Evening star., 1898-12-17
Incidents of a Picturesque Trip
Through Central Russia.
VISIT TO TIE HOUSE OF A PEASANT
Navigation is Difficult, but the
Shipping is Immense.
IN CURIOUS OLD KAZAN
from fl" BpStun Transcript.

Although the towns along the routes in
In" interior of Russia vary in size, they for
tn most part resemble one another in APP
paar1ura. When landing Is made at a
settlement it is no difficult matter to
observe everything Of interest in the course
Of en- hour Such towns usually rem
drr-J conspicuous by the white church,
which j. set on an eminenCe, if possible,
and IS more elaborate than any other build
ineS- This church is. of course, the Greek
Catholic, but in several towns, also Mo-
Niumedan mosques are to he seen. Beside
The church there are if the town is suffi-
Ci-nyiy large. a few weIl-buiit twO-story
houses. handsome plain and substantial.
built JS all Russian houses. to keep out the
C"ld. The common houses are also built
strong and warm, but unpainted, and of
never more than one story. The houses of
the peasants throughout northern Russia
are almost precisely similar to the log
hutS and cabins built in the more primitive
parts of the United States, and as far as
durability and solidity goes, it must be
said that the balance is in favor of the
Russians.
During the progress of a journey down
the Volga made by the International Geo
logical Association in August, 1897, We en-
tered one of the huts in small settlement
and asked the good woman of the house
for cup of tea No matter how poor Is
the house in Russia. one may always have
tea by asking. and it is invariably made IN
thA way, by first boiling the water
In the SdmoVaT. The brass SamovarS seen
in many Russian peasants house would
Iuai,a envious some American housewives.
Peasants Cottage.
ON this particular occasion, while wait
In for the tea, We examined curiously the
Interior of the cottage. The rooms were
exceedingly plain. furnished only with
beds. tables and chairs, with one or two
-,
Virgin in the corner of each room
there. as in every Russian house. Besides
this, one or two cheap cOlored prints COM
pleted the decorations. The two rooms of
the establishment appeared very clean, and
the floors and log walls well scrubbed. On
moving one of the boxes. however, a swarm
of hundreds of black bugs, of the sort in
habitiug old timber, rushed up the wall
from behind the back. We started back in
horror. and one OF the party hurrledly
reached for his hat which was hanging on
the wall and was being rapidly approached
by the formidable army. The woman OF
the house assured US by signs that there
was no cause for alarm, and in fact none
of the family seemed at all disturbed by
thu incident. We preferred, however to
drink our tea in the open air, after seeing
that the house possessed such multitude
of tenants. We afterward went among the
other inhabitants of the village and were
regaiad on the Russian national drink,
GuasS. which is made by the fermentation
Of black bread, and is certainly most re-
freshins- 1t is brown, sometimes almost
black IN color. and not unlike strong root
beer in taste. One finds il universally in
KuSSia. bJt better in the country than in
III" large cities
Apples seemed very plenty in all the
country along the NOlga and its tributaries.
They were good and very cheap. But it is
most rena rkable fact that in buying
even the smallest things or in making any
sort Of business transaction with the COM
mon people II is necessary to bargain In
the cities il seems to he almost Il rule OF
trade 10 charge double the worth of an
article and to get the higher price If pos
sjhle. Thus a merchant who sells silks viii
il the east. almost without fail, come down
from mis- first price if the customer insists
for sufficiently long time.
Along the yoiGa.
The river at the time of the sunset, was
always most beautiful. Very red skies seem
10 characterize this region. and especially
when clouds hung IN the horizon, the effect
OF the setting sun over the long sand
stretches and rolling plains was of great
beauty Often one had in this fiery land
sc,lpe the dark outline OF a church with its
byzantine domes, shining with gold An
other feature of great pictureSqueneSS that
one often sees on these rivers IS the ferry
1gr horses and wagons The boats are
merely large. hat scows. on which some
times the teams are transported at once,
the only means OF pTOpelllng being by
means of large poles and oars. As there
are almost no bridges over these rivers. the
plenty Of occupation. The system of chan
nj marking along the navigable rivers of
this system is excellent, all of the numer-
Gus bu0ys being well anu cOnspicuously
painted. and rendered useful at night by
electric lights, one OF which Is placed on the
Top uf each buoy. But the current of wa
ter is considerable. the Channe.s are con-
stantly shifting. and one can see by the
amount of dreOinS that Is constantly going
on that the Nolsa is kept open for naviga-
tion only at great expense. The amount of
traffic the Nolga and Kama is matter
OF surprise to the stranger. Boats laden
with fruits and grain from the regions TO
the south. and with ore and lumber from
the north. great fiat-boats loaded with
green grass TO the waters edge, and RATS
OF timber are constantly passing and
passing The merchandise barges are tow
ed by powerful s.~e-wheel steamers which
take five and six laden barges at time.
The methods Of dredging carried on seem
rather primitive considering the advanced
condition Of the appliances Of navigation in
general on these rivers The machines are
OF the old CUI-elevdtpr form, working very
SLOWLY and the residual material is trans
ported Ior a very short distance before be-
ing dumped again into the river. The i'm
menSs tracts OF sand along the banks af
ford necdsionaIIy most excellent beaches,
and We took many enjoyable swims in the
placid water which was during the month
o. August ot a most deiighful temperature.
The True Tartars.
At kazan on the third day of the Jour
ney. ths first long stop was made But as
only u few hours were allowed at this
place during which time reception was
given the party, there little time for
seeing jhs Interesting old place. Here oue
the true Tartars from the plains 20 the
south. One group in particular, dressed in
i,ggins and tight-fitting coats of skin. hav-
lls fur cars. and rather long har, much
resembled American Indians of the west
10 cause exclamst tiOus OF astonishmeat
from many Of the Americans OF the party.
The streets were crowded with Tartar mer-
chants, and the bazaar was the scene of
The greatest activity. Silks from Persia
were on sdls here, and d-leather boots,
beautifully worked with patterns in leather
o. other colOrs. Curious nuts and fruits
We're spread out in great quantity, and
eastern trinkets and ornaments of every
description tempted the eyes of the
stranger. We afterward ascertained that
here much more of a real fair in the
popular Senss Of the word, than that which
we afterwa.d d saw, and which takes place
annually at Mini Novgorod- The last has
more ths character of large wholesale ex-