidation of a great nationality.\nThe Russians belong to the European family, and must of necessity\nreturn to fulfil their destiny, although they had been temporarily\ndiverted from their bondage under the Mongols. Owing to the mistake\nPeter had committed in allowing the succession to be changed at\nthe will of the ruling sovereign, the country was for some time\nafter his death in the hands of Russian and German adventurers.\n\nOn the death of Peter he was succeeded by his wife Catherine, an\namiable but illiterate woman, who was wholly under the influence\nof Menshikov, one of Peter's chief favourites. After a short reign\nof two years, she was succeeded by Peter II., son of the unfortunate\nAlexis, in whose time Menshikov and his family were banished to\nBerezov in Siberia. After his banishment, Peter, who was a weak\nprince, and showed every inclination to undo his grandfather's\nwork, fell under the influence of the Dolgoroukis.\n\nThere is something very touching in the fate of this poor child--he\nwas but fifteen years of age when he died--tossed about amidst\nthe opposing factions of the intriguing courtiers, each of whom\ncared nothing for the good of the country, but only how to find\nthe readiest means to supplant his rival. The last words of the\nboy as he lay on his death-bed were, \"Get ready the sledge! I want\nto go to my sister!\" alluding to the Princess Natalia, the other\nchild of Alexis who had died three years previously.\n\nOn his death Anne, Duchess of Courland, and daughter of Ivan, the\nelder brother of Peter, was called to the throne. After her death,\nby a second _revolution de palais_, Elizabeth, the daughter of\nPeter the Great, was made sovereign. In this reign her alliance\nwas concluded with Maria Theresa of Austria, and during the Seven\nYears' War, a large Russian force invaded Prussia; another took\nBerlin in 1760.\n\nDuring the whole of her reign Elizabeth was under the influence\nof favourites, or _vremenstchiki_, as the Russians call them. She\nappears to have been an indolent, good-tempered woman, and exceedingly\nsuperstitious. During her reign Russia made considerable progress\nin literature and culture. A national theatre, of which there had\nbeen a few germs even at so early a period as the youth of Peter\nthe Great, was thoroughly developed, and at Yaroslavl, Volkov,\nthe son of a merchant, earned such a reputation as an actor, that\nhe was summoned to St. Petersburg by Elizabeth, who took him under\nher patronage. Dramatists now sprang up on every side, but at first\nwere merely translators of Corneille, Racine, and Moliere. The\nRussian arms were successful during her reign, and the capture of\nBerlin in 1760, had a great effect upon European politics. Two years\nafterwards Elizabeth died, and her nephew Peter III. succeeded, who\nadmired Frederick the Great, and at once made peace with him.\n\nThis unfortunate man, however, only reigned six months, having been\ndethroned and put to death by order of his wife, who became Empress\nof Russia under the title of Catherine II. However unjustifiable the\nmeans may have been by which Catherine became possessed of the\nthrone, and in mere justice to her we must remember that she had\nbeen brutally treated by her husband, and was in hourly expectation\nof being immured for life in a dungeon by his orders, she exercised\nher power to the advantage of the country.\n\nIn 1770, a Russian fleet appeared for the first time in the\nMediterranean, and the Turkish navy was destroyed at Chesme. By the\ntreaty of Kutchuk Kainardji (1774), Turkey was obliged to recognize\nthe independence of the Crimea, and cede to Russia a considerable\namount of territory. In 1783, Russia gained the Crimea, and in\n1793, by the last partition of Poland, a very large portion of that\ncountry.\n\nThe subsequent events of the history are well known. Paul, who\nsucceeded Catherine, was assassinated in 1801. The reign of this\nemperor has been made very familiar to Englishmen by the highly\ncoloured portrait given by the traveller Clarke, who laboured under\nthe most aggravated Russophobia. That Paul did many cruel and capricious\nthings does not admit of a doubt, but he was capable of generous\nfeelings, and sometimes surprised people as much by his liberality\nas by his despotic conduct. Thus he set Kosciuscko at liberty as\nsoon as he had ascended the throne; and there was a fine revenge in\nhis compelling Orlov to follow the coffins of Peter and Catherine,\nwhen by his order they were buried together in the Petropavlovski\nchurch.\n\nAlexander I., his son, added Finland to the Russian empire, and\nsaw his country invaded by Napoleon in 1812. The horrors of this\ncampaign have been well described by Segur, Wilson, and Labaume.\nAt his death in 1825, his brother Nicholas succeeded, not without\nopposition, which led to bloodshed and the execution of the five\nDekabrists (conspirators of December). The schemes of these men\nwere impracticable; so little did the common people understand the\nvery rudiments of liberalism, that when the soldiers were ordered\nto shout for Konstitoutzia (the constitution, a word the foreign\nappearance of which shows how alien it was to the national spirit),\none of them naively asked, if that was the name of the wife of\nthe Grand Duke Constantine.\n\nThe policy of the Emperor Nicholas was one of complete isolation of\nthe country, and the prevention of his subjects as much as possible\nfrom holding intercourse with the rest of Europe, hence permission\nto travel was but sparingly given, nor were foreigners encouraged\nto visit Russia. In 1826, war broke out with Persia, the result\nof which was that the latter power was compelled to cede Erivan\nand the country as far as the Araxes (or Aras). Russia also made\nfurther additions to her territory by the treaty of Adrianople in\n1829, after Diebich had crossed the Balkans. In 1830, the great\nPolish rebellion broke out, which was crushed after much bloodshed\nin Sept. 1831, by the capture of Warsaw. In 1849, the Russians\nassisted Austria in crushing the revolt of her Hungarian subjects.\nIn 1853 broke out the Crimean War, the details of which are so well\nknown as to require no enumeration. Peace was concluded between\nRussia and the Allies, after the death of the Emperor Nicholas in\n1855, who was succeeded by his son, Alexander II. The two great\nevents of the reign of this monarch have been the emancipation of\nthe serfs in 1861, by which 22,000,000 received their liberty,\nand the war with Turkey.\n\n\n\n\n_CHURCH SERVICE_\n\n_ALFRED MASKELL_\n\nThe history of the introduction and early progress of Christianity\nin Russia is involved in obscurity and overlaid with legendary\nstories. There is little doubt that it came from Constantinople, and\nwas not only rapidly spread, but firmly established in the country\nwithin a short space of time. The date most generally accepted is\nthat of the reign of Vladimir, the great prince of Kief, grandson\nof Olga. As Dean Stanley remarks in his _Lectures on the Eastern\nChurch_: \"It coincides with a great epoch in Europe, the close of\nthe Tenth Century, when throughout the West the end of the world\nwas fearfully expected, when the Latin Church was overclouded with\nthe deepest despondency, when the Papal See had become the prey\nof ruffians and profligates, then it was that the Eastern Church,\nsilently and almost unconsciously, bore into the world her mightiest\noffspring.\"\n\n[Illustration: CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION, MOSCOW.]\n\nThe Eastern Church was then at the zenith of its splendour. The\nenvoys sent by Vladimir to Constantinople to examine and report\nupon the religion which he had almost decided to adopt were dazzled\nwith the magnificence of the ceremonial. They were wavering in\ntheir choice and weighing the merits of the different systems which\nhad been brought before them. Rome they had not seen; Mohammedanism\nwas foreign to their tastes; Judaism had been found wanting; but\nthe Eastern Church appealed strongly to their imaginations and\nbarbaric love of splendour. Hers was St. Sophia, magnificent now,\nbut how much more gorgeous then! Every effort was made to win them,\nand the victory was easy.\n\nThe intercourse of the newly formed empire of Russia with Byzantium\nwas at that time great. The change of religion had been very sudden\nand it was necessary to build at once new edifices for the new\norder of things. It was naturally to Byzantium that they turned\nfor their form and ornament. Very quickly churches arose. Novgorod,\nthe cradle of the Empire and the capital until the removal to Kief,\nwas the Metropolitan See, and the first cathedral is said to have\nbeen built there as early as A. D. 989.\n\nThe form of a Russian Church underwent little change up to the\nSeventeenth Century. In the Thirteenth Century the architects imported\nfrom Lombardy brought to bear on the exterior the style of the\nLombardic or Romanesque architecture which had so long prevailed\nin their own country. The gilded dome or cupola, of peculiar\nonion-shaped form which is so especially Russian, was added soon\nafterwards. The central cupola, which was adopted from the first,\nwas afterwards surrounded by others; their number reached even\nto twenty or thirty, and it was not until the Sixteenth Century\nat the time of the establishment of the patriarchate (1589), that\nthese were authoritatively restricted to five, which is now the\northodox and obligatory number.\n\nThe practice of having two, three, five, seven, nine and thirteen\ncupolas or spires is as early as the Eleventh Century. The numbers\nwere figurative; two signifying the two natures of Jesus Christ,\nthree, a symbol of the Trinity, five, our Lord and the four evangelists\nor the five wounds, seven, the seven sacraments, the seven gifts\nof the Holy Spirit, or the seven recumenical councils, nine, the\nnine celestial hierarchies, and thirteen, our Lord and the twelve\napostles.\n\nWithin the dimensions are small and the light obscure. Still, the\nsimple, nearly square disposition of the building, the enormous\nplain-shafted pillars which support the domes, the mass of gilding,\nthe multitude of lamps, produce an undoubtedly grand effect. It\nis strikingly oriental; and as in Russian churches there are no\nseats, but the people stand in a mingled throng, now and then\nprostrating themselves and beating their foreheads on the ground,\neach as his own devotion may dictate, the resemblance is still\nmore marked. All the interior is covered with fresco pictures;\neven the pillars have gigantic figures of the saints and doctors\nof the church painted upon them. From the high roof hang immense\nbrass chandeliers of a peculiar form with many branches, capable\nof holding hundreds of candles. In the dim distance, seemingly a\nwall of gold, is the iconostas, the solid screen which in every\nchurch divides the sanctuary from the rest of the sacred edifice.\n\nThe iconostas is in all cases decorated with a large number of holy\npictures or icons, arranged in formal rows one above the other. It\nis a solid erection from side to side, from floor to roof, and in\nthe centre are the _royal doors_, through which none may pass but\nthe consecrating priest, or the emperor: and the last once only,\nat the time of his coronation. At no time is any woman permitted\nto enter the sanctuary.\n\nThe iconostas contains sometimes as many as seven rows of images:\nthat of the _Uspenski Sobor_[1] has five. Their arrangement is\nguided by certain rules and restrictions. Our Lord and the blessed\nVirgin must be represented on each side of the royal doors, and on\nthe doors themselves the Annunciation and the four evangelists.\nOn the side doors angels must be represented. Above must be the\nusual symbol of the Trinity figured by Abraham entertaining the\nthree angels.\n\n[Footnote 1: Cathedral of the Assumption, Moscow.]\n\nThe whole of the space behind the screen is known as the altar.\nThe altar itself is square, or rather a double cube. Above it four\nsmall columns with a canopy form a baldachino; and the cross is\nlaid flat upon it. Here also is placed the tabernacle or _zion_\nwhich is often an architectural structure in pure gold with figures.\nThere are five zions of this kind in the cathedrals of St. Sophia\nat Novgorod and at the Troitsa monastery.\n\nIn the apse behind the altar and facing it is the _thronos_, the\nseat of the archbishop, with seats for priests on either side.\n\nBesides the icons and holy pictures on the screen (and in the Cathedral\nof the Assumption the latter contains the most highly venerated\nin Russia) other smaller icons are set apart in various parts of\nthe church. As is now the custom, though it is comparatively a\nrecent one, the greater part of the picture, with the exception of\nthe faces, hands and feet, is covered with an embossed and chased\nplaque in gold or silver-gilt representing the form and garments.\nGlories or nimbuses in high relief set thick with gems surround\nthe faces, and sparkle as they reflect the light from the multitude\nof candles burnt in their honour. Some are covered to overloading\nwith jewels, necklets, and bracelets; pearls, diamonds, and rubies\nof large size and value adorning them in profusion.\n\nThe ceremonial of the Greek church is excessively complex, and the\nsymbolical meanings by which it represents the dogmas of religion\nare everywhere made the subjects of minute observance. During the\ngreater part of the mass the royal doors are closed: the deacons\nremain for the most part without, now and again entering for a\nshort time. From time to time a pope or popes pass throughout the\nchurch, amongst the crowds, incensing all the holy pictures in\nturn; the voice of the officiating priest is raised within, and\nis answered in deep tones by the deacons without. Now from one\ncorner comes a chant of many voices, now for another a single one\nin tones (it may be), the epistle or gospel of the day. Now the\ndoors fly open and a fleeting glimpse is gained of the celebrant\nthrough the thick rolling clouds of incense. Then they are closed\nagain suddenly. To a stranger unable to follow and in ignorance\nof the meaning, the effect is bewildering.\n\nIn writing, even generally, of the arts in Russia some reference\nto religious music is excusable. That of Russia has a peculiar\ncharm of its own, far above the barbarous discords that are to be\nheard in Greek and other churches of the East at the present day.\nThere is a sweetness and attractiveness in the unaccompanied chanting\nof the choir, in the deep bass tones of the men mingling with the\nplaintive trebles of younger voices, which is indescribable in its\nharmony. It is unlike any other; yet underneath lies the original\ntinge of orientalism, the wailing semitones of all barbaric music.\nNo accompaniment, no instrumental music of any kind is permitted.\nBass voices of extraordinary depth and power are the most desired.\nIt is said that the tones now used in the Russian church are\ncomparatively modern.\n\nThe principal churches and monasteries in Russia possess rich stores\nof vestments; some of comparatively high antiquity which are preserved\nwith scrupulous care and still used on occasions of great ceremony.\nIn more modern vestments the ancient ornament is to a great extent\nstrictly copied.\n\nThe _saccos_, formerly the principal vestment of the patriarchs\nand an emblem of sovereign power, is now common to all Russian\nbishops. It is in the shape of a dalmatic, formed of two square\npieces of stuff joined together at the neck and open at the sides,\nhaving wide short sleeves. Many of the finest of these vestments\nare elaborately embroidered in gold and silver and ornamented with\nfigures of saints; and in the stuffs themselves sacred subjects are\noften woven. They are also thickly sown with rows of seed-pearls\nwhich follow the lines and edgings of the vestment and border the\nsacred images. They are besides set with enamelled, nielloed, or\njewelled plaques of gold or silver. Texts in Greek or Sclavonic\noften border the whole of the edges of the garment. These are\nelaborately worked in gold or silver, or the letters formed completely\nof seed-pearls. The _saccos_ of the Metropolitan Peter (made in\n1322), of Alexis (1364), of Photius (1414), and of Dionysius (made\nin 1583), are remarkable vestments of this character, to be found\nin the patriarchal sacristy at Moscow. The stoles, which usually\ncorrespond, are long, narrow, and nearly straight-sided to the\nbottom. A peculiar episcopal ornament is the _epigonation_. It is\na large lozenge-shaped ornament embroidered and worked in a similar\nmanner to the other vestments, and by bishops is worn hanging from\nthe right side.\n\nThe usual form of mitre of a pope of the Russian church is well-known.\nThe earlier kind was a sort of low cap with a border of fur, something\nlike the cap of a royal crown, and probably not different in type\nfrom the head-dresses of bishops of the west. Some are sewn thick\nwith pearls bordering and heightening the lines of the figures of\nsaints, and forming the outlines of the Sclavonic inscriptions.\nSuch is that of Joassof, first patriarch of the Russian church\n(1558). Those of later times are often of metal richly set with\nprecious stones. Sometimes they assume a more conical form, surmounted\nby a cross, like an imperial crown, as that which is termed the\nConstantinople mitre, said to have been made in the time of Ivan\nthe Terrible. The mitre of the celebrated Nikon (1655), who aspired\nto papal prerogatives, is diadem-shaped and remarkable for the\nrichness of the precious stones with which it is set. The most\nusual shape recalls to some extent the favourite cupola, spreading\nout from the base to the top.\n\nThe form of the chalice used in the Russian church varies considerably,\nas it does also in that of the Latin church. In general characteristics\nthe two have much in common. In early times the chalice was made of\nwood or crystal as well as of gold and silver. An ancient chalice\nof crystal is preserved in the Cathedral of the Assumption at Moscow,\nand the wooden ones of SS. Sergius and Nikon are in the sacristy\nat Troitsa. On some old icons our Lord is represented as giving\nthe holy communion to the apostles out of narrow-necked vessels\nwhich appear to be made of alabaster.\n\nThe Greek rite for the celebration of the holy eucharist requires\nthree things which are not used in the western church. These are\nthe knife or spear, the star or asterisk, and the spoon for the\nadministration of the chalice as the sacrament is received by the\nlaity under both kinds. It may naturally be supposed that such sacred\nobjects would be the subjects of high artistic workmanship. The\npaten itself is often elaborately enamelled and otherwise decorated,\nwhereas in the western church the rubrics require it to be plain.\n\nThe ceremonial of the preparation of the bread (which is leavened\nand in the form of a small loaf) is exceedingly complex. Portions\nare cut out for consecration, and for this purpose a knife called\na \"spear\" is used. These portions placed on the paten are covered\nwith a veil, and in order to prevent the latter from touching the\nelements a piece of metal is placed over them: two strips crossed,\nand bent so as to have four feet. The tabernacle, or perhaps more\nproperly ciborium, is sometimes in the form of a hill or mount of\ngold or silver-gilt, or of a temple, and there are many remarkable\nexamples. One at Troitsa is of solid gold with the exception of\nJudas, which is of brass. Another is in the sacristy of the church\nof the Assumption at Moscow. From its inscription we learn that\nit was made for the grand duke Ivan Vassilievitch in 1486, and\nit is a characteristic specimen of Russian art of the period.\n\nA peculiar ornament or sacred vessel of the Russo-Greek church\nis known under the name of _panagia_, and of this there are two\nkinds. One is a jewel or pectoral worn suspended from the neck by\nbishops, and is an object on which much care and rich decoration\nare lavished. In a somewhat altered form it is worn by priests\nin the same way for carrying the holy sacrament on a journey or\nto the sick.\n\nPectoral crosses for the dignitaries of the church are of course\nnot uncommon; not only priests, however, but every Russian man,\nwoman or child carries a small cross, more or less ornamental. They\nare various in form and richness of decoration; from the simple\nbronze cross, rudely stamped, of the peasant, to the enamelled and\njewelled one of the metropolitan or noble. Nearly always the plain\nthree-armed cross is set in the centre of another more elaborate\nor conventional. Almost invariably also the sacred monograms and\ninvocations in Sclavonic characters are engraved in the field.\nIn some cases it is more a medallion than a cross, the form of\nthe cross being indicated by cutting four segments in the manner\nof the ancient stone crosses to be seen in many parts of England.\nBesides the inscriptions, emblems such as the spear and nails and\ncrown of thorns are often to be distinguished though conventionally\nindicated.\n\nCrosses on church tops are made of silver, wood, lead, and even\ngold. The open-worked designs of many of them, although intended\nto be placed at great height, are extremely elegant. They were\noccasionally ornamented with coins, and those on churches erected\nby the Tsar are surmounted by an imperial crown.\n\nA crescent as a symbol beneath the cross is very frequent. Various\nexplanations of this symbol have been given. According to some it\nis in remembrance of the victory of the cross over the crescent\non the deliverance from the Mongol yoke. Others think it to have\noriginated simply in the freak of some goldsmith, afterwards copied\nby others until it came to be accepted as a necessity. It is certain\nthat the use of the crescent is anterior to the Mongol invasion,\nand was an old symbol in Byzantium, as appears from coins.\n\nThe pastoral staff of Russian bishops is tau-shaped; and there\nare many good old examples, a few in ivory, but for the most part\nin silver-gilt. Processional crosses are also used.\n\nThe censer is a piece of church furniture in constant use in the\nRusso-Greek church, and we find several examples very characteristic\nof Russian art. As in the west, the application of architectural forms\nis very frequent, and it is not surprising that the peculiarities of\nRussian ecclesiastical ornament should be prominent and especially\nthe dome which naturally suggests itself.\n\nAmongst the objects kept in the sacristy of the patriarchs in the\nCathedral of the Assumption, in Moscow, is one which is held in\nspecial veneration. This is the vase in which is preserved the\ndeposit of holy chrism used in the annual preparation of holy oils\nfor distribution to the various churches of the empire.\n\nThe preparation of this oil is an occasion of great ceremony in\nHoly Week. From the fourth week in Lent the preliminary mixings of\noil, wine, herbs, and a variety of different ingredients begin. In\nthe Holy Week these ingredient are prepared in a public ceremony:\ntwo large boilers, several bowls and sixteen vases together with\nother vessels being used. All of these are of great size of massive\nsilver, and, presented by Catherine II. in 1767, are specimens of\nsilver work of that time.\n\n\n\n\n_THE CREEDS OF RUSSIA_\n\n_ERNEST W. LOWRY_\n\nA report was brought to Basil, the Metropolitan of Moscow, in the\nyear 1340, by merchants of Novgorod, who asserted that they had\nbeheld a glimpse of Paradise from the shores of the White Sea.\nWhether their vision were merely the dazzling reflection of some\nsunlit iceberg, or only the glow of poetic imagination, it so fired\nthe ardour of the mediaeval prelate that he longed to set sail for\nthis golden gleam. Be the old legend true or false, it is certain that\nto this day the northern Mujik shows an even more marked religious\nenthusiasm than his brother of the central governments. Fanaticism,\nmysticism, and fatalism go ever hand in hand in Northern Russia.\nThe Empire of the Tsars being so vast in area and so embracive of\nraces affords space for all forms of belief, or want of belief,\nwithin her boundaries. All creeds are represented, from the pagan\nSamoyede of the _tundras_ to the Mohammedan Tartar of the Steppes.\nOur concern is with but one of these--the Old Believers. But to\nunderstand their doctrine, we must glance at the clergy of the\nState Church from which they dissent.\n\n[Illustration: A RELIGIOUS PROCESSION, LOKA.]\n\nThe clergy of the Orthodox Russian Church are divided into Black\nor monks of St. Basil, and the White or parish priests. The latter\nmust be married before they are ordained, and may not marry again\n(which has led to the saying, \"A priest takes good care of his\nwife, for he cannot get another\"), while the monasteries, of course,\nrequire celibacy. From the latter the bishops are elected, so that\nthey--in contradistinction to the priests--must be single. This\nsystem is much condemned by the lower clergy, who ask pertinently,\n\"How can the bishop know the hardships of our lives? for he is\nsingle and well paid, we poor and married.\" The rule, observed\nelsewhere, holds good in Russia, the poorer the priest, the larger\nthe family. Few village priests receive any regular stipend, but\nare allowed a plot of land in the commune wherein they minister.\nThis allowance is generally from thirty to forty dessiatines (eighty\nto one hundred and eight acres), and can only be converted into\nmoney, or food products, by the labour of the parson and his family\nupon it--very literally must they put their hand to the plough.\nPriests are paid for special services, such as christenings or\nweddings, at no fixed tariff, but at a sliding rate, according\nto the means of the payer, the price being arrived at by means of\nprolonged bargaining between the shepherd and his flock. Would-be\ncouples often wait for months until a sum can be fixed upon with\nhis reverence for tying the knot; and sometimes, by means of daily\nhaggling, the amount first asked can be reduced by one-half, for\nthe cost of the ceremony varies--according to the social status of\nthe happy pair--from ten to one hundred roubles. Funerals, too, are\nat times postponed for most unhealthy periods during this process.\nGenerally, however, the White Clergy[1] are so miserably poor that\nthey cannot be blamed for making the best market they can for their\npriestly offices. Whether the system or the salary be at fault\nit is hard to say, but from whatever cause the fact remains that\nthe parish clergy of the villages are not always all they might\nbe; there are many among them who lead upright lives and gain the\nrespect of their parishioners, but it would be idle to deny that\nthere are many whose thoughts turn more to _vodka_ than piety,\nthe _kabak_ than the Church. Such shepherds have little in common\nwith the best elements of their flocks, and much with the worst,\nin whose company they are generally seen.\n\n[Footnote 1: The White Clergy wear any colour but that from which\nthey take their name--a deer-skin cap and long felt boots.]\n\nThe poor \"Pope\" spends much of his time going from _izba_ to _izba_,\ngiving his blessing and receiving in return drink and a few copecks;\nfrom this come, all too easily, the proverbs of his parishioners,\n\"Am I a priest, that I should sup twice?\" etc. Count Tolstoi makes\nhis hero remark in the trial scene of the _Resurrection_, when his\nfellow jurymen are more friendly than he would wish, \"The son of\na priest will speak to me next.\" But most of them have a side to\ntheir natures which, though not always to be seen, is, nevertheless,\nlatent--the hour of need often lifts them to the lofty plane of\ntheir sublime functions; the labouring--often hungry--peasant of\nthe weekdays becomes on Sunday exalted above the petty surroundings\nof Mujik life, and becomes indeed the \"little father\" of his people.\n\nFrom the Established Church of the State, the Church of the few in\nthe North, let us turn to the old faith, the Church of the many.\nThe Old Believers, Raskolniks, or dissenters, are indeed a numerous,\nalthough officially an uncounted, body in the North; half the trade\nof Moscow, most of that which is Russian at all, in the Port of\nArchangel, all the Pomor shipping lies in their hands.\n\nThe word Raskolnik means, literally, one who splits asunder, and\nthat is just what the Old Believer is--one who has split off from\nthe Orthodox Church.\n\nTwo hundred and fifty years ago Nikon, a friar of Solovetsk, an\nisland monastery in the White Sea, having quarrelled alike with\nequal and superior, was set adrift in an open boat; he reached\nthe mainland at Ki, a small cape in Onega Bay, wandered southward\nto Olonets, where he got together a band of followers, proceeded\nto Moscow, obtained the notice of the throne, got preferment, was\nsoon made Patriarch. He ruled with an iron hand, made many enemies,\nand when at last he obtained from Mount Santo, in Roumelia, authentic\nGreek Church-service books, and, having had them translated into\nSclavonic, forced their use upon the Church, with the aid of the\nTsar Alexis, in the place of those previously in use, the revolt\nbegan in earnest. In addition to the altered service book, Nikon\nintroduced a cross with but two beams, a new stamp for the holy\nwafer, a different way of holding the fingers in pronouncing the\nblessing, and a new way of spelling the name Jesus, to which the\nChurch was unaccustomed. In each of these changes Nikon and his\nparty really wished to go back to older and purer forms of Greek\nritual, but many resisted the alterations, believing them to be\ninnovations.\n\nSuch was the beginning of Raskol; the end is not yet. Those who\ncould not accept these reforms, or returns to older forms, took\nup the name of \"Staro-obriadtsi,\" or Old Believers, holding that\ntheirs was indeed the true old faith of their fathers. For them\nbegan, in very truth a hard time; a time which has left its mark\nmost clearly upon their descendants to-day. Excommunicated and\npersecuted under Alexis and Peter I., they were driven in thousands\nfrom their village homes to seek refuge where they could, in forest,\nmountain or island; a party reaching in the year 1767, even to\nKolgueff Island, where, as might be expected, they perished during\nthe following year from scurvy. To these brave bands of Old Believers,\nsetting forth under their banner of the \"Eight-ended Cross,\" to\nfind new homes beyond the reach of persecution, is, in large part,\ndue the colonization of the huge province of Archangel and the\nnorthern portion of Siberia. That it was not always easy for the\nRaskolnik to get beyond the range of official persecutions is shown\nby many an old \"_ukas_,\" and by many an old entry in the books of\nfar-distant communes. Farther north and farther east, from forest\nto _tundra_ and Steppe were they driven, spreading as they went\ntheir Russian nationality over regions Asiatic; as exiles they\nsettled among Polish Romanists, Baltic Protestants, and Caucasian\nMussulmans, and with the heathen Lapp and Samoyede, and Ostiac, on\nthe Murman coast of Russian Lapland, in the bleak Northern _tundra_,\non the Petchora, and away beyond the Ural Spur, they found at last\nthe rest they sought.\n\nTheir most dangerous enemy was not, however, the persecution of the\ndominant Church; they had placed themselves geographically beyond the\nreach of that: far more dangerous was further Raskol--splitting--among\nthemselves, and it was not long before this overtook them. Cut off\nby their own faith, as well by excommunication, from the Orthodox\nChurch, the supply of consecrated priests soon gave out; they had\nlost their apostolic succession and could not renew it, for the one\nBishop--Paul of Kalomna--who had joined them, had died in prison,\nwithout appointing a successor. Without an episcopate they were soon\nwithout a priesthood; and the vital question, \"How shall we get\npriests and through them Sacraments?\" was answered in two ways,\nand according to the answer, so were the Old Believers divided into\ntwo main sects. One sect declared that, as there were no longer\nfaithful priests, they were cut off from all the Sacraments except\nBaptism, which could be administered by laymen. These \"Bespopoftsi,\"\nor priestless people, were unable to marry; and to this--in a land\nwhere the economic unit, is not man, but man and wife, where the\nties of family life are so strong--was due their further splitting.\n\nIn 1846, however, they persuaded an outcast bishop to join their\nranks, and founded a See at Bielokrinitzkaga, in Austrian Bukovina,\nbeyond the Russian Empire; from thence the succession was handed\ndown, and now after long decades of waiting, they have bishops\nand priests of their own.\n\nThe practice of hiring a priest from the Orthodox Church, to conduct\na service for the Old Believers, is still very common in the far\nNorth, where all villages have not the means to keep a \"Pope\" of\ntheir own; and many an Orthodox clergyman thus adds considerably\nto his precarious income by officiating for those whom his\ngreat-grandfathers excommunicated as heretics; indeed, the Government\nnow encourages this practice, and has made some attempt to heal up\nthe schism by allowing its priests to adopt, to a slight extent,\nthe old customs in villages where all the inhabitants are Raskolniks.\nThis can the more readily be understood when it is remembered that\nthe Old Believers hold in all essential points the same creed as\nthe Orthodox; they are--and their name implies--believers in the\nold faith of the Russian branch of the Greek Church, as expressed\nsince the day of St. Vladimir until the Seventeenth Century, but\nnot in the so-called innovations of Nikon. The points of difference\nare so small that it seems impossible a Church should by them have\nbeen cleft in twain. The Orthodox sign the Cross with three fingers\nextended, the dissenters with two, holding that the two raised\nfingers indicate the dual nature of Christ, while the three bent\nones represent the Trinity. It does not seem to have occurred to\neither party that the reverse holds true as well. The Orthodox\nCross has but two beams, while that of the Raskolnik has four,\nand is made of four woods--cypress, cedar, palm, and olive; the\nlatter, too, repeats his Allelujah thrice, the Orthodox but twice.\nSuch are the points to which in all probability, the peopling of\nthe outlying portions of the Empire of the Tsars is due.\n\nThe Raskolniks have set a far higher value upon education than the\nOrthodox; the instruction given in their settlements often sheds\na strong light upon the darkness of Orthodox ignorance around, and\nwith the spread of education so does the sect extend and multiply.\nTheir house can generally be distinguished by cleanliness, the\npresence of many Eicons, brass and silver crosses, and ancient\nbooks; its mistress by her greater thoughtfulness and capability.\nOld Believers are always glad to seize the opportunity, given so\nwell by the long northern winter, with its almost endless night,\nof reading, and on their shelves are seen translations of our best\nauthors, from whom, perhaps, it is that they have taken their advanced\npolitical views, and the outcome of whose perusal is that the hunter\nand fisherman will often propound to one questions which show a\nmind well trained in logical thought. The Raskolnik is generally\nfairly well to do, for, like the Quaker and the Puritan, he finds\na turn for business not incompatible with religious exercise, and\nto this is in part due the superiority and comfort of their homes.\nMost of them in the far North are fishers and hunters, sealers and\nsailors, and in these and kindred trades they make use of better\nand more modern appliances than their neighbours, and so generally\nrealize more for their commodities.\n\nFar from civilization, in the impenetrable forests of the great\nlone land of Archangel, the fugitive Raskolniks were able to found\nretreats for themselves, untroubled and unobserved; these refuges\nstill exist, and are called \"Obitel\" or cells. In the district of\nMezen there are many such establishments, both for men and women;\namong the former the Anuphief Hermitage, or cells of Koida, stand\nin a splendid position, on the banks of both lake and river Koida,\nsome 100 versts in summer by river, and 50 in winter, over ice,\nfrom the town of that name.\n\nOn Nonconformist, as on Orthodox, is laid the burden of severe\nfasting; as Master Chancellour tells us, in 1553, \"This people\nhath four Lents,\"--indeed, the eating working year is reduced to\nsome 130 days. In the North, where vegetables and berries are few\nand fruit non-existent, the Mujik is left to fast on \"_treska_,\"\nrotten codfish--and the condition of the man who begins Lent underfed\nis indeed pitiable when he ends it. The endurance of the Old Believer\nis marvellous; no offer of food will tempt him from what he considers\nhis duty.\n\nLet us turn our attention from the Raskolniks, or Old Believers\nof the far North, who, as we have seen, so literally \"forsook all\"\nfor their ancient Faith, to some few of the many new, or lately\ndeveloped creeds whose followers are seeking after truth with equal\nearnestness and vigour, but along very different lines. Sect begets\nsect in the world of theology, much as cell begets cell in the\neconomy of life. Change seems the active principle of all dissent;\nnew cults are forever springing up in the mystic childlike minds of\nthe Tsar's great peasant family, nor could one expect uniformity\nof confession, when the size and neighbours of that family are\nconsidered, for Mohammedan, Protestant, Catholic, Buddhist, and\nShamanist surround it, are made subject to it, and eventually become\na part thereof. A Mosque stands opposite the Orthodox church in\nthe great square which forms the centre of Nijni-Novgorod, a Roman\nCatholic and a German Lutheran church almost face the magnificent\nKazan Cathedral, in the Nevski-Prospekt of St. Petersburg. The\nwaiters of nearly all restaurants, from Archangel to Baku, are\nMohammedan Tartars, the Jew is in every market-place, the native\nheathen races, Lapp, Samoyede, Ostiac, Yakout, and a score of others,\nare closely connected by the bonds of commerce: can it be wondered\nat if the ideas of the peasant become tinted by his surroundings?\n\nIt cannot be gainsaid that the lifelessness and emptiness of the\nState Church, with its hireling and often ignorant priesthood,\nfails to satisfy the great mind of Russia--the peasant mind--but\nnow awakening from its long infant slumber, as did the mind of\nWestern Europe three centuries ago. Next perhaps to the extreme\nliteralness with which the Mujik interprets Holy Writ, this\ndissatisfaction with the official Church is the greatest cause of\nthe grip which the chameleon-like \"dissent\" has taken hold of the\npopular mind. With very few exceptions--notably the Skoptsy--the\n150 sects which are stated to exist within the pale of Christianity\nand the borders of the Empire of the Tsar, begin and end with the\nMujik; the official world is of necessity Orthodox, the wealthy\nworld careless, and this fact, of the peasant origin and development\nof the denominations, must be carefully borne in mind when attempting\nto form any idea of the widely different meanings and shades of\nmeaning which have been put upon the one Bible story.\n\nOf the strictly rational, and more or less Protestant, portion\nof Russian dissent, the Dukhobortsy, or \"Wrestlers with the Holy\nSpirit,\" and their descendants in the faith, the Molokans, or \"Milk\nDrinkers,\" are perhaps the best known to us, from the fact of their\nhaving emigrated to English-speaking lands, and from the valiant\nchampioning of their cause by Count L. D. Tolstoi. They form the\nantithesis of the Old Believers, as is well set forth in the\nconversation between A. Leroy-Beauleau (in the _Empire of the Tsars_)\nand a fisherman of the persuasion, who said, \"The Raskolniks would\ngo to the block for the sign of the Cross with two fingers. As\nfor us, we don't cross ourselves at all, either with two fingers\nor with three, but we strive to gain a better knowledge of God\";\nand, indeed, his words may stand for a declaration of the simple\nfaith of his people, for their worship is marked by a deep contempt\nfor tradition, dogma, and ceremony. They have even done away with\nthe church, and, as a rule, use the house of their elders as a\nmeeting-place. Communion has been simplified away, marriage reduced\nto a simple declaration, and invocation of God's blessing, the\npriesthood question, the rock which first split the Old Faith,\nsolved by making every man a priest in his own family: surely their\nmotto, \"The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life,\" has been\nwell acted up to. Indeed, the whole theology of the Dukhobortsy\nmay be summed up as a bold attempt to depart from the empty Greek\nformalism and arrive at a spiritual and unconventional worship,\nan enlargement of the outline given in the shortest and grandest\nof sermons.\n\nThe Molokani are said to have obtained this name from taking milk\nand butter during fast times when they are forbidden to the Orthodox,\nbut more probably from the fact of their having colonies on either\nbank of the river Molochnaia, so called from the whiteness of its\nwaters, due to potassium salts. They are very closely akin to the\nDukhobortsy, of which sect they are an offshoot. They hope for a\nmillennium, and to this end tend all their communistic experiments;\nfor each of their village settlements is striving to manufacture\nits own earthly Paradise and run it on its own lines.\n\n[Illustration: SHRINE IN THE CONVENT SOLOVETSKII, KOLA.]\n\nThe Stunda is perhaps the largest and most rapidly developing faction\nof nonconformity, for it has ramified from Odessa--its starting\npoint--throughout Tsarland, save in the extreme north and north-east.\nThis faith can be traced directly to the influence of certain Lutherans\nwho emigrated from Wuertemberg and settled in the fruitful\n\"_tchenoziom_,\" or black earth lands, some half-century ago. The\nStundist organization is much like that of the \"Low Church\" division\nof Protestantism, save that it has no ordained clergy, a body whom\nit regards as a somewhat expensive luxury, and replaces by elected\nelders, who lead the very simple services, at which any man or\nwoman who feels called upon to do so may say what he or she will.\nThese gatherings are more prayer-meetings than services, for there\nis no \"Form of Prayer\" to be used, but simply informal prayer,\npraise and song in the best room of a farmhouse, though, now that\nthe Government are not so strict in their search after heretics,\nregular wooden \"meeting-houses\" have appeared in some of the Stundist\nvillages.\n\nIf few of the rational sects have committed their history and their\nviews, or indeed their creeds, to writing, lest they should fall\ninto the hands of spies and be used in evidence against them, much\nmore is this the case with those whose search after truth has led\nthem to forsake the lines of rationalism and enter the land of\nmysticism and spiritualism. But two of these mystic schisms need\nwe touch upon in this article, in order to show to what lengths\nthe Mujik will go in his efforts to escape from the trammels of\nOrthodoxy, and with what logic he will follow up any given line of\nthought. Most of the irrational sects are older than those already\nmentioned, and do not seem to have their roots in other lands,\nbut to be the expression of the Mujik's own mind in its waking\nmoments: thus the \"Khlystsy\"--the name is a nickname taken from\nthe word \"Khlyst\" (a whip)--date back to the early days of the\nSeventeenth Century. They hold that Christ has made and still makes\nrepeated appearances on earth and in Russia, and indeed they are\nseldom without an incarnate God present with them in flesh and\nblood.\n\nThe Khlystsy meet by night, with the utmost secrecy, and are reported\nto dance, after the manner of the Dervishes, with ever-increasing\nrapidity, until their feelings are worked up to such a pitch that\nthey are able to receive messages of inspiration, which they shout\nout to their fellows. If one of their number has a fit--not an\nuncommon event in some communes where close intermarriage among\nrelations has been the practice for generations--he is safe to be\nregarded as an inspired messenger and duly honoured as such. Charges\nof every kind of vice have been laid at the door of the Khlystsy;\ntheir secret services have been called cloaks for immorality, and\ndoubtless on occasion have been used as such; but, as the character\nof their congregation stands for high honesty and industry, it\nis surely more charitable to assume that their worst feature is\ntheir extreme secrecy, and that this, when added to the hatred of\northodox marriage which the sect shows, lies at the base of most\nof the accusations. Closely connected with these dancing Khlystsy\nare the jumping Shakuny, whose jumps are said to increase in height\nas do the circular movements of the former, until the proper state\nof mind for inspired prophecy is reached.\n\nAmong the stockbrokers and money-changers of Russian cities, as\nwell as among peasants, may be seen the pale and almost hairless\nface, wavering voice, and mild manner of the \"Skopets\" who has put\nin practice upon himself the strange doctrine of self-mutilation.\nThese \"White Doves\" as they call themselves, base their self-sacrifice\nupon the literal rendering of such texts as, \"If thy right eye\noffend thee, pluck it out,\" \"Except a man become as a little child,\nhe shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven,\" and argue that in\norder to be pleasing to God, man--and in some instances woman--must\nbecome like the angels, whom they assert to be sexless, on the\nground that \"they neither marry nor are given in marriage.\"\n\nWe notice the hold which religion, in its vast variety of forms,\nhas over the popular mind of Russia. No one who has visited, however\ncasually, a Russian city can doubt this; the icon hangs in the\nstation office, and men bow to it, the cabman crosses himself ere\nhe drives over a bridge; shrines are interposed between shops, many\nof which latter are devoted to the sale of crucifixes, swinging\nlamps and sacred pictures; green cupolas and golden crosses gleam\nagainst the sky, look which way you will. So it is in the village,\nthe white wooden church stands out in front of the black wooden\nhouses, crosses are placed in the cattle pastures to ward off evil\nspirits, the folk cross themselves if they yawn, lest \"chort,\"\nthe devil jump in at their mouth, and the drunkard, at the tavern\ndoor, kneels and uncovers as the procession passes on its way, may\nbe to bless the waters but now released from the winter grip of\nice, or may be to leave some neighbour in the communal graveyard.\nWe notice, too, the stern logic with which the peasant theologian\nfollows up the ideas of his sect, how he works out his own salvation\nalong lines which he himself lays down, and in so doing invents\nsome new creed almost daily; for a Russian newspaper can hardly\never be taken up without seeing the discovery of such in one corner\nor other of the vast Empire. That he has the full courage of his\nopinions, that he will suffer for conscience' sake--Russian officials\nonly know how bitterly--that he will lay down his life, or--almost\nequal sacrifice for him--forsake his land and \"_izba_,\" and face\nthe future among the wild native races which bound European Tsarland\non its north and east--not so very long ago--he suffered the knout\nand the stake rather than recant one iota of what he thinks to be\nthe only true rendering of the Biblical text, all this must in\ncommon fairness be allowed to the poor Russian.\n\n\n\n\n_ST. PETERSBURG_\n\n_J. BEAVINGTON ATKINSON_\n\nCronstadt, the strong fortress which stopped the advance of the\nEnglish squadron in the last Russian war, is as the water-gate of\nSt. Petersburg. A bright July sun made no unpleasing picture of\nthe huge hulks of the men-of-war, and of the many-masted merchant\nships which lay within the harbour, or behind the fortifications.\nPassing Cronstadt the capital soon comes in sight; the water is so\nsmooth and shallow, and the banks are so low, that I was actually\nreminded of the lagoons of Venice. Far away in the distance glittered\nin the sunlight cupola beyond cupola, covered with burnished gold or\nsparkling with bright stars on a blue ground. The river, stretching\nwide as an estuary, was thronged with merchandise as the Tagus or the\nThames: yachts were flying before the wind and steam-tugs laboured\nslowly against the stream, dragging behind the heavily-laden lighter.\nWarehouses and wharfs and timber-yards now begin to line either bank;\nyet the materials for a sketch-book are scanty and uninviting: an\nartist who, like Mr. Whistler, has etched at Battersea and Blackwell,\nwould find by comparison on the Neva the forms without character,\nthe surface without texture, the masses without light, shade, or\ncolour. As the boat advances the imperial city grows in scale and\npomp. The river view becomes imposing, the banks are lined on either\nside by granite quays, which for solidity, strength, and area, have\nno parallel in Europe. Beneath the bridges the unruly river rushes,\nbearing along rafts and merchandise, and in the broad-laid streets\npeople hurry to and fro, as if the day were too short for the press\nof business: only in great commercial capitals, the centres of large\npopulations, is life thus rapid and overburdened. Throughout Russia\ngenerally time hangs heavily, but here at the seat of empire, the\nfocus of commerce, life under high pressure moves at full speed. I\nknow of no European capital, excepting perhaps London and Vienna,\nwhich leaves on the mind so strong an impression of power, wealth,\nand ostentation, as the city of St. Petersburg.\n\nPossibly the first idea which may strike the stranger on driving\nfrom the steamer to the hotel, is the large scale on which the\ncity has been planned; the area of squares and streets seems\nproportioned to the vast dimensions of the Russian empire: indeed\nthe silent solitudes of the city may be said to symbolize the desert\ntracks of central Russia and Siberia. Only on the continent of\nAmerica is so much land at command, so large a sweep of territory\nbrought within the circuit of city life. In the old world, Munich\noffers the closest analogy to St. Petersburg, and that not only\nby wide and half-occupied areas, but by a certain pretentious and\npseudo-classic architecture, common to the two cities alike: the\ndesign of the Hermitage in fact came from Munich. St. Petersburg,\nlike Munich too, has been forced into rapid growth; indeed while\nlooking at the works raised by successive Tsars, I was reminded\nof the boast of Augustus that he found Rome of brick and left her\nof marble.\n\nSt. Petersburg, though sometimes decried as a city of shams, is\ncertainly not surpassed in the way of show by any capital in Europe.\nAs to natural situation she may be said to be at once fortunate and\ninfelicitous: the flatness of the land is not redeemed by fertility,\nthe monotony of the panorama is not broken by mountains; the city\nrides as a raft upon the waters, so heavily freighted as to run the\nrisk of sinking. And yet I know of no capital more imposing when\ntaken from the strong points of view. Almost beyond parallel is the\narray of palaces and public buildings which meets the traveller's eye\nin a walk or sail from the English quay up to the Gardens of the\nSummer Palace. The structures it is true tend a little too much\nof what may be termed buckram and fustian styles; indeed there\nis scarcely a form or a detail which an architect would care to\njot down in his note-book. And yet the general effect is grand:\na big river rushing with large volume of water through the arches\nof bridges, along granite quays and before marble palaces, is a\nnoble and living presence in the midst of city life. The waters of\n\"the great Neva\" and of \"the little Neva\" appear as an omnipresence;\nthe rivers are in the streets, and great buildings, such as the\nAdmiralty, the Fortress, and the Cathedral of St. Peter and St.\nPaul, ride as at anchor on a swelling flood. The views from the\nthree chief bridges--Nicholas Bridge, Palace Bridge, and Troitska\nBridge--are eminently palatial and imperial. The Academy of Arts,\nthe Academy of Sciences, St. Isaac's Cathedral, the Admiralty,\nthe Winter Palace, the Hermitage, and the fortress and cathedral\nof St. Peter and St. Paul, give to the stranger an overpowering\nimpression of the wealth and the strength of the empire. The Englishman,\nwhile standing on these bridges, will naturally recall analogous\npositions on the river Thames; such comparison is not wholly to the\ndisadvantage of the northern capital, yet on the banks of the Neva\nrise no structures which in architectural design equal St. Paul's\nCathedral, Somerset House, Westminster Abbey, and the Houses of\nParliament. Indeed, with the exception of the spire of the Admiralty,\nI did not find in St. Petersburg a single new idea.\n\n[Illustration: ST. PETERSBURG.]\n\nOf the famous Nevski-Prospekt, the chief street in St. Petersburg,\nit may be said as of our London Regent Street, that it can stand\nneither weather nor criticism. As to style of architecture, strictly\nspeaking the Nevski-Prospekt has none: the buildings, consisting\nof shops, interspersed with a few churches and public edifices,\nso much partake of the modern and mongrel Italian manner, that\nthe traveller might easily fancy himself in Paris, Brussels, or\nTurin. Few cities are so pretentious in outside appearances as\nSt. Petersburg, and yet the show she makes is that of the whited\nsepulchre: false construction and rottenness of material, facades\nof empty parade, and plaster which feigns to be stone, constitute\nan accumulative dishonesty which has few parallels in the history\nof architecture. Classic pillars and porticos, which have been\nthrust in everywhere on slightest pretext, are often built up of\nbrick covered with cement and coloured yellow. Columns, here the\ncommon and constant expedient, are mostly mismanaged; they are as\nit were gratuitous intrusions, they seem to be stuck on, they fail\nto compose with the rest of the building. Neither do the architects\nof St. Petersburg understand mouldings or the value of shadow, there\nis scarcely a moulding in the city which casts a deep, broad or\ndelicate shadow: hence the facades look flat and thin as if built\nof cards. In the same way the details are poor and treated without\nknowledge; it thus happens that conceptions bold and grand are\ncarried out incompletely. The great mistake is that the architects\nhave made no attempt to gather together the scattered elements of a\nnational style. With the noteworthy exception of the use of fine,\nfanciful and fantastic domes, often gilt or brightly coloured, the\narchitecture of Russian capitals is either Classic or Renaissance\nof the most commonplace description.\n\nI shall not think it worth while to dwell on the very many churches\nwhich adorn the northern capital, because, with few exceptions,\nthere is nothing in point of art which merits to be recorded. Yet\nI can scarcely refrain from again referring to the fine fantasy\nplayed by many-coloured domes against the blue sky. The forms are\nbeautiful, the colours decorative. The city in its sky outline\npresents a succession of strange pictures, at one point the eye\nmight seem to range across a garden of gourds, at other positions\npeer above house-tops groups which might be mistaken for turbaned\nTurks; and when the sun shines vividly, and throws glittering light\non the \"patens of bright gold,\" over these many-domed churches,\na stranger might almost fancy that above the city floated fire\nballoons or bright-coloured lanterns. The large cupola of St. Isaac,\ncovered with copper overlaid with gold, has been said to burn on\na bright day like the sun when rising on a mountain top. I can\nnever forget the sight when I returned to St. Petersburg from the\nmost brilliant civic and military spectacle I ever witnessed, the\nfete of the Empress at Tsarskoe Selo. It was still dark, but before\nI reached my hotel for the short repose of a night which already\nbrightened into morning, every cupola on the way was awakening\ninto daylight; the sun, hesitating for a moment on the horizon,\nannounced his coming as by electric light on the golden stars which\nshone on domes more blue than the grey sky of morning. In Moscow\nchurch cupolas playa part in the city panorama still more conspicuous\nthan in St. Petersburg.\n\nThe Cathedral of St. Isaac is the most costly and pretentious of\nRussian churches. The noble edifice has the advantage of a commanding\nsituation; not, it is true, as to elevation--for that is impossible\nin a city set throughout on a dead level--but the surface area in\nits wide sweeping circuit at all events contrasts strikingly with\nthat cribbed and cabined church-yard of St. Paul's in London, which\nthe Englishman may have just left behind him. Yet St. Isaac's can\nscarcely venture on comparison with St. Paul's, though the style of\nthe two buildings is similar. The great Cathedral of St. Petersburg\nhas, however, the advantage of that concentration which belongs to\nthe Greek as distinguished from the Latin Cross, a distinction\nwhich has always been to the disadvantage of St. Peter's in Rome.\nA cross of four equal arms, with columned porticos mounted nobly\non steps at the four extremities, the whole composition crowned by\ncentral and surrounding cupolas, is assuredly an imposing conception,\nof which the French artist M. Montferrand has known how to make\nthe most. I may here, by way of parenthesis, remark that the two\nworks which do most honour to St. Petersburg, the Cathedral of\nSt. Isaac and the adjacent equestrian statue of Peter the Great,\nare severally due not to Russian but to French artists. This is\none example among many of the foreign origin of the arts in Russia.\nBut at all events let it be admitted that the materials used, as\nwell as the ideas often brought to bear, are local or national. For\nexample, the grandest of all architectural conceptions, the idea\nof a dome, is here glorified in true Russian or Oriental manner,\nnot so much by magnitude of proportion as by decorative splendour,\nheightened to the utmost by a surface of burnished gold. Then the\nfour porticos which terminate each end of the Greek cross with\nstately columns and entablatures of granite from Finland, albeit\nin design mere commonplace complications, are wholly national in\nthe material used. I do not now stop to mention the large and bold\nreliefs in bronze, which though French in design were, I believe,\ncast in St. Petersburg: indeed here, as in Munich, the government\nmakes that liberal provision which only governments can make, for\nnoble but unremunerative art. The great dome is said to be sustained\nby iron; indeed the science of construction brought to bear is great,\nyet again it must be acknowledged that whether the material be\niron, bronze, or stone, the art, the skill, and even the commercial\ncapital, are not Russian but foreign, and often English. Russian\nworkmen, however, are employed as mechanics or machines, partly\nbecause in copyism and mechanism Russian artisans cannot throughout\nEurope be surpassed. When I got to St. Petersburg I could scarcely\nbelieve the statement to be true that the \"English Magazine\" and\nnot any Russian factory had executed the eight stupendous malachite\npillars within the church, weighing about 34,000 pounds and costing\nL2,500 sterling. Yet while the organization might be English, the\noperatives were Russians. The unsurpassed malachite pillars combine\nin the grand altar-screen with columns of lapis-lazuli: the latter\nare said to have cost per pair L12,000 sterling. I need scarcely\nobserve that this parade of precious metals partakes more of barbaric\nmagnificence than of artistic taste; indeed these columns of malachite\nand lapis-lazuli, which to the eye present themselves as solid and\nhonest, have been built up as incrustations on hollow cast-iron\ntubes. Thus hollow are the most precious arts of Russia. Justice,\nhowever, demands that I should speak hereafter in fair appreciation\nof the interiors of Russian churches, whereof the Cathedral of\nSt. Isaac is among the chief. Nevertheless, material rather than\nmind, money rather than art, is the governing power; malachite,\nlapis-lazuli, gold, and other precious substances are heaped together\nprofusely, yet no architect in Europe of the slightest intellectual\npretensions, would care to look a second time at the constructive\nor decorative conceptions which the churches of St. Petersburg\ndisplay. St. Isaac's in fact is miraculous only in its monoliths.\nI could scarcely believe my eyes when first I stood beneath the\nstately porticos and looked from top to bottom of the very many\ncolumns, seven feet in diameter and sixty feet high, all polished\ngranite monoliths from Finland. Already I had made the assertion\nthat there was nothing new in St. Petersburg when these granite\nmonoliths at once compelled a recantation.\n\nThe monoliths in St. Petersburg are so exceptional in number and\noften so gigantic in dimension as to call for special mention. The\nmonolith obelisks of ancient Egypt are scarcely more remarkable.\nIn addition to the magnificent columns, each sixty feet high, which\nsustain the four porticos of the Cathedral of St. Isaac, are fifty-six\nmonoliths, also of granite from Finland, thirty-five feet high\nin the Kazan Cathedral; likewise the noble entrance-hall of the\nHermitage is sustained by sixteen monoliths, and the magnificent\nroom which receives the treasures from the Cimmerian Bosphorus has\nthe support of twenty monoliths. But the greatest single block of\nmodern times stands in front of the Winter Palace, as a monument\nto Alexander I. The height is eighty-four feet, and the weight\nnearly four hundred tons. The story goes that the contractor in\nFinland, finding that he had exceeded the required length, actually\ncut off ten or fifteen feet. The vast granite quarries of Finland\nsupply the Tsars with these stupendous columns, just as the granite\nquarries of Syene on the Nile furnished the Pharaohs with obelisks.\nThese enormous masses are too heavy to be conveyed on wheels, the\nonly practicable mode of transit is on rollers. In this way each of\nthe sixty-feet columns for St. Isaac's was transported across country\nall the way from Finland. Each column represents so incredible an\namount of labour as to make it evident that monoliths are luxuries\nin which only emperors can indulge. And even when these heavy weights\nhave reached their destination the difficulty next occurs how to\nsecure a solid foundation. St. Petersburg was once a swamp, and so\nrotten is the ground that it would be quite possible for a monolith\nto sink out of sight and never more be heard of. To provide against\nsuch contingencies a forest of piles was driven into the earth at\nthe cost of L200,000 as the foundation of St. Isaac, and yet the\ncathedral sinks. Like causes render the roads of St. Petersburg\nthe worst in Europe; winter frosts, which penetrate several feet\nbelow the surface, seize on the imprisoned waters and tear up the\nstreets. The surface thus broken is so destructive to wheels that\nI have known an Englishman, who, though he kept four carriages,\nhad not one in a condition to use. The jolting on the roads is so\ngreat as to make it wise for a traveller to hold on fast, and when\na lady and gentleman ride side by side, it is usual for the gentleman\nto protect the lady by throwing his arm round his companion's waist.\nThis delicate attention is so much of a utilitarian necessity as\nin no way to imply further obligations.\n\nSt. Petersburg is considerably indebted to the art of sculpture:\npublic monuments adorn her squares and gardens. Indeed the art of\nsculpture has, like the sister arts of architecture and painting,\nbeen forced into preternatural proportions. In the large area within\nsight of the church of St. Isaac and of the Admiralty, stands\nconspicuously one of the few successful equestrian statues in modern\nor ancient times, the colossal bronze to Peter the Great. The huge\nblock of granite, which is said to weigh upwards of 15,000 tons, was\nconveyed from a marsh, four miles distance from St. Petersburg, by\nmeans of ropes, pulleys, and windlasses, worked by men and horses.\nA drummer stationed on the rock itself gave the signal for onward\nmovement. It would seem that the methods used in Russia to this\nday for transporting granite monoliths, are curiously similar to\nthe appliances of the ancient Egyptians for moving like masses. In\npoint of art this equestrian statue, though grand in conception,\nis, after the taste of barbarous nations, colossal in size. Peter\nthe Great is eleven feet in stature, the horse is seventeen feet\nhigh. The nobility lies in the action, the horse rears on his hind\nlegs after the favourite manner of Velasquez in well-known equestrian\nportraits of Ferdinand IV. The attitude assumed by the great Emperor\nis triumphant, the fiery steed has dashed up the rock and pauses as\nin mid-air on the brink of the precipice. The idea is that Peter\nthe Great surveys from the height the capital of his creation, as\nit may be supposed to rise from the waters. His hand is stretched\nforth for the protection of the city. This work, like many other\nproud achievements in the empire, unfortunately is not Russian.\nThe design is due to the Frenchman Falconet; Marie Callot is said\nto have modelled the head, and the casting was done by Martelli,\nan Italian. Falconet, in order to be true to the life, carefully\nstudied again and again a fine Arab horse, mounted by a Russian\ngeneral who was famous as a rider; the general day by day made a\nrush up a mound, artificially constructed for the purpose, and when\njust short of the precipice the horse was reined in and thrown on\nits hind legs. The artist watched the action and made his studies;\nthe work accordingly has nature, movement, vigour. I may here mention\nthat I have nowhere found such large masses of stone conveyed from\nplace to place as here in St. Petersburg. It is true I have seen\nmarble fresh from the mountains of Carrara tugged along by teams\nof bullocks, but I have nowhere witnessed so much power brought to\nbear as in the transit of the granite used in the immense memorial\nto the Empress Catherine.\n\nThe art collections in St. Petersburg may give the traveller pleasant\noccupation for several weeks; indeed if the tourist be an art student\nhe will find work for months. The Winter Palace, adjoining the\nHermitage, on the Neva, is like the palace at Versailles, conspicuous\nfor rooms or galleries commemorative of military exploits. Here\nare well-painted battle-pieces by Willewalde and Kotzbue, also\nnaval engagements by Aivasovsky, highly coloured as a matter of\ncourse. Likewise are hung the best battle-pieces I have ever seen,\nby Peter Hess, the renowned Bavarian painter, who appears to less\ncredit in Munich than in the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg. Also\nmay be noted the portrait of Alexander I. by Dawe, the Englishman,\nwho worked much in Russia. Here likewise is the imperial gallery\nof portraits of all the sovereigns of the reigning Russian house.\nI pass over these multitudinous works thus briefly, because, though\nthe collection is of importance in the history of the empire, it\nhas little value in art.\n\n\"The Crown Jewels\" I shall not attempt to describe; no description\nof jewels can be worth much. I may venture to say, however, that\nafter seeing all the royal jewellery in Europe, I found these Russian\ncrowns, sceptres, etc., richer in diamonds than any other. Also\npearls, rubies, Siberian aqua-marines, etc., add colour and splendour\nto the imperial treasure. The comparison on the spot, which I not\nunnaturally instituted, was with the imperial treasury at Vienna.\nNext, a word may be given to the room in which the proud, stern,\nand unrelenting Nicholas died, where all is kept intact as he left\nit. I have seldom been more impressed than with this small, simple,\nand almost penurious apartment, so striking in contrast with the\nsplendour of the rest of the palace. Silence, solitude, and solemnity\nall the more attach to the spot from the statement to which credence\nis given that the great emperor, on learning of the reverses in\nthe Crimea, here committed suicide. In other words, it is said\nthat he directed his physician to prepare a medicine which after\nhaving taken he died. The sword, helmet, and grey military cloak\nare where he laid them. Here lies a historic tragedy which remains\nto be painted; one of the most dramatic pictorial scenes in Europe,\nthe death of Wallenstein in Schiller's drama, painted by Professor\nPiloty and now in the new Pinakothek, Munich, might in the death\nof the great Nicholas find a parallel. The emperor lies buried\nwith all the sovereigns of Russia since the foundation of St.\nPetersburg, in the cathedral fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul.\nNothing in Europe is grander in the simplicity and silence which\nbefit a sepulchre--not even the imperial tombs in Vienna--than\nthis stately mausoleum of the Tsars. The Emperor Nicholas lies\nopposite to Peter the Great. In the Hermitage, or rather in the\nWinter Palace, is a gallery illustrative of the life and labours of\nPeter the Great. The collection, besides turning-lathes and other\ninstruments with which the monarch worked, contains curiosities,\nknickknacks, as well as some works of real art value: the connecting\npoint of the whole collection is in Peter himself. An analogous\ncollection was some years ago opened in the Louvre as the Museum\nof Napoleon I. Dynasties all the world over thus seek to perpetuate\ntheir memories.\n\n[Illustration: THE HERMITAGE, ST. PETERSBURG.]\n\nThe Academy of Fine Arts is a noble institution, imposing in its\narchitecture, and richly endowed. The Corps des Mines must also\nbe visited, the collection of minerals proves the amazing riches\nof European and Asiatic Russia. I wish I had knowledge and space\nto describe this unexampled collection, which though not falling\nwithin my art province has direct art relations. Nothing beauteous\nor wondrous in nature lies beyond the sphere of art; the forms of\ncrystals, the colours of precious stones are specially objects of\ndelight to the artist's eye. The Imperial Public Library is one of\nthe richest libraries in Europe; its literary treasures can hardly\nbe overrated; I regret that I cannot enter into its contents. Private\ncollections, though scarcely numerous, are choice; the celebrated\nLeuchtenberg Gallery, formerly in Munich, is the richest. The royal\nresidences of Peterhof and Tsarshoe Selo I also found to contain\nmuch in the way of art, and yet scarcely of sufficient importance\nto need special description.\n\nThe Imperial Hermitage alone repays a journey to St. Petersburg;\nfor a whole fortnight I visited almost every day the picture and\nsculpture galleries of this vast and rich museum, and in the end\nI left with the feeling that I had done but inadequate justice\nto these valuable and exhaust-less collections. I am tolerably\nwell acquainted with the great museums in the south and west of\nEurope, and I was interested to find that the Hermitage does not\nsuffer by comparison with the Vatican, the Museum of Naples, the\nGalleries of Florence, the Louvre in Paris, or the Great Picture\nGallery in Madrid. In some departments, indeed, St. Petersburg has\nthe advantage over other capitals; the collection of gold ornaments\nfrom Kertch is not surpassed by the gold work in the Etruscan room of\nthe Vatican; the coins are not inferior to the numismatic collections\nin Paris, or in the British Museum; the Dutch pictures are not\nto be equalled save in Holland or in Dresden; the Spanish school\nhas no competitor save in Madrid and Seville; the portraits by\nVandyck, and the sketches by Rubens, are only surpassed in England\nand Bavaria. It is thus obvious that the collective strength of\nthe assembled collections, is very great. The picture galleries\ncontain more than 1,500 works; the number of drawings is upwards\nof 500, the coins and medals amount to 200,000, the painted vases\nare above 1,700, the ancient marbles number 361, and the collection\nof gems is one of the largest in existence. The Hermitage has been\nenriched partly to the prejudice of other cities or palaces. From the\nTauris Palace came classic sculpture. Tsarshoe Selo also furnished\ncontributions. The policy has been to make one astounding museum,\nwhich shall represent not a capital but an empire, and stand before\nthe world as the exponent of the wealth, the resource, and the\nrefined taste of the nation and its rulers.\n\n\n\n\n_FINLAND_\n\n_HARRY DE WINDT_\n\n\"What sort of a place is Finland?\" asked a friend whom I met, on\nmy return from that country, in London. \"Very much the same as\nLapland, I suppose? Snow, sleighs, and bears, and all that kind\nof thing?\"\n\nMy friend was not singular in his idea, for they are probably those\nof most people in England. At present Finland is a _terra incognita_,\nthough fortunately not likely to remain one. Nevertheless, it will\nprobably take years to eradicate a notion that one of the most\nattractive and advanced countries in Europe, possessed in summer\nof the finest climate in the world, is not the eternal abode of\npoverty, cold, and darkness. It was just the same before the railway\nopened up Siberia and revealed prosperous cities, fertile plains,\nand boundless mineral resources to an astonished world. A decade\nago my return from this land of civilization, progress, and, above\nall, humanity was invariably met by the kind of question that heads\nthis chapter, with the addition, as a rule, of facetious allusions\nto torture and the knout! My ignorance, however, of Finland as\nshe really is was probably unsurpassed before my eyes were opened\nby a personal inspection, so I cannot afford to criticise.\n\nWhat is Finland, and what are its geographical and climatic\ncharacteristics? I will try to answer these questions briefly and\nclearly without wearying the reader with statistics. In the first\nplace, Finland (in Finnish, \"Suomi\") is about the size of Great\nBritain, Holland, and Belgium combined, with a population of about\n2,500,000. Its southern and western shores are washed by the Baltic\nSea, while Lake Ladoga and the Russian frontier form the eastern\nboundary. Finland stretches northward far beyond the head of the\nGulf of Bothnia, where it joins Norwegian territory. There are\nthirty-seven towns, of which only seven have a population exceeding\n10,000, viz., Helsingfors, Abo, Tammerfors, Viborg, Uleaborg, Vasa\n(Nikolaistad), and Bjorneborg.\n\nFinland is essentially a flat country, slightly mountainous towards\nthe north, but even her highest peak (Haldesjock, in Finnish Lapland)\nis under 4,000 feet in height. South of this a hill of 300 feet\nis called a mountain; therefore Alpine climbers have no business\nhere. The interior may be described as an undulating plateau largely\ncomposed of swamp and forest, broken with granite rocks and gravel\nridges and honeycombed with the inland waters known as \"The Thousand\nLakes\" (although ten thousand would be nearer the mark), one of\nwhich is three times the size of the Lake of Geneva. The rivers\nare small and unimportant, the largest being only about the size\nof the Seine. On the other hand, the numerous falls and rapids on\neven the smallest streams render their ascent in boats extremely\ndifficult and often impossible. But lakes and canals are the natural\nhighways of the country; rivers are only utilized as a motive power\nfor electricity, manufactories, and for conveying millions of logs\nof timber yearly from the inland forests to the sea. A curious fact\nis that, although many parts of the interior are far below the\nlevel of the Baltic, the latter is gradually but surely receding\nfrom the coast, and many hitherto submerged islets off the latter\nhave been left high and dry by the waves. You may now in places\nwalk from one island to another on dry land, which, fifty years ago,\nwas many fathoms under water, while signs of primitive navigation\nare constantly being discovered as far as twenty miles inland!\nIt is therefore probable that the millions of islands which now\nfringe these shores, formed, at some remote period, one continuous\nstrip of land. How vessels ever find their way, say from Hangoe to\nNystad, is a mystery to the uninitiated landsman. At a certain\nplace there are no less than 300 islands of various sizes crowded\ninto an area of six square miles! Heaven preserve the man who finds\nhimself there, in thick weather, with a skipper who does not quite\nknow the ropes!\n\nThe provinces of which the Grand Duchy is composed are as follows,\nrunning from north to south: (1) Finnish Lapland, (2) Ostrobothnia,\n(3) Satakunta, (4) Tavastland, (5) Savolax, (6) Karelia, (7) Finland\nproper, (8) Nyland, and (9) the Aland Islands.\n\nFinnish Lapland may be dismissed without comment, for it is a wild,\nbarren region, sparsely populated by nomad tribes, and during the\nsummer is practically impassable on account of its dense forests,\npathless swamps, and mosquitoes of unusual size and ferocity. In\nwinter-time journeys can be made quickly and pleasantly in sledges\ndrawn by reindeer, but at other times the country must be crossed\nin cranky canoes by means of a network of lakes and rivers; and\nthe travelling is about as tough as monotony, short rations, and\ndirt can make it. I am told that gold has lately been discovered\nthere, but it would need a considerable amount of the precious\nmetal to tempt me into Finnish Lapland in summer-time.\n\nOstrobothnia, which lies immediately south of this undesirable\ndistrict, contains the towns of Tornea and Uleaborg. We will pass\non to the provinces of Central Finland, viz., Tavastland, Savolax,\nand Karelia. The Finns say that this is the heart of their country,\nwhile Helsingfors and Tammerfors constitute its brains. So crowded\nand complicated is the lake system in this part of Finland that\nwater almost overwhelms dry land, and the district has been likened\nto one huge archipelago. Forests abound, especially in Tavastland,\nwhence timber is exported in large quantities, while agriculture\nflourishes in all these provinces. Crops are generally grown in\nthe valleys, while in other parts the sides and summits of the\nhills are usually selected for cultivation. Large tracts of country\nabout here once laid out for arable are now converted into grazing\ngrounds, for the number of cattle is yearly on the increase.\nDairy-farming is found to be more profitable and less risky than\nthe raising of wheat and barley in a land where one night of frost\nsometimes destroys the result of a whole year's patient care and\nlabour. The land is cleared for cultivation by felling and burning,\nand it is then ploughed in primitive fashion and sown, but only\none harvest is generally gathered on one spot. The latter is then\ndeserted, and the following year another patch of virgin soil takes\nits place. There is thus a good deal of waste, not only in land,\nbut also in trees, which are wantonly cut down for any trifling\npurpose, regardless of their value or the possible scarcity in\nthe future of timber. Accidental forest fires also work sad havoc\nat times, destroying thousands of pounds' worth of timber in a\nfew hours. Pine resin burns almost as fiercely as petroleum, and\nit sometimes takes days to extinguish a conflagration.\n\nMany of the poorer people in the central provinces live solely\nby fishing in the lakes teeming with salmon, which find a ready\nmarket both salted and fresh. There is plenty of rough shooting to\nbe had for the asking, but no wild animals of any size. In the far\nnorth bears are still numerous, and elk were formerly obtainable.\nA few of the latter still exist in the wilder parts of the country,\nbut it is now forbidden to kill them. Some years ago the forests of\nTavastland were infested with wolves, and during one fatal season\na large number of cattle and even some children were devoured,\nbut a _battue_ organized by the peasantry cleared the brutes out\nof the country. You may now shoot hares here, and any number of\nwild fowl, but that is about all.\n\nThe remainder of Finland consists of Finland proper and Nyland\non the south and south-western coasts, and as these comprise not\nonly the capital, but also the large towns of Abo and Viborg, they\nmay be regarded as the most important, politically, commercially,\nand socially, in the country. Here lakes are still numerous, but\ninsignificant in size compared with those of the interior. On the\nother hand, the vegetation is richer, for the oak, lime, and hazel\ndo well, and the flora, both wild and cultivated, is much more\nextensive than in the central and northern districts. Several kinds\nof fruit are grown, and Nyland apples are famous for their flavour,\nwhile very fair pears, plums, and cherries can be bought cheaply\nin the markets. Currants and gooseberries are, however, sour and\ntasteless. In these southern districts the culture of cereals has\nreached a perfection unknown further north, for the farms are usually\nvery extensive, the farmers up to date, and steam implements in\ngeneral use. Dairy-farming is also carried on with excellent results\nand yearly increasing prosperity. Amongst the towns, Bjorneborg,\nNystad, Hangoe, and Kotka will in a few years rival the capital\nin size and commercial importance.\n\nThe last on the list is the Aland archipelago, which consists of\none island of considerable size surrounded by innumerable smaller\nones, and situated about fifty miles off the south-western coast\nof Finland. Here, oddly enough, Nature has been kinder than almost\nanywhere on the mainland, for although the greater part of the island\nis wild and forest-clad, the eternal pines and silver birch-trees\nare blended with the oak, ash and maple, and bright blossoms such\nas may and hawthorn relieve to a great extent the monotonous green\nfoliage of Northern Europe.\n\nThat the Alander has much of the Swede in his composition is shown\nby the neatness of his dwellings and cleanly mode of life. He is an\namphibious creature, half mariner, half yeoman, a sober, thrifty\nindividual, who spends half of his time at the plough-tail and the\nother half at the helm. Fishing for a kind of small herring called\n\"stroemming\" is perhaps the most important industry, and a lucrative\none, for this fish (salted) is sent all over the country and even\nto Russia proper. Farming is a comparatively recent innovation,\nfor the Alanders are born men of the sea, and were once reckoned the\nfinest sailors in Finland. Less than a century ago Aland harboured\na fine fleet of sailing-ships owned by syndicates formed amongst\nthe peasantry, and engaged in a profitable trade with Great Britain\nand Denmark. But steamers have knocked all this upon the head,\nand the commercial future of the islands would now seem to depend\nchiefly upon the fishing and agricultural industries.\n\nThe population of these Islands is under 25,000, of which the small\ntown of Mariehamm, the so-called capital, contains about 700 souls.\nSteamers touch here, so that there is no difficulty in reaching the\nplace, which is certainly worth a visit not only for its antiquity\n(the Alands were inhabited long before the mainland), but on account\nof the interesting ruins it contains--amongst them the Castle of\nCastelholm, built by Birger Jarl in the Fourteenth Century, and the\ntime-worn walls of which could tell an interesting history. A part\nof the famous fortress of Bomarsund, destroyed by an Anglo-French\nfleet in 1854, may also be seen not far from Mariehamm. Plain but\ndecent fare may be obtained here, but the fastidious will do well\nto avoid the smaller villages, where the Alander's diet generally\nconsists solely of seal-meat, salt fish, bread and milk. A delicacy\neaten with gusto by these people is composed of seal-oil and the\nentrails of sea-birds, and is almost identical with one I saw amongst\nthe Tchuktchis on Bering Straits. And yet the Alanders are cleanly\nenough in their habits and the smallest village has its bath-house.\n\nAt one time Aland was famous for sport, and in olden days Swedish\nsovereigns visited the island to hunt the elk, which were then\nnumerous. But these and most other wild animals are now extinct and\neven wild fowl are scarce. Only one animal appears to thrive,--the\nhedgehog; but the natives do not appear to have discovered its\nedible qualities. An English tramp could enlighten them on this\npoint.\n\n[Illustration: HELSINGFORS, FINLAND]\n\nThe entire population of Finland amounts to rather over 2,500,000,\nincluding a considerable number of Swedes, who are found chiefly\nin the Aland Islands, Nyland, and Finland proper. Helsingfors,\nthe capital, contains over 80,000 souls, and Kemi, the smallest\ntown, near the northern frontier, under 400. Of the other cities,\nAbo has 30,000, Tammerfors, 25,000, and Viborg, 20,000 inhabitants.\nI should add that there is probably no country in creation where\nthe population has so steadily increased, notwithstanding adverse\nconditions, as Finland. After the Russian campaign of 1721 the\ncountry contained barely 250,000 souls, and yet, although continually\nharassed by war and its attendant evils, these had increased thirty\nyears later to 555,000. Fifty years ago the Finns numbered 1,500,000,\nand the latest census shows nearly double these figures, although\nin 1868 pestilence and famine swept off over 100,000 victims.\n\nThe languages spoken in the Grand Duchy are Finnish and Swedish,\nthe former being used by at least eighty-five per cent. of the\npopulation. Russian-speaking inhabitants number about 5,000, while\nthe Lapps amount to 1,000 only, other nationalities to under 3,000.\nAlthough Swedish is largely spoken in the towns, Finnish only is\nheard, as a rule, in the rural districts. There is scarcely any\nnobility in the country, if we except titled Swedish settlers. Most\nFinns belong to the middle class of life, with the exception of a\nfew families ennobled in 1809 by the Tsar of Russia on his accession\nas Grand Duke of Finland. The lower orders are generally quiet and\nreserved in their demeanour, even on festive public occasions, and\nmake peaceable, law-abiding citizens. \"'Arry\" is an unknown quantity\nhere, and \"'Arriet\" does not exist. A stranger will everywhere\nmeet with studied politeness in town and country. Drive along a\ncountry road, and every peasant will raise his hat to you, not\ndeferentially, but with the quiet dignity of an equal. The high\nstandard of education, almost legally exacted from the lowest classes\nin Finland, is unusually high, for the most illiterate plough boy\nmay not marry the girl of his choice until he can read the Bible\nfrom end to end to the satisfaction of his pastor, and the same\nrule applies to the fair sex.\n\nThe climate of Finland is by no means so severe as is generally\nimagined. As a matter of fact, no country of a similar latitude,\nwith the exception of Sweden, enjoys the same immunity from intense\ncold. This is owing to the Gulf Stream, which also imparts its genial\ninfluence to Scandinavia. In summer the heat is never excessive, the\nrainfall is insignificant, and thunderstorms are rare. July is the\nwarmest, and January the coldest month, but the mean temperature of\nHelsingfors in mid-winter has never fallen below that of Astrakhan,\non the Caspian Sea.\n\nThe weather is, however, frequently changeable, and even in summer\nthe thermometer often rises or falls many degrees in the space\nof a few hours. You may sit down to dinner in the open air in\nHelsingfors in your shirt-sleeves, and before coffee is served be\nsending home for a fur coat. But this is an unusual occurrence, for\na summer in Finland has been my most agreeable climatic experience\nin any part of the world.\n\nThe winter is unquestionably hard, and lasts about six months,\nfrom November till the middle of April. At Christmas time the sun\nis only visible for six hours a day. The entire surface of the\ncountry, land, lake, and river, then forms one vast and frozen\nsurface of snow, which may be traversed by means of sledge, snowshoes,\nor ski. A good man on the last-named will easily cover his seven\nmiles an hour. Although tourists generally affect this country\nin the open season, a true Finlander loves the winter months as\nmuch as he dislikes the summer. In his eyes boredom, heat, and\nmosquitoes are a poor exchange for merry picnics on ski, skating\ncontests, and sledge expeditions by starlight with pretty women and\ngay companions, to say nothing of the nightly balls and theatre and\nsupper parties. Helsingfors is closed to navigation from November\nuntil June, for the sea forms an icy barrier around the coast of\nFinland, now no longer impenetrable, thanks to the ice-breakers at\nHangoe. In the north the Gulf of Bothnia is frozen for even longer.\n\nTowards April winter shows signs of departure. By the middle of\nMay ice and snow have almost disappeared, except in the north,\nwhere Uleaborg is, climatically, quite three weeks behind any of\nthe southern towns. Before the beginning of June verdure and foliage\nhave reappeared in all their luxuriance, and birds and flowers\nonce more gladden field and forest with perfume and song. Even now\nan occasional shower of sleet besprinkles the land, only to melt\nin a few minutes, and leave it fresher and greener than before.\nMay and June are, perhaps, the best months, for July and August\nare sometimes too warm to be pleasant. October and November are\ngloomy and depressing. Never visit Finland in the late autumn, for\nthe weather is then generally dull and overcast, while cold, raw\nwinds, mist and sleet, are not the exception. Midwinter and midsummer\nare the most favourable seasons, which offer widely different but\nequally favourable conditions for the comfort and amusement of\nthe traveller.\n\nAnd, if possible, choose the former, if only for one reason. No\none who has ever witnessed the unearthly beauty of a summer night\nin Finland is likely to forget it. The Arctic Circle should, of\ncourse, be crossed to witness the midnight sun in all its glory,\nbut I doubt if the quiet _crepuscule_ (I can think of no other\nword) of the twilit hours of darkness is not even more weird and\nfascinating viewed from amid silent streets and buildings than\nfrom the sullen dreariness of an Arctic desert, which is generally\n(in summer) as drab and as flat as a biscuit. In Arctic Lapland,\nwhere for two months the sun never sinks below the horizon, you may\nread small print without difficulty throughout the night between\nJune and August. This would be impossible in Helsingfors, where\nnevertheless from sunset till dawn it is never quite dark. In the\nfar north the midnight sun affords a rather garish light; down\nsouth it sheds grey but luminous rays, so faint that they cast\nno shadows, but impart a weird and mysterious grace to the most\ncommonplace surroundings. No artist has yet successfully portrayed\nthe indescribable charm and novelty of a summer night under these\nconditions, and, in all probability, no artist ever will!\n\nHis Majesty the Tsar's manifesto has not as yet (outwardly, at\nany rate) Russianized the capital of Finland. It will probably\ntake centuries to do that, for Finland, like France, has an\nindividuality which the combined Powers of Europe would be puzzled to\nsuppress. A stranger arriving at the railway station of Helsingfors,\nfor instance, may readily imagine himself in Germany, Austria, or\neven Switzerland, but certainly not within a thousand miles of\nPetersburg. Everything is so different, from the dapper stationmaster\nwith gold-laced cap of German build down to the porters in clean\nwhite linen blouses, which pleasantly contrast with the malodorous\nsheepskins of unwashed Russia. At Helsingfors there is nothing,\nsave the soldiery, to remind one of the proximity of Tsarland. And\nout in the country it is the same. The line from Mikkeli traverses\na fair and prosperous district, as unlike the monotonous scenery over\nthe border as the proverbial dock and daisy. Here are no squalid\nhovels and roofless sheds where half-starved cattle share the misery\nof their owners; no rotting crops and naked pastures; but snug\nhomestead, flower gardens, and neat wooden fences encircling fields\nof golden grain and rich green meadow land. To travel in Southern\nFinland after Northern Russia is like leaving the most hideous\nparts of the Black Country to suddenly emerge into the brightness\nand verdure of a sunlit Devonshire.\n\n\n\n\n_LAPLAND_\n\n_ALEXANDER PLATONOVICH ENGELHARDT_\n\nThe Peninsula of Kola, which forms the District of that name, extends\nabout 650 versts, or 433 miles, from west to east, from the frontiers\nof Norway and Finland to the White Sea, and about 400 versts, or 266\nmiles, from north to south, from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of\nKandalax, covering an area of 131,860 square versts, or 37,022,400\nacres. The coast belt from the Norwegian border-line to Holy Cape\n(or Sweet-nose), is called the Murman Coast, or simply the Murman;\nthe eastern and south-eastern part, from Holy Cape along the White\nSea to the mouth of the Varzuga, goes by the name of the Tierski\nCoast; and the southern part, from the Varzuga to Kandalax, the\nKandalax Coast; whilst the whole of the interior bears the name of\nRussian Lapland. The surface of the Peninsula is either mountainous,\nor covered with _tundras_ (i. e., moss-grown wilds), and swamps.\nThe Scandinavian mountain range, which divides Sweden from Norway,\nextending to the Kola Peninsula, breaks up into several separate\nbranches. Along the shores of the Murman they form craggy coast\ncliffs, rising at times to an elevation of 500 feet. Further to\nthe east they become gradually lower, so that near the White Sea\nthey seldom exceed fifty or one hundred feet, with less precipitous\ndescents. The reach their greatest height further inland, to the\neast of Lake Imandra, where they form the Hibinski and Luiavrout\nchains, veiled in perpetual snow. Some of the peaks rise to 970\nfeet above the level of the lake, which, in its turn, is 140 feet\nhigher than the sea-level, so that the mountains surrounding the\nlake are over 1,000 feet above the level of the sea.\n\nNot far from Lake Imandra is the lofty Mount Bozia, (or Gods' Hill),\nat the foot of which, according to the traditions of the Lapps,\ntheir ancestors offered up sacrifices to their gods. Even at the\npresent time the Lapps of the district speak of this site with\npeculiar veneration. Between the village of Kashkarantz and the\nVarzuga rises Mt. Korable, remarkable for its many caverns, studded\nwith crystals of translucent quartz and amethyst, the former, together\nwith fluor and heavy spar, being met with, too, in the eastern\nparts of the mountain. The Kola Peninsula was carefully explored\nby Finnish Expeditions in 1887-1892.\n\nThe climate of Lapland is not everywhere uniform, but in general\nit is bleak and raw. Winter begins about the end of September and\ncontinues till May. It is colder inland than by the ice-free shores\nof the Northern Ocean, where the warm currents of the Gulf Stream\nmoderate the cold. And yet the severity of the weather does not\ninjuriously affect the health or longevity of the inhabitants.\nThe winter roads are well set in by the end of October (or early\nin November), the snow-fall during the winter months amounting\nto seven quarters, or four feet one inch. The Polar night lasts\nfrom the 25th of November to the 15th of January, but the darkness\nis not by any means so great as one would imagine. The white of\nthe snow gives a certain glimmer of light, and the frequent and\nprolonged flashes of Aurora Borealis set the heavens in a blaze as\nwith clouds of fire, turning night into twilight, as it were, and\nby their brilliancy and beauty making some amends to the natives\nfor the absence of the sun's rays. It is easy even to read by their\nlight; while each day, about noon, there is enough daylight for an\nhour or so to enable one to dispense with candles. So that under\nthe name of Polar Night should be understood not the total absence\nof light, but rather the season when the sun no longer appears\nabove the horizon. It begins to show itself again about the 17th\nof January, gradually rising higher and higher as the days advance.\n\n[Illustration: REINDEER TRAVELLING]\n\nSnow vanishes from the plains towards the middle (or end) of May,\nbut remains the whole year round in the gorges of the mountains.\nThe rivers are clear of ice about the beginning (or middle) of\nMay, and within a month from that time the first shoots of verdure\nbegin to appear on the meadows and hill-sides. The sun never sets\nfrom the 24th of May to the 21st of July. There is neither twilight\nnor night,--the long Arctic Day has set in. During this period the\nsun warms the soil only at noon, simply shining for the rest of\nthe day, seemingly a golden orb without heat. Summer, beginning\nabout the middle (_i. e._, end) of June, barely lasts two months.\nBy July flowers are already shedding their blossoms, their rapid\ngrowth being aided by the unbroken daylight.\n\nAny attempts at agriculture in such a climate are, of course, foredoomed\nto failure, but along the river banks some fairly good meadows\nenable the settlers of the Murman to rear all the cattle they need.\nTurnips are the only vegetables that can be raised, with, here\nand there, a few potatoes.\n\nThe southern and western portions of the Peninsula are covered with\npretty good timber, mostly pine (_Pinus silvestris_). As you go\nfurther north, the timber becomes more and more stunted, consisting\nchiefly of birchwood, till you reach the open _tundra_, which is\nclothed in moss and low-growing shrubs.\n\nThe Lapps lead a semi-nomadic life. The settlements in which they\nlive are called _pagosts_, each group of Lapps having its particular\nsummer and winter _pagost_. The latter is usually inland near the\nforests, where they herd their deer in winter. In summer they wander\nnearer to the coasts and lakes for the sake of the fishing. The\nwinter dwelling of the Lapp is called a _toopa_, a small smoky\nsod-covered hut, covering some 150 to 200 square feet; whereas in\nsummer he lives in his _vieja_, a large wigwam resembling a Samoyede\n_choom_, but covered over, not with skins as with the Samoyedes,\nbut with branches, tree-bark and turfs.\n\nThe typical Lapp is dwarf-like and thick-set. He usually wears\na grey cloth jacket, his head being encircled in a high woollen\ncap tapering to a tassel at the top, while his feet, wrapped up\nin rags, are then covered with big shoes. In general, his whole\nappearance, with his pointed beard, bears a striking resemblance\nto the familiar representations of \"gnomes,\" as these denizens of\nthe subterranean world are pictured to us in fairy books. Few of\nthe Lapps, however, confine themselves to this characteristic type\nof Lapp costume, but wear whatever comes to their hands,--hats,\ncaps, clothes \"made in Germany\" and so on.\n\nAmong the women, especially the younger ones, some fairly pretty\nfaces may be met with. Their dress is usually a calico _sarafan_,\nand generally speaking, there is nothing specially distinguishing\nabout their apparel.\n\nThe Lapp race is evidently dying out, or rather, is gradually\nintermingling with, and being absorbed by, the neighbouring races.\nWith neither written memorials nor a historic past to cling to,\nnor any particular religious belief, they are all of the Orthodox\nFaith. In assuming the customs and civilization of the Russians,\nthe Lapps often abandon their own tribe, and assimilate with the\nstronger race. I have often heard such sayings as the following\nfrom Lapps who have more or less settled down: \"I'm not a Lapp at\nall, I'm a Russian now,\" or \"He's a good man\" (_i. e._, active,\nenergetic) \"and not a Lapp.\"\n\nSo that they evidently have no particularly high opinion of themselves,\nand put no great value on their tribal individuality; and yet, as\nthe free-born child of the broad and boundless _tundra_, the Lapp\ndearly loves his home and open roving life.\n\nThe chief occupations of the Lapps are reindeer-rearing and fishing,\nand in winter, the transport of goods by means of their deer. They\nare unfortunately bad husbandmen, utterly reckless about the increase\nof their herds, and never dreaming of looking upon them as sources\nof gain. Deer-herding is not, in their eyes, a regular business,\nthey merely keep such head as are required for domestic uses, that\nis, for food, clothing and travelling. Very few Lapps own big herds,\nwhile most of them hardly know or care how many in reality they have.\nIn summer, when the deer are not wanted for travelling purposes, they\ndismiss them to range at large, without any surveillance whatever. To\nescape the persecutions of gadflies and mosquitoes the deer generally\nflock to the Hibinski Mountains, or else wander to the sea-shore.\nWhen thus at large they multiply freely of themselves, and, by\nthis time half wild, often stray away from the herds altogether.\n\nThe rearing of reindeer might easily be made such a profitable\nbusiness as to be sufficient in itself to insure a comfortable\nlivelihood to the Lapps. The deer itself hardly requires any looking\nafter the whole year round. All through the summer it feeds on\nvarious grasses, and in winter on the _yagel_, or reindeer lichen\n(_Cladonia rangiferina_), which it scratches out from under the\nsnow, with its hoofs. This lichen, or moss, grows in profusion all\nover the _tundras_ and forests of the Kola Peninsula. It is his\ndeer which supply the Lapp with food and clothing, convey his family\nand goods hundreds of versts in his wanderings, and, finally, give\nhim the opportunity of adding to his income by acting as carrier,\nand by supplying teams to the government postal-stations, etc.\nSome years ago some Zirians from the Petchora settled in the Kola\nPeninsula with their herds, numbering some 5,000 head. The Lapps\nwelcomed them into their community, looking upon them, indeed,\nas benefactors, as the Zirians, a smart and enterprising race,\nget everything needed for household purposes, which they obtain\nmuch cheaper than the Lapps themselves could before, at the same\ntime giving good prices for the skins of reindeer and other wild\nanimals killed by the Lapps. So far no want of grazing plots has been\nfelt. The Zirians have already over 10,000 head of deer, deriving,\ncomparatively speaking, enormous gains from them. But then, unlike\nthe Lapps, the Zirians go about their business in systematic and\nsensible fashion, safeguarding their stock from the incursions of\nbeasts of prey, tending them carefully winter and summer, driving\nthem from time to time to suitable pastures, etc.\n\n\n\n\n_MOSCOW_\n\n_THE KREMLIN AND ITS TREASURIES. THE ANCIENT REGALIA. THE ROMANOFF\nHOUSE_\n\n_ALFRED MASKELL_\n\nMoscow is the second capital of the Empire, but by ancient right\nthe first, although now surpassed both in commerce and population by\nthe modern city of Peter the Great. Moscow occupies almost exactly\nthe geographical centre of European Russia. Artistically it is of\nfar greater interest to us than its northern rival. It has preserved\nthe old oriental type: in its palaces has been displayed the barbaric\npomp of the Muscovite Tsars of which much yet remains, not only\nin their renovated halls but also in what is left of the plate,\njewels and ornaments with which they once abounded.\n\nThe general plan resembles somewhat that of Paris; the different\nquarters have gradually developed around a centre, and the river\nMoskva meanders through them as the Seine. The centre is the Kremlin;\nin shape an irregular triangle surrounded by high walls, outside\nwhich is the first walled-in quarter--the Kitai-Gorod, that is\nthe Chinese city, about the meaning of which term there is some\ndispute. It is not, nor ever has been, in any way Chinese.\n\nThe name of Moscow appears first in the chronicles in 1147, when\nYouri, a son of Vladimir Monomachus, built the first houses of a\ntown on the hill where the Kremlin now stands, but it was not until\nat least a century later that the city became of any importance.\nIn 1237, it was burned by the Tartars and the real founder was\nDaniel, a son of Alexander Nevski. He was the first prince buried\nin the church of St. Michael where, until the time of Peter the\nGreat, all the sovereigns of Russia have been buried; as in the\nmetropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption, but a few steps distant,\nthey have all been crowned up to the present day. From the Fifteenth\nto the Seventeenth Centuries, at the time when the arts flourished\nin Russia, in the greatest profusion and magnificence, Moscow was\nendowed with her richest monuments. It was then the numerous churches\narose, the Kremlin, and the palaces of the boyars. At that time the\ncity consisted of the Kremlin and the three walled-in enclosures\nwhich encircle it and each other as the several skins and shell\ninclose the kernel of a walnut. It appears to have been built in a\nhaphazard fashion, though the old plans, with the houses sketched\nin rows, exhibit an uniformity of streets and buildings. They show\nus also that the houses were for the most part of wood, having each\na covered outside staircase leading to the upper stories. Built\nso much of wood it was exposed to frequent conflagrations, the last\nbeing the great burning at the time of the French invasion in 1812.\nBut so quickly was it always rebuilt and on the same lines that it\nhas ever retained its original and irregular aspect. The Kremlin\nwas at first of wood, but under the two Ivans it was surrounded by\nthe solid stone walls of white stone cut in facets, which have\ngiven to the city the name \"White Mother,\" or \"Holy Mother Moscow\nwith the white walls.\"\n\n[Illustration: MOSCOW.]\n\nThe Kremlin is at the same time a fortress and a city contained\nwithin itself, with its streets and palaces, churches, monasteries,\nand barracks. Eighteen towers and five gateways garnish the long\nextent of the inclosing wall; two of the gateways are interesting;\nthat of the Saviour built by Pietro Solario in 1491, and that of\nthe Trinity by Christopher Galloway in the Seventeenth Century.\nHere, among the churches are those of the Assumption and of St.\nMichael; here are the new palace of the Tsar, the restored Terem\n(what is left of the old palace), the sacristy and library of the\npatriarchs, the treasure and regalia, the great tower of Ivan Veliki\nin which hangs the largest bell in the world that will ring, and\nbeneath it the \"Tsar Kolokol,\" the king of bells, which it is supposed\nhas never been rung and the king of cannons which has never been\nfired.\n\nThe ancient \"Kazna,\" or treasury of the Kremlin, where the riches\nof the Tsars have been preserved from time immemorial was in the\nreign of Ivan III. situated within the walls of the Kremlin, between\nthe Cathedrals of St. Michael and of the Annunciation. Here it\nremained until the great fire of 1737. The treasure had already\nsuffered a heavy loss: in the early part of the Seventeenth Century,\nat the time of the war with Poland, a large quantity of plate was\nmelted down to provide for the payment of the troops. The fire\nof 1737 caused a further and greater loss and destroyed also a\nlarge part of the armoury. At the time of the French invasion in\n1812 the whole of the treasure, together with the regalia, was\nremoved to Novgorod, and thus escaped destruction of seizure. On\nits return to Moscow in 1814, systematic arrangements were made\nfor its preservation, and for the formation and arrangement of\nthe museum in which it is now exhibited. In the year 1850 the new\nbuilding of the Orujenaia Palata which forms part of the modern\npalace of the Kremlin was completed, and to this the entire collection\nwas transferred.\n\nThe treasury of Moscow has been almost from the time of the\nestablishment of the Russian Empire the place where the riches\nof the Tsars have been kept; consisting of the regalia, of the\nstate costumes, of the plate and vases used in the service of their\ntable, of their most magnificent armour and horse-trappings, of\ntheir state carriages and sledges and of the presents which from\ntime to time the sovereigns of other countries sent through their\nambassadors, of whose embassies so many interesting accounts have\ncome down to us.\n\nThe collection of plate is exposed on open stands arranged in tiers\nround the pillars, or otherwise displayed in a vast hall of the\nnew building of the Orujenaia Palata.\n\nThe riches thus brought together have suffered many changes. The\ncourt was frequently moved, the state of the empire was continually\ndisturbed, fires were of frequent occurrence, and necessity at times\ncaused much treasure to be melted down. The Tsar's favourites received\nno doubt from time to time acceptable marks of his approbation in\nthe shape of rich presents, and many specimens of plate found their\nway probably in a similar manner to the churches and monasteries. But\nnotwithstanding all this, there still remains permanently installed\nand carefully guarded in the treasury of the Kremlin a collection\nof plate which, for extent, variety, and interest, may rival that\nin any other palace in the world.\n\nIt appears to have been customary during the last two centuries\nat least to make a grand display of this treasure on the occasion\nof the visit of the sovereign, and especially during the ceremonies\nof the coronation. Then, in the centre of the hall in the ancient\n_Terem_, known as the gold room, where the Tsar dines in solitary\nstate, a kind of buffet is arranged and other stands disposed,\nloaded and groaning with this rich accumulation.\n\nGreat splendour and richness of material, the lavish use of jewels in\nthe decoration, and the brilliant colour derived from the employment\nof enamels are characteristics of eastern art in the precious metals.\nBut while we are struck by the delicacy and refinement with which\nthese are employed by many eastern countries, and while we admire\nthe taste and harmony of colour displayed by the workmen of India\nor of Persia, it must be confessed that the Russian tempted by the\nglitter and display which are so much in accordance with his own\ntaste, has been unable to use the same judgment as those whom he\nhas taken as his models. Few would deny that there reigns throughout\nhis work that quality which is best expressed by the term--barbaric\nmagnificence. This is not vulgarity: such a term is not applicable;\nit is the outcome of the desire which is to be found amongst all\nnations who have attained a certain degree of civilization and\nriches to impose respect and awe by a lavish display of material\nwealth or by the use of gorgeous colour, which always calls forth\nthe admiration of the multitude.\n\nIn the plate and jewelled ornament which we find in the treasury\nof the Kremlin, we shall find that Russian taste was fond of solid\nmaterial and ornament, enriched with many and large precious stones\nof value. All Oriental nations have ever loved to accumulate riches\nof this description which, at the same time that they are of use\nas ornament, are also of intrinsic value. The crowns, and thrones,\nand sceptres, the ornaments of the imperial costume, the gold and\nsilver plate and vases and other precious objects of the court\nof the Tsars have, therefore, a character of solid splendour, a\nwant of refinement and delicacy, which is almost uniformly\ncharacteristic. Still they are not deficient in a certain grandeur\nand even elegance, and in details there is much that is admirable,\nmuch that is strikingly original.\n\nBy far the greater number of pieces that we shall find in the Kremlin\nand elsewhere belong to the Seventeenth Century. In the treasury\nof the Kremlin we have but one piece of the Twelfth Century and\nsome few of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. All the rest\nare later.\n\nThe entire number of pieces in the Kremlin amounts to sixteen hundred.\nAfter the disasters of 1612, all the ancient plate for the service\nof the Tsar's table was melted down and converted into money; many\nobjects in gold and silver and jewelled work being at the same time\ngiven in pledge to the troops of Vladislas IV. There are therefore\nfew examples earlier than the dynasty of the Romanoffs.\n\nThe treasure contains also some of the most highly venerated icons,\ncrosses, and reliquaries in Russia. As regards many of these it\nis difficult to assign a date or a place of production. Many of\nthem have histories more or less legendary, but while some may\nappear to belong absolutely to the Greek school, we must not forget\nthat Russia sent its workmen to Mount Athos to be instructed and\nto work there, and on their return the traditions and models of\nthe school were scrupulously observed in the workshops of Moscow.\n\nThe regalia of the ancient Tsars scarcely yield in interest to\nthat of any other country. They consist of a large number of crowns\nor jewelled caps of peculiar form, of orbs and sceptres, of the\nimperial costume, and especially of that peculiar part of the latter,\na kind of collar or shoulder ornament, known as the _barmi_.\n\nOther important pieces of the regalia of Alexis Michailovitch are\nthe orbs and sceptres, the bow and arrow case of the same description\nof workmanship. These are gorgeous specimens of jewelled and enamelled\nwork attributed to Constantinople. The sceptre of the Tsar Michailovitch\nis of similar enamelled work, and is probably a good specimen of\nthe effect of western influence on the goldsmiths of Moscow. The\nfigures especially appear to be of the Italian renaissance. Another\nsceptre is unmistakably Russian work, and if not of pure taste is\nat least of fine workmanship and imposing magnificence.\n\nThe thrones are of high interest from more than one point of view.\nWe must content ourselves with choosing two from amongst them,\nviz.: the ivory throne of Ivan III. (_Antiquities of the Russian\nEmpire_, ii. 84-100), and the throne known as the Persian throne\n(_Ibid_, ii. 62-66).\n\nThe first was brought from Constantinople in 1472 by the Tsarina\nSophia Paleologus, who, by her marriage with Ivan III., united\nthe coats of arms of Byzantium and Russia.\n\nThere is a certain resemblance between this throne and that known\nas the chair of St. Peter at Rome. The general form is the same, as\nis the manner in which the ivory plaques and their borderings are\nplaced. The second throne is a magnificent work, which, according\nto a register as the _Book of Embassies_, was sent from Persia in\nthe year 1660 to the Tsar Alexis by a certain Ichto Modevlet, of\nthe Shah's court. M. Weltman, in his enumeration of the treasury of\nthe Kremlin, says: \"It was therefore probably made in the workshops\nof Ispahan about the same time that the globe, sceptre, and _barmi_\nwere ordered from Constantinople.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE KREMLIN, MOSCOW.]\n\nThe Kremlin contains a large number of pieces of decorative plate\nof all kinds made for the service of the table of the Tsars, or\ndisplayed on buffets on state occasions. Much of it is the production\nof other countries, presented by their ambassadors or purchased\nfor the Tsar. The frequent fires and the melting down of treasure\nduring the Polish disturbances have much diminished this collection,\nand possibly also many of the finest pieces have disappeared. Of\nthe large service of gold plate of the Tsar Alexis, which consisted\nof 120 covers, two plates are all that remain. These are, however,\nsufficient evidence of the skill and taste of the Moscow goldsmiths\nof the period and of their dexterity in the use of enamel.\n\nThe Treasury of the Kremlin contains a large number of cups or\nvases of silver-gilt, for table use, of Russian work. There is\nno great variety in the cups, but some forms are peculiar to the\ncountry. There are especially the cups called _bratini_ (loving\ncups, from _brat_, a brother), the bowls or ladles termed _kovsh_,\nand the small cups with one flat handle for strong liquors. Tall\nbeakers expanding at the lip and contracted at the middle are also\nfavourite forms, but the bulbous shape is the most frequent. Indeed,\nthat form of bulb or cupola which we see upon the churches is peculiarly\ncharacteristic. We find it with more or less resemblance, in the\nancient crowns, in the mitres of the popes, in the bowls of chalices\nand in vases and bowls for drinking. In the _bratini_ and _kovsh_\nthe bulging form of ornament, the coving up of the bottoms of the\nbowls, and the use of twisted lobes are very common.\n\nThe Cathedral of the Assumption is one of the many churches situated\nwithin the precincts of the Kremlin. It was reconstructed by Fioraventi\nin 1475 after the model of the Cathedral of Vladimir, and in spite\nof the frequent calamities and fires which have half ruined Moscow\nstill preserves in a great measure its primitive character. The\nchurch of the Assumption has five domes resting in the centre of\nthe building on four massive circular pillars, and the sanctuary\nis composed of four hemicycles. The Cathedral of the Archangel\nMichael is close by and was built in 1507 in imitation of it. Near\nthis again is the Cathedral of the Annunciation. This, which was\nbuilt in 1416, is more original in style and recalls the churches of\nMount Athos, or that of Kertch, which dates from the Tenth Century.\n\nMention must be made of an ancient building, the house known as\nthe Romanoff House in Moscow. It was the birthplace of the Tsar\nMichael Theodorovitch, founder of the now reigning family, and\nalso of his father Theodore Nikitisch, who became patriarch under\nthe name of Philaret. In its restored state the Romanoff House\nis still perhaps the most remarkable ancient building existing\nin Russia as a perfect specimen of the old dwelling-houses of the\nboyards. It is built of stone, and the solid exterior walls are\nas they originally stood. The interior restoration, completed by\nthe emperor Alexander in 1859, has been carried out with great\ncare in the exact style of the time, the furniture and ornaments\nbeing authentic and placed as they would have been.\n\n\n\n\n_VASSILI-BLAGENNOI_\n\n(_ST. BASIL THE BLESSED_)\n\n_THEOPHILE GAUTIER_\n\nWe soon reached the Kitai-Gorod, which is the business quarter,\nupon the Krasnaia, the Red Square, or rather the beautiful square,\nfor in Russia the words red and beautiful are synonymous. Upon\none side of this square is the long facade of the Gostinnoi-Dvor,\nan immense bazaar with streets enclosed by glass-like passages,\nand which contains no less than 6,000 shops. The outside wall of\nthe Kremlin rears itself on another side, with gates piercing the\ntowers of sharply peaked roofs, permitting you to see above it the\nturrets, the domes, the belfries and the spires of the churches and\nconvents it encloses. On another side, strange as the architecture\nof dreamland, stands the chimerical and impossible church of\nVassili-Blagennoi, which makes your reason doubt the testimony of\nyour eyes. Although it appears real enough, you ask yourself if\nit is not a fantastic mirage, a building made of clouds curiously\ncoloured by the sunlight, and which the quivering air will change\nor cause to dissolve. Without any doubt, it is the most original\nbuilding in the world; it recalls nothing that you have ever seen\nand it belongs to no style whatever: you might call it a gigantic\nmadrepore, a colossal formation of crystals, or a grotto of stalactites\ninverted.\n\nBut let us not search for comparisons to give an idea of something\nthat has no prototype. Let us try rather to describe Vassili-Blagennoi,\nif indeed there exists a vocabulary to speak of what had never been\nimagined previously.\n\nThere is a legend about Vassili-Blagennoi, which is probably not\ntrue, but which nevertheless expresses with strength and poetry\nthe sense of wondering stupefaction felt at the semi-barbarous\nperiod when that singular edifice, so remote from all architectural\ntraditions, was erected. Ivan the Terrible had this cathedral built\nas a thank-offering for the conquest of Kasan, and when it was\nfinished, he found it so beautiful, wonderful and astounding, that\nhe ordered the architect's eyes to be put out--they say he was an\nItalian--so that he could never erect anything similar. According\nto another version of the same legend, the Tsar asked the originator\nof this church if he could not erect a still more beautiful one,\nand upon his reply in the affirmative, he cut off his head, so\nthat Vassili-Blagennoi might remain unrivalled forever. A more\nflattering exhibition of jealous cruelty cannot be imagined, but\nthis Ivan the Terrible was at bottom a true artist and a passionate\ndilettante. Such ferocity in matters of art is more pleasing to\nme than indifference.\n\nImagine on a kind of platform which lifts the base from the ground,\nthe most peculiar, the most incomprehensible, the most prodigious\nheaping up of large and little cabins, outside stairways, galleries\nwith arcades and unexpected hiding-places and projections, unsymmetrical\nporches, chapels in juxtaposition, windows pierced in the walls at\nhaphazard, indescribable forms and a rounding out of the interior\narrangement, as if the architect, seated in the centre of his work\nhad produced a building by thrusting it out from him. From the\nroof of this church which might be taken for a Hindu, Chinese, or\nThibetan pagoda, there springs a forest of belfries of the strangest\ntaste, fantastic beyond anything else in the world. The one in the\ncentre, the tallest and most massive, shows three or four stories\nfrom base to spire. First come little columns, and toothed\nstring-courses, then come some pilasters framing long mullioned\nwindows, then a series of blank arches like scales, overlapping\none another, and on the sides of the spire wart-like ornaments\noutlining each spire, the whole terminated by a lantern surmounted\nby an inverted golden bulb bearing on its tip the Russian cross.\nThe others, which are slenderer and shorter, affect the form of the\nminaret, and their fantastically ornamented towers end in cupolas\nthat swell strangely into the form of onions. Some are tortured\ninto facets, others ribbed, some cut into diamond-shaped points\nlike pineapples, some striped with fillets in spirals, others again\ndecorated with lozenge-shaped and overlapping scales, or honeycombed\nlike a bee-hive, and all adorned at their summit with the golden\nball surmounted by the cross.\n\n[Illustration: VASSILI-BLAGENNOI (ST. BASIL THE BLESSED), MOSCOW.]\n\nWhat adds still more to the fantastic effect of Vassili-Blagennoi,\nis that it is coloured with the most incongruous tones which\nnevertheless produce a harmonious effect that charms the eye. Red,\nblue, apple-green and yellow meet here in all portions of the building.\nColumns, capitals, arches and ornaments are painted with startling\nshades which give a strong relief. On the plain spaces of rare\noccurrence, they have simulated divisions or panels framing pots\nof flowers, rose-windows, wreathing vines, and chimaeras. The domes\nof the bell-towers are decorated with coloured designs that recall\nthe patterns of India shawls; and, displayed thus on the roofs\nof the church, they recall the kiosks of the Sultans.\n\nThe same fantastic genius presided over the plan and ornamentation\nof the interior. The first chapel, which is very low and in which\na few lamps glimmer, resembles a golden cavern; unexpected stars\nthrow their rays across the dusky shadows and make the stiff images\nof the Greek saints stand out like phantoms. The mosaics of St.\nMark's in Venice alone can give an approximate idea of the effect\nof this astonishing richness. At the back, the iconostas looms up\nin the twilight shot through with rays like a golden and jewelled\nwall between the faithful and the priests of the sanctuary.\n\nVassili-Blagennoi does not present, like other churches, a simple\ninterior composed of several naves communicating and cut at certain\npoints of intersection after the laws of the rites followed in\nthe temple. It is formed of a collection of churches, or chapels,\nin juxtaposition and independent of each other. Each bell-tower\ncontains a chapel, which arranges itself as it pleases in this\nmass. The dome is the terminal of the spire or the bulb of the\ncupola. You might believe yourself under the enormous casque of\nsome Circassian or Tartar giant. These calottes are, moreover,\nmarvellously painted and decorated in the interior. It is the same\nwith the walls covered with those barbaric and hieratic figures,\nthe traditional designs for which the Greek monks of Mount Athos\nhave preserved from century to century, and which, in Russia, often\ndeceive the careless observer regarding the age of a building.\nIt is a peculiar sensation to find yourself in these mysterious\nsanctuaries, where personages familiar to the Roman Catholic cult,\nmingle with the saints peculiar to the Greek Calendar, and seem in\ntheir archaic Byzantine and constrained appearance to have been\ntranslated awkwardly into gold by the childish devotion of a primitive\nrace. These images that you view across the carved and silver-gilt\nwork of the iconostas, where they are ranged symmetrically upon\nthe golden screen opening their large fixed eyes and raising their\nbrown hand with the fingers turned in a symbolic fashion, produce, by\nmeans of their somewhat savage, superhuman and immutable traditional\naspect, a religious impression not to be found in more advanced\nworks of art. These figures, seen amid the golden reflections and\ntwinkling light of the lamps, easily assume a phantasmagorical\nlife, capable of impressing sensitive imaginations and of creating,\nespecially at the twilight hour, a peculiar kind of sacred awe.\n\nNarrow corridors, low arched passages, so narrow that your elbows\nbrush the walls and so low that you have to bend your head, circle\nabout these chapels and lead from one to the other. Nothing could\nbe more fantastic than these passages; the architect seems to have\ntaken pleasure in tangling up their threading ways. You ascend, you\ndescend, you seem to go out of the building, you seem to return,\ntwisting about a cornice to follow the curves of a bell-tower,\nand walking through thick walls in tortuous passages that might\nbe compared to the capillary tubes of madrepores, or to the roads\nmade by insects in the barks of trees. After so many turnings and\nwindings, your head swims, a vertigo seizes you, and you wonder if\nyou are not a mollusk in an immense shell. I do not speak of the\nmysterious corners, of inexplicable coecums, low doors opening no\none knows whither, dark stairways descending into profound depths;\nfor I could never finish talking of this architecture, which you\nseem to walk through as if in a dream.\n\n\n\n\n_POLAND_\n\n_THOMAS MICHELL_\n\nThe Tsar still bears the title of King of Poland, but the constitutional\nkingdom created at the great settlement of political accounts in\n1815 has been officially styled \"The Cis-Vistula Provinces,\" ever\nsince the absolute incorporation with the Russian empire in 1868.\nThe provinces in question, ten in number, have an aggregate area\nof 49,157 English square miles, and a population of eight millions,\ncomposed to the extent of sixty-five per cent. of Poles, the remainder\nbeing Jews (in the proportion of thirteen per cent., and settled\nchiefly in towns), Lithuanians, Russians, Germans, and other aliens.\n\nThe Poles (the Polacks of Shakespeare), are a branch of the Sclav\nrace, their language differing but little from that of the Russians,\nCzechs (Bohemians), Servians, Bulgarians, and other kindred remnants.\nContact and co-operation with Western civilization, and escape\nfrom Tartar subjugation, permitted the Poles to work out their\nown development on lines so widely apart from those pursued by\ntheir Russian brethren, that the complete amalgamation of these\ntwo great Sclav branches has long been a matter of practical\nimpossibility.\n\nPolish history begins, like that of Russia, with Scandinavian invasion;\nSzainocha, a reliable authority of the present century, asserted\nthat the Northmen descended on the Polish coast of the Baltic,\nand became, as in Russia, ancestors of the noble houses. On the\nother hand, it is on record that the first Grand Duke of Poland\n(about A. D. 842), was Piastus, a peasant, who founded a dynasty\nthat was superseded only in 1385 by the Lithuanian Jagellons.\nChristianity was introduced by the fourth of the Piasts, A. D. 964,\nand it was a sovereign of the same House, Boleslas I., the Brave,\nwho gave a solid foundation to the Polish State. He conquered Dantzig\nand Pomerania, Silesia, Moravia, and White Russia, as far as the\nDnieper. After being partitioned, in accordance with the principle\nthat long obtained in the neighbouring Russian principalities,\nthe component territories of Poland were reunited by Vladislaf\n(Ladislaf) the Short, who established his capital, in 1320, at\nCracow, where the Polish kings were ever after crowned. Casimir\nthe Great, the Polish Justinian (1334-1370), gained for himself\nthe title of _Rex Rusticorum_, by the bestowal of benefits on the\npeasantry, who were _adscripti glehoe_, and by the limitation of the\npower of the nobles, or freeholders. On his death, Louis, King of\nHungary, his sister's son, was called to the throne; but in order\nto insure its continued possession he was compelled to reinstate the\nnobles in all their privileges, under a _Pacta Conventa_, which,\nsubject to alterations made at Diets, was retained as part of the\nCoronation Oath so long as there were Polish kings to be consecrated.\nHe was the last sovereign of the Piast period. After compelling\nhis daughter to marry, not William of Austria, whom she loved, but\nJagellon, Duke of Lithuania, who offered to unite his extensive\nand adjacent dominions with those of Poland, and to convert his\nown pagan subjects to Christianity, the nobles, in virtue of their\nMagna Charta, elected Jagellon (baptized under the name of Ladislas)\nto the throne of Poland, which thus became dynastically united\n(1386), with that of Lithuania.\n\nOn the death, in 1572, of Sigismund II., Augustus, the last of\nthe Jagellons, the power of the king, already limited by that of\ntwo chambers, was still further diminished, and the crown became\nelective. While occupied in besieging the Huguenots at Rochelle,\nand at a time when Poland enjoyed more religious liberty than any\nother country in Europe, Henry of Valois was elected to the throne,\nin succession to Sigismund II.; but he quickly absconded from Cracow\nin order to become Henry III. of France. The Jesuits, introduced in\nthe next reign, that of Stephen Bathori, brought strong intolerance\nwith them, and one of the reasons that led the Cossacks of the Polish\nUkraine to solicit Russian protection was the inferior position to\nwhich their Greek religion had been reduced in relation to Roman\nCatholicism. The Russians and Poles had been at war with each other\nfor two centuries. Moscow had been occupied in 1610 by the Poles in\nthe name of Ladislas, son of Sigismund III., of the Swedish Wasa\nfamily, elected to the Muscovite throne by the Russian boyars, but\nsoon expelled by the patriots, under Minin and Pojarski. Sobieski,\nwho had saved Vienna for the Austrians, could not keep Kief and\nLittle Russia for the Poles. Such was the outcome of disorders and\nrevolutions in the State, and of wars with Muscovy, Turkey, and\nSweden, as well as with Tartars and Cossacks. Frederick Augustus\nII., Elector of Saxony, succeeded Sobieski, and reigned until 1733,\nwith an interval of five years, during which he was superseded by\nStanislas I.\n\n[Illustration: NOWO ZJAZD STREET, WARSAW.]\n\nDissension and anarchy became still more general, in the reign of\nthe next sovereign, Augustus III. Civil war, in which the question\nof the rights of Lutherans, Calvinists, and other \"dissidents\"\nobnoxious to the Roman Catholic Church played a great part, resulted\nin the intervention of Russia and Prussia, and in 1772 the first\npartition of Poland was consummated. The second followed in 1793,\nunder an arrangement between the same countries, which had taken\nalarm at a liberal constitution voted by the Polish Diet in 1791,\nespecially as it had provided for the emancipation of the _adscripti\ngleboe_. The struggle made by Thaddeus Kosciuszko ended in the entry\nof Suvoroff into Warsaw over the ashes of the Prague suburb, and\nin the third dismemberment (1795), of ancient Poland, under which\neven Warsaw was absorbed by Russia.\n\nPrevious to these several partitions, Poland occupied a territory\nmuch more extensive than that of France. In addition to the kingdom\nproper, it included the province of Posen and part of West Prussia,\nCracow, and Galicia, Lithuania, the provinces of Volhynia and Podolia,\nand part of the present province of Kief. In 1772, Dantzig was a\nseaport of Poland, Kaminets, in Podolia, its border stronghold\nagainst Turkey; while to the west and north its frontier extended\nalmost to the walls of Riga, and to within a short distance from\nMoscow. In still earlier times, Bessarabia, Moldavia, Silesia,\nand Livonia were embraced within the Polish possessions.\n\nThese successive partitions gave the most extensive portion of\nPolish territory to Russia, the most populous to Austria, and the\nmost commercial to Prussia. Napoleon I. revived a Polish state\nout of the provinces that had been seized by Prussia and Austria.\nThis was first constituted into a Grand Duchy under the King of\nSaxony, and in 1815, when Galicia (with Cracow) was restored to\nAustria, and Posen to Prussia, Warsaw became again a kingdom under\na constitution granted by Alexander I. The old Polish provinces\nthat had fallen to the share of Catherine II. at the partitions\nremained incorporated with the Russian Empire, but were not fully\nsubjected to a Russian administration until after the great Polish\ninsurrection of 1830, when also the constitution of 1815 was withdrawn,\nthe national army abolished, and the Polish language proscribed in\nthe public offices.\n\nNotwithstanding the wide measures of Home Rule introduced by Alexander\nII. into the administration of the kingdom, and which, in combination\nwith many liberal and pregnant reforms in Russia Proper appeared\nto offer to the Poles the prospect of no inconsiderable influence\nover the destinies of the Russian Empire, the old spirit of national\nindependence began to manifest itself, and in 1862, not without\nencouragement from Napoleon III., an insurrection broke out at\nWarsaw.\n\nOutside Warsaw and its immediate vicinity there is little in Russian\nPoland to interest the tourist. The country is generally level\nand monotonous, with wide expanses of sand, heath, and forest,\nand it is only towards the north and east that the ground may be\nsaid to be heavily timbered. Dense forests stretch down from the\nRussian, anciently Polish, province of Grodno, and now form the\nlast retreat in Europe of the _Bison Europeans_, the survivor of\nthe Aurochs (_Bos primigenius_), which is supposed to have been\nthe original stock of our horned cattle. Although much worried by\nthe wolf, the bear, and the lynx, the bison is strictly preserved\nfrom the hunter, and are not therefore likely to disappear like the\n_Bos Americanus_, or buffalo, which has so long been ruthlessly\nslaughtered in the United States.\n\nInterspersed among these barren or wooded tracts are areas containing\nsome of the finest corn-bearing soil in Europe, supplying from\ntime immemorial vast quantities of superior grain for shipment\nfrom ports in the Baltic. It is produced on the larger estates of\ntwo hundred to fifteen hundred acres, belonging to more than eight\nthousand proprietors. The peasantry, who hold more than 240,000\nfarms--seldom exceeding forty acres--contribute next to nothing\ntowards exportation, their mode of agriculture being almost as\nrude as that of the Russian peasantry, and their habits of life but\nlittle superior, especially in the matter of drink. Towns, large\nand small, occur more frequently than in Russia, and while some are\nrich and industrial, others--we may say the great majority--are\npoor and squalid, affording no accommodation that would render\npossible the visit of even the least fastidious traveller.\n\nConsequently we confine ourselves to Warsaw, which we take on our way\nby rail to or from St. Petersburg or Moscow. Founded in the Twelfth\nCentury, and, during the Piast period, the seat of the appanaged\nDukes of Masovia, Warszawa, replaced Cracow as the residence of the\nPolish kings and therefore as the capital of Poland, on the election\nof Sigismund III. (1586). It has now a population of about 445,000,\nnot including the Russian garrison of 31,500 officers and men. The\nleft bank of the Vistula, on which Warsaw is chiefly built, is\nhigh, and the pretty, gay, and animated city, with its stately lines\nof streets, wide squares, and spacious gardens, is picturesquely\ndisposed along the brow of the cliff and on the plains above. Across\nthe broad sandy bed of the stream, here \"shallow, ever-changing,\nand divided as Poland itself,\" and which is on its way from the\nCarpathians to the Baltic, is the Prague suburb, which, formerly\nfortified, has never recovered from the assault by Suvoroff in\n1794, when its sixteen thousand inhabitants were indiscriminately\nput to the sword. A vast panorama spreads out in every direction\nfrom this melancholy and dirty point of vantage. Opposite is the\nZamek, or castle, built by the Dukes of Masovia, and enlarged and\nrestored by several of the Polish kings, from Sigismund III. to\nStanislas Augustus Poniatovski. Its pictures and objects of art\nare now at St. Petersburg, and Moscow, and the old royal apartments\nare occupied by the Governor-General. The square in front of the\ncastle was the scene of the last Polish \"demonstrations,\" in 1861,\nwhen it was twice stained with blood.\n\nIn the Stare Miasto, or Old Town, strongly old German in aspect,\nstands the cathedral, built in the Thirteenth Century, and restored\non the last occasion by King John Sobieski. A still more ancient\nsacred edifice is the Church of Our Lady in the Nove Miasto, or New\nTown; but it certainly retains no traces of deep antiquity. Beyond\nthe great Sapieha and Sierakovski Barracks towers the Alexander\nCitadel, with its outlying fortifications, built in 1832-35, at the\nexpense of the city, as a penalty for the insurrection in 1830.\nIn the same direction, but a considerable distance from the town,\nis Mariemont, the country seat of the consort of John Sobieski;\nalso Kaskada, a place of entertainment much frequented by the\ninhabitants of Warsaw, and Bielany, a pretty spot on the Vistula\ncommanding a fine view. The churches and chapels, mostly Roman\nCatholic, are numerous (eighty-five), and so are the monasteries\nand convents (twenty-two).\n\nNear Novi Sviat (New World) Street, we find the Avenues, or _Champs\nElysees_, bordered by fine lime-trees, in front of elegant private\nresidences. Crossing a large square, in which the troops are exercised,\nand the military hospital at Uiazdov, formerly a castle of the\nkings of Poland, we reach the fine park of Lazienki, a country\nseat of much elegance built by King Stanislas Augustus, and now\nthe residence of the Emperor when he visits Warsaw. The ceilings\nof this _chateau_ were painted by Bacciarelli, and its walls are\nhung with portraits of numerous beautiful women.\n\nContiguous to the Lazienki Park are the extensive gardens of the\nBelvedere Palace, in which the Poles attempted in 1830 to get rid\nof their viceroy, the Grand Duke Constantine. We drive hence in\nless than an hour to one of the most interesting places near Warsaw.\nThis is the Castle of Villanov, built by John Sobieski, who died\nin it. To this retreat he brought back the trophies of his mighty\ndeeds in arms, and here sought repose after driving the Turks from\nthe walls of Vienna. The _chateau_, now the property of Countess\nPotocka, is full of historical portraits, objects of art, and other\ncuriosities, of which the most interesting is the magnificent suit\nof armour presented by the Pope to Sobieski in memory of his great\nvictory. The apartments of his beautiful consort are of great elegance.\nIn the gallery of pictures we notice an admirable Rubens--the _Death\nof Seneca_; although we are more strongly attracted by an original\nportrait of Bacon, which is but little known in England.\n\n[Illustration: HOTEL DE VILLE, WARSAW.]\n\nFor want of space, again we must plead guilty of omitting to describe\nmany palatial residences, and several noticeable monuments, among\nwhich is one to Copernicus, the Polish founder of modern astronomy.\nOn the same ground we pass over handsome public buildings, theatres,\ngardens and cemeteries, in one of which, the Evangelical Cemetery, is\nburied John Cockerell, to whom Belgium owes so much of her industrial\nprosperity.\n\n\n\n\n_KIEF, THE CITY OF PILGRAMAGE_\n\n_J. BEAVINGTON ATKINSON_\n\nKief, the Jerusalem of Russia, is by nature marked for distinction;\nshe rises like an Etruscan city from the plain; she is flanked by\nfortifications; she is pleasantly clothed by trees, and height\nbeyond height is crowned by castle or by church. Fifty thousand\npilgrims annually, many of whom are footsore from long and weary\njourneying, throw themselves on their knees as they see the sacred\ncity from afar: her holy places shine in the sun as a light set\nupon a hill which cannot be hid. Three holy shrines which I can\nrecall to mind--Kief, Assisi, and Jerusalem--are alike fortunate in\ncommand of situation; the approach to each is most impressive. In\nKief particularly the natural landscape is heightened in pictorial\neffect by the picturesque groups of pilgrims, staves in hand and\nwallets on back, who may be seen at all hours of the day clambering\nup the hill, resting under the shadow of a tree, or reverently\nbowing the head at the sound of a convent bell.\n\nKief is not one city, but three cities, each with its own fortification.\nThe old town, strong in position, and enclosing within its circuit\nthe Cathedral of St. Sophia and the Palace of the Metropolitan,\nwas in remote ages a Sclavonian Pantheon, sacred to the Russian\nJupiter and other savage gods. The new town, separated from the\nold town by a deep ravine, stands on a broad platform which rises\nprecipitously from the banks of the Dnieper. The walls are massive,\nthe fort is strong, and the famous monastery, the first in rank\nin Russia, with its gilt and coloured domes, shines from out the\nshade of a deep wood. The third division, \"the Town of the Vale,\"\nsituated between the hills and the river, is chiefly devoted to\ncommerce. Without much stretch of fancy it might be said that Kief,\nlike Rome, Lisbon and some other cities, is built on seven hills.\nAnd thus the pictorial aspect changes almost at every step; a winding\npath will bring to view an unsuspected height, or open up a valley\npreviously hid. The traveller has in the course of his wanderings\noften to feel thankful that a kind providence has planted sacred\nplaces in the midst of lovely scenery. The holy mountain at Varallo,\nthe sacred hill at Orta, are, like the shrines of Kief, made doubly\npleasant for pilgrimage through the beauties of nature by which\nthey are surrounded. It is said that at the monastery of the Grande\nChartreuse the monks do not permit themselves to look too much at\nthe outward landscape, lest their hearts should by the loveliness\nof earth be estranged from heaven. I do not think that Russian\npriests or pilgrims incur any such danger. When they are neither\npraying nor eating they are sleeping; in short, I did not among\nthe motley multitude see a single eye open to the loveliness of\ncolour in the sky above, or to the beauty of form in the earth\nbeneath. It is singular how obtuse these people are; I have noticed\nin a crowded railway carriage that not a face would be turned to\nthe glory of the setting sun, but if a church tower came into view\non the distant horizon, every hand was raised to make the sign\nof the cross. While taking my observations among the pilgrims at\nKief I was struck with the fact, not only that a superstitious\nfaith, but that a degraded art blinds the eye to the beauty of\nnature. It is one of the high services of true art to lead the mind\nto the contemplation, to the love and the better understanding,\nof the works of creation. But, on the contrary, it is the penalty\nof this Byzantine art to close the appointed access between nature\nand nature's God. An art which ignores and violates truth and beauty\ncannot do otherwise than lead the mind away from nature. This seemed\none of the several lessons taught by Kief, the city of pilgrimage.\n\nSketchers of character and costume will find excellent studies\namong the pilgrims of Kief. The upper and educated classes, who\nin Russia are assimilating with their equals in other nations, and\nare therefore not tempting to the pencil or the brush, do not, as\nwe have already seen, come in any numbers to these sacred shrines.\nIt is the lower orders, who still preserve the manners and customs\nof their ancestors, that make these church festivals so attractive\nto the artist. The variety of races brought together from afar--a\ndiversity only possibly within an empire, like Russia, made up of\nheterogeneous materials--might serve not only to fill a portfolio,\nbut to illustrate a volume; the ethnologist equally with the painter\nwould find at the time of great festivities curious specimens of\nhumanity. I remember some years ago to have met with the French\nartist, M. Theodore Valerio, when he had brought home the _Album\nEthnographique_ from Hungary, Croatia, and the more distant borders\nof the Danube. It was quite refreshing, after the infinite number\nof costume-studies I had seen from Italian peasantry, to find that\nart had the possibility of an entirely new sphere among the Sclavonic\nraces. A like field for any painter of enterprise is now open in\nRussia. The large and famous composition, _The Butter Week (Carnival)\nin St. Petersburg_, by C. Makowski, may serve to indicate the hitherto\nundeveloped pictorial resources of the empire. When the conditions\nare new there is a possibility that the art may be new also. The\nethnology, the physical geography, the climate, the religion, the\nproducts of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, so far as they are\npeculiar to Russia, will some day become reflected into the national\nart. It is true that the painter may occasionally feel a want of\ncolour, the costumes of the peasant are apt to be dull and heavy, yet\nnot unfrequently rags and tatters bring compensation by picturesque\noutlines and paintable surface-textures. At Kief, however, the traveller\nis sufficiently south and east to fall in with warm southern hues\nand Oriental harmonies, broken and enriched, moreover, among the\nlower orders by that engrained dirt which I have usually noted as\nthe special privilege and prerogative of pilgrims in all parts of\nthe world. The use of soap would seem to be accounted as sacrilege\non religious sentiment. What with dust, and what with sun, the\nwayfarers who toil up the heights leading to the holy hill have\ngained a colour which a Murillo would delight in. The face and\nneck bronzed by the hot sun tell out grandly from a flowing mass\nof hair worthy of a patriarch.\n\n[Illustration: THE DNIEPER AT KIEF.]\n\nBeggars, who in Russia are as thick about the churches as the pigeons\nthat pick up crumbs in front of St. Mark's, are almost essential\nto the histrionic panoramas at these places of pilgrimage. I have\nnever seen so large or so varied a collection of professional and\ncasual mendicants as within and about the sacred enclosures of Kief.\nSome appeared to enjoy vested rights; these privileged personages\nwould as little endure to be driven from a favoured post as with us\na sweeper at a crossing would tolerate a rival broom. Several of\nthese waiters upon charity might be termed literary beggars; their\nfunction is to read aloud from a large book in the hearing of the\npassers-by. They are often infirm, and occasionally blind, but they\nread just the same. Another class may be called the incurables; in\nEngland they would be kept out of sight, but here in Russia, running\nsores, mutilated hands and legs, are valuable as stock-in-trade.\nLoathsome diseases are thrust forward as a threat, distorted limbs\nare extortionate for alms; it is a piteous sight to see; some of\nthese sad objects are in the jaws of death, and come apparently\nthat they may die on holy ground. Another class may be called the\npious beggars; they stand at the church doors; they are picturesque\nand apostolic; long beards and quiet bearing, with a certain\nprofessional get-up of misery and desolation, make these sacred\nmendicants grand after their kind. Such figures are usually ranged\non either side of the chief entrance; they are motionless as statues,\nsave when in the immediate act of soliciting alms; indeed I have\nsometimes noticed how beggars standing before a church facade are\nsuggestive of statuary, the want of which is so much felt in the\nunsculpturesque architecture of Russia. Pilgrims and beggars--the\nline of demarcation it is not always easy to define--have an Oriental\nway of throwing themselves into easy and paintable attitudes; in\nfact posture plays a conspicuous part in the devotions of such\npeople; they pray bodily almost more than mentally,--the figure\nand its attendant costume become instruments of worship.\n\nThe Cathedral of St. Sophia, which dates back to the Eleventh Century,\nis of interest from its resemblance to St. Mark's, Venice, in the\nplan of the Greek cross, in the use of domes and galleries, and\nin the introduction of mosaics as surface-decorations. I saw the\ngalleries full of fashionable worshippers; the galleries in St. Mark's\non the contrary, are always empty and useless, though constructed for\nuse. In the apse are the only old mosaics I have met with in Russia;\nit is strange that an art which specially pertains to Byzantium\nwas not turned to more account by the Greco-Russian Church. There\nis in the apse, besides, a subject composition,--a noble female\nfigure, colossal in size, the arms upraised in attitude of prayer,\nthe drapery cast broadly and symmetrically. In the same interior\nare associated with mosaics, frescoes, or rather wall-paintings\nin _secco_. On the columns which support the cupola are frescoes\nwhich, though of no art value, naturally excited curiosity when\nthey were discovered some few years since, after having been hid\nfor two or more centuries by a covering of whitewash. Some other\nwall-pictures are essentially modern, and others have been restored,\nafter Russian usage, in so reckless and wholesale a fashion as to\nbe no longer of value as archaeologic records. In the staircase\nleading to the galleries are some further wall-paintings, said to\nbe contemporaneous with the building of the cathedral; the date,\nhowever, is wholly uncertain. These anomalous compositions represent\na boar-hunt and other sports, with groups of musicians, dancers,\nand jugglers, intervening. In accord with the secular character of\nthe subjects is the rude naturalism of the style. Positive knowledge\nas to date being wanting, it is impossible to speak of these works\notherwise than to say that they cannot be of Byzantine origin.\nIf of real antiquity they will have to join company with other\nsemi-barbaric products in metal, etc., which prove, as we have\nseen, that Russia has two historic schools, the Byzantine, on the\none hand, debilitated and refined, as of periods of decline, and,\non the other, a non-Byzantine and barbarous style, strong and coarse\nas of races still vital and vigorous. A like conflict is found in\nthe North of Italy between the Byzantine and the Lombard manner;\nand even in England the west front of Wells Cathedral presents the\nsame unresolved contradictions. It would seem that over the greater\npart of Europe, Eastern as well as Western, these two hostile arts\nwere practiced contemporaneously; at all events the same buildings\nare found to display the two opposite styles. It would appear probable,\nhowever, that the respective artists or artisans belonged to at\nleast two distinct nationalities.\n\nThe Pecherskoi Monastery, or Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra, at Kief, the\nKremlin in Moscow, and the grand monastery of Troitza, have this\nin common, that the situation is commanding, the site elevated.\nAlso, these three venerable sanctuaries are strongholds, for though\nthe holy places at Kief are not on all sides fortified, yet the\napproach from the old city, which is the most accessible, lies\nalong bastions and walls. In fact, here we have again a semblance\nto the ancient idea of a church, a citadel, and a palace united,\nas in an acropolis--the Church and the State being one; the arm\nof the flesh sustaining the sword of the spirit,--a condition of\nthings which has always given to the world its noblest art. The\nwalk to this most ancient monastery in Russia passes pleasantly by\nthe side of a wood; then opens a view of the vast plain beneath,\nintersected by the river Dnieper, over which is flung the great\nsuspension-bridge built by the English engineer, Charles Vignolles,\nat the cost of L350,000. The immediate approach is lined with open\nshops or stalls for the sale of sacred pictures, engravings of\nsaints, and other articles which pilgrims love to carry back to\ntheir homes. Within the enclosure trees throw a cool shade, under\nwhich, as in the courtyards of mosques in Constantinople, the hot\nand weary may repose.\n\nThe cathedral dedicated to the ascension of the Virgin, has not\nthe slightest pretence to external architecture. The walls are\nmostly whitewashed, and some of the windows have common square\nheads crowned by mean pediments; the intervening pilasters and\nfloral decorations in relief, and all in the midst of whitewash,\nare of the poorest character. The seven gilded cupolas or domes\nmay be compared to inverted cups surmounted by crosses. The form\nresembles the cup commonly combined in the fantastic towers and\nspires of Protestant churches in Germany, where, however, it has\nbeen supposed to signify that the laity partake of the chalice.\nThese domes are made further decorative at the point of the small\ncircular neck which connects the cupola with the upper member or\nfinial; around this surface is painted a continuous series of single\nsaints standing; the effect of these pictures against the sky,\nif not quite artistic, is striking. Other parts of the exterior\nmay indicate Italian rather than Oriental origin, but the style\nis far too mongrel to boast of any legitimate parentage. Here,\nas in the Kremlin, are external wall-paintings of saints, some\nstanding on solid ground, others sitting among clouds; the Madonna\nis of course of the company, and the First and Second Persons of\nthe Trinity crown the composition. The ideas are trite and the\ntreatment is contemptible--the colours pass from dirty red into\nbrown and black. These certainly are the worst wall-paintings I\nhave ever met with, worse even than the coarsest painted shrines\non the waysides of Italy; indeed no Church save the Greek Church\nwould tolerate an art thus debased. A year after my journey to Kief\nI travelled through the Tyrol on my way from the Ammergau Passion\nPlay. The whole of this district abounds in frescoes, many being on\nthe external walls of private dwellings. This village art of the\nBavarian Highlands, though often the handiwork of simple artisans,\nputs to shame both the external and the internal wall-paintings at\nKief, Troitza, and the Kremlin. Yet this contrast between Russia\nand Southern nations does not arise so much from the higher ability\nof the artists, as from the superiority of the one school to the\nother school. The pictorial arts fostered by the Western Church\nare fundamentally true, while the arts which the Eastern Church has\npatronized and petrified are essentially false and effete.\n\nThe scene which strikes the eye on entering this parti-coloured\nCathedral of the Assumption, though strange, is highly picturesque.\nTo this holy shrine are brought the halt, the lame, and the blind,\nas to the moving of the waters. Some press forward to kiss the\nfoot of a crucifix, others bow the head and kiss the ground, a\nservile attitude of worship, which in the Greco-Russian Church\nhas been borrowed from the Mohammedans. The groups which throng\nthe narrow, crowded floor, are wonderfully effective; an artist\nwith sketch-book in hand would have many a good chance of catching\ngraphic heads and costumes, and all the more easily because these\npilgrims are not so lively as lethargic. Still, for grand scenic\nimpression, I have never in Russia witnessed any church function so\nstriking as the piazza in front of St. Peter's on Easter Day, when\nall Rome flocks to receive the Pope's blessing from the balcony.\nYet the whole interior of this cathedral is itself a picture, or\nrather a countless succession of pictures; as to the architecture\nthere is not the minutest space that has not been emblazoned by\naid of a paint-pot.\n\nBut the greatest marvel in this Cathedral of the Assumption is\nthe iconostas, or screen for the sacred pictures, a structure\nindispensable to all Russian churches, of which I have withheld the\ndescription till now, when I find myself in front of a large and\nmore astounding erection than can be found in St. Petersburg, Moscow,\nor Troitza. In small churches these sacred placards, bearing the\ncharacter of drop-scenes, are apt to be paltry, indeed the irreverent\nstranger may even be reminded of painted caravans at village fairs.\nBut in large cathedrals the screen which stands between the people\nin the nave and the priests in the holy of holies, presents a vast\nfacade, upon which are ranged, in three, four, or five stories,\na multitude of sacred pictures covered with gold and decked with\njewels. These elaborate contrivances correspond to the reredos\nin Western churches, only with this important difference, that\nthey are not behind the holy place but in front of it. They might,\nperhaps, with more correctness be compared to the rood-screens which\nin our churches stand between the altar and the people. The sacred\nscreen now before me mounts its head into the dome, and presents an\nimposing and even an architectonic aspect, but certain details,\nsuch as classic mouldings of columns, and a broken entablature,\npronounce the edifice to be comparatively modern. The summit is\nfitly crowned by a crucifix, almost in the flat, in order not to\nevade the law of the Russian Church, which prohibits statues in the\nround; the figure of Christ is silver, the cross and the drapery\nof gold or silver-gilt. On either side of the crucifix stand in\ntheir prescriptive stations the Madonna and St. John. On the story\nbeneath comes the entombment, all covered with gold and silver,\nin a low-relief which indicates the forms of the figures beneath;\nthe heads, which are not in relief but merely pictorial, are the\nonly portions of the picture actually visible.\n\nThese altar-screens, which in Russia are counted not by tens but\nby hundreds and thousands, are highly ornate. Silver and gold and\njewellery are conjoined with painting after the nursery and doll-like\nfashion approved in the South of Spain and at Naples. Only in the\nmost corrupt of Roman Catholic capitals does ecclesiastical art\nassume the childish forms common in Russia. Resuming the description\nof the above altar-screen, we find next in range below the entombment\na large composition, comprising God the Father surrounded by cherubs,\nwith two full-grown seraphs, encircled by six gold wings, standing\non either side. Again, the only parts of the picture permitted to\nbe seen are the heads, crossed hands, black legs and feet. Christ\nwith the open book of judgment is another conspicuous figure; also a\ncompanion head, gigantic in size, is the Madonna, directly Byzantine\nin type, though its smooth and well-kept surface gives little sign of\nage. The Christ, too, must be accounted but as modernized Byzantine;\nhere is none of the severity or of the tenuity of the early periods.\nThe type is poor though refined, debilitated though ideal. The hair,\nparted on the forehead, falls thickly on the shoulders. The face is\nyouthful, not more than thirty, and without a wrinkle; the cheeks\nare a little flushed, the prevailing expression is placidity. The\naccessories of glory, drapery, and open book are highly decorative;\nhere embossed patterns on the gold coverings enhance the richness\nof the surface-ornament. Once again the Russians appear supreme\nin metal-work, especially in the elaboration of decoration in the\nflat. Most of the pictures above mentioned are evidently supremely\nholy; they are black and highly gilded; moreover, they move most\ndeeply all sorts and conditions of men, women, and children.\n\nI may here again mention that one purpose of my Russian journey was\nto discover whether there were heads of Christ in the possession\nof the Russian Church older or nobler than the ivory carvings, the\nfrescoes, or easel pictures which are found in Italy and other\nSouthern or Western nations. And I was, I confess, disappointed not\nto meet with any data which could materially enlarge or enrich this\nmost interesting of subjects. As to priority of date, it seems to be\nentirely on the side of the Roman catacombs and the Latin Church;\nmoreover, in Russia, as I before frequently remarked, chronology\nis untrustworthy, inasmuch as comparatively modern works assume\nand parody the style of the most ancient. The heads of Christ in\nRussia, one of which has been just described, are, as already said,\nmore or less servile reproductions of Byzantine types. Still the\ntypical form is found under varying phases; the general tendency\nin these replicas of anterior originals would appear to be towards\nthe mitigation of the asperities in the confirmed Byzantine formulas.\nThus the more recent heads of the Saviour in the churches of St.\nPetersburg, Moscow, Troitza and Kief, assume a certain modern manner,\nand occasionally wear a smooth, pretty and ornamental aspect. In\nthese variations on the prescriptive Eastern type, the hair usually\nflows down upon the shoulders, as with the Greek and Russian Priests\nin the present day. As to the beard, it is thick and full, or short\nand scant, but the cheeks are left uncovered, and show an elongated\nface and chin.\n\nThese Russian heads of the Saviour in softening down the severe and\naged type common to Byzantium, assume a physiognomy not sufficiently\nintellectual for the Greatest of Teachers. These \"images\" in fact\ninspire little reverence except with blind worshippers; they are\nmostly wrought up and renovated, so as to fulfil the preconceived\nconditions of sanctity: undefined generality, weakness, smoothness,\nand blackness, are the common characteristics of these supposititious\nheads of the Saviour. It will thus again be easily understood how\nopposite has been the practice of the Eastern and Western Churches;\nit is a striking fact that at the time when, in Italy, under Leonardo\nda Vinci, Raphael and others, the mystery of a God manifest in the\nflesh had been as it were solved by a perfected art, this Russian\nChurch was still under bondage to the once accepted but now discarded\nnotion that the Redeemer ought to be represented as one who had no\nform or comeliness. Art in the Western world gained access to the\nbeautiful, the perfect, and the divine, as soon as it was permitted\nto the painter or the sculptor to develop to uttermost perfection\nthe idea of the Man-God. All such conceptions of the infinite,\nwhether it be that of Jupiter in pagan periods, or of Christ under\nour divine dispensation, have always been the life and inspiration\nof the arts. But in Russia ignoble heads of Christ convinced me that\nsuch life and inspiration were denied. And I look upon the head\nof Christ as the turning point in the Christian art of a nation.\nIf that head be conceived of unworthily there is no possibility\nthat prophets, apostles, martyrs, shall receive their due.\n\n[Illustration: LA LAVRA, KIEF.]\n\n\n\n\n_NIJNI-NOVGOROD_\n\n_ANTONIO GALLENGA_\n\nNijni-Novgorod, or Lower New-town, is older than Moscow, and only\nnot so old as Novgorod the Great, which was a contemporary of Venice,\nand was still new when the semi-fabulaus Ruric and his Varangians\nare supposed to have given their name to Russia.\n\nNijni-Novgorod, which everybody here calls simply \"Nijni,\" dates\nfrom 1222; and mention of its fair occurs, we are told, in 1366,\nsince which epoch its celebration has suffered very rare and only\nviolent interruption.\n\nTo understand why this venerable spot should have been for so many\nyears, and should be still, so extensively favoured by the world's\ntrade, it is hardly necessary to see it. We only need bear in mind\nthat Nijni lies near the confluence of the Oka and the Volga, two\nof the greatest rivers of this Russia which alone of all countries\nof Europe may be said to have great rivers; the Volga having a\ncourse of 2,320 miles, and the Oka, a mere tributary, of 850 miles.\n\nIt is the position which the Saoene and the Rhone have made for Lyons;\nthe position for which St. Louis is indebted to the Mississippi and\nMissouri; the position which Corientes will soon owe to the Parana\nand the Paraguay.\n\nNijni lies at the very centre of that water communication which\njoins the Caspian and the Black Sea to the White Sea and the Baltic,\nand which, were it always summer, might almost have enabled Russia\nto dispense with roads and railroads.\n\nBut Nijni is, besides, the terminus of the railway from Moscow.\nThat line places this town and its fair in communication with all\nthe lines of Russia and the Western World, while the Volga, with\nits tributary, the Kama, leads to Perm, and the Pass of the Ural\nMountains, and the vast regions of Siberia and Central Asia.\n\nNijni-Novgorod is thus one of the most important links between\nthe two great continents, the point of contact between Asiatic\nwealth and European industry; and its fair the best meeting-place\nfor the interchange of commodities between the nations that still\nwalk, ride, or row at the rate of three to five miles an hour,\nand those who fly on the wings of steam at the rate of thirty to\nfifty.\n\nThe site of Nijni is somewhat like what I still remember of St.\nLouis after a seventeen years' interval. We travelled from Moscow\nover a distance of 273 miles in thirteen hours. For the last hour\nor two before we reached our journey's end, we had on our right\nthe river Oka and a hilly ridge rising all along it and forming\nits southern bank.\n\nOn alighting at the station we drove through a flat, marshy ground,\nintersected by broad canals, to a triangular space between the\nOka and the Volga at their confluence, where the fair is held.\n\nWe went through the maze of bazaars and market buildings, of rows\nof booths, shops and stalls, eating and drinking sheds, warehouses\nand counting-houses. We struggled through long lines of heavy-laden\ncountry carts, and swarms of clattering _droskies_, all striving to\nforce their way along with that hurry-skurry that adds to confusion\nand lessens speed; and we came at last to a long pontoon bridge, over\nwhich we crossed the Oka, and beyond which rises the hill-range or\nravine, on the top and at the foot of which is built the straggling\ntown of Nijni-Novgorod.\n\nNijni-Novgorod is a town of 45,000 inhabitants, and, like most\nRussian towns, it occupies a space which could accommodate half a\nmillion of people. Like many old Russian towns, also, it is laid\nout on the pattern of Moscow, as far as its situation allowed;\nand, to keep up the resemblance, it boasts a Kremlin of its own,\na grim, struggling citadel with battlemented walls and mediaeval\ntowers over its gates, with its scores of Byzantine churches, most\nof them with their five cupolas _de rigueur_, clustering together\nlike a bunch of radishes--one big radish between four little\nradishes--but not as liberally covered with gilding as those which\nglisten on the top of sacred buildings in St. Petersburg or Moscow;\ndown the slopes and ravines are woods and gardens, with coffee-houses\nand eating-houses, and other places of popular entertainment.\n\nIt is a town to be admired on the outside and at a distance as a\npicture, but most objectionable as a residence on account of its\nmarvellous distances and murderous pavement, a stroll on which\nreminds you of the martyrdom of those holy pilgrims who, to give\nglory to God, walked with dry peas in their shoes.\n\nThe pavements are bad in Nijni town, but worse in Nijni fair, for\nif in the former all is hard, sharp, uneven flint, in the latter,\nwhat is not wood is mud, and what is not mud is dust, for heavy\nshowers alternate with stifling heat; and, after a three hours'\ndrought one would say that these good people, who live half in\nand half out of a swamp, and who drink anything rather than water,\ncan never spare a poor drop to slake the pulverized clay of their\nmuch trodden thoroughfares.\n\nWith all these drawbacks, however, and even with the addition of\nits villainous smells, this is an interesting and striking spot.\nNo place can boast of a more sublime view than one can get here\nfrom the Imperial Palace and Terrace, or from the church-domes\nor spires on the Kremlin; or, even better, from the Esplanade of\nMouravief's Folly--a tower erected by the well-known General of\nthat name on the highest and foremost ravine, and on the summit of\nwhich he had planned to place a fac-simile of the famous Strassburg\nclock, but constructed on so gigantic a scale that hours and minutes,\nthe moon's phases, the planets' cycles and all besides, should be\ndistinctly visible from every locality of the town and fair for\nmiles and miles around.\n\nFrom any of those vantage-grounds on the hill look down. The town\nis at your feet; the fair--a city, a Babylon of shops--stretches\nbeyond the bridge; the plain, a boundless ocean of green, field and\nforest, dotted here and there with church-spires and factory-shafts\nat prodigious distances; and the two broad rivers, bearing the\ntribute of remote regions from north and south in numberless boats\nand lighters, and neat gallant steamers; the two streams meeting\nhere at right angles just below the pontoon-bridge where an immense\nfive-domed church of recent construction has been reared to mark\nand hallow the spot.\n\nDown at the fair, in the centre of its hubbub, rises the governor's\nsummer-place. The governor dwells there with his family during the\nfew weeks of the fair (mid-August to mid-September), coming down\nhither from the Imperial Palace in the town Kremlin, and occupying\nthe upper floor. The whole basement, the entrance-hall, and all\npassages--with the exception of a narrow, private, winding\nstaircase--are invaded by the crowd and converted into a bazaar,\nthe noisiest in the fair, where there is incessant life and movement,\nand music and hurly-burly at every hour between noon and night--a\nlively scene upon which his Excellency and his guests and friends\nlook down from the balcony after their five o'clock dinner, smoking\ntheir cigarettes, and watching the policemen as they pounce like\ntrained hawks on the unwary pick-pockets prowling among the crowd.\n\nOf this immense mass of strangers now in Nijni, the town itself,\nand especially the upper town, sees and hears but little.\n\nThe fair has its own ground, on its own side of the bridge, its\nown hotels and lodging-houses, its own churches, chapels, theatres,\neating, gambling, and other houses, its long straight streets and\nboulevards, and pleasure as well as business resorts.\n\nIt has its fine Chinese Row, though Chinamen have lately discontinued\ntheir attendance; it has rich traders' temporary homes, fitted up\nwith comfort, and even taste and luxury; and it has its charity\ndormitory, a vast wooden shed, built by Court Ignatieff, and bearing\nhis name, intended to accommodate 250 houseless vagrants, but alas! in\na place where there must be 20,000, if not 200,000 persons answering\nthat description.\n\nOf women coming to this market the number is comparatively small--one,\nI should say, for every 100 men; of ladies not one in 10,000, or\n100,000.\n\nOf those who muster sufficiently strong at the evening promenade\non the Boulevard, indigenous or resident, for the most part, rather\nthe look than the number is formidable; and it is here in Nijni,\nas it is generally in Russia, that a Mussulman becomes convinced\nof the wisdom of his Arabian prophet, who invented the yashmak\nas man's best protection, and hallowed it; for of the charms of\nmost Russian women, blessed are those who believe without seeing!\n\nIn working hours only men and beasts are to be seen--a jumble and\nscramble of men and beasts: car-loads of goods; piles of hogsheads,\nbarrels, bales, boxes, and bundles, merchandise of all kinds, of\nevery shape, colour, or smell, all lying in a mass topsy-turvy,\nhiggledy-piggledy; the thoroughfares blocked up, the foot-paths\nencumbered; chaos and noise all-pervading; and yet, by degrees, almost\nimperceptibly, you will see everything going its way, finding its own\nplace; for every branch of trade has, or was at least intended to\nhave, here its appointed abode; and there are Tea Rows; Silversmiths\nand Calico Streets; Fur Lanes; Soap, Candle, and Caviare Alleys;\nPhotograph, Holy Images, and Priestly Vestments Bazaars; Boot,\nSlop, Tag and Rag Marts and Depositories--all in their compartments,\nkin with kin, and like with like; and everything is made to clear\nout of the way, and all is smoothed down; all subsides into order\nand rule, and not very late at night--quiet.\n\nThe Tartars do the most of the work.\n\nThey are the descendants of the old warriors of Genghis Khan and\nTimour the Lame, of the ruthless savages who for 200 years overran\nall Russia, spreading death and desolation wherever their coursers'\nhoofs trod, making slaves of the people, and tributary vassals of\ntheir Princes; but, who by their short-sighted policy favoured the\nrise of that dynasty of Moscow Grand Princes, who presently became\nstrong enough to extend their sway both over Russ and Tartar.\n\nThe great merchants of Moscow and St. Petersburg or their\nrepresentatives and partners come here for a few days, partners and\nclerks taking up the task by turns, according as business allows\nthem absence from their chief establishments.\n\nThey bring here no goods, but merely samples of goods--tea, cotton,\nwoollen and linen tissues, silk, cutlery, jewellery, and generally\nall articles of European (home Russian) manufacture.\n\nThey have most of them good apartments in the upper floors of their\nwarehouses; they see their customers, mostly provincial retail\ndealers; they show their samples, drive their bargains, receive\norders, attend on 'Change (for they have a _Bourse_ at the fair,\nnear the bridge), smoke indoors (for in the streets that indulgence\nis forbidden all over the fair for fear of fire), lunch or dine\ntogether often by mutual invitation.\n\nThey are gentlemenly men, young men for the most part (for their\nelders are at home minding the main business), young Russians or\nRussified Germans, some of whom adopt and even affect and exaggerate\nRussian feeling and habits; young men to whom it seems to be a\nprinciple that easy-made money should be readily spent; leisurely,\nbusiness young men, who sit up late and get up later, take the world\nand its work and pleasure at their ease; understand little and\ncare even less about politics; profess to be neither great readers\nnor great thinkers; but are, as a rule, free-handed, hospitable,\nsociable, most amiable, and anything rather than unintelligent men.\n\nOf all the articles of trade which come to court public favour\nin Nijni, the most important and valuable is tea; and although\nthe Moscow merchants, by the excellence of their sea-faring tea,\nchiefly imported from Odessa or through England, have almost entirely\ndriven from the market the caravan tea, still about one-tenth of\nthe enormous quantity of tea sold here is grown in the north of\nChina, and comes overland from Kiakhta, the city on the border\nbetween the Asiatic-Russian and the Celestial Empire.\n\nI was curious to compare the taste of some of the very best qualities\nof both kinds, and was brought to the conclusion, confirmed by the\nopinion of gentlemen interested in the sale of sea-faring tea,\nthat, although some of their own is more high-flavoured and stronger,\nthere is in the Kiakhta tea an exquisite delicacy, which will always\nreceive in its favour a higher price. The difference, I am told,\nmainly arises from the fact that the caravan tea, exposed to the\nair during its twelve months' journey in loose and clumsy and\nmuch-shaken paper and sheep-skin bundles, gets rid of the tannin\nand other gross substances, a process of purification which cannot\nbe effected in the necessarily sealed and hermetically-closed boxes\nin which it reaches Europe by the sea-route; so that if sea-faring\ntea, like port-wine, easily recommends itself to the taste and\nnerves of a strong, hard-working man, a dainty, refined lady will\ngive preference to a cup of Kiakhta tea, as she would to a glass\nof Chateau Yquem.\n\nThe interest of a European, however, would be chiefly attracted\nby what is less familiar in his own part of the world; and, short\nof an actual journey to the remote regions of Siberia and Central\nAsia, nothing is calculated to give him a more extensive idea of\nthe produce of those Trans-Uralian Russian possessions than a survey\nof the goods they send here for sale.\n\nWhat astonishes a stranger at first sight is the quantity. You may\nwalk for hours along yards and sheds, the repositories of iron from\nSiberia. You pass hundreds of shops of malachite and lapis-lazuli,\nand a variety of gold and silver work and precious stones from the\nCaucasus, cut with all the minute diligence of Asiatic skill. You\nwill see Turkish carpets, Persian silks, and above all things the\nfamous Orenburg shawls, so finely knitted, and with such patience\nthat one can (they say, but I have not made the experiment), be\nmade to pass through a lady's ring, though they be so broad on\nall sides as to wrap the lady all around from head to foot.\n\nOne may, besides, have his choice of hundreds and thousands of\nthose delightful curiosities and knickknacks, recommendable less\nfor their quaintness than for the certainty one feels that there\nis no possible use in the world they may be put to.\n\nThere is no novelty at Nijni; no new shape, pattern, or colour\njust coming out to catch popular favour; no unknown mechanical\ncontrivance; no discovery likely to affect human progress and brought\nhere for the entertainment of the intelligent, un-commercial visitor.\nThere are only the shop-keeper and his customer, though it is a\nwholesale shop and on a very large scale.\n\nThe fair, moreover, has not the duration that is generally allowed\nfor an Exhibition.\n\n[Illustration: NIJNI-NOVGOROD (BRIDGE OF THE FAIR).]\n\nThough officially opened on the 27th of July, the fair does not\nbegin in good earnest till the 18th of August; and it reaches its\nheight on the 27th, when accounts are settled, and payments ensue;\nafter which, goods are removed, and the grounds cleared; only a\nportion of the business lingering throughout September.\n\nAbout half a score of days, out of the two months during which the\nfair is held, are all that may have attraction for the generality\nof strangers. And although many come from all parts of Russia, and\nfrom foreign countries, I do not think they tarry here for pleasure\nbeyond two or three days.\n\nIt would be interesting to anticipate what change a few weeks will\neffect in this scene which is now so full of life, bustle, and\ngaiety; this stage, where so great a variety of human beings from\nnearly all regions of the world, with their money or money's worth,\nwith their hopes and fears, their greed and extravagance, all their\ngood and evil instincts and faculties at play.\n\nIn a few weeks the flags will be furled, the tents struck; the\npontoon-bridge removed; the shops closed; hotels, bazaars, and\nchurches, all private and public edifices, utterly deserted and\nsilent; and every house stripped of the last stick of valuable\nfurniture; every door locked, barred, and sealed; the place left\nto take care of itself.\n\nFor autumn rains and spring thaws must set in, when the seven or\neight square miles of the ground of the fair, as well as the country\nto an immense extent, will be under water.\n\n\n\n\n_THE VOLGA BASIN_\n\n_THE GREAT RIVER--KASAN, TSARITZIN--ASTRAKHAN_\n\n_ANTONIO GALLENGA_\n\nIt is hardly possible to travel on the Volga without falling in\nlove with the great river at first sight.\n\nThe range of low hills which we had on our right as we descended\nthe Oka continued now on the same side as we came down the Volga.\nThe Volga, however, has nothing of the wild, erratic instincts\nof its tributary. It is a grand, calm, dignified stream, keeping\nto its course as a respectable matron, and gliding down in placid\nloveliness, without weir or leap, fall or rapids, or break of any\nkind--a fine, broad, almost unrippled sheet of water, with an even,\nsteady, and grandly monotonous flow, like that of the stanzas of\nTasso.\n\nIts width, so far as eye can judge, does not greatly exceed that\nof the Thames at Gravesend, but it is always the same from the\nbridge at Twer above Moscow to the only other bridge, one mile\nin length, between Syzran and Samara; everywhere the same \"full\nbumper\" for a run of 2,000 English miles.\n\nThough the Volga is numbered among the European rivers, and has\nits sources on the Valdai hills between the European cities, St.\nPetersburg and Moscow, it is a frontier stream, and seemed intended\nto form the natural line of demarcation between two parts of the\nworld--between two worlds.\n\nUp to the middle of the Sixteenth Century, Kasan was the advanced\nguard of the Tartar hordes. These wandering tribes, which, profiting\nby dissensions among the Russian princes, overcame and overran\nall Russia, weakened in their turn by division, fell back from\nthe main part of the invaded territory, but still held for some\ntime their own on the Volga, from Kasan to Astrakhan, till they\nwere utterly routed and brought under Russian sway by Ivan the\nTerrible.\n\nEven then, however, though their strength was broken, their spirit\nwas untamed. The men of high warrior caste who survived their defeat\nsought a refuge among their kindred tribes further east, at Samarkand,\nBokhara, and Khiva, where the Russians have now overtaken them; but\na large part of the mere multitude laid aside without giving up\ntheir arms, passively accepted without formally acknowledging the\nTsar's sway, and abided in their tents,--swallowed at once, but\nvery leisurely digested, by the all-absorbing Russian civilization.\n\nLarge bodies of the nation, however, migrated _en masse_ from time\nto time, the lands they left vacant being rapidly filled up by\nbands of Cossacks, and by foreign (chiefly German), colonists.\n\nFor more than three centuries, though already mistress of Siberia\nand victorious in remote Asia, Russia proper might be considered as\nending at the Volga; so that most of the older and most important\ntowns south of Kasan and north of Astrakhan, such as Simbirsk,\nSyzran, Volsk, Saratof, Kamyshin, and Tsaritzin, lie on the right,\nor Russo-European bank of the stream.\n\nTsaritzin is at the head of the Delta of the Volga, and it lies 580\nversts above Astrakhan, which is said to be at the river's mouth,\nbut which is still 150 versts from the roadstead or anchorage,\ncalled the Nine Feet Station; the spot on the Caspian where sea\nnavigation really begins.\n\nAt Tsaritzin we might have fancied ourselves in some brand-new\ntown in one of the remote backwoods of America. It was nothing of\na place before the railway reached it. No one can foretell what\nit may become before the locomotive travels past it. For under\npresent circumstances all the postal service, the light goods and\ntime-saving passenger traffic from all parts of Russia to Astrakhan,\nthe Caspian and the Trans-Caspian region, or _vice versa_, must\npass between the Tsaritzin pier on the Volga and the platforms\nof the Tsaritzin railway station.\n\nWe did not see much of the upstart town, for the horrible clouds\nof thick, dung-impregnated dust would not allow us to keep our\neyes open. But we perceived that almost every trace of what was\nonce little better than a second rate fortress and a village was\nobliterated; the old inhabitants were nowhere, and a bustling set\nof new settlers were sharing the broad area among themselves, taking\nas much of it as suited their immediate wants, and extending it to\nthe utmost limits of their sanguine expectations; drawing lines\nof streets at great distances, tracing the sides of broad squares\nand crescents, and laying the foundations of what would rise in\ntime into shops and houses, hotels, bazaars, theatres and churches.\n\nTzaritzin when we saw it was merely the embryo of a city. Those\nthat may visit it a score of years hence will tell us what they\nfind it.\n\nTwo more nights and a day down the sluggish waters of the main\nchannel of the Volga landed us on the tenth day after our departure\nfrom Nijni-Novgorod, at Astrakhan, where we stayed a whole week.\n\nFrom Tsaritzin to Astrakhan the Volga flows through the Steppe,\nthe great Asiatic grass desert extending from the Caucasus to the\nfrontier of China. The wild tenants of this wilderness, the various\ntribes of Tartars, once the terror of East and West, were like a vast\nocean of human beings swayed to and fro by nomadic and predatory\ninstincts, which for centuries threatened to overwhelm and efface\nevery vestige of the world's civilization.\n\nThe Russians who were first invested and overpowered by the flood,\nwere able by the valour and more by the craft of their princes,\nfirst to stem the tide, then to force it back, and in the end to\nrear such bulwarks as might for ever baffle its fury, and prevent\nits further onset.\n\nSuch bulwarks were once the strong places of Kasan and Astrakhan,\nthe former seats of Tartar hordes, which the Tsars of Moscow made\ntheir bases of operations for the indefinite extension of their\ncivilized empire over Tartar barbarism.\n\nFor the experience of centuries had proved that the Steppe was not\neverywhere and altogether an irreclaimable land, nor the Tartars\nan utterly untameable race.\n\nAstrakhan, like Kasan, is a Russian town, of whose 50,000 inhabitants\none-fourth or one-fifth at least are tamed Tartars, and the sands\naround which can be made to yield grapes and peaches, and a profusion\nof melons and watermelons. Beyond the immediate neighbourhood,\nover the whole province or \"Government\" of Astrakhan, stretches\nthe vast land of the Steppe, the wide and thin pasture-grounds on\nwhich the Tartar tribes roam at will with their flocks; a pastoral\nset of men; without fixed homes, and, in our sense of the word,\nwithout laws; and yet perfectly harmless and peaceful--exempt,\nat least till very lately, from military service, and only paying\na tribute of 45,000 roubles, at so much a head for each horse,\nox, or camel, ranging over an extent of 7,000,000 dessiatines\n(20,000,000 acres) of land, an area of 224,514 kilometers, or about\nhalf of that of France, with a population, including that of the\ncapital, of 601,514 inhabitants.\n\nAstrakhan is a modern town, with the usual broad, straight streets,\nmost of them boasting no other pavement than sand, with brick\nside-walks, much worn and dilapidated, and, like those of Buenos\nAyres and many other American cities, so raised above the roadway\nas to require great attention from those who do not wish to run\nthe risk of broken shins.\n\nThe town has its own Kremlin, apart from the citadel. The Kremlin\nis a kind of cathedral-close, with the cathedral and the archbishop's\npalace, and several monasteries and priests' habitations. The whole\ntown, besides, and the environs, as usual in Russia, muster more\nchurches than they can number priests or worshippers.\n\nIn a walk of two or three miles I took outside the town and as\nfar as the cemeteries, I had a scattered group of at least half\na score of churches all around me, but there was scarcely a human\nhabitation within sight.\n\nThe governor's palace is a low building over a row of shops in the\nmain square of the city. The square itself and the thoroughfares were\nenveloped in thick clouds of blinding dust, almost as troublesome as\nthat of Tsaritzin; but on the whole, the place is less unclean than\none might expect from a population made up of Russians, Tartars,\nCalmucks, Persians, Armenians and Jews.\n\nThe Volga and the hundred channels which constitute its delta,\nand the northern shores of the Caspian Sea into which they flow,\nyield more fish than the coasts of Norway and Newfoundland put\ntogether. The nets employed in catching them would, if laid side\nby side on the ground in all their length, extend over a line of\n40,000 versts, or twice the distance from St. Petersburg to Tashkend\nand back. The annual produce of these Astrakhan fisheries--sturgeon,\nsterlet, salmon, pike, shad, etc.--amounts to 10,000,000 puds of\nfish (the pud thirty-six English pound weight) of the value of\n20,000,000 roubles, the herrings alone yielding a yearly income\nof 4,000,000 roubles. With the exception of the caviare, which is\nsold all over the world, the produce of these fisheries, salted\nor pickled, is destined for home consumption, and travels all over\nthe empire, although as far as I have been, I have found everywhere\nthe waters equally well-stocked by nature with every description\nof fish; a provident dispensation, since the Russian clergy, like\nthe Roman Catholic, are indefatigable in their promotion of what\nthey call \"the Apostles' trade,\" by their injunction of 226 fast\nor fish days throughout the year.\n\nThe Delta of the Volga and the Caspian Sea lie twenty-five metres\nbelow the level of the Black Sea.\n\nThe city of Astrakhan, placed on the left bank of the main channel\nof the Delta, and, as I said, 150 versts above its anchorage, becomes\nlike an island in the midst of a vast sea when the Volga comes down\nin its might with the thaw of the northern ice in late spring;\nand most of its lowest wards would be overwhelmed were it not for\nthe dikes that encompass it like a town in Holland.\n\nThe eight principal branches and the hundred minor channels and\noutlets of the Delta, breaking up the land into a labyrinth of\nhundreds of islets, are then blended together in one watery surface,\nout of which only the crests of these islets emerge with isolated\nvillages, with log-huts and long whitewashed buildings, and high-domed\nchurches, all dammed and diked up like the town itself--Tartar\nvillages, Calmuck villages, Cossack villages, all or most of them\nfishers' homes and fishing establishments--a population of 20,000\nto 30,000 souls being thus scattered on the bare sand-hills and\ndunes; men of all race, colour, and faith, all employed in the\nsame fishing pursuit; the Tartars and Calmucks usually as rank\nand file, the Russians and other Europeans as overseers, foremen,\nand skilled labourers.\n\nFrom Astrakhan, the queen of the Steppes, to Tiflis the queen of\nthe Caucasus, we had a choice of routes.\n\nTourists from England, or from any part of Western Europe, may\neasily visit the great mountain-chain on which Prometheus was found,\nby crossing the Black Sea from Constantinople or from Odessa, and\nlanding at Poti, where the Russians have constructed a railway\nto Tiflis, once the capital of Georgia, now the residence of the\nGovernor-General of the whole Caucasus region.\n\nA traveller from the north, bound to the same goal, can take the\ntrain at Moscow, and come down by rail, _via_ Rostov-on-the-Don,\nall the way to Vladikavkas, a distance of 1,803 versts; and about\n200 additional versts, by post, over a good military road, and\nacross the main Caucasian chain, will bring him from Vladikavkas\nto Tiflis.\n\nBut we had descended the Volga, and were now near its mouth. We\nhad to go down the Volga to the Nine Feet Station below Astrakhan,\nembark there on the Caspian Sea, and cross over either to Baku,\nwhence we could go by post round the mountain-chain at its southern\nextremity as far as Tiflis; or land at Petrofsk, and travel along\nthe chain to Vladikavkas and the good military road across the\nchain to Tiflis.\n\nWe gave our preference to the last-named route.\n\nWe left Astrakhan at ten in the evening on board a heavy barge\nbelonging to the Caucasus and Mercury steam-navigation company,\ntowed by a tug down stream at the rate of five or six miles an\nhour.\n\nWe were all that afternoon and night, and part of the following\nday, descending the main channel of the Volga, and it was past\nnoon before we reached the Nine Feet Station, for so they call\nthe roadstead above which vessels of more than nine feet draught\ndare not venture.\n\nAll sight of land, of the seventy larger islands of the Delta,\nand even of the minor islets, and of the lowest sand-banks, had\nbeen lost for several hours, and we were here in the open sea,\nthough scarcely beyond the boundary that the Creator has elsewhere\nfixed between land and water. For the Station which, if I can allow\nmyself an apparent Irishism, is a moveable one, has to be pushed\nforward almost day by day as the sands of the Volga silt up far\nbeyond the choked-up lands of the Delta, encroaching with a steady\ninroad on the depths of the waves; the Steppe everywhere widening\nas the sea dwindles, and suggesting the thought that the whole\nregion that is now Steppe must in remote ages have been sea, and\nthat whatever is now sea, must in time become Steppe.\n\nIndeed, it seems not impossible to calculate how many years or\ncenturies it may take for the sands of the Volga, aided by those of\nthe Ural and the Emba on the eastern, and of the Kuma, the Terek,\nand the Kur or Kura, with its tributary the Aras, on the western\nshore, to fill up the land-locked Caspian, though its extreme depth,\naccording to the Gazetteers, is 600 feet, and the area covered by\nit probably exceeds 180,000 square miles, a surface as large as\nthat of Spain.\n\nKasan, once the residence of a redoubted horde, was probably, under\nTartar sway, in a great measure a mere encampment, chiefly a city of\ntents; for whatever the guide-books may say, there is no positive\nevidence of its present buildings belonging to a date anterior to\nthe Russian Conquest.\n\nIts situation probably recommended itself to the Tartars chiefly\non the score of strength; for although it stands high above the\nriver, its present distance from it is at least three miles, and\nit is surrounded by a sandy and marshy plain, intersected by the\nchannels of the Kasana river, erratic water-courses which may have\nproved sufficient obstacles to the onset of an invader, but which\nraise no less serious hindrances to the conveyance of goods from\nthe landing-place to the town; an inconvenience hitherto not removed\nby the tramway, as it as yet only carries passengers.\n\nKasan is on the main line of communication between Central Russia\nand Siberia.\n\nThe travellers bound to that bourne embark here on steamers that go\ndown the Volga as far as its confluence with the Kama, a tributary\nstream, and thence ascend the Kama, which is navigable all the\nway to Perm. From Perm a railway runs up to the Pass of the Ural\nmountains to Ekaterinenburg, probably to be in course of time continued\nto Tiumen, Tobolsk, Tomsk, Irkutsk, the Baikal Lake, the Chinese\nfrontier at Kiakhta, the banks of the Amoor, and the shores of\nthe Pacific Ocean.\n\nAlong this route it is calculated that some L3,000,000 worth of\nmerchandise are brought yearly from Siberia down the Kama and up\nthe Volga to the Nijni-Novgorod fair.\n\nKasan is a highly flourishing city. It has a population of 90,000\nto 100,000 inhabitants, one-fourth of whom are Tartars.\n\nThese descendants of the old Nomad race are now here at home, and\nlive in the city perfectly at peace with their Russian fellow-subjects,\nthough being Mahometans, they have distinct, if not separate, quarters,\nand mosques and a burial-ground of their own. It would seem impossible\nfor two races which have so little reason for mutual good-will, to\nshow so little disposition to quarrel. But it should be remembered\nthat Sclav and Tartar were not in former times so far asunder in\nmanners, in language, in polish, nor so free from admixture in\nblood as the Russians fondly believe.\n\nThe town has its Kremlin, on the site of the old citadel, with\nits cathedral and other churches, and several \"telescope towers,\"\nif they may be so called, built on several stories, dwindling in\nsize from floor to floor as they rise one above the other, so that\none can conceive how they might easily sink into one another and\nshut up like a spy-glass. The great brick tower of Pier Crescenzi\nin Rome is such a tower; and here are many in the same style at\nMoscow and in most other old Russian cities. Kasan has several public\nedifices of some pretension: the Admiralty; the University--one of\nthe seven of the Empire, etc. But we had enough of it all after\ntwo or three hours, and were glad to shun the heat of the rest\nof the day in the cool sitting-room of Commonen's Hotel, which\nalone may be taken as a voucher for the high degree of civilization\nreached by Kasan.\n\nWe gave even less time to the other cities of the Volga, not thinking\nit always worth while to alight at all the stations, though the\nsteamer stopped at some of these for many a long, weary hour.\n\nWith the exception of Kasan, Samara, and Astrakhan, the most important\ncities are, as I said, on the right or Russian bank of the River;\nand three of them, Syzran, Saratof, and Tsaritzin, are connected\nby various railways with Moscow and all the other important centres\nof life in the Empire.\n\nThe Volga, which between Nijni-Novgorod and Kasan flows in an almost\nstraight easterly direction, takes a turn to the southward after\nleaving Kasan and the confluence of the Kama; but it makes a loop\nbelow Simbirsk, turning eastward to Samara, and again west to Syzran,\nafter which it resumes its southerly course to Saratof, Tsaritzin,\nand Astrakhan.\n\nThe railway from Moscow to Syzran, upon reaching Syzran, crosses\nthe Volga on an iron bridge, one verst and a half, or one English\nmile, in length, and high enough to allow the largest steamer pass\nwithout lowering its funnel--a masterpiece of engineering greatly\nadmired by the people here, who describe it as the longest bridge\nin Russia and in the world.\n\nWe went under it at midnight by a dim moonlight which barely allowed\nus to see it looming in the distance not much bigger than a\ntelegraph-wire drawn all across the valley, the gossamer line of\nthe bridge and all the landscape round striking us as dreamlike\nand unreal.\n\nAfter crossing the river the railway proceeds to Samara, and hence\n419 versts further to Orenburg, a large and thriving place on the\nUral river, the spot from which the straightest and probably the\nshortest way is, or will be, open to all parts of Siberia or Central\nAsia; preferable, I should think, to that of Perm and Ekaterinenburg\nabove-mentioned, which is now the most frequented route.\n\nBeyond Syzran and Samara the river scenery, which has hitherto\nbeen verdant, assumes a southerly aspect; the hill-sides sloping\nto the river have a parched and faded brown look; the hill-tops are\nbared and seamed with chalky ravines; every trace of the forests\nhas disappeared; and it is only at rare intervals that the banks\nare clad with the verdure of the new growth.\n\n[Illustration: FROM THE RAMPARTS OF THE KREMLIN NIJNI-NOVGOROD.]\n\nFrom Nijni to Tsaritzin we have stopped at more than thirty different\nstations, and no pen could describe the stir and bustle of goods\nand passengers that awaited us at every wharf and pier.\n\nSeveral of these stations are towns of 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants,\nand, besides their corn trade and tobacco, they all deal in some\narticles of necessity or luxury, of which they produce enough for\ntheir own, if not always for their neighbours', consumption.\n\nEverywhere one sees huge buildings--steam flour-mills,\ntobacco-factories, salt-mines, soap and candle factories, tanneries--and\nlast, not least, palaces for the sale of _koumiss_ or fermented\nmare's milk, a sanitary beverage; and extensive establishments,\nespecially near Samara, for the _koumiss_ cure,--fashionable resorts\nas watering-places, frequented by persons affected by consumption,\nand other real or imaginary ailments.\n\nThere is something appalling in the thought that all this busy,\nand, on the whole, merry life on the banks of the Volga must come\nto a dead stand-still for six or seven months in the year. I have\nbeen vainly taxing my brain to guess what may become of the captains,\nmates and crews of the 700 steamers, and of the 5,000 heavy barges\nwith which the river is now swarming; of the porters, agents, clerks,\nand other officials at the various stations; of the thousands of\nwomen employed to carry all the firewood from the piers to the\nsteam-boats. What becomes of all these, and of the men and horses\ntoiling at the steam-row and tow-boats on the Oka, the Kama, the Don,\nthe Dnieper, and a hundred other rivers during the long season in\nwhich the vast plains of Russia are turned into a howling wilderness\nof snow and ice from end to end?\n\nRailway communication and sledge-driving may, by doubling their\nactivity, afford employment to some of the men and beasts who would\notherwise be doomed to passive and torpid hybernation. But much of\nthe work that is practicable in other countries almost throughout\nthe year--nearly all that is done in the open air--suffers here\ngrievous interruption.\n\nWhat should we think in England of a six months' winter, in which\nthe land were as hard as a rock, in which all the cattle had to\nbe kept within doors, in which the bricklayer's trowel and the\nroad-mender's roller had to be laid aside?\n\nAnd, by way of compensation, what mere human bone and muscle can\nstand the crushing labour by which the summer months, with their\nlong days of twenty hours' sunlight, must make up for the winter's\nforced idleness; in a climate too, where, as far as my own experience\ngoes, the heat is hardly less oppressive and stifling than in the\nlevel lands of Lombardy or the Emilia?\n\n\n\n\n_ODESSA_\n\n_ANTONIO GALLENGA_\n\nFrom Yalta to Sebastopol there are two routes. One strikes across\nthe Yaila hills to Simpheropol, whence we could proceed by rail to\nSebastopol; the other runs along the coast, high up on the hills,\nto the Baidar Gate and through the Baidar Valley leading to Balaclava\nand the other well-known spots encompassing the ruins of what was\nonce the great naval station of the Russians on the Black Sea.\n\nWe chose the coast route, and travelled for five hours in the afternoon\nover forty-eight versts of the most singular road in the world.\n\nIt rambles up and down along the side of the hills--as a road did\nonce on the beautiful Cornice along the Ligurian Riviera--midway\nbetween the upper hill crest and the sea, having on the right the\nmountains, a succession of wall-like, perpendicular, hoary cliffs,\nbetween 1,500 feet and 2,000 feet high, a great wall riven into\nevery variety of fantastic shapes of bastions, towers, and pyramids,\nall bare and rugged, crumbling here and there into huge boulders,\nstrewn along the slopes down to the road, across the road, and\nfurther down to the water-edge, a scene which might befit the\nbattle-field of the Titans against the gods; and on the left the\nwide expanse of the waters, with a coast like a fringe of little\nglens and creeks and headlines, and the sun's glitter on the waves\nlike Dante's \"_tremolar della marina_\" on the shore of Purgatory.\n\nBetween the road and the sea far below us, in the distance, embosomed\nin woods still untouched by the autumn frosts, lay the marine villas\nof Livadia, Orianda, Alupka, etc., very Edens, where on their first\nannexation of the Crimea the wealthy Russians sought a refuge against\nthe horrors of their wintry climate; more recently, Imperial\nresidences--Livadia, the darling of the late Emperor; Orianda,\nnow a mere wreck from the recent conflagration, the seat of the\nGrand Duke Constantine; Alupka, the abode of Prince Woronzoff, the\nson of the benevolent genius of these districts, the road-maker,\nthe patron of Yalta, the second founder of Odessa.\n\nA scene of irresistible enchantment is the whole of what the Russians\nemphatically call their \"southern coast.\" And, as if to enhance\nits charm by contrast, everything changes as you pass the Baidar\nGate, and when you have crossed the Baidar Valley the balmy air\nbecomes raw and chill, the bald mountains tame and common-place,\nand the long descent is through an ashy-gray country, swept over by\nan icy blast, saddened by a lowering sky, unrelieved by a flower, a\nbush, or a cottage. So marvellous is the power of mere position, so\ngreat the difference between the two sides of the same mountain-wall!\nYou pass at once from a garden to a steppe.\n\nAway from these sheltering rocks, away from the southern slopes\nof the Caucasian ridges, you are in Russia. The only mountains\nthroughout all the rest of the Tsar's European territories are\nthe Urals, which nowhere reach even the heights of the Apennines,\nwhich do not form everywhere a continuous chain, and which run in\nalmost a straight line from north to south. From the icy pole the\nwind sweeping over the frozen ocean and the snowy wastes of the\nnorthern provinces finds nowhere a hindrance to its cruel blasts,\nand spreads its chill over the whole land with such steady keenness\nas to make the climate of the exposed parts of the Black Sea coast\nalmost as wintry as that of the White Sea. At Odessa in the early\ndays of October both our hotel and the private houses we had occasion\nto enter had already put up double doors and windows, and people\nlived in apartments as hermetically closed as if their homes had\nbeen in St. Petersburg.\n\nWe slept at Baidar, a Tartar village, where a maiden of that Moslem\nrace was the only attendant at the Russian inn, and on the morrow\nwe drove in three hours to Sebastopol, a distance of forty-two\nversts.\n\nSebastopol has still not a little of that Pompeian look which it\nbore on the day after its surrender to the Western Allies in 1856.\nWe drove through miles of ruins, the roofless walls staring at\nus from the dismantled doors and windows, the dust from the\nrubbish-heaps of brick and mortar blinding us at every turning\nof the streets, though, we were told, the city is looking up and\nthriving, and both house-rent and building-ground are rising in\nprice from day to day.\n\nWe had to wait two days for the \"Olga,\" detained by stress of weather,\nand it was with a hope of enlivening ourselves that, under the\nescort of the English Consul, a Crimean veteran who takes care of\nthe heroic dead, and actually lives with as well as for them, we\ndrove out to some of the eleven English cemeteries, to the house\nwhere Lord Raglan died, and the monument marking the spot where\n\"the six hundred rode into the jaws of death\"--those localities\nmade forever memorable by a war than which none was ever undertaken\nwith less distinct aims, none fought with greater valour, none\nbrought to an end with less important results.\n\nWe left Sebastopol at three in the afternoon in the \"Olga,\" and\nlanded at Odessa in the morning at ten. Throughout the first week\nafter our arrival, we never caught a single glimpse of the sun.\nOdessa, like Sebastopol, like Kertch, like Astrakhan, and other\nplaces lying on the edge of the Russian Steppe, seems habitually,\nunder the influence of the wind in peculiar quarters, to be haunted\nby fogs that set in at sunrise and only sometimes clear off after\nsunset. During this gloomy state of the atmosphere the night is\nusually warmer than the day.\n\n[Illustration: PLACE TUREMNAJA ODESSA.]\n\nOdessa has a magnificent position, for it lies high on ravines,\nwhich give it a wide command over its large harbour, lately improved,\nas well as on the open sea and coast, the striking feature of the\nplace being its _boulevard_, a terrace or platform about 500 yards in\nlength, laid out and planted as a promenade, looking out seawards and\naccessible by a flight of stairs of 150 steps from the landing-place.\n\nOdessa is not an old town, but it looks brand-new, for there has\nbeen of late a great deal of building, and the crumbling nature\nof the stone keeps the mason and white-washer perpetually at work.\nIt is lively, though monotonous, for its broad, straight streets\nare astir with business, and the rattle of hackney-carriages,\nheavy-laden vans, and tramway-cars is incessant. It boasts many\nprivate palaces and has few public edifices, and in its municipal\ninstitutions it is, or used to be, taxed with consulting rather\nmore the purposes of luxury and ornament than the real wants of\nthe people or the interests of charity.\n\nOdessa is in Russia, but not of Russia, for among its citizens, we\nare told, possibly with exaggeration, more than one-third (70,000)\nare Jews, besides 10,000 Greeks and Germans, and Italians in good\nnumber. It is unlike any other Russian city, for it is tolerably\nwell paved, has plenty of drinking-water, and rows of trees--however\nstunted, wind-nipped, and sickly--in every street. It is not Russian,\nbecause few Russians succeed here in business; but strenuous efforts\nare made to Russify it, for the names of the streets, which were\nonce written in Italian as well as in Russian, are now only set up\nin Russian, unreadable to most foreign visitors; and the so-called\n\"Italian Street\" (Strada Italiana), reminding one of what the town\nowes to its first settlers, has been rebaptized as \"Pushkin Street.\"\nOf the three French newspapers which flourished here till very\nlately, not one any longer exists, for whatever is not Russian\nis discountenanced and tabooed in a town which, in spite of all,\nis not and never will be, Russian. French is, nevertheless, more\ngenerally understood than in most Russian cities, but Italian is\ndying off here as in all the Levant and the north coast of Africa,\nItaly losing as a united nation such hold as she had as a mere\nnameless cluster of divided states.\n\nIt is difficult to foresee what results the great change that is\nvisibly going on in the economical and commercial conditions of\nthe Russian Empire may have on the destinies of Odessa.\n\nHalf a century ago, if we may trust the statistics of the _Journal\nd' Odessa_, this city had only the third rank among the commercial\nplaces of Russia. At the head of all then was St. Petersburg, whose\nharbour was frequented by 1,500 to 2,000 vessels, the exports being\n100,000,000 to 120,000,000 roubles, and the imports 140,000,000\nto 160,000,000 roubles. Next in importance came Riga, with 1,000\nto 1,500 vessels, 35,000,000 to 50,000,000 roubles exports, and\n15,000,000 to 20,000,000 roubles imports; and Odessa, as third,\nreceived 600 to 800 vessels, her exports amounting from 25,000,000\nto 30,000,000 roubles, and her imports from 20,000,000 to 25,000,000\nroubles. The relative commercial importance of the three ports\nwas, therefore, as twenty-five to six and five.\n\nMatters have undergone a considerable alteration since then. St.\nPetersburg, whose imports and exports doubled in amount those of\nall the other ports of the Empire put together, has been gradually\ndeclining, the ports of Esthonia, Livonia, and Courland threatening\nto deprive her inconvenient harbour of a great part of the Baltic\ntrade, and the centre of general business being rapidly removed\nfrom the present seat of Government to the old capital, Moscow.\nRiga, also, has been and is slowly sinking from its high position\nin the Baltic, and may, perhaps, eventually succumb to the active\nrivalry of Revel and Libau. Odessa, on the contrary, has been looking\nup for these many years, absorbing nearly all the Russian trade in\nthe Black Sea, and rapidly rising from the third to the second\nrank as a seaport.\n\nThe main cause of the rise and progress of Odessa was owing to the\ndevelopment of agricultural enterprise in the provinces of what\nis called \"Little\" and \"New Russia,\" or the \"Black Earth Country\"\nthe granary of the Empire and for a long time of all Europe.\n\nBeyond the steppes which encompass the whole southern seacoast of\nRussia, from the Sea of Azof to the Danube, there spreads far inland\na fertile region, embracing the whole or part of the Governments\nof Podolia, Poltava, Kharkof, Kief, Voronei, Don Cossacks, etc.,\nincluding the districts of what was once known as the \"Ukraine,\"\nwhich was for many years debatable land between Poland, Turkey,\nand Russia, and on which roamed the mongrel bands of the Cossacks,\nan uncouth population recruited among the many tramps and vagabonds\nfrom the northern provinces, mixed with all the races of men with\nwhom they came into contact, settling here and there in new, loose,\nand almost lawless communities, organized as military colonies,\nand perpetually shifting their allegiance from one to the other\nof these three Powers, till the policy and good fortune of Peter\nthe Great and Catherine II. extended the sway of Russia over the\nwhole territory.\n\nAt the close of the last century, and contemporaneously with the\nfoundation of Odessa (1794), the bountiful nature of the soil of\nthis region became known, and the country was overrun by colonists\nfrom \"Great\" or \"Northern Russia,\" from Germany, and from Bulgaria\nand Wallachia; and its rich harvests were soon sufficient, not\nonly to satisfy, but to exceed the wants of the whole Empire.\n\nOdessa, endowed by its founder, Catherine II., with the privilege\nof a free port, which it enjoyed till after the war of the Crimea,\nmonopolized during that time the export of the produce of this\nsouthern land, consisting chiefly of grain and wool; and its prosperity\nwent on, always on the increase--affected only temporarily by wars\nand bad harvests--to such an extent that the total value of the\nexports, which was, in round numbers, about 52,000,000 roubles in\n1871, rose to 86,000,000 roubles in 1878, to 88,000,000 roubles\nin 1879, and fell, owing to the bad harvest, to 56,000,000 roubles\nin 1880.\n\nThe Odessa trade was for a long time in the hands of Greek and Italian\nmerchants, the original settlers in the town at its foundation, the\nproduce being, before the invention of steamers, conveyed to Italy,\nFrance and England in Italian bottoms. But, of late years, preference\nbeing given to steamers over sailing vessels, and the Italians,\neither failing to perceive the value of time and the importance\nof the revolution that steam had effected, or lacking capital to\nprofit by it, allowed the English to have the lion's share of the\nBlack Sea trade, so that, in 1879, the English vessels entering\nthe port of Odessa were 549 steamers and four sailing vessels, with\n500,000 tons, while the Italians had only fifty steamers and 119\nsailing vessels, with 85,700 tons. Next to the English were, in\nthe same year, the Austrians (eighty-seven steam and 119 sailing\nvessels, 119,000 tons). The Russians, at home here, had 150 steam\nand eight sailing vessels and 180,000 tons.\n\nOdessa, however, though she had so much of the trade to herself,\nhad not of late years the whole of it. As the means of land and\nwater conveyance improved, and especially after the construction of\nrailways, a number of minor rivals arose all along the coast--Rostov,\nat the mouth of the Don; Taganrog, Mariupol or Marianopolis, and\nBerdianski, on the north coast of the Sea of Azof, where Greek\ncolonies are flourishing; Kherson, at the mouth of the Dnieper;\nNicolaief, at the mouth of the Bug; and others. Odessa was thus\nreduced to the trade of the region to the west of the last-named\nriver, having lost that of the provinces of Poltava, Kharkof, Kursk,\nOrel, Ekaterinoslaf, etc., and only retaining Kherson, Bessarabia,\nVolhynia, Kief, etc., which would still be sufficient for her commercial\nwell-being.\n\nBut Odessa is threatened with a new and far more formidable rival\nin Sebastopol. Sebastopol, with all its inlets, is by far the most\nperfect harbour in the Black Sea, and has the inestimable advantage\nthat it never freezes, while in Odessa the ice brings all trade\nto a standstill for two or three weeks every winter, and all the\nports of Azof and the mouths of the rivers are frozen from November\nto March or even mid-April. Sebastopol has the additional advantage\nof being in the most direct and nearest communication by rail with\nKharkof, the very heart of the Black Earth Country, and with Moscow,\nthe centre of the Russian commercial and industrial business.\n\nThe people in Sebastopol have hopes that the Imperial Government,\ngiving up all thought of bringing back their great Black Sea naval\nstation from Nicolaief to its former seat, may not be unwilling that\ntheir fine harbour be turned to the purposes of trading enterprise,\nand even to favour it for a few years with the privileges of a free\nport.\n\n[Illustration: SEBASTOPOL.]\n\nThe citizens of Odessa, on the other hand, scout such expectations\nas over-sanguine, if not quite chimerical, laugh to scorn the idea\nthat the Government may at any time lay aside its intention of\ngoing back with its naval establishment to Sebastopol; and, in\nthat case, they contend that the juxtaposition of a commercial\nwith an Imperial naval port would be as monstrous a combination\nas would be in France that of Marseilles and Toulon, or in England\nthat of Portsmouth and Liverpool, in one and the same place.\n\nThey add that the railway between Moscow and Sebastopol is\nill-constructed and almost breaking down; that, although it is\nby some hundred miles shorter than that from Odessa to Moscow,\nthe express and mail trains are so arranged that the most rapid\ncommunication between north and south is effected between Odessa\nand St. Petersburg, which route is travelled over in less than\nthree days.\n\nWhichever of the contending parties may have the best of the argument,\nthere is no doubt that, were even the Government to be favourable\nto the wishes of the people of Sebastopol, there would be no just\nreason for jealousy between the two cities, for Odessa has already\nproved that she can manage to grow richer than ever upon one-half\nof the trade of Southern Russia, while Sebastopol might safely\nrely on carrying on the other half--that other half which is now\nalready in the hands of Taganrog, Mariupol, Nicolaief, etc. For\nall these ports of Azof and the mouths of the rivers, besides being\nclosed by ice for at least four months in the year, are so shallow\nthat no amount of dredging can keep back the silting sands, and\nvessels must anchor at distances of ten to twenty and even thirty\nmiles outside the harbours.\n\n\n\n\n_THE DON COSSACKS_\n\n_THOMAS MICHELL_\n\nComing from the north, the first town of any importance in Southern\nRussia is Kursk, three hundred and thirty-five miles from Moscow\nin an almost direct line, the railway passing through the cities\nof Tula (the Russian Birmingham), and Orel, the centre of a rich\nagricultural district connected by rail, on the west, with Riga\non the Baltic, and on the south-east with Tsaritzin on the Volga.\nAuthentic records attest the existence of Kursk in 1032, and in\n1095 it was held by Isiaslaf, son of Vladimir Monomachus, from\nwhom it passed alternately to the Princes of Chernigof and of\nPereyaslasl. In the Thirteenth Century it was razed to the ground\nby the Tartars. In 1586 the southern frontiers of Moscovy were\nfortified, and Kursk became one of the principal places on that\nline of defence against the Crimean Tartars and the Poles. Its\ndisasters and sufferings as a military outpost ceased only towards\nthe end of the Seventeenth Century, after Little Russia (the more\nsoutherly districts watered by the Dnieper), submitted to the Tsar\nAlexis.\n\nWe are now almost in the heart of the _Chernozem_, or black soil\ncountry, so called from the rich black loam of which its surface\nis composed to a depth of two and three yards and more. These vast\nplains were known to Herodotus, Strabo, and other ancient geographers\nonly in their present _Steppe_, or flat and woodless condition. It\nis a great relief to the eye to see at last a handsomely-built\ncity like Kursk, perched, relatively to the surrounding flatness,\non an elevation and almost smothered in the verdure of numerous\ngardens. There is, however, not much to see within it, for even the\nchurches are mostly not older than the second half of the Eighteenth\nCentury.\n\nThe more southerly part of the province of Kursk is in the _Ukraine_,\nor ancient border country. Its semi-nomadic population obtained in\nearly days the designation of Cossacks. This word is not Sclavonic,\nbut Turkish; and although it long denoted in Russia a free man, or,\nrather, a man free to do anything he chose, it had been used by\nthe Tartar hordes to designate the lower class of their horsemen.\nFrom the princes of the House of Rurik these southerly districts\npassed into the possession of Lithuania, and, later, into those of\nPoland. Little Russia was another arbitrary name anciently given\nto a great part of what has been also known as the Ukraine. No fixed\ngeographical limits can be assigned to either of these designations,\nand especially to the Ukraine of the Poles or the Muscovites; for\nas the borders or marshes became safe and populated, they were\nabsorbed by the dominant power, and ultimately incorporated into\nprovinces. Little Russia is, in fact, a term now used only to denote\nthe Southern Russians as distinguished principally from the Great\nRussians of the more central part of the empire.\n\nThere is a strongly-marked difference in the outward appearance,\nthe mode of life, and even the cast of thought of these two branches\nof the Sclav race. The language of the Little Russian, or _Hohol_, as\nhe is contemptuously called by his more vigorous northern brother,\nis a cross between the Polish and the Russian, although nearer akin\nto the Muscovite than to the Polish tongue. Ethnographically, also,\nthe Little Russians become gradually fused with the White Russians of\nthe north-west (Mohilef and Vitebsk) and with the Slovaks of the\nother side of the Carpathians. The _Malo-Ros_ (Little Russian)\nis physically a better, though a less muscular man than the\n_Veliko-Ros_, or Great Russian. He is taller, finer-featured, and\nless rude and primitive in his domestic surroundings. The women\nhave both beauty and grace, and make the most of those qualities\nby adorning themselves in neat and picturesque costumes, resembling\nstrongly those of the Roumanian and Transylvanian peasantry. Their\nhouses are not like those of other parts of Russia--log huts, full,\ngenerally, of vermin and cockroaches; but wattled, thatched, and\nwhitewashed cottages, surrounded by gardens, and kept internally\nin order and cleanliness.\n\nTheir lives are altogether more happy, although their songs, full\nof deep feeling, and not without a vein of romance are, like those\nof all Sclavs, plaintive and in the minor key. The men sing of\nthe daring exploits of their Cossack forefathers, who were not\nfree-booters like the old Cossacks of the Volga, but courageous\nmen engaged in a life-and-death struggle with nomadic hordes, and\nlater with internal enemies, Poles and rebels. The greater refinement\nof the women of Little Russia is attributable to the comparative\nease of their lives in a fertile country, with a climate more genial\nthan that of the more northerly parts of the empire. There the\nGreat and the White Russians had to contend with a soil much less\nproductive, with swamps which had to be drained, with thick forests\nwhich had to be cleared, with wild beasts which had to be destroyed\nor guarded against, and with frost and snow that left scarcely\nfour months in the year for labour in the field.\n\nThe upper classes of South Russia, enriched by the cultivation of\nlarge and fertile estates, and favoured in their social development\nby long contact with the ancient Western civilization of Poland,\nexhibit a similar superiority over the bulk of their compeers in\nGreat Russia. Except, however, in the case of the larger landed\nproprietors, the everyday life of the Southern Russian bears a strong\nresemblance to that of the Irish squireen. There is a strong tinge\nof the same _insouciance_ as to the material future, and an equal\npropensity to reckless hospitality, to sport (principally coursing),\nsocial jollification, and to a great extent to card-playing. Indeed,\nthere are well-appointed country seats in the South of Russia in\nwhich the long summer days are entirely spent in card-playing, with\ninterruptions only for meals. There are horses in plenty in the stable,\nand vehicles of every description to which they can be harnessed;\nbut \"taking a drive\" through endless cornfields along natural roads\nor tracks, parched, cracked, and dusty one day, and presenting\nthe next a surface of black mud, offers but few attractions to the\nladies, and vehicular locomotion is therefore resorted to only\nas a matter of necessity, on journeys to estates or towns often\nfifty to one hundred miles distant. Country life, indeed, has no\ngreat attractions in any part of Russia Proper, and ever since the\nEmancipation of the Serfs and the accompanying extinction of the\npower and authority of the proprietary classes, absenteeism has been\nlargely on the increase, to the advantage solely of the principal\nprovincial towns, and of certain capitals and watering-places in\nWestern Europe. Thus, while Kursk and Kharkof owe much of their\nriches and progress to the immigration of landed proprietors from\nthe northerly and eastern districts of the \"Black Soil Zone,\" Kief is\nthe resort of more princely landlords of the south-western districts,\nstrongly and favourably affected by Polish culture.\n\nKharkof, to the east of Kief, is the principal seat of trade in\nSouth Russia, being a centre from which the products and manufactures\nof Northern and Central Russia are spread throughout the provinces\nto the east and south, down even to the Caucasus.\n\nSugar, largely produced in this part of Russia from beet-root and\n\"bounty-fed,\" and corn, brandy, wool and hides from the central\nprovinces, are largely sold at the five fairs held each year at\nKharkof, which has also reason to be proud of its university with\nupwards of six hundred students, and of its connection by rail with\nthe shores of the Baltic and those of the Black and Azof Seas.\nIn 1765, Kharkof became the capital of the Ukraine, after having\nbeen a Cossack outpost town since 1647, when Poland finally ceded\nthe province to Muscovy. Anciently, this was the camping-ground of\nnomadic tribes, particularly of the Khazars, and later the high\nroad of the Tartar invaders of Russia, whether from the Crimea or\nthe shores of the Caspian. In the province of Kharkof are found\nthose remarkable idols of stone which we have seen in the Historical\nMuseum at Moscow, and a vast number of tumuli, which have yielded\ncoins establishing the fact of an early intercourse both with Rome\nand Arabia.\n\nPoltava, also a place of extensive trade, principally in wool,\nhorses, and cattle, is familiar to us in connection with the defeat\nof Charles XII. by Peter the Great in 1709. The centre of the field\nso disastrous to the Swedes is marked by a mound which covers the\nremains of their slain. Two monuments commemorate the victory.\n\nAt Ekaterinoslaf we are again on the great Dnieper. It was only\na village when Catherine II., descending the river from Kief in a\nstately barge accompanied by Joseph II. of Austria, King Stanislaus\nAugustus of Poland and a brilliant suite, raised it to the dignity\nof a town bearing her own name. On that occasion she laid the first\nstone of a cathedral which was not destined to be completed on\nthe imposing scale she had projected, and which has been reduced\nto one-sixth in the edifice that was consecrated only in 1835.\nThe town consists of only one row of buildings, almost concealed\nin gardens and running for nearly three miles parallel with the\nDnieper. Catherine's Palace, a bronze statue which represents her\nclad in Roman armour and crowned, and the garden of her magnificent\nfavourite, Prince Potemkin, constitute the \"sights\" of Ekaterinoslaf,\nthe more striking feature of which, however, is its Jewish population,\nhuddled together in a special quarter between the river and the\nbazaar. A considerable number of them pursue the favourite Jewish\noccupation of money-changing, and the Ekaterinoslaf Prospekt is\ndotted with their stands and their money-chests, painted blue and\nred.\n\nA drive over forty miles of Steppe, somewhat relieved in its monotony\nby numerous ancient tumuli, bring those who do not proceed by steamer\nto the great naval station and commercial port of Nicolaief, at the\njunction of the Ingul with the Bug. It was the site until 1775 of\na Cossack _setch_, or fortified settlement, and in 1789 it received\nits present appellation in commemoration of the capture of Otchakof\nfrom the Turks on the feast-day of St. Nicholas. Destined from\nthe first by Potemkin to be the harbour of a Russian fleet in the\nBlack Sea, temporarily neglected by the naval authorities, Nicolaief\nreasserted its claim to that proud position after the fall of\nSebastopol. It owes much of its present affluence to the sound\nadministration of Admiral Samuel Greig, son of the admiral of Scotch\nparentage who, with the aid of some equally gallant countrymen,\nwon for the Russians the naval battle of Chesme in 1769. Next to\nOdessa, Nicolaief is the handsomest town in New Russia, as this\npart of the country was called after its conquest from the Turks\nand Tartars. Its large trade, mostly in grain, has been greatly\npromoted by the railway, which now connects this important harbour\nwith Kharkof and other rich agricultural centres.\n\nOf the six ports on the neighbouring Sea of Azof, Taganrog, where\nAlexander I. died in 1825, is the most considerable, although steamers\nhave to anchor at a considerable distance from it, owing to the\nshallowness of the roadstead. The annual value of its exports of\ncorn, wool, tallow, etc., is about five millions sterling, and, as\nat Nicolaief, British shipping is chiefly employed in the trade.\nMuch of the produce shipped here comes from Rostov-on-the-Don, the\nchief centre of inland trade in the south-east provinces of Russia,\nand one in which many industries (especially the manipulation of tobacco\ngrown in the Caucasus and the Crimea), are pursued. A short distance\nabove this great mart is Novocherkask, the capital of the \"Country\nof the Don Cossacks,\" anciently the abode of Scythians, Sarmatians,\nHuns, Bolgars, Khazars and Tartars. The present population dates\nfrom the Sixteenth Century, when renegades from Muscovy and vagrants\nof every description formed themselves into Cossack, or robber\ncommunities. They attacked the Tartars and Turks, and in 1637 took\nthe Turkish fortress of Azof. Under the reign of Peter the Great\nthe powerful and independent Cossacks were not much interfered with,\nbut from 1718 they were gradually brought under subjection to the\nTsar, whom they powerfully assisted in subsequent wars. The town\nwas founded in 1804, and is adorned with a bronze monument to the\nfamous Hetman (Ataman or chief) Platof, leader of the Cossacks between\n1770 and 1816. It is usual to bestow on the Russian heir-apparent\nthe title of \"Ataman\" of the Don Cossacks. The last investiture\nwith Cossack _baton_ took place in 1887, when also the reigning\nEmperor confirmed, at a \"circle,\" or open-air assemblage, all the\nancient rights and privileges of the warlike Cossacks of the Don.\n\n[Illustration: KHARKOF.]\n\nThe chief town of the Kuban district is Ekaterinodar, a name which\nsignifies, literally, \"Catherine's gift,\" from having been founded\nby the sovereign of that name and bestowed, in 1792, together with\nthe adjacent territory, on the Zaporogian, subsequently known as the\nBlack Sea Cossacks. Catherine mistrusted their power and influence,\nand tempted them to the Kuban with grants of land and other privileges.\nThe first service of some 20,000 of those new warrior settlers\nconsisted in barring all egress from the mountains, by means of a\n\"first fortified line\" of stations that extended to Vladikavkas,\nwhere they united with the descendants of the Grebenski Cossacks,\nwith whom they are not to be confounded. The predominant type amongst\nthe Zaporogians is still that of the Little Russians, the Grebenski\ncontinuing to preserve their identity with the natives of Great\nRussia, whence their origin; and although the whole of this imposing\nforce, maintained at half a million, has long since adopted the\ndress of the Caucasian mountaineers, the Cossacks remain true to\nthe orthodox faith and to the customs of their forefathers, whose\nvernacular tongue has never been forgotten by them. The dress so\nuniversally worn by the male sex, even from boyhood, in all parts\nof the Caucasus, consists of a single-breasted garment, like a\nfrock-coat, but reaching almost to the ankles, tightened in closely\nat the waist, with a belt from which are suspended dagger, sword,\nand frequently a pistol, and having on either breast a row of ten\nor twelve sockets, each of a size to hold a cartridge. A rifle,\nwhich every man possesses, is slung across the back; and a tall\nsheep-skin hat finished off at its summit with a piece of coloured\ncloth completes the costume.\n\nThe number of Cossacks in Transcaucasia being very limited, for\na few only are stationed in each principal town, chiefly as an\nescort to the governor of the province, their duties are performed\nby _Chapars_, an irregular force, equally dashing horsemen, and\ntrained in like manner from early youth in those singular exercises\nand breakneck evolutions for which the Cossacks of the Caucasus\nhave become so famous. Setting their horses at full gallop, they\nwill stand on the saddle and fire all around at an imaginary enemy;\nor throw the body completely over to the right, with the left heel\nresting on their steed's hind quarter, and fire as if at an enemy\nin pursuit, or turn clean round, and sitting astride facing the\nhorse's tail, keep up a rapid fire. A favourite feat, among many\nothers, is to throw their hat and rifle to the ground, wheel, and\npick them up whilst going at the horse's fullest speed.\n\nShould the traveller elect to proceed eastward, but north of the\ngreat range, he will meet with the Kabardines, the first amongst the\nCircassians to enter into friendly relations with Russia; they are\nthe \"blood\" of the Caucasus, a noble race, thoroughly domesticated,\nhospitable to strangers, and useful breeders of cattle. To the\nsouth of the Circassians, and occupying about one hundred miles of\nthe coast in the Black Sea, are the Abkhases, who have enjoyed the\nreputation, from time immemorial, of being an indolent and lawless\nrace, anciently given to piracy, now addicted to thieving when the\nopportunity is afforded them, for they are determinedly inimical\nto strangers. Their mountains abound in forests of magnificent\nwalnut and box, where the enthusiastic sportsman will find the\nbear, hyena, and wolf, and plenty of smaller game, with seldom a\nroof to cover him other than the vault of heaven; but the ordinary\ntraveller is likely to encounter difficulties and delays that he would\nprefer to avoid. Christianity was here introduced by Justinian, who\nconstructed many churches that would have been notable specimens\nof Byzantine architecture, had the Abkhases not destroyed them in\ntheir struggles against the Russians, every such edifice being\noccupied and converted by the latter into a military post. One\nchurch, at Pitzunda on the coast, remarkable as being the place\nto which John Chrysostom was banished at the instance of Empress\nEudoxia--although the exile never reached his destination--having\nescaped the general destruction, has been thoroughly restored of\nlate years, and is a striking object to passing vessels. Being the\nmother church in the Caucasus, Pitzunda, then Pityus, continued to\nbe the seat of the Catholics of Abkhasia until the Twelfth Century.\nPractically, the Abkhases are at present heathens.\n\nFarther south, and extending some way inland from the sea, is the\nprincipality of Mingrelia, where we again tread classic ground,\ninasmuch as our wanderings have brought us to the AEa of Circe and\nthe Argonauts. In a Mingrelian landscape we are struck at the aspect\nafforded by the numerous whitewashed cottages as they dot the\nwell-wooded hills. The Mingrelians, too, like their neighbours\nwhom we have just quitted, are incurably given to indolence, except\nin the making of wine from their abundant vineyards; otherwise they\nare content to live on the produce of their orchards, prolific\nthrough the interposition of a beneficent Providence rather than\nto any agricultural diligence on their part. They may certainly be\nincluded amongst the handsomest people in Transcaucasia, with their\nwell-defined features and usually raven black hair. The Dadian, or\nprince, is the wealthiest of the dispossessed rulers: the foresight\nof his predecessor and his own European training having taught\nhim the danger of disposing of land and squandering the proceeds,\nrather than preserving the property and contenting himself with\na smaller income.\n\nBetween Mingrelia and Abkhasia courses the Ingur, and if we ascend\nto near its water-shed--a journey easily accomplished on horse-back,\nsay from Sougdidi, the well-known military station--we should find\nourselves amongst a very wild and singular people, the Svanni,\nwhose complete subjugation dates back no farther it may be said\nthan 1876, although they made a formal submission in 1833. They\noccupy some forty or fifty miles of the upper valley of the Ingur,\nat no part exceeding ten miles in width, and are cut off from all\noutside communication between the beginning of September and the\nend of May, in consequences of the passes being blocked with snow.\n\"The scenery in this valley,\" writes a recent traveller, \"is of\ngreat beauty and wildness, and grand beyond description; amid the\nmost profuse vegetation, every imaginable flower is seen in its\nwild state, and bank, meadow, hill-side and grass plot are literally\ncovered with all that is most lovely; in every forest and grove,\nand all undergrowth even, indeed wherever the pure air of heaven\nand its divine light is not obstructed, the earth is thus gorgeously\narrayed.\"\n\n\n\n\n_IN THE CAUCASUS_\n\n_J. BUCHAN TELLER_\n\nReturning to Mingrelia, we find it bounded on the south by the\nriver Rion, the ancient Phasis, which flows through the country\nwhence was introduced into Europe the Phasian bird--our pheasant.\nThe Rion divides Mingrelia from Guria, another principality, where\nis situated Batoum, a somewhat pestiferous but important military\nstation and commercial port, that has tended in no small degree,\nsince its annexation to Russia in 1878, towards the development\nof the resources of this beautiful country, intersected with good\nroads through valleys highly cultivated with maize, corn, and barley,\nthe hills and their declivities being overspread with the oak and\nbox, exported in large quantities, and yielding handsome returns.\nOzurgheti, the chief town, attractively situated, was the residence\nof the rulers who lie interred at the ancient monastery and episcopal\nchurch, Chemokmedy, about six miles distant.\n\nPassengers from Odessa and the Crimea landing at Batoum find the\ntrain in readiness to convey them to Tiflis, the capital of the\nwhole Transcaucasia, reached in about fifteen hours, the train\ntravelling slowly enough, but through a land of much interest,\nhistorically and pictorially. On the right, in the distance, are\nthe highlands of the old kingdom of Armenia, to the left is Imeritia,\na glory, like Mingrelia and Guria, of the past. If so inclined, the\ntraveller may exchange, at Rion station, the main for a branch line,\nwhich will take him to Kutais, the chief town of the old kingdom of\nImeritia, where he may tarry for a while to great advantage. It\nis the ancient Khytaea, the residence of AEtes; at any rate a city\nof great antiquity, beautifully situated on the banks of the Rion.\n\nBetween Kutais and Tiflis is the Pass of Suram, at an altitude\nof three thousand and twenty-seven feet, over which are laid the\nlines of rail by gradients of one in twenty-two feet over a distance\nof about eight miles; a triumph of engineering skill due, as is\nthe entire railway, to British capital and enterprise. Beyond this\nPass the train stops at Gori, situated at the limits of a glorious\nplain, watered by the Kur and its tributaries. Since fairly good\naccommodation is obtainable, it were well to halt at this station for\nthe purpose of visiting the unique rock-cut town, Uplytztzykhe, some\neight miles off. Here is a town--there can be no other designation for\nit--consisting of public edifices--if such a term may be employed--of\nlarge habitations, presumably for the great, smaller dwellings\nfor others, each being conveniently divided, and having doorways,\nopenings for light, and partitions, while many are ornamented with\ncornices, mouldings, beams and pillars. The groups are separated\nby streets and lanes, and grooves have been cut, unquestionably\nfor water-courses, and yet the whole has been entirely hewn and\nshaped out of the solid rock. Tradition is replete with incidents\nin the history of these remarkable excavations, but faithful\nhistoriographers have hitherto refrained from endorsing any of the\ntales that have been handed down by romancers of Georgia.\n\nTiflis, the chief seat of Government and residence of the\nGovernor-General, having a population of about one hundred thousand\nsouls, is unpleasantly situated between ranges of perfectly barren\nhills, and but for the River Kur, on the banks of which it is built,\nwould be almost uninhabitable. Having driven through the suburbs\non his way from the railway terminus, the traveller crosses the\nKur over the Woronzoff Bridge, which at once brings him to the\nprincipal street, where he passes in succession the public gardens,\ngymnasium, law-courts, palace of the Governor-General, the main\nguard-house, public library, museum, etc.; by which time he will\nhave reached Palace Street and Erivan Square, where are situated\nthe best hotels and restaurants, and the National Theatre. From the\nsquare three main thoroughfares lead to as many separate quarters,\nviz.: the European, where the wealthy live in well-built houses of\nelegant construction; the native bazaars, and the marketplace and\nRussian bazaar. An extensive view of the city and an interesting\nsight is obtained from the eminence crowned by the old fortress\nwhich immediately overlooks the Asiatic quarter and bazaars, whence\nrise the confused sounds of human cries and the din from the iron,\nbrass, and copper-workers. As is the custom elsewhere in the East,\nthose of one trade congregate together, apart from the other trades,\nand so are passed a succession of silversmiths in their stalls,\nof furriers, armourers, or eating and wine-shops, the wine of the\ncountry being kept in buffalo, goat, or sheep-skins laid on their\nback, and presenting the disagreeable appearance of carcases swollen\nafter lengthened immersion in water. The Georgians are merry folk,\nrarely allowing themselves to be depressed by the troubles of life.\nThey love wine and music, and ever seek to drive away dull care\nby indulging in their favourite Kakhety--two bottles being the\nusual allowance to a man's dinner, an allowance, however, greatly\nexceeded when, of an evening, friends meet together to join in\nthe national dance, called the Lezghinka.\n\nThe Cathedral of Zion was formerly the church of the Patriarch of\nGeorgia. It dates from the Fifth Century, and encloses that most\nprecious relic, with which the nation was converted to Christianity\nin the Fourth Century--nothing less than a cross of vine stems bound\nwith the hair of St. Nina, the patron saint, who first preached the\ntruth! The patriarchate has long been suppressed, and is replaced\nby a Russian Exarch, so that the Georgian Church may be considered\nin all respects identical with that of Russia. The palace of the\nkings has entirely disappeared, for not a vestige remains. George\nXIII. signed his renunciation of the crown in favour of the Emperor\nPaul in 1800, and died shortly afterwards amid the execrations of\nhis subjects, for having ignominiously betrayed them. Many of his\ndescendants are in the service of Russia, and are the representatives\nof one of the most ancient monarchies of the world--for the Bagrations\nfirst rose to power in 587; and if allowance be made for interregnums\nit will be found that their reign extended over 1092 years, during\nthe twelve centuries that elapsed from their earliest election.\n\nAs Georgia is the land of wine and song, so is Armenia essentially\nthe land of legend and tradition, for which must be held in great\npart responsible the magnificent mountain that exhibits itself\nsuddenly at a dip in the road long before the plains are in sight.\nWell may the Armenians glory in \"their\" Ararat, peerless among the\nmighty works of the Creator, almost symmetrical in its outlines,\nand rising to an altitude of 16,916 feet above the sea, Lesser\nArarat, 12,840 feet, looking almost dwarfed by the side of its mighty\nneighbour.\n\nAt Erivan, the largest city in Russian Armenia, the traveller will\nfind fairly good accommodation, but the place is dull enough, whether\nin the Persian quarter, where crooked lanes are lined with high walls,\nthat mask the dwellings within like the defences of a fortress, or\nin the broad streets and unpaved quarter laid out by the Russians\nsince their occupation of the province in 1829, even though enlivened\nby a boulevard and gardens fair to look upon. The population is\nArmenian and Persian, for Persia ruled here during a considerable\nperiod until vanquished by Russia; but at the bazaar one meets\nwith other nationalities, such as Tartars from the Steppes, Kurds,\nGreeks, and Turkish dealers in search of good horses, upon which\nthey will fly across the frontier, defying Cossacks and custom\nofficers alike.\n\nWithin a short distance of Erivan, and the post-station nearest\nto the Persian frontier, is Nahitchevan, the first abode of Noah\nafter he came forth from the ark, and probably also his last, since\nhis tomb is reverently shown by the inhabitants, who eagerly escort\nstrangers to see it. Other still more important towns in Armenia,\navailable by carriage-road, are Alexandropol and Kars, the former\nbeing the largest and most powerful fortress and the principal\narsenal in Transcaucasia; the latter, long a Turkish fortress town,\nwas gallantly defended in 1855 by Sir Fenwick Williams and a few\nBritish officers, until the garrison was starved into surrender\nby General Mouravieff. Kars was finally ceded to Russia by the\nTreaty of Berlin in 1878.\n\n[Illustration: TIFLIS.]\n\nA Tartar city brought into prominence of late years through the\nintroduction of railways is Elizavetpol, on the line between Tiflis\nand the Caspian, where we must now pick ourselves up after having\nretraced our steps from the plains, to journey by rail to dismal\nlooking Baku--a town of recent creation, approached through a desert\nof sand and stones, where neither vegetable nor animal life can\npossibly find an existence. Viewed from the sea, Baku presents a\ndistinctly picturesque appearance, with its sombre citadel, numerous\nminarets, and the palace of the princes of bygone days towering\nabove the old town, where the houses look as if they were piled the\none above the other--the new or Russian quarter being at the base,\nand lining the shore of the pretty little bay. Modern Baku contains\nsome handsome residences and well-paved streets, the principal\nbeing the busy quay, constructed of massive blocks of greystone\nmasonry, where the naphtha, the wealth of Baku, is embarked for\ntransport to the interior of Russia by the Volga, or for conveyance\nacross the Caspian to Central Asia. Numerous refineries, worth\ninspecting, at the west end of Baku compose the Black Town, so\ncalled from its begrimed condition, and from being ever enveloped\nin clouds of the densest smoke. Since a remote period has this\nneighbourhood been considered holy by fire-worshippers, because\nof the many naphtha springs that were constantly burning, some\neven perpetually; indeed, the fires at Surakan, a suburb of Baku,\ncontinued to be guarded by fire-worshippers from Yezd in Persia,\nand even from India, until, with the connivance of the government,\nthey were hustled away some ten years ago by the increasing number\nof speculators engaged in a trade which has now completely driven\nout of the market all American produce.\n\nIn Daghestan is Gunib, the last stronghold of the brave Shamyl,\nwhom the strength of Russia was unequal to subdue during the space\nof thirty years. \"Do the Russians say that they are numerous as\nthe grains of sand? Then are we the waves that will carry away\nthat sand,\" said the great Tartar chief addressing the numerous\ntribes who placed themselves under his leadership to repel the\ninvader. The mountaineers posted themselves on the heights, and,\nhidden by trees, shot down their enemies in scores as they advanced\nin column up the narrow defiles.\n\nThe great thoroughfare between Transcaucasia and Russia is from\nTiflis to Vladikavkaz, the terminus of the Moscow-Rostof railway, by\nway of the Dariel road, a stupendous engineering success completed\nin the reign of Nicholas. This road winds over a pass 7,977 feet\nabove the sea, and is kept in repair and clear for traffic in winter\nby the Ossets, whose country it traverses, in return for which\nservice they are exempt from all taxes.\n\nWhen the traveller will have completed the journey from Tiflis\nto Vladikavkaz, he will have arrived at the depot and point of\ntransit for all goods brought by rail from Russia, and there\ntransferred, for conveyance to the Transcaucasian provinces, to\nclumsy, unwieldly carts or vans drawn by horses or oxen; those in\ncharge of the caravans never being in a hurry, completely indifferent\nas to when they start, or when they arrive at their destination,\nand rejoicing in a lengthened stay at Mlety station, after having\naccomplished the most tiresome part of the distance--the ascent and\ndescent of the pass. Vladikavkaz was founded in 1785 on the site\nof an Osset village, and became the headquarters and chief military\ndepot of the Russians during their lengthened struggle for supremacy\nwith the stout-hearted hillmen; it is now the chief town and seat\nof government for the province of Kuban, and still an important\nmilitary station. The population is made up of Circassians, Armenians,\nand Russians, and a few Ossets at the bazaars, for the natives made\noff long ago. The chief industries are the manufacture of silver\nand gold lace, arms, _burkas_, the Caucasian's all-weathers cloak,\nsilver ornaments, etc. The hotels are fairly good, but there being\nnothing at Vladikavkaz itself sufficiently inviting to encourage\na longer stay than is absolutely necessary, the following choice\nof routes lays before the stranger. He may post through Eastern\nCaucasus and embark at Petrovsk for Astrakhan and the tedious voyage\nup the Volga; or take the railway to Rostof _en route_ to Moscow; or\ntravel by rail to Novorossisk on the Black Sea, and there embark;\nor, following that line as far as Ekaterinodar, post thence to\nTaman and cross the straits to Kertch.\n\n\n\n\n_KHIVA_\n\n_FRED BURNABY_\n\nWe were now fast nearing Khiva, which could be just discerned in\nthe distance, but was hidden, to a certain extent, from our view by\na narrow belt of tall, graceful trees; however, some richly-painted\nminarets and high domes of coloured tiles could be seen towering\nabove the leafy groves. Orchards surrounded by walls eight and ten\nfeet high, continually met the gaze, and avenues of mulberry-trees\nstudded the landscape in all directions.\n\nThe two Khivans rode first; I followed, having put on my black\nfur pelisse instead of the sheep-skin garment, so as to present\na more respectable appearance on entering the city. Nazar, who\nwas mounted on the horse that stumbled, brought up the rear. He\nhad desired the camel-driver to follow in the distance with the\nmessenger and the caravan; my servant being of opinion that the\nnumber of our animals was not sufficient to deeply impress the\nKhivans with my importance, and that on this occasion it was better\nto ride in without any caravan than with the small one I possessed.\nWe now entered the city, which is of an oblong form, and surrounded\nby two walls: the outer one is about fifty feet high: its basement\nis constructed of baked bricks, the upper part being built of dried\nclay. This forms the first line of defense, and completely encircles\nthe town, which is about a quarter of a mile within the wall. Four\nhigh wooden gates, clamped with iron, barred the approach from\nthe north, south, east, and west, while the walls themselves were\nin many places out of repair.\n\nThe town itself is surrounded by a second wall, not quite so high\nas the one just described, and with a dry ditch, which is now half\nfilled with ruined _debris_. The slope which leads from the wall to\nthe trench has been used as a cemetery, and hundreds of sepulchres\nand tombs were scattered along some undulating ground just without\nthe city. The space between the first and second walls is used\nas a market-place, where cattle, horses, sheep, and camels are\nsold, and where a number of carts were standing, filled with corn\nand grass.\n\nHere an ominous-looking cross-beam had been erected, towering high\nabove the heads of the people with its bare, gaunt poles. This was\nthe gallows on which all people convicted of theft are executed;\nmurderers being put to death in a different manner, having their\nthroats cut from ear to ear in the same way that sheep are killed.\nThis punishment is carried out by the side of a large hole in the\nground, not far from the principal street in the centre of the\ntown. But I must here remark that the many cruelties stated to\nhave been perpetrated by the present Khan previous to the capture\nof his city did not take place. Indeed, they only existed in the\nfertile Muscovite imagination, which was eager to find an excuse for\nthe appropriation of a neighbour's property. On the contrary, capital\npunishment was only inflicted when the laws had been infringed; and\nthere is no instance of the Khan having arbitrarily put any one\nto death.\n\nThe two walls above mentioned appear to have made up the defenses\nof the city, which was also armed with sixteen guns. These, however,\nproved practically useless against the Russians, as the garrison\nonly fired solid shot, not being provided with shell. The Khan\nseemed to have made no use whatever of the many inclosed gardens\nin the vicinity of the city during the Russian advance, as, if he\nhad, and firmly contested each yard of soil, I much doubt whether\nthe Tsar's troops could have ever entered the city.\n\nIt is difficult to estimate the population of an Oriental city\nby simply riding round its walls; so many houses are uninhabited,\nand others again are densely packed with inhabitants. However, I\nshould say, as a mere guess, that there are about 25,000 human\nbeings within the walls of Khiva. The streets are broad and clean,\nwhile the houses belonging to the richer inhabitants are built of\nhighly polished bricks and coloured tiles, which lend a cheerful\naspect to the otherwise somewhat sombre colour of the surroundings.\nThere are nine schools: the largest, which contains 130 pupils,\nwas built by the father of the present Khan. These buildings are\nall constructed with high, coloured domes, and are ornamented with\nfrescoes and arabesque work, the bright aspect of the cupolas first\nattracting the stranger's attention on his nearing the city.\n\nPresently we rode through a bazaar similar to the one at Oogentch,\nthin rafters and straw uniting the tops of the houses in the street,\nand forming a sort of roof to protect the stall-keepers and their\ncustomers from the rays of a summer sun. We were followed by crowds\nof people; and as some of the more inquisitive approached too closely,\nthe Khivans who accompanied me, raising their whips in the air,\nfreely belaboured the shoulders of the multitude, thus securing\na little space. After riding through a great number of streets,\nand taking the most circuitous course--probably in order to duly\nimpress me with an idea of the importance of the town--we arrived\nbefore my companion's house. Several servants ran forward and took\nhold of the horses. The Khivan dismounted, and, bowing obsequiously,\nled the way through a high door-way constructed of solid timber.\nWe next entered a square open court, with carved stone pillars\nsupporting a balcony which looked down upon a marble fountain, or\nbasin, the general appearance of the court being that of a _patio_\nin some nobleman's house in Cordova or Seville. A door of a similar\nconstruction to the one already described, though somewhat lower,\ngave access to a long, narrow room, a raised dais at each end being\ncovered with handsome rugs. There were no windows, glass being a\nluxury which has only recently found its way to the capital; but\nthe apartment received its light from an aperture at the side,\nwhich was slightly concealed by some trellis-work, and from a space\nleft uncovered in the ceiling, which was adorned with arabesque\nfigures. The two doors which led from the court were each of them\nhandsomely carved, and in the middle of the room was a hearth filled\nwith charcoal embers. My host, beckoning to me to take the post\nof honour by the fire, retired a few paces and folded his arms\nacross his chest; then, assuming a deprecatory air, he asked my\npermission to sit down.\n\nGrapes, melons, and other fruit, fresh as on the day when first\npicked, were brought in on a large tray and laid at my feet, while\nthe host himself, bringing in a Russian tea-pot and cup, poured\nout some of the boiling liquid and placed it by my side; I all\nthis time being seated on a rug, with my legs crossed under me,\nin anything but a comfortable position.\n\nHe then inquired if I had any commands for him, as the Khan had\ngiven an order that everything I might require was instantly to\nbe supplied.\n\nIn the afternoon two officials arrived from the Khan's palace,\nwith an escort of six men on horseback and four on foot. The elder\nof the two dignitaries said that His Majesty was waiting to receive\nme, and my horse being brought round, I mounted, and accompanied\nhim towards the palace. The six men on horseback led the way, then\nI came between the two officials, and Nazar brought up the rear\nwith some attendants on foot, who freely lashed the crowd with\ntheir whips whenever any of the spectators approached our horses\ntoo closely.\n\nThe news that the Khan was about to receive me had spread rapidly\nthrough the town, and the streets were lined with curious individuals\nall eager to see the Englishman. Perhaps in no part of the world is\nIndia more talked of than in the Central Asian khanates; and the\nstories of our wealth and power, which have reached Khiva through\nAfghan and Bokharan sources, have grown like a snow-ball in its\nonward course, until the riches described in the garden discovered\nby Aladdin would pale if compared with the fabled treasures of\nHindoostan.\n\nAfter riding through several narrow streets, where, in some instances,\nthe house-tops were thronged with people desirous of looking at\nour procession, we emerged on a small, flat piece of ground which\nwas not built over, and which formed a sort of open square. Here\na deep hole was pointed out to me as the spot where criminals who\nhave been found guilty of murder had their throats cut from ear\nto ear.\n\nThe Khan's palace is a large building, ornamented with pillars\nand domes, which, covered with bright-coloured tiles, flash in\nthe sun, and attract the attention of the stranger approaching\nKhiva. A guard of thirty or forty men armed with cimeters stood\nat the palace gates. We next passed into a small court-yard. The\nKhan's guards were all arrayed in long flowing silk robes of various\npatterns, bright-coloured sashes being girt around their waists, and\ntall fur hats surmounting their bronzed countenances. The court-yard\nwas surrounded by a low pile of buildings, which are the offices\nof the palace, and was filled with attendants and menials of the\ncourt, while good-looking boys of an effeminate appearance, with\nlong hair streaming down their shoulders, and dressed a little like\nthe women, lounged about, and seemed to have nothing in particular\nto do.\n\nA door at the farther end of the court gave access to a low passage,\nand, after passing through some dirty corridors, where I had\noccasionally to stoop in order to avoid knocking my head against the\nceiling, we came to a large, square-shaped room. Here the treasurer\nwas seated, with three moullahs, who were squatted by his side, while\nseveral attendants crouched in humble attitudes at the opposite\nend of the apartment. The treasurer and his companions were busily\nengaged in counting some rolls of ruble-notes and a heap of silver\ncoin, which has been received from the Khan's subjects, and were\nnow to be sent to Petro-Alexandrovsk as part of the tribute to\nthe Tsar.\n\nThe great man now made a sign to some of his attendants, when a\nlarge wooden box, bearing signs of having been manufactured in\nRussia, was pushed a little from the wall and offered to me as a\nseat. Nazar was accommodated among the dependents at the other end\nof the room. After the usual salaams had been made, the functionary\ncontinued his task, leaving me in ignorance as to what was to be\nthe next part of the programme; Nazar squatting himself as far as\npossible from one of the attendants, who was armed with a cimeter,\nand whom he suspected of being the executioner.\n\nAfter I had been kept waiting for about a quarter of an hour, a\nmessenger entered the room and informed the treasurer that the\nKhan was disengaged, and ready to receive me. We now entered a\nlong corridor, which led to an inner court-yard. Here we found\nthe reception-hall, a large tent, or _kibitka_, of a dome-like\nshape. The treasurer, lifting up a fold of thick cloth, motioned\nto me to enter, and on doing so I found myself face to face with\nthe celebrated Khan, who was reclining against some pillows or\ncushions, and seated on a handsome Persian rug, warming his feet by\na circular hearth filled with burning charcoal. He raised his hand\nto his forehead as I stood before him, a salute which I returned\nby touching my cap. He then made a sign for me to sit down by his\nside.\n\nBefore I relate our conversation, it may not be uninteresting if\nI describe the sovereign. He is taller than the average of his\nsubjects, being quite five feet ten in height, and is strongly built:\nhis face is of a broad, massive type, he has a low, square forehead,\nlarge dark eyes, a short straight nose with dilated nostrils, and\na coal-black beard and mustache; while an enormous mouth, with\nirregular but white teeth, and a chin somewhat concealed by his\nbeard, and not at all in character with the otherwise determined\nappearance of his face, must complete the picture.\n\nHe did not look more than eight-and-twenty, and has a pleasant,\ngenial smile, and a merry twinkle in his eye, very unusual among\nOrientals; in fact, to me an expression in Spanish would better\ndescribe his face than any English one I can think of. It is very\n_simpatica_, and I must say I was greatly surprised, after all\nthat has been written in Russian newspapers about the cruelties\nand other iniquities perpetrated by this Khivan potentate, to find\nthe original such a cheery sort of fellow.\n\nHis countenance was of a very different type from his treasurer's.\nThe hang-dog expression of the latter made me bilious to look at\nhim, and it was said that he carried to great lengths these peculiar\nvices and depraved habits to which Orientals are so often addicted.\nThe Khan was dressed in a similar sort of costume to that generally\nworn by his subjects, but it was made of much richer materials,\nand a jewelled sword was lying by his seat. His head was covered\nby a tall black Astrakhan hat, of a sugar-loaf shape; and on my\nseeing that all the officials who were in the room at the same\ntime as myself kept on their fur hats, I did the same.\n\nThe sovereign, turning to an attendant, gave an order in a low\ntone, when tea was instantly brought, and handed to me in a small\nporcelain tea-cup. A conversation with the Khan was now commenced,\nand carried on through Nazar and a Kirghiz interpreter who spoke\nRussian, and occasionally by means of a moullah, who was acquainted\nwith Arabic, and had spent some time in Egypt.\n\n\n\n\n_THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY_\n\n_WILLIAM DURBAN_\n\nThe general characteristics of the Trans-Siberian Railroad may\nbe described in a few words. It is by far the longest railway on\nearth. It is very much more solidly constructed, for the most part,\nthan is generally supposed. The road bed is perfectly firm, and\nthe track is well ballasted. Though in certain of the sections\nfar to the east great engineering difficulties had to be contended\nwith, the gradients on the greater part of the route are remarkably\neasy.\n\nUniformity of gauge is the keynote of Russian railway engineers.\nAccordingly in possessing a five-foot guage, the Great Siberian\nis uniform with all the railroads throughout the Russian Empire.\nThus, the ample breadth of the cars harmonizes with the luxury\nwhich astonishes the traveller who visits Russia for the first time,\nno matter in what region of the Empire he happens to be touring.\nThe great height of the carriages, proportionate with the width,\nadds to the imposing aspect of the trains. It is necessary to bear\nthese considerations in mind, for the idea prevails throughout the\nworld outside Russia that this colossal road was carried through,\nnot only with great haste, but also on a flimsy and superficial\nsystem. The bridges are necessarily very numerous, for Siberia\nis a land of mighty rivers with countless tributaries. All the\npermanent bridges are of iron. Those which were temporarily made\nof timber are being in every case reconstructed, and the Great\nSiberian includes some of the most magnificent bridges in the world.\n\nThe bridge over the Irtish is unrivalled. Being nearly four miles\nlong, it is on that account phenomenal; but its stupendous piers,\ndesigned specially to resist the fearful pressure of the ice, would\nalone convince any sceptic of the determination of the Russian\nadministration to spare none of the resources of the Empire in order\nto make this railway absolutely efficient, alike for mercantile\nand military purposes. The Trans-Siberian Railway is intended to\ncreate a new Siberia. It is already fulfilling that aim, as I shall\nshow. The most potent of the civilizing factors of the Twentieth\nCentury is in this enterprise presented to the world, and in a very\nfew years people will realize with astonishment what this railway\nmeans.\n\nThe Trans-Siberian nominally begins in Europe. It is inaugurated\nby the magnificent iron bridge which spans the Volga at Samara\nin East Russia. The Volga is here a giant river, and this noble\nbridge joins the European railway system with the new Asiatic line.\nBut practically the Asian line commences in the heart of the Ural\nMountains, if that long and broad chain of low and pretty hills\nought to be dignified with the name of mountains. Here lies the\nlittle town of Cheliabinsk, which in 1894 was the terminus of the\nEuropean system.\n\nIt is an interesting fact that Americans and Englishmen were the\nreal authors of this splendid and romantic scheme for spanning the\nAsiatic continent with a railway from west to east. In 1857, an\nAmerican named Collins came forward with a scheme for the formation\nof an Amur Railway Company, to lay a line from Irkutsk to Chita.\nAlthough his plan was not officially adopted, it was carefully\nkept in mind, and it actually forms the main and central part of\nthe present line. An English engineer offered to lay a tramroad\nacross Siberia, after Muravieff had carried Russia to the Pacific\nby his brilliant annexation of the mouths of the Amur. In 1858,\nthree Englishmen offered to construct a railway from Moscow through\nNijni-Novgorod to Tartar Bay. Though all proposals by foreigners\nhave been courteously shelved, they have in reality formed the\nbases of native enterprise. It is to the credit of Russia that\nshe has determined to depend on the energy and ability of her own\nsons to carry out this colossal undertaking.\n\nOne of the chronic troubles of the Russian Government arises from\nthe uneven distribution of the population. It happens that those\nare the most thickly inhabited districts which are the least able\nto support a dense population. For instance, an immense number of\nvillages are scattered through the vast forest regions of Central\nand Western Russia, where birch trees grow by millions, while the\ngreat wheat-growing plains of the west centre and south-west are\nbut sparsely inhabited. Then again, the infatuation of the military\noligarchy has been evidenced in the plan by which all the railways\nexcept this new Siberian line have been designed for purely military\npurposes. The Emperor Nicholas insisted on all the lines being\ndeveloped without the slightest regard to the wants of the towns\nand the conveniences of commerce. Even the natural facilities for\nengineering operations were not allowed by that autocrat to be\nfor a moment taken into consideration. His engineers were once\nconsulting him as to the expediency of taking the line from St.\nPetersburg to Moscow by a slight detour, to avoid some very troublesome\nobstacles. The Tsar took up a ruler, and with his pencil drew a\nstraight line from the old metropolis. Handing back the chart,\nhe peremptorily said: \"There, gentlemen, that is to be the route\nfor the line!\" And certainly there is not a straighter reach of\n600 miles on any railroad in the world, as every tourist knows who\nhas journeyed between the two chief cities of the Russian Empire.\nFor instance, not very far beyond the Urals there is one magnificent\nstretch of perfectly straight road for 116 versts, or nearly eighty\nmiles.\n\nThe traveller who expects that on the great Siberian route he will\nspeedily find himself plunged into semi-savagery, or that he will\non leaving Europe begin to realize the solitude of a vast forlorn\nwilderness, will be agreeably disappointed. This great line is\nintended to carry forward in its progress all the comforts of modern\ncivilization. Every station is picturesque and even artistic. No\ntwo stations are alike in style, and all are neat, substantial,\ncomfortable, and comparable to the best rural stations anywhere in\nEurope or America. In one respect Russian provision for travellers\nis always far in advance of that in other countries. Those familiar\nwith the country will know at once that I refer to the railway\nrestaurants. The Great Siberian follows the rule of excellence\nand abundance. There, at every station, just as on the European\nside of the Urals, the traveller sees on entering the handsome\ndining-room the immense buffet loaded with freshly cooked Russian\ndishes, always hot and steaming, and of a variety not attempted in\nany other land excepting at great hotels. You select what fancy\nand appetite dictate, without any supervision. To dine at a railway\nrestaurant anywhere in the Russian Empire is one of the luxuries\nof travel. Your dinner costs only a rouble--about two shillings,\nand what a dinner you secure for the money! Soup, beef, sturgeon,\ntrout, poultry, game, bear's flesh, and vegetables in profusion\nare supplied _ad libitum_, the visitor simply helping himself just\nas he pleases. I mention these little details to prove that the\nlongest railway in the world is to push civilization with it as\nit goes forward.\n\nReaders who will glance at any map of the new line will notice\nthat the track runs across the upper waters of the great rivers,\njust about where they begin to be navigable. All through the summer,\nat any rate, America and England will, by the Arctic passage and\nby these mighty rivers, communicate with the heart of Asia, the\nrailway in the far interior completing the circle of commerce.\nOther results will follow. Siberia at present contains a population\nof four million--less by more than a million than London reckons\nwithin its borders. Millions of the Russian peasantry in Europe are\nin a condition of chronic semi-starvation. Ere long thousands of\nthese will weekly stream to the new Canaan in the East. Within the\nborders of Siberia, the whole of the United States of America could\nbe enclosed, with a great spare ring around for the accommodation\nof a collection of little kingdoms. In the wake of the new line\ntowns are springing up like mushrooms. Many of these will become\ngreat cities. There are several reasons for this development. The\nfirst is that the railway runs through South Siberia, where the\nclimate is delightfully mild compared with the rigorous conditions\nof the atmosphere further north. The next reason is that all the\nchief gold-fields are in this southern latitude.\n\nOne characteristic worthy of note is the absolute security aimed\nat by the administration of the line. Train and track are protected\nby an immense army of guards. The road is divided into sections\nof a verst each, a verst being about two-thirds of a mile. Every\nsection is marked by a neat cottage, the home of the guard and\nhis family. Night and day the guard or one of his household must\npatrol the section. A train is never out of sight of the guards,\nseveral of whom are employed wherever there are heavy curves. There\nare nearly 4,000 of these guards on the stretch between the Urals\nand Tomsk. All sense of solitude is thus removed from the mind of\nthe traveller. The old post road through Siberia is one of the\nmost dangerous routes in the world, being infested by murderous\n\"brodyags,\" or runaway convicts; but the Siberian line is as safe\nas Cheapside or Oxford Street. With the fact of perfect safety\nis soon blended in the mind of the observer that of plenty. All\nalong this wonderful route grass is seen growing in rank luxuriance\nthat can hardly be equalled in any other part of the globe, Siberia\nbeing emphatically a grass-growing country. It is the original home\nof the whole graniferous stock. Wheat is indigenous to Siberia.\nHere is the largest grazing region in existence. Through this the\ntrain rolls on hour after hour, as in European Russia it goes on and\non through interminable birch forests. Countless herds of animals in\nsuperb condition are everywhere seen roaming over these magnificent\nflowering Steppes, over which the Muscovite Eagle proudly floats.\n\nParts of the great railway, however, traverse regions other than\nthese. To make the reader understand the general characteristics\nof Siberia and the importance of the railway in the light of these\ncharacteristics, a few words must be said about the three great\nzones which mainly make up the country. The first is the _tundra_,\nthe vast region which stretches through the northern sub-arctic\nlatitudes. This desolate belt is not less than 5,000 miles in extent.\nIn breadth it varies from 200 to 500 miles. In winter the _tundra_\nis, of course, one vast frozen sheet. In the brief summer it is\nswampy, steaming, and swarming with mosquitoes. Treeless and sterile,\nthe _tundra_ is the home of strange uncouth tribes, but it is a\nvaluable training ground for hardy hunters. To the minds of most\npeople the _tundra_ is Siberia. This mischievous fallacy is difficult\nto dispel. In a few years the Siberian railway will have completely\ndissipated it. Much more valuable is the far wider zone called\nthe _taiga_, the most wonderful belt of forest on the surface of\nthe earth. I can testify to the profound impression of mingled\nmystery and delight produced on the mind by riding a thousand miles\nthrough Russian forests as they still exist in European Russia,\nwhere myriads of square miles in the north and centre of the land\nare covered by birch, spruce, larch, pine, and oak plantations.\nWhere do these forests begin and where do they have an end? That\nis the traveller's thought. He finds that they thicken and broaden,\nand deepen as they sweep in their majestic gloom across the Urals,\nand make up for thousands of miles the grand Siberian arboreal belt.\nIn this _taiga_ the Tsar possesses wealth beyond all computation;\nand the railway will put it actually at his disposal. The third\nzone, the most valuable of all, is that which mainly constitutes\nSouthern Siberia. It is the region of the Steppes, that endless\nnatural garden which again makes Siberia an incomparable land.\nSheeted with flowers, variegated by woodlands, it holds in its lap\nranges of mountains, all running with fairly uniform trend from\nnorth to south, while in its heart lies the romantic and mysterious\nBaikal, the deepest of lakes. Through the spurs of the _taiga_,\nrunning irregularly through the lovely Steppes, passes the new\nrailroad, which thus taps the chief resources of the land. It will\nopen up the forests, the arable country land, the cattle-breeding\ndistricts, and, above all, the mineral deposits. Here is a fine\ncoming opportunity for the capitalists of the world.\n\nThe Siberian railway starts at Cheliabinsk, just across the Ural\nMountains, which it reaches through Samara on the Volga from the\nEuropean side, coming over the boundary hills through Ufa, Miass\nand Zlatoust. Shortly after leaving the latter town, which is the\ncentre of the Uralian iron industry, the train passes that pathetic\n\"Monument of Tears,\" which marks the boundary between Europe and\nAsia. The triangular post of white marble, which thousands of weeping\nexiles every year embrace as they pay their sad farewell to Europe,\nis simply inscribed on one of its three sides, \"Asia,\" on another,\n\"Europe.\" Passing down the eastern slopes of the Urals the train\nsoon reaches Cheliabinsk, running beside the Isset, a tributary\nof the Irtish, one of the main branches of the grand Obi river.\nOn leaving Cheliabinsk, the traveller begins to realize that he\nis in Siberia. In the near future this section of the line will\nbe traversed by many an explorer and many a hunter, who will in\nsummer come to seek fresh fields on the course of the Obi, to track\nout towards the north the haunts of the seal, the walrus, and the\nwhite bear. The line crosses the Tobol at Kurgan, the Ishim at\nPatropavlosk, and the Irtish at Omsk, where the majestic new bridge\nspans a stream of two hundred yards. The three fine rivers are\nconfluents of the Obi. Kurgan lies embosomed in the finest and\nrichest, as well as the largest pasturage in the world. The magnitude\nof this undertaking may be imagined from the fact that the Yenisei\nriver is only reached after a ride of 2,000 miles from Cheliabinsk,\nand then the traveller has not traversed half the distance across\nthe continent which this railroad spans.\n\nWe arrive at the main stream of the Obi when the train rolls into\nthe station at Kolivan. Thus Tomsk, one of the chief cities of\nSiberia, is missed, for it lies further north on the Obi. In the\nsame way does the line ignore Tobolsk, the Siberian capital, as it\ntouches the Irtish far south of the city. These important places\nwill be served by branch lines. Indeed, the branch to Tomsk is\nalready finished. It is eighty miles long, and runs down the Tom\nvalley northward to the city, which is the largest and most important\nin all Siberia. Tomsk will become the \"hub\" of Asia. It lies near\nthe centre of the new railway system. It has a telephone system, is\nlighted by electricity, and possesses a flourishing university with\nthirty professors and 300 students. Tomsk, Tobolsk, and Yeniseisk\nwould be difficult to reach by the main line as they are surrounded\nby vast swamps, and therefore the line is thus laid considerably\nsouth of these great towns. They are accessible with ease by side\nlines down their respective rivers.\n\nThe Siberian line is designed to run through the arable lands of\nthe fertile zone. The adjacent land will be worth countless millions\nof roubles to a Government which has not had to pay a single copeck\nfor it. On for many hundreds of versts rolls the train through the\npasture lands of the splendid Kirghiz race. The Kirghiz are by\nfar the finest of the Tartars. They are a purely pastoral people,\nfrugal, cleanly, and hospitable, living mainly on meats, and milk\nand cheese, the products of their herds. Both for pasture and for\nthe culture of cereals, the vast territory between the Obi and\nthe Yenisei will be unrivalled in the whole world. Kurgan is the\ncapital. It will become an Asiatic Chicago.\n\nOn the Shim river, a fairly important though minor tributary of\nthe Obi, is Patropavlosk, with a population already of 20,000.\nIt is growing rapidly, and fine buildings are springing up, in\nattestation of the immense influence of the new line. This city was\nonce the frontier fortress erected by Russia against the Kirghiz.\nIt was of commercial importance before the railroad was thought\nof, as the emporium of the brisk trade with Samarkand and Central\nAsia; great camel caravans constantly reaching it. All the old towns\nwhich are traversed by the Great Siberian are being transformed as\nif by magic. From Patropavlosk to Omsk is a distance equal to that\nbetween London and Edinburgh, about 400 miles. New and promising\nvillages are frequently espied in the midst of the level, fertile\nflowery plains, varied by great patches of cultivated land. All\nalong the track the land is being taken up on each side, and crops\nare being raised. We are in the midst of the great future granary\nof the whole Russian Empire, and not of that Empire alone.\n\nReaching the Yenisei river, the grandest stream in Siberia, the\ntrain crosses a bridge 1,000 yards in length. But some time before\nthis a stoppage is made at the town of Obb, which is a striking\nsample of the magical results of the railway. The whole country was\ntill recently a scene of wild desolation. The thriving community,\nbusy with a prosperous trade, is typical of the coming transformation\nof Siberia.\n\nA short distance beyond Irkutsk the line reaches one of the most\nremarkable places in the world--Lake Baikal. This grand lake is as\nlong as England. It is nearly a mile deep, and covers an area of\n13,430 square miles. Its surface is 1,500 feet above the level of\nthe sea. On every side it is hemmed in by lofty mountains, covered\nwith thick forest. Only a few tiny villages relieve its dreary\nsolitude. The early Russian settlers, impressed by the mystic silence\nand gloomy grandeur of Baikal, named it the \"Holy Sea.\" It abounds\nin fish of many species, and every season thousands of pounds' worth\nof salmon are caught and dried. At the north end great numbers of\nseals have their habitat, the Buriat hunters sometimes taking as\nmany as 1,000 in a single season. Baikal is the only fresh-water\nsea in the world in which this animal is found.\n\nThe Transbaikalian section takes the line from Lake Baikal to the\ngreat Amur River. The line gradually ascends to the crest of the\nYablonoi Mountains, reaching a height of 3,412 feet above the sea\nlevel. This is the greatest altitude of the Siberian Railway. In\nthis province of Transbaikalia lies the interesting city of Chita,\nthe far-off home of the most famous and estimable Socialist exiles\nsent from Russia. From this point to the Amur, where Manchuria is\nreached, the line is carried down the Pacific slope, through one\nof the wildest and most romantic tracks ever penetrated by railway\nengineers. It is not generally remembered that the Great Siberian\nRailway was begun at the Pacific end, and that the present Tsar\nNicholas II., when Tsarevitch, inaugurated the colossal enterprise\nby laying the first stone of the eastern terminus at Vladivostock,\non May 12, 1891.\n\n\n\n\n_HIGH LIFE IN RUSSIA_\n\n_THE COUNTESS OF GALLOWAY_\n\nThe Russian aristocracy and plutocracy have few powers or privileges\nbeyond that of serving their sovereign, and their position depends\nentirely on the will of the emperor. Official rank is the only\ndistinction, and all ranks or \"tchin,\" as it is called, is regulated\naccording to the army grades. By this \"tchin\" alone is the right of\nbeing received at Court acquired. Society is, therefore, subservient\nto the Court, and occupies itself more with those whose position can\nbest procure them what they desire than with any other ideas. The\nCourt itself is very magnificent, and its entertainments display\nunbounded splendour, taste, and art. In the midst of winter the whole\npalace is decorated for the balls with trees of camellias, dracaenas\nand palms. The suppers seem almost to be served by magic. Two thousand\npeople sup at the same moment: they all sit down together, and all\nfinish together in an incredibly short space of time. The palace\nis lit by the electric light, the tables are placed under large\npalm-trees, and the effect is that of a grove of palms by moonlight.\nAt these Court balls, besides the Royal Family of Grand Dukes and\nDuchesses, with gorgeous jewels, may be seen many of the great\ngenerals and governors of the provinces who come to St. Petersburg\nto do homage to their sovereign; a splendid-looking Circassian\nPrince, whose costume of fur and velvet is covered with chains of\njewels and gold; the commander of the Cossack Guard, Tcherevine,\nwho watches over the Emperor's safety, dressed in what resembles\na well-fitting scarlet dressing-gown, with a huge scimitar in his\nbelt sparkling with precious stones; Prince Dondoukoff Korsakoff,\nthe Governor of the Caucasus, also in Cossack attire, with the\nbeard which is the privilege of the Cossack birth. M. de Giers,\nwhose civilian blue coat with gold buttons is remarkable among\nthe numberless brilliant uniforms, talks to the Ambassadors with\nthe wearied anxious expression habitual to his countenance. The\nEmpress dances, but not the Emperor; he does not sit down to supper\neither, but walks about, after the Russian fashion of hospitality,\nto see that all his guests are served.\n\n[Illustration: THE WINTER PALACE, ST. PETERSBURG]\n\nIf, to the outsider, society seems to lack the serious side, science,\nlearning, and politics, it gains energy from its contact with men who\nare continually engaged in distant provinces, carrying Russian rule and\ncivilization to the conquered Eastern tribes. Notwithstanding the great\nease and luxury, the fact that so much of the male portion is composed\nof officers, who wear no other clothes than their uniforms, gives\nsomething of a business-like air, and produces a sense of discipline\nat the entertainments. Individually, the Russians have much sympathy\nwith English ways and habits, and the political antagonism between\nthe two nations does not appear to affect their social intercourse.\nThey are exceedingly courteous, hospitable, and friendly, throwing\nthemselves with much zest into the occupation or amusement of the\nmoment. In these days of rapid communication social life is much\nthe same in every great capital. St. Petersburg is a very gay society,\nand the great troubles underlying the fabric do not come to the\nsurface in the daily life. There are of course representatives\nof all the different lines of thought and policy, and because they\ncannot govern themselves, it must not be supposed that they have\nnot predilections in favour of this or that line of action.\n\nThe season in St. Petersburg begins on the Russian New Year's Day,\nwhich is thirteen days late, for they adhere to what the Western\nnations now call the Old Style. It lasts till Lent, which the Eastern\nChurch fixes also by a different calculation from the Western, and\nduring that time there are Court balls twice a week and dancing at\nprivate houses nearly every other night, Sundays included. Private\nballs begin, as in London, very late and end very late. The dancing\nis most vigorous and animated. The specially Russian dance is the\nMazurka, of Polish origin, and very pretty and graceful. Like the\nScotch reel, it is a series of different figures with numerous\nand varied steps. The music, too, is special and spirited. The\nsupper, which is always eaten sitting down, is a great feature\nof the evening, and there is invariably a cotillon afterwards.\nThe pleasantest and most sociable entertainments are the little\nsuppers every evening, where there is no dancing, and where the\nmenu is most _recherche_ and the conversation brilliant. The houses\nare well adapted for entertainments, and those we saw comfortable\nand luxurious as far as the owners are concerned. The bedrooms\nwere prettily furnished, and the dressing-rooms attached fitted\nup with a tiled bath, hot and cold water, and numberless mirrors.\nThe wives of the great Court and State officials, as well as many\nother ladies, have one afternoon in the week on which they sit at\nhome and receive visitors. There is always tea and Russian bonbons,\nwhich are most excellent. What strikes an English-woman is the\nnumber of men, officers of the army, and others, who attend these\n\"jours,\" as they are called in French. Many of noted activity,\nsuch as General Kaulbars, may be seen quietly sipping their tea\nand talking of the last ball to the young lady of the house. A fete\ngiven by Madame Polovtsoff, wife of the Secretaire de l'Empire,\nwas wonderfully conducted and organized. It took place at a villa\non the Islands, as that part of St. Petersburg which lies between\nthe two principal branches of the Neva is called. It is to villas\nhere that the officials can retire after the season when obliged\nto remain near the capital. The rooms and large conservatories\nwere lit by electricity. At the further end of the conservatory,\nburied in palm-trees were the gipsies chanting and wailing their\nsavage national songs and choruses, while the guests wandered about\namongst groves of camellias, and green lawns studded with\nlilies-of-the-valley and hyacinths; rose-bushes in full flower at\nthe corners. When the gipsies were exhausted, dancing began, and\nlater there was an excellent supper in another still more spacious\nconservatory. The entertainment ended with a cotillon, and for\nthe stranger its originality was only marred by the fact that it\nhad been thawing, and the company could not arrive or depart in\n\"_troikas_,\"--sleighs with three horses which seem to fly along the\nglistening moonlit snow. A favourite amusement, even in winter, is\nracing these \"_troikas_,\" or sleighs, with fast trotters. The races\nare to be seen from stands, as in England, and are only impeded by\nfalling snow. The pretty little horses are harnessed, for trotting\nraces, singly, to a low sleigh (in summer to a drosky) driven by\none man, wearing the colours of the owner. Two of these start at\nonce in opposite directions on a circular or oblong course marked\nout on a flat expanse of snow and ice, which may be either land\nor water, as is found most convenient. It is a picturesque sight,\nand reminds one of the pictures of ancient chariot races on old\nvases and carved monuments.\n\nThe character of a nation can scarcely fail to be affected by the\nsize of the country it inhabits, and a certain indifference to time\nand distance is produced by this circumstance. There is also a\npeculiar apathy as regards small annoyances and casualties. Whatever\naccident befalls the Russian of the lower orders, his habitual\nremark is \"_Nitchivo_\" (\"It is nothing\"). Nevertheless, Northern\nblood and a Northern climate have mixed a marvellous amount of\nenergy and enterprise with this Oriental characteristic. Take for\nexample the Caspian railway, undertaken by General Annenkoff. This\ngeneral completes fifteen hundred miles of railway in the incredibly\nshort space of time of a year and a half, and almost before the\npublic is aware of its having been commenced, he is back again in\nSt. Petersburg dancing at a Court ball in a quadrille opposite the\nEmpress. The railway made by him runs at present from the Caspian\nSea to the Amou-Daria River, and will be continued to Bokhara,\nSamarkand, and Tashkend, in a northerly direction, while on the\nsouth it is to enter Persia. Should European complications, by\nremoving the risk of foreign interposition, make it possible for\na Russian army to reach the Caspian by way of the Black Sea and\nthe Caucasus, this railway gives it the desired approach to India.\nBy attacking us in India, which they possibly do not desire to\nconquer, the Panslavists and Russian enthusiasts believe they would\nestablish their empire at Constantinople, and unite the whole Sclav\nrace under the dominion of the Tsar.\n\nThe one preponderating impression produced by a short visit to\nRussia is an almost bewildering sense of its vastness, with an\nequally bewildering feeling of astonishment at the centralization\nof all government in the hands of the Emperor. This impression is\nperhaps increased by the nature of the town of St. Petersburg. Long,\nbroad streets, lit at night by the electric light, huge buildings,\npublic and private, large and almost deserted places or squares, all\ntend to produce the reflection that the Russian nation is emerging\nfrom the long ages of Cimmerian darkness into which the repeated\ninvasions of Asiatic hordes had plunged it, and that it is full\nof the energy and aspirations belonging to a people conscious of\na great future in the history of mankind.\n\n\n\n\n_RURAL LIFE IN RUSSIA_\n\n_LADY VERNEY_\n\nThe amount of territory given up to the serfs by the Emancipation\nAct of 1861 was about one-half of the arable land of the whole\nempire, so that the experiment of cutting up the large properties\nof a country, and the formation instead of a landed peasantry,\nhas now been tried on a sufficiently large scale for a quarter of\na century to enable the world to judge of its success or failure.\nThere is no doubt of the philanthropic intentions of Alexander\nthe First, but he seems to have also aimed (like Richelieu) at\ndiminishing the power of the nobles, which formed some bulwark\nbetween the absolute sway of the Crown and the enormous dead level\nof peasants.\n\nThe serfs belonged soul and body to the landowner: even when they\nwere allowed to take service or exercise a trade in distant towns,\nthey were obliged to pay a due, \"_obrok_,\" to their owner, and to\nreturn home if required; while the instances of oppression were\nsometimes frightful, husbands and wives were separated, girls were\nsold away from their parents, young men were not allowed to marry.\nOn the other hand, when the proprietor was kind, and rich enough\nnot to make money of his serfs, the patriarchal form of life was\nnot unhappy. \"See now,\" said an old peasant, \"what have I gained\nby the emancipation? I have nobody to go to to build my house,\nor to help in the ploughing time; the Seigneur, he knew what I\nwanted, and he did it for me without any bother. Now if I want\na wife, I have got to go and court her myself; he used to choose\nfor me, and he knew what was best. It is a great deal of trouble,\nand no good at all!\" Under the old arrangements three generations\nwere often found living in one house, and the grandfather, who was\ncalled \"the Big One,\" bore a very despotic sway. The plan allowed\nseveral of the males of the family to seek work at a distance,\nleaving some at home to perform the \"_corvee_\" (forced labour)\nthree days a week; but the families quarrelled among themselves,\nand the effect of the emancipation has been to split them up into\ndifferent households. A considerable portion of the serfs were\nnot really serfs at all. They were coachmen, grooms, gardeners,\ngamekeepers, etc., while their wives and daughters were nurses,\nladies'-maids, and domestic servants. Their number was out of all\nproportion to their work, which was always carelessly done, but\nthere was often great attachment to the family they served. The\nserfs proper lived in villages, had houses and plots of land of\ntheir own, and were nominally never sold except with the estate.\nThe land, however, was under the dominion of the \"_Mir_\"; they could\nneither use it nor cultivate it except according to the communal\nobligations.\n\nThe outward aspect of a Russian village is not attractive, and\nthere is little choice in the surrounding country between a wide\ngrey plain with a distance of scrubby pine forest, or the scrubby\npine forest with distant grey plains. The peasants' houses are\nscattered up and down without any order or arrangement, and with\nno roads between, built of trunks of trees, unsquared, and mortised\ninto each other at the corners, the interstices filled with moss\nand mud, a mode of building warmer than it sounds. In the interior\nthere is always an enormous brick stove, five or six feet high,\non which and on the floor the whole family sleep in their rags.\nThe heat and the stench are frightful. No one undresses, washing\nis unknown, and sheepskin pelisses with the wool inside are not\nconducive to cleanliness. Wood, however, is becoming very scarce,\nthe forests are used up in fuel for railway engines, for wooden\nconstructions of all kind, and are set fire to wastefully--in many\nplaces the peasants are forced to burn dung, weeds, or anything\nthey can pick up--fifty years, it is said, will exhaust the peasant\nforests, and fresh trees are never planted.\n\nThe women are more diligent than the men, and the hardest work is\noften turned over to them, as is generally the case in countries\nwhere peasant properties prevail. \"They are only the females of\nthe male,\" and have few womanly qualities. They toil at the same\ntasks in the field as the men, ride astride like them, often without\nsaddles, and the mortality is excessive among the neglected children,\nwho are carried out into the fields, where the babies lie the whole\nday with a bough over them and covered with flies, while the poor\nmother is at work. Eight out of ten children are said to die before\nten years old in rural Russia.\n\nIn the little church (generally built of wood) there are no seats,\nthe worshippers prostrate themselves and knock their heads two or\nthree times on the ground, and must stand or kneel through the\nwhole service. The roof consists of a number of bulbous-shaped\ncupolas; four, round the central dome, in the form of a cross is\nthe completed ideal, with a separate minaret for the Virgin. These\nare covered with tiles of the brightest blue, green, and red, and gilt\nmetal. The priest is a picturesque figure, with his long unclipped\nhair, tall felt hat largest at the top, and a flowing robe. He must\nbe married when appointed to a cure, but is not allowed a second\nventure if his wife dies. Until lately they formed an hereditary\ncaste, and it was unlawful for the son of a pope to be other than\na pope. They are taken from the lowest class, and are generally\nquite as uneducated, and are looked down upon by their flocks.\n\"One loves the Pope, and one the Popess\" is an uncomplimentary\nproverb given by Gogol. \"To have priests' eyes,\" meaning to be\ncovetous or extortionate, is another. The drunkenness in all classes\nstrikes Russian statesmen with dismay, and the priests and the\npopes, are among the worst delinquents. They are fast losing the\nauthority they once had over the serfs, when they formed part of\nthe great political system, of which the Tsar was the religious and\npolitical head. A Russian official report says that \"the churches\nare now mostly attended by women and children, while the men are\nspending their last kopeck, or getting deeper into debt, at the\nvillage dram shop.\"\n\nChurch festivals, marriages, christenings, burials and fairs, leave\nonly two hundred days in the year for the Russian labourer. The\nclimate is so severe as to prevent out-of-door work for months,\nand the enforced idleness increases the natural disposition to\ndo nothing. \"We are a lethargic people,\" says Gogol, \"and require\na stimulus from without, either that of an officer, a master, a\ndriver, the rod, or _vodki_ (a white spirit distilled from corn);\nand this,\" he adds in another place, \"whether the man be peasant,\nsoldier, clerk, sailor, priest, merchant, seigneur or prince.\"\nAt the time of the Crimean War it was always believed that the\nRussian soldier could only be driven up to an attack, such as that\nof Inkermann, under the influence of intoxication. The Russian\npeasant is indeed a barbarian at a very low stage of civilization.\nIn the Crimean hospitals every nationality was to be found among\nthe patients, and the Russian soldier was considered far the lowest\nof all. Stolid, stupid, hard, he never showed any gratitude for\nany amount of care and attention, or seemed, indeed, to understand\nthem; and there was no doubt that during the war he continually put\nthe wounded to death in order to possess himself of their clothes.\n\nThe Greek Church is a very dead form of faith, and the worship of\nsaints of every degree of power \"amounts to a fetishism almost as\nbad as any to be found in Africa.\" I am myself the happy possessor\nof a little rude wooden bas-relief, framed and glazed, of two saints\nwhose names I have ungratefully forgotten, to whom if you pray\nas you go out to commit a crime, however heinous, you take your\npardon with you--a refinement upon the whipping of the saints in\nCalabria and Spanish hagiolatry. The icons, the sacred images,\nare hung in the chief corner, called \"The Beautiful,\" of a Russian\n_izba_. A lamp is always lit before them, and some food spread\n\"for the ghosts to come and eat.\" The well-to-do peasant is still\n\"strict about his fasts and festivals, and never neglects to prepare\nfor Lent. During the whole year his forethought never wearies;\nthe children pick up a number of fungi, which the English kick\naway as toadstools, these are dried in the sun or the oven, and\npacked in casks with a mixture of hot water and dry meal in which\nthey ferment. The staple diet of the peasant consists of buckwheat,\nrye meal, sauerkraut, and coarse cured fish\" (little, however,\nbut black bread, often mouldy and sauerkraut, nearly putrid, is\nfound in the generality of Russian peasant homes). No milk, butter,\ncheese, or eggs are allowed in Lent, all of which are permitted to\nthe Roman Catholic, and the oil the peasant uses for his cooking\nis linseed instead of olive oil, which last he religiously sets\naside for the lamps burning before the holy images. \"To neglect\nfasting would cause a man to be shunned as a traitor, not only\nto his religion, but to his class and country.\"\n\n[Illustration: RUSSIAN FARM SCENE.]\n\nIn a bettermost household, the samovar, the tea-urn, is always\ngoing. If a couple of men have a bargain to strike, the charcoal\nis lighted inside the urn, which has a pipe carried into the stone\nchimney, and the noise of the heated air is like a roaring furnace.\nThey will go on drinking boiling hot weak tea, in glasses, for\nhours, with a liberal allowance of _vodki_. The samovar, however,\nis a completely new institution, and the old peasants will tell\nyou, \"Ah, Holy Russia has never been the same since we drank so\nmuch tea.\"\n\nThe only bit of art or pastime to be found among the peasants seems\nto consist in the \"circling dances\" with songs, at harvest, Christmas,\nand all other important festivals, as described by Mr. Ralston.\nAnd even here \"the settled gloom, the monotonous sadness,\" are\nmost remarkable. Wife-beating, husbands' infidelities, horrible\nstories of witches and vampires, are the general subjects of the\nsongs. The lament of the young bride who is treated almost like\na slave by her father and mother-in-law, has a chorus: \"Thumping,\nscolding, never lets his daughter sleep\"; \"Up, you slattern! up,\nyou sloven, sluggish slut!\" A wife entreats: \"Oh, my husband, only\nfor good cause beat thou thy wife, not for little things. Far away\nis my father dear, and farther still my mother.\" The husband who is\ntired of his wife sings: \"Thanks, thanks to the blue pitcher (_i.\ne._, poison), it has rid me of my cares; not that cares afflicted\nme, my real affliction was my wife,\" ending, \"Love will I make to\nthe girls across the stream.\" Next comes a wife who poisons her\nhusband: \"I dried the evil root, and pounded it small;\" but in\nthis case the husband was hated because he had killed her brother.\nThe most unpleasant of all, however, are the invocations to _vodki_.\nA circle of girls imitate drunken women, and sing as they dance:\n\"_Vodki_ delicious I drank, I drank; not in a cup or a glass, but a\nbucketful I drank.... I cling to the posts of the door. Oh, doorpost,\nhold me up, the drunken woman, the tipsy rogue.\"\n\nThe account of the Baba Zaga, a hideous old witch, is enough to\ndrive children into convulsions. She has a nose and teeth made\nof strong sharp iron. As she lies in her hut she stretches from\none corner to the other, and her nose goes through the roof. The\nfence is made of the bones of the people she has eaten, and tipped\nwith their skulls. The uprights of the gate are human legs. She\nhas a broom to sweep away the traces of her passage over the snow\nin her seven-leagued boots. She steals children to eat them.\n\nRemains of paganism are to be found in some of the sayings. A curse\nstill existing says, \"May Perun (_i. e._, the lightning) strike\nthee.\" The god Perun, the Thunderer, resembles Thor, and like him\ncarries a hammer. He has been transformed into Elijah, the prophet\nIlya, the rumbling of whose chariot as he rolls through heaven,\nespecially on the week in summer when his festival falls, may be\nheard in thunder. There is a dismal custom by which the children are\nmade to eat the mouldy bread, \"because the Rusalkas (the fairies)\ndo not choose bread to be wasted.\" Inhuman stories about burying\na child alive in the foundation of a new town to propitiate the\nearth spirit; that a drowning man must not be saved, lest the water\nspirit be offended; that if groans or cries are heard in the forest,\na traveller must go straight on without paying any attention, \"for\nit is only the wood demon, the lyeshey,\" seem only to be invented\nas excuses for selfish inaction. Wolves bear a great part in the\nstories. A peasant driving in a sledge with three children is pursued\nby a pack of wolves: he throws out a child, which they stop to\ndevour; then the howls come near him again, and he throws out a\nsecond; again they return, when the last is sacrificed; and one\nis grieved to hear that he saves his own wretched cowardly life\nat last.\n\nThe Emancipation was doubtless a great work. Twenty million serfs\nbelonging to private owners, and 30,000,000 more, the serfs of\nthe Crown were set free. They had always, however, considered the\ncommunal land as in one sense their own. \"We are yours but the\nland is ours,\" was the phrase. The Act was received with mistrust\nand suspicion, and the owners were supposed to have tampered with\nthe good intentions of the Tsar. Land had been allotted to each\npeasant family sufficient, as supposed, for its support, besides\npaying a fixed yearly sum to Government. Much of it, however, is\nso bad that it cannot be made to afford a living and pay the tax,\nin fact a poll tax, not dependent on the size of the strip, but on\nthe number of the souls. The population in Russia has always had a\ngreat tendency to migrate, and serfdom in past ages is said to have\nbeen instituted to enable the lord of the soil to be responsible for\nthe taxes. \"It would have been impossible to collect these from\npeasants free to roam from Archangel to the Caucasus, from St.\nPetersburg to Siberia.\" It was therefore necessary to enforce the\npayments from the village community, the Mir, which is a much less\nmerciful landlord than the nobles of former days, and constantly\nsells up the defaulting peasant.\n\nThe rule of the Mir is strangely democratic in so despotic an empire.\nThe Government never interferes with the communes if they pay their\ntaxes, and the ignorant peasants of the rural courts may pass sentences\nof imprisonment for seven days, inflict twenty strokes with a rod,\nimpose fines, and cause a man who is pronounced \"vicious or pernicious\"\nto be banished to Siberia. The authority of the Mir, of the Starosta,\nthe Whiteheads, the chief elders, seems never to be resisted, and\nthere are a number of proverbs declaring \"what the Mir decides\nmust come to pass\"; \"The neck and shoulders of the Mir are broad\";\n\"The tear of the Mir is cold but sharp.\" Each peasant is bound\nhand and foot by minute regulations; he must plough, sow and reap\nonly when his neighbours do, and the interference with his liberty\nof action is most vexatious and very injurious.\n\nThe agriculture enforced is of the most barbarous kind. Jensen,\nProfessor of Political Economy at Moscow, says: \"The three-field\nsystem--corn, green crops and fallow--which was abandoned in Europe\ntwo centuries ago, has most disastrous consequences here. The lots\nare changed every year, and no man has any interest in improving\nproperty which will not be his in so short a time. Hardly any manure\nis used, and in many places the corn is threshed out by driving\nhorses and wagons over it. The exhaustion of the soil by this most\nbarbarous culture has reached a fearful pitch.\"\n\nThe size of the allotments varies extremely in the different climates\nand soils, and the country is so enormous that the provinces were\ndivided into zones to carry out the details of the Emancipation\nAct--the zone without black soil; the zone with black soil; and,\nthird, the great steppe zone. In the first two the allotments range\nfrom two and two-thirds to twenty acres, in the steppes from eight\nand three-quarters to thirty-four and one-third. \"Whether, however,\"\nsays Jensen, \"the peasants cultivate their land as proprietors at\n1_s_. 9_d_. or hire it at 18_s_. 6_d_. the result is the same--the\nsoil is scourged and exhausted, and semi-starvation has become the\ngeneral feature of peasant life.\"\n\nUsury is the great nightmare of rural Russia, at present, an evil\nwhich seems to dog the peasant proprietor in all countries alike.\nThe \"Gombeen Man\" is fast getting possession of the little Irish\nowners. A man who hires land cannot borrow on it; the little owner\nis tempted always to mortgage it at a pinch. In Russia he borrows to\nthe outside of its value to pay the taxes and get in his crop. \"The\nbondage labourers,\" _i. e._, men bound to work on their creditor's\nland as interest for money lent, receive no wages and are in fact a\nsort of slaves. They repay their extortioners by working as badly\nas they can--a \"level worst,\" far inferior to that of the serfs of\nold, they harvest three and a half or four stacks of corn where\nthe other peasants get five. The Koulaks and Mir-eaters, and other\nusurers, often of peasant origin, exhaust the peasant in every\nway; they then foreclose the mortgages, unite the small pieces\nof land once more, and reconstitute large estates. A Koulak is\nnot to be trifled with; he finds a thousand occasions for revenge;\nthe peasant cannot cheat the Jew as he does the landlord, and is\nbeing starved out--the mortality is enormous.\n\nThe peasant class comprises five-sixths of the whole population--a\nstolid, ignorant, utterly unprogressive mass of human beings. They\nhave received in gift nearly half the empire for their own use,\nand cling to the soil as their only chance of existence. They\nconsequently dread all change, fearing that it should endanger\nthis valuable possession. A dense solid stratum of unreasoning\nconservatism thus constitutes the whole basis of Russian society\nbacked by the most corrupt set of officials to be found in the\nwhole world. The middle and upper classes are often full of ardent\nwishes for the advancement of society and projects for the reform\nof the State. These are generally of the wildest and most terrible\ndescription, but their objects are anything but unreasonable. They\ndesire to share in political power and the government of their\ncountry, as is the privilege of every other nation in Europe, and\nthey hope to do something for the seething mass of ignorance and\nmisery around them. The Nihilists have an ideal at least of good,\nand the open air of practical politics would probably get rid of\nthe unhealthy absurdities and wickedness of their creeds. But the\nRussian peasant cares neither for liberty nor politics, neither\nfor education, nor cleanliness, nor civilization of any kind. His\nonly interest is to squeeze just enough out of his plot of ground\nto live upon and get drunk as many days in the year as possible.[1]\nWith such a base to the pyramid as is constituted by the peasant\nproprietors of Russia, aided by the enormous army, recruited almost\nto any extent from among their ranks, whose chief religion is a\nsuperstitious reverence for the \"great father,\" the Tsar is safe\nin refusing all concessions, all improvements; and the hopeless\nnature of Russian reform hitherto, mainly hangs upon the conviction\nof the Government that nothing external can possibly act upon this\ninert mass. \"Great is stupidity, and shall prevail.\" But surely\nnot forever!\n\n[Footnote 1: \"When God created the world He made different nations\nand gave them all sorts of good things--land, corn and fruit. Then\nHe asked them if they were satisfied, and they all said 'Yes' except\nthe Russian, who had got as much as the rest, but simpered 'Please\nLord, some _vodki_.'\"--_Russian Popular Tale_.]\n\n\n\n\n_FOOD AND DRINK_\n\n_H. SUTHERLAND EDWARDS_\n\nThe essential point in the service of the Russian dinner is--as\nis now generally known throughout Europe--that the dishes should\nbe handed round instead of being placed on the table, which is\ncovered throughout the meal with flowers, fruit, and the whole\nof the dessert. One advantage of this plan is, that it makes the\ndinner-table look well; another, that it renders the service more\nrapid, and saves much trouble to the host. The dishes are brought\nin one by one; or two at a time, and of the same kind, if a large\nnumber are dining. The ordinary wines are on the table, and nothing\nhas to be changed except the plates. At the end of dinner, as the\ncloth is not removed, the dessert is ready served; and this has\nalways been one of the great glories of a Russian banquet.\n\n\"I was particularly struck,\" says Archdeacon Coxe, \"with the quantity\nand quality of the fruit which made its appearance in the dessert.\nPines, peaches, apricots, grapes, pears, and cherries, none of\nwhich can in this country be obtained without the assistance of\nhot-houses,[1] were served,\" he tells us, \"in the greatest profusion.\nThere was a delicious species of small melon, which had been sent\nby land-carriage from Astrakhan to Moscow--a distance of a thousand\nmiles. These melons,\" he adds, \"sometimes cost five pounds apiece,\nand at other times may be purchased in the markets of Moscow for\nless than half-a-crown apiece.\" One \"instance of elegance\" which\ndistinguished the dessert, and which appears to have made an impression\non the Archdeacon, is then mentioned. \"At the upper and lower ends\nof the table were placed two china vases, containing cherry-trees\nin full leaf, and fruit hanging on the boughs which was gathered by\nthe company.\" This cherry-tree is also a favourite, and certainly\na very agreeable ornament, in the present day. At the conclusion\nof the dessert coffee is served as in France and England. Men and\nwomen leave the table together, and after dinner no wine is taken.\nLater in the evening tea is brought in, with biscuits, cakes, and\npreserved fruits.\n\n[Footnote 1: That is to say, not in the winter. In the summer,\npears and cherries abound in Moscow, and every kind of fruit ripens\nin the south.]\n\nThe reception-rooms in Russian houses are all _en suite_; and instead\nof doors you pass from room to room through arches hung with curtains.\nThe number of the apartments in most of the houses I remember varied\nfrom three to six or seven; but in the clubs and in large mansions\nthere are more. Grace before or after dinner is never said under\nany circumstances; but all the guests make the sign of the cross\nbefore sitting down to table, usually looking at the same time\ntowards the eastern corner of the room, where the holy image hangs.\nThis ceremony is never omitted in families, though in the early\npart of the century, when the Gallomania was at its height, it is\nsaid to have been much neglected. In club dinners, when men are\ndining alone, it will be easily believed that the same importance\nis not attached to it; but the custom may be described as almost\nuniversal among the rich, and quite universal among the poor. Indeed,\na peasant or workman would not on any account eat without first\nmaking the sign of the cross. In Russia, with its \"patriarchal\"\nsociety (as the Russians are fond of saying), it is usual to thank\nthe lady of the house, either by word or gesture, after dining at\nher table; and those who are sufficiently intimate kiss her hand.\n\n[Illustration: THE TSAR'S DINING-ROOM, MOSCOW.]\n\nWe now come to the composition of the Russian dinners; and here I\nmust repeat with Archdeacon Coxe, that although the Russians have\nadopted many of the delicacies of French cookery, they \"neither\naffect to despise their native dishes nor squeamishly reject the\nsolid joints which characterize our own repasts.\" I was astonished,\nat one Russian dinner, which I was assured was thoroughly national\nin style, to meet with the homely roast leg of mutton and baked\npotatoes of my native land. Like the English, the Russians take\npotatoes with nearly every dish--either plain boiled, fried, or\nwith parsley and butter over them. Plum-pudding, too, and boiled\nrice-pudding with currants in it, and with melted butter, are known\nin Russia--at all events in Moscow and St. Petersburg; and goose is\nnot considered complete without apple-sauce. As in France, every\ndinner begins with soup; but this custom has not been borrowed\nfrom the French. It seems to date from time immemorial, for all\nthe Russian peasants, a thoroughly stationary class, take their\nsoup daily. The Russians are very successful with some kinds of\npickles, such as salted cucumbers and mushrooms; and they excel\nin salads, composed not only of lettuce, endive, and beetroot, but\nalso of cherries, grapes, and other fruits, preserved in vinegar.\nThe fruit is always placed at the top, and has a very picturesque\neffect in the midst of the green leaves. Altogether it may be said\nthat the Russian _cuisine_ is founded on a system of eclecticism,\nwith a large number of national dishes for its base. Of course,\nin some Russian houses, as in some English ones, the cooking is\nnearly all in the French style; but even then there are always a\nfew dishes on the table that might easily be recognized as belonging\nto the country. We need scarcely remark, that only very rich persons\ndine every day in the sumptuous style described by Archdeacon Coxe,\nthough the rule as to service may be said to be general--one dish\nat a time, and nothing on the table but flowers and the dessert.\nIn the winter, when it is difficult and expensive to get dessert,\nthose who are rich send for it where it _can_ be obtained--perhaps\nto their own hot-houses; and those who are not rich, as in other\ncountries, go without. At the _traktirs_, or _restaurants_, the\nusual dinner supplied for three-quarters of a rouble consists of\nsoup, with a pie of mince-meat, or minced vegetables, an _entree_,\nroast meat, and some kind of sweet. That, too, may be considered\nthe kind of dinner which persons of moderate means have every day\nat home. Rich proprietors, who keep a head-cook, a roaster, a\npastry-cook, and two or three assistant-cooks, would perhaps despise\nso moderate a repast; but from a little manual of cookery which\na friend has been kind enough to send me from Russia, it would\nappear that the generality of persons do not have more than four\ndishes at each meal.\n\nThe most ancient and popular drinks in Russia are hydromel or mead\n(called by the same name in Russia), beer, and _kvass_. Mead, the fine\nold Scandinavian drink, is mentioned as far back as the Tenth Century;\nand in a chronicle of Novgorod of the year 989, it is stated that \"A\ngreat festival took place, at which a hundred and twenty thousand\npounds of honey were consumed.\" Hydromel is flavoured with various\nkinds of spices and fermented with hops. Gerebtzoff states that\nbeer is mentioned (under the name of _oloul_--the present word being\n_pivo_) in the _Book of Ranks_, written in the Eleventh and Twelfth\nCenturies. But no drink is so ancient as _kvass_, which, according\nto the chronicle of Nestor, was in use among the Sclavonians in\nthe first century of our era. Among the laws of Yaroslaff there\nis an old edict determining the quantity of malt to be furnished\nfor making _kvass_ to workmen engaged in building a town.\n\nThe Russians learnt to drink wine from the Greeks, during their\nfrequent intercourse with the Eastern Empire, long before the Mongol\ninvasion. During the Tartar domination there was less communication\nwith Constantinople and the consumption of wine decreased, but\nit became greater again during the period of the Tsars. In the\nbeginning of the Seventeenth Century wine was supplied to ambassadors,\nbut the Russians for the most part still preferred their native\ndrinks. The cultivation of the vine was introduced at Astrakhan\nin 1613, and a German traveller named Strauss, who visited the\ncity in 1675, found that it had been attended with great success;\nso much so, that, without counting what was sold in the way of\ngeneral trade, the province supplied to the Tsar alone every year\ntwo hundred tuns of wine, and fifty tuns of grape brandy. The wines\nof Greece were at the same time replaced by those of Hungary, which\nwere in great demand when Peter came and introduced the vintage\nof France. This by many persons will be considered not the least\nof his reforms.\n\nThe Russians acquired the art of distilling from grain in the Fourteenth\nCentury from the Genoese established in the Crimea, and seem to\nhave lost no time in profiting by their knowledge. They soon began\nto invent infusions of fruit and berries, which under the name of\n\"_nalivka_\" have long been known to travellers, and which I for\nmy part found excellent. \"_Raki_,\" about the consumption of which\nby the Russian soldiers so much was written during the Crimean\nwar, is a Turkish spirit, and is unknown in Russia. The Russian\ngrain-spirit is called \"_vodka_.\" The best qualities are more like\nthe best whiskey than anything else, only weaker; but it is of various\ndegrees of excellence as of price. The new common _vodka_, like other\nnew spirits, is fiery; but when purified, and kept for some time, it\nis excellent and particularly mild. Travellers to Moscow who are\ncurious on the subject of _vodka_ may visit a gigantic distillery\nin the neighbourhood, to which it is easy to gain admission, and\nwhere they can obtain information and samples in abundance. _Vodka_\nis sometimes made in imitation of brandy, and there are also sweet\nand bitter _vodkas_; and, indeed, _vodka_ of all flavours. But\nthe British spirit which the ordinary _vodka_ chiefly resembles\nis whiskey. There is one curious custom connected with drinking in\nRussia which, as far as I am aware, has never been noticed. The\nRussians drink first and eat afterwards, and never drink without\neating. If wine and biscuits are placed on the table, everyone takes\na glass of wine first, and then a biscuit; and at the _zakouska_\nbefore dinner, those who take the customary glass of _vodka_ take an\natom of caviare or cheese after it, but not before. It may also be\nremarked that, as a general rule, the Russians, like the Orientals,\ndrink only at the beginning of a repast.\n\nA hospitable Englishman entertaining a Russian, on seeing him eat\nafter drinking, would press him to drink again, and having drunk\na second time, the Russian would eat once more on his own account;\nwhich would involve another invitation to drink on the part of the\nEnglishman. As a hospitable Russian, on the other hand, entertaining\nan Englishman, would endeavour to prevail upon him to eat after\ndrinking, and as it is the Englishman's habit to drink after eating,\nit is easy to see that too much attention on either side might\nlead to very unfortunate results.\n\nA great deal is said about the enormous quantity of champagne consumed\nin Russia. Champagne, however, costs five roubles (from sixteen to\nseventeen shillings) a bottle--the duty alone amounting to one rouble\na bottle--and is only drunk habitually by persons of considerable\nmeans. Nor does the champagne bottle go round so frequently at\nRussian as at English dinners. It is usually given, as in France,\nwith the pastry and dessert, and no other wine is taken after it.\nThe rich merchants are said to drink champagne very freely at their\nevening entertainments; but the only merchant at whose house I\ndined had, unfortunately, adopted Western manners, and gave nothing\nduring the evening but tea. However, at festivals and celebrations\nof all kinds--whether of congratulation, of welcome, or of\nfarewell--champagne is indispensable. What Alphonse Karr says of\nwomen and their toilette--that they regard every event in life\nas an occasion for a new dress--may certainly be paraphrased and\napplied to the Russians in connection with champagne. Besides the\nchampagne which is given as a matter of course at dinner-parties\nand balls, there must be champagne at birthdays, champagne at\nchristenings, champagne at, or in honour of, betrothals, champagne\nin abundance at weddings, champagne at the arrival of a friend, and\nchampagne at his departure. For those who cannot afford veritable\nchampagne, Russian viniculture supplies an excellent imitation in\nthe shape of \"_Donskoi_\" and \"_Crimskoi_,\"--the wines of the Don\nand of the Crimea. As \"_Donskoi_\" costs only a fifth of the price\nof real champagne, it will be understood that it is not seldom\nsubstituted for the genuine article, both by fraudulent wine merchants\nand economic hosts. However, it is a true wine, and far superior to\nthe fabrications of Hamburg, which, under the name of champagne,\nfind their way all over the north of Europe. It has often been\nsaid that the Russians drink champagne merely because it is dear.\nBut the fact is, they have a liking for all effervescing drinks,\nand naturally, therefore, for champagne, the best of all. Among\nthe effervescing drinks peculiar to Russia, we may mention apple\n_kvass, kislya shchee_, and _voditsa. Kislya shchee_ is made out of\ntwo sorts of malt, three sorts of flour, and dried apples; in apple\n_kvass_ there are more apples and less malt and flour. _Voditsa_\n(a diminutive of _voda_, water), is made of syrup, water, and a\nlittle spirit. All these summer-drinks are bottled and kept in\nthe ice-house.\n\n\n\n\n_CARNIVAL-TIME AND EASTER_\n\n_A. NICOL SIMPSON_\n\nLent is heralded by carnival, called by Russians \"Maslanitza\"--the\n\"_Butter Wochen_\" of the Germans. _Maslanitza_ is held during the\neighth week preceding Easter, the fast proper is observed during the\nintervening seven weeks. During Maslanitza every article of diet,\nflesh excepted, is allowed to be partaken of, but over-indulgence\nin other articles, including drinks, is not forbidden.\n\nCarnival commences on Sunday at noon and continues till the close\nof the succeeding Sunday. The salutation during the week is\n\"_Maslanitza_,\" or \"_Sherokie Maslanitza_,\" \"_Sherokie_\" meaning,\nliterally \"broad,\" indicating a full amount of pleasure, and the\nfacial expression accompanying this salutation shows plainly that\nunrestrained enjoyment is the aim and object for the week. Upon\nthe discharge of the time gun at noon, there emerge from all parts\nof the city tiny sleighs driven by peasants, chiefly Finns, who for\nthe time are allowed to ply for hire by the payment of a nominal\ntax imposed by the police or city corporation. Most of these Finns\nare unable to speak Russian intelligibly, although living at no\ngreat distance from the capital. It is said that from 5,000 to 10,000\nof these jehus come annually to St. Petersburg for _Maslanitza_,\nand they add materially to the gaiety of the city as they drive\nalong the streets. These Finns are mostly patronized by the\nworking-classes, for the simple reason that their charges are lower\nthan the ordinary _isvozchick_, or cabby.\n\nDuring the festivities the great centre of attraction for the working\npopulation is the \"Marco Polo,\" or \"Champ de Mars,\" an immense\nplain on the banks of the Neva. Here a huge fair is held, with\nthe usual assortment of stalls, loaded with sweetmeats and similar\ndainties. Actors from the city theatres are upon the ground, with\nsmaller booths where the stage-struck hero acts the leading part.\nThere are dwarfs, fat women, giants, and the renowned ubiquitous\nPunch and Judy, merry-go-rounds, card-sharpers, cheap-jacks, and\na medley crowd of men and women all catering for the roubles of\nthe crowd. What are termed the \"ice-hills\" are perhaps the most\nattractive feature of the gathering.\n\nIn the city feasting and visiting are the order of the day. There\nis no limit to the consumption of \"_bleenies_,\" a kind of pancake\nmade of buckwheat flour, and eaten with butter sauce or fresh caviare,\naccording to the circumstances of the families. Morn, noon, and\nnight _bleenies_ are cooked and eaten by the dozen, moistened,\nof course, with the indispensable _vodka_ or native gin, which is\ndistilled from rye.\n\nWhen midnight of the second Sunday arrives, all gaieties are supposed\nto vanish, and a subdued and demure aspect must be assumed, and\nthe form of congratulation between friends and acquaintances\nis--\"_Pozdravlin vam post_,\" or \"I congratulate you on the fast.\"\nThe church bells toll mournfully at brief intervals from 4 or 5\nA. M., when early mass is celebrated until about 8 P. M., when\nevening service closes.\n\nBefore the Passion--like the Jews, who at Passover search diligently\nfor and cast out the old leaven--the Russian housewife likewise\nsearches out every corner, most remorselessly sweeps from its\nhiding-place every particle of dust. Everything is done to make the\nhouse and its contents fit to meet a risen Saviour. The streets,\nalways very clean, receive special attention, even the lamp-posts\nare carefully washed down and the kerbs sanded. Everything that\nwill clean has brush and soap-and-water applied to it. The reason\nof this is the belief that our Saviour invisibly walks about the\nearth for forty days after Easter, that is, until Ascension Day.\n\nOn the Thursday of Passion Week \"_Strashnaya Nedelli_,\" _i. e._,\n\"_Terrible Week_,\" is enacted in a very realistic fashion one of\nthe last acts of our Saviour--\"the washing of the Disciples' feet.\"\nAfter the close of the second diet of worship at St. Isaac's Cathedral\nthis ceremony is performed.\n\nThe most important day of the week is that of \"_Strashnaya Piatnitsa_,\"\nor Good Friday, when the burial of our Lord is enacted before the\npeople in a truly solemn and impressive manner. In every church\nthere is a sarcophagus in imitation of our Saviour's tomb, and\nmany of these sarcophagi are of elaborate workmanship with gorgeous\ngilt and otherwise ornamented. The lid is adorned with a painting\nrepresenting our Saviour in death. At dawn this lid is carried\ninto the chapel, and by 3 P. M. the sarcophagus is in its place\non the dais ready to receive the body of our Lord. Shortly before\nthe service is concluded, all the worshippers have their tapers\nlighted, the flame being procured from a candelabrum in front of\nthe sacred icon. This is done by those nearest to the candelabrum\nlighting their tapers, while those behind them get the sacred flame\nfrom them, and in this way all get their tapers lit. Many endeavour\nto carry their burning tapers home, so that they may have the holy\nflame in their dwellings.\n\n[Illustration: ST. ISAAC'S CATHEDRAL, ST. PETERSBURG.]\n\nLeaving the chapel the crowd musters in the street. Then there\nemerges a church dignitary bearing a large brightly-burnished crucifix,\nfollowed by others bearing bannerettes and other symbols, the names\nand uses of which are to us a mystery. Last of all come forth four\npriests, clad in their gorgeous canonical vestments, bearing the\nlid of the sarcophagus which is supported on brass rods. Under\nthe lid walks an aged priest clad in his clerical vestments,\nrepresenting the dead Christ being carried to his tomb. Slowly,\nsadly, and reverently he is borne to the tomb, the worshippers\ncrossing themselves most devoutly. A sudden rush is made for the\nchurch to witness the interment, the big bell meanwhile tolling\nmournfully as the procession moves on. The sad procession enters\nthe church, and, going up to where the sarcophagus is placed with\nall the external appearances of love, mourning, and lamentation,\nthe lid is placed on the sarcophagus and the last obsequies of\nthe crucified \"Christ\" are over.\n\nPreparations are now industriously made for the due celebration of\nthe Resurrection morn. Shopping, shopping, shopping goes on without\nintermission. Those who can, prepare to adorn their bodies with one\nor more articles of new clothing, but all make preparations for a\nsumptuous feast. It is interesting to watch the shops, especially in\nthe public markets, to see the avidity with which every article of\nfood is bought up. The butchers come in, perhaps, for the largest\nshare of custom, as flesh, especially smoked ham, is in universal\ndemand. Ham among all classes of the community is indispensable for\nthe breaking of the fast and the due celebration of the feast. Dyed\neggs are in universal request. The exchange of eggs, accompanied with\nkissing on the lips and cheeks in the form of the cross, accompanies\nall gifts or exchange. The _koolitch_ and _paska_ have also to be\nbought. The _koolitch_ is a sweet kind of wheaten bread, circular\nin form, in which there are raisins. It is ornamented with candied\nsugar and usually has the Easter salutation on it: \"_Christos\nvozkress_\"--\"Christ is risen\"--the whole surmounted with a large\ngaudy red-paper rose. The _paska_ is made of cords, pyramidal in\nshape, and contains a few raisins, and, like the former, has also\na paper rose inserted on the top. These are the _sine qua non_ for\nthe due observance of Easter, but what relation they may have, if\nany, to the Jewish Feast of the Passover, it is difficult to see,\nalthough in many other respects there is a striking resemblance\nto the service of the Temple in Jerusalem in the ritual of the\nRusso-Greek Church. The _koolitch_ and _paska_ and dyed eggs are\nbrought to, but not into, the church on the Saturday evening. Some\nhave burning tapers inserted into them, while a pure white table\nnapkin is spread on the ground, or on benches specially provided\nfor the purpose, awaiting the priests' blessing. The hours for\nthis purpose are six, eight, and ten o'clock. The priests sprinkle\nthe _koolitch, paska_, and dyed eggs at these hours, those to whom\nthey belong slipping a silver or copper coin into his hand as a\nreward for his services. These articles are then carried home,\nand along with the other necessities for the feast are laid out\non a table, there to lie untouched till the resurrection of the\n\"Saviour\" is an accomplished fact. Meanwhile the lessons are being\nread over the tomb of \"Christ,\" and the devotees, still in large\nnumbers, kiss His face and feet. About 11 P. M. the sarcophagus is\nwheeled to its usual place in the church, where it remains until\nthe following Easter.\n\nAll the churches by this time are densely packed with worshippers,\nsilently waiting with eager expectancy the time when their \"Saviour\"\nwill break the bonds of death and rise from the tomb in which he\nhas now lain for three days.\n\nAs if by magic, everyone has lighted his or her taper, and looks\nanxiously towards the altar-screen, where preparations are being\nmade by the priests to go to Joseph of Arimathea's garden, as the\ndisciples and women did of old to visit the tomb where Christ was\nburied. This they do by forming a procession with the crucifix,\nbannerettes, etc., each carrying a lighted candle in his hand.\nThere is a rush among the worshippers to join the procession. They\nwalk thrice round the church, searching diligently by the aid of\ntheir candles for \"Christ,\" and not finding Him, they go to bring\nthe disciples word that He is risen from the dead.\n\nWhen the procession enters the threshold of the church, the royal\ngates are thrown back, suddenly displaying a marvellously beautiful\nstained glass window, and all eyes behold an enchanting representation\nof the Saviour in the act of rising from the cold grave.\n\nThe priests with the choristers, as they enter the church, proclaim\nin joyful tones, \"_Christos vozkress_\" (\"Christ is risen\"), the\nresponse being \"_Voestenno vozkress_\" (\"Truly He is risen\"). It\nis really a jubilant song of praise they sing--the finely trained\nvoices of the choir and priests, joined with those of the worshippers,\nmaking it most impressive. Every face in the vast crowd bears the\njoyous expression of gladness, for to these men and women a really\ndead Christ has risen, and is now invisibly in their midst. Relatives\nand friends kiss each other and shake hands, and the salutation,\n\"_Christos vozkress_,\" with the refrain, \"_Voestenno vozkress_,\"\nis heard on every side. The officiating priest begins the usual\nearly morning service (celebrated on ordinary Sundays at 5 A. M.),\nwhich continues until nearly three o'clock, when the churches are\nclosed for the day.\n\nImmediately after midnight a salute of one hundred and one guns is\ngiven from the fortress to greet the sacred morn. The whole city\nis stirred as the loud peal of cannon reverberates, proclaiming\nto the faithful that Christ is indeed risen from the dead. Some\nfew worshippers remain in church until the early service is over,\nbut the majority retire to their homes to tender the greetings\nof the day.\n\nThen families and friends assemble at the domestic board that groans\nunder a load of the good things of this life, according to their\ncircumstances, and to make reparation to their stomachs for the\nprivation they have endured during the seven weeks of Lent. And\nfull compensation their stomachs get, as the feast is a literal\ngorge of meat and drink. Ham is on the table of prince and peasant\nalike, and it is first partaken of. The table of the rich is spread\nwith all gastronomical luxuries, _vodka_ and wines, cold roast\nbeef, eggs, etc. These dainties remain on the table for several\ndays; indeed a free table is kept, and all who call to congratulate\nare expected to partake of the hospitality. Not to do so is regarded\nin the light of an insult.\n\nOn Easter Sunday only gentlemen pay visits of congratulation; ladies\nremain at home for that day to receive and entertain visitors.\nPresents are dispensed to domestic and other servants. A good drink\nis as indispensable to the feast among the peasant class as a good\nfeed, and they neither deny themselves the one nor the other, their\npotations lasting for several days.\n\nTo the Western mind the continual kissing and giving of eggs on\nthe streets appear strangely out of keeping with the solemnity\nof the hour. To see a couple of bearded men hugging and kissing\neach other and each other's wives on the public streets, with the\nsalutation, \"_Christos vozkress_,\" is indeed peculiar. But use\nand wont justify this, and it would be a breach of courtesy to\nwithhold the lips and cheeks, and would be regarded as indicating\nindifference to the great feast of the Church. Present-giving,\nalthough on somewhat similar lines to our Christmas greetings,\nis a much heavier tax on a Russian household than Christmas gifts\nare with us. In the ordinary house in St. Petersburg, the master,\non gaining his breakfast-room, is saluted by his domestic servant\nwith \"_Prazdnik_ (holiday), _Christos vozkress_,\" which involves a\nnew dress for the female, or a money equivalent. Then the _dvorniks_,\nor house-porters, resplendent in clean white aprons, make their\nappearance, giving the usual salutation, and one or two roubles\nmust be given. They have scarcely vanished when a couple of\nchimney-sweepers put in an appearance, necessitating another appeal\nto the purse; postmen follow, and in their rear come the juvenile\nrepresentatives of your butcher, greengrocer, etc., all bent upon\ntesting your liberality. You go to church and the doorkeeper gravely\nsays, \"_Christos vozkress_,\" while he of the cloak-room echoes\nthe sentiment to the impoverishment of one's exchequer. But this\nseeming mendicancy is not confined to these classes, for even the\nreverend fathers and brethren walk in the same footsteps unblushingly.\nEither on foot or by carriage they call upon the well-to-do of\ntheir church, give the usual salutation, \"_Christos vozkress_,\"\nand the kiss, partake of the general hospitality, and get their\ngratuity or \"_Na Chai_,\" as it is called, and retire. They are\nscarcely gone when the \"_Staroste_,\" or elders, put in an appearance,\nfollowed by the \"_Pyefche_,\" or choristers, all of whom share in\nthe bounty and hospitality of those on whom they call. The priests,\nof course, come in for the largest share, and, generally speaking,\nthey know the value of the adage, \"First come first served.\"\n\nAt mid-day of Easter Sunday a salute is fired from the fortress,\nand carnival begins again. It is a repetition of the same amusements\nas in carnival before Lent, and continues until the following Sunday\nevening.\n\n\n\n\n_RUSSIAN TEA AND TEA-HOUSES_\n\n_H. SUTHERLAND EDWARDS_\n\nA true Russian _restaurant_, or _traktir_ (probably from the French\n_traiteur_), is not to be found in St. Petersburg, whose _cafes_\nand _restaurants_ are either German or French, or imitated from\nGerman or French models. One of the large Moscow _traktirs_ is not\nonly very much larger, but at least twelve times larger than an\nordinary French _cafe_. The best of them is the Troitzkoi _traktir_,\nwhere the merchants meet to complete the bargains they have commenced\non the Exchange--that is to say--in the street beneath, where all\nbusiness is carried on, summer and winter, in the open air. St.\nPetersburg is more fortunate, and has a regular bourse, with a\nchapel attached to it. The merchants always enter this chapel before\ncommencing their regular afternoon's work ('Change is held at four\no'clock in St. Petersburg), and remain for several minutes at their\ndevotions, occasionally offering a candle to the Virgin or some\nsaint. Now and then it must happen that a speculator for the rise\nand a speculator for the fall enter the chapel and commence their\norisons at the same time. Probably they pray that they may not\nbe tempted to cheat one another.\n\nThere is no special chapel for the Moscow merchants, nor is there\none attached to the Troitzkoi _traktir_, which I am inclined to\nlook upon after all as the real Moscow Exchange. But in each of\nthe rooms, of which the entrances as usual are arched, and which\ntogether form an apparently interminable suite, the indispensable\nholy picture is to be seen; and no Russian goes in or out without\nmaking the sign of the cross. No Russian, to whatever class he\nmay belong, remains for a moment with his hat on in any inhabited\nplace; whether out of compliment to those who inhabit it, or from\nrespect to the holy pictures, or from mixed reasons. The waiters,\nof whom there are said to be a hundred and fifty at the Troitzkoi\n_traktir_, are all dressed in white, and it is facetiously asserted\nthat they are forbidden to sit down during the day for fear of\ndisturbing the harmony and destroying the purity of their spotless\nlinen. The service is excellent. The waiters watch and divine the\nwishes of the guests, instead of the guests having to watch, seek,\nand sometimes scream for the waiters, as is too often the case in\nEngland. Here the attendants do everything for the visitor; cut\nup his _pirog_ (meat, or fish patty), so that he may eat it with\nhis fork; pour out his tea, fill his _chibouk_, and even bring it\nto him ready lighted. The reader perceives that there is a certain\nOriental style about the Russian _traktirs_. The great article\nof consumption in them is tea. Every one orders tea, either by\nitself, or to follow the dinner; and the majority of those who\ncome into the place take nothing else. You can have a tumbler of\ntea, or a pot of tea; but in ordering it you do not ask for tea at\nall, but for so many portions of sugar. The origin of this curious\ncustom it is scarcely worth while to consider; but it apparently\ndates from the last European war, when, during the general blockade,\nthe price of sugar in Russia rose to about four shillings a pound.\n\nAll sorts of stories have been told about the quantity of tea consumed\nby Russian merchants, nor do I look upon any of them as exaggerated.\nFrom twelve to twenty cups are thought nothing of. I have seen\ntwo merchants enter a _traktir_, order so many portions of sugar,\nand drink cup after cup of tea, until the tea-urn before them is\nempty; yet the ordinary tea-urn of the _traktir_ holds at least\na gallon, or a gallon and a half.\n\n\"Tea,\" says M. Gerebtzoff, \"has become, for every one, an habitual\narticle of consumption, and replaces, advantageously for morality,\nbrandy and beer; for on all occasions when a bargain has to be\nconcluded, or when a companion has to be entertained, or on receiving\nor taking leave of a friend, tea is given instead of wine or brandy.\"\nIndeed, I not only observed that in the Moscow _traktirs_ nearly\nevery one drank tea, but that it was a favourite beverage with\nall classes on all occasions. The middle and upper classes take\ntea twice or three times a day,--always in the morning, and often\ntwice in the evening. The _isvostchik_, who formerly had a reputation\nfor drunkenness, which travellers of the present day continue to\nascribe to him, appears to prefer tea to every other drink. Such,\nat least, was my experience; and his mode of asking for a _pour\nboire_ seems to confirm it. Some years since travellers used to\ntell us of the _isvostchik_ asking at the end of his drive for\n_vodka_ money (\"_na votkou_\"); at present the invariable request\nis for tea-money (\"_na tchai_\"). Even in roadside inns, where I\nhave seen from twelve to twenty coachmen and postilions sitting down\ntogether, nothing but tea was being drunk. A well-known tourist has\ntold us that every Russian peasant possesses a tea-urn, or _samovar_;\nbut this is not the case. The majority of the peasants are too\npoor to afford such a luxury as tea, except on rare occasions,\nbut a tea-urn is one of the first objects that a peasant who has\nsaved a little money buys; and it is true, that in some prosperous\nvillages there is a samovar in every hut; and in all the post-houses\nand inns each visitor is supplied with a separate one.\n\n[Illustration: ST. ANNE RESTAURANT, WIBORG.]\n\nThe samovar, which, literally, means \"self-boiler,\" is made of brass\nlined with tin, with a tube in the centre. In fact, it resembles\nthe English urn, except that in the centre-tube red-hot cinders\nare placed instead of the iron heater. Of course, the charcoal,\nor _braise_, has to be ignited in a back kitchen or court-yard;\nfor in a room the carbonic acid proceeding from it would prove\ninjurious. It has no advantage then, whatever, over the English\nurn, except that it can be heated with facility in the open air,\nwith nothing but some charcoal, a few sticks of thin dry wood,\nand a lucifer; hence its value at picnics, where it is considered\nindispensable. In the woods of Sakolniki, in the gardens of Marina\nRoschia, and in the grounds adjoining the Petrovski Palace, all close\nto Moscow, large supplies of samovars are kept at the tea-houses, and\neach visitor, or party of visitors, is supplied with one. Indeed,\nthe quantity of tea consumed at these suburban retreats in the\nspring and summer is prodigious. In Russia there is no interval\nbetween winter and spring. As soon as the frost breaks up the grass\nsprouts, the trees blossom, and all nature is alive. In that country\nof extremes there is sometimes as much difference between April and\nMay as there is in England between January and June. The summer is\ncelebrated by various promenades to the country, which take place\nat Easter, on the first of May, Ascension Day, Trinity Sunday,\nand other occasions. The great majority of these promenades are of\na festive nature, but some, like that which is made on the 19th of\nMay to the monastery and cemetery of the Don, have a penitential, or,\nat least, a mournful character. The samovar, however, is present even\nin the churchyard. I never joined in one of the funeral pilgrimages\nto the Donskoi convent; but in other cemeteries outside Moscow and\nSt. Petersburg (intramural burial not being tolerated), I noticed\nthat the custodians kept in their lodges a supply of samovars for the\nbenefit of visitors. And, after all, what can be more appropriate\nthan an urn in a cemetery?\n\nBetween St. Petersburg and Kovno or Tauroggen, there are upwards of\nfifty \"stations,\" at each of which tea can be procured. Travellers\nwhose route does not lie along the government post-roads, take\nsamovars with them in their carnages; and small samovars that can\nbe packed into the narrowest compass are made for the use of officers\nstarting on a campaign, and other persons likely to find themselves\nin places where it may be difficult to procure hot water. Small\ntea-caddies are also manufactured with a similar object. Each caddy\ncontains one or more glasses; for men among themselves usually drink\ntheir tea, not out of tea-cups, but out of tumblers. Not many years\nsince it was the fashion to give cups to women and tumblers to\nmen in the evening; but the tumbler is gradually being banished,\nat least from the drawing-room.\n\nThe Russians never take milk in their tea; they take either cream,\nor a slice of lemon or preserved fruit, or simply sugar without\nthe addition of anything else. They hold that milk spoils tea,\nand they are right. Tea with lemon or preserves (forming a kind\nof tea-punch, well worthy the attention of tea-totallers), is only\ntaken in the evening. Sometimes the men add rum.\n\n\n\n\n_HOW RUSSIA AMUSES ITSELF_\n\n_FRED WHISHAW_\n\nIf I were asked to state what a Russian schoolboy does with his\nspare time after working hours are over, I should be much puzzled\nwhat to say.\n\nUnfortunately young Russia has not the faintest glimmering of knowledge\nof the practice or even of the existence of such things as football,\ncricket, fives, rackets, golf, athletic sports, hockey, or any other\nof the numerous pastimes which play so important a part in the\nlife of every schoolboy in this merry land of England. Therefore\nthere is no question, for him, of staying behind at the school\npremises after working hours, in order to take part in any game.\nHe goes home; that much is certain; most of his time is loafed\naway--that, too, is beyond question. He may skate a little, perhaps,\nin the winter, if he happens to live near a skating ground, but\nhe will not go far for it; and in the summer, which is holiday\ntime for him, from June to September, he walks up and down the\nvillage street clothed in white calico garments, or plays cup and\nball in the garden; fishes a little, perhaps, in the river or pond\nif there happen to be one, and lazies his time away without exertion.\nOf late years \"lorteneece,\" as lawn-tennis is called in the Tsar's\ncountry has been slightly attempted; but it is not really liked:\ntoo many balls are lost and the rules of the game have never yet\nbeen thoroughly grasped. A quartette of men will occasionally rig\nup their net, which they raise to about the height of a foot and\na half, and play a species of battledore and shuttlecock over it\nuntil the balls disappear; but it is scarcely tennis. As a matter\nof fact, a Russian generally rushes at the ball and misses it; on\nthe rare occasions when he strikes the object, he does so with\nso much energy that the ball unless stopped by the adversary's\neye, or his partner's, disappears forever into \"the blue.\"\n\nCroquet is a mild favourite, too; but it is played very languidly\nand unscientifically.\n\nMost gardens in Russian country houses contain a swing, a rotting\nhorizontal bar for the gymnastically (and suicidally) inclined, and\na giant stride. Occasionally there is a flower-bed in the centre,\nin which our dear old British friend the rhubarb, monopolizes the\nspace, and makes a good show as an ornamental plant; for he is\nnot known in that benighted country as a comestible, though, of\ncourse, children are acquainted with and hate him in his medicinal\ncapacity. Besides the swings and the rhubarb, there are sand or gravel\npaths; and built out over the dusty road is an open summer-house,\nwherein the Muscovitish householder and his ladies love to sit\nand sip their tea for the greater part of each day--this being\ntheir acme of happiness. The dust may lie half-an-inch thick over\nthe surface of their tea and bread and butter, but this does not\ndetract from the delights of the fascinating occupation.\n\nI should point out that in all I have said above, I refer not so\nmuch to the highest or to the lowest classes of Russian society,\nas to that middle stratum to which belong the families of the\n_Chinovnik_, of the infantry officer, or the well-to-do merchant.\nThe aristocracy amuse themselves very much in the same way as our\nown. They shoot, they loaf and play cards in their clubs, they\nbutcher pigeons out of traps, they have their race-meetings, they\ndance much and well; some have yachts of their own. Many of them\nkeep English grooms, and their English--when they speak it--for\nthis reason smacks somewhat of the stable, though they are not\nusually aware that this is the case. If a Russian autocrat has\nsucceeded in making himself look like an Englishman, and behaves\nlike one, he is happy.\n\nOf winter sports--in which, however, but a small minority of the\nRussian youth care to take part--there are skating, ice-yatching,\nsnow-shoeing, and ice-hilling. The skating ought, naturally, to be\nvery good in Russia. As a matter of fact the ice is generally dead\nand lacking in that elasticity and spring which is characteristic\nof our English ice. It is too thick for elasticity, though the\nsurface is beautifully kept and scientifically treated with a view\nto skating wherever a space is flooded or an acre or two of the\nNeva's broad bosom is reclaimed to make a skating-ground. Some\nof the Russian amateurs skate marvellously, as also do many of\nthe English and other foreign residents. Ice-yachting is confined\nalmost entirely to these latter, the natives not having as yet\nawakened to the merits of this fine pastime. Ice-hilling, however,\nat fair-time--that is, during the carnival week, preceding the\n\"long fast\" or Lent--is much practised by the people. This is a\nkind of cross between the switchback and tobogganing, and is an\nexceedingly popular amusement among the English residents of St.\nPetersburg.\n\nSnow-shoeing, again, is a fine and healthful recreation; it is\nthe \"ski\"-running of Norway, and is beloved and much practised by\nall Englishmen who are fortunate enough to be introduced to its\nfascinations. It is too difficult and requires too much exertion,\nhowever, for young Russia, and that indolent individual, in consequence,\nrarely dons the snow-shoe.\n\nThe Russians are a theatre-loving people, and the acting must be\nvery good to please their critical taste. Many of their theatres\nare \"imperial,\" that is, the state \"pays the piper\" if the receipts\nof the theatre so protected do not balance the expenditure. In\npaying for good artists, whether operatic or dramatic, the Russians\nare most lavish, and the Imperial Italian Opera must have been a\nsource of considerable expense to the authorities in the days of\nits state endowment.\n\nNearly every Russian is a natural musician, and cannot only sing in\ntune, but can take a part \"by ear.\" The man with the _balaleika_,\nor _garmonka_, is always sure of an admiring audience, whether in\ntown or village; and there is not a tiny hamlet in the empire but\nresolves itself, on holidays, into a pair of choral societies--one\nfor male and one for female voices--which either parade up and down\nthe village street, singing, without, of course, either conductor\nor accompaniment, or sit in rows upon the benches outside the huts,\noccupied in a similar manner.\n\nOccasionally, but very rarely, you may see a party of Russian children,\nor young men and women, playing, in the open air, at one of two\ngames. The first is a variant of \"prisoner's base\"; the other is a\nspecies of ninepins, or skittles, played with a group of uprights\nat which short, thick clubs are thrown. The Russian youth--those\nwho are energetic enough to practise the game--sometimes attain\nconsiderable proficiency with these grim little weapons, and make\nwonderful shots at a distance of some thirty yards or so.\n\nAs for the middle-class Russian sportsman, he forms a class by\nhimself, and is a very original person indeed, unless taught the\ndelights of the chase by an Englishman. In his eyes the be-all and\nend-all of a true sportsman is to purchase the orthodox equipment\nof a green-trimmed coat, Tyrolese hat, and long boots, and to pay\nhis subscription to a shooting club. He rarely discharges a gun;\nthe rascally thing kicks, he finds; and the birds _will_ fly before\nhe can point his weapon at them as they crouch in the heather at\nhis feet; of course he is not such a fool as to fire after they\nare up and away. As a rule, however, he goes no farther afield\nthan the card-table of the club-house. Why should he? He has bought\nall the clothes; and what more does a man need to be a sportsman?\nI cannot honestly affirm that I ever saw one of these good fellows\nactually fire off a gun; for whenever I have been informed that\nsuch an event is about to take place, I have always done my best\nto put two or three good miles, or a village or two, between myself\nand the Muscovitish \"sportsman.\"\n\n\n\n\n_THE KIRGHIZ AND THEIR HORSES_\n\n_FRED BURNABY_\n\nThe aspect of the country now underwent an entire change. We had\nleft all traces of civilization behind us, and were regularly upon\nthe Steppes. Not the Steppes as they are described to us in the\nsummer months, when hundreds of nomad tribes, like their forefathers\nof old, migrate from place to place, with their families, flocks,\nand herds, and relieve the dreary aspect of this vast flat expanse\nwith their picturesque _kibitkas_, or tents, while hundreds of\nhorses, grazing on the rich grass, are a source of considerable\nwealth to the Kirghiz proprietors.\n\nA large dining-table covered with naught but its white cloth is not\na cheery sight. To describe the country for the next one hundred\nmiles from Orsk, I need only extend the table-cover. For here,\nthere, and everywhere was a dazzling, glaring sheet of white, as\nseen under the influence of a mid-day sun; then gradually softening\ndown as the god of light sunk into the west, it faded into a vast,\nmelancholy-looking, colourless ocean. This was shrouded in some\nplaces from the view by filmy clouds of mist and vapour, which\nrose in the evening air and shaded the wilderness around--a picture\nof desolation which wearied, by its utter loneliness, and at the\nsame time appalled by its immensity; a circle of which the centre\nwas everywhere, and the circumference nowhere. Such were the Steppes\nas I drove through them at night-fall or in the early morn; and\nwhere, fatigued by want of sleep, my eye searched eagerly, but\nin vain, for a station.\n\nOn arriving at the halting-place, which was about twenty-seven\nversts from Orsk, Nazar came to me, and said, \"I am very sleepy; I\nhave not slept for three nights, and shall fall off if we continue\nthe journey.\"\n\nWhen I began to think of it, the poor fellow had a good deal of\nreason on his side. I could occasionally obtain a few moments'\nbroken slumber, which was out of the question for him. I felt rather\nashamed that in my selfishness I had over-driven a willing horse,\nand the fellow had shown first-class pluck when we had to pass\nthe night out on the roadside; so, saying that he ought to have\ntold me before that he wanted rest, I sent him to lie down, when,\nstretching his limbs alongside the stove, in an instant he was\nfast asleep.\n\nThe inspector was a good-tempered, fat old fellow, with red cheeks\nand an asthmatic cough. He had been a veterinary surgeon in a Cossack\nregiment, and consequently his services were much in request with\nthe people at Orsk. He informed me that land could be bought on\nthese flats for a rouble and a half a _desyatin_ (2,700 acres);\nthat a cow cost L3 2s. 6d.; a fat sheep, two years old, 12s. 6d.;\nand mutton or beef, a penny per pound. A capital horse could be\npurchased for three sovereigns, a camel for L7 10s., while flour\ncost 1s. 4d. the pood of forty pounds. These were the prices at Orsk,\nbut at times he said that provisions could be bought at a much lower\nrate, particularly if purchased from the Tartars themselves. The\nlatter had suffered a great deal of late years from the cattle-pest,\nand vaccinating the animals had been tried as an experiment, but,\naccording to my informant, with but slight success.\n\nThe Kirghiz themselves have but little faith in doctors or vets.\nIt is with great difficulty that the nomads can be persuaded to\nhave their children vaccinated; the result is, that when small-pox\nbreaks out among them it creates fearful havoc in the population.\nPutting this epidemic out of the question, the roving Tartars are\na peculiarly healthy race. The absence of medical men does not seem\nto have affected their longevity, the disease they most suffer\nfrom being ophthalmia, which is brought on by the glare of the snow\nin the winter, and by the dust and heat in the summer months.\n\nThe country now began to change its snowy aspect, and party-coloured\ngrasses of various hues dotted the Steppes around. The Kirghiz had\ntaken advantage of the more benignant weather, and hundreds of\nhorses were here and there to be seen picking up what they could\nfind. In fact, it is extraordinary how any of these animals manage\nto exist through the winter months, as the nomads hardly ever feed\nthem with corn, trusting to the slight vegetation which exists\nbeneath the snow. Occasionally the poor beasts perish by thousands,\nand a Tartar who is a rich man one week may find himself a beggar the\nnext. This comes from the frequent snow-storms, when the thermometer\nsometimes descends to from forty to fifty degrees below zero,\nFahrenheit; but more often from some slight thaw taking place for\nperhaps a few hours. This is sufficient to ruin whole districts,\nfor the ground becomes covered with an impenetrable coating of\nice, and the horses simply die of starvation, not being able to\nkick away the frozen substance as they do the snow from the grass\nbeneath their hoofs. No horses which I have ever seen are so hardy\nas these little animals, which are indigenous to the Kirghiz Steppes;\nperhaps for the same reason that the Spartans of old excelled all\nother nations in physical strength, but with this difference, that\nnature doles out to the weakly colts the same fate which the Spartan\nparents apportioned to their sickly offspring.\n\nThe Kirghiz never clothe their horses, even in the coldest winter.\nThey do not even take the trouble to water them, the snow eaten\nby the animals supplying this want. Towards the end of the winter\nmonths the ribs of the poor beasts almost come through their sides;\nbut once the snow disappears and the rich vegetation which replaces\nit in the early spring comes up, the animals gain flesh and strength,\nand are capable of performing marches which many people in this\ncountry would deem impossible, a hundred-mile ride not being at all\nan uncommon occurrence in Tartary. Kirghiz horses are not generally\nwell shaped, and cannot gallop very fast, but they can traverse\nenormous distances without water, forage, or halting. When the\nnatives wish to perform any very long journey they generally employ\ntwo horses: on one they carry a little water in a skin, and some\ncorn, while they ride the other, changing from time to time, to\nease the animals.\n\nIt is said that a Kirghiz chief once galloped with a Cossack escort\n(on two horses) 200 miles in twenty-four hours, the path extending\nfor a considerable distance over a mountainous and rocky district.\nThe animals, however, soon recovered from the effects of the journey,\nalthough they were a little lame for the first few days.\n\nAn extraordinary march was made by Count Borkh to the Sam, in May,\n1870. The object of his expedition was to explore the routes across\nthe Ust Urt, and if possible to capture some Kirghiz _auls_ (villages),\nwhich were the headquarters of some marauding bands from the town\nof Kungrad. The Russian officer determined to cross the northern\nTchink, and by a forced march to surprise the tribes which nomadized\non the Sam. Up to that time only small Cossack detachments had\never succeeded in penetrating to this locality. To explain the\ndifficulties to be overcome, it must be observed that the Ust Urt\nplateau is bounded on all sides by a scarped cliff, known by the\nname of the Tchink. It is very steep, attaining in some places an\nelevation of from 400 to 600 feet, and the tracks down its rugged\nsides are blocked up by enormous rocks and loose stones. Count Borkh\nresolved to march as lightly equipped as possible, and without\nbaggage, as he wished to avoid meeting any parties of the nomad tribes\non his road. His men carried three days' rations on their saddles,\nwhile the artillery took only as many rounds as the limber-box\nwould contain. The expedition was made up of 150 Orenburg Cossacks,\nsixty mounted riflemen, and a gun, which was taken more by way of\nexperiment than for any other reason, the authorities being anxious\nto know if artillery could be transported in that direction.\n\nThe detachment reached Ak-Tiube in six days without _contretemps_,\nafter a march of 333 miles, and with the loss of only two lame\nhorses.\n\n\n\n\n_WINTER IN MOSCOW_\n\n_H. SUTHERLAND EDWARDS_\n\nRussia in the summer is no more like Russia in the winter than a\ncamp in time of peace is like a camp in the presence of the enemy.\nMoreover, snow is one of the chief natural productions of the country;\nand without it Russia is as uninteresting as an orchard without fruit.\nOne always thinks of Russia in connection with its frosts, and of\nits frosts in connection with such great events as the campaign of\n1812, or the winter of 1854 in the Crimea. Accordingly, a foreigner\nin Russia naturally looks forward to the winter with much interest,\nmingled perhaps with a certain amount of awe. He waits for it,\nin fact, as a man waits for a thief, expecting the visitor with\na certain kind of apprehension, and not without a due provision\nof life-preservers in the shape of goloshes, seven-leagued boots,\nscarves, fur coats, etc.\n\nThe house I lived in was in the middle of Moscow; and with the\nexception of the stoves, the internal arrangement seemed like that\nof most other dwellings in Europe. The Russian stoves, however, are,\nin fact, thick hollow party-walls, built of brick, and sometimes\nseparating, or connecting, as many as three or four rooms, and\nheating them all from one common centre. The outer sides of these\nlofty intramural furnaces are usually faced with a kind of white\nporcelain, though in some houses they are papered like the rest\nof the wall, so that the presence of the stove is only known in\nsummer by two or three apertures like port-holes, which have been\nmade for the purpose of admitting the hot air, and which, when\nthere is no heat within, are closed with round metal covers like\nthe tops of canisters. Sometimes, especially in country houses,\nthe stove, or _peitchka_ as it is called, is not only a wall, but\na wall which, towards the bottom, projects so as to form a kind\nof dresser or sofa, and which the lazier of the inmates use not\ninfrequently in the latter capacity. In the huts the _peitchka_\nis almost invariably of this form; and the peasants not only lie\nand sleep upon it as a matter of course, but even get inside and\nuse it as a bath. Not that they fill their stoves with water--that\nwould be rather difficult. But the Russian bath is merely a room\npaved with stone slabs and heated like an oven, in which the bather\nstands to be rubbed and lathered, and to have buckets of water poured\nover him, or thrown at him, by naked attendants; and accordingly a\nstove makes an excellent bath on a small scale. As a general rule,\nevery row of huts has one or more baths attached to it, which the\ninhabitants support by subscription; but when this is not the case,\nthe peasant, after carefully raking out the ashes, creeps into\nthe hot _peitchka_, and is soon bathed in his own perspiration.\nHe would infallibly be baked alive but for the pailfuls of water\nwith which he soon begins to cool his heated skin. Thanks, however,\nto this precaution, he issues from the fiery furnace uninjured,\nand, it is to be hoped, benefited.\n\n[Illustration: THE RED SQUARE, MOSCOW.]\n\nWhen a stove is being heated, the port-holes are kept carefully\nshut, to prevent the egress of carbonic-acid gas. But after the\nwood has become thoroughly charred, and every vestige of flame\nhas disappeared, the chimney is closed on a level with the garret\nfloor, the covers are removed from the apertures in the side of\nthe stove, and the hot air is allowed to penetrate freely into\nthe room; which, if enough wood has been put into the _peitchka_,\nand the lid of the chimney closes hermetically, will, by this one\nfire, be kept warm for twelve or fourteen hours.\n\nOccasionally it happens that the port-holes are opened while there\nstill flickers a little blue flame above the whitening embers.\nIn this case there is death in the stove. The carbonic-acid gas,\nwhich is still proceeding from the burning charcoal, enters the\nroom, and produces asphyxia, or at all events some of its symptoms.\nIf you have not time, or if you are already too weak, to open the\ndoor when you find yourself attacked by _ougar_ (as the Russians\ncall this gas), you had better throw the first thing you have at\nhand through the window; and the cold air, rushing rapidly into the\nroom, will save you. A foreigner unaccustomed to the hot apartments\nof Russia will scarcely perceive the presence of _ougar_ until he\nis already seriously affected by it; and in this manner the son\nof the Persian ambassador lost his life, some years since, in one\nof the principal hotels of Moscow. A native, however, if the stove\nshould chance to be \"covered\" before the wood is thoroughly charred,\nwill detect the presence of the fatal gas almost instantaneously;\nand having done so, the best remedy he can adopt for the headache\nand sickness, which even then will inevitably follow, is to rush\ninto the open air, and cool his temples by copious applications of\nsnow. Persons who are almost insensible from the effect of _ougar_\nhave to be carried out and rolled in the snow,--a process which\nspeedily restores them to their natural condition.\n\nOne morning there was a fall of snow; and the cream was brought\nin from the country in jars wrapped carefully round with matting\nto prevent its freezing. Hundreds of cabbages and thousands of\npotatoes, similarly protected, were purchased and stowed away.\nFurlongs of wood (in Russia wood is sold by the foot), were laid\nup in the courtyard; an inspector of stoves arrived to see that\nevery _peitchka_ was in proper working order; and an examiner and\nfitter-in of windows was summoned to adjust the usual extra sash.\nAt last the windows had been made fast, each pane being at the\nsame time reputtied into its frame. On the window-sill, in the\nspace between the outer and inner panes, was something resembling\na long deep line of snow, which was, however, merely a mass of\ncotton-wool placed there as an additional protection against the\nexternal air. Indeed, the winds of the Russian winter have such\npowers of penetration that, in a room guarded by _triple_ windows,\nbesides shutters closed with the greatest exactness, I have seen\nthe curtains slightly agitated when the howling outside was somewhat\nlouder than usual. \"The wind,\" says Gregorovitch in his _Winter's\nTale_, \"howls like a dog; and like a dog will bite the feet and calves\nof those who have not duly provided themselves with fur-goloshes\nand doubly-thick pantaloons.\" Such a wind must not be suffered to\nintrude into any house intended to be habitable.\n\nBesides the cotton-wool, which is a special provision against draughts,\nthe space between the two sashes is usually adorned with artificial\nflowers; indeed, the fondness of the Russians for flowers and green\nleaves during the winter is remarkable. The corridors are converted\ninto greenhouses, by means of trellis-work covered with creepers. The\nwindows of many of the apartments are encircled by evergreens, and\nin the drawing-rooms, flower-stands form the principal ornaments. At\nthe same time enormous sums are paid for bouquets from the hot-houses\nwhich abound in both the capitals. Doubtless the long winters have\nsome share in the production of this passion for flowers and green\nplants, just as love of country is increased by exile, and love\nof liberty by imprisonment.\n\nThere are generally at least two heavy snow-storms by way of warning\nbefore winter fairly commences its reign. The first fall of snow\nthaws perhaps a few days afterwards, the second in about a week,\nthe third in five months. If a lady drops her bracelet or brooch\nin the street during the period of this third fall, she need not\ntrouble herself to put out handbills offering a reward for its\ndiscovery, at all events not before the spring; for it will be\npreserved in its hiding-place, as well as ice can preserve it,\nuntil about the middle of April, when, if the amount of the reward\nbe greater than the value of the article lost, it will in all\nprobability be restored to her. The Russians put on their furs at\nthe first signs of winter, and the sledges make their appearance\nin the streets as soon as the snow is an inch or two thick. Of\ncourse at such a time a sledge is far from possessing any advantage\nover a carriage on wheels; but the Russians welcome their appearance\nwith so much enthusiasm, that the first sledge-drivers are sure\nof excellent receipts for several days. The _droshkies_ disappear\none by one with the black mud of autumn; and by the time the gilt\ncupolas of the churches, and the red and green roofs of the houses,\nhave been made whiter than their own walls, the city swarms with\nsledges. It is not, however, until near Christmas, when the \"frost\nof St. Nicholas\" sets in, that they are seen in all their glory.\nThe earlier frosts of October and November mayor may not be attended\nto without any very dangerous results ensuing; but when the frigid\nSt. Nicholas makes his appearance,--staying the most rapid currents,\nforming bridges over the broadest rivers, and converting seas into\ndeserts of ice,--then a blast from his breath, if not properly\nguarded against, may prove fatal.\n\nIt has been said that it is not until the _Nikolskoi Maros_, or\nFrost of St. Nicholas, that the sledges fly through the streets in\nall their glory. By that time the rich \"boyars\"[1] (as foreigners\npersist in styling the Russian proprietors of the present day),\nhave arrived from their estates, and the poor peasants, who have\nlong ceased to till the ground, and have not thrashed all the corn,\nbegin to come in from theirs; for, humble and dependent as he may\nbe, each peasant has nevertheless his own patch of land. For the\nformer are the elegant sledges of polished nut-wood, with rugs\nof soft, thick fur to protect the legs of the occupants; whose\ndrivers, in their green caftans fastened round the waist with red\nsashes, and in their square thickly-wadded caps of crimson velvet,\nlike sofa-cushions, urge on the prodigiously fast trotting horses,\nat the same time throwing themselves back in their seats with\noutstretched arms and tightened reins, as though the animals were\nmadly endeavouring to escape from their control. The latter bring\nwith them certain strongly-made wooden boxes, with a seat at the\nback for two passengers and a perch in front for a driver. These\nboxes are put upon rails, and called sledges. The bottom of each\nbox (or sledge), is plentifully strewn with hay, which after a\nfew days becomes converted, by means of snow and dirty goloshes,\ninto something very like manure. The driver is immediately in front\nof you, with his brass badge hanging on his back like the label\non a box of sardines. He wears a sheepskin; but it is notorious\nthat after ten years' wear the sheepskin loses its odour, besides\nwhich it is winter, so that your sense of smell has really nothing\nto fear. The one thing necessary is to keep your legs to yourself,\nor at all events not to obtrude them beneath the perch of the driver,\nor you will run the chance of having your foot crushed by that\ngentleman's heel. Sometimes the horse is fresh from the plough,\nand requires a most vigorous application of the driver's thong\nto induce him to quit his accustomed pace; but for the most part\nthe animals are willing enough, and as rapid as their masters are\nskilful. The driver is generally much attached to his horse, whom\nhe affectionately styles his \"dove\" or his \"pigeon,\" assuring him\nthat although the ground is covered with snow, there is still grass\nin the stable for his _galoupchik_--as the favourite bird is called,\netc., etc.\n\n[Footnote 1: It would be equally correct to speak of the English\nnobility of the present day as \"the barons.\"]\n\nAs for the real pigeons and doves, they are to be found everywhere,--on\nthe belfries of the churches, in the courtyards of the houses, in\nthe streets blocking up the pavement, and above all, beneath the\nprojecting edges of the roofs, where you may see them clustering\nin long deep lines like black cornices.\n\nAt home we associate snow with darkness and gloom; but, when once\nthe snow has fallen, the sky of Moscow is as bright and as blue as\nthat of Italy; the atmosphere is clear and pure; the sun shines for\nseveral hours in the day with a brightness from which the reflection\nof the snow becomes perfectly dazzling; and if the frost be intense,\nthere is not a breath of wind. The breath that really does attract\nyour notice is that of the pedestrians, who appear to be blowing\nforth columns of smoke or steam into the rarefied atmosphere, and\nwho look like so many walking chimneys or human locomotives. And\nif breath looks like smoke, smoke itself looks almost solid. Rise\nearly, when the fires are being lighted which are to heat the stoves\nthrough the entire day, and if the thermometer outside your window\nmarks more than 15 deg., you will see the grey columns rising heavily into\nthe air, until at a certain height the smoke remains stationary, and\nhangs in clouds above the houses. Looking from some great elevation,\nsuch as the tower of Ivan Veliki in the Kremlin, you see these\nclouds beneath you, agitated like waves, and forming a kind of\nnebulous sea, which is, however, soon taken up by the surrounding\natmosphere.\n\nIt is astonishing how much cold one can support when the sky is\nbright and the sun shining; certainly ten or fifteen degrees more\nby Reaumur's thermometer, than when the day is dark and gloomy.\nAnd the effect is the same on all. On one of these fine frosty\ndays there is unwonted cheerfulness in the look, unwonted energy\nin the movements of everyone you meet. If there were the slightest\nwind with so keen a temperature, you would feel, every time it grazed\nyour face, as if you were being shaved with a blunt razor,--for to\nbe cut with a sharp one is comparatively nothing. But the air is\ncalm; and as the day exhilarates you generally, it makes you walk\nmore briskly than you are in the habit of doing in your _shouba_\nof cloth, wadding, and fur; and the result is, you are so warm and\nso surrounded by sunshine, that, but for seeing the cold, you might\nfancy yourself on the shores of the Mediterranean instead of on the\nbanks of the Moskva, which is now a long, shiny, serpent-like path\nof ice. In London, on a damp, foggy, sunless winter's day, when\nthe thermometer is not quite down to freezing-point, the system\nis so depressed by the atmosphere and the cheerless aspect of the\nstreets, that you feel the cold more acutely than you would do on\na sunshiny morning in Moscow with ten degrees of frost. In St.\nPetersburg, where the winter sun is, \"as in northern climes, but\ndimly bright,\" and where the city is frequently enveloped in a\nmist (which is, however, ethereal vapour compared to the opaque\nfogs of London), the cold is, on the same principle, more severely\nfelt than in Moscow. Nevertheless, in St. Petersburg people go\nabout far more lightly clad than in the more southern towns of\nthe empire,--for St. Petersburg is half a foreign city, and the\nnumerous pedestrians have found it necessary to reject the ponderous\n_shouba_ for a long wadded paletot with a fur-collar. The real\nRussian _shouba_ is undoubtedly very warm; for it enables the Moscow\nmerchant to go upon 'Change, which in the old capital, during the\ncoldest weather, is held in the open air.\n\nIn considering the advantages and disadvantages of a Russian winter,\none should not forget the question of rain. It is evident, then,\nthat where there is frost there can be no rain; and accordingly,\nfor nearly six months in the year, you can dispense altogether\nwith that most unpleasant encumbrance, the umbrella. For it must\nbe remembered that in Russia the snow does not fall in the soft\nfeathery flakes to which we are accustomed in the more temperate\nlatitudes. It comes down in showers of microscopic darts, which,\ninstead of intercepting the light of the sun, like the arrows of\nXerxes' army, glitter and sparkle in the rays as they reflect them\nin every direction. The minute crystals, or rather crystalline\nfragments, can be at once shaken from the collars of fur, on the\npoints of which they hang like needles, but above all like Epsom\nsalts; and on the cloth of the men's _shoubas_ and the satin of\nthe women's cloaks they have scarcely any hold.\n\nThe most pleasant time of the whole winter is during the moonlight\nnights, when the wind is still and the snow deep on the ground.\nIn the streets the sparkling _trottoir_, which appears literally\npaved with diamonds, is as hard as the agate floor of the Cathedral\nof the Annunciation in the Kremlin. In the country, where alone you\ncan enjoy the night in all its beauty, the frozen surface crunches,\nbut scarcely sinks, beneath the sledge, as your _troika_ tears\nalong the road as fast as the centre horse can trot and the two\noutsiders gallop. For it is a peculiarity of the _troika_ that\nthe three horses that constitute it are harnessed abreast; and\nthat while the one in the shafts, whose head is upheld by a bow,\nwith a little bell suspended from the top, is trained to trot,\nand never to leave that pace, however fast he may be driven, the\ntwo who are harnessed outside must gallop, even if they gallop\nbut six miles an hour; though it is far more likely that they will\nbe called upon to do twelve. Lastly, the _troika_ must present a\nfan-like front; to produce which the driver tightens the outside\nreins till the heads of the outriggers stand out at an angle of\nforty or fifty degrees from that of the horse in the shafts. At\nthe same time the centre horse trots with his head high in the\nair, while the two who have their existences devoted to galloping\nhave their noses depressed towards the ground, like bulls running\nat a dog.\n\nThere may be enough moonlight to read by when the moon itself is\nobscured by clouds. But if it shines directly on the white ermine-like\nsnow, which covers the vast plains like an interminable carpet, the\natmosphere becomes full of light, and the night in its brightness,\nits solitude, and its silence, broken only by the bells of some\ndistant team, reminds you of the calmness of an unusually quiet\nand beautiful day. As you turn away from the main road towards\nthe woods, you pass groups of tall slender birch-trees, with their\nwhite silvery bark, and their delicate thread-like fibres hanging\nin frozen showers from the ends of the branches, and clothing the\nbirch with a kind of icy foliage, while the other trees remain\nbare and ragged. The birch is eminently a winter tree, and its\ntresses of fibres, whether petrified and covered with crystal by\nthe frost, or waving freely in the breeze which has stripped them\nof their snow, are equally ornamental. The ground is strewed with\nthe shadows of the trees, traced with exquisite fineness on the\nwhite snow, from which these lunar photographs stand forth with\nwonderful distinctness. To drive out with an indefinite number of\n_troikas_ to some village in the environs, or to the first station\non one of the Government roads, is a common mode of spending a\nfine winter's night, and one which is equally popular in Moscow\nand St. Petersburg. These excursions, which always partake more\nor less of the nature of a picnic, form one of the chief pleasures\nof the cold season. Of course such expeditions also take place\nduring the day, but, whatever the hour of the departure, if there\nhappen to be a moon that night, the return is sure not to take\nplace before it has made its appearance.\n\n\n\n\n_A JOURNEY BY SLEIGH_\n\n_FRED BURNABY_\n\n\"Bring out another sleigh,\" said my friend. \"How the wind cuts!\ndoes it not?\" he continued, as the breeze, whistling against our\nbodies, made itself felt in spite of all the precautions we had\ntaken. The vehicle now brought was broader and more commodious than\nthe previous one, which, somewhat in the shape of a coffin, seemed\nespecially designed so as to torture the occupants, particularly if,\nlike my companion and self, they should happen to be endowed by\nnature with that curse during a sleigh journey--however desirable\nappendages they may be when in a crowd--long legs. Three horses\nabreast, their coats white with pendent icicles and hoar-frost,\nwere harnessed to the sleigh; the centre animal was in the shafts\nand had his head fastened to a huge wooden head-collar, bright with\nvarious colors. From the summit of the head-collar was suspended\na bell, while the two outside horses were harnessed by cord traces\nto splinter-bars attached to the sides of the sleigh. The object\nof all this is to make the animal in the middle trot at a brisk\npace, while his two companions gallop, their necks arched round in\na direction opposite to the horse in the centre, this poor beast's\nhead being tightly reined up to the head-collar.\n\nA well-turned-out _troika_ with three really good horses, which get\nover the ground at the rate of twelve miles an hour, is a pretty\nsight to witness, particularly if the team has been properly trained,\nand the outside animals never attempt to break into a trot, while\nthe one in the shafts steps forward with high action; but the\nconstrained position in which the horses are kept must be highly\nuncomfortable to them, and one not calculated to enable a driver\nto get as much pace out of his animals as they could give him if\nharnessed in another manner.\n\nOff we went at a brisk pace, the bell dangling from our horse's\nhead-collar, and jingling merrily at every stride of the team.\n\nThe sun rose high in the heavens: it was a bright and glorious\nmorning in spite of the intense cold, and the amount of oxygen we\ninhaled was enough to elevate the spirits of the most dyspeptic of\nmankind. Presently, after descending a slight declivity, our Jehu\nturned sharply to the right; then came a scramble and a succession of\njolts and jerks as we slid down a steep bank, and we found ourselves\non what appeared to be a broad high-road. Here the sight of many\nmasts and shipping which, bound in by the fetters of a relentless\nwinter, would remain imbedded in the ice till the ensuing spring,\nshowed me that we were on the Volga. It was an animated spectacle,\nthis frozen highway, thronged with peasants who strode beside their\nsledges, which were bringing cotton and other goods from Orenburg\nto the railway. Now a smart _troika_ would dash by us, its driver\nshouting as he passed, when our Jehu, stimulating his steeds by\nloud cries and frequent applications of the whip, would vainly\nstrive to overtake his brother coachman. Old and young alike seemed\nlike octogenarians, their short thick beards and mustaches being\nwhite as hoar-frost from the congealed breath. According to all\naccounts the river had not been long frozen, and till very recently\nsteamers laden with corn from Southern Russia had plied between\nSizeran and Samara. The price of corn is here forty copecks the\npood of forty pounds, while the same quantity at Samara could be\npurchased for eighteen copecks. An iron bridge was being constructed\na little farther down the Volga. Here the railroad was to pass,\nand it was said that in two years' time there would be railway\ncommunication, not only between Samara and the capital, but even\nas far as Orenburg.\n\nPresently the scenery became very picturesque as we raced over the\nglistening surface, which flashed like a burnished cuirass beneath\nthe rays of the rising sun. Now we approach a spot where seemingly\nthe waters from some violent blast or other had been in a state\nof foam and commotion, when a stern frost transformed them into a\nsolid mass. Pillars and blocks of the shining and hardened element\nwere seen modelled into a thousand quaint and grotesque patterns.\nHere a fountain, perfectly formed with Ionic and Doric columns,\nwas reflecting a thousand prismatic hues from the diamond-like\nstalactites which had attached themselves to its crest. There a\nhuge obelisk, which, if of stone, might have come from ancient\nThebes, lay half buried beneath a pile of fleecy snow. Farther\non we came to what might have been a Roman temple or vast hall in\nthe palace of a Caesar, where many half-hidden pillars and monuments\nerected their tapering summits above the piles of the _debris_. The\nwind had done in that northern latitude what has been performed\nby some violent pre-adamite agency in the Berber desert. Take away\nthe ebon blackness of the stony masses which have been there cast\nforth from the bowels of the earth, and replace them on a smaller\nscale by the crystal forms I have faintly attempted to describe,\nand the resemblance would be striking.\n\nNow we came to some fishing-huts, which were constructed on the\nfrozen river, the traffic in the finny tribe which takes place in\nthis part of Russia being very great, the Volga producing the sterlet\n(a fish unknown in other rivers of Europe), in large quantities. I\nhave often eaten them, but must say I could never appreciate this\nso-called delicacy. The bones are of a very glutinous nature, and\ncan be easily masticated, while the taste of a sterlet is something\nbetween that of a barbel and a perch, the muddy flavour of the\nformer predominating. However, they are an expensive luxury, as,\nto be perfection for the table, they should be taken out of the\nwater alive and put at once into the cooking-pot. The distance to\nSt. Petersburg from the Volga is considerable, and a good-sized\nfish will often cost from thirty to forty roubles, and sometimes\neven a great deal more.\n\nWe were now gradually nearing our first halting-place, where it\nwas arranged that we should change horses. This was a farm-house\nknown by the name of Nijnege Pegersky Hootor, twenty-five versts\ndistant from Sizeran. Some men were engaged in winnowing corn in a\nyard hard by the dwelling; and the system they employed to separate\nthe husks from the grain probably dates from before the flood,\nfor, throwing the corn high up into the air with a shovel, they\nlet the wind blow away the husks, and the grain descended on to a\ncarpet set to catch it in the fall. It was then considered to be\nsufficiently winnowed, and fit to be sent to the mill. The farm-house\nwas fairly clean, and, for a wonder, there were no live animals\ninside the dwelling. It is no uncommon thing in farm-houses in\nRussia to find a calf domesticated in the sitting-room of the family,\nand this more particularly during the winter months. But here the\ngood housewife permitted no such intruders, and the boards were\nclean and white, thus showing that a certain amount of scrubbing\nwas the custom.\n\nThe habitation, which was of a square shape, and entirely made of\nwood, contained two good-sized but low rooms, a large stove made\nof dried clay being so arranged as to warm both the apartments.\nA heavy wooden door on the outside of the building gave access to\na small portico, at the other end of which there was the customary\n_obraz_, or image, which is to be found in almost every house in\nRussia. These _obrazye_ are made of different patterns, but generally\ntake the form of a picture of saints or of the Trinity. They are\nexecuted in silver-gilt or brass relief, and adorned with tawdry\nfringe or other gewgaws. The repeated bows and crosses made by the\npeasantry before these idols is very surprising to an Englishman,\nwho may have been told that there is little difference between the\nGreek religion and his own; but if this is the case, the sooner\nthe second commandment is omitted from our service, the better.\nIt may be said that the Russian peasantry only look upon these\nimages as symbols, and that in reality they are praying to the\nliving God. Let any one who indulges in this delusion travel in\nRussia and talk to the inhabitants with reference to the _obrazye_,\nor go to Kief at the time of a pilgrimage to the mummified saints\nin that sanctuary, and I think he will then say that no country\nin the world is so imbued with superstitious credences as Russia.\n\nAbove the stove, which was about five feet high, a platform of\nboards had been erected at a distance of about three feet from the\nceiling. This was the sleeping resort of the family, and occasionally\nused for drying clothes during the day. The Russian _moujik_ likes\nthis platform more than any other part of the habitation, and his\ngreat delight is to lie there and perspire profusely, after which\nhe finds himself the better able to resist the cold of the elements\noutside. The farm-house in which I now found myself had cost in\nbuilding two hundred roubles, about twenty-six pounds of our money,\nand her home was a source of pride to the good housewife, who could\nread and write, an accomplishment not often possessed by the women\nof this class in the province of Russia.\n\nBy this time our former team had been replaced by three fresh horses,\nand the driver who was to accompany us had nearly finished making\nhis own preparations for the sleigh journey. Several long bands\nof cloth, first carefully warmed at the stove, were successively\nwound round his feet, and then, having put on a pair of thick boots\nand stuffed some hay into a pair of much larger dimensions, he\ndrew the latter on as well, when, with a thick sheep-skin coat,\ncap, and _vashlik_, he declared that he was ready to start.\n\nThe cold was very intense when we quitted the threshold, and the\nthermometer had fallen several degrees during the last half-hour;\nthe wind had also increased, and it howled and whistled against the\neaves of the farm-house, bearing millions of minute snowy flakes\nbefore it in its course. Presently the sound of a little stamping on\nthe bottom of the sleigh announced to me that the cold had penetrated\nto my companion's feet, and that he was endeavouring to keep up the\ncirculation.\n\nVery soon that so-called \"pins-and-needles\" sensation, recalling\nsome snow-balling episodes of my boyish days, began once more to make\nitself felt, and I found myself commencing a sort of double-shuffle\nagainst the boards of the vehicle. The snow was falling in thick\nflakes, and with great difficulty our driver could keep the track,\nhis jaded horses sinking sometimes up to the traces in the rapidly\nforming drifts, and floundering heavily along the now thoroughly\nhidden road. The cracks of his whip sounded like pistol-shots against\ntheir jaded flanks, and volumes of invectives issued from his lips.\n\n\"Oh, sons of animals!\"--[whack].\n\n\"Oh, spoiled one!\"--[whack]. This to a brute which looked as if\nhe never had eaten a good feed of corn in his life. \"Oh, woolly\nones!\" [whack! whack! whack!].\n\n\"O Lord God!\" This as we were all upset into a snowdrift, the sleigh\nbeing three parts overturned, and our Jehu precipitated in the\nopposite direction.\n\n\"How far are we from the next halting-place?\" suddenly inquired\nmy companion, with an ejaculation which showed that even his good\ntemper had given way under the cold and our situation.\n\n\"Only four versts, one of noble birth,\" replied the struggling Jehu,\nwho was busily engaged endeavouring to right the half-overturned\nsleigh. A Russian verst about night-fall, and under such conditions\nas I have endeavoured to point out to the reader, is an unknown\nquantity. A Scotch mile and a bit, an Irish league, a Spanish _legua_,\nor the German _stunde_, are at all times calculated to call forth\nthe wrath of the traveller, but in no way equal to the first-named\ndivision of distance. For the verst is barely two-thirds of an\nEnglish mile, and when, after driving yet for an hour, we were\ntold that there were still two versts more before we could arrive\nat our halting-place, it began fully to dawn upon my friend that\neither our driver's knowledge of distance, or otherwise his veracity,\nwas at fault.\n\nAt last we reached a long, struggling village, formed of houses\nconstructed much in the same way as that previously described,\nwhen our horses stopped before a detached cottage. The proprietor\ncame out to meet us at the threshold. \"_Samovar, samovar!_\" (urn),\nsaid my companion. \"Quick, quick! _samovar!_\" and hurrying by him,\nand hastily throwing off our furs, we endeavoured to regain our\nlost circulation beside the walls of a well-heated stove.\n\nThe Russian peasants are not ignorant of the good old maxim that\nthe early bird gets the worm, and the few hours' daylight they\nenjoy during the winter months makes it doubly necessary for them\nto observe this precept. We were all up a good hour before sunrise,\nmy companion making the tea, while our driver was harnessing the\nhorses, but this time not three abreast, for the road was bad and\nnarrow; so we determined to have two small sleighs with a pair of\nhorses to each, and put our luggage in one vehicle while we travelled\nin the other.\n\nOff we went, a motley crew. First, the unwashed peddler who had\nwished to be my companion's bedfellow the night before; then our\nluggage sleigh; and, finally, my friend and self, who brought up\nthe rear, with a careful eye upon our effects, as the people in\nthat part of the country were said to have some difficulty in\ndistinguishing between _meum_ and _tuum_.\n\nThe sun was bright and glorious, and in no part of the world hitherto\nvisited have I ever seen aurora in such magnificence. First, a pale\nblue streak, gradually extending over the whole of the eastern\nhorizon, arose like a wall barring the unknown beyond; then, suddenly\nchanging colour until the summit was like lapis-lazuli, and its\nbase a sheet of purple waves of grey and crystal, radiating from\nthe darker hues, relieved the eye, appalled by the vastness of\nthe barrier; the purple foundations were in turn upheaved by a\nsea of fire, which dazzled the eye with its glowing brilliancy,\nand the wall of colours floating in space broke up into castles,\nbattlements, and towers, which were wafted by the breeze far away\nfrom our view. The sea of flame meanwhile had lighted up the whole\nhorizon; the eye quailed beneath the glare. The snowy carpet at\nour feet reflected like a camera the wonderful panorama overhead.\nFlakes of light in rapid succession bound earth to sky, until the\nglobe of sparkling light arising from the depths of this ocean of\nflame dimmed into insignificance the surroundings of the picture.\n\nPresently a sudden check and exclamation of our Jehu told us that\nthe harness had given way, and a conversation, freely interlarded\nwith epithets exchanged between the driver and the peddler, showed\nthat there was decidedly a difference of opinion between them. It\nappeared that the man of commerce was the only one of the party\nwho knew the road, and having discovered this fact, he determined\nto make use of his knowledge by refusing to show the way unless\nthe proprietor of the horses who drove the vehicle containing our\nluggage would abate a little from the price he had demanded for\nthe hire of the horse in the peddler's sleigh. \"A bargain is a\nbargain!\" cried our driver, wishing to curry favour with his master,\nnow a few yards behind him. \"A bargain is a bargain. Oh, thou son\nof an animal, drive on!\" \"It is very cold,\" muttered my companion.\n\"For the sake of God,\" he shouted, \"go on!\" But neither the allusion\nto the peddler's parentage nor the invocation of the Deity had\nthe slightest effect upon the fellow's mercenary soul.\n\n\"I am warm, and well wrapped up,\" he said; \"it is all the same to\nme if we wait here one hour or ten;\" and with the most provoking\nindifference he commenced to smoke, not even the manner in which\nthe other drivers aspersed the reputation of his mother appearing\nto have the smallest effect. At last the proprietor, seeing it\nwas useless holding out any longer, agreed to abate somewhat from\nthe hire of the horse, and once more the journey continued over\na break-neck country, though at anything but a break-neck pace,\nuntil we reached the station--a farm-hause--eighteen versts from\nour sleeping quarters, and, as we were informed, forty-five from\nSamara.\n\n\n\n\n_RUSSIAN ARCHITECTURE_\n\n_EUGENE EMMANUEL VIOLLET-LE-DUC_\n\nThe Russian people, composed of diverse elements in which the Sclav\npredominated at the moment when that vast empire began to be established\nunder great princes and amid incessant struggle, was in too close\ncommunication with Byzantium not to have been to a certain extent\nin submission to Byzantine art; but nevertheless each of these\nelements was in possession of certain notions of art which we must\nnot neglect.\n\nThe Sclavs, like the Varangians, knew scarcely anything but construction\nby wood, but at a comparatively early period they had already carried\nthe art of carpentry very far, and in many different channels.\n\nThe Sclavs (as extant traditions show), proceeded by piles in their\nwooden buildings: and the Scandinavians resorted to joining and\ndove-tailing. Thus, the latter early attained great skill in naval\nconstruction.\n\nThese two methods of construction in wood have persisted till the\npresent day, which fact is easily established on examining the\nrural dwellings of Russia.\n\nThe Sclavs, moreover, as well as the Varangians, possessed certain\nart expressions which denote an Asiatic origin.\n\nEven in Byzantine art, so far as ornamentation is concerned, there\nwere origins that were evidently common to those that are felt in\nthe Sclav arts; and these original elements are again found in\nCentral Asia.\n\nThat ornamentation, composed of interlacings and conventional floral\nmotives, dry and metallic, which was adopted at Byzantium, where it\nvery soon destroyed the last vestiges of Roman art, also appears\non the most ancient monuments of the Sclavs, and even on objects\nthat in France are attributed to the Merovingians, that is to say,\nthe Franks who came from the shores of the Baltic.\n\nThus, Russia was to take her arts, as regards ornamentation, from\nbranches that are far apart from one another in time and distance,\nbut which sprang from a common trunk.\n\nAbout the Tenth Century, the Russian buildings were of wood; all\ntexts agree on this point, and consequently these constructions\ncould have no part in Byzantine architecture, which does not recall\neven the traditions of carpentry work.\n\nTowards the Eleventh Century, when the Russians began to build\nreligious edifices of masonry, the structure of which, particularly\nin the vaulting, is inspired by Byzantine art, they adapted to this\nstructure, together with a sensibly modified Byzantine garb, an\nornamentation, derived from Asiatic, Sclavic and Turanian elements\nin variable, that is to say local, proportions.\n\n[Illustration: CHURCH OF THE REDEMER, MOSCOW.]\n\nFor at least three centuries, Byzantium was the great school sought\nby the Latin, Visigothic and Germanic nations of Europe for art\nteaching, and it was not till the end of the Twelfth Century that\nthe French broke away from these traditions. Their example was\nfollowed in Italy, England and Germany more or less successfully.\nRussia held aloof from these attempts: she was too closely identified\nwith Byzantine art to try any other course; it may be said that she\nwas the guardian of that art, and was to carry on its traditions\nby mingling with it elements due to the Asiatic Sclavic genius.\n\nAll the dominant elements in Russian art, whether they come from\nthe north or south, belong to Asia. Iranians or Persians, Indians,\nTuranians, or Mongols have furnished tribute, though in unequal\nquantities, to this art.\n\nIt may also be said that if Russia has borrowed much from Byzantium,\nthe art elements among her population have not been without influence\nupon the formation of Byzantine art. We think even that the influence\nof Byzantine upon Russian art has been greatly exaggerated, and\nthat Persia may have had at least as much effect upon the course\nof art in Russia.\n\nHowever, we must except everything pertaining to images. But even\nhere Asiatic influence makes itself felt, not in the form, but in\nthe preservation of the types. The imagery of the Greek school\nhas never gone out of favour in Russia, and it still holds its\nplace there in the representation of holy personages. In this,\nRussia shows her attachment to tradition, as all the Asiatic races\ndo, and shows how little her intimate sentiments have suffered\nmodification.\n\nThe Russians avoided the influence of the Iconoclasts which was\nfelt so violently in the Western Empire in the Eighth Century, and\nlater still in various parts of Western Europe; among the Vaudois\nand Albigenses in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Century, the Hussites\nin the Fifteenth, and the Reformers in the Sixteenth.\n\nBut if Russian architecture and ornamentation show marked originality,\nthis does not seem to be the case with the representation of holy\npersonages. These remain Byzantine. It was the school of Mount\nAthos that supplied Russia with the types, as it did to almost all\nthe Greek Christians of the Orient.\n\nIn these representations, we have difficulty in finding a tendency\ntowards realism, which, morever, does not appear till quite late,\nand does not come to full bloom.\n\nIn Russian art, it is possible to find a few Scandinavian traces,\nor, to be more exact, in the arts of Scandinavia we find some elements\nborrowed from the same sources whence the Russians took theirs.\n\nRussia has been one of the laboratories in which the arts, brought\nfrom all parts of Asia, have been united to adopt an intermediate\nform between the Eastern and the Western world.\n\nGeographically, she was favourably placed to gather together these\ninfluences; and, ethnologically, she was entirely prepared to assimilate\nthese arts and develop them. If she has stopped short in this work,\nit was only at a very recent period, and when repudiating her origin\nand traditions, she tried to become Western, in spite of her own\ngenius.\n\nIn the first place, the oldest religious edifices of Russia affect\nslender forms, in elevation, which distinguishes them from the\npurely Byzantine buildings.\n\nEvidently, the Russians, from the Twelfth Century on, employed\nin their religious edifices a geometrical plan that was different\nfrom that employed by the Byzantine architects, but one very close\nto that admitted by the architects of Greece during the early years\nof the Middle Ages.\n\nIn Georgia and Armenia, a number of ancient churches, the majority\nof which are very small, are also of this character. But, while\nsubmitting to these dispositions, as soon as they adopted masonry\ninstead of wood for building, the Russians gave quite individual\nproportions to their religious edifices.\n\nBy the Fifteenth Century, Russia had combined all the various elements\nby the aid of which a national art should be constituted. To\nrecapitulate these origins: We find already among the Scythians\nsome elements of art fairly well developed, foreign to Greek art\nand derived from Oriental tradition. Byzantium, in constant contact\nwith the people of Southern Russia, made its arts felt there; but in\nthe North, some slight Finnish influences and then some Scandinavian\nones, make themselves felt. From Persia likewise, Russia received\nimpulses in art, on account of her commercial relations with that\ncountry through Georgia and Armenia. In the Thirteenth Century,\nthe Tartar-Mongol domination was imposed upon Russia, employed\nher artists and craftsmen, and thus placed her in direct contact\nwith that Mediaeval Orient that was so mighty and so brilliant in\nall its art productions.\n\nAt length left to herself, in the Fifteenth Century, Russia constituted\nher own art from these various sources. But this variety of sources\nis more apparent than real. It is enough to examine Scythian\nornamentation to recognize that it is of a pronounced Indo-Oriental\ncharacter. Byzantine taste has exerted a preponderating influence\nupon Russia. But it has been recognized that this Byzantine style\nis itself composed of very varied elements among which figure most\nlargely the art of Eastern Asia, and that from this Byzantine art\nRussia likes to appropriate the Asiatic side in particular.\n\nSo that we may regard Russian art as composed of elements borrowed\nfrom the Orient to the almost complete exclusion of all others.\n\nMoreover, if we follow the streams of art to their sources, we soon\ncome to recognize that the tributaries are not at all numerous.\n\nIn the matter of architecture, there are only two principles: structure\nby wood and concrete structure: grottoes, and construction with clay,\nand with masonry, which is derived from it. As to construction with\ncut stones, there results, either from a tradition of building\nwith wood or from concrete construction, grottoes or conglomerate\nmasses, sometimes both, as in Egyptian art, for example.\n\nThe innumerable races who issued from the East and finally overwhelmed\nthe Roman Empire had preserved from their cradle their own traditions,\nand continued to keep up communication with their old homes. Better\nthan any other nation, the Russians preserved these traditions, and\nthey were, so to speak, rejuvenated every time a new wave passed\nacross their territories; for it was always from the northern or\nsouthern Orient, from the Ural or the Taurus, that the invaders\ncame. Whether they presented themselves as enemies or colonists\nthey brought with them something of Asia, the great mother of\ncivilizations.\n\nThis Russian art, therefore, was never struck with decadence as\nwas the Byzantine art. It did not live solely upon itself, but\nprofited by all that was brought from the Orient. So, when the\nEastern Empire fell during the Fifteenth Century, leaving only\na pale trace of the last expressions of its arts, Russia, on the\ncontrary, was raising edifices and fabricating objects of great\nvalue from an artistic point of view.\n\nThe West had only a small share in these productions, but even\nthis was enough to enable Russian art to be distinguished from the\narts of the East by a certain freedom of conception and variety in\nthe execution that rendered it an original product full of promise,\nthe developments of which might have been marvellous if the natural\ncourse of events had not been hindered by the passion with which\nhigh Russian society threw itself on the works of art of Italy,\nGermany and France.\n\n\n\n\n_SCULPTURE AND PAINTING_\n\n_PHILIPPE BERTHELOT_\n\nWestern influence was very strongly felt in sculpture and painting\nin Russia during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Narrowly\nconfined to the representation of conventional types of saints,\nthese arts did not acquire either personality or expression for\ntwo centuries. It was not until the Eighteenth Century that they\nbegan to raise statues to the memory of Russia's great men: one\nof the first monuments was consecrated, as was indeed just, to\nPeter the Great, Russia's great reformer; in his lifetime, Count\nBartolomeo Rastrelli the sculptor, father of the architect, executed\na _Peter the Great on Horseback_, which was cast in bronze in 1847;\nbut the successors of Peter the Great did not like this group which\nthey did not consider sufficiently animated and would not allow\nit to be erected on a public square. Catherine II. had Falconet\nmodel a _Peter the Great_ mounted on a fiery horse climbing up\na rock; this bronze group is placed in the centre of the Square\nof Peter the Great on the Neva, at St. Petersburg. Among the most\ncelebrated works of Russian sculpture, we may cite the bronze monument\nerected to the memory of Prince Poyarski and the butcher Minine\non the Red Square, Moscow (by Martoss, rector of the Academy of\nFine Arts, St. Petersburg, in 1888); Lomonossov's monument (by\nMartoss); those of Generals Barclay de Tolly and Koutousov (1818-1836\nafter the model by B. Orlovski, placed in front of the Cathedral\nof Kazan, St. Petersburg); the colossal bust of Alexander I. (by\nOrlovski); the commemorative monument of Alexander I. (1832, by\nMontferrand), with a statue of the Angel of Peace, by Orlovski;\nthe statue of Krilov, the fabulist, 1855, by Baron Clodt in the\nSummer Garden, St. Petersburg; an equestrian statue of the emperor\nNicholas I. (by Clodt, 1859, on the St. Mary square); the monument\nof Novgorod, elevated in memory of the millenary of the Russian\noccupation (1862), in the form of a gigantic bell containing scenes\nfrom Russian history, by Mikiechin; the monument to Catherine II.\nby Mikiechin, she being represented as surrounded by her generals\nand statesmen (1874, before the Alexander Theatre); the monument to\nPushkin in Moscow (1830, by Objekuchin and Bogomolov); the monument\nto Bohdan-Chmelnizki, at Kiev (1873, by Mikiechin and other sculptors).\nThe principal Russian sculptors are Popov, Antokolski (statue of Ivan\nthe Terrible, 1871, in St. Petersburg), Tchichov and E. Lanceray.\nThey are characterized by a very pronounced realism that is common\nto all.\n\nRussian painting has developed in various directions during the\nlast two centuries under the influence of Western Europe; until\nthe first half of the Nineteenth Century the imitation of Italian\npainting, the classical French school and the execution of strictly\nacademic painting were the three principal paths attempted by the\nRussian artists. But for half a century, art has found a national\nexpression for itself. At the end of the Eighteenth and beginning of\nthe Nineteenth Century, the principal representatives of religious\nand historical painting were Losenko (died in 1773), Antropov (died\nin 1792), Akimov (died in 1814), Ugriumov (died in 1823), Levizki\n(died in 1822), Ivanov (died in 1823), and Moschov (died in 1839).\nThe landscape and marine painters of greatest repute are Sim. and\nSil. Schtchedrin (the first died in 1804, and the second in 1830),\nPritchetnikov (died in 1809), F. Alekseiev (died in 1824). Academic\npainting was cultivated principally by Tropinin (died in 1827),\nWarnek (died in 1843), Lebediev (died in 1837), Worobiev (died\nin 1855), K. Rabus (died in 1857), Bruni (died in 1875), Markov\n(died in 1878), A. Beidemann (died in 1869) and Willewalde. The\nchief painter of the romantic school is K. Brullov, who formed\na school and had numerous scholars. Other romantic painters of\nrepute are Bronnikov and various landscape and marine painters\nsuch as Aivasovski, Bogolnibov, L. Lagorio and A. Mechtcherski.\nReligious and popular painting has A. Ivanov for its representative.\nThe principal realistic painters in genre and historical painting\nare Fedotov, Makovski, Perov, Polenor, Vereschagin, etc.\n\n[Illustration: STATUE OF PETER THE GREAT AND THE ADMIRALTY PALACE,\nST. PETERSBURG.]\n\nOrnamental sculpture seems to be superior to statuary in Russia:\nit is abundantly practised in the decoration of churches; the\ninnumerable chapels standing at the street corners in honour of some\nsaint possess icons and lamps of bronze and silver; the iconostases\nof the cathedrals are extremely rich,--gold, silver-gilt, silver,\nlapis-lazuli, malachite and enamel-work are lavishly employed there.\nIn the churches of Saint Isaac and the Saviour there are many admirable\nand veritable _chefs d'oeuvre_ of originality and brilliancy to be\nfound. The industry of bronze and goldsmith's work in religious\nobjects is very flourishing and gives occupation to numerous workmen\nand artists in Moscow and St. Petersburg. An imperial manufactory\nproduces the mosaics which occupy such a great place in the decoration\nof the churches.\n\nIndustrial arts are very prosperous in Russia and have made great\nprogress during the last century: silken goods are no longer imported\nfrom Lyons; and the Russian cabinet-makers produce beautiful furniture,\nnot only in their national style, but in the purest forms of French\nart of the Louis XV. and Louis XVI. styles. Civil goldsmith's work\nand jewellery have also been benefited by the national Renaissance:\nthe Emperor Alexander III. restored to honour the national feminine\ncostume for official balls, and ordered works of art to be made\nafter the models of the Muscovite style, and indeed even after\nthe marvels found in the excavations of the Cimmerian Bosphorus.\nThe religious images, particularly those made in Moscow and Kazan,\ncome very near being works of art. Numerous manufactories produce\nicons painted on wood or copper, ornamented with reliefs of copper,\n_crysocale_, silver, silver-gilt and gold. The workmen are monks\nand peasants: each part of the icon--eyes, nose, mouth, hands and\nfeet--is executed by a specialist who always makes the same thing,\nafter the immutable types that the Muscovite convents received\nfrom Mount Athos.\n\n\n\n\n_RUSSIAN MUSIC_\n\n_A. E. KEETON_\n\nRussian music is the strangest paradox--it owes more to the music\nof other countries than any other school, yet no music is more\nthoroughly individual and unmistakable. It clothes itself after\nthe form and fashion of its neighbours, but beneath its garb peeps\nout a physiognomy indubitably Sclavonic. Its utterances impress us\nas the most modern--yet the student who would correctly analyze\nmany of its unique characteristics of harmony and modulation is often\nobliged to take a flying leap backwards over a space of centuries\nin order to investigate old Church modes, or Persian and Arabian\nscale systems, both so ancient as to be well-nigh forgotten in\nWestern Europe.\n\nSixty years ago, there was no Russian school of music, properly\nspeaking; then suddenly it sprang into being. The wonderful rapidity\nof its growth almost confuses one. Its exponents at once displayed\nthe astonishing receptiveness common to their race. _D'un trait_, as\nthe French would say, they appropriated the knowledge and experience\nwhich the Italian and German schools had been slowly amassing for\ncenturies. Technique, form, counterpoint--all these they found\nready made to their hand, and borrowed them unstintingly. Had they\ndone this and no more, the onlooker might have dismissed them as\nclever plagairists, and probably no one would have paid them any\nfurther attention. But they had other means at their disposal. Their\ncountry contained a treasure-house of native melody and rhythm;\na region albeit which few Russians had hitherto thought it worth\ntheir while to explore. It is true that, since the middle of the\nSeventeenth Century, tentative excursions had been made in this\ndirection from time to time, chiefly, though, by outsiders settled\nin Russia, nor had any of their efforts led to very appreciable\nresults. The man who first turned with serious intent to the pent-up\nmusical resources of his own country was Michael Ivanovitch Glinka.\nHe had sufficient strength of purpose to carry out his designs--he\nbecame the founder of the modern Russian school of music and the\nfather of Russian opera.\n\nGlinka belonged to a good if not very wealthy family, who lived upon\ntheir estate in the government of Smolensk, where he was born in 1804.\nFrom babyhood upwards he delighted his friends and relations by his\naptitude not for music alone, but also for languages, literature,\nzoology, botany--in fact, for each and every intellectual pursuit\nwhich came in his way. The brilliance of his college course in St.\nPetersburg was noteworthy. He quitted it to occupy a civil post\nunder Government, a position, however, which he soon abandoned,\nin order to devote himself solely to music. Like so many other men\nof genius, he married a woman quite incapable of comprehending\nhis artistic aims and ambitions; to quote the words of a Russian\nwriter, Madame Glinka, _nee_ Maria Petrovna, \"was only a pretty doll,\nwho loved society and fine clothes, and had no sympathy whatever\nwith her husband's romantic, poetic side.\" One is glad to state\nthat Glinka never had to struggle with poverty. He died at Berlin\nin 1857.\n\nHe did for Russian music what his contemporary, Pushkin, did for\nRussian literature, each in his own department representing a national\nmovement. Perhaps it is not too far-fetched a theory to trace this\nmovement to the momentous date of 1812, when it fell to the lot\nof Russia to administer the first check in Napoleon's triumphant\ncareer. Ever since the reign of Peter the Great it had been the\nfashion to ape foreign habits, to speak foreign tongues, to import\nforeign music, to mimic foreign literature. But when a foreign\ninvader, who had marched all-conquering through the rest of Europe,\nappeared in serious earnest at the very gates of Moscow, there\nwas a rebound: slumbering patriotism awoke with a great shout,\nand, united by a common danger, all classes gathered together for\nthe protection of their Tsar and their Kremlin. To have repulsed\na Napoleon was a mighty deed, which could reveal to the Russians\nof what stuff they were made. It taught them to rely upon each\nother and be strong in themselves; and as the art of a nation is\ninvariably the outcome of its history, so the rising generation\nof Russian thinkers looked inwards rather than abroad. Glinka,\nPushkin, and their followers sought no foreign aid; they represent\na Russian Renaissance. They were content, indeed, to abide by the\nforms universally adopted elsewhere, but the spirit of their art\nmanifestation was Russian to its core. In literature, Pushkin and\nGogol were never weary of delineating their compatriots in every grade\nof Sclavonic society, whilst Glinka took his musical inspirations\nfrom his native folk-songs and dance-rhythms--from the historic\nchronicles of his country or its legendary lore. In reality, the\nforeign influences and environment with which he came so continuously\ninto contact served more and more to convince him that Russia in\nher turn had as great a mission in music as any other nation. For\nthirty years the idea was gradually gaining strength in his mind.\n\"I want,\" he said to a friend, \"to write an essentially national\nopera both as regards subject and music; something which no foreigner\ncan possibly accuse of being borrowed, and which shall come home\nto my compatriots as a part of themselves.\"\n\nHis fame depends solely upon the two operas, _La Vie pour le Tsar_\nand _Russlan et Ludmille_. That he should have chosen to express\nhimself especially in opera is a significant fact. The unerring\ninstinct of his genius evidently told him that in this form, rather\nthan in purely instrumental music, he would most truly represent\nthat people whose musical aspirations he wished above all else\nto portray faithfully, and certainly in opera lay his surest way\ntowards enlisting the sympathies of his compatriots. As before\nremarked, one might have imagined that opera would scarcely ally\nitself to his personal individuality; it seems probable, therefore,\nthat various salient traits inherent in the Russians as a nation\nmust have led him to the choice. First and foremost, any music\nwhich claims to proceed from the very heart of the Russian people\nmust contain a vocal element. So universal a love of singing as\nexists throughout Russia is to be met with in no other country.\n\nBy this one does not mean to infer that Russian cultivated singing,\neither solo or choral, is in any way superior to what is heard\nelsewhere. The Russian peasant knows absolutely nothing about voice\nproduction, nor, maybe, is he gifted with any unusual vocal material,\nnevertheless, singing is closely bound up with every rural event of\nhis cheerless existence. During the last half-century many hundreds\nof the native melodies sung by the Russian country people for\ngenerations past have been collected and written down by different\nmusicians--Balakireff, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Prokoudin, and Lisenko\namongst others. The variety of these folk-songs is astonishing.\nThey never become monotonous, each song having its distinctive\nclimax, and the air always suits the words. Often the untutored\nsinger has one melody in his _repertoire_, but intuitively he modifies\nits strains according to the sentiment of his subject.\n\nThis general love of music applies as much to the noble as to the\npeasant. \"Where there is a Sclav there is a Song,\" says a Sclavonic\nproverb, and no public ceremony or Court function is ever deemed\ncomplete in Russia without an outburst of singing to heighten its\nimpressiveness. There is besides a marked dramatic ingredient in the\nSclavonic character. The typical Russian loves acting. To discover\nthis, it is only necessary to visit a Russian village and witness\nthe unconscious presentments of lyric drama or of desolate tragedy\nset forth by the quaint rites of a country wedding or a rustic\nfuneral. Or study a Russian legend. It at once impresses you with\nits wealth of dramatic situations most concisely defined. In this,\nthe Sclavonic folktale differs radically from its Celtic neighbour.\nA comparison of the two types suggests that the Russian principally\ndesires a clear statement of facts; a poetic idea which must be\nextracted from clouds of metaphor conveys but little significance\nto his mind. An innate love of song, an innate love of acting, a\nkeen perception of dramatic unity, combined with a passionate love\nof colour and a strong sense of movement--here surely, without any\nmanner of doubt, one has the basis of a well-nigh perfect school of\nopera. Glinka, the cultivated musician, himself a Russian, thoroughly\nappreciated these national qualities; indeed they were part and\nparcel of his birthright. He could assimilate the characteristics\nof his race and merge them into his own very remarkable originality.\nThe first product of the combined motors was _La Vie pour le Tsar_,\ngiven at St. Petersburg in 1836. Fifty years later it had reached\nits 577th performance, and from all accounts it still retains an\nundiminished popularity.\n\n[Illustration: THE THEATER, ODESSA.]\n\nIf we dissect this opera and examine its wonderful mastery of technique\nand its depth of musical inspiration, it displays beauties which\ncannot fail to appeal to connoisseurs of every race and school. But\nregarded as a whole, one is inclined to doubt its ever becoming a\nstandard work outside its native home. Its true scope and meaning\ncan only be justly estimated by a public acquainted with Russia\nherself, with her people, her history and her innermost modes of\nthought.\n\nGlinka attached the highest value to the folk-song, of which, as\nalready stated, he found a treasure trove ready to his hand. Nothing,\nthough, was further from his thoughts than to employ this material\nin _pot-pourri_ style. Russians themselves are all agreed that it\nwould be difficult to select one whole folk-song from any single\nwork of Glinka's. It would naturally require a native of Russia\nwith an accurate knowledge of these native tunes to tell us exactly\nwhen and where he used them. He seized their mood. In this way he\ndeveloped every species of Sclavonic folk-song--Great Russian,\nLittle Russian, Circassian, Polish, Finnish--with a passing flavour\ncontributed by Persia, for undoubtedly Oriental music had, at some\nremote period, influenced its Sclavonic neighbour very strongly.\nGlinka may be said to have attained his end almost unconscious\nof his mode of procedure. Determined to compose Russian music,\nhe pursued his idea unremittingly, but it was only towards the\nclose of his life that he began to seriously analyze his effects,\nasking himself whence he had obtained them and in what essential\npoints they exhibited their nationality. This inquiry involved\nhim in a field of research bewildering in its magnitude, and one\nwhich his early death unfortunately prevented him from thoroughly\ninvestigating. Nor is the task by any means completed now, some\nforty years later, although many Russian musicians have thrown\nconsiderable light upon its varied aspects. The first step towards\na folk-song analysis was the collecting of the melodies in sufficient\nnumbers for comparison. So much being done, it flashed upon Glinka\nthat there was an intimate connection between the Russian folk-song\nand the most ancient Russian Church music. That is to say, the\nmelody and the freedom of rhythm typical of the folk-song had been\nevolved by the people, whilst its harmonization, in which lay one\nof its most striking essentialities, had been bequeathed it by the\nChurch. From all that can be gathered concerning music in Muscovy\nprior to the introduction of Christianity, it seems justifiable to\nadmit that harmony, or part singing, was already practised amongst\nthe inhabitants, in what manner it is impossible to conjecture.\nAt any rate, when the Church of Byzantium took root there, the\nSclav was sufficiently advanced musically to imbibe a new idea. We\nknow that the Byzantine Church modes were purely diatonic, so is\nthe harmonization of the Russian folk-song in its most elementary\nand uncorrupted form. That the one produced the other is a most\nnatural conclusion. In the oldest of the Russian national melodies\nGlinka discovered the most clearly defined type of the earliest\nChristian songs on record.\n\nA wonderful testimony this to the indwelling religious spirit of\nthe Russian people, who change but little and who are singularly\ntenacious of their customs in spite of all their ready receptiveness.\nIn one sense the folk-song is as rude and hardy as its singer; from\nanother point of view it is a shy, delicate emanation shrinking\nfrom all human intercourse outside its own small coterie of familiar\nvoices. In Russia, as in every other country, it has had to be\nsought in the remote Steppes and far-off districts where foreign\ninfluences had never penetrated, and by a curious inverse process\nits harmonies, of course, transmitted orally, were the means of\npreserving the Byzantine Church tonality long after this \"first\ncause\" had accepted chromatic and enharmonic modulations. In the\nchief Russian cities and more opened-up parts of the country, the\nItalian, French, and later on German elements gradually formed\nthemselves into Church as well as secular music, and only within\nthe last sixty years have attempts been made to restore this to\nits pristine and, perhaps it may be added, somewhat monotonous\npurity. The minor key in which the Sclavonic folksong was usually\ncouched, together with its extraordinary variety of rhythm and\nphrase, protected it from this monotony, the minor keys having\ninfinitely richer resources of colour, even when strictly diatonically\ntreated, than the major.\n\nSclavonic music figures so constantly upon every concert programme\nin these days that we are probably most of us accustomed to its\nvagaries of rhythm, or what may be styled irregularity of metre.\nThis is a direct heritage from the folk-song, which Glinka and\nhis successors have borrowed largely.\n\nThe leading musical spirits of his day were quick to accredit him\na kindred genius. Berlioz welcomed him gladly, and furthered his\ncause by eloquent writing as well as by obtaining him a hearing\nin Paris. Liszt was another enthusiastic \"Glinkite,\" and Schumann,\nunfailingly keen to notice new talent pursuing a new path, speedily\ndrew attention to a Russian who was doing for the music of his\ncountry what Chopin and Moniusco had done for Poland. Rubinstein,\nwho was still a boy when Glinka's sun was near setting, grew up\nwith a warm admiration for the founder of his native school, and\nin 1855 he spent some of his ardour upon a highly laudatory article\nin the _Wiener Zeitschrift fir Musik_, placing Glinka on a par with\nBeethoven. Glinka thoroughly detesting anything that savoured of\nflattery, took the young musician soundly to task for his pains;\nbut Rubinstein remained true to his tenets, and later on, when\nyears had matured his judgment, we find him including the name of\nGlinka with that of Bach, Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin, as the\nchief germinators of modern music; whilst one of the last acts of\nhis generous public career was a concert given in aid of a national\nmonument to the composer of _La Vie pour le Tsar_. With one or\ntwo minor exceptions, successive Russian masters have followed\nfaithfully in Glinka's footsteps. To Borodine, Dargomijsky, Seroff,\nBalakireff, and Rimsky-Korsakoff a full meed of nationality has been\ngranted. To Rubinstein and Tschaikowski criticism is at present\ndisposed to deny the quality in its most salient features. But\ntheir prolific mass of compositions has so far scarcely been\nsufficiently explored outside their own Russian domain for a final\njudgment to be hazarded. A nearer inspection of their work, indeed,\ntogether with a more accurate study of Russian art as a whole,\ndistinctly leads to the opinion that a revolution of feeling may\neventually spring up, especially on the subject of their operas.\nAlso Rubinstein's dramatic works, now mostly dismissed by foreigners\nas his weakest productions, may in due course be accepted as his\nfinest creations. From the different reasons previously deduced\nthere can be little doubt that in opera Glinka purposely laid the\ncorner-stone of what he earnestly believed to be a true Russian\nschool, and a glance at contemporary musical activity shows that\nhere Russia has every opportunity for distinguishing herself, and\nthat with very little competition.\n\n\n\n\n_RUSSIAN LITERATURE_\n\n_W. R. MORFILL_\n\nOf the Russian there are the following chief dialects--Great, Little,\nand White Russian. The Great Russian is the literary and official\nlanguage of the Empire. In its structure it is highly synthetic,\nhaving three genders and seven cases, and the nouns and adjectives\nbeing fully inflected. Its great peculiarity (which it shares in\ncommon with all the Sclavonic languages), is the structure of the\nverbs, which are divided into so-called \"aspects,\" which modify\nthe meaning, just as the Latin terminations _sco, urio_, and _ita_,\nonly the forms are developed into a more perfect system. The letters\nemployed are the Cyrillian, held to have been invented by St. Cyril\nin the Ninth Century. They are on the whole well adapted to express\nthe many sounds of the Russian alphabet, for which the Latin letters\nwould be wholly inadequate, and must perforce be employed in some\nsuch uncouth combinations as those which communicate a grotesque\nappearance to Polish. It would be out of place here to discuss the\nEcclesiastical Sclavonic employed in so many of the early writings\ncomposed in Russian. I shall proceed to speak of the literature in\nRussian properly so-called. The great epochs of this will be--\n\nI. From the earliest times to the reign of Peter the Great.\n\nII. From the reign of Peter the Great to our own time.\n\nThe Russians, like the rest of the Sclavonic peoples are very rich\nin national songs, many (as one may judge from the allusions found\nin them), going back to a remote antiquity. For a long time, and\nespecially during the period of French influence, these productions\nwere neglected. In the last twenty years, however, they have been\nassiduously collected by Bezsonov, Kirievski, Ribnikov, Hilferding and\nothers. The Russian legendary poems are called _Bilini_ (literally,\ntales of old time), and may be most conveniently divided into the\nfollowing classes:--\n\n1. That of the earlier heroes. 2. The Cycle of Vladimir. 3. The\nRoyal, or Moscow Cycle.\n\nThe early heroes are of a half-mythical type, and perform prodigies\nof valour. To this class belong Volga Vseslavich, Mikoula Selianinovich\nand Sviatogor. The great glory of the Cycle of Vladimir is Ilya\nMurometz. The _Bilinas_ are filled with his magnificent exploits,\neither alone, or in the company of Sviatogor.\n\nThe national songs are carried on through the troublous times of\nBoris Godunov, and the false Dimitri, to the days of Peter the\nGreat, when they seem to have acquired new vigour on account of\nthe military achievements of the regenerator of his country. Nor\nare they extinct in our own time, for we find exploits of Napoleon,\nespecially his disastrous expedition to Russia, made the subject\nof verse. The interest, however, of these legendary poems fades\naway as we advance into later days. The number of minstrels is\nrapidly diminishing; and Riabanin, and his companions among the\nGreat Russians, and Ostap Veresai among the Malo-Russians, will\nprobably be the last of these generations of rhapsodists, who have\ntransmitted their traditional chants from father to son, from tutor\nto pupil. A great feature in Russian literature is the collection\nof chronicles, which begin with Nestor, monk of the Pestcherski\nCloister at Kiev, who was born about A. D. 1056, and died about\n1116.\n\nDuring the time when Russia groaned under the yoke of the Mongols,\nthe nation remained silent, except here and there, perhaps, in some\nlegendary song, sung among peasants, and destined subsequently\nto be gathered from oral tradition by a Ribnikov and a Hilferding.\nSuch literature as was cultivated formed the recreation of the\nmonks in their cells. A new era, however, was to come. Ivan III.\nestablished the autocracy and made Moscow the centre of the new\ngovernment. The Russians naturally looked to Constantinople as\nthe centre of their civilization; and even when the city was taken\nby the Turks its influence did not cease. Many learned Greeks fled\nto Russia, and found an hospitable reception in the dominions of\nthe Grand Duke. During the reigns of Ivan the Terrible and his\nimmediate successors, although the material progress of the country\nwas considerably advanced, and a strong Government founded, yet\nlittle was done for learning. Simeon Polotzki (1628-80), tutor\nto the Tsar Feodor, son of Alexis, was an indefatigable writer\nof religious and educational books, but his productions can now\nonly interest the antiquarian. The verses composed by him on the\nnew palace built by the Tsar Alexis, at Kolomenski are deliciously\nquaint. Of a more important character is the sketch of the Russian\ngovernment, and the habits of the people, written by one Koshikin\n(or Kotoshikin--for the name is found in both forms), a renegade\ndiak or secretary, which, after having lain for a long time in\nmanuscript in the library of Upsala, in Sweden, was edited in 1840,\nby the Russian historian Soloviev. Kotoshikin terminated a life\nof strange vicissitudes by perishing at the hands of the public\nexecutioner at Stockholm, about 1669.\n\nWith the reforms of Peter the Great commences an entirely new period\nin the history of Russian literature, which was now to be under\nWestern influence. The epoch was inaugurated by Lomonosov, the\nson of a poor fisherman of Archangel, who forms one of the curious\nband of peasant authors--of very various merit, it must be\nconfessed--who present such an unexpected phenomenon in Russian\nliterature. Occasionally we have men of real genius, as in the cases\nof Koltzov, Nikitin, and Shevchenko, the great glory of southern\nRussia; sometimes, perhaps, a man whose abilities have been overrated\nas in the instance of Slepoushkin. Lemonosov is more praised than\nread by his countrymen. His turgid odes, stuffed with classical\nallusions, in praise of Anne and Elizabeth, are still committed\nto memory by pupils at educational establishments. His panegyrics\nare certainly fulsome, but probably no worse than those of Boileau\nin praise of Louis XIV., who grovelled without the excuse of the\nimperfectly educated Scythian. The reign of Catherine II. (1762-96),\nsaw the rise of a whole generation of court poets. The great maxim,\n\"_Un Auguste peut aisement faire un Virgile_,\" was seen in all its\nabsurdity in semi-barbarous Russia. These wits were supported by\nthe Empress and her immediate _entourage_, to whom their florid\nproductions were ordinarily addressed.\n\n[Illustration: THE LIBRARY, ODESSA.]\n\nFrom Byzantine traditions, from legends of saints, from confused\nchronicles, and orthodox hymnologies, Russia was to pass by one\nof the most violent changes ever witnessed in the literature of\nany country, into epics moulded upon the _Henriade_, and tedious\nodes in the style of Boileau and Jean Baptiste Rousseau. Oustrialov,\nthe historian, truly characterizes most of the voluminous writers\nof this epoch, as mediocre verse makers, for claiming merits in the\ncases of Bogdanovich, Khemnitzer, Von Vizin, Dmitriev, and Derzhavin.\nBogdanovich wrote a very pretty lyric piece, styled _Dushenka_\nbased on the story of Cupid and Psyche, and partly imitated from\nLafontaine, with a sportive charm about the verse which will preserve\nit from becoming obsolete. With Khemnitzer begin the fabulists. But\nI shall reserve my remarks upon this species of literature and\nits Russian votaries until I come to Krilov, who may be said to\nbe one of the few Sclavonic authors who have gained a reputation\nbeyond the limits of their own country. In Denis Von Vizin, born\nat Moscow, but as his name shows, of German extraction, Russia saw\na writer of genuine national comedy. Hitherto she had to content\nherself with poor imitations of Moliere. His two plays, the _Brigadier_\nand the _Minor_ (_Nederosl_), have much original talent. No such\nvigorous representations of character appeared again on the stage\ntill _The Misfortune of being too Clever_ (_Gore et Ouma_) of\nGriboiedov, and the _Revisor_ of Gogol. Dmitriev deserves perhaps\nno more than a passing mention.\n\nThe name of Derzhavin is spoken of with reverence among his countrymen:\nhe was the laureate of the epoch of Catherine, and had a fresh ode\nfor every new military glory. There is much fire and vigour in\nhis productions and he could develop the strength and flexibility\nof his native language which can be made as expressive and concise\nas Greek. Perhaps, however, we get a little tired of his endless\nperfections of Felitza, the name under which he celebrates the\nEmpress Catherine, a woman who--whatever her private faults may\nhave been,--did a great deal for Russia.\n\nIn Nicholas Karamzin appeared the first Russian historian who can\nproperly claim the title. His poems are almost forgotten: here and\nthere we come upon a solitary lyric in a book of extracts. His\n_History of the Russian Empire_, however, is a work of extensive\nresearch, and must always be quoted with respect by Sclavonic scholars.\nUnfortunately, it only extends to the election of Michael Romanov.\nKaramzin was followed by Nicholas Polevoi, son of a Siberian merchant,\nwho hardly left any species of literature untouched. His _History\nof the Russian People_, however, did not add to his reputation,\nand is now almost forgotten. In later times both these authors\nhave been eclipsed by such writers as Soloviev and Kostomarov.\nA new and more critical school of Russian historians has sprung\nup; but for the early history of the Sclavonic peoples, the great\nwork is still Schafarik's _Sclavonic Antiquities_, first published\nin the Bohemian language, and more familiar to scholars in the\nWest of Europe in its German version.\n\nWith the breaking up of old forms of government caused by the French\nRevolution, came the dislocation of the old conventional modes of\nthought. Classicism in literature was dead, having weighed like an\nincubus upon the fancy and fresh life of many generations. England\nand Germany were at the head of the new movement, which was at a\nlater period to be joined to France. The influence was to extend\nto Russia, and may be said to date from the reign of Alexander I.\nIt was headed by Zhukovski, who was rather a fluent translator\nthan an original poet. He has given excellent versions of Schiller,\nGoethe, Moore, and Byron, and has better enriched the literature\nof his country in this way than by his original productions. He\nhad, however, some lyric fire of his own; the ode entitled _The\nPoet in the Camp of the Russian Warriors_, written in the memorable\nyear 1812, did something to stimulate the national feelings, and\nprocure for the poet a good appointment at court.\n\nIn Alexander Pushkin, the Russians were destined to find their\ngreatest poet. His first work, _Rouslan and Lioudmilla_, was a tale\nof half-mythical times, in which the influence of Byron was clearly\nvisible, but the author had never allowed himself to become a mere\ncopyist. The same may be said of _The Prisoner of the Caucasus_,\nin which Pushkin had an opportunity of describing the romantic\nscenery of that wild country, which was then entirely new ground.\nIn the _Fountain of Bakchiserai_ he chose an episode in the history\nof the Khans of the Crimea, which he has handled very poetically.\nThe _Gipsies_ is a wild oriental tale of passion and vengeance. The\npoet, who had been spending some time amid the Steppes of Bessarabia,\nhas left us wonderful pictures of the wandering tribes and their\nsavage life. Many Russians consider the _Evgenie Oniegin_ of Pushkin\nto be his best effort. It is a powerfully written love-story, full\nof sketches of modern life, interspersed with satire and pathos.\n\nA criticism of Pushkin would necessarily be imperfect, which left\nout of all consideration his drama on the subject of _Boris Godunov_.\nHere he has used Shakespeare as his model. Up to this time the\ntraditions of the Russian stage--such as they were--were wholly\nFrench. The piece is undoubtedly very clever, and conceived with\ntrue dramatic power.\n\nSince Pushkin's attempt, the historical drama based upon the English,\nhas been very successfully cultivated. A fine trilogy has been\ncomposed by Count A. Tolstoi (whose premature death all Russia\ndeplored), on the three subjects, _The Death of Ivan the Terrible_\n(1866), _The Tsar Feodor_ (1868) and the _Tsar Boris_ (1869).\n\nThe Russian fabulists, whose name is legion, demand some mention;\nKhemnitzer, Dmitriev, Ivanov and others, have attempted this style\nof poetry; but the most celebrated of all is Ivan Krilov (1768-1844).\nMany of his short sentences have become proverbs among the Russian\npeople, like the couplets of Lafontaine among the French, and Butler's\n_Hudibras_ among ourselves. His pictures of life and manners are\nmost thoroughly national. In Koltzov the true voice of the people,\nwhich had before only expressed itself in the national ballads was\nheard. The life of this sensitive and warm-hearted man of genius\nwas clouded by poverty and suffering.\n\nThe poems of Koltzov are written, for the most part, in an unrhymed\nverse; the sharp, well-defined accent in Russian amply satisfying\nthe ear, as in German. His poetical taste had been nurtured by\nthe popular lays of his country. He has caught their colouring\nas truly as Burns did that of the Scottish minstrelsy. He is\nunquestionably the most national poet that Russia has produced;\nSlepoushkin and Alipanov, two other peasant poets, who made some\nlittle noise in their time, cannot for one moment be compared with\nhim; but, on the other hand, he has been excelled by the fiery\nenergy and picturesque power of the Cossack, Taras Shevchenko, of\nwhom I shall speak. Since the death of Pushkin, Lermontov alone\nhas appeared to dispute the poetical crown with him. The short life\nof this author (1814-41), ended in the same way as Pushkin's--in\na duel provoked by himself. Many of his lyrics are exquisite, and\nhave become standard poems in Russia, such as the _Gifts of Terek_\nand _The Cradle Song of the Cossack Mother_.\n\nIn Gogol, who died in 1852, the Russians had to lament the loss\nof a keen and vigorous satirist. With a happy humour reminding\nus of Dickens in his best moods, he has sketched all classes of\nsociety in the _Dead Souls_, perhaps the cleverest of all Russian\nnovels. No one, also has reproduced the scenery and habits of Little\nRussia, of which he was a native, more vigorously than Gogol, whether\nin the pictures of country life in his _Old-Fashioned Household_\n(if we may translate in so free a manner the title _Starovetskie\nPomestchiki_), or in the wilder sketches of the struggles which\ntook place between the Poles and Cossacks in _Taras Boulba_. In the\n_Portrait_ and _Memoirs of a Madman_, Gogol shows a weird power,\nwhich may be compared with that of the fantastic American, Edgar\nAllan Poe. Besides his novels, he wrote a brilliant comedy called\nthe _Revisor_, dealing with the evils of bureaucracy.\n\nTowards the end of the year 1877, died Nicholas Nekrasov, the most\nremarkable poet produced by Russia since Lermontov. He has left\nsix volumes of poetry, of a peculiarly realistic type, chiefly\ndwelling upon the misfortunes of the Russian peasantry, and putting\nbefore us most forcibly the dull grey tints of their monotonous\nand purposeless lives.\n\nI have not space to enumerate here even the most prominent Russian\nnovelists. No account, however, of their literature would be anything\nlike complete which omitted the name of Ivan Tourgheniev, whose\nreputation is European. With the Russians the English novel of the\nrealistic type is the fashionable model. In this branch of literature,\nFrench influences have hardly been felt at all. The historical\nnovel--an echo of the great romances of Sir Walter Scott--had its\ncultivators in such writers as Zagoskin and Lazhechnikov; but at\nthe present time, with the exception of the recent productions\nof Count Tolstoi, it is a form of literature as dead in Russia\nas in our own country. The novel of domestic life bids fair to\nswallow up all the rest, and it is to this that the Russians are\ndevoting their attention.\n\nTourgheniev first made a name by his _Memoirs of a Sportsman_,\na powerfully written work, in which harrowing descriptions are\ngiven of the miserable condition of the Russian serfs. Since the\npublication of this novel, or rather series of sketches, he has\nwritten a succession of able works of the same kind, in which all\nclasses of Russian society have been reviewed. No more pathetic\ntale than the _Gentleman's Retreat_ (_Dvorianskoe Gnezdo_) can\nbe shown in the literature of any country. There are touches in\nit worthy of George Eliot. In _Fathers and Children_ and _Smoke_,\nTourgheniev has grappled with the nihilistic ideas which for a\nlong time have been so current in Russia.\n\nThe study of Russian history, so well commenced by Karamzin, has\nbeen further developed by Oustrialov and Soloviev.\n\nThe Malo-Russian is very rich in _skazki_ (national tales) and\nin songs. Peculiar to them is the _douma_, a kind of narrative\npoem, in which the metre is generally very irregular; but a sort\nof rhythm is preserved by the recurrence of accentuated syllables.\nThe _douma_ of the Little Russians corresponds to the _bilina_\nof the Great Russians.\n\nAs might naturally be expected, most Malo-Russian authors of eminence,\nhave preferred using the Great Russian, notably Gogol, who however\nis very fond of introducing provincial expressions which require a\nglossary. The foundation of the Malo-Russian cultivated literature\nwas laid by the travisty of the _AEneid_, by Kotliarevski, which\nenjoys great popularity among his countrymen. A truly national\npoet appeared in Taras Shevchenko, born a serf in the Government\nof Kiev, at the village of Kirilovka.\n\nOf the literature of the White Russians, but little need be said,\nas it is very scanty, amounting to a few collections of songs edited\nby Shein, Bezsonov and others.\n\n\n\n\n_PRESENT CONDITIONS_\n\n_E. S._\n\nNicholas I., Tsar of all the Russias (born in 1868), the eldest\nson of Alexander III. and the Princess Dagmar, daughter of King\nChristian IX. of Denmark, ascended the throne on the death of his\nfather in 1894. He is descended from Michael Romanof, elected Tsar\nin 1613, after the extinction of the House of Rurik, and also from\nthe Oldenburg family. Nicholas II. was married in 1894 to Princess\nAlexandra Alix (Alexandra Feodorovina), daughter of Ludwig IV., Grand\nDuke of Hesse, and Alice Maud Mary, daughter of Queen Victoria. Their\nfour daughters are: Olga (born 1895); Tatiana (born 1897); Marie\n(born 1899); and Anastasia (born 1901). The Grand Duke Michael (born\n1878), brother of the Emperor, is the Heir Presumptive. The Emperor's\nvast revenue is derived from Crown domains: the amount is unknown,\nas no reference is made in the budgets or finance accounts. It\nconsists, however, of more than a million of square miles of cultivated\nlands and forests, besides gold and other mines in Siberia.\n\n[Illustration: THE TSAR NICHOLAS.]\n\nRussia is an absolute hereditary monarchy. The Emperor's will is\nlaw, and in him the whole legislative, executive and judicial power\nis united. The administration of the Empire is entrusted to four\ngreat boards or councils: the Council of the State; the Ruling\nSenate; the Holy Synod; and the Committee of Ministers.\n\nThe Council of State, established by Alexander I. in 1801, consists\nof a president nominated every year by the Emperor and a large\nnumber of members appointed by him. This council is divided into\nfour departments: Legislation; Civil and Church Administration;\nState's Economy and Industry; Sciences and Commerce.\n\nThe Ruling Senate, founded by Peter I. in 1711, is really the high\ncourt of justice for the Empire. It is divided into six departments,\nor sections.\n\nThe Holy Synod, founded by Peter I. in 1728, has charge of the\nreligious affairs of the Empire. Its members are the Metropolitans\nof St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kief, the archbishop of Georgia and\nseveral bishops who sit in turn. The President is Antonious, the\nMetropolitan of St. Petersburg. The Emperor has to approve of all\nthe decisions of the Holy Synod.\n\nEuropean Russia consists of Russia Proper (50 Provinces), Poland\n(10 Provinces), and Finland (Grand Duchy). The population in 1897\nwas respectively, 93,467,736; 9,401,097; and 2,527,801. Asiatic\nRussia consists of Caucasia (11 Provinces; population 9,291,000);\nSiberia (8 Provinces and Regions; population 5,726,719); and Central\nAsia (10 Provinces and Regions; population 7,740,394). Russian\nsubjects in Khiva and Bokhara number 6,412. Of the total population\n128,161,249, 64,616,280 were men and 64,594,883, women. In European\nRussia the annual increase of population is at the rate of nearly\na million and a half. The chief cities of European Russia are St.\nPetersburg (1,267,023); Moscow (988,614); Warsaw (638,208); Odessa\n(405,041); Lodz (315,209); Riga (256,197); Kief (247,432); Kharkoff\n(174,846); Tiflis (160,645); Vilna (159,568); Tashkend (156,414);\nSaratov (137,109); Kasan (131,508); Ekaterinoslav (121,216);\nRostov-on-the-Don (119,889); Astrakhan (113,001); Baku (112,253);\nTula (111,048), and Kishineff(108,796). The population of Novgorod,\nSamara, Minsk and Nikolaieff is between 95,000 and 90,000. Tiflis\nand Baku in the Caucasus have respective populations of 160,000\nand 112,000. The largest towns in the Trans-Caspia are Askhabad\n(19,500) and Merv (8,750), and those of Turkestan are Tashkend,\nNamangan Samarkand and Andijan. There are about 50,000 in each\nof the Siberian towns of Tomsk, Irkutsk and Ekaterinburg.\n\n[Illustration: THE TSARINA.]\n\nThere has been no census since 1897, but in 1900 the population of\nSt. Petersburg was 1,439,739; Moscow, 1,035,664; and Riga, 282,943.\nThe mortality in the towns is so great that the deaths exceed the\nbirths. Emigration is on the increase, and, of late years, the\nRussians, particularly the Jews, flock to the United States, chiefly\nthrough Hamburg, Luebeck and Bremen. In 1900, 49,580 emigrated to\nthe United States; 1,253 to Argentina; and numbers to Canada and\nBrazil. Emigration to Siberia varies from year to year, but is on\nthe increase. In 1898, 80,000 went and in 1901 from 150,000 to\n200,000. There is also much emigration to the Southern Ural and\nthe Steppe provinces.\n\nIn European Russia, there is an average of a town or village to\nevery four or seven square miles, and in the Caucasus, one to every\nnine square miles; but in Asiatic Russia the average varies; for\nexample, in Samarkand there is one to every fourteen square miles,\nand in the province of Yakutsk, one to every 2,760 square miles.\n\nThe principal ports are St. Petersburg, Cronstadt, Narva, Riga,\nLibau, Pernau and Vindau (on the Baltic); Hango (on the Gulf of\nBothnia); Revel, Helsingfoers and Wiborg (on the Gulf of Finland);\nArchangel and Ekaterinsk (Arctic and White Seas); Odessa, Nicolaieff,\nSebastopol, Nova-Rossiisk, Berdiansk and Batoum, Taganrog, Marinpol,\nRostov and Kertch (on the Black Sea and Sea of Azov); Astrakhan,\nDerbent and Baku (on the Caspian Sea); Nicolaieffsk, Vladivostok\nand Petrapaulovsk in Kamtchatka; and Port Arthur and Dalni or\nTa-lien-wan (Gulf of Pechili), have been occupied since the\nRusso-Chinese Treaty of 1898.\n\nThe established religion is the Russo-Greek, or Graeco-Russian, known\nofficially as the Orthodox Catholic Faith. It maintains the relations\nof a sister church with the four patriarchates of Constantinople,\nAntioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria. The Emperor is the head of the\nchurch. The Russian Empire is divided into 64 bishoprics, under 3\nmetropolitans, 14 archbishops and 48 bishops; in 1898, there were\n66,146 churches (718 of which were cathedrals), and 785 monasteries.\nWith the exception of the Jewish, all religions are allowed to be\nprofessed. There are more than 12,000,000 dissenters scattered\nthroughout the Empire. The numbers are: Orthodox Greek, 87,384,480;\nDissenters, 2,173,738; Roman Catholic, 11,420,927; Protestants,\n3,743,209; other Christians, 1,221,511; Mohammedans, 13,889,421;\nJews, 5,189,401; and other religions, 645,503. In 1903, the Holy\nSynod received 28,388,049 roubles from the Imperial budget, besides\nother revenue and gifts.\n\nThe Empire is divided into 15 educational districts: St. Petersburg,\nMoscow, Kasan, Orenburg, Kharkoff, Odessa, Kief, Vilna, Warsaw,\nRiga, Caucasus, Turkestan, West Siberia, East Siberia and Amur.\nIn some of the primary village schools, there are school-gardens,\nwhile bee-keeping and silk-worm culture, as well as trades and\nhandiwork, are taught. In 1900, the Ministers contributed 51,062,842\nroubles for schools and universities. The universities are in Moscow\n(4,344 students in 1902); St. Petersburg (3,708); Kief (2,316);\nKharkov (1,340); Dorpat (1,791); Warsaw (1,312); Kasan (823); Odessa\n(1,116); and Tomsk (549). Helsingfors, Finland, had 1,211 students\nin 1900-1.\n\nSince 1874 military service has been obligatory for all men from\nthe age of 21. The period of service in European Russia is five\nyears in the active army (reduced by furloughs to four) 13 in the\nZapas those who have passed through active service and five years\nin the Opolchenie, or reserve; in Asiatic Russia, seven years in\nthe active army and six in the Zapas; and in Caucasia, three years\nin the active army and 15 in the Zapas. The Opolchenie is a reserve\nforce of drilled conscripts.\n\nThe Cossacks (Don, Kuban Terek, Astrakhan, Orenburg, Ural, Siberia,\nSemiryetchensk, Transbaikalia, Amur and Usuri) are divided in three\nclasses; the first in active service, the second on furlough with\ntheir arms and horses; the third with arms and without horses. Some\nof the Cossack cavalry serves with the regular cavalry. Military\nservice is also obligatory in Finland.\n\nThe Russian army consists of 31 corps. The lowest estimate of its\npeace strength is about 1,100,000 with 42,000 officers; the war\nstrength about 75,000 officers, 4,500,000 men and 562,000 horses.\n\nOwing to its widely separated seas, the Russian navy maintains\nfour squadrons: the Baltic, the Black Sea, the Pacific and the\nCaspian. Cronstadt is the chief base of the Baltic Fleet; Sebastopol\nof the Black Sea; and Vladivostok and Port Arthur of the Pacific.\nThe Caspian fleet is comparatively insignificant. In 1903, the navy\nconsisted of 26 battleships, 14 coast defence ships, 24 first-class\ncruisers, 15 second-class cruisers, 161 gunboats and torpedo craft.\n\nThe ocean shipping of the Russian Empire is not relatively large,\nbut its lake and river shipping is very extensive. In 1900, the\nsea-going marine consisted of 2,293 sailing vessels and 745 steamers.\n\nThe total length of railway open for traffic and travel on January\n1, 1903, was 35,336 miles (not including 1,753 miles in Finland).\nOf this 4,965 miles were in Asiatic Russia.\n\nThe legal unit of money is the silver rouble of 100 kopecks of\nthe value of 2s. 1.6d., or about fifty cents of American money.\nThe coins called imperial and half-imperial contain 15 and 7-1/2\nroubles respectively. There are also credit notes of 100, 25, 10,\n5, 3 and 1 rouble.\n\nRussia's chief source of revenue is the liquor traffic. Her chief\nexports are spirits, tallow, wool, tow, bristles, timber, hides and\nskins, grain, raw and dressed flax, linseed and hemp. Her principal\nimports are tea, cotton and other colonial produce, iron, machinery,\nwool, wine, fruits, vegetables and oil.\n\nRussia is the second largest European grower of wheat. Hemp, flax,\npotatoes and tobacco are also raised in large quantities. Barley,\nbuckwheat, oats, millet and rye form the staple food of the inhabitants.\n\nMines of great value exist in the Ural, Obdorsk and Altai mountains,\nwhich produce gold, copper, iron, silver, platinum, rock-salt,\nmarble and kaolin or china clay. Rich naphtha springs exist on\nthe Caspian and an immense bed of coal has been discovered between\nthe Donetz and Dnieper rivers.\n\nThe Grand Duchy of Finland, which Russia conquered from Sweden\nand finally annexed in 1808, had a population in 1898 of about\n2,595,000 (2,230,000 Finns; 350,000 Swedes; 12,000 Russians; 2,000\nGermans; and 1,000 Laps). The chief religion is the Lutheran. The\ncapital is Helsingfors with a population of 111,000, including the\nRussian garrison. The Tsar of Russia is the Grand Duke; Lieut.-Gen.\nN. Bobrikov, the governor-general; and V. von Plehwe, Secretary of\nState. The Diet, convoked triennially, consists of nobles, clergy,\nburgesses and peasants, but the country is chiefly governed by the\nImperial Finnish Senate of twenty-two members. The army consists\nof nine battalions of Finnish Rifles (5,600 men), and one regiment\nof dragoons (900 men, with a reserve of 30,000). The chief export\nis timber and the chief industry iron mines. In 1898, the marine\ncomprised 2,298 vessels of 324,344 tons.\n\nBokhara and Khiva in Central Asia are vassal states of Russia.\nBokhara, bounded on the north by Russian Turkestan, was once the\nmost famous state of Central Asia. Genghis Khan took it from the\nArabs in the Thirteenth Century, and it was taken by the Uzbegs,\nfanatical Sunni Mahommedans of Turkish extraction, in 1505. After\nthe Russian capture of Tashkend in 1865, the Amir Muzeffared-din\nproclaimed a holy war against the Russians, who invaded his province\nand captured Samarkand in 1868. By a treaty of 1873, no foreigner may\nbe admitted into Bokhara without a Russian passport. The population\nis estimated at 2,000,000. The Amir Syed Abdul Ahad succeeded in\n1885. The Uzbegs are still the dominant race. The religion is\nMahommedan. The chief towns are Bokhara (about 75,000) and Karshi\n(25,000). The chief products are sheep, goats, camels, horses,\nrice, cotton, silk, corn, fruit, hemp and tobacco. Gold, salt,\nalum and sulphur are the chief minerals. There are cotton, woollen\nand silk manufacturers. Many Indian goods such as shawls, tea,\ndrugs, indigo and muslins are imported. The Amir has 11,000 troops,\n4,000 of which are quartered in Bokhara. The Russian Trans-Caspian\nRailway runs through Bokhara and there is steam navigation on the\nOxus. A telegraph connects Bokhara with Tashkend.\n\nThe conquest of Khiva, another Uzbeg State also founded on the\nruins of Tamerlane's Central Asian Empire, was attempted by Peter\nthe Great in 1717 and again in 1839 by the Tsar Nicholas. On the\npretext that the Khivans had aided the rebellious Kirghiz, the\nRussians invaded Khiva in 1873 and forced the Khan to sign a treaty\nputting the Khanate under Russian government. The reigning sovereign\nis Seyid Mahomed Rahim Khan who succeeded his father in 1865. He was\nborn about 1845. The population is estimated at 800,000, including\n400,000 nomad Turcomans. The principal towns are Khiva (about 5,000)\nand New Urgenj (3,000). The religion is Mahommedan. The army consists\nof about 2,000 men. The chief productions are silk and cotton.\n\n[Illustration: KALKSTRASSE AND THE PROMENADE, RIGA.]\n\nIn 1898, Russia obtained a lease of twenty-five years from China of\nPoint Arthur and Ta-lien-wan with the adjacent seas and territory\nto the north. To this the name of Kwang-Tung was given in 1899. Port\nArthur, the capital, is a naval station for Russian and Chinese\nships. At the end of the port a new town, Dalni, has been founded;\nit is connected by rail with the Trans-Siberian railway system.\n\nRussia's history in 1903 was marked by general disquietude and\nturbulence. The disorders among the peasantry in 1902 led to a\nspecial committee being appointed to inquire into and ameliorate\ntheir condition and also to improve agriculture. On March 11, 1903,\nthe Tsar issued a manifesto promising reform in the government of\nlocal towns and tolerance in religion. As little or no improvement\nwas noticed, strike riots resulted in Slatoust (Ufa) and at\nNijni-Novgorod, and riots also broke out in the university of St.\nPetersburg. In May, the Governor of Ufa was assassinated. To these\ndisturbances, the Anti-Semitic outrages were encouraged at Kishineff\n(Bessarabia) when forty-five Jews were killed, 484 injured, 700\nhouses demolished, and 600 houses sacked. Strike riots also broke\nout in South Russia and the Caucasus, particularly in the towns of\nKief, Odessa, Baku, Rostov, Nikolaieff. Many smaller towns also\nsuffered loss of life. Military troops were called out to quell\nthe rioters. The policy of Russification was carried on in Finland\nas well as in the more recent acquisitions. The chief interest,\nhowever, lay in the extension of Russia's diplomatic and military\npolicy in the Far East under Admiral Alexeieff (appointed August\n13, 1903).","title":"Russia, as Seen and Described by Famous Writers","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":90302}