«4te 1/ V'k ^ 7<3>f ^ ^ /> gr^^ X IB OY ¥R AYELLE R S . Russian Empire UNIVEKilTYOF NORTH CAROLINA »ck».l ™k[ /&* ^> oc >^ ; -■ : «-";'^- 7 : " ' - •~X£ Uatlujn Ostro fi«e me] >.. *a "aifi ftittE ,? V . PresdiS^ / \L \\ I ■^OfliltsSQ ^ItJl^JSIe'^"" / Odes>, a >^ LlexauUror 1 UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL .00022226306 AtTtarsM Uio^frofc^ 61 ' 1 ?' 1 MAP TO ACCOMPANY "THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE." Route of the Boy Travellers thus -«■■»-- C&e JLfftracp of tbe Onfoewitp of jeort& Carolina ^i& boofe feiass ptesfenttb be 3o5spk Hwd« Pra-lH" This BOOK may be kept out TWO WEEKS ONLY, and is subject to a fine of FIVE CENTS a day thereafter. It was taken out on the day indicated below: Lib. 10M-N '37 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://www.archive.org/details/boytravellersinrknox '■;:-■ THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE ADVENTURES OF TWO YOUTHS IN A JOURNEY IN EUROPEAN AND ASIATIC RUSSIA, WITH ACCOUNTS OF A TOUR ACROSS SIBERIA VOYAGES ON THE AMOOR, VOLGA, AND OTHER RIVERS, A VISIT TO CENTRAL ASIA, TRAVELS AMONG THE EXILES, AND A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE EMPIRE FROM ITS FOUNDATION TO THE PRESENT TIME By THOMAS W. KNOX Illustrated NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 1887 By THOMAS W. KNOX. THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST. Five Vol- umes. Copiously Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $3 00 each. The volumes sold separately. Each volume complete in itself. I. Adventures of Two Youths in' a Journey to Japan and China. II. Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Siam and Java. With Descriptions of Cochin China, Cambodia, Sumatra, and the .Malay Archipelago. III. Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Ceylon and India. With Descriptions of Borneo, the Philippine Islands, and Burmah. IV. Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Egypt and Palestine. V. Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey through Africa. THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN SOUTH AMERICA. Adven- tures of Two Youths in a Journey through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay. Argentine Republic, and Chili; with Descriptions of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, and Voyages upon the Amazon and La Plata Rivers. Copiously Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, f 3 00. THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey in European and Asiatic Russia, with Accounts of a Tour across Siberia, Voy- ages on the Amoor, Volga, and other Rivers, a Visit to Central Asia, Travels Among the Exiles, and a Historical Sketch of the Empire from its Foundation to the Present Time. Copiously Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $3 00. THE VOYAGE OF THE "VIVIAN" TO THE NORTH POLE AND BEYOND. Adventures of Two Youths in the Open Polar Sea. Copiously Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $2 50. HUNTING ADVENTURES ON LAND AND SEA. Two Volumes. Copiously Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, 12 50 each. The volumes sold separately. Each volume complete in itself. I. The Young Ximrods in North America. II. The Young Ximhods Around the World. Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. Any of the above volume.'! sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States or Canada, on receipt of the price. Copyright, 1S86, by Harpkk & Brothers. — All rights reserved. PREFACE IN" preparing this volume for the press, the author has followed very closely the plan adopted for " The Boy Travellers in the Far East," and also for his more recent work, " The Boy Travellers in South Amer- ica." Accompanied by their versatile and accomplished mentor, Dr. Bronson, our young friends, Frank Bassett and Fred Bronson, journeyed from Vienna to Warsaw and St. Petersburg, and after an interesting so- journ in the latter city, proceeded to Moscow, the ancient capital of the Czars. From Moscow they went to Nijni Novgorod, to attend the great fair for which that city is famous, and thence descended the Volga to the Caspian Sea. On their way down the great river they visited the prin- cipal towns and cities along its banks, saw many strange people, and lis- tened to numerous tales and legends concerning the races which make up the population of the great Muscovite Empire. They visited the recently developed petroleum fields of the Caspian, and, after crossing that inland sea, made a journey in Central Asia to study certain phases of the "Eastern Question," and learn something about the difficulties that have arisen between England and Russia. Af- terwards they travelled in the Caucasus, visited the Crimea, and bade fare- well to the Empire as they steamed away from Odessa. Concerning the parts of Russia that they were unable to visit they gathered much infor- mation, and altogether their notes, letters, and memoranda would make a portly volume. The author has been three times in the Russian Empire, and much of the country described by "The Boy Travellers" was seen and traversed by him. In his first journey he entered the Czar's dominions at Petro- pavlovsk in Kamtchatka, ascended the Amoor River through its entire S* navigable length, traversed Siberia from the Pacific Ocean to the Ural PREFACE. mea and other regions bordering the Black Sea, and his third was confined to Finland and other Baltic provinces. In addition to his personal observations in Russia, the author has drawn upon the works of others. Many books of Russian travel and his- tory have been examined ; some of them have been mentioned in the text of the narrative, but it has not been practicable to refer to all. Indebt- edness is hereby acknowledged to the following books : " Free Russia," by Hepworth Dixon; "Turkestan" and "Life of Peter the Great,'' by Hon. Eugene Schuyler ; " A Ride to Khiva," by Col. Fred Burnaby ; " Campaigning on the Oxus, and the Fall of Khiva," by J. A. Macgahan ; "Life of Peter the Great" and "Life of Genghis Khan," by Jacob Ab- bott; "The Siberian Overland Route," by Alexander Michie; "Tent-life in Siberia," by George Kennan ; " Reindeer, Dogs, and Snow-shoes," by Richard J. Bush ; " The Invasion of the Crimea," by A. AV. Kinglake ; "Fred Markham in Russia," by W. II. G. Kingston ; "The Knout and the Russians," by G. De Lagny ; " The Russians at the Gates of Herat " and " The Region of the Eternal Fire," by Charles Marvin ; " Travels in the Regions of the Upper and Lower Amoor" and " Oriental and West- ern Siberia," by Thomas W. Atkinson ; and " The Russians at Home," by Sutherland Edwards. The author has also drawn upon several articles in Harper's Magazine, including his own series describing his journey through Siberia. The publishers have kindly permitted the use of illustrations from their previous publications on the Russian Empire, in addition to those specially prepared for this book. As a result of their courtesy, the author has been aide to present a " copiously illustrated " book, which is always a delight to the 3 T outhful eye. T. W. K. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Departure from Vienna. — Frank's Letter. — A Farewell Promenade. — From Vienna to Cracow. — The Great Salt-mine of Wibliczka, and what was seen there. — Churches and Palaces Underground. — Voyage on a Subter- ranean Lake 15 CHAPTER II. Leaving Cracow. — The Russian Frontier. — The Police and the Custom-house. — Russian Censorship of Books and Papers. — Hatching a Smuggler. — From the Frontier to Warsaw. — Sights and Incidents in the Capital of Poland. — From Warsaw to St. Petersburg 40 CHAPTER III. ■ In the Streets of St. Petersburg. — Isvoshchiks and Droskies. — Counting in Rus- sian. — Passports and their Uses. — On the Nevski Prospect. — Visiting the Church of Kazan. — The Russo-Greek Religion. — Unfavorable Position of St. Petersburg. — Danger of Destruction. — Great Inundation of 1824. — Statue of Peter the Great. — Admiralty Square. — The Sailors and the Statue .08 CHAPTER IV. Dinner in a Russian Restaurant. — Cabbage Soup, Fish Pies, and other odd Dishes. — The "Samovar" and its Uses. — Russian Tea-drinkers. — " Joltai Chai." — Alexander's Column. — Fortress of Sts. Peter and Paul. — Imperial Assassinations. — Sketches of the People. — Russian Police and their Ways.. 76 CHAPTER V. Number and Character of the Russian People. — Pan-Slavic Union. — St. Isaac's Church: its History and Description. — The Winter Palace and the Her- mitage. — Sights in the Palace. — Catherine's Rules for her Receptions. — John Paul Jones in Russia. — The Crown Jewels and the Orloff Diamond. — Anecdotes of the Emperor Nicholas. — Relics of Peter the Great. — From Palace to Prison. — Tombs of Russia's Emperors. — A Monument and an Anec- dote 93 CHAPTER VI. The Gostinna Dvor : its Extent and Character. — Peculiarity of Russian Shop- ping. — Curious Customs. — Old-clothes Market. — Hay-market. — Pigeons in Russian Cities. — Frozen Animals. — Church and Monastery of St. Alexander Nevski. — A Persian Train. — A Coffin of Solid Silver. — The Summer Gar- 8 CONTENTS. PAGE den. — Speaking to the Emperor. — Kriloff and his Fables. — Visit to a Rus- sian Theatre. — "A Life for the Czar." — A Russian Comedy 110 CHAPTER VII. Newspapers in Russia : their Number, Character, and Influence. — Difficulties of Editorial Life. — The Censorship. — An Excursion to Peterhof, Oranien- BAUM, AND CrONSTADT. SIGHTS IN THE SUMMER PaLACE. CltONSTADT AND THE Naval Station. — The Russian Navy. — The Russian Army: its Composition and Numbers. — The Cossacks. — Anecdotes of Russian Military Life 130 CHAPTER VIII. Visiting the University of St. Petersburg. — Education in Russia. — Primary and other Schools. — The System of Instruction. — Recent Progress in Educa- tional Matters. — Universities in the Empire: their Number and Location. — Religious Liberty. — Treatment of the Jews. — The Islands of the Neva, AND WHAT WAS SEEN THERE. — I.N A "TrAKTIR." BRIBERY AMONG RUSSIAN OF- FICIALS 1~>0 CHAPTER IX. Studies of St. Petersburg. — Mu.iiks. — "The Imperial Nosegay." — A Short His- tory of Russian Serfdom : its Origin, Growth, and Abuses. — Emancipation of the Serfs. — Present Condition of the Peasant Class. — Seeing the Em- peror. — How the Czar appears in Public. — Public and Secret Police: their Extraordinary Powers. — Anecdotes of Police Severity. — Russian Courts of Law 172 CHAPTER X. Winter in Russia. — Fashionable and other Furs. — Sleighs and Sledges. — No Sleigh-bells in Russian Cities. — Official Opening of the Neva. — Russian Ice-hills. — "Butter-week." — Kissing at Easter. — An Active Kissing— time; — Russian Stoves and Baths. — Effects of Severe Cold. — The Story of the Frozen Nose. — How Men are Frozen to Death 193 CHAPTER XI. Leaving St. Petersburg. — Novgorod the Great: its History and Traditions. — Rurik and his Successors. — Barbarities of John the Terrible. — Early His- tory of Russia. — An Imperial Bear-hunt. — Origin of the House of Roman- off. — "A Life for the Czar." — Railways in Russia from Novgorod to Moscow 211 CHAPTER XII Fiiist Impressions of Moscow. — Undulations of the Ground. — Irregularity of the Buildings, and the Cause thereof. — Napoleon's Campaign in Russia. — Disaster and Retreat. — The Burning of Moscow. — The Kremlin: its Church- es, Treasures, and Historical Associations. — Anecdotes of Russian Life. — The Church of St. Basil 230 CHAPTER XIII. The Great Theatre of Moscow. — Operatic Performances. — The Kitai Gorod AND GOSTINNA DVOH. — ROMANOFF HoUSE AND THE RoMANOFF FaMII.V. — SKETCH OF CONTENTS. 9 PAGB the Rulers of Russia. — Anecdotes of Peter the Great and others. — Church of the Saviour. — Mosques and Pagodas. — The Museum. — Riding-school. — ■ Suhareff Tower. — Trakiirs. — Old Believers. — The Si-arrow Hills and the Simonoff Monastery 252 CHAPTER XIV. A Visit to the Troitska Monastery, and what was seen there. — Curious Le- gends. — Monks at Dinner. — European Pairs. — The Great Fair at Nijni Nov- gorod. — Sights and Scenes. — Minin's Tomb and Tower. — Down the Volga by Steamboat. — Steam Navigation on the great River. — Kazan, and what was seen there. — The Route to Siberia 271 * CHAPTER XV. Avatcha Bay, in Kamtchatka. — Attack upon Petropavlovsk by the Allied Fleet. — Dogs and Dog-driving. — Rapid Travelling with a Dog-team. — Popu- lation and Resources of Kamtchatka. — Reindeer and their Uses. — The Amodr River. — Native Tribes and Curious Customs. — Tigers in Siberia. — Navigation of the Amoor. — Overland Travelling in Siberia. — Riding in a Tarantasse. — A Rough Road. — An Amusing Mistake. — From Stratensk to Nertchinsk. — Gold-mining in Siberia 289 CHAPTER XVI. The Exiles of Siberia. — The Decembrists and their Experience.— Social Posi- tion of Exiles. — Different Classes of Exiles and their Sentences. — Crimi- nals and Politicals. — Degrees of Punishment. — Perpetual Colonists. — How Exiles Travel. — Lodging— houses and Prisons.— Convoys. — Thrilling Story of an Escape from Siberia. — Secret Roads. — How Feasants treat the Ex- iles. — Prisoners in Chains 313 CHAPTER XVII. Character of the Siberian Population. — Absence of Serfdom, and its Effect. — A Russian Fete. — Amusements of the Peasantry. — Courtship and Marriage. - — Curious Customs. — Whipping a Wife. — Overland through Siberia again. — Chetah and the Bouriats. — In a Bouriat Village. — Verckne Udinsk. — Sibe- rian Robbers. — Tea-trains and Tea-trade. — Kiachta. — Lodged by the Police. — Trade between Russia and China 334 CHAPTER XVIII. General Aspects of Mai-mai-chin. — Dinner with a Chinese Governor. — A The- atrical Performance. — Lake Baikal : its Remarkable Features. — A Wonder- ful Ride. — Irkutsk: its Population, Size, and Peculiarities. — Social Gay- eties. — Preparations for a long Sleigh-ride. — List of Garments. — Varieties of Sleighs. — Farewell to Irkutsk. — Sleighing Incidents. — Food on the Road. —Siberian Mails. — Advantages of Winter Travelling. — Sleighing on bare Ground. — A Snowless Region. — Krasnoyarsk 354 CHAPTER XIX. Position and Character of Krasnoyarsk. — A Lessox in Russian Pronunciation. — Market Scene. — Siberian Trees. — The " Oukhaba." — A New Sensation. — Road- fever and its Cause. — An Exciting Adventure with Wolves. — How Wolves are Hunted. — From Krasnoyarsk to Tomsk. — Steam Navigation in Siberia.— 10 CONTENTS. PAGE Barnaool. — Mines of the Altai. — Tigers and Tiger Stories. — The "Bouran." — Across the Baraba Steppe. — Tomen and Ekaterinehdrg. — From Europe to Asia. — Perm, Kazan, and Nijni Novgorod. — End of the Sleigh-uide 377 CHAPTER XX. Down the Volga again. — Russian Reception Ceremony. — Simbirsk, Samara, and Saratov. — German Settlers on the Volga. — Don Cossacks. — Astrachan. — Curious Population. — Voyage on the Caspian Ska. — The Caspian Petroleum Region. — Tank-steamers. — Interesting Facts and Figures of the New Petro- lia. — Present Product of the Baku Oil-fields. — Excursion to Balakhani, and Visit to the Oil-wells. — Temples of the Fire-worshippers. — Antiquity of the Caspian Petroleum Region. — Marco Polo and other Authorities. . . . 403 CHAPTER XXI. A Glance at Central Asia. — Russian Conquest in Turkestan. — War and Diplo- macy AMONG THE KlRGHESE TRIBES. RUSSIAN TAXES AND THEIR COLLECTION. Turcoman and Kirghese Raids. — Prisoners sold into Slavery. — Fortified Villages and Towers of Refuge. — Commerce in Turkestan. — Jealousy' of Foreigners. — Travels of Vambery and Others. — Vambery's Narrow Escape. — Turcoman Character. — Payments for Human Heads. — Marriage Customs among the Turcomans. — Extent and Population of Central Asia 428 CHAPTER XXII. Frank and Fred in the Turcoman Country. — The Trans-Caspian Railway - . — Skobei.eff's Campaign, and the Capture of Geok Tepe. — English Jealousy of Russian Advances. — Rivers of Central Asia. — The Oxus and Jaxartes. — Agriculture by Irrigation. — Khiva, Samarcand, and Bokhara. — A Ride on the Trans-Caspian Railway'. — Statistics of the Line. — Kizil Arvat, Askaiiad, and Sarakhs. — Route to Herat and India. — Turcoman Devastation. — The Afghan Boundary Question. — How Merv was Captured. — O'Donovan and MacGahan: their Remarkable Journeys. — Railway Route from England to India. — Return to Baku 451 CHAPTER XXIII. Baku to Tiflis. — The Capital of the Caucasus. — Mountain Travelling. — Cross- ing the Range. — Petroleum Locomotives. — Batoum and its Importance. — Trebizond and Erzeroom. — Sebastopol and the Crimea. — Short History' of the Crimean War. — Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. — Battles in the Crimea and Siege of Sebastopol. — Visiting the Malakoff and Redan Forts. — View of the Battle-fields. — Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaki.ava. — Pres- ent Condition of Sebastopol. — Odessa. — Arrival at Constantinople. — Frank's Dream. — The End 480 ILLUSTRATIONS. Winter Scene in Russia Frontispiece. PAGE Fred's Reminder 15 St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna 16 View of the Palace of Cracow 17 Kosciusko, 1777 18 Kosciusko, 1817 19 Church of St. Mary, Cracow 20 Polish Jew of high Rank 21 Polish Jews of the Middle Class 22 Our Guide in Costume 23 The Inspector-general 24 The Shaft 26 Descending the Shaft 27 Lamp-bearers 28 A Foot-path 29 An Underground Chapel 31 Men Cutting Salt in the Mine 32 Finishing the Columns 33 Subterranean Stables 34 A Mining Singer 35 " Gliick-auf !" 36 Fete in the Grand Saloon of Entertainment. 37 A Retired Director 3S Outer Wall of Cracow 40 Custom-house Formalities 41 Passport not Correct 42 In the Passport Bureau 43 Way Station on the Railway 45 Before Examination 46 After Examination 47 Scene on the Railway 48 Shutes for loading Coal on the Railway. ... 49 Polish National Costumes 50 Peasant's Farm-house 51 Roval Palace at Warsaw 52 Shrine at a Gate-way 53 Lake in the Park 54 A Business Man of Warsaw 55 In St. Petersburg 56 Isvoshchiks in Winter 59 Drosky Drivers 60 Sledge of a high Official 63 Russian Workmen on their way Home .... 65 PAGE Russian Officer with Decorations 66 A Russian Priest 68 Convent of Solovetsk in the Frozen Sea. ... 71 The Inundation of 1824 72 Statue of Peter the Great 73 Improvising a Statue 75 Tea-sellers in the Streets 77 Russian Restaurant at the Paris Exposition. 78 An Out-door Tea-party 79 Russian Mujiks drinking Tea 81 Plant from which Yellow Tea is made 82 Column in Memory of Alexander 1 83 Peter the Great 85 Assassination of Peter III 87 Paul 1 88 Russian and Finn 89 Dvornik and Postman 90 Lodgings at the Frontier 91 Ordered to leave Russia 92 Finland Peasants in Holiday Costume 94 Inhabitants of Southern Russia 95 St. Isaac's Church and Admiralty Square. . 96 Priest of the Church of St. Isaac 98 Catherine II. of Russia 99 Reception of John Paul Jones by the Em- press Catherine 101 Russian Attack on the Turkish Galley 103 The Orloff Diamond 104 Nicholas 1 105 Peter III 106 Circassian Arms as Trophies of Battle 107 Statue of Nicholas 1 108 Politeness in the Market-place Ill Importuning a Visitor 113 Frozen Animals in the Market 114 Market for old Clothes 116 Pigeons in a Russian City - 118 Persian Horses presented by the Shah .... 119 Russian Peasant Girl 120 Russian Nurse-maid and Children 121 Some of Kriloff 's Friends 122 Kriloff's Characters in Convention 123 12 ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE The Fox as a Law-giver 126 One of Kriloff's Characters 127 Closing Scene in a Russian Play 128 Kriloff's Statue in the Summer Garden, St. Petersburg 129 Press-room of a Daily Newspaper 131 Interviewing an Editor 132 Prince Gortchakoff 133 Cabinet and Chair in the Palace 135 Illumination in a Russian Park 130 Tapestry and Fire Utensils at Peterhof. . . . 137 Door-way of Peter's House at Zaandam, Hol- land 138 A Student of Navigation 139 Steam Frigate near Cronstadt 140 Frigate under Sail and Steam 141 The Dreadnought — type of the Peter the Great 142 The Russian Army — Regular Troops 143 Cossack Lancers and Russian Guard-house. 144 The Russian Army — Irregular Troops 14(3 Grand-duke Michael 148 Iron-elad Steamer of the Baltic Fleet 149 Little Folks at School 151 Learning to Weave 152 Mineral Cabinet in the University 153 Parlor in a High-school for Women 155 Private Room of a wealthy Student 156 Lower Recitation-room 157 One of the Professors 158 Descending a Shaft 159 Galleries in a Mine 160 In the Library 161 A College Dormitory 162 Jewish Burial-ground 163 Clothes-dealer of Moscow 164 A Russian Troika 165 A Villa on the Island 166 A Russian Family 167 Culprit Street-sweepers 169 A Business Transaction ... 170 Peter the Great dressed for Battle 171 An Imperial Nosegay 173 Mujiks playing Cards 174 Peasant's House in Southern Russia 176 Peasants' Huts 178 Esthonian Peasants 179 Alexander II., the Liberator of the Serfs. . . 181 Alexander III., Emperor of Russia 182 Battle between Russians and Circassians. . . 1S4 Sehamvl's Village in the Caucasus 185 The Empress Marie Feodorovna, Wife of Alexander III 186 Russian Peasants at their Recreation 187 " Who is the Spy ?" 189 PAGE Officers sitting in Judgment 191 Russian Grand-duke and Grand-duchess . . 192 Fur-bearing Seals 194 Sea-otter 195 The Beaver 195 The Ermine 196 The Raccoon 196 Russian Ice-hills 198 Soldiers off Duty— Butter-week 199 The Easter Kiss — agreeable 200 The Easter Kiss — in the Family 200 The Easter Kiss — difficult 201 The Easter Kiss — disagreeable 201 The Emperor's Easter Kiss 203 Peasant Girl in Winter Dress 204 A Batli in the East 206 Russian Street Scene in Winter 208 Lost in a Snow-storm 210 Workmen of Novgorod — Glazier, Painter, and Carpenters 212 An Old Norse Chief 213 View on the Steppe 216 Ivan the Terrible 217 Alexis Michailoviteh, Father of Peter the Great 219 Michael Feodorovitch, First Czar of the Ro- manoff Family 220 Too near to be pleasant .... 221 Wolf attacking its Hunters 222 Old Picture in the Church 224 A Bishop of the Greek Church 225 Millennial Monument at Novgorod 227 Russian Boats 228 Portrait of Catherine II. in the Kremlin Col- lection 229 Street Scene in Moscow 231 Bivouacking in the Snow 232 Battle between French and Russians 233 Napoleon Retreating from Moscow 235 Alexander 1 236 View in the Kremlin 237 A Prisoner ordered to Execution 238 The Kremlin of Moscow ' 239 The Great Bell underground 240 Visiting the Great Bell 24 1 Empress Anne 242 The Empress Elizabeth 243 Coronation of Alexander III 245 Peter II 246 Bishop in his Robes 247 Great Gun at Moscow 249 The Cathedral at Moscow 250 Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow 251 Dress of Peasants — Scene from a Russian Opera 253 ILLUSTRATIONS. 13 PAGE A Dressing-room of the Opera-house 254 Working the Ship in " L'Af rieaine " 205 Minin-Pojarsky Monument 257 Peter's Escape from Assassination 258 Peter the Great as Executioner 260 Catherine I .261 Catherine II 263 Grand-duke Nicholas Alexandroviich 264 Skinned and Stuffed Man 266 Russian Beggars 267 Tartar Coffee-house in Southern Russia. . . . 269 Gallery in the Palace 270 Copy of Picture in the Monastery 272 Window in Church of the Trinity 273 Pity the Poor 274 Curious Agate at Troitska 275 Paper-knife from Troitska— St. Sergius and the Bear 276 Specimens of Ecclesiastical Painting on Glass 277 Russian Cooper's Shop and Dwelling 278 Nijni Novgorod during the Fair 280 Nijni Novgorod after the Fair 281 Tartar Merchant 282 Returning from the Fair 283 Launching a Russian Barge 285 Tartar Village near the Volga 286 Tartar Baker's Shop 287 A Siberian Village 289 Petropavlovsk, Kamtchatka. — Mount Avat- cha in Background 290 A Herd of Reindeer 291 Dog-teams and Reindeer 293 Light-house at Ghijigha 294 Ermine-trap 295 Interior of a Native House 295 The Reindeer 296 Fish-market at Nieolayevsk 297 Scenery on the Amoor 298 Gilyak Woman 299 Gilyak Man 299 Native Boat — Amoor River 300 Goldee Children 300 Visiting a Goldee House at Night 301 Inauguration of Genghis Khan 302 Junction of the Argoon and Shilka to form the Amoor 303 Scene in a Posting Station 304 A Tarantasse 306 Changing Horses at a Siberian Station 307 The Right of Way in Russia 309 Getting out of Difficulty 310 Valley of the Amoor above Ouk-se-me 312 Interior of an Exile's Hut 314 Exiles passing through a Village 315 A Town built by Exiles 317 PACK Banished for Five Years 318 Banished for Three Years 318 Colonist's Village in Winter 319 Exiles leaving Moscow 321 Tagilsk, centre of Iron-mines of Siberia .... 322 A Siberian Valley 323 Two Exiled Friends Meeting 325 Escaping Exiles crossing a Stream 326 Ivanoff's Cave 327 Exiles among the Mountains 329 Siberian Peasants 331 Siberian Milk-women 332 Siberia in Summer 333 An Exile Peasant and his Friends 335 A Siberian Landscape 336 Girls Playing at Skakiet 337 A Village Festival 338 Russian Peasant Women , 340 Making Calls after a Wedding 342 Ceremony after a Peasant's Wedding 343 The Mountains near Chetah 345 A Bouriat Village 346 A Wandering Priest 347 Crossing the Selenga 349 Finding Lodgings at Kiachta 351 Chinese Cash from Mai-maiehin 352 Articles of Russian Manufacture 353 Scene in a Chinese Temple 354 Theatre at Mai-mai-chin 355 The Tiger 356 A Natural Arch on Lake Baikal 357 Caverns on Lake Baikal 358 Part of Irkutsk 359 View of the Principal Square in Irkutsk. . . 360 Dressed for the Road 362 A Vashok 363 My Kibitka 364 Farewell to Irkutsk 365 Work of the Frost-king 367 Interior of a Russian Inn 369 Mail-driver and Guard 370 Distant View of a Siberian Village 371 Soldiers in Siberian Ferry-boats 373 View of Krasnoyarsk from the opposite Bank of the Yenisei 374 A Dangerous Ride 376 Beggar at a Siberian Station 378 Policeman at Krasnoyarsk 380 Hills near a Siberian River 381 Jumping an " Oukhaba " 382 Wolves Attacking a Buffalo 384 A Siberian Wolf 385 Summer and Winter in Russia 386 Village on a Russian Estate 388 A Slight Mishap 389 14 ILLUSTRATIONS. Summer View near Barnaool 391 Attacked by a Tiger 393 Beareoots and Wolves 394 Receiving Payment for Human Heads — Khiva 443 Turcoman Trophy — A Russian Head 445 The Steppe in Summer 395 Kokbiiri — A Race for a Bride 447 Specimen of Rock-crystal 397 Monument at the Boundary 397 Western Slope of the Ural Mountains 398 Descending a Hill-side Road 400 Baptizing through the Ice 401 End of the Sleigh-ride 402 Offering of the Villagers 404 Shoeing an Ox 406 Knife-whip 407 Armenian Bishop of Astrachan 408 A Tartar Khan 409 Tartar Postilions 410 Tartar Palaces in Southern Russia 411 Gypsy Family at Astrachan 412 An Oil-steamer on the Caspian Sea 413 Tanks at a Storage Depot 413 View in an Oil Region 414 Bits for Drilling Wells 415 A Spouting Well 416 Derrick and Tanks in the American Oil Region 417 An Oil Refinery with Tank Cars 419 Tartar Camel-cart at Baku 420 Ancient Mound near the Caspian Sea 421 Curious Rock Formations 422 Modern Fire-worshippers — Parsee Lady and Daughter 423 A Burning Tank 425 A Fall in Oil 426 A Rise in Oil 426 Camp Scene near the Altai Mountains 429 A Kalmuck Priest 430 Scene on the Edge of the Kirghese Steppe. . 431 Kirghese Group 432 Kirghese Chief and Family 433 Caravan in Russian Territory 434 Kirghese Raid on a Hostile Tribe 436 Lasgird — A Fortified Village in Northern Persia 438 Tower of Refuge 439 Framework of Turcoman Tent 440 The Tent Covered 440 Interior of Tent 441 Vambery's Reception by Turcoman Chief on the Caspian Shore 442 View of the Citadel of Khiva 448 An Ozbek Head 449 Map showing the Relations of Russia and England in the East 451 Sand-storm in the Desert 452 Turcoman Court of Justice 453 Kirghese Tomb 454 Charge of Russian Cavalry against Turco- mans 455 Russian Army on the Turcoman Steppes... 457 Winter Camp in Turcomania 459 Turcoman Irrigating Wheel 460 Scene at a Ferry on the Oxus 461 Map of the Russo-Afghan Region 462 Turcoman Woman Spinning 464 Village of Turcoman Tents 465 The New Russo-Afghan Frontier 466 Old Sarakhs 468 Sarik Turcoman Woman 469 Pul-i-Khisti and Ak Tapa 470 Penjdeh 471 Colonel iUikhanoff 472 The Great Highway of Central Asia 473 Turcoman Farm-yard 475 Map of Turkestan, showing Route of Trans- Caspian Railway 476 Crossing a River in Central Asia 478 A Native Traveller 479 Looking down on the Steppe 481 View of Tiflis 483 The Pass of Dariel, Caucasus 485 Governor-general of the Caucasus 486 Ruined Fortress in the Caucasus 487 Ruined Church near Batoum 488 Quarantine Harbor, Trebizond 489 View of Erzeroom 490 Turkish Authority 492 View of Sebastopol 495 Ruins of the Malakoff, Sebastopol 496 Russian Carpenters at Work 498 Cossacks and Chasseurs 499 British Soldiers in Camp oil) Alfred Tennyson 502 A Broken Tarantasse 503 The Bosporus 504 Map to accompany the Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire Front Cover. Map showing the Russian Empire Routes as Described by the Boy Travellers Back Cover. THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. CHAPTER I. DEPARTURE FROM VIENNA. — FRANK'S LETTER.— A FAREWELL PROMENADE.— FROM VIENNA TO CRACOW.— THE GREAT SALT-MINE OF WIELICZKA, AND WHAT WAS SEEN THERE.— CHURCHES AND PALACES UNDERGROUND.— VOY- AGE ON A SUBTERRANEAN LAKE. " TTERE are the passports at last." J- J- " Are you sure they are quite in order for our journey ?" " Yes, entirely so," was the reply ; " the Secretary of Legation examined them care- fully, and said we should have no trouble at the frontier." "Well, then," a cheery voice responded, " we have nothing more to do until the depart- ure of the train. Five minutes will complete the packing of our baggage, and the hotel bill is all settled. I am going for a walk through the Graben, and will be back in an hour." So saying, our old acquaintance, Doctor Bronson, left his room in the Grand Hotel in Vienna and disappeared down the stairway. He was followed, a few minutes later, by his nephew, Fred Bronson, who had just returned from a promenade, during which he had visited the Ameri- can Legation to obtain the passports which were the subject of the dia- logue just recorded. At the door of the hotel he was joined by his cousin, Frank Bassett. The latter proposed a farewell visit to the Church of St. Stephen, and FRED S REMINDER. 16 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. also a short stroll in the Graben, where he wished to make a tri- fling purchase. Fred assented, and they started at once. They had not gone far before Fred perceived at a window the face of a girl busily engaged in writing. He paused a moment, and then suggested to Frank that he wished to return to the hotel in time to write a letter to his sister before the closing of the mail. " I really believe," said he, "that I should have neglected Mary this week if I had not been reminded by that girl in the win- dow and her occupation." Frank laughed as he rejoined that he had never yet known his cousin to forget his duty, and it ST. STEfHEN S CATHEDRAL, VIENNA. FAREWELL VIEW OF VIENNA. 17 would have been pretty sure to occur to him that he owed his sister a letter before it was too late for writing it. They made a hasty visit to the church, which is by far the finest relig- ious edifice in Vienna, and may be said to stand in the very heart of the city. Fred had previously made a note of the fact that the church is more than seven hundred years old, and has been rebuilt, altered, and en- larged so many times that not much of the original structure remains. On the first day of their stay in Vienna the youths had climbed to the top of the building and ascended the spire, from which they had a magnificent TIKW OF THK PALACK OF CRACOW. view of the city and the country which surrounds it. The windings of the Danube are visible for many miles, and there are guides ready at hand to point out the battle-fields of Wagram, Lobau, and Essling. Our young friends had a good-natured discussion about the height of the spire of St. Stephen's ; Frank claimed that his guide-book gave the distance from the ground to the top of the cross four hundred and fifty-three feet, while Fred contended, on the authority of another guide-book, that it was four hundred and sixty -five feet. Authorities differ considerably as to the 2 18 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. exact height of this famous spire, which does not appear to have received a careful measurement for a good many years. From the church the youths went to the Graben, the famous street where idlers love to congregate on pleasant afternoons, and then they re- turned to the hotel. Fred devoted himself to the promised letter to his sister. With his permission we will look over his shoulder as he writes, and from the closing paragraph learn the present destination of our old friends with whom we have travelled in other lands.* " YV r e have been here a week, and like Vienna very much, but are quite willing to leave the city for the in- teresting tour we have planned. We start this evening by the Northern Railway for a journey to and through Russia ; our first stopping-place will be at the nearest point on the rail- way for reaching the famous salt-mines of Wieliczka. You must pro- nounce it "We-ZeVe^-ka, with the accent on the second syllable. Fll write you from there ; or, if I don't have time to do so at the mines, will send you a letter from the first city where we stop for more than a single day. "We have just had our passports indorsed by the Russian minister for Austria — a very necessary proceeding, as it is impossible to get into Russia without these documents. Until I next write you, good-by." The travellers arrived at the great ^Northern Railway station of Vienna in ample season to take their tickets and attend to the regis- tration of their baggage. The train carried them swiftly to Cracow — a city which has had a prominent place in Polish annals. It was the scene of several battles, and was for a long time the capital of the ancient king- dom of Poland. Frank made the following memoranda in his note- book: •' Cracow is a city of about fifty thousand inhabitants, of whom nearly KOSCIUSKO, 1 777. * "The Boy Travellers in the Far East" (five volumes) and "The Boy Travellers in South America " (one volume). Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to and through Japan, China, Siam, Java, Ceylon, India, Egypt. Palestine, Central Africa, Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Brazil, and the Argentine Republic. New Y'ork. Harper & Brothers. SIGHTS IN CRACOW. 19 one-third are Israelites. It stands on the left bank of the Vistula, on a beautiful plain surrounded by hills which rise in the form of an amphi- theatre. In the old part of the city the streets are narrow and dark, and cannot be praised for their cleanliness ; but the new part, which lies out- side the ancient defences, is quite attractive. The palace is ou the bank of the river, and was once very pretty. The Austrians have converted it into a military barrack, after strip- ping it of all its ornaments, so that it is now hardly worth seeing. There are many fine churches in Cracow, but we have only had time to visit one of them — the cathe- dral. " In the cathedral we saw the tombs of many of the men whose names are famous in Polish his- tory. Polish kings and queens al- most by the dozen are buried here, and there is a fine monument to the memory of St. Stanislaus. His re- mains are preserved in a silver coffin, and are the object of rever- ence on the i)art of those who still dream of the ultimate liberation of Poland, and its restoration to its old place among the kingdoms of the world. "We drove around the princi- pal streets of Cracow, and then out to the tumulus erected to the mem- ory of the Polish patriot. Kosciusko. You remember the lines in our school reader, " 'Hope for a season bade the world farewell, And freedom shrieked as Kosciusko fell.' KOSCIUSKO, 1817. " "We were particularly desirous to see this mound. It was made of earth brought from all the patriotic battle-fields of Poland at an enormous expense, which was largely borne by the people of Cracow. The monu- ment is altogether one hundred and fifty feet high, and is just inside the line of fortifications which have been erected around the city. The Aus- trians say these fortifications are intended to keep out the Eussians ; but 20 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. it is just as likely that they are intended to keep the Poles from making one of the insurrections for which they have shown so great an incli- nation .during the past two or three centuries. " As we contemplated the monument to the famous soldier of Poland, we remembered his services during our Revolutionary war. Kosciusko entered the American army in 1776 as an officer of engineers, and i - e- mained with General Washington until the close of the war. He planned the fortified camp near Saratoga, and also the works at West Point. When our independence was achieved he returned to Poland, and after fighting for several years in the cause of his country, he made a brief visit to America, where he received much distinction. Then he returned aerain to Euroj)e, lived for a time in France, and afterwards in Switzerland, CHURCH OF ST. MAKY, CRACOW. where he died in 1S17. The monument we have just visited does not cover his grave, as he was buried with much ceremony in the Cathedral of Cracow." "Why don't you say something about the Jewish quarter of Cracow," said Fred, when Frank read what he had written, and which we have given above. " I'll leave that for you," was the reply. " You may write the descrip- tion while I make some sketches." THE JEWS' QUARTER IN CRACOW. 21 "I'm agreed," responded Fred. "Let's go over the ground together and pick out what is the most interesting." Away they went, leaving Doctor Bronson with a gentleman with whom he had formed an acquaintance during their ride from the railway to the hotel. The Doctor was not partial to a walk in the Jews' quarter, and said he was willing to take his knowledge of it at second-hand. On their way thither the youths stopped a few minutes to look at the Church of St. Mary, which was built in 1276, and is regarded as a fine specimen of Gothic architecture. It is at one side of the market-place, and presents a picturesque appear- ance as the beholder stands in front of it. The Jews' quarter is on the op- posite side of the river from the principal part of the city, and is reached by a bridge over the Vis- tula. At every step the youths were beset by beggars. They had taken a guide from the hotel, un- der the stipulation that he should not permit the beggars to annoy them, but they soon found it would be impossible to secure immunity from attack without a cordon of at least a dozen guides. Frank pronounced the beggars of Cracow the most forlorn he had ever seen, and Fred thought they were more numerous in proportion to the population than in any other city, with the possible exception of Naples. Their ragged and starved condition indicated that their distress was real, and more than once our young friends regretted having brought themselves face to face with so much misery that they were powerless to relieve. Frank remarked that there was a similarity of dress among the Jews of Cracow, as they all wore long caftans, or robes, reaching nearly to the heels. The wealthy Jews wear robes of silk, with fur caps or turbans, while the poorer ones must content themselves with cheaper material, according to their ability. The guide told the youths that the men of POLISH JEW OF HIGH RANK. 22 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. rank would not surround their waists with girdles as did the humbler Jews, and that sometimes the robes of the rich were lined with sable, at a cost of many hundreds of dollars. Fred carefully noted the information obtained while Frank made the sketches he had promised to produce. They are by no means unlike the POLISH JEWS OF THE MIDDLE CLASS. sketches that were made by another American traveller (Mr. J. Eoss Browne), who visited Cracow several years before the journey of our friends. " But there's one thing we can't sketch, and can't describe in writing,'' said Fred, " and that's the dirt in the streets of this Jews' cpiarter of Cra- cow. If Doctor Branson knew of it I don't wonder he declined to come GOING TO THE SALT-MINES. 23 with ns. No attempt is made to keep the place clean, and it seems a pity that the authorities do not force the people into better ways. It's as bad as any part of Canton or Peking, and that's saying a great deal. I won- der they don't die of cholera, and leave the place without inhabitants." In spite of all sorts of oppression, the Jews of Cracow preserve their distinctiveness, and there are no more devout religionists in the world than this people. The greater part of the commerce of the city is in their hands, and they are said to have a vast amount of wealth in their possession. That they have a large share of business was noticed by Fred, who said that from the moment they alighted from the train at the rail- way-station they were pestered by peddlers, guides, money-changers, run- ners for shops, beggars, and all sorts of importunate people from the quar- ter of the city over the Vistula. An hour in the Jews' quarter gratified their curiosity, and they returned to the hotel. There is a line of railway to the salt-mines, but our friends preferred to go in a carriage, as it would afford a better view of the country, and enable them to arrange the time to suit themselves. The distance is about nine miles, and the road is well kept, so that they reached the mines in little more than an hour from the time of leaving the ho- tel. The road is through an undu- lating country, which is prettily dot- ted with farms, together with the summer residences of some of the wealthier inhabitants of Cracow. On reaching the mines they went immediately to the offices, where it was necessary to obtain permission to. descend into the earth. These offices are in an old castle formerly belonging to one of the native princes, but long ago turned into its present practical uses. Our friends were accom- panied by a commissioner from the hotel where they were lodged in Cracow ; he was a dignified individual, who claimed descent from one of the noble families of Poland, and the solemnity of his visage was increased OCR GUIDE IN COSTUME 24 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. by a huge pair of spectacles that spanned his nose. Frank remarked that spectacles were in fashion at "Wieliczka, as at least half the officials con- nected with the management of the salt-mines were ornamented with these aids to vision. A spectacled clerk entered the names of the visitors in a register kept for the purpose, and issued the tickets permitting them to enter the mines. Armed with their tickets, they were conducted to a building close to the entrance of one of the mines, and ushered into the pres- ence of the inspector-general of the works. He was also a wearer of spec- tacles, and the rotundity of his fig- ure indicated that the air and food of the place had not injured him. " The inspector-general received us politely — in fact everybody about the place was polite enough for the most fastidious taste," said Frank in his note- book — "and after a short conversation he called our attention to the robes which had been worn by imperial and royal visitors to the mines. The robes are richly embroidered, and every one bears a label telling when and by whom it was worn. The inspector-general treated the garments with almost as much reverence as he would have shown to the personages named on the labels. We realized that it was proper to regard them with respect, if we wished to have the good-will of this important official, and therefore we appeared to be dumb with amazement as he went through the list. When the examination was ended we were provided with garments for the de- scent. Evidently we were not regarded with the same awe as were the kings and emperors that had preceded us, as our robes were of a very common sort. They were like dressing-gowns, and reached nearly to our heels, and our heads were covered with small woollen caps. I do not be- lieve they were labelled with our names and kept in glass cases after our departure. '• I made a sketch of our guide after he was arrayed in his under- !W*W££«^I THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL. DESCENDING THE SHAFT. 25 ground costume and ready to start. Fred sketched the inspector-general while the latter was talking to the Doctor. The portrait isn't a bad one, but I think he has exaggerated somewhat the rotund figure of the affable official. " From the office we went to the entrance of one of the shafts. It is in a large building, which contains the hoisting apparatus, and is also used as a storehouse. Sacks and barrels of salt were piled there awaiting trans- portation to market, and in front of the building there were half a dozen wagons receiving the loads which they were to take to the railway-station. The hoisting apparatus is an enormous wheel turned by horse-power ; the horses walk around in a circle, as in the old-fashioned cider-mill of the Northern States, or the primitive cotton-gin of the South. Our guide said there were more than twenty of these shafts, and there was also a stairway, cut in the solid earth and salt, extending to the bottom of the mine. We had proposed to descend by the stairway, but the commis- sioner strenuously advised against our doing so. He said the way was dark and the steps were slippery, as they were wet in many places from the water trickling through the earth. His arguments appeared reason- able, and so we went by the shaft. " The rope winds around a drum on the shaft supporting the wheel, and then passes through a pulley directly over the place where we were to descend. The rope is fully two inches in diameter, and was said to be capable of bearing ten times the weight that can ever be placed upon it in ordinary use. It is examined every morning, and at least once a week it is tested with a load of at least four times that which it ordi- narily carries. When it shows any sign of wear it is renewed ; and judging from all we could see, the managers take every precaution against accidents. " Smaller ropes attached to the main one have seats at the ends. There are two clusters of these ropes, about twenty feet apart, the lower one being intended for the guides and lamp-bearers, and the upper for visitors and officials. Six of us were seated in the upper group. It included our party of four and two subordinate officials, who accompanied us on our journey and received fees on our return ; but I suppose they would scorn to be called guides. " There is a heavy trap-door over the mouth of the shaft, and the rope plays freely through it. The guides and lamp-bearers took their places at the end of the rope; then the door was opened and they were lowered down, and the door closed above them. This brought the upper cluster of ropes in position for us to take our places, which we did under 26 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. ■ lllllH.'lll llll lll, _ the direction of the officials who accompanied us. "When all was ready the signal was given, the trap -door was opened once more, and we began our downward journey into the earth. " As the trap - door closed above us, I confess to a rather uncanny feeling. Below us gleamed the lights in the hands of the lamp - bearers, but above there was a darkness that seemed as though it might be felt, or sliced off with a knife. Nobody spoke, and the attention of all seemed to be directed to hanging on to the rope. Of course the uppermost question in everybody's mind was, 'What if the rope should break? 5 It doesn't take long to answer it ; the individuals hanging in that cluster below the gloomy trap-door would be of very little con- secpienee in a terrestrial way after the snapping of the rope. "We compared notes afterwards, and found that our sensations were pretty much alike. The general feeling was one of uncertainty, and each one asked himself sev- eral times whether he was asleep or awake. Fred said a part of the journey was like a nightmare, and the Doc- tor said he had the same idea, especially after the noise of the machinery was lost in the distance and everything was in utter silence. For the first few moments we could hear the whirring of the wheel and the jar of the machinery ; but very soon these sounds disappeared, and SANITARY CONDITIONS UNDERGROUND. 27 we glided gently downward, without the least sensation of being in mo- tion. It seemed to me not that we were descending, but that the walls of the shaft were rising around us, while our position was stationary. " Contrary to expectation, we found the air quite agreeable. The offi- cial who accompanied us said it was peculiarly conducive to health ; and many of the employes of the mines had been at work there forty or rifty DESCENDING THE SHAFT. years, and had never lost a day from illness. "We had supposed it would be damp and cold, but, on the contrary, found it dry and of an agreea- ble temperature, which remains nearly the same all through the year. JSTo doubt the salt has much to do with this healthy condition. Occasionally 28 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. hydrogen gas collects in some of the shafts which are not properly venti- lated, and there have been explosions of fire-damp which destroyed a good many lives. These accidents were the result of carelessness either of the LAMf-BEARERS. miners or their superintendents, and since their occurrence a more rigid system of inspection has been established. " We stopped at the bottom of the shaft, which is about three hundred feet deep ; there we were released from our fastenings and allowed to use our feet again. Then we were guided through a perfect labyrinth of pas- sages, up and down ladders, along narrow paths, into halls spacious enough for the reception of an emperor, and again into little nooks where men A SUBTERRANEAN CITY. 29 were occupied in excavating the salt. For several hours we wandered there, losing all knowledge of the points of compass, and if we had been left to ourselves our chances of emerging again into daylight would have been utterly hopeless. "And here let me give you a few figures about the salt-mines of Wieliczka. I cannot promise that they are entirely accurate, but they are drawn from the best sources within our reach. Some were obtained from the under-officials of the mines who accompanied us, and others are taken from the work of previous writers on this subject. " The salt-mine may be fairly regarded as a city under the surface of the earth, as it shelters about a thousand workmen, and contains chapels, churches, railways, stables, and other appurtenances of a place where men dwell. In fact it is a series of cities, one above the other, as there are four tiers of excavations, the first being about two hundred feet below the surface, and the lowest nearly two thousand. The subterranean passages and halls are named after various kings and emperors who have visited them, or who were fa- mous at the time the passages were opened, and altogether they cover an area of several square miles. In a general way the salt - mines of Wieliczka may be said to be near- ly two miles square ; but the ends of some of the passages are more than two miles from the entrance of the nearest shaft. The entire town of Wieliczka lies above the mines which give occupation to its inhabitants. " There is probably more tim- ber beneath the surface at Wie- liczka than above it, as the roofs of the numerous passages are sup- ported by heavy beams ; and the same is the case with the smaller halls. In the larger halls such support would be insufficient, and immense col- umns of salt are left in position. In several instances these pillars of salt have been replaced by columns of brick or stone, as they would be A FOOT-PATH. 3U THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. liable to be melted away during any accidental flooding of the mine, and allow the entire upper strata to tumble in. This has actually hap- pened on one occasion, when a part of the mine was flooded and serious damage resulted. " Our guide said the length of the passages, galleries, and halls was nearly four hundred English miles, and the greatest depth reached was two thousand four hundred feet. If we should visit all the galleries aud passages, and examine every object of interest in the mines, we should be detained there at least three weeks. Not a single one of all the workmen had been in every part of all the galleries of the mine, and he doubted if there was any officer attached to the concern who would not be liable to be lost if left to himself. " Nobody knows when these mines were discovered ; they were worked in the eleventh century, when they belonged to the kingdom of Poland, and an important revenue was derived from them. In the fourteenth century Casimir the Great established elaborate regulations for working the mines, and his regulations are the basis of those which are still in force, in spite of numerous changes. In 1656 they were pledged to Aus- tria, but were redeemed by John Sobieski in 16S3. When the first par- tition of Poland took place, in 1772, they were handed over to Austria, ■which has had possession of them ever since, with the exception of the short period from 1809 to 1S15. " While the mines belonged to Poland the kings of that country ob- tained a large revenue from them. For two or three centuries this revenue was sufficiently large to serve for the endowment of convents and the dowries of the members of the royal family. The Austrian Government has obtained a considerable revenue from these mines, but owing- to the modern competition with salt from other sources, it does not equal the profit of the Polish kings. " Except when reduced by accidents or other causes, the annual pro- duction of salt in these mines is about two hundred millions of pounds, or one hundred thousand tons. The deposit is known to extend a long dis- tance, and the Government might, if it wished, increase the production to any desired amount. But it does not consider it judicious to do so, and is content to keep the figures about where they have been since the begin- ning of the century. The salt supplies a considerable area of country ; a large amount, usually of the lower grades, is sent into Russia, and the finer qualities are shipped to various parts of the Austrian Empire. " We asked if the workmen lived in the mines, as was currently re- ported, and were told they did not. ' They would not be allowed to do SALT-MIXERS AT WORK. 31 so, even if they wished it,' said our guide. ' By the rules of the direction the men are divided into gangs, working eight hours each, and all are re- quired to go to the surface when not on duty. In ancient times it was doubtless the case that men lived here with their families. At one time AN UNDERGROUND CHAPEL. the mines were worked by prisoners, who did not see daylight for months together, but nothing of the kind has occurred for more than a cen- tury at least.' " Several times in our walk we came upon little groups of men work- ing in the galleries; and certainly they were not to be envied. Some- times they were cutting with picks against perpendicular walls, and at others they were lying flat on their backs, digging away at the roof not 32 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IX THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. more than a foot or two above their heads. The shaggy lamp-bearers — generally old men unable to perform heavy work — stood close at hand, and the glare of the light falling upon the flashing crystals of salt that flew in the air, and covered the half-naked bodies of the perspiring work- men, made a picture which I cannot adequately describe. I do not know that I ever looked upon a spectacle more weird than this. " We had expected to see the men in large gangs, but found that they MEN CCTTI.NG SALT IN THE MINE. were nearly always divided into little groups. One would think they would prefer any other kind of occupation than this, but our guide told us that the laborers were perfectly free to leave at any time, just as though they were in the employ of a private establishment. There were plenty of men who would gladly fill their places, and frequently they had applications for years in advance. As prices go in Austria, the pay is very good, the men averaging from twenty to fifty cents a day. As far as possible they are paid by the piece, and not by time — the same as in the great majority of mines all over the world. " But the horses which draw the cars on the subterranean railwavs are UNDERGROUND HALLS.- 33 not regarded with the same care as the men. They never return to the light of day after once heing lowered into the mine. In a few weeks after arriving there a cataract covers their eyes and the sight disap- pears. By some this result is attributed to the perpetual darkness, and by others to the effect of the salt. It is probably due to the former, as the workmen do not appear to suffer in the same way. Whether they would become blind if continually kept there is not known, aud it is to be hoped that no cruel overseer will endeavor to ascertain by a practical trial. " Every time we came upon a group of workmen they paused in their labors and begged for money. We had provided ourselves with an abun- dance of copper coins before descending into the mine, aud it was well we did so, as they generally became clamorous until obtaining what they wanted. Fortunately they were satisfied with a small coin, and did not annoy us after once being paid.- " I cannot begin to give the names of all the halls, galleries, and pas- sages we went through, and if 1 did, it would be tedious. We wandered up and down, down aud up, forward and backward, until it seemed as if there was no end to the journey. And to think we might have been there three weeks without once repeating our steps ! I will mention at random some of the most interesting of the things we saw. To tell the FINISHING THE COLUMNS. whole story and give a full description of this most wonderful salt-mine in the world would require a volume. " The chamber of Michelwic was the first of the large halls that we entered, and was reached after a long journey through winding passages and along foot-paths that sometimes overhung places where it was impos- sible for the eye, aided only by the light of the lamps, to ascertain the 3 *" 34 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. depth of the openings below. In some of the dangerous places there was a rail to prevent one from falling over ; but this was not always the case, and you may be sure we kept on the safe side and close to the wall. " In the hall we were treated to a song by one of the mining over- seers, an old soldier who had lost an arm in some way that was not ex- plained to us. He had an excellent voice that ought to have secured him a good place in the chorus of an opera troupe. He sang a mining song in quite a melodramatic style ; and as he did so the notes echoed and re- echoed through the hall till it seemed they would never cease. In the centre of the hall is a chandelier cut from the solid salt, and on grand oc- SUBTKRRANEAN STABLES. casions this chandelier is lighted and a band of music is stationed at one end of the vast space. Its effect is said to be something beyond descrip- tion, and, judging from the effect of the overseer's voice, I can well be- lieve it. " From this hall we went through a series of chambers and galleries named after the royal and imperial families of Poland and Austria, pass- ing chapels, shrines, altars, and other things indicating the religious char- acter of the people employed in the mines or controlling them, together SUBTERRANEAN FIREWORKS. with many niches containing statues of kings, saints, and martyrs, all hewn from the solid salt. Some of the statues are rudely made, but the most of them are well designed and executed. In some of the chapels wor- shippers were kneeling before the altars, and it was difficult to realize that we were hundreds of feet below the surface of the earth. " By-and-by our guide said we were coming to the Infernal Lake. The lamp-bearers held their lights high in the air, and we could see the reflection from a sheet of water, but how great might be its extent was impossible to guess. As we approached the edge of the water a boat emerged from the gloom and came towards us. It was a sort of rope ferry, and we immediately thought of the ferry-boat which the an- cients believed was employed to carry departed spirits across the river Styx. Certainly the darkness all around was Stygian, and the men on the boat might have been Charon's attendants. " We passed down a few steps, entered the boat, and were pulled away from shore. In less than a minute nothing but the little circle of water around us was visible ; the sides of the cavern echoed our voices and every other sound that came from our boat. In the mid- dle of the lake we paused to ob- serve the effect of the sound caused by the waves created by the rock- ing of the boat. It reverberated through the cavern and away into the galleries, and seemed as though it would last forever. "When this sensation was exhausted we moved on again. Doctor Bronson asked the guide how far it was to the other end of the lake, but before the answer was spoken Ave had a fresh surprise. " There was a flash of light from a point high above us, and almost at the same instant another, a little distance ahead. The latter assumed the form of an arch in red fire, displaying the greeting ' Gluck-auf !' or ' Good- lttck !' though this is not the literal translation. "We passed under this A MINING SINGKK. 36 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 'GLUCK-AUF! arch of red fire, and as we did so the words ' Gliick-auf ! Gliick-auf !' were shouted from all around, and at the same time flashes of fire burst from a dozen places above the lake. We shouted ' Gliick-auf !' in reply, and then the voices from the mysterious recesses seemed to be quadrupled in num- ber and volume. The air was filled with flashes of light, and was every- where resonant with the words of the miners' welcome. "At the other end of the lake there was a considerable party waiting to receive us, and of course there was a liberal distribution of coin to ev- erybody. I ought to have said at the outset that we arranged to pay for FESTIVAL IN THE MINE. 37 the illumination of the lake and also of certain specified halls, in addition to the compensation of the guides. The illuminations are entirely pro- portioned to the amount that the visitors are willing to give for them. It is a good plan to unite with other visitors, and then the individual cost will not be heavy. Twenty dollars will pay for a very good illumination, and fifty dollars will secure something worthy of a prince, though not a first-class one. " They showed us next through more winding passages, and came at length to the Grand Saloon of Entertainment ; which is of immense ex- k£tk in the grand saloon of entertainment. tent, and has no less than six large chandeliers hanging from the roof. It is lighted on the occasion of the visit of a king or emperor (of course he 3S THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. has to pay the bill), and the effect is said to be wonderful. There is an alcove at one end, with a throne of green and ruby-colored salt, whereon the emperor is seated. A blaze of light all through the hall is reflected from the myriad crystals of salt which form the roof and sides ; the floor is strewn with sparkling salt ; the columns are decorated with ev- ergreens; festoons of flags abound through the place ; and a band of music plays the airs appropriate to the hall and the guest. "The workmen and their fam- ilies assemble in their holiday dress, and when the music begins the whole party indulges in the Polish national dance. It is a strange spectacle, this scene of revelry five hundred feet below the surface of the earth, and probably among the sights that do not come often before the Imperial eyes. These spectacles must be arranged to order, and for weeks before an Imperial or Royal visit a great many hands are en- gaged in making the necessary prep- arations. From all I heard of these festivals, I would willingly travel many hundred miles to see one of them. " By means of the illuminating materials that we brought with us, we were able to get an approximate idea of the character of one of these gala spectacles. After our last Bengal -light had been burned, we continued our journey, descending to the third story by many devious ways, and finally halting in a chamber whose roof was not less than a hundred feet above us. " ' Do you know where you are V said our guide. " Of course we answered that we did not. " ' Well,' said he, ' you are directly beneath the lake which we sailed over in a boat a little while ago. If it should break through we should all be drowned, dead.' "We shuddered to think what might be our fate if the lake should A RETIRED DIRECTOR. CHARACTER OF THE MINERAL SALT. 39 spring a leak. It did break out at one time and flooded many of the gal- leries, and for a long while work in all the lower part of the mine was suspended. There have been several fires, some of them causing the loss of many lives ; but, on the whole, considering the long time the mine has been opened and the extent of the works, the accidents have been few. " The deepest excavation in the mine is nearly seven hundred feet below the level of the sea. We did not go there, in fact we did not go below the third story, as we had seen quite enough for our purposes, and besides we had only a limited time to stay in the mine. As we came up again to daylight, hoisted in the same sort of chairs as those by which we descended, we made a final inspection of the salt which comes from the mine. '"There are three kinds of salt,' said the guide. 'One that is called green salt contains five or six per cent, of clay, and has no transparency ; it is cut into blocks and sent to Russia exactly as it comes from the mine. The second qualify is called sp&a, and is crystalline and mixed with sand ; and the third is in large masses, perfectly transparent, having no earthy matter mingled with it. The salt is found in compact tertiary clays that contain a good many fossils ; the finest salt is at the lowest levels, and the poorest at the higher ones.' " "Well, here we are at the top of the shaft, tired and hungry, and ex- cited with the wonderful things we have seen. The visit to the salt-mines of Wieliczka is something to be lono; remembered." a Since the visit herein described, the manner of working the salt-mines of "Wieliczka has undergone a decided change. Owing to the influx of a stream the lower levels of the mines were flooded, and for some time re- mained full of water. In order to free them it was necessary to introduce powerful pumping machinery of the latest designs, and also to replace the old hoisting apparatus with new. Horse-power was abandoned in favor of steam, both for hoisting and pumping; new precautions were taken against fire ; all improved systems of mine-working were tested, and those which proved useful were adopted ; and to-day the mines of Wieliczka may be considered, in every respect, the foremost salt-mines in the world. 40 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. CHAPTER II. LEAVING CRACOW.— THE RUSSIAN FRONTIER.— THE POLICE AND THE CUSTOM- HOUSE.— RUSSIAN CENSORSHIP OF BOOKS AND PAPERS.— CATCHING A SMUG- GLER—FROM THE FRONTIER TO WARSAW.— SIGHTS AND INCIDENTS IN THE CAPITAL OF POLAND.— FROM WARSAW TO ST. PETERSBURG. THE sun was setting as our friends reached Cracow, on their return from Wieliczka. The walls of the city were gilded by the rays of light that streamed over the hills which formed the western horizon. In all its features the scene was well calculated to impress the youthful trav- ellers. Frank wished to make a sketch of the gate-way through which they passed on their entrance within the walls, but the hour was late and OITK.R WALL OF CRACOW. ENTERING RUSSIA. 41 delay inadvisable. The commissioner said he would bring them a photo- graph ox the spot, and with this consolation the young man dismissed from his mind the idea of the sketch. All retired early, as they intended taking the morning train for the Russian frontier, and thence to Warsaw. They were up in good season, and at the appointed time the train carried them out of the ancient capi- tal of Poland. At Granitsa, the frontier station, they had a halt of nearly two hours. Their passports were carefully examined by the Russian officials, while their trunks underwent a vigorous overhauling. The passports proved to be entirely in order, and there was no trouble with them. The officials were particularly polite to the American trio, and said they were always pleased to welcome Americans to the Empire. They were less courteous to an Englishman who arrived by the same train, and the Doctor said it was evident that the Crimean war had not been entirely forgotten. Several passengers had neglected the precautions which our friends observed at Vienna, in securing the proper indorsement to their pass- ports, and were told that they could not pass the frontier. They were compelled to wait imtil the pass- ports could be sent to Cracow for approval by the Russian consul at that point, or else to Vienna. A commissioner attached to the rail- way-station offered to attend to the matter for all who required his aid ; formerly it was necessary for the careless traveller to return in person to the point designated, but of late years this has not been re- quired. " This passport business is an outrageous humbug," said the Eng- lishman with whom our friends had fallen into conversation while they were waiting in the anteroom of the passport office. " Its object is to keep improper persons out of Russia; but it does nothing of the kind. Any Nihilist, Revolutionist, or other objectionable individual can always obtain CUSTOM-HOUSE FORMALITIES. 42 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. a passport under a fictitious name, and secure the necessary approval of consuls or ambassadors. Ivan Carlovitcli, f or whom the police are on the watch, comes here with a passport in the name of Joseph Cassini, a native of Malta, and subject of Great Britain. His English passport is obtained easily enough by a little false swearing ; it is approved by the Russian minister at Vienna, and the fellow enters Russia with perfect ease. The honest traveller who has neglected the formality through ignorance is de- tained, while the Revolutionist goes on his way contented. The Revolutionist always knows the technicalities of the law, and is careful to observe them ; and it is safe to say that the passport system never prevented any political offender from getting into Russia when he wanted to go there. " I have been in Russia before," he- continued, "and know what I am say- ing. The first time I went there was from Berlin, and on reaching the fron- tier I was stopped because my passport was not properly indorsed. I supposed I would have to go back to Berlin, but the station-master said I need not take that trouble ; I could stop at the hotel, and he would arrange the whole matter, so that I might proceed exactly twenty-four hours later. I did as he told me, and it was all right." " How was it accomplished ?" " Why, he took my passport and a dozen others whose owners were in the same fix as myself, and sent them by the conductor of the train to Kcenigsburg, where there is a Russian consul. For a fee of two English shillings (fifty cents of your money) the consul approved each passport ; another fee of fifty cents paid the conductor for his trouble, and he brought back the passports on his return run to the frontier. Then the station-master wanted four shillings (one dollar) for his share of the work, and we were all en regie to enter the Russian Empire. We got our bag- gage ready, and were at the station when the train arrived ; the station- master delivered our passports, and collected his fee along with the fees of the conductor and consul, and that ended the whole business. The consul knew nothing about any of the persons named in the passport.-. and we might have been conspirators or anything else that was objection- able, and nobody would have been the wiser. Russia is the only country PASSPORT NOT COItltECT. TRAVELLERS EXAMINED. . 43 in Europe that keeps up the passport system with any severity, and it only results in putting honest people to trouble and expense, and never stops those whom it is intended to reach. There, they've opened the door, and we can now go before the representatives of the autocrat of all the Rus- sias." One by one they approached the desk, with the result already stated. At the examination of the baggage in the custom-house the clothing and IN THE PASSPORT BUREAU. personal effects of our friends were passed without question, but there was some difficulty over a few books which the boys had bought before leav- ing Yienna. One volume, pronounced objectionable, was seized as con- traband, but the others were not taken. Every book written by a foreign- 44 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. er about Russia is carefully examined by the official censor as soon as it is published, and upon bis decision depends the question of its circulation being allowed in the Empire. Anything calculated to throw disrespect upon the Imperial family, or upon the Government in general, is prohib- ited, as well as everything which can be considered to have a revolution- ary tendency. " They are not so rigid as they used to be," growled the Englishman, as be closed and locked his trunk after the examination was completed. "In the time of the Emperor Nicholas they would not allow anything that indicated there was any other government in the world which amounted to anything, and they were particularly severe upon all kinds of school-books. Now they rarely object to school-books, unless they con- tain too many teachings of liberty ; and the}' are getting over their squeam- ishness about criticisms, even if they are abusive and untruthful. The worst case I ever heard of was of an inspector at one of the frontier sta- tions^who seized a book on astronomy because it contained a chapter on ' The Revolutions of the Earth.' He said nothing revolutionary coidd be allowed to enter the Empire, and confiscated the volume in spite of its owner's explanations. "Under Nicholas," continued the Englishman, "Macaulay's 'History of England ' was prohibited, though it could be bought without much trouble. After Alexander II. ascended the throne the rigors of the cen- sorship Avere greatly reduced, and papers and books were freely admitted into Russia which were prohibited in France under Louis Napoleon. All the Tauclmitz editions of English works were permitted, even including Carlyle's 'French Revolution.' It is possible that the last-named book had escaped notice, as you would hardly expect it to be allowed free circula- tion in Russia. Books and newspapers addressed to the professors of the universities, to officers above the rank of colonel, and to the legations of foreign countries are not subjected to the censorship, or at least they were not so examined a few years ago. Since the rise of Nihilism the authori- ties have become more rigid again, and books and papers are stopped which would not have been suppressed at all before the death of Alex- ander II. '• If you want to know the exact functions of the censor," said the gentleman, turning to Frank and Fred, " here is an extract from his instructions." With these words he gave to one of the youths a printed slip which stated that it was the censor's duty to prohibit and suppress "all works written in a spirit hostile to the orthodox Greek Church, or containing MONEY-CHANGING AT THE FRONTIER. io anything that is contrary to the truths of the Christian religion, or sub- versive of good manners or morality ; all publications tending to assail the inviolability of autocratical monarchical power and the fundamental laws of the Empire, or to diminish the respect due to the Imperial family ; all productions containing attacks on the honor or reputation of any one, by improper expressions, by the publication of circumstances relating to domestic life, or by calumny of any kind whatever." The boys thanked the gentleman for the information he had given them on a subject about which they were curious; and as the examina- tion of the custom-house Avas completed, they proceeded to the restaurant, which was in a large hall at the end of the station. Near the door of the restaurant was the office of a money-changer, WAY STATION ON THE RAILWAY. its character being indicated by signs in at least half a dozen languages. Passengers were exchanging their Austrian money for Russian, and the office seemed to be doing an active business. " That fellow has about as good a trade as one could wish," said the Englishman, as he nodded in the direction of the man at the little win- dow. " Two trains arrive here daily each way , for people going north he changes Austrian into Russian money, and for those going south he 46 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. changes Russian into Austrian. He receives one per cent, commission on each transaction, which amounts to four per cent, daily, as he handles the money four times. I have often envied these frontier bankers, who run no risk whatever, provided they are not swindled with counterfeits, and can make twelve hundred per cent, annually on their capital. But per- haps they have to pay so dearly for the privilege that they are unable to get rich by their business. By-the- way," said he, changing the subject abruptly, " did you observe the stout lady that stood near us in the ante- room of the passport office ?" "Yes," answered the Doctor, " and she seemed quite uneasy, as though she feared trouble." " Doubtless she did," was the re- ply, "but it was not on account of her passport. She was probably laden with goods which she intend- ed smuggling into Russia, and feared detection. I noticed that she was called aside by the custom -house officials, and ushered into the room devoted to suspected persons. She isn't here yet, and perhaps they'll keep her till the train has gone. Ah ! here she comes." Frank and Fred looked in the direction indicated, but could not see any stout lady ; neither could the Doctor, but he thought he recognized a face he had seen before. It belonged to a woman who was comparatively slight in figure, and who took her seat very demurely at one of the tables near the door. " That is the stout lady of the anteroom," said the Englishman, " and her form has been reduced more rapidly than any advocate of the Banting or any other anti-fat system ever dreamed of. She was probably detected by her uneasy manner, and consequently was subjected to an examination at the hands of the female searchers. They've removed dry goods enough from her to set up a small shop, and she won't undertake smuggling again in a hurry. Import duties are high in Russia, and the temptation to smuggle is great. She was an inexperienced smuggler, or she would BEFORE EXAMINATION. THROUGH RUSSIAN POLAND. 47 not have been caught so easily. Probably she is of some other nationality than Russian, or they would not have liberated her after confiscating her contraband goods.'' The incident led to a conversation upon the Russian tariff system, which is based upon the most emphatic ideas in favor of protection to home industries. As it is no part of our intention to discuss the tariff in this volume, we will omit what was said upon the subject, particularly as no notes were taken by either Frank or Fred. In due time the train on the Russian side of the station was ready to receive the travellers, and they took their places in one of the carriages. It needed only a glance to show they had crossed the frontier. The Aus- trian uniform disappeared, and the Russian took its place ; the Russian language was spoken instead of German ; the carriages were lettered in Russian ; posts painted in alternate stripes of white and black (the in- vention of the Emperor Paul about the beginning of the present cen- tury), denoted the sovereignty of the Czar ; and the dress of many of the passengers indicated a change of nationality. The train rolled away from Granitsa in the direction of "War- saw, which was the next point of destination of our friends. The country through which they trav- elled was not particularly interest- ing ; it was fairly though not thickly settled, and contained no important | towns on the line of the railway, J or any other object of especial in- H terest. Their English acquaintance said there were mines of coal, iron, and zinc in the neighborhood of Zombkowitse, where the railway from Austria unites with that from eastern Germany. It is about one hundred and eighty miles from Warsaw; about forty miles farther on there was a town with an unpronounceable name, with about ten thousand inhabitants, and a convent, which is an object of pilgrimage to many pious Catholics of Poland and Silesia. A hundred miles from Warsaw they AFTER EXAMINATION. 4S THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. passed Petrikau, which was the seat of the ancient tribunals of Poland ; and then, if the truth must be told, they slept for the greater part of the way till the train stopped at the station in the Praga suburb of Warsaw, on the opposite bank of the Vistula. As they neared the station they had a good view of "Warsaw, on the heights above the river, and commanded by a fortress which occupies tin- centre of the city itself. Alighting from the train, they surrendered their passports to an official, who said the documents would be returned to them SCENE O.N THE RAILWAY. at the Hotel de l'Europe, where they proposed to stop during their so- journ within the gates of Warsaw. Tickets permitting them to go into the city were given in exchange for the passports, and then they entered a rickety omnibus and were driven to the hotel. It was late in the afternoon when they climbed the sloping road lead- ing into Warsaw, and looked down upon the Vistula and the stretch of low land on the Praga side. Fred repeated the lines of the old verse from which we have already quoted, and observed how well the scene is de- scribed in a single couplet : " Warsaw's last champion from her heights surveyed, Wide o'er the fields a waste of ruin laid." Laid desolate by many wars and subjected to despotic rule, the coun- try around Warsaw bears little evidence of prosperity. Many houses are A BIT OF POLISH HISTORY. ■iO •without tenants, and many farms are either half tilled or wholly without cultivation. The spirit of revolution springs eternal in the Polish breast, and the spirit of suppression must be equally enduring in the breast of the Russian. It is only by the severest measures that the Russians can maintain their control of Poland. A Polish writer has well described the situation when he says, " Under a cruel government, it is Poland's duty to rebel against oppression ; under a liberal government, it is her duty to rebel because she has the opportunity." After dinner at the hotel our friends started for a walk through the principal streets ; but they did not go very far. The streets were poorly lighted, few people were about, and altogether the stroll was not particu- larly interesting. They returned to the hotel, and devoted an hour or so to a chat about Poland and her sad history. " Walls are said to have ears," the Doctor remarked, " but we have little cause to be disturbed about them, as we are only discussing among SHUTES FOR LOADING COAL ON THE RAILWAY. ourselves the known facts of history. Poland and Russia were at war for centuries, and at one time Poland had the best of the fight. How many of those who sympathize so deeply with the wrongs of Poland are aware of the fact that in 1610 the Poles held Moscow as the Russians now hold "Warsaw, and that the Russian Czar was taken prisoner, and died the next year in a Polish prison 1 Moscow was burned by the Poles in 1611, and thousands of its inhabitants were slaughtered ; in 1612 the Poles were 4 50 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. driven out, and from that time to the present their wars with Russia have not been successful. " " I didn't know that," said Frank, " until I read it to-day in one of our books." " Nor did I," echoed Fred; "and probably not one person in a hun- dred is aware of it." " Understand," said the Doctor, with emphasis — "understand that I do not say this to justify in any way the wrongs that Russia may have vis- FOLISII NATIONAL COSTUMES. ited on Poland, but simply to show that all the wrong has not been on one side. Russia and Poland have been hostile to each other for centu- ries ; they are antagonistic in everything — language, religion, customs, and national ambitions — and there could be no permanent peace between THE PARTITIONS OF POLAND. 51 them until one had completely absorbed the other. Twice in this cen- tury (in 1830 and 1863) the Poles have rebelled against Russia, because they had the opportunity in consequence of the leniency of the Govern- ment. From present appearances they are not likely to have the oppor- tunity again for a long time, if ever." One of the youths asked how the revolution of 1830 was brought about. " Poland had been, as you know, divided at three different times, by Russia, Austria, and Prussia," said the Doctor, " the third partition taking place in 1795. At the great settlement among the Powers of Europe, in 1815, after the end of the Napoleonic wars, the Emperor of Russia pro- posed to form ancient Poland into a constitutional monarchy under the Russian crown. His plan was adopted, with some modifications, and from ' u ~ JJ ''ftrr -- -l_z^^ FEASANT S FARM-HOUSE. 1815 to 1830 the country had its national Diet or Parliament, its national administration, and its national army of thirty thousand men. The Rus- sian Emperor was the King of Poland, and this the Poles resented ; they rebelled, and were defeated. After the defeat the constitution was with- drawn and the national army abolished ; the Polish universities were 52 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. KOTAL PALACE AT WARSAW. closed, the Polish language was proscribed in the public offices, and every attempt was made to Russianize the country. It was harshly punished for its rebellion until Alexander II. ascended the throne. " Alexander tried to conciliate the people by granting concessions. The schools and universities were reopened ; the language was restored ; Poles were appointed to nearly all official positions ; elective district and munic- ipal councils were formed, and also a Polish Council of State. But nothing short of independence would satisfy the inhabitants, and then came the revolution of 1863. It was suppressed, like its prede- cessor, and from that time the Russians have maintained such an iron rule in Poland that a revolt of any importance is next to impossible. All the oppression of which Russia is capable cannot destroy the spirit of independence among the Poles. They are as patriotic as the Irish, and will continue to hope for liberty as long as their blood flows in human veins." A knock on the door brought the Doctor's discourse to an abrupt end. It was made by the commissioner, who came to arrange for their excursion on the following day. We will see in due course where they went and what they saw. It is now their bedtime, and they are retiring for the night. The next morning they secured a carriage, and drove through the principal streets and squares, visiting the Royal Palace and other build- ings of importance, and also the parks and gardens outside the city limits. Concerning their excursion in Warsaw the youths made the following notes : " We went first to the Royal Castle, which we were not permitted to enter, as it is occupied by the Viceroy of Poland, or ' the Emperor's Lieu- tenant,' as he is more commonly called. It is a very old building, which has been several times altered and restored. There were many pictures and other objects of art in the castle until 1831, when they were removed to St. Petersburg. In the square in front of the castle is a statue of one of the kings of Poland, and we were told that the square was the scene of some of the uprisings of the Poles against their Russian masters. " From the castle we went to the cathedral, which was built in the thirteenth century, and contains monuments to the memory of several of the kings and other great men of the country. It is proper to say here RELIGIONS OF THE PEOPLE. 53 that the Catholic is the prevailing religion of Poland, and no doubt much of the hatred of Russians and Poles for each other is in consequence of their religious differences. By the latest figures of the population that we have at hand, Russian Poland contains about 3,800,000 Catholics, 300,000 Protestants, 700,000 Jews, and 250,000 members of the Greek Church and adherents of other religions, or a little more than 5,000,000 of inhabitants in all. Like all people who have been oppressed, the Cath- S1IKINK AT A GATEWAY. olics and Jews are exceedingly devout, and adhere unflinchingly to their religious faith. Churches and synagogues are numerous in Warsaw, as in the other Polish cities. In our ride through Warsaw we passed many 54 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IX THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. shrines, and at nearly all of them the faithful were kneeling to repeat the prayers prescribed by their religious teachers. " From the cathedral we went to the citadel, which is on a hill in the centre of the city, and was built after the revolution of 1830. The expense of its construction was placed upon the people as a punishment for the revolution, and for the purpose of bombarding the city in case of another rebellion. From the walls of the cit- adel there is a tine view of consider- able extent ; but there is nothing in the place of special interest. The fort is constantly occupied by a gar- rison of Eussian soldiers. It contains a prison for political offenders and a military court-house, where tliev are tried for their alleged offences. " There are ten or twelve squares, or open places, in Warsaw, of which the finest is said to be the Saxon Srpiare. It contains a handsome monument to the Poles who adhered to the Russian cause in the revolu- tion of 1830. Some writers say it was all a mistake, and that the Poles whose memory is here preserved were really on their way to join the regi- ments which had declared in favor of the insurrection. '• There are several handsome streets and avenues ; and as for the pub- lic palaces and fine residences which once belonged to noble families of Poland, but are now mostly in Government hands, the list alone would be long and tedious. One of the finest palaces is in the Lazienki Park, and was built by King Stanislaus Poniatowski. It is the residence of the Em- peror of Russia when he comes to Warsaw ; but as his visits are rare, it is almost always accessible to travellers. We stopped a few minutes in front of the statue of King John Sobieski. There is an anecdote about this statue which the students of Eussian and Polish history will appreci- ate. During a visit in 1850 the Emperor Nicholas paused in front of the >tatue, and remarked to those around him. ' The two kings of Poland who committed the greatest errors were John Sobieski and myself, for we both saved the Austrian monarchy.' LAKE IN l'HK PAKK. SIGHTS AND INDUSTRIES OF WARSAW. 55 " Inside the palace there are many fine paintings and other works of art. There are portraits of Polish kings and queens, and other rare pict- ures, but not as many as in the Castle of Villanov, which we afterwards visited. In the latter, which was the residence of John Sobieski, and now belongs to Count Potocki, there are paintings by Rubens and other celebrated masters, and there is a fine collection of armor, including the suit which was presented to Sobieski by the Pope, after the former had driven the Turks away from Vienna. It is beautifully inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl, and covered with arabesques of astonishing delicacy. A BUSINESS MAN OF WARSAW. We could have spent hours in studying it, and you may be sure we left it with great reluctance. " Warsaw has a population of nearly three hundred thousand, and there are a good many factories for the manufacture of carriages, pianos, cloth, carpets, and machines of various kinds. The city is the centre of a 5G THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. large trade in grain, cattle, horses, and wool, and altogether it may be con- sidered prosperous. Much of the business is in the hands of the Jews, who have managed to have and hold a great deal of wealth in spite of the oppression they have undergone by both Poles and Russians. " The women of Warsaw are famous for their beauty, and we are all agreed that we have seen more pretty faces here than in any other city of Europe in the same time. The Jews of Warsaw are nearly all blonds ; the men have red beards, and the hair of the women is of the shade that used to be the fashion among American and English actresses, and is not I I fl in | ih'i'i F/ 1 /. m % ^m ft f / IN ST. PETERSBURG. yet entirely forgotten. We bought some photographs in one of the shops, and are sure they will be excellent adornments for our albums at home. " In the evening we went to the opera in the hope of seeing the na- tional costumes of the Poles, but in this we were disappointed. The operas are sung in Italian ; the principal singers are French, Italian, Eng- lish, or any other nationality, like those of opera companies elsewhere, and only the members of the chorus and ballet are Poles. Eussian uniforms are in the boxes and elsewhere in the house, and every officer is required to wear his sword, and be ready at any moment to be summoned to fight. The men not in uniform are in evening dress, and the ladies are like those IN ST. PETERSBURG. 5 i of an audience in Vienna or Naples, so far as their dress is concerned. The opera closed at half-past eleven ; our guide met us outside the door, and when we proposed a stroll he said we must be at the hotel by midnight, under penalty of being arrested. Any one out-of-doors between midnight and daylight will be taken in by the police and locked up, unless he has a pass from the authorities. In troubled times the city is declared in a state of siege, and then everybody on the streets after dusk must carry a lantern. " As we had no fancy for passing the night in a Russian station-house, we returned straight to the hotel. Probably we would have been there by midnight in any event, as we were tired enough to make a long walk objectionable." The next day our friends visited some of the battle-fields near War- saw, and on the third took the train for St. Petersburg, six hundred and twenty-five miles away. There was little of interest along the line of railway, as the country is almost entirely a plain, and one mile is so much like another that the difference is scarcely perceptible. The principal towns or cities through which they passed were Bialystok and Grodno, the latter famous for having been the residence of several Polish kings, and containing the royal castle where they lived. At Wilna, four hundred and forty -one miles from St. Petersburg, the railway unites with that from Berlin. The change of train and transfer of baggage detained the party half an hour or more, but not long enough to allow them to inspect this ancient capital of the independent duchy of Lithuania. At Pskof they had another halt, but only sufficient for patronizing the restaurant. The town is two miles from the station, and contains an old castle and several other buildings of note ; it has a prominent place in Poland's war history, but is not often visited by travellers. At Gatchina, famous for its trout and containing an Imperial palace, an official collected the passports of the travellers, which were afterwards returned to them on arriving at the St. Petersburg station. As they ap- proached the Imperial city the first object to catch the eye was a great ball of gold outlined against the sky. Frank said it must be the dome of St. Isaac's Church, and the Doctor nodded assent to the suggestion. The dome of St. Isaac's is to the capital of Russia what the dome of St. Peter's is to Rome — the first object on which the gaze of the approaching traveller is fixed. 58 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. CHAPTER III. IN THE STREETS OF ST. PETERSBURG.— ISVOSHCHIKS AND DROSKIES.— COUNTING IN RUSSIAN. — PASSPORTS AND THEIR USES.— ON THE NEVSKI PROSPECT.— VISITING THE CHURCH OF KAZAN.— THE RUSSO-GREEK RELIGION.— UNFAVOR- ABLE POSITION OF ST. PETERSBURG.— DANGER OF DESTRUCTION.— GREAT INUN- DATION OF 1S24. — STATUE OF PETER THE GREAT.— ADMIRALTY SQUARE.— THE SAILORS AND THE STATUE. A COMMISSIONER from the Hotel de l'Europe was at the station. Doctor Bronson gave him the receipts for their trunks, and after securing their passports, which had been examined on the train during the ride from Gatchina, the party entered a carriage and rode to the hotel. Frank and Fred were impatient to try a drosky, and wondered why the Doctor had not secured one of the vehicles characteristic of the country. " You'll have abundant opportunities for drosky-riding," said Doctor Bronson, in reply to Fred's query on the subject. " For the present the vehicle is not suited to our purposes, as we have our hand -baggage and other trifles ; besides, we are three individuals, while the drosky is only laree enough for two." The youths confirmed with their eyes the correctness of the Doctor's assertion as the little vehicles were whizzing around them in every direc- tion. The drosky is a stout carriage on low wheels, somewhat resem- bling the victoria of AY~estern Europe, and is drawn by a single horse. The isvoshchik, or driver, is seated on a high box in front, and somehow he manages to get an astonishing speed out of the shaggy animal that forms his team. Frank afterwards wrote as follows concerning droskies and isvoshcbiks : " It is astonishing to contemplate the swarm of droskies with which St. Petersburg and every other Russian city abounds. They are to be found everywhere and at all hours. No matter where you may be, or at what hour of the day or night, you have only to call out ' Isvoshchik !' or ' Drosky !' and one of the little carriages appears as if by magic. Not only one. but half a dozen will be pretty sure to come forward. The drivers contend, and not always very politely, for the honor of your pat- DROSKIES AND ISVOSHCHIKS. 59 ronage ; but as soon as you have made your selection the rejected ones drop away and leave you undisturbed. " There is something interesting in the manner of the isvoshchik, especially in the marked contrast before and after he has made a bargain with you. Until the transaction is closed, he is as independent as the hackman of New York or the cabby of London. The moment the bargain is settled and he has accepted your offer, he is your willing slave. Offer ISVOSHCHIKS IN WINTER. him forty copecks an hour, and he refuses, while demanding fifty or sixty; you walk on, and he pretends to go away, and if your offer is unreason- ably low he will not trouble you again. Suddenly he reins up his horse close to the sidewalk, springs from his seat, and with the word l Poshoidtz ' (' If you please ') he motions you to enter the carriage. He is now at your service, and will drive just as you desire ; your slightest wish will be his law. " Doctor Bronson told us we must learn how to count in Eussian, and also acquire a few phrases in common use ; the more of them we could learn the better. While on the train from Warsaw to St. Petersburg we learned to count. I think we did it in about two hours, as it was really CO THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. very simple after we had gone through the numerals up to ten and fixed them in mind. Perhaps you would like to know how it is done ; well, here it is : " The numerals from one to twelve are o-deen, dva, tree, c\iQ-tee-r\, pyat, shayst, sem, vocem, r7e-vee-at, rfc-ci-at, odeen-nat-zat, dva-nat-zat. For thir- DROSKY DRIVERS. teen, fourteen, and so on, you add ' nat-zat * to the single numerals till you get to twenty, which is ' dva-deciat." or two tens. Twenty -one is 'dva- deciat-odeen,' or two tens and one, and so on. You go up to thirty, which is ' tree-deciat.' or three tens, but generally shortened in pronunciation to 'treetsat' or ' tritsat." All the other tens up to ninety are formed in the same way, with the exception of forty, which is ' sorok.' Ninety is ' deviat- na-sto ' ('ten taken from hundred '), and one hundred is ' sto ;' two hundred RIDING IN THE STREETS. 61 is ' dva-sto.' The other hundreds are formed in the same way to five hundred, which is ' pyat sot ;' six hundred is ' shayst sot,' and the other hundreds go on the same way ; one thousand is ' tis-syat-s^«.' You can now go ahead with tens and hundreds of thousands up to a million, which is ' meel-yon' — very much like our own word for the same number. " It helps us greatly in getting around among the people without a guide. "We can bargain with the drivers, make purchases in the shops, and do lots and lots of things which we could not if we didn't know how to connt. Any boy or man who comes to Russia should learn to count while he is riding from the frontier to St. Petersburg, and if he takes our advice he will do so. He can find it all in Murray's or any other good guide-book, and he will also find there the most useful- phrases for travel- ling purposes. " In driving with the isvoshchiks, we have found them very obliging, and both Fred and I have been many times surprised at their intelligence when we remembered that very few of them were able to read or write their own language. When they find we are foreigners, and do not speak Russian, they do not jabber away like French or German drivers, or Lon- don cahbies, but confine themselves to a very few words. Take one we had to-day, for example : as he drove along he called our attention to the churches and other public buildings that we passed by, pronouncing the name of the building and nothing more. In this way we understood him ; but if he had involved the name with a dozen or twenty other words we should have been in a perfect fog about it. " In winter the drosky makes way for the sledge, which is the tiniest vehicle of the kind you can imagine. Two persons can crowd into a sledge, though there is really room for only one. "Whether you are one or two, you sit with your face within ten or twelve inches of the driver's back, which forms almost the entire feature of your landscape. The sledges in winter are even more numerous than are the droskies in sum- mer, as many persons ride then who do not do so when the weather is warm. " Everybody rides in a Russian city in winter — at least everybody who claims to have much respect for himself; and in fact riding is so cheap that it must be a very shallow purse that cannot afford it. For a drive of a mile or less you pay eight or ten copecks (ten copecks equal eight cents), and you can ride a couple of miles for fifteen copecks, and sometimes for ten. By the hour you pay forty or fifty copecks ; and if you make a bargain you can have the vehicle all to yourself a whole day for a dollar and a half, and sometimes less. They go very fast ; and if your time is 62 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. limited, arid you want to see a good deal in a little while, it is the best kind of economy to hire an isvoshchik to take you about." We left our friends on the way to the hotel when we wandered off to hear what Frank had to say about the droskies and their drivers. The ride along the streets was full of interest to the youths, to whom it was all new ; but it was less so to Doctor Bronson, who had been in St. Peters- burg before. They drove up the Vosnesenski Prospect, a broad avenue which carried them past the Church of the Holy Trinity, one of the in- teresting churches out of the many in the city, and then by a cross street passed into the Nevski Prospect, which may be called the Broadway of the Russian capital. We shall hear more of the Nevski Prospect later on. At the hotel they surrendered their passports to the clerk as soon as they had selected their rooms ; the Doctor told the youths they would not again see those important documents until they had settled their bill and prepared to leave. Frank and Fred were surprised at this announce- ment, and the Doctor explained : " The passports must go at once to the Central Bureau of the Police, and we shall be registered as stopping in this hotel. When the register has been made the passports will be returned to the hotel and locked up in the managers safe, according to the custom of the country." " Why doesn't he give them back to us instead of locking them in the safe ?" one of the youths incpiired. " It has long been the custom for the house-owner to keep the pass- port of any one lodging with him, as he is in a certain sense responsible for his conduct. Besides, it enables him to be sure that nobody leaves without paying his bill, for the simple reason that he can't get away. When we are ready to go we must give a few hours' notice; the passports will be sent to the police-office again, with a statement as to our destina- tion ; after we have paid our bills and are ready to go, the passports will be handed to us along with the receipt for our money." " That makes hotel-keeping a great deal more certain than it is in American cities, does it not ?" said Fred. " And you never hear in Russia of a man running away from a hotel where he has contracted a large bill, and leaving nothing but a trunk filled with straw and stove-wood as security, do you ?" Frank inquired. " Such a thing is unknown," the Doctor answered. " I once told some Russian acquaintances about the way hotel-keepers were defrauded in America by unprincipled persons. One of them exclaimed, ' What a happy country ! and how cheaply a man could live there, with no police officers to stop his enterprise !' " ATTENDANTS ON A HIGH OFFICIAL. 64 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. "When you go from one city to another," said the Doctor, " the (for- mality to be observed is slight, and the hotel people will attend to it for you without charge. When you are going to leave Russia, a few days' notice must be given at the police-office ; and if any creditors have filed their claims against you with the police, you must settle them before you can have your passport. If any one owes you money, and you have rea- son to believe he intends leaving the country, you can stop him or get your money by leaving your account with the police for collection. Ab- sconding debtors are nearly as rare in Russia as absconding hotel-patrons, for the simple reason that the law restricts their movements. In spite of what our English friend said of the passport system, there are some ex- cellent features about it. Another thing is — " They were interrupted by a servant, who came to ask if there were any friends in St. Petersburg whom they wished to find. The commis- sioner was going to the Police Bureau with the passports, and would make any inquiries they desired. The Doctor answered in the negative, and the servant went away. " That is what I was about to mention," said Doctor Bronson, as soon as the door was closed. " The first time I came to St. Petersburg I was riding along the Nevski Prospect, and saw an old acquaintance going in the other direction. He did not see me, and before I could turn to fol- low him he was lost in the crowd of vehicles. But in two hours I found him, and we had a delightful afternoon together. How do you suppose I did it ? " "Why, I sent to the Police Bureau, paid two cents, and obtained a memorandum of his address. For a fee of two cents you can get the address of any one you name, and for two cents each any number of ad- dresses. In numerous instances I found it a great convenience, and so have other travellers. If you wanted to find a friend in New York or Lon- don, and didn't know his address, you would have a nice time about it ; but in Moscow or St. Petersburg there would be no trouble whatever." As soon as they had removed the dust of the journey our friends went out for a stroll before dinner. The Hotel de l'Europe is on the corner of the Xevski Prospect and one of the smaller streets, and only a short dis- tance from the Kazansl't Soljor, or Church of Kazan. But before they enter this celebrated edifice we will look with them at the grand avenue, the Xevski Prospect. "It is straight as a sunbeam for three miles," said Fred in his note- book, "with the Admiralty Buildings at one end, and the Church of St. Alexander ^sevski at the other, though the latter is a little way from the THE NEVSKI PROSPECT. 65 line. It is perfectly level from end to end. like a street of New Orleans or Sacramento. St. Petersburg is built on a marsb, and through its whole extent there isn't a hill other than an artificial one. It is a broad avenue (one hundred and thirty feet in width), reminding us of the boulevards of Paris, and the crowd of vehicles coming and going at all hours of the day and far into the night makes the scene a picturesque one. " All classes and kinds of Russians are to be seen here, from the mil- jik, with his rough coat of sheepskin, up to the officer of the army, whose RUSSIAN WORKMEN ON THEIR WAY HOME. breast is covered with decorations by the dozen or even more. The vehi- cles are of many kinds, the drosky being the most frequent, and there is hardly one of them without the duga, or yoke, over the horse between the shafts. The horses are driven furiously, but they T are completely under 66 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. RUSSIAN OFFICER WITH DECORATIONS. the control of their drivers, and accidents are said to be very rare. Per- haps this is owing to the fact that a driver is liable to severe punishment if he causes any injury to a pedestrian. " Somebody lias remarked that the Nevski Prospect ought to be called Toleration Avenue, for the reason that it contains churches of so many different faiths. There are of course the Russo-Greek churches, represent- ing the religion of the country, and there are Catholic, Lutheran. Dutch, and Armenian churches, standing peacefully in the same line. It is a pity THE CHURCH OF KAZAN. 67 that the adherents of these diverse religions do not always agree as well as do the inanimate edifices that represent them. " The buildings are very substantial in appearance, and many of them are literally palaces. The military headquarters are on the Nevski, and so is the palace of one of the grand-dukes ; then there are several palaces belonging to noble families. There is the Institution of St. Catherine, and the Gostinna Dvor, or Great Market-place, with ten thousand mer- chants, more or less, transacting business there. We'll go there to make some purchases and tell you about it ; at present we will cross the Nevski to the Church of Kazan. " It reminds us of the Church of St. Peter at Rome, as it has a colon- nade in imitation of the one which attracts the eye of every visitor to the Eternal City, and takes its name from " Our Lady of Kazan," to whom it is dedicated. Kazan was once a Tartar city, and the capital of the Tartar kingdom of the same name. It was fortified, and stoutly defended, and gave the Russians a great deal of trouble. In the sixteenth century John the Terrible conquered the kingdom and annexed it to Russia. The last act in the war was the capture of the city of Kazan. The Russians were several times repulsed, but finally the Kremlin was carried, and the Tartar power came to an end. A picture of the Virgin was carried in front of the attacking column, and this picture, all devout Russians believe, gave the victory over the Moslem. The church was built in memory of the event, and the sacred picture from Kazan is preserved and worshipped here. "It is a beautiful church, in the form of a cross, two hundred and thir- ty-eight feet long and one hundred and eighty-two feet wide. From the ground to the top of the cross above the cupola is more than two hundred and thirty feet, and the cupola is so large that it is visible from a long dis- tance. As we entered the church we were struck by the absence of seats. We were told by the Doctor that Russian churches contain no seats, and all worshippers must stand or kneel while at their devotions. To this there are no exceptions ; the same requirement being made of the Em- peror as of the most obscure peasant. "There is no instrumental music in the Greek Church, and church choirs composed of male and female voices are unknown here. All the singers in the churches are men ; the prayers are mostly intoned, and all the congregation joins in the responses. There are no pews, or reserved places of any kind, except a standing-place for the Emperor, all worship- pers being considered equal ; neither are there any fees to be paid by those who come to worship. G8 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. " The picture of Our Lady of Kazan, which has such a miraculous le- gend connected with it, is richly covered with precious stones, said to be worth nearly a hundred thousand dollars. There are other costly pictures in the church, but none to equal this one. There are a good many flags, and other trophies of war, along the walls and around the pillars ; and, to tell the truth, it has almost as much the appearance of a military museum as of a cathedral. There are the keys of Hamburg, Leipsic, and other cit- ies which at various times have been captured by Russia, and the church contains the tombs of several Russian generals who were killed in the war with France in IS 12. "We observed a curious effect in the pictures in this church which we found afterwards in a great many holy pictures in Russia. The hands and face, and any other flesh, are painted on a flat surface, but the dress and ornaments are often raised in gold, silver, or other metal, and studded with precious stones, according to the will or financial ability of the owner. The Church rejects all massive images of the Saviour or saints as idolatrous, and says they violate the command- ment " Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image." It does not exclude mosaics, and any- thing produced in low relief, but the rule that flesh shall be represented by a flat surface is imperative. " "We afterwards attended serv- ice in the Kazan church, and were impressed with its solemnity and simplicity. The vocal music had an admirable effect as it resounded through the vast building, and we have never anywhere seen a congre- gation more devout than this. Nearly every one held a candle, and care- ts j */ fully guarded the flame from the draughts that occasionally swept over the congregation. Illuminations have a very important place in all church ceremonies, and there are no weddings, betrothals, funerals, or any other sacred services, without candles or tapers. A RUSSIAN rniKST. PIETY OF THE RUSSIANS. 69 " Lights are kept burning in front of the principal pictures in the churches. Throughout the Empire there is an Eikon, or sacred picture, in the principal room 'of every house whose owner is an adherent of the Church of the country, and often in every room of consequence. On en- tering a room where there is such a picture, every devout Russian crosses himself ; and so great is the respect shown to it, that when Russian thieves enter a room for the purpose of stealing, they spread a handkerchief over the picture so that the saint who is represented upon it cannot see them. " Religion has a more important part in the practical life of the Rus- sians than in that of any other people of Europe. The blessing of the Church is invoked upon every undertaking. Steamboats, ships, and all other craft are blessed by the priest at their launching or before being put into service ; the locomotives and carriages of a railway are similarly treated ; and the same may be said of every vehicle, machine, or other thing of consequence. So with cattle, horses, sheep, and other live-stock ; and so, also, with the furniture and adornments of the house. " In the theatres the Government does not allow the representation of any kind of religious ceremonial as part of a performance, lest it might bring religion into ridicule, and under no circumstances can an actor be dressed to personate a priest. The Czar, or Emperor, is the recognized head of the Church, and among the common people he is regarded as only a little less than a divinity. " Those who have lived long among the Russians, and ought to know them, say the venerative feeling among the common people is very «;reat, and more so among the higher classes than in the Latin countries of Europe. They are devout church-goers, and the feasts and fasts of the Church are carefully observed. They form a serious drawback to business matters, as there are certain days when no man or woman can be induced to work at any price. The owners of establishments which require to be kept constantly in operation manage to get around this custom by keeping their employes constantly in debt, as the Russian law and custom compel a man to work steadily to discharge such indebtedness. " Pilgrimages to monasteries and shrines are more common among the Russians than any other Christian people, and the poorer classes often go on long and painful journeys through their religious zeal. A large num- ber of Russian pilgrims can be found in Jerusalem every year at Easter, as well as at other times. So important is this pilgrimage that the Rus- sian Government maintains a convent at Jerusalem for lodging its sub- jects ; and the Crimean war practically grew out of a quarrel which was brought about with reference to the holy places of the famous city. 70 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. " Great numbers of pilgrims go every year from all parts of Russia to the Convent of Solovetsk in the Frozen Sea, seven or eight hundred miles to the north-east of the capital. " We may have more to say on religious matters before leaving Russia, but for the present we will drop the subject and continue our walk on the Nevski." As they strolled in the direction of the Neva, the river that gives its name to the long avenue, Fred asked how it happened that St. Petersburg was built on a marsh instead of upon elevated ground. " It was because Peter the Great wanted a capital city that could be a seaport, and this was the best site that could be found. Moscow was in- land (it is four hundred miles from here to that city), and Peter realized that no country could be great and important without communication over the sea to other lands. So he came here and founded the city which bears his name. It was a forbidding place, but his will was law, and the city grew and lived though a hundred thousand men perished in the first year of its construction. The first house was built in 1703. In 1712 Peter declared it his capital, and the Imperial court was moved here from Moscow. For a long time the place was very unhealthy, and even down to the present day it is not by any means the best location in the world for a city. The drainage is defective, the drinking-water is not good, especially in the summer season, and the city has several times suffered from inundations. " For many years every vessel coming to the port, and every cart enter- ing the city, was required to bring a certain number of stones for filling the marsh and paving the streets. Where the large buildings stand, fab- ulous amounts Lave been expended in making foundations, and many of them have cost more than the buildings that stand upon them. The foundations of the Church of St. Isaac are said to have cost four millions of dollars, and twenty-five years were spent in their construction." Frank asked about the inundations mentioned by the Doctor. " There have been some eight or ten of them," the Doctor answered. "The most serious inundation of this century was in 1S24, when the water of the Neva rose thirteen feet and four inches above its ordinary level. Observe that line," said he, as he pointed to a mark upon a build- ing ; "that is the point to which the waters rose in the inundation of 1824." The mark was nearly four feet above the level of the sidewalk where they stood. Frank and Fred regarded it with astonishment, while the Doctor continued : "In a single night (November 17th) property to the value of twenty CONVENT OF SOLOVETSK. 71 1 I'MpPPW-BiiFiii"' 72 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. millions of dollars was destroyed, and it was estimated that not less than eight thousand people lost their lives. The flood was caused by a strong westerly wind which combined with the tide and forced the waters in THE INCNDATION OF 1824. from the Gulf of Finland, which is here formed like a funnel. Now sup- pose the flood had occurred in April, at the time when Lake Ladoga breaks up and pours its accumulated ice and water through the Neva, what would have been the result ?" " Would the city have been destroyed ?" queried one of the youths. " So it is said, by many who have studied its position. They aver that EFFECTS OF THE INUNDATION. 73 when a high tide, a westerly wind, and the breaking up of the ice in Lake Ladoga shall all come together, the streets of St. Petersburg will be not less than twenty feet under water, and Russia will be obliged to select an- other site for her capital. But as it is not likely that all these things will happen during our visit, we won't borrow any trouble about the matter." " I have read," said Fred, " that in that inundation the prisoners in the fort were drowned in their cells. The lower part of the fort was flooded, was it not ?" " Yes," the Doctor answered ; " but so many romances have been written on the subject that it is difficult to get at the exact truth. It is very likely that the prisoners in the lower cells of the fort were drowned, and I believe the authorities admit that such was the case. In the Paris Exhibition of 1867 there was a startling picture representing the death of STATUE OF PETEK THE GREAT. a Russian princess who was imprisoned there at the time. She is repre- sented standing on her little bed surrounded by rats that have been driven from their holes by the flood. The water is nearly up to the level of the bed, and is pouring in at the grated window. The picture haunted 74 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. me for years after I saw it, and even now it occasionally comes up in my dreams. I haven't thought of it for some time, but this question of yours has revived it." They continued their walk towards the Xeva, with an occasional glance at the needle-like spire that rises above the Admiralty buildings. They came out into Admiralty Square, a large o])en space, which gave them a view of the Admiralty buildings, the Church of St. Isaac, the equestrian statue of Peter the Great, and the "Winter Palace, together with one of the bridges spanning the Neva to the islands opposite. " Which shall we see first ?" queried the Doctor of his young com- panions. "Whichever you think best," answered Frank, to which Fred nodded approval. " Our time just now is limited," said the Doctor, "and perhaps we will satisfy ourselves with the statue of Peter the Great. But as we walk about we must not fail to take in the general view, which is of unusual interest." The statue is well known through its frequent representation in en- gravings, and is one of the most remarkable monuments of the Imperial city. It was ordered by the Empress Catherine, and was cast by Falconet. a Frenchman. The inscription upon it reads — "Peteu Pervomc— EKATERIXA VTOEYA." {To Peter I. — By Catherine II, jidcclxxxii.) Evidently Catherine had a sufficient idea of her consequence, as the letters which make her name are considerably larger than those of her illustrious sire's. " The horse," said Fred, in his note-book, " is on the brink of a preci- pice, where he is being reined in by his rider. Peter's face is towards the Xeva, while his right hand is directed to the city which he built. Under the horse's feet is a serpent, which typifies the difficulties the Czar has overcome. The horse is balanced on his hind legs and tail, his forefeet being clear from the rock. It is said that the weight of the statue is about ten thousand pounds. " The statue stands on a block of granite that originally weighed fif- teen hundred tons, and was brought from Finland. The block is fourteen feet high, twenty feet broad, and forty-three feet long. It consists of two pieces that have been carefully joined together, and the operation of mov- ing it was a triumph of engineering skill. " I have read a good story apropos of this monument — about two boys AN AMUSING INCIDENT. 75 ivho belonged to an English ship that was lying at the quay beyond the statue. They had wandered off into the city and lost their way, and in order to get back they engaged a carriage. But after engaging it they were in trouble, as they could not tell the driver where to go. "Two sailors from the same ship happened along, and to them the boys told the story of their perplexity. The sailors were in the same predicament, as they wanted to get back to the ship, and didn't know which way to go. IMPROVISING A STATU:. " ' If we only knew what the Russian is for that statue,' said one of the boys, ' we could make him understand.' " They tried all the words they knew, but to no purpose. Suddenly an idea occurred to one of the sailors. He asked the other to get down on all- fours, which he did, wondering what was the matter with his comrade. Jack mounted his friend's back as though he were a steed, and took the attitude of Peter the Great as nearly as he could remember it. The other sailor caught at the idea, and reared slightly on his feet in the position of Peter's horse. The isvoshchiks comprehended what was wanted, and roared with delight ; the two sailors jumped into a drosky, which fol- lowed the carriage containing the boys, and in due time the party arrived safely at its destination." 76 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. CHAPTER IV. DINNER IN A RUSSIAN RESTAURANT.— CABBAGE SOUP, FISH PIES, AND OTHER ODD DISHES.— THE SAMOVAR AND ITS USES.— RUSSIAN TEA - DRINKERS.— JOLTAJ CHAL— ALEXANDER'S COLUMN— FORTRESS OF STS. PETER AND PAUL.— IMPE- RIAL ASSASSINATIONS. — SKETCHES OF THE PEOPLE. — RUSSIAN POLICE AND THEIR WAYS. INSTEAD of returning to the hotel for dinner, our friends went to a traJdir, or Russian restaurant, in a little street running out of Admi- ralty Square. The youths were anxious to try the national dishes of the country, and consequently they accepted with pleasure Doctor Brouson's suggestion relative to their dining-place. "The finest and most characteristic restaurants of Russia are in Mos- cow rather than in St. Petersburg," said the Doctor, as he led the way to the establishment they had decided to patronize. " St. Petersburg has a great many French and German features that you do not find in Moscow, and when we get to the latter city we must not fail to go to the ' Mos- kovski Traktir,' which is one of the most celebrated feeding-places of the old capital. There the waiters are clad in silk shirts, or frocks, extending nearly to the knee, over loose trousers of the same material. At the estab- lishment where we are now going the dress is that of the ordinary French restaurant, and we shall have no difficulty in finding some one who speaks either French or German." They found the lower room of the restaurant filled with men solacing themselves with tea, which they drank from glasses filled and refilled from pots standing before them. On each table was a steaming samovar to sup- ply boiling water to the teapots as fast as they were emptied. The boys had seen the samovar at railway-stations and other places since their en- trance into the Empire, but had not thus far enjoyed the opportunity of examining it. "We will have a samovar to ourselves," said the Doctor, as they mounted the stairs to an uj>per room, " and then you can study it as closely as you like." The Russian bill of fare was too much for the reading abilities of any one of the trio. The Doctor could spell out some of the words, but found RUSSIAN DINNERS. 77 they would get along better by appealing to one of the waiters. Under his guidance they succeeded very well, as we learn from Frank's account of the dinner. " Doctor Bronson told us that cabbage soup was the national dish of the country, and so we ordered it, under the mysterious name of tschee e karsha. The cabbage is chopped, and then boiled till it falls into shreds ; a piece of meat is cooked with it ; the soup is seasoned with pepper and salt ; and altogether the tschee (soup) is decidedly palatable. Karsha is barley thoroughly boiled, and then dried over the fire until the grains fall apart. A saucerful of this cooked barley is supplied to you along with the soup, and you eat them together. You may mingle the karsha with the TEA-SELLERS IN THE STREETS. tschee as you would mix rice with milk, but the orthodox way of eating is to take a small quantity of the karsha into your spoon each time before dipping it into the soup. A substantial meal can be made of these arti- cles alone, and there are millions of the subjects of his Imperial Majesty the Czar who dine to-day and many other days in the year on nothing else. The Emperor eats tschee, and so does the peasant — probably the 78 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. Emperor lias it less often in the year than does his poor subject ; but the soup is of the same kind, except that very often the peasant cannot afford the important addition of meat." " Don't forget," Fred interposed, when the foregoing description was RUSSIAN RESTAURANT AT THE l'AKIS EXPOSITION. read to him — "don't forget to say that they served us a little cup or mug of sour cream along with the tschee." "Yes, that's so," responded Frank; "but I didn't like it particularly, and therefore came near forgetting it. We remember best the things that please us." " Then perhaps you didn't like the sakushka, or appetizer, before din- ner," said the Doctor, "as I see you haven't mentioned it." "I hadn't forgotten it," said the youth, " but was going to say some- thing about it at the end. You know the preface of a book is always written after the rest of the volume has been completed, but as you've called attention to it, I'll dispose of it now. Here it is : " There was a side-table, on which were several plates containing rel- ishes of different kinds, such as caviare, raw herring, dried beef, smoked THE ZAKUSHKA. 19 salmon cut in little strips or squares, radishes, cheese, butter, and tiny sand- wiches about the size of a half-dollar. A glass of cordial, of which sev- eral kinds were offered, goes with the sakushka for those who like it ; the cordial and a few morsels of the solid things are supposed to sharpen the appetite and prepare it for the dinner which is to be eaten at the table. " The sakushka is inseparable from a dinner in Russia, and belongs to it just as much as do any of the dishes that are served after the seats are taken. While we were standing around the side-table where it was served at our first dinner in St. Petersburg, Doctor Bronson told us a story that is too good to be lost. I'll try to give it in his words : "There was once a Russian soldier who had a phenomenal appetite; he could eat an incredible quantity of food at a sitting, and the officers of AX OUT-DOOR TEA-PARTY. his regiment used to make wagers with strangers about his feeding abili- ties. They generally won ; and as the soldier always received a present when he had gained a bet, he exerted himself to the best of his ability. " One day the colonel made a wager for a large amount that his man could eat an entire sheep at a sitting. The sheep was selected, slaugh- tered, and sent to a restaui'ant, and at the appointed time the colonel ap- peared with the soldier. In order to help the man along, the keeper of the restaurant had cooked the different parts of the sheep in various ways ; SO THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. there were broiled and fried cutlets, roasted and boiled quarters, and some stews and hashes made from the rest. Dish after dish disappeared. When almost the entire sheep had been devoured, the soldier turned to the colo- nel and said, "'If you give me so much zakushha I'm afraid I sha'n't be able to eat all of the sheep when they bring it.' " "But to return to soups. In addition to tschee, the Russians have uTcha, or fish soup, made of any kind of fish that is in season. The most expensive is made from sterlet, a tish that is found only in the Yolga, and sometimes sells for its weight in silver. "We tried it one day, and liked it very much, but it costs too much for frequent eating except by the wealthy. A very good fish soup is made from trout, and another from perch. "After the soup we had npirog, or pie made of the spinal cord of the sturgeon cut into little pieces about half as large as a pea. It resembles isinglass in appearance and is very toothsome. The pie is baked in a deep dish, with two crusts, an upper and an under one. Doctor Bronson says the Russians make all kinds of fish into pies and patties, very much as we make meat pies at home. They sometimes put raisins in these pies — a practice which seems very incongruous to Americans and English. They also make soliaiika, a dish composed of fish and cabbage, and not at all bad when one is hungry ; red or black pepper liberally applied is an im- provement. " "What do you think of ohroshJca — a soup made of cold beer, with pieces of meat, cucumber, and red herrings floating in it along with hits of ice to keep it cool? Don't want any. Xeither do we; but the Rus- sians of the lower classes like it, and I have heard Russian gentlemen praise it. Many of them are fond of batveaia, which is a cold soup made in much the same way as ohroshJca, and about as unpalatable to us. We ordered a portion of ohroshJca just to see how it looked and tasted. One teaspoonful was enough for each of us, and batvenia we didn't try. "After the pirog we had cutlets of chicken, and then roast mutton stuffed with buckwheat, both of them very good. They offered us some boiled pig served cold, with horseradish sauce, but we didn't try it ; and then they brought roast grouse, with salted cucumbers for salad. We wound up with JSTesselrode pudding, made of plum-pudding and ices, and not unknown in other countries. Then we had the samovar, which had been made ready for us, and drank some delicious tea which we prepared ourselves. Xow for the samovar. "Its name comes from two words which mean 'self-boiling;' and the HABITS OF TEA-DRINKERS. HI samovar is nothing but an urn of brass or copper, with a cylinder in the centre, where a fire is made with charcoal. The water surrounds the cylinder, and is thus kept at the boiling-point, which the Russians claim is indispensable to the making of good tea. The beverage is drank not RBSSIAB MUJIKS DRINKING TKA. from cups, but from glasses, and the number of glasses it will contain is the measure of a samovar. The Russians rarely put milk with their tea ; the common people never do so, and the upper classes only when they have acquired the habit while abroad. They rarely dissolve sugar in their tea, but nibble from a lump after taking a swallow of the liquid. A peasant will make a single lump serve for four or. five glasses of tea, and it is said to be an odd sensation for a stranger to hear the nibbling S2 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IX THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. and grating of lumps of sugar when a party of Russians is engaged in tea-drinking. " "We sat late over the samovar, and then paid our bill and returned to the Square. Doctor Bronson told us that an enormous quantity of tea is consumed in Russia, but very lit- tle coffee. Formerly all the tea used in the Empire was brought overland from China by way of Siberia, and the business enabled the importers of tea to accumu- late great fortunes. Down to 1860 only one cargo of tea an- nually was brought into Russia by sea, all the rest of the impor- tation being through the town of Kiaclita, on the frontier of Mon- golia. Since I860 the ports of the Empire have been opened to tea brought from China by wa- ter, and the trade of Kiaclita has greatly diminished. But it is still very large, and long trains of sledges come every winter through Siberia laden with the tea which has been brought to Kiachta on the backs of camels from the districts where it is grown. " There is one kind of the Chinese herb, called joltai chai (yellow tea), which is worth at retail about fifteen dollars a pound. It is said to be made from the blossom of the tea-plant, and is very diffi- cult to find out of Russia, as all that is produced comes here for a mar- ket. We each had a cup of this tea to finish our dinner with, and noth- ing more delicious was ever served from a teapot. The infusion is a pale yellow, or straw -color,' and to look at appears weak enough, but it is unsafe to take more than one cup if you do not wish to be kept awake all night. Its aroma fills the room when it is poured out. All the pens in the world cannot describe the song of the birds or the perfume of the flowers, and so my pen is unable to tell you about the aroma and taste PLANT FROM WHICH YELLOW TEA IS MADE. MONUMENTS IN ST. PETERSBURG. 83 of jolted chai. We'll get a small box of the best and send it Lome for you to try." It was so late in the day when our friends had finished their dinner and returned to the Square, that there was not much time left for sight- seeing. They were in front of the Winter Palace and St. Isaac's Church, but decided to leave them until another day. Fred's attention was drawn to a tall column between the Winter Palace and a crescent of lofty build- ings called the Etat-inajor, or staff headquarters, and he asked the Doctor what it was. "That is the Alexander Column," was the reply to the question. ''It is one of the largest monoliths or single shafts of modern times, and was erected in 1832 in memory of Alexander I." "What a splendid column !" said Frank. "I wonder how high it is." -e. .;■ ■i.iJiiiiiiiiiiifirfin , rnujiiiiiiirriii.il i .iWiiiiiiiDjj.i.r "-rSri'if--"— >2§s - r^TWrPiirPl i iTn n I i 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 • ' ■ liniinilllllllllllllllllli; niMiiiTuiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiJij COLUMN IN MEMOKY OF ALEXANDER I. Thereupon the youths fell to guessing at the height of the column. After they had made their estimates — neither of them near the mark but considerably below it — Doctor Bronson gave them its dimensions. 84 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. "The shaft, without pedestal or capital, is fourteen feet in diameter and eighty-four feet high ; it was originally one hundred and two feet high, but was reduced through fear that its length was out of proportion to its diameter. The base and pedestal are one single block of red granite about twenty-five feet high, and the capital is sixteen feet high. The angel above the capital is fourteen feet tall, and the cross in the hands of the angel is seven feet above it. With the platform on which it rests, the whole structure rises one hundred and fifty-four feet from the level of the ground." " They must have had a hard time to make the foundations in this marshy ground," one of the boys remarked. " They drove six rows of piling there, one after the other, before get- ting a foundation to suit them," said the Doctor. "The shaft alone, which was put up in the rough and finished afterwards, is thought to weigh about four hundred tons, and the pedestal and base nearly as much more. Unfortunately the shaft has suffered from the effects of the severe climate, and may be destroyed at no distant day. Several cracks have been made by the frost, and though they have been carefully cemented, they continue to increase in size. Pieces have fallen from the surface of the stone in the same way that they have fallen from the Egyptian obelisk in New York, and it is very evident that the climate of St. Petersburg is unfriendly to monuments of granite." The bronze on the pedestal and capital is from Turkish cannon which were melted down for the purpose. The only inscription is in the few words, "TO ALEXANDER THE FIEST, GRATEFUL RUSSIA." Frank made a sketch of the monument together with the buildings of the Mat-major and a company of soldiers that marched past the foot of the column. Doctor Bronson said the soldiers belonged to the guard of the palace, where they had been on duty through the day, and had just been relieved. From the column and the buildings surrounding it the trio of strangers walked to the bank of the river and watched the boats on the water, where the setting sun slanted in long rays and filled the air with the mellow light peculiar to high latitudes near the close of day. It was early in September, and already the evening air had a touch of coolness about it. St. Petersburg is in latitude (30° North, and consequently is quite near the Arctic Circle. Doctor Bronson told the youths that if they had come there in July they would have found very little night, the sun set- DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE CAPITAL. 85 tins' not far from ten o'clock and rising about two. In the four hours of night there is almost continuous twilight ; and by mounting to the top of a high building at midnight one can see the position of the sun below the northern horizon. Any one who goes to bed after sunset and rises before sunrise would have very little sleep in St. Petersburg in summer. " On the other hand," said the Doctor, " the nights of winter are very PETER THE GREAT. long. Winter is the gay season here, as the city is deserted by fashionable people in summer, and one is not expected to make visits. The Imperial court goes away ; the Emperor has a palace at Yalta in the Crimea, and there he passes the autumn months, unless kept in St. Petersburg or Moscow by the affairs of the nation. They have some public festivities 86 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. here in summer, but not general]}', most of the matters of this kind being reserved for the winter." Boats were moving in all directions on the placid waters of the river, darting beneath the magnificent bridge that stretches across the stream, and carrying little parties, who sought recreation or were on errands of business. On the opposite side of the Xeva, and beyond the Winter Palace, was the grim fortress of Sts. Peter and Paul, with whose history many tales of horror are connected, and where numerous prisoners of greater or less note have been confined. " It was there," said Doctor Bronson, " that Peter the Great caused his son Alexis to be put to death." " Caused his son to be put to death !" exclaimed the youths together. "Yes, it is generally believed that such was the case," the Doctor an- swered, "though the fact is not actually known. Alexis, the son of Peter the Great, was opposed to his father's reforms, and devotedly attached to the old superstitions and customs of Russia. Peter decided to exclude him from the throne ; the son consented, and announced his desire to enter a monastery, from which he managed to escape to Austria, where he sought the protection of the Emperor of that country. Peter sent one of his generals in pursuit of Alexis; by a combination of threats and promises he was induced to return to St. Petersburg, where he was thrown into prison, and afterwards tried for high -treason and condemned to death. Peter pardoned but did not release him. On the 7th of July, 1718, he died suddenly, and it was and is now generally believed that he was poisoned or beheaded by his father's order." " And was he really guilty of high-treason ?" Fred asked. " According to Pussian law and custom, and particularly according to the law and custom of Peter the Great, he certainly was," Doctor Bronson replied. " Remember, the Emperor is autocratic in his power, at least in theory, and in Peter's time he was so actually. The will of the founder of the Pussian Empire was law ; Alexis was opposed to that will, and con- sequently opposed to the Imperial law. The progress of Pussia was more in the eyes of Peter than the life of any human being, not even excepting his own son, and the legitimate heir to the throne. The proceedings of the trial were published by Peter as a justification of his act. "Peter II., the son of Alexis and grandson of the great Peter, died suddenly, at the age of fifteen ; Peter III., grandchild of Peter the Great through his daughter Anna, was the husband of the Empress Catherine II. ; but his reign was very short. His life with Catherine was not the hap- piest in the world, and in less than eight months after he became Em- peror she usurped the throne, deposed her husband, and caused him to AX IMPERIAL MURDER. 87 be strangled. Catherine was a German princess, but declared herself thoroughly Russian when she came to reside in the Empire. If history is correct, she made a better ruler than the man she put aside, but this can be no justification of her means of attaining power. " Her son, Paul I., followed the fate of his father in being assassinated, but it was not by her orders. She brought him up in complete ignorance ASSASSINATION OF PETKU III. of public affairs, and compelled him to live away from the Imperial court. Until her death, in 1796, she kept him in retirement, although she had his sons taken to court and educated under her immediate supervision. Treatment like this was calculated to make him whimsical and revengeful, and when he became emperor he tried to undo every act of his mother and those about her. He disbanded her armies, made peace with the countries with which she was at war, reversed her policy in everything, and became a most bitter tyrant towards his own people. He issued ab- surd orders, and at length his acts bordered on insanity. " A conspiracy was formed among some of the noblemen, who repre- 88 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. sented to his son Alexander that it was necessary to secure the abdication of his father on the ground of incapacity. Late at night, March 23d, 1801, they went to his bedroom and presented a paper for him to sign. lie refused, and was then strangled by the conspirators. Alexander I. was proclaimed emperor, and the announcement of Paul's death was hailed with delight by his oppressed stibjects. Among the foolish edicts he issued was one which forbade the wearing of round hats. "Within an hour after his death became known, great numbers of round hats were to be seen on the streets. " You've had enough of the history of the Imperial family of Russia for the present," said the Doctor, after a pause, "and now we'll look at the people on the streets. It is getting late, and we'll go to the hotel, making our observations on the way. " Here are distinct types of the inhabitants of the Empire," the Doc- tor remarked, as they passed two men who seemed to be in animated con- versation. " The man with the round cap and long coat is a Russian peasant, while the one with the hood over his head and falling down to his shoulders is a Finn, or native of Finland." " How far is it from here to Finland i 1 " Frank asked. "Only over the river," the Doctor replied. "You cross the Xeva to THE GOVERNMENT OE FINLAND. 89 its opposite bank, and you are in what was once the independent duchy of Finland, but has long been incorporated with Russia. When Peter the Great came here he did not like to be so near a foreign country, and so made up his mind to convert Finland into Russian territory. The inde- pendence of the duchy was maintained for some time, but in the early part of the present century Russia defeated the armies of Finland, and the country was permanently occupied. Finland has its constitution, which is based on that of Sweden, and when it was united with Russia the con- stitutional rights of the people were guaranteed. The country is ruled by a govern or- general, who is appointed by Russia ; it has a parliament for RUSSIAN AND FINN. presenting the grievances and wishes of the people, but all acts must re- ceive the approval of the Imperial Government before they can become the law of the land." ''What are those men standing in front of a building?" said Fred, as he pointed to a fellow with a broom talking with another in uniform. " The one in uniform is a postman," was the reply, " and the other is a dwmik, or house guardian. The dvornik sweeps the sidewalk in front of 'JO THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. a house and looks after the entrance ; be corresponds to the porter, or por- tier, of other countries, and is supposed to know the names of all the ten- ants of the building. The postman is reading an address on a letter, and the dvorniJc is probably point- ing in the direction of the room occupied by the person to whom the missive belongs." " I have read that letters in Russia are examined by the police before they are deliver- ed," said one of the boys. " Is that really the case ?" " Formerly it was, or at least they were liable to ex- amination, and it probably happens often enough at the present time. If a man is suspected of treasonable prac- tices his correspondence is lia- ble to be seized ; unless there is a serious charge against him, it is not detained after exam- ination, provided it contains nothing objectionable. The Post-office, like everything else in Russia, is a part of the mili- tary system, and if the Government wishes to do anything with the letters of its subjects it generally does it. The correspondence of foreigners is rarely meddled with. Writers for the foreign newspapers sometimes com- plain that their letters are lost in the mails, or show signs of having been opened, but I fancy that these cases are rare. For one, I haven't the least fear that our letters will be troubled, as we have no designs upon Russia other than to see it. If we were plotting treason, or had communications with Russian and Polish revolutionists in France or Switzerland, it is probable that the Government would not be long in finding it out." " "What would happen to us, supposing that to be the case ?" Frank inquired. "Supposing it to be so for the sake of argument," the Doctor an- swered, "our treatment would depend much upon the circumstances. If we were Russians, we should probably be arrested and imprisoned ; but as ec&&f~~*#0srcf/. PVOR.NIK AND POSTMAN. EXPELLED FROM RUSSIA. 91 we are foreigners, we should be asked to leave the country. Unless the matter is very serious, the authorities do not like to meddle with foreign- ers in any way that will lead to a dispute with another government, and their quickest way out of the difficulty is to expel the obnoxious visitor." " How would they go to work to expel us ?" " An officer would call at our lodgings and tell us our passports were ready for. our departure. He would probably say that the train for the frontier leaves at 11 a.m. to-morrow, and he would expect us to go by that train. If the case was urgent, he would probably tell us we must go by that train, and he would be at the hotel at ten o'clock to escort us to it. He would take us to the train and accompany us to the frontier, where he would gracefully say good-by, and wish us a pleasant journey to our homes. If matters were less serious, he would allow us two or three (lays, perhaps a week, to close our affairs; all would depend upon his orders, and whatever they were they would be carried out. LODGINGS AT THE FRONTIER. "Before the days of the railways objectionable parties were taken to the frontier in carriages or sleighs, the Government paying the expense of the posting ; and no matter wdiat the hour of arrival at the boundary, they were set down and left to take care of themselves. An Englishman who had got himself into trouble with the Government in the time of the Em- 02 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. peror Nicholas, tells how he was dropped just over the boundary in Prus- sia in the middle of a dark and rainy night, and left standing in the road with his baggage, fully a mile from any house. The officer who accom- panied him was ordered to escort him over the frontier, and did it exactly. Probably his passenger was a trifle obstinate, or he would not have been left in such a plight. A little politeness, and possibly a few shillings in money, Would have induced the officer to bring him to the boundary in the daytime, and in the neighborhood of a habitation. " Expelled foreigners have rarely any cause to complain of the incivili- ty of their escorts. I know a Frenchman who was thus taken to the fron- tier after a notice of two days, and he told me that he could not have re- ceived greater civility if he had been the guest of the Emperor, and going to St. Petersburg instead of from it. He added that he tried to outdo his guardians in politeness, and further admitted that he richly deserved ex- pulsion, as he had gone to the Empire on a revolutionary mission. < >n the whole, he considered himself fortunate to have escaped so easily." The conversation led to anecdotes about the police system of Russia, and at their termination our friends found themselves at the door of the hotel. Naturally, they shifted to other topics as soon as they were in the presence of others. It was an invariable rule of our friends not to dis- cuss in the hearing of any one else the politics of the countries they were visiting. ORDERED TO LEAVE IiUSSIA. POPULATION OF THE EMPIRE. 03 CHAPTER V. NUMBER AND CHARACTER OF THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE.-PAN-SLAVIC UNION— ST. ISAAC'S CHURCH. —ITS HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION. —THE WINTER PALACE AND THE HERMIT AGE. — SIGHTS IN THE PALACE. — CATHERINE'S RULES FOR HER RECEPTIONS.— JOHN PAUL JONES IN RUSSIA.— THE CROWN JEWELS AND THE ORLOFF DIAMOND.— ANECDOTES OF THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS.— RELICS OF PETER THE GREAT.— FROM PALACE TO PRISON.— TOMBS OF RUSSIA'S EMPER- ORS.— A MONUMENT AND AN ANECDOTE. WHEN the subject of the police was dropped by our friends, Frank asked a question about the Russian people and their origin. The Doctor answered that the topic was a broad one, as the Empire contained more than a hundred different nations and tribes of people, and that they spoke forty distinct languages. Many of the smaller tribes were assimi- lating with the Russians and losing their distinctiveness, even though they preserved their language ; but this was by no means the case throughout the Empire. " Not in Poland, I think," said Frank, " judging by what we saw and heard, and probably not in Finland." " Quite right," added Doctor Bronson ; " and the same is the case with the German population in the Baltic provinces. Though they have long been an integral part of the Empire, there are thousands of the inhab- itants who cannot speak Russian, and refuse to teach it to their children. They are less revolutionary in their ways than the Poles, but none the less desirous of preserving their national characteristics. " The population of Russia is about one hundred millions," he contin- ued, " and it is spread over an area of nearly if not quite seven million square miles of land. Russia occupies about one-eighth of the land sur- face of the globe, but is very thinly inhabited. European Russia, in- cluding Poland, Finland, and other provinces, covers two millions of square miles, while Siberia, or European Asia, extends over at least five millions. This does not include the disputed territory of the last few years in Cen- tral Asia. It is pretty certain to come under the rule of the Emperor, and will add another half-million, if not more, to his dominions. "The inhabitants are very unevenly distributed, as they average one Oi THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. hundred and twenty-seven to the square mile in Poland, and less than two to the mile in Asiatic Russia. About sixty millions belong to the Slavic race, which includes the Russians and Poles, and also a few colonies of FINLAND PEASANTS IN HOLIDAY COSTUME. Servians and Bulgarians, which amount in all to less than one hundred thousand. The identity of the Servians and Bulgarians with the Slavic race has been the excuse, if not the reason, for the repeated attempts of Russia to unite Servia, Bulgaria, and the other Danubian principalities PAN-SLAVIC UNION. 95 with the grand Empire. The union of the Slavic people under one gov- ernment has been the dream of the emperors of Russia for a long time, and what could be a better union, they argue, than their absorption into our own nation ?" Fred asked who the Slavs were, and whence they came. " According to those who have studied the subject," Doctor Bronson answered, "they were anciently known as Scythians or Sarmatians. Their INHABITANTS OK SOUTHERN RUSSIA. early history is much obscured, but they seem to have had their centre around the Carpathian Mountains, whence they spread to the four points of the compass. On the north they reached to the Baltic ; westward, they went to the banks of the Elbe ; southward, beyond the Danube ; and eastward, their progress was impeded by the Tartar hordes of Asia, and 96 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. they did not penetrate far into Siberia until comparatively recent times. With their extension they split up into numerous tribes and independent organizations; thus their unity was lost, and they took the form in which we find them to-day. Poles and Russians are both of the same race, and their languages have a common origin ; but nowhere in the world can be found two people who hate each other more heartily. However much the Russians have favored a Pan-Slavist union, you may be sure the Poles look on it with disfavor. " The ancient Slavonic language has given way to the modern forms in the same way that Latin has made way for French. Italian. Spanish. ST. ISAACS CHrtiCH AND ADMIRALTY SyCARE. and other tongues and dialects with a Latin origin. In fact those lan- imao-es hold the same relation to Latin that Polish. Russian. Servian, and Bulgarian hold towards ancient Slavonic. The Romish Church uses Latin in its service, and the Russo-Greek Church uses the old Slavonic ; the Poles, Bohemians, and others have adopted the Roman alphabet, but the Russians use the Slavonic characters in a modified form. The Russian alphabet has thirty-six letters, some being Roman, others Greek, and oth- ers Slavonic. After you have learned the alphabet and can spell out the THE CHURCH OF ST. ISAAC. 97 signs on the shops and street corners, I'll tell you more about the lan- o ruaa'e. It was getting late, and the party broke up a few minutes after the foregoing conversation. Before they separated, Doctor Bronson suggested to the youths that he should expect them to read up the history of Rus- sia, and not forget the Romanoff family. " The Romanoffs,'' said he, " are the reigning family of Russia, just as the Guelphs are of England and the Hapsburgs of Austria." It was speedily arranged that Frank would devote special attention to the first-named subject, while Fred would assume the responsibilities of the latter. " And while you are on the subject," the Doctor added, turn- ing to Fred, " see if you can find about the origin of the Orloff family, which is one of the most interesting traditions that has been handed down." Fred promised, and the party separated for the night. They were all up in good season the next morning, and after a substan- tial breakfast, in which the samovar had a prominent place, they set out for a round of sight-seeing in the modern capital of Russia. Returning to Admiralty Scpiare, they visited the Church of St. Isaac, accompanied by the guide they had engaged at the hotel. The man was of Russian birth, and spoke English with considerable fluency. Evidently he understood his business, as he told the history of the sacred edifice with a careful adherence to dates. " Peter the Great built a wooden church on this very spot," said the guide, "in 1710, but it was destroyed by fire. Afterwards the great Cath- erine erected another, which was finished in 1801 ; but it only remained eighteen years. The present building was begun in 1S19, and its com- pletion took nearly forty years. It was consecrated in 1S58, and is con- sidered the finest church in the Empire." " The last statement might be disputed by some of the citizens of Mos- cow," said the Doctor to the youths, " but there is no question about the church being the finest in St. Petersburg. Observe its admirable propor- tions," he continued. " It is in the form of a Greek cross, with its four sides of equal length, and the architect who planned it certainly had a correct eye for his work." "Tou observe," said the guide, "that each of the four entrances is ap- proached by three flights of stone steps, leading up from the level of the square. Each of these flights of steps is cut from a single block of Fin- land granite." The youths made note of this fact as they wondered how the huge 7 98 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. masses of stone were brought from their quarries ; and they also noted that the four entrances of the church were between pillars of granite sixty feet high and seven feet in diameter, polished to the smoothness of a mir- ror. An immense dome forms the centre of the edifice. It is of iron, covered on the outside with copper, and this copper is heavily plated with PIUKST OF THE CHCRCH OF ST. ISAAC. pure gold. It is the dome which first caught the eyes of the travellers as they approached the city, and forms an important landmark from every direction. The cupola rests on thirty granite pillars, which look small enough when seen from below, but are really of great size. In the inside of the church are paintings by Russian artists, and there are two columns of malachite fifty feet high, and of proportionate diame- ter — the largest columns of this costly mineral anywhere in the world. Immense quantities of malachite, lapis-lazuli, and other valuable stones are used in the decoration of the church, and our friends thought that if there was anything to criticise it was the great amount of ornamentation and gilding in the interior. " But I have no doubt," wrote Fred in his note- book, " that this display has its effect upon the worshippers in the church, HERMITAGE AND WINTER PALACE. 99 and particularly among the poor peasants and all others of the humbler classes. In all the countries we have visited, whether of the Christian, Moslem, Buddhist, or other faith, we have found the religious edifices adorned in the most costly manner, and there is no reason why Russia should form an exception to the general rule. Many of the paintings, columns, and others decorations of this church were the gift of wealthy Russians, while others were paid for by the contributions of the people, or from the funds in Government hands." From the Church of St. Isaac our friends went to the Hermitage and the Winter Palace, the latter being named in contradistinction to the Summer Palace, which is at Tsarskoe-Selo, a few miles from the capital. We will see what the youths had to say of their visit to these edifices. Fred will tell the story. " To describe all we saw there would take a fair-sized volume," said Fred, "and we will only tell what impressed us most. The palace was built in a great hurry, to take the place of the one that was burned in 1837. It was ready for occupation in 1839 ; and when you know that it is four hundred and fifty feet long- by three hundred and fifty wide, and rises to a height of eighty feet, yon will agree with us that the Russians are to be praised for their energy. Our guide had procured the necessary ticket for admittance, and we passed in through an enor- mous gateway opposite the Column of Alexander. Two servants in livery showed us through the halls and galleries, and for hours we wan- dered among pictures which repre- sent the victories of Russia over its enemies, and amid costly furniture and adornments, till our feet and eyes were weary. The Throne- room of Peter the Great is one of the finest of the apartments, and the Hall of St. George is the largest. It measures one hundred and forty feet by sixty, and is the scene of the grand balls and receptions which the Em- peror gives on state occasions. There is a beautiful apartment, known as Its walls and ceiling are gilded, and CATHERINE II. OF RUSSIA. the drawing-room of the Empress. 100 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. the whole work about it seems to have been done without regard to expense. " One of the halls contains portraits of the rulers of Russia from Peter the Great down to the present time ; another, the portraits of the generals who fought against the French in 1812 ; another, the portraits of all the field-marshals of the armies by which Napoleon was conquered ; and oth- ers, the battle-scenes before mentioned. I observed that Russia was not unlike France, Germany, and other countries in representing very promi- nently the battles where she triumphed, and ignoring those where she was defeated. The guide told us that at the state balls in the palace sit-down suppers are provided for all the guests, even if there are two or three thousand of them. Sometimes the supper-hall is converted into a garden by means of trees brought from greenhouses. The guests sit at table be- neath the foliage, and can easily forget that they are in the middle of a Russian winter. "Doctor Bronson says the Russians are very fond of plants in their dwellings, the wealthy expending large sums on greenhouses and conserv- atories, and the poorer people indulging in flower-pots, which they place in all available spots. The wealthy frequently pay enormous prices for rare exotics. We have seen a good many flower-stores along the Xevski Prospect and in other streets, and are ready to believe that the Russians are great admirers of floral products. Their long, cold, and cheerless win- ters lead them to prize anything that can remind them of the summer season. , " At the entrance of one of the halls there is a tablet on which are the rules which Catherine II. established for the informal parties she used to have at the Hermitage. Catherine had literary aspirations, and her parties were in imitation of the salons of Paris, which have a wide celebrity. Here is a translation of the rules, which I take from Murray's 'Hand- book :' " ' 1 Leave your rank outside, as well as your hat, and especially your sword. " '2. Leave your right of precedence, } T our pride, and any similar feeling, outside the door. " '3. Be gay, but do not spoil anything; do not break or gnaw anything. " '4. Sit, stand, walk as you will, without reference to anybody. " ' 5. Talk moderately and not very loud, so as not to make the ears and heads of oth- ers ache. " ' 6. Argue without anger and without excitement. " ' 7. Neither sigh nor yawn, nor make anybody dull or heavy. " ' 8. In all inuocent games, whatever one proposes, let all join. " '9. Eat whatever is sweet and savory, but drink with moderation, so that each may find his legs on leaving the room. JOHN PAUL JONES AT THE RUSSIAN COURT. . 101 ^k$^m^ RECEPTION OP JOHN PAUL JONES BY THE EMPRESS CATHERINE. 102 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. " ' 10. Tell no tales out of school; whatever goes in at one ear must go out at the other before leaving the room. " 'A transgressor against these rules shall, on the testimon)' of two witnesses, for every offence drink a glass of cold water, not excepting the ladies, and further read a page of the " Telemachiade " aloud. " ' Whoever breaks any three of these rules during the same evening shall commit six lines of the " Telemachiade " to memory. " ' And whoever offends against the tenth rule shall not again be admitted.' " The ' Telemachiade ' which is prescribed as a penance was the work of a Russian poet of Catherine's time, who does not seem to have enjoyed the Imperial favor. It is said that invitations to these parties were much sought ; but, in spite of all her efforts, the Empress could not induce her guests to forget entirely that she was their sovereign. However, she man- aged to make her parties much less formal than anything ever known be- fore at the Imperial Palace, and this was a great deal to accomplish in such a time and in such a country. " I may remark, by-the-way, that the Empress Catherine was the first sovereign of Russia to invite an American officer into the Imperial serv- ice. That officer was the celebrated John Paul Jones, a Scotchman by birth but an American citizen at the time of the Revolutionary war. The havoc he wrought upon the British fleets attracted the attention of the Russian Government, and after our war was over he received an intimation that he could find employment with the armies of the Empress, lie went to St. Petersburg, was received by Catherine at a special audience, and accorded the rank of admiral in the Imperial Navy. Eussia was then at war with Turkey. Admiral Jones was sent to command the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, and operate against the Turkish fleet, which he did in his old way. " The Russians were besieging a town which was held by the Turks, who had a fleet of ships supporting their land-forces. Jones dashed in among the Turkish vessels with a boarding-party in small boats, backed by the guns of his ships and those of the besieging army. lie captured two of the Turkish galleys, one of them belonging to the commander of the fleet, and made such havoc among the enemy that the latter was thoroughly frightened. Unfortunately, Jones incurred the displeasure of Potemkin, the Prime-minister, and favorite of the Empress, and shortly after the defeat of the fleet he was removed from command and sent to the Baltic, where there was no enemy to operate against. "But I am neglecting the palace in following the career of an Amer- ican in the service of Russia. THE OELOFF DIAMOND. 103 "We asked to see the crown jewels of Russia, and the guide took us to the room where they are kept. One of the most famous diamonds of the world, the Orloff, is among them, and its history is mixed up with a good deal of fahle. The most authentic story about this diamond seems RUSSIAN ATTACK ON THE TURKISH GALLEY. to he that it formed the eye of an idol in a temple in India, whence it was stolen by a French soldier, who sold it for two thousand guineas. It then came to Europe, and after changing hands several times was bought by Prince Orloff, who presented it to the Empress Catherine. The Prince is 101 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. said to have given for the diamond four hundred and fifty thousand rubles (about four hundred thousand dollars), a life annuity of two thou- sand rubles, and a patent of nobility. It weighs more than the famous Koh-i-noor of England, but is not as fine a stone. There is a faint tinge of yellow that depreciates it considerably, and there is also a flaw in the in- terior of the stone, though only perceptible on a careful examination. " The Imperial crown of Russia is the most interesting crown we have anywhere seen. The guide told us how much it was worth in money, but I've forgotten, the figures being so large that my head wouldn't contain them. There are rubies, diamonds, and pearls in great profusion, the diamonds alone being among the most beautiful in the world. There are nearly, if not quite, a hundred large dia- monds in the crown, not to mention the smaller ones that till the spaces where large ones could not go. The coronet of the Empress is an- nuo oiiloff diamond. other mass of precious stones worth a long journey to see. There are other jewels here of great value, among them a plume or aigrette, which was presented to Gen- eral Snwarroff by the Sultan of Turkey. It is covered with diamonds mounted on wires that bend with each movement of the wearer. What a sensation Suwarroff must have made when he walked or rode with this plume in his hat! "From the crown jewels we went to a room whose history is con- nected with a scene of sadness — the death of the Emperor Nicholas. It is the smallest and plainest room of the palace, without any adornment, and containing an iron bedstead such as we find in a military barrack. His cloak, sword, and helmet are where he left them, and on the table is the report of the quartermaster of the household troops, which had been delivered to the Emperor on the morning of March 2, 1S55, the date of his death. Everything is just as he left it, and a soldier of the Grenadier Guards is constantly on duty over the relics of the Iron Czar. " If what we read of him is true, he possessed one characteristic of Peter the Great — that of having his own way, more than any other Em- peror of modern times. He ascended the throne in the midst of a revo- lution which resulted in the defeat of the insurgents. They assembled in Admiralty Square, and after a brief resistance were fired upon by the loval soldiers of the Empire. Five of the principal conspirators were hanged after a long and searching trial, during which Nicholas was con- cealed behind a screen in the court-room, and listened to all that was said. ANECDOTES OF NICHOLAS I. 105 Two hundred of the others were sent to Siberia for life, and the soldiers who had simply obeyed the orders of their leaders were distributed among other regiments than those in which they had served. " Through his whole reign Nicholas was an enemy to free speech or free writing, and his rule was severe to the last degree. What he ordered it was necessary to perform, no matter what the difficulties were in the way, and a failure was, in his eyes, little short of a crime. He decided questions very rapidly, and often with a lack of common-sense. When the engineers showed him the plans of the Moscow and St. Petersburg Kail- way, and asked where the line should run, he took a ruler, drew on the map a line from one city to the other, and said that should be the route. As a consecpience, the railway is very nearly straight for the whole four hun- dred miles of its course, and does not pass any large towns like the rail- ways in other countries. "A more sensible anecdote about him relates an incident of the Crimean war, when the Governor of Moscow ordered the pastor of the English Church in that city to omit the portion of the service which prays for the success of British arms. The pastor ap- pealed the case to the Emperor, who asked if . those words were in the regular service of the English Church. On being an- swered in the affirmative, he told the pastor to continue to read the service just as it was, and ordered the governor to make no further interference. "His disappointment at the defeat of his armies in the Cri- mean war was the cause of his death, quite as much as the in- fluenza to which it is attributed. On the morning of his last day ° J NICHOLAS I. he received news of the repulse of the Russians at Eupatoria, and he is said to have died while in a fit of anger over this reverse. Though opposed to the freedom of the Press and people, he advised the liberation of the serfs ; and before he died he urged his son and successor to begin immediately the work of emancipation. 106 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. " The Hermitage is close to the palace, and is large enough of itself for the residence of an emperor of medium importance, and certainly for a good-sized king. The present building is the successor of one which was built for the Empress Catherine as a refuge from the cares of State, and hence was called the Hermitage. It is virtually a picture-gallery and museum, as the walls of the interior are covered with pictures, and there are collections of coins, gems, Egyptian antiquities, "and other things dis- tributed through the rooms. " The room of greatest interest to lis in the Hermitage was that con- taining the relies of Peter the Great. There were the turning-lathes whereon he worked, the knives and chisels with which he carved wood into various forms, together with specimens of his wood-carving. His telescopes, drawing -instruments, walking-stick, saddle, and other things are all here, and in the centre of the room is an effigy which shows him to have been a man of giant stature, as does also a wooden rod which is said to be the one with which he was actually measured. There is a car- riage in which he drove about the city, the horse he rode at the battle of Pultowa, and several of his favorite dogs, all stuffed and preserved, but not in the highest style of the taxidermist. There are casts taken after Peter's death, several portraits in oil and one in mosaic, and a cast taker. FROM PALACE TO PRISON. 10'! during life, and presented by Peter to his friend Cardinal Valenti at Rome. It was missing for a long time, but was finally discovered about the middle of this century by a patriotic Russian, who bought it and pre- sented it to the gallery. " There is a clock in the same room which is said to have contained at one time the draft of a constitution which Catherine the Great intended giving to her people. Immediately after her death her son and successor, Paul, rushed to the clock in her bedroom, drew out the paper, and destroyed it. At least this is the tradition ; and whether true or not, it is worth knowing, as it illustrates the character of Paul I." Our friends imitated the course of many an Imperial fa- vorite, not only in Russia, but in other countries, by going from a palace to a prison, but with the difference in their case that the step was voluntary. As they crossed the bridge leading from the Winter Palace in the direction of the grim for- tress of Sts. Peter and Paul, Doctor Bronson told the youths that Peter the Great shut up his sister in a convent and exiled her minister, Prince Galitzin. " Since his time," the Doctor continued, " his example has been followed by nearly every sovereign of Russia, and a great many persons, men and wom- en, have ended their lives in prison or in exile who once stood high in favor at the Imperial court. Catherine was accustomed to dispose of the friends of whom she had wearied by sending them to live amid Siberian snows, and the Emperor Paul used to condemn people to prison or to exile on the merest caprice. Even at the present day the old custom is not unknown." CIRCASSIAN ARMS AS TROfHIES OF BATTLE. 108 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. " We were not admitted to the cells of the fortress," said Frank, in his account of the visit to the place, '"as it was 'contrary to orders,' according to the guide's explanation. But we were shown through the cathedral where the rulers of Russia from the time of Peter the Great have been buried, with the exception of Peter II., who was buried at Moscow, where he died. The tombs are less elabo- rate than we expected to find them, and the walls of the church are hung profusely with flags, weapons of war, and other trophies of battle. The tombs mark the positions of the graves, which are beneath the floor of the cathedral. Naturally the tombs that most attracted our atten- tion were those of the rulers who have been most famous in the his- tory of Russia. "We looked first at the burial- place of the great Peter, then at that of Catherine II., and afterwards at the tomb of Nicholas I. ; then we sought the tomb of Alexander II., who fell at the hands of Nihilist assassins, and after a brief stay in the church returned to the open air. The building is more interesting for its associations than for the artistic merit of its interior. Its spire is the tallest in the Empire, with the exception of the tower of the church at Revel, on the Baltic coast. From the level of the ground to the top of the cross is three hundred and eighty-seven feet, which is twenty-six feet higher than St. Paul's in London. u The spire alone is one hundred and twenty-eight feet high, and very slender in shape. It was erected more than a hundred years ago. and the church itself dates almost from the time of the foundation of the city. Fifty or more years ago the angel and cross on the top of the spire threatened to fall, and a Russian peasant offered to repair them for two hundred rubles. By means of a rope and a few nails, he climbed to the STATCE OF NICHOLAS t THE DOUBLE-HEADED EAGLE. 109 top of the spire and performed the work, and nobody will say he did not earn his money. A single misstep, or the slightest accident, would have dashed him to certain death. "When we left the church and fortress," continued Frank, "we felt that we had had enough for the day of that kind of sight-seeing, so we drove through some of the principal streets and went to the Gostinna Dvor, where we wished to see the curiosities of the place and make a few purchases. "Near St. Isaac's Church we passed the famous equestrian statue of the Emperor Nicholas, in which the sculptor succeeded in balancing the horse on his hind feet without utilizing the tail, as was done in the case of the statue of Peter the Great. The Emperor is in the uniform of the Horse Guards. The pedestal is formed of blocks of granite of different colors, and there are bronze reliefs on the four sides representing incidents in the Emperor's life and career. On the upper part of the pedestal at each of the corners are emblematical figures, and just beneath the forefeet of the horse is a fine representation of the Imperial eagle. The whole work is surrounded with an iron fence to preserve it from injury, and altogether the statue is one of which the city may well be proud." While the party were looking at the Imperial arms just mentioned, Fred asked why the eagle of Russia is represented with two heads. "It indicates the union of the Eastern and Western empires," the Doctor answered, " the same as does the double-headed eagle of Austria. The device was adopted about four centuries ago by Ivan III., after his marriage with Sophia, a princess of the Imperial blood of Constantinople. " By-the-way," the Doctor continued, "there's a story of an Imperial grand-duke who went one day on a hunting excursion, the first of his life, and fired at a large bird which rose before him. The bird fell, and was brought by a courtier to the noble hunter. " ' Your Imperial Highness has killed an eagle,' said the courtier, bow- ing low and depositing the prey on the ground. " The grand-duke looked the bird over carefully, and then turned away with disdain. 'That's no eagle,' said he, 'it has only one head.'" What our young friends saw in the Gostinna Dvor will be told in the next chapter. 110 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. CHAPTER VI. THE GOSTINNA DVOR.— ITS EXTENT AND CHARACTER.— PECULIARITY OF RUSSIAN SHOPPING— CURIOUS CUSTOMS.— OLD-CLOTHES MARKET.— HAY-MARKET.— PIG- EONS IN RUSSIAN CITIES.— FROZEN ANIMALS.— CHURCH AND MONASTERY OF ST. ALEXANDER NEVSKI.— A PERSIAN TRAIN.— A COFFIN OF SOLID SILVER.— THE SUMMER GARDEN.— SPEAKING TO THE EMPEROR— KRILOFF AND HIS FABLES.— VISIT TO A RUSSIAN THEATRE.— "A LIFE FOR THE CZAR."— A RUSSIAN COMEDY. " T)EFORE I describe the Gostinna Dvor of St. Petersburg," said Fred -U in his note-book, " let me premise by saying that every Russian city or town has an establishment of the same kind. It is a good deal more than the market-place with us, and seems to combine the bazaars of the East with the shops of the West. In an ordinary town the Gostinna Dvor occupies a single large building at or near the centre of population ; the larger the town or city the greater will be the commercial needs of the people, and consequently a city like Moscow or St. Petersburg will have a Gostinna Dvor that dwarfs all ordinary markets into insignificance. " The one at St. Petersburg occupies an enormous building, which might almost be called a series of buildings, fronting on the Xevski Pros- pect, but entered also from other streets. There are said to be ten thou- sand merchants and their employe's in the building, and certainly the num- ber is little if any exaggerated. We walked among the rows of shops till our feet ached with weariness, and still there were many other rows of shops to be visited. Sometimes the shopmen were importunate, but usu- ally they did not disturb us unless we stopped to look at something. The building is two stories high, the lower floor being used for retail purposes and the upper for the storage of goods. Owing to the danger of a con- flagration and the great destruction that would ensue, we were told that no tire is allowed here in winter. Then the merchants and their clerks wear furs and thick clothing when at their business, and shoppers are not expected to lay aside their wraps while making purchases. •• ■ What do you buy in the Gostinna Dvor V I hear some one asking. '••Everything that one could wear or use in Russia,' I should reply, • together with a great many things whose use it would be impossible to imagine.' Some one writing on this subject says you may come naked THE G0ST1NNA DVOK. Ill into the Gostinna Dvor, bringing only a pocket-book stnfEed with money, and leave it in an hour dressed in whatever garments yon choose, wear all the jewellery your tastes may dictate, and ride away in a coach drawn by four horses, with driver and footmen in livery, all obtained in the building we are now visiting, or in one of its annexes. Nay, more ; you can en- gage a residence of palatial character from accommodating house agents stationed here, and furnish it completely from the stock on hand in the Gostinna Dvor. Pictures, chairs, sofas, curtains, tapestry, kitchen utensils, library, anything and everything you want, are all ready for sale, and only await purchasers. Your wife and children, 'sisters, cousins, and aunts,' PUI.ITENKSS IN TIIK SIAKKET-PLACK. can here be provided with wardrobes, elaborate or economical, as your purse will justify, and so with all the servants of the household, regardless of their number. " Officers of every grade, rank, and arm of the service can be uni- formed here, and their garments may be brand-new, second-hand, or so old that they will subject the wearer to punishment on account of his shabbi- ness. Decorations are to be bought, at least the insignia thereof, and the 112 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. seller -will ask no questious. The purchaser wears them at his peril if he does not possess the proper diplomas, since the unauthorized wearing of decorations is as serious a matter in Russia as in other Continental coun- tries. The Emperor Nicholas was fond of visiting the Gostinna Dvor ac- companied by a single orderly. One day he saw a young officer wistfully eying a decoration in one of the windows, and told the orderly to ascer- tain his name. Inquiry showed that the officer stood well with his supe- riors, was faithful in the performance of his duties, and the result was he received the coveted bauble directly from the hand of the Emperor. " Perhaps you wonder why the Russian market is so extensive, and what must be the habits of the people to sustain such a commerce. This is the way it is explained : " A Russian rarely buys anything till just as he wants it, and then he cannot wait to have it made. In England or America a man desiring to furnish a fine house would be weeks or months collecting his furniture, ordering some to be made, and buying the rest from time to time when he found what suited him. Under similar circumstances, a Russian drives to the Gostinna Dvor, and makes his selections from what he finds there. "The Russians are said to be more capricious than people of other nationalities in the matter of their movements from place to place. A wealthy Russian will fit up a house at great expense, buying his furniture in the manner described. In a few months he decides to travel for his health, or go to the country, and the whole equipment is sent to the Gos- tinna Dvor and sold for what it will bring. It may be so little used that it can be sold again by the dealer as new, and of course the dealer makes a large profit on the transaction. When the man comes back to the city he furnishes anew, and thus the business of the bazaar is maintained. Fortunes come and go very quickly in Russia, and so the work of fitting and dismantling is continuous. " The best goods are in the Gostinna Dvor proper, while the inferior ones are in the annexes. Some of the shops have fixed prices, but in most of them there is a system of bargaining which is not agreeable to the traveller from the Occident. He is never certain that he has paid the proper price, even when he has brought the merchant down to what ap- pears to be his lowest figure. " We bought a few articles of Russian manufacture to send home to our friends. Among them were samovars, inlaid goods from Tula, em- broidered slippers and sashes from the Tartar provinces, malachite and lapis-lazuli jewellery, and some Circassian ornaments of silver. Many of the articles sold in the Gostinna Dvor are of English, German, and French THE FROZEN MARKET. 11.: manufacture, which are largely increased in price owing to the duties placed upon them by the custom-house. " Our guide directed us from the rear of the building along the Bolshoia Sadovaia, or Great Garden Street, which is a line of shops and IMPORTUNING A VISITOR. bazaars, to the Sennaia Ploshad, or Hay-market. This is a large open place or square, which is less interesting now than in winter. In summer it is devoted to the sale of hay and live-stock, but in winter it is filled not only with the hay, grain, and live-stock of summer, but with frozen animals, which form the principal food of the inhabitants of the city. Here is what one traveller has written about the frozen market : " ' On one side you see a collection of frozen sheep— stiff, ghastly ob- 8 1/ 114 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. jects — some poised on their hoofs like the wooden animals in a child's " Noah's Ark ;" others on their sides, with their legs projecting at right angles to their bodies ; others, again, on their backs, with their feet in the air like inverted tables. The oxen are only less grotesque from having been cleft down their backs — an operation which seems to take them out , » > \ W I'M K > ¥ FROZEN ANIMALS IN THE MARKET. of the category of oxen and place them in that of beef. The pigs are drawn up in line against the wall, standing on their hind legs, with their forefeet extended above their heads, like trick-dogs going through their performances. "'The partridges, quails, grouse, wood-hens, and other birds are lying together in a frozen mass, and by their side are ducks and geese with outstretched necks so straight and stiff that you might take one of these harmless creatures by the bill and, using it as a bludgeon, knock down your enemy with its body. The fowls have been plucked, plunged into water, and left to freeze ; thus they are completely encased in ice, and in that condition will keep for any length of time as long as the weather con- tinues cold.' PIGEONS IN RUSSIA. 115 " Frozen fish are piled in heaps like stove-wood, and frozen cabbages are rolled around like cannon-shot. A calf stands in front of a butcher's stall in the attitude of walking away, but an examination shows that he is hard as a stone, and ma} 7 have been standing there for weeks. Milk is sold in bricks, with a stick or string frozen into one corner ; the purchaser may carry it home by means of this improvised handle, or he may wrap it in paper or his handkerchief. In fact everything that can be frozen yields to the frost, and the Russians find it a most convenient form of preservation. One of the odd sights of the frozen market is the itinerant vender of sucking-pigs, who carries these articles of trade hung around his neck or waist, as though they were ornaments rather than merchandise. " There is a market for old clothes which reminded us of Chatham Street, in New York. The dealers had little stalls where the garments were exposed for sale, and there were a good many peddlers who walked about with the goods they desired to dispose of. The old-clothes market of St. Petersburg is said to be inferior to that of Moscow in the number and character of the Israelitish merchants in whose hands the business is' concentrated. The one at Moscow is also called the Elbow-market, on account of the continued elbowing of those who go there. Though peo- ple were crowded closely together when we were in the market, we saw no indications of anything but good-nature. The Russians are polite to each other as well as to strangers, and it was amusing to see how the rough fellows, when meeting face to face, bowed as though they were great per- sonages. " And such flocks of pigeons as were flying all about ! They tell us there are many more of them in winter than in summer, as the birds are then driven to the towns and cities to find their food. The Hay-market is their favorite resort, since grain as well as hay is sold there, and the pigeons manage to get off with all that is scattered on the ground. "The pigeon or dove in Russia is a sacred bird. The Russians say that as the dove brought the olive-branch to the Ark, he should not be harmed, and it would be a great offence to kill one of these birds in the presence of an orthodox member of the Church. But all the grain that is scattered from the feed of the horses and in the market-place is not suffi- cient for the sustenance of the pigeons ; many kind-hearted persons throw quantities of grain to them every morning, and not unfrequently it hap- pens that a pious Russian will spend a considerable part of his income in this way. Kriloff, the Russian fable writer, is said to have supported all the pigeons of the Gostinna Dvor for some time at his own expense, or, more properly speaking, at that of his creditors. 116 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. " There are a great many magpies and crows mingling with the pig- eons, and evidently considering themselves just as respectable. Pigeons, crows, and magpies fill the belfries of many of the churches, but not of all, and nobody seems able to say why they make the distinction. Some of MAKKKT FOR OLD CLOTHES. the churches are fairly thronged with them, and they keep up a perpetual flutter around the roof from sunrise to sunset. " There is a story that the magpies were driven out of Moscow by 07ie of the priests under the following circumstances : The high-priest, or met- ropolitan, was about to lay the foundation of a new church, and when he reached the part of the ceremony where the mortar was to be placed on the stone, the golden trowel which had been brought for the occasion ST. ALEXANDER NEVSKI. 117 could not be found. A workman standing near was accused of the theft, and as nobody else could have stolen the trowel, the man was sent to Si- beria. Some weeks later the precious tool was found by the bell-ringers in the great tower in the Kremlin, where it had been carried by a thieving magpie. The man was pardoned, and compensated for his suffering ; the metropolitan placed the curse of the Church on the magpie, and there- upon all the magpies in Moscow flew away, and have not since been near the city. The story is told by the author of ' The Russians at Home,' and he adds that the magpies really do keep at a respectful distance from the ancient capital of Russia, and thus vouch for the truth of the story." From the Gostinna Dvor our friends drove to the church and monas- tery of St. Alexander Nevski, at the extreme end of the Nevski Prospect. It occupies a large area enclosed by high walls, and is said to be on the exact spot where the Grand-duke Alexander defeated the Swedes, about A.n. 1241. In due time he was canonized, and became St. Alexander. He was buried at Vladimir, where his remains rested until after the founding of St. Petersburg. Peter the Great caused the bones of the saint to be transported to the new city on the banks of the Neva. St. Alexander became St. Alexander Nevski (" of the Neva "), and the church and monastery were established. One night the monks in charo-e of the church took the bones of the saint and started for Vladimir, declaring they had been told in a vision that the saint was not resting peacefully in the marshy soil of the new capital. Peter was not a man to be thwarted in his designs. He sent word to the monks that unless they returned immediately, bringing the bones with them, they would lose their heads. Knowing the man they had to deal with, they straightway had a new vision, which accorded with the wishes of the imperious Czar. They took the road back to St. Petersburg with- out delay, and sought and obtained the pardon of their august master. Hear what Fred has to say about the church and its surroundings : " The original church was of wood," writes Fred, " and was built about 1712 ; it was torn down a few years later, and replaced with a church of stone. The sovereigns of Russia each added something to the building and its surroundings, and the present cathedral was built by Catherine the Great. The work was done at great expense. Marble was brought from Italy for the interior decorations, and the malachite, lapis-lazuli, and other costly minerals were brought from Siberia and Persia. Some of the paintings are by Russian artists, and the rest by celebrated masters of Italy and other countries. " An object of great interest is the shrine of St. Alexander Nevski. US THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. The coffin is of solid silver, and, with the surrounding or- naments of the same pure met- al, is estimated to weigh more than a ton and a half. The crown of the saint is preserved here, and also the bed on which Peter the Great died, and there are many interesting objects associated with the memory of nearly all the rulers of Russia. "There is a library of ten or twelve thousand volumes, together with a large number of manuscripts relating to the history of the Empire. In the monastery are the cells of some fifty or sixty monks who reside hero and have charge of a religious school which is open to students preparing riGEONS IN A RUSSIAN CITY. A PERSIAN TRAIN IN ST. PETERSBURG. 119 to enter the service of the Church. The chapel contains the tomhs of Suwaroff and other generals, and also of many members of the Imperial family. There are tombs of several noble families of Russia ; that of the Narishkins bears the inscription, " ' FROM THEIR RACE CAME PETER THE GREAT.' "An occurrence of comparatively recent times is associated with this church. Alexander Griboyedoff, born at Moscow about 1795, was a cele- brated poet and dramatist, whose merits were acknowledged by his ap- pointment as Minister to Persia in 182S. In February of the following year he and all the Russians who accompanied him were murdered in Teheran, in consecpience of a riotous outbreak of the populace. The Rus- sian Government demanded satisfaction, which was given in the sha})e of a long train of beasts of burden loaded witli presents, and accompanied by a prince of the Shah's household. There were also many fine horses for PEKSIAN HOUSES PRESENTED BY THE SHAH. saddle purposes, and a collection of wild animals peculiar to Asia. The train was months on its way, and reached St. Petersburg in the winter. A procession was made to this church, and certainly it was the most remark- able that this northern city had ever seen. "Pearls, embroideries in gold and silver, shawls, and other costly fab- rics, were carried on silver dishes in the hands of gorgeously dressed Per- sians ; elephants bearing towers filled with Persian warriors, or laden with the gifts of the Persian court, were protected from the cold by boots and 120 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. wrappings of leather ; and the cages of the lions, tigers, and leopards were shielded by double coverings of the skins of Arctic bears. The Persian prince rode in an Imperial carriage drawn by six horses, and was escorted by a regiment of Russian grenadiers. A portion of the presents was bestowed upon this church, and the remainder went to the fam- ilies of Griboyedoff and his companions. " The Emperor comes in person to attend the service of mass in this church at least once a year. The choir is one of the best in the city, and the church is largely attended by the fashionable inhabitants of the capital. A service was go- ing on as we entered the build- | ing, and we remained near the door until it ended. It was an impressive ceremonial, made doubly so by the historic inter- est of the surroundings." A drive to the Summer Gardens followed the visit to the Church of Saint Alexander Nevski. Several theatres and other public buildings were passed on the way, but they concluded not to stop to examine them. " One building is very much like another in St. Petersburg,'' said the Doc- tor ; "and unless there is some special interest connected with it, or a peculiar feature of architecture, it is not worth while mixing it up with your recollections of the Winter Palace and the Hermitage." It was a pleasant afternoon, and the Summer Gardens were filled with people enjoying the open air. There were nurse-maids with children, peasants alone or in couples, or groups, well-to-do persons of the middle classes, officers and soldiers — in fact a fair representation of the whole pop- ulation. The Emperor sometimes comes here for a walk, but of late years his visits have been less frequent than formerly, on account of the fear of assassination. It is forbidden to speak to the Emperor while he is on the promenade, and any one violating the rule will be arrested immediately. KUSSIAN PEASANT GIKL. EMPEROR NICHOLAS AND THE ACTOR. 121 It is said that one day while the Emperor was walking in the Summer Gardens he met and recognized a French actor with whose performance he was greatly pleased. He spoke pleasantly to the actor, and the latter replied, expressing his satisfaction at this mark of the Imperial favor. The Emperor then went on his way. The police immediately pounced upon the performer, and carried him away to prison for violating the rule ! "But the Emperor spoke to me first," the man protested over and over again to no purpose. " You spoke to the Emperor, which is contrary to the law," was all the explanation he could obtain. Nicholas went that night to the theatre to hear his favorite, but the latter did not appear. No one could tell where he was, and his Majesty returned disappointed to the palace. In the morning the unfortunate actor was released, and the story some- how readied the Imperial ears. Nicholas sent for the victim of the arrest, apologized for the action of the police, and asked what reparation he could make for the actor's night in night prison. " Never speak to me again in the public garden," was the reply. The Em- peror laughed, and made the required promise. Next day he sent the equivalent of a month's salary to the actor, together with a dia- mond ring of no small value. In one corner of the gar- den is a monument to the memory of Kriloff, the Rus- sian fabulist. The youths asked the Doctor to tell them about Kriloff, which he did as follows : "Kriloff was the most famous writer in Russia in the first half of the present century," said the Doctor, " and he is proba- bly better known to-day among all classes of the population than any RUSSIAN NCRSE-.MA1D AND CHILDREN. 122 THE COY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. other man of letters. Forty thousand copies of his works were sold be- tween 1830 and 1S10, in editions of various kinds, and went to all parts of the Empire. There was hardly a child of the educated classes who was not familiar with his stories, and they were circulated ' by word of mouth ' among the peasantry, to whom reading was an unknown accomplishment ; and before they were issued in books, his fables were published in news- papers and magazines, so that the aggregate circulation was very large.'' Fred asked what was the nature of the stories told by the famous man whose statue they were regarding. " They were fables," the Doctor answered, " after the manner of iEsop's and La Fontaine's. He had written editorials and literary essays *-&>2 FruW^jwi _W«tf- SOME OF KR1LOFE s FRIENDS. for various publications, but never made a 'hit' until about his fortieth year, when he took some fables from La Fontaine and adapted them to the conditions of life in Russia. He showed them to a friend, who printed them in The Moscow Spectator, where they attracted much attention. Kriloff was encouraged to continue this style of writing. For the rest of his life his literary labors were almost wholly devoted to fables. He died in November, 181-1, at the good old age of seventy-six. "At his funeral the streets were crowded, and the Church of St. Isaac could not hold all who came to take part in the services. Soon after his death a popular subscription was started, and the children of all classes contributed to it. The money was expended for the erection of the statue A CONVENTION. 123 I//,, \ pi; •■<.-: