its palaces and churches, is like nothing seen in Europe. It is
difficult to say from what country it has been principally derived.
The architects were generally Italians; but the style is Tartarian,
Indian, Chinese, and Gothic. Here a pagoda, there an arcade! In some
parts richness and even elegance; in others, barbarity and decay. Taken
altogether, it is a jumble of magnificence and ruin. Old buildings
repaired and modern structures not completed. Half-open vaults and
mouldering walls and empty caves, amidst whitewashed brick buildings
and towers and churches, with glittering, gilded, or painted domes.
In the midst of it some devotees are seen entering a little, mean
structure, more like a stable than a church. This, they tell you, is
the first place of Christian worship erected in Moscow....
The view of Moscow from the terrace in the Kremlin, near the spot where
the artillery is preserved, would afford a fine subject for a panorama.
The number of magnificent buildings, the domes, the towers, the spires,
which fill all the prospect, make it, perhaps, the most novel and
interesting sight in Europe. All the wretched hovels and miserable
wooden buildings, which appear in passing through the streets, are
lost in the vast assemblage of magnificent edifices, among which the
Foundling Hospital is particularly conspicuous. Below the walls of
the Kremlin the Moscva, already become a river of importance, is seen
flowing towards the Volga. The new promenade forming on its banks,
immediately below the fortress, is a superb work, and promises to rival
the famous quay at Petersburg.
A RUSSIAN SLEIGH JOURNEY.
FREDERICK BURNABY.
[Those who would like to obtain a lively picture of life in
Russia and on the Asiatic steppes should read Captain Burnaby's
"A Ride to Khiva" (1875), which is one of the most sprightly works
of travel extant. We have elsewhere made a selection illustrative
of the traveller's adventures in Asia, and present here some of
his experiences in Russia. We take him up at the railroad terminus
at Sizeran, whence he proposes to make his way by sleigh to
Orenburg, _via_ Samara.]
"You had better put on plenty of clothes," was the friendly caution I
received from my companion as I entered the dressing-room, "for the
thermometer marks twenty degrees below zero, Reaumur, and there is a
wind."
People in this country who have never experienced a Russian winter
have little idea of the difference even a slight breeze makes when the
mercury stands low in the thermometer, for the wind then cuts through
you, furs and all, and penetrates to the very bones. Determined to
be on my guard against the frost, I dressed myself, as I thought, as
warmly as possible, and so as to be utterly impervious to the elements.
First came three pairs of the thickest stockings, drawn high up above
the knee, and over them a pair of fur-lined low shoes, which in their
turn were inserted into leather galoches, my limbs being finally
deposited in a pair of enormous cloth boots, the latter reaching up
to the thigh. Previously I had put on some extra thick drawers and a
pair of trousers, the astonishment of the foreman of Messrs. Kino's
establishment, "Lord love you, sir," being his remark when I tried them
on, "no cold could get through them trousers, anyhow."
I must confess that I rather chuckled as my legs assumed herculean
proportions, and I thought that I should have a good laugh at the wind,
no matter how cutting it might be; but Æolus had the laugh on his side
before the journey was over. A heavy flannel undershirt, and shirt
covered by a thick wadded waistcoat and coat, encased my body, which
was further enveloped in a huge _shuba_, or fur pelisse, reaching to
the heels, while my head was protected by a fur cap and _vashlik_, a
sort of cloth head-piece of a conical shape, made to cover the cap, and
having two long ends which tie round the throat.
Being thus accoutred in all my armor, I sallied forth to join my
companion, who, an enormous man naturally, now seemed a very Colossus
of Rhodes in his own winter attire. "I think you will do," said my
friend, scanning me well over; "but you will find your feet get very
cold, for all that. It takes a day or so to get used to this sleigh
travelling; and, though I am only going a little beyond Samara, I shall
be uncommonly glad when my journey is over."
He was buckling on his revolver; and as we were informed that there
were a great many wolves in the neighborhood, I tried to do the same;
but this was an impossibility; the man who made the belt had never
foreseen the gigantic proportions my waist would assume when clad
in this Russian garb. I was obliged to give it up in despair, and
contented myself by strapping the weapon outside my saddle-bags....
Three horses abreast, their coats white with pendent icicles and
hoar-frost, were harnessed to the sleigh; the centre animal was in the
shafts, and had his head fastened to a huge wooden head-collar, bright
with various colors. From the summit of the head-collar was suspended
a belt, while the two outside horses were harnessed by cord-traces to
splinter-bars attached to the sides of the sleigh. The object of all
this is to make the animal in the middle trot at a brisk pace, while
his two companions gallop, their necks arched round in a direction
opposite to the horse in the centre, this poor beast's head being
tightly reined up to the head-collar.
A well-turned-out troika, with three really good horses, which get over
the ground at the rate of twelve miles an hour, is a pretty sight to
witness, particularly if the team has been properly trained, and the
outside animals never attempt to break into a trot, while the one in
the shafts steps forward with high action; but the constrained position
in which the horses are kept must be highly uncomfortable to them, and
one not calculated to enable a driver to get as much pace out of his
animals as they could give him if harnessed in another manner.
Off we went at a brisk pace, the bell dangling from our horse's
head-collar and jingling merrily at every stride of the team.
The sun rose high in the heavens; it was a bright and glorious morning,
in spite of the intense cold, and the amount of oxygen we inhaled
was enough to elevate the spirits of the most dyspeptic of mankind.
Presently, after descending a slight declivity, our Jehu turned sharply
to the right; then came a scramble and succession of jolts and jerks
as we slid down a steep bank, and we found ourselves on what appeared
to be a broad high-road. Here the sight of many masts and shipping,
which, bound in by the icy fetters of a relentless winter, would remain
embedded in the ice till the ensuing spring, showed me that we were on
the Volga.
It was an animated spectacle, this frozen highway, thronged with
peasants who strode beside their sledges which were bringing cotton and
other goods from Orenburg to the railway. Now a smart troika would dash
by us, its driver shouting as he passed, when our Jehu, stimulating
his steeds by loud cries and frequent applications of the whip, would
vainly strive to overtake his brother coachman. Old and young alike
seemed octogenarians, their short, thick beards and moustaches being
white as hoar-frost from the congealed breath.... An iron bridge was
being constructed a little farther down the Volga. Here the railroad
was to pass, and it was said that in two years' time there would be
railway communication, not only between Samara and the capital, but
even as far as Orenburg. Presently the scenery became very picturesque
as we raced over the glistening surface, which flashed like a burnished
cuirass beneath the rays of the rising sun. Now we approach a spot
where seemingly the waters from some violent blast or other had been in
a state of foam and commotion, when a stern frost transformed them into
a solid mass. Pillars and blocks of the shining and hardened element
were seen modelled into a thousand quaint and grotesque patterns.
Here a fountain, perfectly formed with Ionic and Doric columns, was
reflecting a thousand prismatic hues from the diamond-like stalactites
which had attached themselves to its crest. There a huge obelisk,
which, if of stone, might have come from ancient Thebes, lay half
buried beneath a pile of fleecy snow. Farther on we came to what might
have been a Roman temple or vast hall in the palace of a Cæsar, where
many half-hidden pillars and monuments erected their tapering summits
above the piles of the débris. The wind had done in that northern
latitude what has been performed by some violent preadamite agency in
the Berber desert. Take away the ebon blackness of the stony masses
which have been there cast forth from the bowels of the earth, and
replace them on a smaller scale by the crystal forms I have faintly
attempted to describe, and the resemblance would be striking....
The road now changed its course, and our driver directed his steeds
towards the bank. Suddenly we discovered that immediately in front of
us the ice had broken beneath a horse and sleigh, and that the animal
was struggling in the water. The river here was fortunately only about
four feet deep, so there would not be much difficulty in extracting
the quadruped; but what to ourselves seemed far more important was to
solve the knotty problem of how to get to land, for between our sleigh
and the shore was a wide gulf, and there seemed to be no possibility
of driving through it without a wetting. "Pleasant," muttered my
companion, "pleasant, very! Let us get out and have a good look round,
to see if we cannot find a place where we can get across in safety."
"I will pull you through," observed our Jehu, with a broad grin on his
lobster-colored countenance, and apparently much amused with the state
of affairs.
"No, oh, son of an animal," retorted my companion; "stay here till we
return."
After considerable search we found a spot where the water-channel was
certainly not much more than twelve feet across, and some peasants who
were fishing in the river came up and volunteered their assistance. One
of them produced a pole about eight feet long, with which, he said,
we could jump the chasm. My companion looked at me with a melancholy
smile, in which resolution and caution struggled for the mastery.
"It is very awful," he said, "very awful, but there is no other
alternative, and I much fear that we must."
With these words he seized the pole, and carefully inserted one end
of it in the muddy bottom. "If the ice gives way when I land on the
other side!" he suddenly observed, releasing his hold of the leaping
bar. "Why, if it does, you will get a ducking," was my remark: "but be
quick; the longer you look at it the less you will like it; and it is
very cold standing here: now, then, jump over."
[The corpulent Russian, however, could not bring himself to face
the chasm, and preferred the risk of a wetting in being dragged
through in the sleigh. Burnaby's turn came, and he chose the pole,
piqued thereto by the chaffing remarks of the grinning peasants.]
"How fat they are!" said one. "No, it's their furs," observed another.
"How awkward he is!" continued a third; "why, I could jump it
myself."--"I tell you what it is, my friend," I at length observed, "if
you continue this conversation, I think it very likely you will jump
either over or in, for I want to find out the exact distance, and am
thinking of throwing you over first, in order to satisfy my mind as to
how wide it is, and how deep."
This remark, uttered in rather a sharp tone, had the desired effect,
and, seizing the pole convulsively, I prepared for the leap, which,
nothing to a man not clad in furs, was by no means a contemptible one
in my sleigh attire. One, two, three! a bound, a sensation of flying
through the air, a slip, a scramble, and I found myself on the other
side, having got over with no more damage than one wet leg, the boot
itself being instantly covered with a shining case of ice.
"Come along quick!" cried my friend, who by this time had been dragged
through; "let us get on as quickly as possible." And without giving
me time to see if my cartridges or other baggage on the bottom of the
sleigh had suffered from the ducking, we rattled off once more in the
direction of Samara.
[Soon after they reached a stopping-place, changed horses, and
were off again, now in a howling wind and falling snow.]
Very soon that so-called "pins-and-needles" sensation, recalling some
snow-balling episodes of my boyish days, began once more to make itself
felt, and I found myself commencing a sort of double-shuffle against
the boards of the vehicle. The snow was falling in thick flakes, and
with great difficulty our driver could keep the track, his jaded horses
sinking sometimes up to the traces in the rapidly forming drifts, and
floundering heavily along the now thoroughly hidden road. The cracks
of his whip sounded like pistol-shots against their jaded flanks, and
volleys of invectives issued from his lips.
"Oh, sons of animals!" (Whack.)
"Oh, spoiled one!" (Whack.) This to a brute which looked as if he had
never eaten a good feed of corn in his life. "Oh, woolly ones!" (Whack!
whack! whack!)
"Oh, Lord God!" This, as we were all upset into a snowdrift, the
sleigh being three parts overturned, and our Jehu precipitated in the
opposite direction.
"How far are we from the next halting-place?" suddenly inquired my
companion, with an ejaculation which showed that even his good temper
had given way under the cold and our situation.
"Only four versts, one of noble birth," replied the struggling Jehu,
who was busily engaged endeavoring to right the half-overturned sleigh.
A Russian verst about nightfall, and under such conditions as I have
endeavored to point out to the reader, is an unknown quantity. A Scotch
mile and a bit, an Irish league, a Spanish legua, or the German stunde,
are at all times calculated to call forth the wrath of the traveller,
but in no way equal to the first-named division of distance. For the
verst is barely two-thirds of an English mile, and when, after driving
yet for an hour, we were told there were still two versts more before
we could arrive at our halting-place, it began fully to dawn upon my
friend that either our driver's knowledge of distance, or otherwise his
veracity, was at fault.
At last we reached a long, straggling village, where our horses stopped
before a detached cottage. The proprietor came out to meet us at the
threshold. "Samovar, samovar!" (urn) said my companion. "Quick, quick!
samovar!" and hurrying by him and hastily throwing off our furs,
we endeavored to regain our lost circulation beside the walls of a
well-heated stove.
In a few minutes, and when the blood had begun once more to flow in its
proper channels, I began to look round and observe the other occupants
of the room. These were for the most part Jews, as could easily be seen
by that peculiarity of the nose which unfailingly denotes any member of
the tribe of Israel. Some half-open boxes of wares in the corner also
showed their trade. The men were hawkers of fancy jewelry and other
finery calculated to please the wives of the farmers or better-to-do
peasants in the neighborhood.
The smell was anything but agreeable, and the stench of sheep-skins,
unwashed humanity, and some oily cooking going on in a very dirty
frying-pan at last caused my companion to inquire if there was no other
room vacant. We were shown into a small adjoining apartment, where the
smell, though very pungent, was not quite so disagreeable as in the one
inhabited by the family.
"This is a little better," muttered my companion, unpacking his
portmanteau and taking out a teapot, with two small metal cases
containing tea and sugar. "Quick, Tëtka, Aunt!" he cried (this to
the old woman of the house), "quick with the samovar!" when an aged
female, who might have been any age from eighty to a hundred, for she
was almost bent double by decrepitude, carried in a large copper urn,
the steam hissing merrily under the influence of the red-hot charcoal
embers.
By this time I had unstrapped the mess tins, and was extracting their
contents. "Let me be the carver," said my friend, at the same time
trying to cut one of the cutlets with a knife; but he might as well
have tried to pierce an ironclad with a pea-shooter, for the meat was
turned into a solid lump of ice. It was as hard as a brick-bat, and
when we tried the bread it was equally impenetrable; in fact, it was
only after our provisions had been placed within the stove for about
ten minutes that they became in any way eatable.
In the mean time my companion had concocted a most delicious brew,
and with a large glass of pale or rather amber-colored tea, with a
thin slice of lemon floating on the top, I was beginning to realize
how pleasant it is to have been made thoroughly uncomfortable, for it
is only after having arrived at this point of misery that you can
thoroughly appreciate what real enjoyment is. "What is pleasure?" asked
a pupil of his master. "Absence of pain," was the philosopher's answer;
and let any one who doubts that a feeling of intense enjoyment can be
obtained from drinking a mere glass of tea, try a sleighing journey
through Russia with the thermometer at 20° Reaumur and a wind. [20°
Reaumur below zero equals -13° Fahrenheit.]
In almost an hour's time we were ready to start, but not so our driver,
and to the expostulations of my companion he replied, "No, little
father, there is a snow-storm; we might be lost, and I might be frozen.
Oh, Lord God! there are wolves; they might eat me; the ice in the river
might give way and we might all be drowned. For the sake of God, let us
stop here!"
"You shall have a good tea-present" [tip], I observed, "if you will
drive us."
"Oh, one of noble birth," was his answer, "we will stop here to-night,
and Batooshka, little father, also," pointing to my companion; "but
to-morrow we will have beautiful horses, and go like birds to the next
station."
It was useless attempting to persuade him. Resigning ourselves to our
fate, my companion and self lay down on the planks to obtain what sleep
could be found, notwithstanding the noise that was going on in the next
room, the Jew peddlers being occupied in trying to sell some of their
wares and drive a bargain with the antique mistress of the house.
[We cannot undertake to relate the adventures of our traveller in
full, and it will suffice to say that, what with being overturned,
lost, and frozen, his whole journey was the reverse of agreeable.
He relates an amusing instance of his dealing with the Russians.]
Fortunately, there was a vacant room in the inn, and here I was at once
supplied with the smallest of basins and a table napkin. In the mean
time I despatched Nazar [his Tartar servant] to the post to desire the
inspector to send me three horses immediately. There was no time to
lose, and I wanted to hurry forward that afternoon.
Presently my man returned with a joyous countenance, which betokened
something disagreeable. In fact, in all countries where I have hitherto
travelled human nature, as typified in domestics, is much the same;
they invariably look pleased when they have a piece of bad news to
impart to their masters.
"What is it?" I asked. "Sleigh broken?"
"No, sir. No horses to be had; that is all. General Kauffmann went
through early this morning and took them all. The inspector says you
must wait till to-morrow, and that then he will have a team ready for
you. It is nice and warm," continued Nazar, looking at the stove. "We
will sleep here, little father; eat till we fill our clothes, and
continue our journey to-morrow."
"Nazar," I replied, giving my countenance the sternest expression it
could assume, "I command; you obey. We leave in an hour's time. Go and
hire some horses as far as the next stage. If you find it impossible to
obtain any at the station, try and get some from a private dealer; but
horses I must have."
In a few minutes my servant returned with a still more joyous
countenance than before. The inspector would not send any horses, and
no one could be found in the town who was inclined to let his animals
out on hire.
There was nothing to be done but to search myself. Nazar had evidently
made up his mind to sleep at Orsk. However, I had made up mine to
continue the journey.
Leaving the inn, I hailed a passing sleigh, the driver appearing to me
to have a more intelligent expression than his fellows. Getting into
the vehicle, I inquired if he knew of any one who had horses to hire.
"Yes," was the answer. One of his relatives had some; but the house
to which I was driven was shut up, and no one was at home. I began to
despair, and think that I should have as much difficulty in obtaining
horses at Orsk as I had in procuring a servant at Orenburg.
I now determined to try what gold, or rather silver, would do, and said
to the driver, "If you will take me to any one who has horses for hire,
I will give you a ruble for yourself."
"A whole ruble!" cried the man, with a broad grin of delight; and,
jumping off his seat, he ran to a little knot of Tartars, one of whom
was bargaining with the others for a basket of frozen fish, and began
to ply them with questions. In a minute he returned, "Let us go," he
said; and with a "Burr" (the sound which is used by the Russians to
urge on their horses) and a loud crack with his lash, he drove rapidly
in another direction.
I had arrived at the outskirts of the town, and we stopped before a
dirty-looking wooden cottage.
A tall man, dressed in a long coat reaching to his heels, bright yellow
trousers, which were stuffed into a pair of red leather boots, while an
enormous black sheep-skin cap covered his head, came out and asked my
business. I said that I wanted three horses to go to the next stage,
and asked him what he would drive me there for, the regular postal
tariff being about two rubles.
"One of noble birth," replied the fellow, "the roads are bad, but my
horses will gallop the whole way. They are excellent horses; all the
people in the town look at them and envy me. They say, how fat they
are! look, how round! The governor has not got any horses like mine in
his stable. I spoil them; I cherish them; and they gallop like the
wind. The people look, wonder, and admire. Come and see the dear little
animals."
"I have no doubt about it. They are excellent horses," I replied; "but
what will you take me for?"
"Let us say four rubles, your excellency, and give me one on account.
One little whole silver ruble; for the sake of God, let me put it in my
pocket, and we will bless you."
"All right," was my answer. "Send the horses to the Tzarskoe Selo Inn
immediately."
Presently the fellow rushed into my room, and, bowing to the ground,
took off his cap with a grandiose air; then, drawing out the money I
had given him from some hidden recess in the neighborhood of his skin,
he thrust the ruble into my hand, and exclaimed, "Little father, my
uncle owns one of the horses; he is very angry. He says that he was not
consulted in the matter, and that he loves the animal like a brother.
My uncle will not let his horse leave the stable for less than five
rubles. What is to be done? I told him that I had agreed to take you,
and even showed him the money, but he is hard-hearted and stern."
"Very well," I said; "bring round the horses."
In a few minutes the fellow returned, and exclaimed, "One of noble
birth. I am ashamed."
"Quite right," I said; "you have every reason to be so. But go on; is
your uncle's horse dead?"
"No, one of noble birth, not so bad as that; but my brother is vexed.
He has a share in one of the animals; he will not let me drive him to
the next station for less than six rubles;" and the man, putting on
an expression in which cunning, avarice, and pretended sorrow were
blended, rubbed his forehead and added, "What shall we do?"
I said, "You have a grandmother?"
"Yes," he replied, much surprised. "How did you know that? I have; a
very old grandmother."
"Well," I continued, "go and tell her that, fearing lest she should be
annoyed if any accident were to happen during our journey,--for you
know misfortunes occur sometimes; God sends them," I added, piously.
"Yes, he does," interrupted the man; "we are simple people, your
excellency."
"And, not wishing to hurt the old lady's feelings, should the fore leg
of your uncle's horse, or the hind leg of your brother's, suffer on the
road, I have changed my mind, and shall not go with you to-day, but
take post-horses to-morrow."
The man now became alarmed, thinking that he was about to lose his
fare. He rubbed his forehead violently, and then exclaimed, "I will
take your excellency for five rubles."
"But your brother?"
"Never mind; he is an animal; let us go."
"No," I answered. "I shall wait; the post-horses are beautiful horses.
I am told that they gallop like the wind; all the people in the town
look at them, and the inspector loves them."
"Let us say four rubles, your excellency."
"But your uncle might beat you. I should not like you to be hurt."