The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-05 00:00:00

LITE.RATURE.

The Russian Shores of the Black Sea in the Autumn
of 1852. By Laurence Oliphant. Blackwood.
Never was a book of travels published more
opportunely. It will be welcomed with all eager-
ness, and the curiosity of the reader will be
amply repaid by an acquisition of really valu-
able, and at the same time delightfully amus-
ing, information. Mr. Oliphant has already
made himself favourably known to the lettered
community by his intelligent and animated account
of IN epaul and the Nepaulese. Mr. Murray, some
time back, published his " Journey to Nepaul"
just as the Messrs. Blackwood have now published
his " Voyage down the Volga, and a Tour through
the Country of the Don Cossacks :" namely, in the
very nick of time—as far as the general interest is
concerned. People were attracted to the former work
by the apparition amongst us of the Or iental splendour
of the jewelled costume, and gorgeous retinue of the
Nepaulese Ambassador ! Precisely as nowadays,
we doubt not, many will be piqued into a perusal
of these lively and alluring pages (366) by the
curiosity inspired by that still pending war on the
" Shores of the Black Sea" here described—on the
shores of that smaller medi-terranean of which
Lord Byron said so preposterously in " Don
Juan "

" There's not a sea the traveller e'er pukes in
Throws up such dangerous breakers as the Euxine
According to the explanation given by Mr. 0'
pliant of his original design—an explanation
which will be found in his brief but sufficient
" Preface "—our traveller merely designed at first
to visit the rivers which run into the White Sea,
for the purpose of Salmon Fishing. Fortunately
this project was altered by " circumstances, " and
our author turned his steps in the direction of the
Black Sea. Whence—between the old and the
new scheme of his peregrinations—this black-and-
white record of the incidents of his wander:rigs.
He sets forth on his travels from St. Petersburg—
clattering in a frail drosky over the execrable
pavements of that city to the railway terminus, and
thence on to Moscow at the tail of a steam engine.
Here is Mr. Laurence Oliphaut's lively sketch of
travelling, and preparing to travel, on—
A RUSSIAN RAILROAD.
" For an hour did the destined occupants of the train
sit patiently on the benches, every man with head unco-
vered—for even a skull-cap is an abomination to a Rus-
sian under a roof. Every one in military garb seemed
to have the entree to the platform, while the doors were
rigorously shut against us unhappy civilians. At a
quarter before eleven, however, they are opened—a
general rush follows, and we are hurried through a bar-
rier, the doors of which close behind us. Soon the
whole barrier becomes thronged with people, waving
their adieux as ardently as if we were booked for Aus-
tralia. A bell, a whistle, and a sort of dull attempt at
a scream, are, as in inure civilised parts of the world,
the signals for starting ; we leave the weeping eyes and
waving pocket handkerchiefs behind us, and, in the course
of ten minutes, find, to our satisfaction, that we have in-
creased our speed to 15 miles an hour. We have hardly
done so ere we arrive at a station. Everybody rushes
out and lights a cigarette. We are to stop here ten
minutes, and the people during that time walk up
and down the platform and smoke ; then we huddle
into our old places, and have time to look about us.
The carriages are large. Nobody seems to go in the
first class. A second-class carriage accommodates about
fifty people. They are built, as in Austria and America,
with a passage in the centre, perambulated by a man in
uniform, who occasionally asks people for their tickets.
He seems to make the inquiry the first time to satisfy
himself that you have got one, and afterwards merely
an amusement, which he apparently enjoys the mor as
he fancies you are going to sleep. The men are bearded
and dirty, and relate stories in a loud tone of voice, for
the benefit of the whole company, most of whom have
evidently never been in a railway before. At every sta-
tion the same scene ensues. The unsmoked ends of the
last station's cigars, having been carefully preserved, are
lighted afresh, and vehemently smoked on the platform
during five or ten minutes, as the case may be." *
Immediately on arriving at Moscow,,. we find that
our author and his fellow-travellers are " nearly
torn to pieces by the drosky boys," or Isvoschiks,
before they can make._ their way to the hotel kept
by Mr. Pickersoill. Somewhat different their wel-
come to the capital of Russia from that accorded.
to Harry Lorrequer's hero, when he and his lug-
gage were tossed up for by the Dublin carmen !
Once arrived at Moscow, Mr. Oliphant appears to
have made the best use of his time during his brief
stay there ; and under iis guidance we also, as readers
admitted into his confidence,are enabled to follow him
into the Eastern-looking bazaar of the Ryiidi, where
we almost catch the flavour (from his description)
of the tea imbibed in the orthodox wayon the
of 1.0320nril we pass, in his
ylouastsiinau,
drinking it, with a slice
top as a substitute for niqk,l under the Stass
company, with uncovered her.
mer. Having quitted
Vorota, or Gate of the Re
author-traveller in his
Moscow we find
con-
veyance, driven boyt
ahtehbarded Yamschik, careering
great fair of Nijni Nov-
along them d tt
Olathe wonderful fair, one of the
gorod. world " held on a low,
great fairs
ooff
land, formed by the junction
os sandy nt(hl ye
°Tao d
ithe Volga, and subject in winter to
" M Oliphant gives an
consta„t inunaa4,.ion r.
and evidently graphic description. Here
aul-s—Wa'rni in together the ragged Tartars, Cal-
fire
I. Chinese Kirohees, and Tchonvasses. Here
::•:crisesaped up 'in profusion—ironware from_ the
Caspian, shawls from Persia, carpets
from Georgia,
tea from Siberia, skins or dried fruits from the
Bukharian dominions. Everybody, or nearly
everybody, is wading about in the mud,
among all these treasures, in Russian leather
jack-boots. You elbow your way among the
concourse, and are all the while nearly eaten
Youebesides
stroll t into
to death by the fleas, caught plentifully from
greasy
the garb of the sheepskins!
the shop of a Jew, perhaps,
and, lookingbgaled.
over his goods without buying any,
are re
him with a repast of almonds,sasyplsitl. Oliphant,
and -by
Mr. rai-
sins ! " This human hive,"
"is only in existence six weeks in the year, during
which time it is visited by up-
r
dred thousand people 1" So- muchds of
for o r three
the greathu I-
fair of Nijni Novgorod,
Onward,
bound
Astrakan. Every-
nward, then, in the
Volga steam-tug for
Every-
thing about the English
different from what traveller appears
accus-
tomed to see—from he has been
down to th© d the aspect of nature herself
rfess of the Russian boatmen, the
()
loose trousers the latter being tucked into huge
jack-boots, ail(I. their red shirts fluttering outside,
"thus," " says the astonished observer, " reversing
the usual arrangement of those garments." Among
the sailors of the Volga as well as among those of
the Thames, however, there is this prevailing sign
of theirpramion, that Tom lugold4by's remark

would be applicable to either, it appears, where the
Victim of the " Vulgar Little Boy goes on to say
or sing of an old Salt at Margate—
" And then he hitched his trousers up, as is I'm told

their use ;
It's very odd that sailor-men should wear those things
s• loose !"
While recounting the incidents of his voyage along
the current of the Volga, Mr. Oliphant enlivens his
description with the following mention of

A RUSSIAN BOAT ACCIDENT.

" The weather continued lovely, and the scenery on
the right bank was often beautiful. Where, however,
the banks are low on both sides, the want of beauty is
generally compensated for by some highly interesting
pericarte which is to be traversed, and the excitement
becomes considerable as we approach the shallows with
our long unwieldy train. Two men with long poles are
engaged in melodiously sounding, and " piatt polovinai"
(five and a half), " schiest" (six), are ominous words to
the ears of the captain, who instantly seizes a red speak-
ing-trumpet nearly as long as himself, alternately waving
it and speaking through it to the barges, on board of which
everybody seems frantically engaged in doing some-
thing, which probably ends in the largest barge leaving
the right channel, and suddenly grounding. -Upon this,
a great bustle ensues on board the steamer, and the tow-
rope creaks and jams in every possible direction, always
seeming bent upon doing somebody damage, in which it
very nearly succeeded two or three times. The steamer
goes half-speed, .stops, backs, stops again, and allows
the pilot an opportunity of crossing himself vehemently.
To all this bustle a Perfect lull succeeds. The barge
that is not aground leaves her companion to her fate,
and drops composedly down the stream. We wait for
an hour to think about the position of matters in gene-
ral, and then turn our head, and anchor just above the
barge in distress. The captain goes on board, while we
contemplate her for another hcsur, without doing any-
thing in particular, during which time she becomes more
firmly imbedded than ever. Then follow a series o f
most complicated manoeuvres, the result of which is,
that after eight or ten hours of continual tugging at all
quarters, we get her off, and, picking up the other
barge, proceed on our way to the next pericarte, where
the same scene occurs, with variations. On one occa-
sion the tow-rope broke, and the end of it striking our
cabin window on deck, stove it in bodily, the smashed
glass flying in every direction. I had fortunate
oly just
quitted my chair close to it ; but my friend, wh was a
little further off, was slightly cut."
It is worthy of particular observation that the
author takes occasion to remark bluntly at page 61,
" Nothing bears looking into in Russia, front a
metropolis to a police officer ; in either case a slight
not be dispelled by a
acquaintance issufficient d impressions should
gent observer who visitatnhnej:cottun".
member this observatione mi•
•
is made ,by an intelli-
gent
recently as the autumn ntryehetel°rendflpiciteted
of 1852 ! The
reflection is sufficiently significant. •
Further than this, it weres
•
re-
mark of a work which should be b needlessconsulted itself
to
by all those (and are they not numerous
adays ?) who feel interested in the social now-
po-
litical aspect of the countries bordering and
Black Sea, swayed by the sceptre of the
Au..1113t0 n the
threatened by the ravages of war, and we ratbelieve'
I moreover, at this moment ripe for revolution.