PART VI

STATISTICS

Present Conditions

_E. S._

ILLUSTRATIONS

MOSCOW

ARCHANGEL

REVEL

SIBERIAN NATIVES

SAMOJEDES OF NOVA ZEMBLA

ROOM OF THE TSAR MICHAILOWITCH, MOSCOW

CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION

A RELIGIOUS PROCESSION, KOLA

SHRINE IN THE CONVENT SOLOVETSKII, KOLA

ST. PETERSBURG

THE HERMITAGE, ST. PETERSBURG

HELSINGFORS, FINLAND

REINDEER TRAVELLING

MOSCOW

THE KREMLIN, MOSCOW

VASSILI--BLAGENNOI (ST. BASIL THE BLESSED), MOSCOW

NOWO ZJAZD STREET, WARSAW

HOTEL DEVILLE, WARSAW

THE DNIEPER AT KIEF

LA LAVRA, KIEF

NIJNI--NOVGOROD (BRIDGE OF THE FAIR)

FROM THE RAMPARTS OF THE KREMLIN, NIJNI--NOVGOROD

PLACE TUREMNAJA, ODESSA

SEBASTOPOL

KHARKOFF

TIFLIS

THE WINTER PALACE, ST. PETERSBURG

RUSSIAN FARM SCENE

THE TSAR'S DINING-ROOM, MOSCOW

ST. ISAAC'S CATHEDRAL, ST. PETERSBURG

ST. ANNE RESTAURANT, WIBORG

THE RED SQUARE, MOSCOW

CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER, MOSCOW

STATUE OF PETER THE GREAT AND THE ADMIRALTY PALACE, ST. PETERSBURG

THE THEATRE, ODESSA

THE LIBRARY, ODESSA

THE TSAR NICHOLAS

THE TSARINA

KALKSTRASSE AND PROMENADE, RIGA

_THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE_

_PRINCE KROPOTKINE_

The Russian Empire is a very extensive territory in eastern Europe

and northern Asia, with an area exceeding 8,500,000 square miles,

or one-sixth of the land surface of the globe (one twenty-third

of its whole superficies). It is, however, but thinly peopled on

the average, including only one-fourteenth of the inhabitants of

the earth. It is almost entirely confined to the cold and temperate

zones. In Nova Zembla (Novaya Zemlya) and the Taimir peninsula, it

projects within the Arctic Circle as far as 77° 2' and 77° 40' N.

latitude; while its southern extremities reach 38° 50' in Armenia,

about 35° on the Afghan frontier, and 42° 30' on the coasts of the

Pacific. To the West it advances as far as 20° 40' E. longitude

in Lapland, 18° 32' in Poland, and 29° 42' on the Black Sea; and

its eastern limit--East Cape in the Bering Strait--extends to 191°

E. longitude.

The Arctic Ocean--comprising the White, Barents, and Kara Seas--and

the northern Pacific, that is the Seas of Bering, Okhotsk, and

Japan, bound it on the north and east. The Baltic, with its two

deep indentations, the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland, limits it

on the north-west; and two sinuous lines of frontier separate it

respectively from Sweden and Norway on the north-west, and from

Prussia, Austria and Roumania on the west. The southern frontier is

still unsettled. In Asia beyond the Caspian, the southern boundary

of the empire remains vague; the advance into the Turcoman Steppes

and Afghan Turkestan, and on the Pamir plateau is still in progress.

Bokhara and Khiva, though represented as vassal khanates, are in

reality mere dependencies of Russia. An approximately settled

frontier-line begins only farther east, where the Russian and Chinese

empires meet on the borders of eastern Turkestan, Mongolia and

Manchuria.

Russia has no oceanic possessions, and has abandoned those she

owned in the last century; her islands are mere appendages of the

mainland to which they belong. Such are the Aland archipelago,

Hochland, Tütters, Dagö and Osel in the Baltic Sea; Nova Zembla,

with Kolgueff and Vaigatch, in the Barents Sea; the Solovetsky

Islands in the White Sea; the New Siberian archipelago and the

small group of the Medvyezhii Islands off the Siberian coast; the

Commandor Islands off Kamchatka; the Shantar Islands and Saghalin

in the Sea of Okhotsk. The Aleutian archipelago was sold to the

United States in 1867, together with Alaska, and in 1874 the Kurile

Islands were ceded to Japan.

[ILLUSTRATION: ARCHANGEL.]

A vast variety of physical features is obviously to be expected in

a territory like this, which comprises on the one side the cotton

and silk regions of Turkestan and Trans-caucasia, and on the other

the moss and lichen-clothed Arctic _tundras_ and the Verkhoyansk

Siberian pole of cold--the dry Transcaspian deserts and the regions

watered by the monsoons on the coasts of the Sea of Japan. Still,

if the border regions, that is, two narrow belts in the north and

south, be left out of account, a striking uniformity of physical

feature prevails. High plateaus, like those of Pamir (the "Roof

of the World") or of Armenia, and high mountain chains like the

snow-clad summits of the Caucasus, the Alay, the Thian-Shan, the

Sayan, are met with only on the outskirts of the empire.

Viewed broadly by the physical geographer, it appears as occupying

the territories to the north-west of that great plateau-belt of the

old continent--the backbone of Asia--which spreads with decreasing

height and width from the high table-land of Tibet and Pamir to the

lower plateaus of Mongolia, and thence north-eastwards through the

Vitim region to the furthest extremity of Asia. It may be said to

consist of the immense plains and flat-lands which extend between

the plateau-belt and the Arctic Ocean, including all the series of

parallel chains and hilly spurs which skirt the plateau-belt on

the north-west. It extends over the plateau itself, and crosses

it beyond Lake Baikal only.

A broad belt of hilly tracts--in every respect Alpine in character,

and displaying the same variety of climate and organic life as

Alpine tracts usually do--skirts the plateau-belt throughout its

length on the north and north-west, forming an intermediate region

between the plateaus and the plains. The Caucasus, the Elburz, the

Kopetdagh, and Paropamisus, the intricate and imperfectly known

network of mountains west of the Pamir, the Thian-Shan and Ala-tau

mountain regions, and farther north-east the Altai, the still unnamed

complex of Minusinsk mountains, the intricate mountain-chains of

Sayan, with those of the Olekma, Vitim, and Aldan, all of which

are ranged _en échelon_,--the former from north-west to south-east,

and the others from south-west to north-east--all these belong

to one immense Alpine belt bordering that of the plateaus. These

have long been known to Russian colonists, who, seeking to escape

religious persecutions and exactions by the state, early penetrated

into and rapidly pushed their small settlements up the better valleys

of these tracts, and continued to spread everywhere as long as

they found no obstacles in the shape of a former population or in

unfavourable climatic conditions.

As for the flat-lands which extend from the Alpine hill-foots to

the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and assume the character either of

dry deserts in the Aral-Caspian depression, or of low table-lands

in central Russia and eastern Siberia, of lake-regions in north-west

Russia and Finland, or of marshy prairies in western Siberia, and of

_tundras_ in the north,--their monotonous surfaces are diversified

by only a few, and these for the most part low, hilly tracts.

As to the picturesque Bureya mountains on the Amur, the forest-clothed

Sikhota-alin on the Pacific, and the volcanic chains of Kamchatka,

they belong to quite another orographical world; they are the

border-ridges of the terraces by which the great plateau-belt descends

to the depths of the Pacific Ocean. It is owing to these leading

orographical features--divined by Carl Ritter, but only within

the present day revealed by geographical research--that so many

of the great rivers of the old continent are comprised within the

limits of the Russian empire. Taking rise on the plateau-belt, or

in its Alpine outskirts, they flow first, like the upper Rhone

and Rhine, along high longitudinal valleys formerly filled up with

great lakes; next they find their way through the rocky walls;

and finally they enter the lowlands, where they become navigable,

and, describing great curves to avoid here and there the minor

plateaus and hilly tracts, they bring into water-communication

with one another places thousands of miles apart. The double

river-systems of the Volga and Kama, the Obi and Irtish, the Angara

and Yenisei, the Lena and Vitim on the Arctic slope, the Amur and

Sungari on the Pacific slope, are instances. They were the true

channels of Russian colonization.

A broad depression--the Aral-Caspian desert--has arisen where the

plateau-belt has reached its greatest height and suddenly changes

its direction from a north-western into a north-eastern one; this

desert is now filled only to a small extent by the salt waters of

the Caspian, Aral and Balkash inland seas; but it bears unmistakable

traces of having been during Post-Pliocene times an immense inland

basin. There the Volga, the Ural, the Sir Daria, and the Oxus discharge

their waters without reaching the ocean, but continue to bring

life to the rapidly drying Transcaspian Steppes, or connect by

their river network, as the Volga does, the most remote parts of

European Russia.

The above-described features of the physical geography of the empire

explain the relative uniformity of this wide territory, in conjunction

with the variety of physical features on the outskirts. They explain

also the rapidity of the expansion of Sclavonic colonization over

these thinly-peopled regions; and they also throw light upon the

internal cohesion of the empire, which cannot fail to strike the

traveller as he crosses this immense territory, and finds everywhere

the same dominating race, the same features of life. In fact, as

their advance from the basins of the Volkhoff and Dnieper to the foot

of the Altai and Sayan mountains, that is, along nearly a quarter

of the earth's circumference, the Russian colonizers could always

find the same physical conditions, the same forest and prairies as

they had left at home, the same facilities for agriculture, only

modified somewhat by minor topographical features. New conditions of

climate and soil, and consequently new cultures and civilizations,

the Russians met with, in their expansion towards the south and

east, only beyond the Caucasus in the Aral-Caspian region, and

in the basin of the Usuri on the Pacific coast. Favoured by these

conditions, the Russians not only conquered northern Asia--they

colonized it.

The Russian Empire falls into two great subdivisions, the European

and the Asiatic, the latter of which, representing an aggregate of

nearly 6,500,000 square miles, with a population of only sixteen

million inhabitants may be considered as held by colonies. The

European dominions comprise European Russia, Finland, which is, in

fact, a separate nationality treated to some extent as an allied

state, and Poland, whose very name has been erased from official

documents, but which nevertheless continues to pursue its own

development. The Asiatic dominions comprise the following great

subdivisions:--Caucasia, under a separate governor-general; the

Transcaspian region, which is under the governor-general of Caucasus;

the Kirghiz Steppes; Turkestan under separate governors-general,

Western Siberia and Eastern Siberia; and the Amur region, which

last comprises also the Pacific coast region and Kamchatka.

_Climate of Russia in Europe_.--Notwithstanding the fact that Russia

extends from north to south through twenty-six degrees of latitude,

the climate of its different portions, apart from the Crimea and the

Caucasus, presents a striking uniformity. The aerial currents--cyclones,

anti-cyclones and dry south-east winds--extend over wide surfaces

and cross the flat plains freely. Everywhere we find a cold winter

and a hot summer, both varying in their duration, but differing

little in the extremes of temperature recorded.

Throughout Russia the winter is of long continuance. The last days

of frost are experienced for the most part in April, but also in

May to the north of fifty-five degrees. The spring is exceptionally

beautiful in central Russia; late as it usually is, it sets in with

vigour and develops with a rapidity which gives to this season in

Russia a special charm, unknown in warmer climates; and the rapid

melting of snow at the same time raises the rivers, and renders

a great many minor streams navigable for a few weeks. But a return

of cold weather, injurious to vegetation, is observed throughout

central and eastern Russia between May 18 and 24, so that it is only

in June that warm weather sets in definitely, reaching its maximum

in the first half of July (or of August on the Black Sea coast). The

summer is much warmer than might be supposed; in south-eastern

Russia it is much warmer than in the corresponding latitudes of

France, and really hot weather is experienced everywhere. It does

not, however, prevail for long, and in the first half of September

the first frosts begin to be experienced on the middle Urals; they

reach western and southern Russia in the first days of October,

and are felt on the Caucasus about the middle of November. The

temperature descends so rapidly that a month later, about October 10

on the middle Urals and November 15 throughout Russia the thermometer

ceases to rise above the freezing-point. The rivers rapidly freeze;

towards November 20 all the streams of the White Sea basin are

covered with ice, and so remain for an average of 167 days; those

of the Baltic, Black Sea, and Caspian basins freeze later, but

about December 20 nearly all the rivers of the country are highways

for sledges. The Volga remains frozen for a period varying between

150 days in the north and 90 days at Astrakhan, the Don for 100

to 110 days, and the Dneiper for 83 to 122 days. On the Dwina ice

prevents navigation for 125 days and even the Vistula at Warsaw

remains frozen for 77 days. The lowest temperatures are experienced

in January, in which month the average is as low as 20° to 5° Fahr.

throughout Russia; in the west only does it rise above 22°.

_The flora and fauna of Russia_.--The flora of Russia, which represents

an intermediate link between those of Germany and Siberia, is strikingly

uniform over a very large area. Though not poor at any given place,

it appears so if the space occupied by Russia be taken into account,

only 3,300 species of phanerogams and ferns being known. Four great

regions may be distinguished:--the Arctic, the Forest, the Steppe,

and the Circum-Mediterranean.

The _Arctic Region_ comprises the _tundras_ of the Arctic littoral

beyond the northern limit of forests, which last closely follows

the coast-line with bends towards the north in the river valleys

(70° N. lat. in Finland, on the Arctic Circle about Archangel, 68°

N. on the Urals, 71° on West Siberia). The shortness of summer,

the deficiency of drainage and the thickness of the layer of soil

which is frozen through in winter are the elements which go to

the making of the characteristic features of the _tundras_. Their

flora is far nearer those of northern Siberia and North America

than that of central Europe. Mosses and lichens cover them, as

also the birch, the dwarf willow, and a variety of shrubs; but

where the soil is drier, and humus has been able to accumulate, a

variety of herbaceous flowering plants, some of which are familiar

also in western Europe, make their appearance.

The _Forest Region_ of the Russian botanists occupies the greater

part of the country, from the Arctic _tundras_ to the Steppes, and

it maintains over this immense surface a remarkable uniformity

of character. Viewed as a whole, the flora of the forest region

must be regarded as European-Siberian; and though certain species

disappear towards the east, while new ones make their appearance,

it maintains, on the whole, the same characters throughout from

Poland to Kamchatka. Thus the beech, a characteristic tree of western

Europe, is unable to face the continental climate of Russia, and

does not penetrate beyond Poland and the south-western provinces,

reappearing again in the Crimea. The silver fir does not extend

over Russia, and the oak does not cross the Urals. On the other

hand, several Asiatic species (Siberian pine, larch, cedar) grow

freely in the north-east, while several shrubs and herbaceous plants,

originally from the Asiatic Steppes, have spread into the south-east.

But all these do not greatly alter the general character of the

vegetation.

The _Region of the Steppes_, which covers all Southern Russia,

may be subdivided into two zones--an intermediate zone and that

of the Steppes proper. The Ante-Steppe of the preceding region and

the intermediate zone of the Steppes include those tracts where

the West-European climate struggles with the Asiatic, and where a

struggle is being carried on between the forest and the Steppe.

The Steppes proper are very fertile elevated plains, slightly undulated,

and intersected by numerous ravines which are dry in summer. The

undulations are scarcely apparent to the eye as it takes in a wide

prospect under a blazing sun and with a deep-blue sky overhead.

Not a tree is to be seen, the few woods and thickets being hidden

in the depressions and deep valleys of the rivers. On the thick

sheet of black earth by which the Steppe is covered a luxuriant

vegetation develops in spring; after the old grass has been burned

a bright green covers immense stretches, but this rapidly disappears

under the burning rays of the sun and the hot easterly winds. The

colouring of the Steppe changes as if by magic, and only the silvery

plumes of the _kovyl_ (_Stipa pennata_) wave under the wind, giving

the Steppe the aspect of a bright, yellow sea. For days together the

traveller sees no other vegetation; even this, however, disappears

as he nears the regions recently left dry from the Caspian, where

salted clays covered with a few _Salsolaceœ_, or mere sands, take

the place of the black earth. Here begins the Aral-Caspian desert.

The Steppe, however, is not so devoid of trees as at first sight

appears. Innumerable clusters of wild cherries, wild apricots, and

other deep-rooted shrubs grow in the depressions of the surface,

and on the slopes of the ravines, giving the Steppe that charm which

manifests itself in popular poetry. Unfortunately, the spread of

cultivation is fatal to these oases (they are often called "islands"

by the inhabitants); the axe and the plough ruthlessly destroy

them. The vegetation of the _poimy_ and _zaimischas_ in the marshy

bottoms of the ravines, and in the valleys of streams and rivers,

is totally different. The moist soil gives free development to

thickets of various willows, bordered with dense walls of worm-wood

and needle-bearing _Composita_, and interspersed with rich but

not extensive prairies harbouring a great variety of herbaceous

plants; while in the deltas of the Black Sea rivers impenetrable

masses of rush shelter a forest fauna. But cultivation rapidly

changes the physiognomy of the Steppe. The prairies are superseded

by wheat-fields, and flocks of sheep destroy the true steppe-grass

(_Stipa-pennata_), which retires farther east.

The _Circum-Mediterranean Region_ is represented by a narrow strip

of land on the south coast of the Crimea, where a climate similar

to that of the Mediterranean coast has permitted the development

of a flora closely resembling that of the valley of the Arno.

[Illustration: REVEL]

The fauna of European Russia does not very materially differ from

that of western Europe. In the forests not many animals which have

disappeared from western Europe have held their ground; while in

the Urals only a few--now Siberian, but formerly also European--are

met with. On the whole, Russia belongs to the same zoo-geographical

region as central Europe and northern Asia, the same fauna extending

in Siberia as far as the Yenisei and Lena. In south-eastern Russia,

however, towards the Caspian, we find a notable admixture of Asiatic

species, the deserts of that part of Russia belonging in reality

rather to the Aral-Caspian depression than to Europe.

For the zoo-geographer only three separate sub-regions appear on the

East-European plains--the _tundras_, including the Arctic islands,

the forest region, especially the coniferous part of it, and the

Ante-Steppe and Steppes of the black-earth region. The Ural mountains

might be distinguished as a fourth sub-region, while the south-coast

of the Crimea and Caucasus, as well as the Caspian deserts, have

their own individuality.

As for the adjoining seas, the fauna of the Arctic Ocean off the

Norwegian coast corresponds, in its western parts at least, to that

of the North Atlantic Gulf Stream. The White Sea and the Arctic

Ocean to the east of Svyatoi Nos belong to a separate zoological

region connected with, and hardly separable from, that part of

the Arctic Ocean which extends along the Siberian coast as far as

to about the Lena. The Black Sea, of which the fauna was formerly

little known but now appears to be very rich, belongs to the

Mediterranean region, slightly modified, while the Caspian partakes

of the characteristic fauna inhabiting the lakes and seas of the

Aral-Caspian depression.

In the region of the _tundras_ life has to contend with such

unfavourable conditions that it cannot be abundant. Still the reindeer

frequents it for its lichens, and on the drier slopes of the moraine

deposits four species of lemming, hunted by the _Canis lagopus_,

find quarters. Two species of the white partridge, the lark, one

_Plectrophanes_, two or three species of _Sylvia_, one _Phylloscopus_,

and the _Motacilla_ must be added. Numberless aquatic birds, however,

visit it for breeding purposes. Ducks, divers, geese, gulls, all the

Russian species of snipes and sandpipers, etc., cover the marshes

of the _tundras_, or the crags of the Lapland coast.

The forest region, and especially its coniferous portion, though

it has lost some of its representatives within historic times, is

still rich. The reindeer, rapidly disappearing, is now met with only

in Olonetz and Vologda; the _Cervus pygargus_ is found everywhere, and

reaches Novgorod. The weasel, the fox and the hare are exceedingly

common, as also the wolf and the bear in the north; but the glutton,

the lynx, and even the elk are rapidly disappearing. The wild boar

is confined to the basin of the Dwina, and the _Bison eropea_ to

the Bielovyezha forests. The sable has quite disappeared, being

found only on the Urals; the beaver is found at a few places in

Minsk, and the otter is very rare. On the other hand, the hare and

also the grey partridge, the hedgehog, the quail, the lark, the

rook, and the stork find their way into the coniferous region as

the forests are cleared. The avifauna is very rich; it includes all

the forest and garden birds which are known in western Europe, as

well as a very great variety of aquatic birds. Hunting and shooting

give occupation to a great number of persons. The reptiles are

few. As for fishes, all those of western Europe, except the carp,

are met with in the lakes and rivers in immense quantities, the

characteristic feature of the region being its wealth in _Coregoni_

and in _Salmonidœ_ generally.

In the Ante-Steppe the forest species proper, such as _Pteromys

volans_ and _Tamias striatus_, disappear, but the common squirrel,

the weasel, and the bear are still met with in the forests. The

hare is increasing rapidly, as well as the fox. The avifauna, of

course, becomes poorer; nevertheless the woods of the Steppe, and

still more the forests of the Ante-Steppe, give refuge to many

birds, even to the hazel-hen, the woodcock and the black-grouse.

The fauna of the thickets at the bottom of the river-valleys is

decidedly, rich and includes aquatic birds. The destruction of

the forests and the advance of wheat into the prairies are rapidly

impoverishing the Steppe fauna. The various species of rapacious

animals are disappearing, together with the colonies of marmots; the

insectivores are also becoming scarce in consequence of the destruction

of insects, while vermin, such as the suslik (_Spermophilus_),

become a real plague, as also the destructive insects which have

been a scourge to agriculture during recent years. The absence of

_Coregoni_ is a characteristic feature of the fish-fauna of the

Steppes; the carp, on the contrary, reappears, and the rivers are

rich in sturgeons. On the Volga below Nijni Novgorod the sturgeon,

and others of the same family, as also a very great variety of

ganoids and _Teleostei_, appear in such quantities that they give

occupation to nearly 100,000 people. The mouths of the Caspian

rivers are especially celebrated for their wealth of fish.

_SIBERIA_

_JEAN JACQUES ÉLISÉE RECLUS_

Siberia is emphatically the "Land of the North." Its name has by

some etymologists been identified with "Severia," a term formerly

applied to various northern regions of European Russia. The city

of Sibir, which has given its name to the whole of North Asia,

was so called only by the Russians, its native name being Isker.

The Cossacks, coming from the south and centre of Russia, may have

naturally regarded as pre-eminently the "Northern Land" those cold

regions of the Ob basin lying beyond the snowy mountains which

form the "girdle of the world."

Long before the conquest of Sibir by the Cossacks, this region was

known to the Arab traders and missionaries. The Tatars of Sibir were

Mahommedans and this town was the centre of the great fur trade. The

Russians themselves had constant relations with the inhabitants of

the Asiatic slopes of the Urals, and the Novgorodians were acquainted

with the regions stretching "beyond the portages." Early in the

Sixteenth Century the Moscow Tsars, heirs of the Novgorod power,

called themselves lords of Obdoria and Kondina; that is of all the

Lower Ob basin between the Konda and the Irtish confluence, and the

station of Obdorsk, under the Arctic Circle. Their possessions--that

is, the hunting grounds visited by the Russian agents of the Strogonov

family--consequently skirted the great river for a distance of 600

miles. But the Slav power was destined soon to be consolidated

by conquest, and such is the respect inspired by force that the

successful expedition of a Cossack brigand, on whose head a price

had been set, was supposed to have led to the discovery of Siberia,

although really preceded by many visits of a peaceful character.

Even still the conquering Yermak is often regarded as a sort of

explorer of the lands beyond the Urals. But he merely establishes

himself as a master where the Strogonov traders had been received

as guests. Maps of the Ob and of the Ostiak country had already

been published by Sebastian Munster and by Herberstein a generation

before the Cossacks entered Sibir. The very name of this town is

marked on Munster's map.

In 1579, Yermak began the second plundering expedition, which in

two years resulted in the capture of the Tatar kingdom. When the

conquerors entered Sibir they had been reduced from over 800 to

about 400 men. But this handful represented the power of the Tsars

and Yermak could sue for pardon, with the offer of a kingdom as

his ransom. Before the close of the Sixteenth Century the land had

been finally subdued. Sibir itself, which stood on a high bluff on

the right bank of the Irtish, exists no more, having probably been

swept away by the erosions of the stream. But ten miles farther down

another capital, Tobolsk, arose, also on the right bank, and the

whole of the north was gradually added to the Tsar's dominions. The

fur trappers, more even than the soldiers, were the real conquerors

of Siberia. Nevertheless, many battles had to be fought down to

the middle of the Seventeenth Century. The Buriats of the Angora

basin, the Koriaks, and other tribes long held out; but most of

the land was peacefully acquired, and permanently secured by the

forts erected by the Cossacks at the junction of the rivers, at

the entrance of the mountain passes, and other strategic points.

History records no other instance of such a vast dominion so rapidly

acquired, and with such slender means, by a handful of men acting

mostly on their own impulse, without chiefs or instructions from

the centre of authority.

Even China allowed the Cossacks to settle on the banks of the Amur,

though the treaty of Nerchinsk required the Russians to withdraw

from that basin in 1689. But during the present century they have

been again attracted to this region, and the Government of St.

Petersburg is now fully alive to the advantages of a free access

by a large navigable stream to the Pacific seaboard. Hence, in

1851, Muraviov established the factory of Nikolaievsk, near the

mouth of the Amur, and those of Mariinsk and Alexandrovsk at either

end of the portage connecting that river with the Bay of Castries.

During the Crimean war its left bank was definitely secured by a

line of fortified posts, and in 1859 a ukase confirmed the possession

of a territory torn from China in time of peace. Lastly, in 1860,

while the Anglo-French forces were entering Pekin, Russia obtained

without a blow the cession of the region south of the Amur and east

of the Ussuri, stretching along the coast to the Corean frontier.

And thus was completed the reduction of the whole of North Asia,

a territory of itself alone far more extensive than the European

continent. In other respects there is, of course, no point of comparison

between these two regions. This Siberian world, where vast wildernesses

still remain to be explored, has a foreign trade surpassed by that

of many a third-rate European seaport, such as Dover or Boulogne.

Embracing a thirteenth part of the dry land on the surface of the

globe, its population falls short of that of London alone; it is

even more sparsely peopled than Caucasia and Turkestan, having

little over one inhabitant to 1,000 acres.

Accurate surveys of the physical features and frontier-lines are

still far from complete. Only quite recently the first circumnavigation

of the Old World round the northern shores of Siberia has been

accomplished by the Swedish explorer, Nordenskjöld. The early attempts

made by Willoughby, Chancellor, and Burrough failed even to reach

the Siberian coast. Hoping later on to reach China by ascending

the Ob to the imaginary Lake Kitaï--that is, Kathay, or China--the

English renewed their efforts to discover the "north-east passage,"

and in 1580 two vessels, commanded by Arthur Ket and Charles Jackman,

sailed for the Arctic Ocean; but they never got beyond the Kara

Sea. The Dutch succeeded no better, none of the voyages undertaken

by Barents and others between 1594 and 1597 reaching farther than

the Spitzbergen and Novaya Zembla waters. Nor were these limits

exceeded by Hendrick Hudson in 1608. This was the last attempt

made by the navigators of West Europe; but the Russian traders

and fishers of the White Sea were familiar with the routes to the

Ob and Yenisei Gulfs, as is evident from a map published in 1600

by Boris Godunov. However, sixteen years afterwards the navigation

of these waters was interdicted under pain of death, lest foreigners

should discover the way to the Siberian coast.

[Illustration: SIBERIAN NATIVES.]

The exploration of this seaboard had thus to be prosecuted in Siberia

itself by means of vessels built for the river navigation. In 1648,

the Cossack Dejnev sailed with a flotilla of small craft from the

Kolîma round the north-east extremity of Asia, passing long before

the birth of Bering through the strait which now bears the name

of that navigator. Stadukhin also explored these eastern seas in

search of the islands full of fossil ivory, of which he had heard

from the natives. In 1735, Pronchishchev and Lasinius embarked

at Yakutsk and sailed down the Lena, exploring its delta and

neighbouring coasts. Pronchishchev reached a point east of the

Taimir peninsula, but failed to double the headlands between the

Lena and the Yenisei estuaries. The expedition begun by Laptiev in

1739, after suffering shipwreck, was continued overland, resulting

in the exploration of the Taimir peninsula and the discovery of the

North Cape of the Old World, Pliny's Tabin, and the Cheluskin of

modern maps, so named from the pilot who accompanied Pronchishchev

and Laptiev. The western seaboard between the Yenisei and Ob estuaries

had already been surveyed by Ovtzin and Minin in 1737-9.

But the problem was already being attacked from the side of the

Pacific Ocean. In 1728, the Danish navigator, Bering, in the service

of Russia, crossed Siberia overland to the Pacific, whence he sailed

through the strait now named from him, and by him first revealed

to the West, though known to the Siberian Cossacks eighty years

previously. Even Bering himself, hugging the Asiatic coast, had

not descried the opposite shores of America, and was uncertain as

to the exact position of the strait. This point was not cleared

up till Cook's voyage of 1778, and even after that the Sakhalin,

Yezo and Kurile waters still remained to be explored. The shores

of the mainland and islands were first traced by La Pérouse, who

determined the insular character of Sakhalin, and ascertained the

existence of a strait connecting the Japanese Sea with that of

Okhotsk. This completed the general survey of the whole Siberian

seaboard.

The scientific exploration of the interior began in the Eighteenth

Century with Messerschmidt, followed by Gmelin, Müller, and Delisle

de la Croyère, who determined many important physical points between

the years 1733 and 1742. The region stretching beyond Lake Baikal was

explored by Pallas and his associates in 1770-3. The expeditions,

interrupted by the great wars following on the French Revolution,

were resumed in 1828 by the Norwegian Hansteen, whose memorable

expedition in company with Erman had such important results for

the study of terrestrial magnetism. While Hansteen and Erman were

still prosecuting their labours in every branch of natural science,

Alexander von Humboldt, Ehrenberg, and Gustav Rose made a short

visit to Siberia, which, however, remained one of the most important

in the history of science. Middendorff's journeys to North and

East Siberia had also some very valuable results, and were soon

followed, in 1854, by the "expedition to Siberia" undertaken by

Schwartz, Schmidt, Glehn, Usoltzev, and associates, extending over

the whole region of the Trans-baikal to the Lena and northern

tributaries of the Amur. Thus began the uninterrupted series of

modern journeys, which are now being systematically continued in

every part of Siberia, and which promise soon to leave no blanks

on the chart of that region.

The work of geographical discovery, properly so called, may be said

to have been brought to a close by Nordenskjöld's recent determination

of the north-east passage, vainly attempted by Willoughby, Barents,

and so many other illustrious navigators.

Such a vast region as Siberia, affected in the west by Atlantic,

in the east by Pacific influences, and stretching north and south

across 29° of latitude, must obviously present great diversities

of climate. Even this bleak land has its temperate zones, which the

Slav colonists are fond of calling their "Italies." Nevertheless

as compared with Europe, Siberia may, on the whole, be regarded as

a country of extreme temperatures--relatively great heats, and,

above all, intense colds. The very term "Siberian" has justly become

synonymous with a land of winds, frosts, and snows. The mean annual

temperature in this region comprised between the rivers Anabara

and Indigirka is 20° Fahr. below freezing point. The pole of cold,

oscillating diversely with the force of the lateral pressure from

Yakutsk to the Lena estuary, is the meteorological centre round

which the atmosphere revolves. Here are to a large extent prepared

the elements of the climate of West Europe.

Travellers speak of the Siberian winters with mingled feelings of

terror and rapture. An infinite silence broods over the land--all

is buried in deep sleep. The animals hibernate in their dens, the

streams have ceased to flow, disappearing beneath the ice and snow;

the earth, of a dazzling whiteness in the centre of the landscape,

but grey in the distance, nowhere offers a single object to arrest

the gaze. The monotony of endless space is broken by no abrupt

lines or vivid tints. The only contrast with the dull expanse of

land is the everlasting azure sky, along which the sun creeps at a

few degrees only above the horizon. In these intensely cold latitudes

it rises and sets with hard outlines, unsoftened by the ruddy haze

elsewhere encircling it on the edge of the horizon. Yet such is the

strength of its rays that the snow melts on the housetop exposed

to its glare, while in the shade the temperature is 40° to 50°

below freezing point. At night, when the firmament is not aglow

with the many-tinted lights and silent coruscations of the aurora

borealis, the zodiacal light and the stars still shine with intense

brightness.

To this severe winter, which fissures the surface and rends the

rocks of the rivers into regular basalt-like columns, there succeeds

a sudden and delightful spring. So instantaneous is the change that

nature seems as if taken by surprise and rudely awakened. The delicate

green of the opening leaf, the fragrance of the budding flowers,

the intoxicating balm of the atmosphere, the radiant brightness of

the heavens, all combine to impart to mere existence a voluptuous

gladness. To Siberians visiting the temperate climes of Western

Europe, spring seems to be unknown beyond their lands. But these

first days of new life are followed by a chill, gusty and changeful

interval, arising from the atmospheric disturbances caused by the

thawing of the vast snowy wastes. A relapse is then experienced

analogous to that too often produced in England by late east winds.

The apple blossom is now nipped by the night frosts falling in the

latter part of May. Hence no apples can be had in East Siberia,

although the summer heats are otherwise amply sufficient for the

ripening of fruit. After the fleeting summer, winter weather again

sets in. It will often freeze at night in the middle of July; and

after the 10th of August the sear leaf begins to fall, and in a

few days all are gone, except perhaps the foliage of the larch.

The snow will even sometimes settle early in August on the still

leafy branches, bending and breaking them with its weight. Below

the surface of the ground, winter reigns uninterrupted even by

the hottest summers.

With its vast extent and varied climate, Siberia naturally embraces

several vegetable zones, differing more from each other even than

those of Europe. The southern Steppes have a characteristic and

well-marked flora, forming a continuation of that of the Aral,

Caspian and Volga plains. The treeless northern _tundras_ also

constitute a vegetable domain as sharply defined as the desert

itself, while between these two zones of Steppe and _tundra_ the

forest region of Europe stretches, with many subdivisions, west

and east right across the continent. Of these subdivisions the

chief are those of the Ob, Yenisei, Lena, and Amur basins.

Beyond the northern _tundras_ and southern Steppes by far the greatest

space is occupied by the forest zone. From the Urals to Kamchatka

the dense _taiga_, or woodlands are interrupted only by the streams,

a few natural glades and some tracts under cultivation. The term

_taiga_ is used in a general way for all lands under timber, but

east of the Altai it is applied more especially to the moist and

spongy region overgrown with tangled roots and thickets, where the

_mari_, or peat bogs, and marshes alternate with the _padi_, or

narrow ravines. The miners call by this name the wooded mountains

where they go in search of auriferous sands. But everywhere the

_taiga_ is the same dreary forest, without grass, birds, or insects,

gloomy and lifeless, and noiseless but for the soughing of the

wind and crackling of the branches.

The most common tree in the _taiga_ is the larch, which best resists

the winter frost and summer chills. But the Siberian woodlands also

include most of the trees common to temperate Europe--the linden,

alder, juniper, service, willow, aspen, poplar, birch, cherry,

apricot--whose areas are regulated according to the nature of the

soil, the elevation or aspect of the land. Towards the south-east,

on the Chinese frontier, the birch is encroaching on the indigenous

species, and the natives regard this as a sure prognostic of the

approaching rule of the "White Tsar."

Conflagrations are very frequent in the Siberian forests, caused

either by lightning, the woodmen, or hunters, and sometimes spreading

over vast spaces till arrested by rivers, lakes or morasses. One

of the pleasures of Siberian travelling is the faint odour of the

woods burning in the distance.

The native flora is extremely rich in berries of every kind, supplying

food for men and animals.

The extreme eastern regions of the Amur basin and Russian Manchuria,

being warmer, more humid and fertile, also abound more in animal

life than the other parts of Asiatic Russia. On the other hand,

the Siberian bear, deer, roebuck, hare, squirrel, marmot and mole

are about one-third larger, and often half as heavy again as their

European congeners. This is doubtless due partly to the greater

abundance of nourishment along the rivers and shores of Siberia,

and partly to the fact that for ages the western species have been

more preyed upon by man, living in a constant state of fear, and

mostly perishing before attaining their full development.

The Arctic Seas abound probably as much as the Pacific Ocean with

marine animals. Nordenskjöld found the Siberian waters very rich

in molluscs and other lower organisms, implying a corresponding

abundance of larger animals. Hence fishing, perhaps more than

navigation, will be the future industry of the Siberian coast

populations. Cetacea, fishes, molluscs, and other marine organisms

are cast up in such quantities along both sides of Bering Strait

that the bears and other omnivorous creatures have here become

very choice as to their food. But on some parts of the coast in the

Chukchi country whales are never stranded, and since the arrival

of the Russians certain species threaten to disappear altogether.

The _Rhytina stelleri_, a species of walrus formerly frequenting

Bering Strait in millions, was completely exterminated between the

years 1741-68. Many of the fur-bearing animals, which attracted

the Cossacks from the Urals to the Sea of Okhotsk, and which were

the true cause of the conquest of Siberia, have become extremely

rare. Their skins are distinguished, above all others, for their

great softness, warmth, lightness, and bright colours. The more

Alpine or continental the climate, the more beautiful and highly

prized become the furs, which diminish in gloss towards the coast

and in West Siberia, where the south-west winds prevail. The sables

of the North Urals are of small value, while those of the Upper

Lena, fifteen degrees farther south, are worth a king's ransom. Many

species assume a white coat in winter, whereby they are difficult

to be distinguished from the surrounding snows. Amongst these are

the polar hare and fox, the ermine, the campagnol, often even the

wolf and reindeer, besides the owl, yellow-hammer, and some other

birds. Those which retain their brown or black colour are mostly

such as do not show themselves in winter. The fur of the squirrels

also varies with the surrounding foliage, those of the pine forests

being ruddy, those of the cedar, _taiga_, and firs inclining to

brown, and all varying in intensity of colour with that of the

vegetation.

Other species besides the peltry-bearing animals have diminished

in numbers since the arrival of the Russian hunters. The reindeer,

which frequented the South Siberian highlands, and whose domain

encroached on that of the camel, is now found only in the domestic

state amongst the Soyotes of the Upper Yenisei and is met with

in the wild state only in the dwarf forests and _tundras_ of the

far north. The argali has withdrawn to Mongolia from the Siberian

mountains and plains, where he was still very common at the end of

the last century. On the other hand, cold and want of food yearly

drive great numbers of antelopes and wild horses from the Gobi

Steppes towards the Siberian lowlands, tigers, wolves and other

beasts of prey following in their track, and returning with them in

the early spring. Several new species of animals have been introduced

by man and modified by crossings in the domestic state. In the

north, the Samoyeds, Chukchis, and Kamchadales have the reindeer

and dog, while the horse and ox are everywhere the companions of

man in the peopled regions of Siberia. The yak has been tamed by the

Soyotes of the Upper Yenisei, and the camel, typical of a distinctly

Eastern civilization, follows the nomads of the Kirghiz and Mongolian

Steppes. All these domesticated animals seem to have acquired special

qualities and habits from the various indigenous or Russian peoples

of Siberia.

_THE RUSSIAN RACES_

_W. R. MORFILL_

The vast Empire of Russia, as may be readily imagined, is peopled

by many different races. These may ethnologically be catalogued

as follows:

I. Sclavonic races, the most important in numbers and culture. Under

this head may be classified:--

(1) The Great Russians, or Russians properly so called, especially

occupying the Governments round about Moscow, and from thence scattered

in the north to Novgorod and Vologda, on the south to Kiev and to

Voronezh, on the east to Penza, Simbirsk, and Viatka, and on the

west to the Baltic provinces. Moreover, the Great Russians, as

the ruling race, are to be found in small numbers in all quarters

of the Empire. They amount to about 40,000,000.

(2) Little Russians (Malorossiani), dwelling south of the Russians,

upon the shores of the Black Sea. These, together with the Rusniaks,

amount to 16,370,000.

The Cossacks come under these two races.

To the great Russians belong the Don Cossacks, with those sprung

from them--the Kouban, Stavropol, Khoperski, Volga, Mosdok, Kizlarski

and Grebenski.

[Illustration: SAMOYEDES OF NOVA ZEMBLA.]

To the Little Russian: the Malorossiiski, with those sprung from

them--the Zaporoghian, Black Sea (Chernomorski), and those of Azov

and of the Danube.

(3) The White Russians, inhabiting the Western Governments. Their

number amounts to 4,000,000.

(4) Poles, living in the former Kingdom of Poland and the Western

Governments of the Empire. Their number amounts to 5,000,000.

(5) Servians, Bulgarians, and other Slavs, inhabiting especially

Bessarabia and the country called New Russia. Their number reaches

150,000.

II. The Non-Sclavonic races comprise either original inhabitants

of the country who have been subdued by the Russians, or later

comers. Among races originally inhabiting the country, and subjugated

by the Russians, are included--the Lithuanians and Letts, the Finns,

the Samoyeds, the Mongol-Manzhurians, the races of eastern Siberia,

the Turko-Tartar, the Caucasian, the German, and the Hebrew.

1. The Lithu-Lettish race inhabits the country between the western

Dwina and the Nieman. In numbers they do not amount to more than

3,000,000. The Lithu-Lettish population is divided into the two

following branches:--

(a) The Lithuanians properly so called (including the Samogitans

or Zhmudes), who inhabit the Governments of Vilno, Kovno, Courland,

and the northern parts of those of Augustovo and Grodno (1,900,000).

(b) The Letts, who inhabit the Governments of Courland, Vitebsk,

Livonia, Kovno, Pskov, and St. Petersburg (1,100,000).

2. The Finnish race--known in the old Sclavonic chronicles under

the name of Chouds--at one time inhabited all the north-eastern part

of Russia. The Finns, according to the place of their habitation,

are divided into four groups:--the Baltic Finns, the Finns in the

Governments of the Volga, the Cis-Oural and the Trans-Oural Finns.

(a) The Baltic Finns: the Chouds (in the Governments of Novgorod

and Olonetz); the Livonians (in Courland); the Esthonians (in the

Governments of Esthonia, Livonia, Vitebsk, Pskov, and St. Petersburg);

the Lopari (in northern Finland and in the Government of Archangel);

the Corelians (in the Government of Archangel, Novgorod, Olonetz,

St. Petersburg, Tver, and Jaroslav); Evremeiseti (in the Governments

of Novgorod and St. Petersburg), Savakoti, Vod, and Izhora.

(b) To the Finns of the Governments of the Volga, who have become

almost lost in the Russians, belong the Cheremisians (in the Governments

of Kazan, Viatka, Kostroma, Nijni-Novgorod, Orenburg and Perm).

(c) To the Cis-Uralian Finns, who occupy the country from the borders

of Finland to the Oural, belong the Permiaks (in the Governments

of Viatka and Perm); Zîranians (in the Governments of Archangel

and Vologda); Votiaks (in the Governments of Viatka and Kazan);

and Vogoulichi (in the Governments of Perm).

(d) Among the Trans-Oural Finns are also to be numbered the Zîranians

and Vogoulichi (the first in the Government of Tobolsk, and the

second in the Governments of Tobolsk and Tomsk); and the Ostiaks,

who, according to the places of their habitation, are called Obski

and Berezovski.

The Finns amount altogether to 2,100,000.

3. The Samoyeds, in number 70,000, live in the territory extending

from the White Sea to the Yenesei; to these belong the Samoyeds

properly so called, the Narîmski and the Yenesei Ostiaks, the Olennie

Choukchi, etc.

4. The Mongolo-Manzhourian race amounting to 400,000. Among this

race may be remarked the Mongolians properly so called, on the

Selenga; the Kalmucks, a nomad people in the Government of Astrakhan,

as also in Tomsk, in the country of the Don Cossacks, and partly

in the Government of Stavropol. The Kalmucks appeared first on

the eastern confines of Russia in the year 1630. About a century

later we find them become the regular subjects of the Tsar. They

seem, however, to have found the Russian yoke irksome, and resolved

to return to their original home on the coasts of Lake Balkach,

and at the foot of the Altai Mountains. Nearly the whole nation,

amounting to almost 300,000 persons, began their march in the winter

of 1770-71. The passage of this vast horde lasted for weeks, but the

rear were prevented from escaping by the Kirghiz and Cossacks, who

intercepted them. They were compelled to remain in Russia, where their

territory was more accurately defined than had been done previously.

The Kalmucks are obliged to serve with the Cossack troops, but

their duties are mostly confined to looking after the cattle and

horses which accompany the army. Their religion is Buddhism, and

a conspicuous object in the aouls, or temporary villages which

they construct, is the pagoda. Their personal appearance is by no

means prepossessing--small eyes and high cheekbones, with scanty

hair of a very coarse texture. In every sense of the word they

are still strictly nomads; their children and tents are carried

by camels, and in a few hours their temporary village, or oulous,

is established. To these also belong the Bouriats, by Lake Baikal;

the Toungusians from the Yenesei to the Amur; the Lamorets, by the

Sea of Okhotsk; and the Olentzi, in the Government of Irkutsk.

5. Races of eastern Siberia: the Koriaks, living in the north-eastern

corner of Siberia; the Youkagirs, in the territory of Yakutsk; the

Kamchadales, in Kamchatka. Their number amounts to 500,000.

6. The Turko-Tartar race amount in number to 3,000,000. To their

branch belong the Chouvashes, in the governments of Orenburg, Simbursk,

Saratov and Samaria; the Mordvinians, in the same governments as the

Chouvashes,[1] and in those of Tambov, Penza, and Nijni-Novgorod;

the Tartars of the Crimea and Kazan; the Nagais, on the Kouban

and Don; the Mestcheriaki, in the governments of Orenburg, Perm,

Saratov, and Viatka; Koumki, in the Caucasus; Kirghizi, Yakouti,

on the Lena; Troukhmentzi and Khivintzi; Karakalpaks (lit. Black

Caps), Teleoûti, in the government of Tomsk, Siberia.

[Footnote 1: Some writers consider the Chouvashes to belong to the

Finnish race.]

7. The Caucasian races inhabiting Georgia, the valleys and defiles

of the Caucasian Mountains have different appellations and different

origins. Among them may be noticed the Armenians, Georgians,

Circassians, Abkhasians, Lesghians, Osetintzi, Chechentzi, Kistentzi,

Toushi, and others. Their number is about 2,000,000.

The languages of the Caucasus must be regarded as a group distinct

both from the Aryan and Semitic families. They are agglutinative,

and are divided into two branches.

(a) The Northern Division, extending along the northern slopes

of the Caucasus, between the Caspian and the northern shores of

the Black Sea, as far as the Straits of Yenikale; its subdivisions

are Lesghian, Kistian, and Circassian, each with its dialects.

Formerly the Circassians numbered about 500,000, but large numbers

of them emigrated to European Turkey, where they were dexterously

planted by the government to impede the social progress of their

Bulgarian and Greek subjects.

(b) The Southern Division, comprising Georgian, Suanian, Mingrelian,

and Lazian.

8. The German race, in number about 1,000,000. The Germans are

chiefly in the Baltic provinces, in the government of St. Petersburg,

in the Grand Duchy of Finland, and the colonies, especially those on

the lower Volga, the Don, the Crimea, and New Russia. The Germans

have acquired great influence throughout the country; they are

represented in the court, in the army, and in the administration.

Here also may be mentioned the Swedes, amounting to 286,000.

9. The Jews inhabit especially the former Kingdom of Poland, the

Western Governments, and the Crimea. Their number amounts to 3,000,000.

Among the Jews the Karaimite are noticeable, living in the governments

of Vilno, Volinia, Kovno, Kherson, and the Taurida. Among the Europeans

and Asiatics who have come in later times to settle in Russia, are

Greeks, amounting to 75,000, in the governments of New Russia and

Chernigov; French, Italians, and Englishmen, in the capitals and

chief commercial towns; Wallachians or Moldavians (now generally

included under the name of Roumanians), in Bessarabia; Albanians;

Gipsies, especially in the territory of Bessarabia, amounting to

50,000; Persians, to 10,000, etc.

_THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA_

_W. R. MORFILL_

I shall follow the divisions given in his first volume by Oustrialov.

He divides Russian history into two great parts, the ancient and

modern.

I. Ancient history from the commencement of Russia to the time of

Peter the Great (862-1689).

This first period is subdivided into (_a_) the foundation of Russia

and the combination of the Sclavonians into a political unity under

the leadership of the Normans and by means of the Christian Faith

under Vladimir and the legislation of Yaroslav.

According to the theory commonly received at the present day, the

foundation of the Russian Empire was laid by Rurik at Novgorod.

The name Russian seems to be best explained as meaning "the seamen"

from the Finnish name for the Swedes or Norsemen, Ruotsi, which

itself is a corruption of a Scandinavian word. It has been shown

by Thomsen, that all the names mentioned in early Russian history

admit of a Scandinavian explanation; thus Ingar becomes Igor, and

Helga, Oleg. In a few generations the Scandinavian origin of the

settlers was forgotten. The grandson of Rurik, Sviatoslav, has

a purely Sclavonic name.

Christianity was introduced into the country by Vladimir, and the

first code of Russian laws was promulgated by Yaroslav, called

Rousskaia Pravda, of which a transcript was found among the chronicles

of Novgorod.

(_b_) Breaking up of Russia, under the system of appanages, into

some confederate principalities, governed by the descendants of

Rurik. This unfortunate disruption of the country paved the way

for the invasion of the Mongols, whose domination lasted for nearly

two centuries.

During their occupation the Russians were ingrafted with many oriental

habits, which were only partially removed by Peter the Great, and in

fact many of them have lasted till the present day. The influence

of the Mongolians upon the national language has been greatly

exaggerated, as the words introduced are confined almost exclusively

to articles of dress, money, etc. Had the conquests of the Mongols

been permanent, Russia would have become definitely attached to

Asia, to which its geographical position seems to assign it.

(_c_) Division of Russia into eastern and western under the Mongolian

yoke 1228-1328. This is a very dreary period of the national history.

(_d_) Formation in Eastern Russia of the government of Moscow 1328-1462,

which by the energy of its princes became the nucleus of the future

empire; and in Western Russia of the principality of Lithuania,

and its union with Poland 1320-1569.

(_e_) Consolidation of the Muscovite power under Ivan III., who

married the daughter of the Greek Emperor, and succeeded in expelling

the Tartars, and making himself master of their city Kazan. He was

followed by his son Vasilii, who was succeeded by Ivan IV., who

has gained a very unenviable reputation on account of his cruelties.

Already the yoke of the Tartars had begun to have a very deteriorating

effect upon the Russian character, and the more sanguinary code of

the Asiatics had effaced the tradition of the laws of Yaroslav.

Mutilation, flagellation, and the abundant use of the knout prevailed.

The servile custom of chelobitye, or knocking the head on the ground,

which was exacted from all subjects on entering the royal presence,

was certainly of Tartar origin, as also the punishment inflicted

upon refractory debtors, called the pravezh. They were beaten on

the shins in a public square every day from eight to eleven o'clock,

till the money was paid. The custom is fully described by Giles

Fletcher and Olearius.

Another strange habit, savouring too much of the Tartar servitude,

was that recorded by Peter Heylin in his _Little Description of

the Great World_ (Oxford, 1629), who says: "It is the custom over

all Muscovie, that a maid in time of wooing sends to that suitor

whom she chooseth for her husband such a whip curiously by herself

wrought, in token of her subjection unto him." A Russian writer

also tells us that it was usual for the husband on the wedding

day to give his bride a gentle stroke over the shoulders with his

whip, to show his power over her. Herberstein's story of the German

Jordan and his Russian wife will perhaps occur to some of my readers.

She complained to her husband that he did not love her; but upon

his expressing surprise at the doubt, she gave as her reason that

he had never beaten her! Indeed the position of a woman in Russia

till the time of Peter was a very melancholy one. Her place in

society is accurately marked out in the Domostroi, or regulations

for governing one's household, written at the time of Ivan the

Terrible. As this book presents us with some very curious pictures

of Russian family life in the olden time, a few words may be permitted

describing its contents. It was written by the monk Sylvester,

who was one of the chief counsellors of Ivan, and at one time in

great favour with him, but afterwards fell into disgrace and was

banished by the capricious tyrant to the Solovetzki monastery,

where he died. The work was primarily addressed by the worthy priest

to his son Anthemus and his daughter-in-law, Pelagia, but as the

bulk of it was of a general character it soon became used in all

households. Nothing escapes this father of the church from the

duties of religion, down to the minor details of the kitchen and

the mysteries of cookery. The wife is constantly recommended to

practise humility, in a way which would probably be repulsive to

many of our modern ladies. Her industry in weaving and making clothes

among her domestics is very carefully dwelt upon. She lived in a kind

of Oriental seclusion, and saw no one except her nearest relatives.

The bridegroom knew nothing of his bride, she was only allowed to

be seen a few times before marriage by his female relatives, and

on these occasions all kinds of tricks were played. A stool was

placed under her feet that she might seem taller, or a handsome

female attendant, or a better-looking sister were substituted.

"Nowhere," says Kotoshikhin, "is there such trickery practised

with reference to the brides as at Moscow." The innovations of

Peter the Great broke through the oriental seclusion of the terem,

as the women's apartments were called. During the minority of Ivan

IV. the regency was committed to the care of his mother Elena, and

was at best but a stormy period. When I van came to the throne the

country was not even yet free from the incursions of the Tartars.

In Hakluyt's voyages we have a curious account of one of these

devastations in a "letter of Richard Vscombe to M. Henrie Lane,

touching the burning of the city of Mosco by the Crimme Tartar,

written the fifth day of August, 1571." "The Mosco is burnt every

sticke by the Crimme, the 24th day of May last, and an innumerable

number of people; and in the English house was smothered Thomas

Southam, Tosild, Waverley, Green's wife and children, two children

of Rafe, and more to the number of twenty-five persons were stifled

in oure beere seller, and yet in the same seller was Rafe, his

wife, John Browne, and John Clarke preserved, which was wonderful.

And there went to that seller Master Glover and Master Rowley also;

but because the heat was so great they came foorth againe with much

perill, so that a boy at their heeles was taken with the fire,

yet they escaped blindfold into another seller, and there as God's

will was they were preserved. The emperor fled out of the field,

and many of his people were carried away by the Crimme Tartar.

And so with exceeding much spoile and infinite prisoners, they

returned home againe. What with the Crimme on the one side and

his cruelties on the other, he hath but few people left" (Hakluyt,

I. 402).

[Illustration: ROOM OF THE TSAR MICHAILOWITCH, MOSCOW.]

It is well known that the English first became acquainted with

Russia in the time of Ivan the Terrible. In the reign of Edward VI.

a voyage was undertaken by Sir Hugh Willoughby and Richard Chancellor,

who attempted to reach Russia by way of the North Sea. Willoughby

and his crew were unfortunately lost, but Chancellor succeeded in

reaching Moscow, and showing his letters to the Tsar, in reply to

which an alliance was concluded and an ambassador soon afterwards

visited the English court. In spite of his brutal tyrannies, for

which no apologies can be offered, although some of the Russian

authorities have attempted to gloss them over, the reign of Ivan

was distinctly progressive for Russia. The introduction of the

printing-press, the conquest of Siberia, the development of commerce,

were all in advance of what had been done by his predecessors. He

also had the leading idea afterwards fully carried out by Peter

the Great of extending the dominions on the north, and ensuring

a footing on the Baltic.

The relations of Ivan with England are fully described in the very

interesting diary of Sir Jerome Horsey, the ambassador from this

country, the manuscript of which is preserved in the British Museum.

He was anxious to have an English wife, and Elizabeth selected one

for him, Lady Mary Hastings, but when the bride-elect had been

made acquainted with the circumstance that Ivan had been married

several times before, and was a most truculent and blood-thirsty

sovereign, she entreated her father with many tears not to send

her to such a man.

The character given of Ivan by Horsey is very graphic, and is valuable

as the narration of a person who had frequently been in intimate

relations with the Tsar. We give it in the original spelling:--

"Thus much to conclude with this Emperor Ivan Vasiliwich. He was a

goodlie man of person and presence, well favoured, high forehead,

shrill voice, a right Sithian, full of readie wisdom, cruell, blondye,

merciless; his own experience mannaged by direction both his state and

commonwealth affairs; was sumptuously intomed in Michell Archangell

Church, where he, though guarded daye and night, remaines a fearfull

spectacle to the memorie of such as pass by or heer his name spoken

of [who] are contented to cross and bless themselves from his

resurrection againe."

Passing over his feeble son, we come to the era of Boris Godunov,

a man in many respects remarkable, but not the least that he saw

the necessity of western culture. His plans for educating Russia

were extensive, and several youths were sent abroad for this purpose,

including some to England. But his reign ended gloomily, and was

followed by the period of the Pretenders (Samozvantzi), during which

Russia was rent by opposing factions; and almost ended in receiving

a foreign sovereign, in the person of Ladislaus (Wladyslaw), the

son of Sigismund III., the King of Poland. The Romanovs finally

ascended the throne in the person of Michael in 1613. The son of

Michael, Alexis, was a thoroughly reforming sovereign, and took

many foreigners into his pay. With the reign of Ivan V., son of

Alexis, closes the old period of Russian history.

II. The new history from the days of Peter the Great to the present

time.

The reforms introduced into Russia by Peter the Great are too well

known to need recapitulation here. There will be always many different

opinions about this wonderful man. Some have not hesitated to say

that he "knouted" Russia into civilization; others can see traces

of the hero mixed with much clay. One of the darkest pages in the

annals of his reign, is that upon which is written the fate of his

unfortunate son, Alexis. All Russia seems but one vast monument

of his genius. He gave her six new provinces, a footing upon two

seas, a regular army trained on the European system, a large fleet,

an admiralty, and a naval academy; besides these, some educational

establishments, a gallery of painting and sculpture, and a public

library. Nothing escaped his notice, even to such minutiæ as the

alteration of Russian letters to make them more adapted to printing,

and changing the dress of his subjects so as to be more in conformity

with European costume. All this interference savoured of despotism,

no doubt, but it led to the consolidation of a great nationality.

The Russians belong to the European family, and must of necessity

return to fulfil their destiny, although they had been temporarily

diverted from their bondage under the Mongols. Owing to the mistake

Peter had committed in allowing the succession to be changed at

the will of the ruling sovereign, the country was for some time

after his death in the hands of Russian and German adventurers.

On the death of Peter he was succeeded by his wife Catherine, an

amiable but illiterate woman, who was wholly under the influence

of Menshikov, one of Peter's chief favourites. After a short reign

of two years, she was succeeded by Peter II., son of the unfortunate

Alexis, in whose time Menshikov and his family were banished to

Berezov in Siberia. After his banishment, Peter, who was a weak

prince, and showed every inclination to undo his grandfather's

work, fell under the influence of the Dolgoroukis.

There is something very touching in the fate of this poor child--he

was but fifteen years of age when he died--tossed about amidst

the opposing factions of the intriguing courtiers, each of whom

cared nothing for the good of the country, but only how to find

the readiest means to supplant his rival. The last words of the

boy as he lay on his death-bed were, "Get ready the sledge! I want

to go to my sister!" alluding to the Princess Natalia, the other

child of Alexis who had died three years previously.

On his death Anne, Duchess of Courland, and daughter of Ivan, the

elder brother of Peter, was called to the throne. After her death,

by a second _révolution de palais_, Elizabeth, the daughter of

Peter the Great, was made sovereign. In this reign her alliance

was concluded with Maria Theresa of Austria, and during the Seven

Years' War, a large Russian force invaded Prussia; another took

Berlin in 1760.

During the whole of her reign Elizabeth was under the influence

of favourites, or _vremenstchiki_, as the Russians call them. She

appears to have been an indolent, good-tempered woman, and exceedingly

superstitious. During her reign Russia made considerable progress

in literature and culture. A national theatre, of which there had

been a few germs even at so early a period as the youth of Peter

the Great, was thoroughly developed, and at Yaroslavl, Volkov,

the son of a merchant, earned such a reputation as an actor, that

he was summoned to St. Petersburg by Elizabeth, who took him under

her patronage. Dramatists now sprang up on every side, but at first

were merely translators of Corneille, Racine, and Molière. The

Russian arms were successful during her reign, and the capture of

Berlin in 1760, had a great effect upon European politics. Two years

afterwards Elizabeth died, and her nephew Peter III. succeeded, who

admired Frederick the Great, and at once made peace with him.

This unfortunate man, however, only reigned six months, having been

dethroned and put to death by order of his wife, who became Empress

of Russia under the title of Catherine II. However unjustifiable the

means may have been by which Catherine became possessed of the

throne, and in mere justice to her we must remember that she had

been brutally treated by her husband, and was in hourly expectation

of being immured for life in a dungeon by his orders, she exercised

her power to the advantage of the country.

In 1770, a Russian fleet appeared for the first time in the

Mediterranean, and the Turkish navy was destroyed at Chesme. By the

treaty of Kutchuk Kainardji (1774), Turkey was obliged to recognize

the independence of the Crimea, and cede to Russia a considerable

amount of territory. In 1783, Russia gained the Crimea, and in

1793, by the last partition of Poland, a very large portion of that

country.

The subsequent events of the history are well known. Paul, who

succeeded Catherine, was assassinated in 1801. The reign of this

emperor has been made very familiar to Englishmen by the highly

coloured portrait given by the traveller Clarke, who laboured under

the most aggravated Russophobia. That Paul did many cruel and capricious

things does not admit of a doubt, but he was capable of generous

feelings, and sometimes surprised people as much by his liberality

as by his despotic conduct. Thus he set Kosciuscko at liberty as

soon as he had ascended the throne; and there was a fine revenge in

his compelling Orlov to follow the coffins of Peter and Catherine,

when by his order they were buried together in the Petropavlovski

church.

Alexander I., his son, added Finland to the Russian empire, and

saw his country invaded by Napoleon in 1812. The horrors of this

campaign have been well described by Segur, Wilson, and Labaume.

At his death in 1825, his brother Nicholas succeeded, not without

opposition, which led to bloodshed and the execution of the five

Dekabrists (conspirators of December). The schemes of these men

were impracticable; so little did the common people understand the

very rudiments of liberalism, that when the soldiers were ordered

to shout for Konstitoutzia (the constitution, a word the foreign

appearance of which shows how alien it was to the national spirit),

one of them naively asked, if that was the name of the wife of

the Grand Duke Constantine.

The policy of the Emperor Nicholas was one of complete isolation of

the country, and the prevention of his subjects as much as possible

from holding intercourse with the rest of Europe, hence permission

to travel was but sparingly given, nor were foreigners encouraged

to visit Russia. In 1826, war broke out with Persia, the result

of which was that the latter power was compelled to cede Erivan

and the country as far as the Araxes (or Aras). Russia also made

further additions to her territory by the treaty of Adrianople in

1829, after Diebich had crossed the Balkans. In 1830, the great

Polish rebellion broke out, which was crushed after much bloodshed

in Sept. 1831, by the capture of Warsaw. In 1849, the Russians

assisted Austria in crushing the revolt of her Hungarian subjects.

In 1853 broke out the Crimean War, the details of which are so well

known as to require no enumeration. Peace was concluded between

Russia and the Allies, after the death of the Emperor Nicholas in

1855, who was succeeded by his son, Alexander II. The two great

events of the reign of this monarch have been the emancipation of

the serfs in 1861, by which 22,000,000 received their liberty,

and the war with Turkey.

_CHURCH SERVICE_

_ALFRED MASKELL_

The history of the introduction and early progress of Christianity

in Russia is involved in obscurity and overlaid with legendary

stories. There is little doubt that it came from Constantinople, and

was not only rapidly spread, but firmly established in the country

within a short space of time. The date most generally accepted is

that of the reign of Vladimir, the great prince of Kief, grandson

of Olga. As Dean Stanley remarks in his _Lectures on the Eastern

Church_: "It coincides with a great epoch in Europe, the close of

the Tenth Century, when throughout the West the end of the world

was fearfully expected, when the Latin Church was overclouded with

the deepest despondency, when the Papal See had become the prey

of ruffians and profligates, then it was that the Eastern Church,

silently and almost unconsciously, bore into the world her mightiest

offspring."

[Illustration: CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION, MOSCOW.]

The Eastern Church was then at the zenith of its splendour. The

envoys sent by Vladimir to Constantinople to examine and report

upon the religion which he had almost decided to adopt were dazzled

with the magnificence of the ceremonial. They were wavering in

their choice and weighing the merits of the different systems which

had been brought before them. Rome they had not seen; Mohammedanism

was foreign to their tastes; Judaism had been found wanting; but

the Eastern Church appealed strongly to their imaginations and

barbaric love of splendour. Hers was St. Sophia, magnificent now,

but how much more gorgeous then! Every effort was made to win them,

and the victory was easy.

The intercourse of the newly formed empire of Russia with Byzantium

was at that time great. The change of religion had been very sudden

and it was necessary to build at once new edifices for the new

order of things. It was naturally to Byzantium that they turned

for their form and ornament. Very quickly churches arose. Novgorod,

the cradle of the Empire and the capital until the removal to Kief,

was the Metropolitan See, and the first cathedral is said to have

been built there as early as A. D. 989.

The form of a Russian Church underwent little change up to the

Seventeenth Century. In the Thirteenth Century the architects imported

from Lombardy brought to bear on the exterior the style of the

Lombardic or Romanesque architecture which had so long prevailed

in their own country. The gilded dome or cupola, of peculiar

onion-shaped form which is so especially Russian, was added soon

afterwards. The central cupola, which was adopted from the first,

was afterwards surrounded by others; their number reached even

to twenty or thirty, and it was not until the Sixteenth Century

at the time of the establishment of the patriarchate (1589), that

these were authoritatively restricted to five, which is now the

orthodox and obligatory number.

The practice of having two, three, five, seven, nine and thirteen

cupolas or spires is as early as the Eleventh Century. The numbers

were figurative; two signifying the two natures of Jesus Christ,

three, a symbol of the Trinity, five, our Lord and the four evangelists

or the five wounds, seven, the seven sacraments, the seven gifts

of the Holy Spirit, or the seven recumenical councils, nine, the

nine celestial hierarchies, and thirteen, our Lord and the twelve

apostles.

Within the dimensions are small and the light obscure. Still, the

simple, nearly square disposition of the building, the enormous

plain-shafted pillars which support the domes, the mass of gilding,

the multitude of lamps, produce an undoubtedly grand effect. It

is strikingly oriental; and as in Russian churches there are no

seats, but the people stand in a mingled throng, now and then

prostrating themselves and beating their foreheads on the ground,

each as his own devotion may dictate, the resemblance is still

more marked. All the interior is covered with fresco pictures;

even the pillars have gigantic figures of the saints and doctors

of the church painted upon them. From the high roof hang immense

brass chandeliers of a peculiar form with many branches, capable

of holding hundreds of candles. In the dim distance, seemingly a

wall of gold, is the iconostas, the solid screen which in every

church divides the sanctuary from the rest of the sacred edifice.

The iconostas is in all cases decorated with a large number of holy

pictures or icons, arranged in formal rows one above the other. It

is a solid erection from side to side, from floor to roof, and in

the centre are the _royal doors_, through which none may pass but

the consecrating priest, or the emperor: and the last once only,

at the time of his coronation. At no time is any woman permitted

to enter the sanctuary.

The iconostas contains sometimes as many as seven rows of images:

that of the _Uspenski Sobor_[1] has five. Their arrangement is

guided by certain rules and restrictions. Our Lord and the blessed

Virgin must be represented on each side of the royal doors, and on

the doors themselves the Annunciation and the four evangelists.

On the side doors angels must be represented. Above must be the

usual symbol of the Trinity figured by Abraham entertaining the

three angels.

[Footnote 1: Cathedral of the Assumption, Moscow.]

The whole of the space behind the screen is known as the altar.

The altar itself is square, or rather a double cube. Above it four

small columns with a canopy form a baldachino; and the cross is

laid flat upon it. Here also is placed the tabernacle or _zion_

which is often an architectural structure in pure gold with figures.

There are five zions of this kind in the cathedrals of St. Sophia

at Novgorod and at the Troitsa monastery.

In the apse behind the altar and facing it is the _thronos_, the

seat of the archbishop, with seats for priests on either side.

Besides the icons and holy pictures on the screen (and in the Cathedral

of the Assumption the latter contains the most highly venerated

in Russia) other smaller icons are set apart in various parts of

the church. As is now the custom, though it is comparatively a

recent one, the greater part of the picture, with the exception of

the faces, hands and feet, is covered with an embossed and chased

plaque in gold or silver-gilt representing the form and garments.

Glories or nimbuses in high relief set thick with gems surround

the faces, and sparkle as they reflect the light from the multitude

of candles burnt in their honour. Some are covered to overloading

with jewels, necklets, and bracelets; pearls, diamonds, and rubies

of large size and value adorning them in profusion.

The ceremonial of the Greek church is excessively complex, and the

symbolical meanings by which it represents the dogmas of religion

are everywhere made the subjects of minute observance. During the

greater part of the mass the royal doors are closed: the deacons

remain for the most part without, now and again entering for a

short time. From time to time a pope or popes pass throughout the

church, amongst the crowds, incensing all the holy pictures in

turn; the voice of the officiating priest is raised within, and

is answered in deep tones by the deacons without. Now from one

corner comes a chant of many voices, now for another a single one

in tones (it may be), the epistle or gospel of the day. Now the

doors fly open and a fleeting glimpse is gained of the celebrant

through the thick rolling clouds of incense. Then they are closed

again suddenly. To a stranger unable to follow and in ignorance

of the meaning, the effect is bewildering.

In writing, even generally, of the arts in Russia some reference

to religious music is excusable. That of Russia has a peculiar

charm of its own, far above the barbarous discords that are to be

heard in Greek and other churches of the East at the present day.

There is a sweetness and attractiveness in the unaccompanied chanting

of the choir, in the deep bass tones of the men mingling with the

plaintive trebles of younger voices, which is indescribable in its

harmony. It is unlike any other; yet underneath lies the original

tinge of orientalism, the wailing semitones of all barbaric music.

No accompaniment, no instrumental music of any kind is permitted.

Bass voices of extraordinary depth and power are the most desired.

It is said that the tones now used in the Russian church are

comparatively modern.

The principal churches and monasteries in Russia possess rich stores

of vestments; some of comparatively high antiquity which are preserved

with scrupulous care and still used on occasions of great ceremony.

In more modern vestments the ancient ornament is to a great extent

strictly copied.

The _saccos_, formerly the principal vestment of the patriarchs

and an emblem of sovereign power, is now common to all Russian

bishops. It is in the shape of a dalmatic, formed of two square

pieces of stuff joined together at the neck and open at the sides,

having wide short sleeves. Many of the finest of these vestments

are elaborately embroidered in gold and silver and ornamented with

figures of saints; and in the stuffs themselves sacred subjects are

often woven. They are also thickly sown with rows of seed-pearls

which follow the lines and edgings of the vestment and border the

sacred images. They are besides set with enamelled, nielloed, or

jewelled plaques of gold or silver. Texts in Greek or Sclavonic

often border the whole of the edges of the garment. These are

elaborately worked in gold or silver, or the letters formed completely

of seed-pearls. The _saccos_ of the Metropolitan Peter (made in

1322), of Alexis (1364), of Photius (1414), and of Dionysius (made

in 1583), are remarkable vestments of this character, to be found

in the patriarchal sacristy at Moscow. The stoles, which usually

correspond, are long, narrow, and nearly straight-sided to the

bottom. A peculiar episcopal ornament is the _epigonation_. It is

a large lozenge-shaped ornament embroidered and worked in a similar

manner to the other vestments, and by bishops is worn hanging from

the right side.

The usual form of mitre of a pope of the Russian church is well-known.

The earlier kind was a sort of low cap with a border of fur, something

like the cap of a royal crown, and probably not different in type

from the head-dresses of bishops of the west. Some are sewn thick

with pearls bordering and heightening the lines of the figures of

saints, and forming the outlines of the Sclavonic inscriptions.

Such is that of Joassof, first patriarch of the Russian church

(1558). Those of later times are often of metal richly set with

precious stones. Sometimes they assume a more conical form, surmounted

by a cross, like an imperial crown, as that which is termed the

Constantinople mitre, said to have been made in the time of Ivan

the Terrible. The mitre of the celebrated Nikon (1655), who aspired

to papal prerogatives, is diadem-shaped and remarkable for the

richness of the precious stones with which it is set. The most

usual shape recalls to some extent the favourite cupola, spreading

out from the base to the top.

The form of the chalice used in the Russian church varies considerably,

as it does also in that of the Latin church. In general characteristics

the two have much in common. In early times the chalice was made of

wood or crystal as well as of gold and silver. An ancient chalice

of crystal is preserved in the Cathedral of the Assumption at Moscow,

and the wooden ones of SS. Sergius and Nikon are in the sacristy

at Troitsa. On some old icons our Lord is represented as giving

the holy communion to the apostles out of narrow-necked vessels

which appear to be made of alabaster.

The Greek rite for the celebration of the holy eucharist requires

three things which are not used in the western church. These are

the knife or spear, the star or asterisk, and the spoon for the

administration of the chalice as the sacrament is received by the

laity under both kinds. It may naturally be supposed that such sacred

objects would be the subjects of high artistic workmanship. The

paten itself is often elaborately enamelled and otherwise decorated,

whereas in the western church the rubrics require it to be plain.

The ceremonial of the preparation of the bread (which is leavened

and in the form of a small loaf) is exceedingly complex. Portions

are cut out for consecration, and for this purpose a knife called

a "spear" is used. These portions placed on the paten are covered

with a veil, and in order to prevent the latter from touching the

elements a piece of metal is placed over them: two strips crossed,

and bent so as to have four feet. The tabernacle, or perhaps more

properly ciborium, is sometimes in the form of a hill or mount of

gold or silver-gilt, or of a temple, and there are many remarkable

examples. One at Troitsa is of solid gold with the exception of

Judas, which is of brass. Another is in the sacristy of the church

of the Assumption at Moscow. From its inscription we learn that

it was made for the grand duke Ivan Vassilievitch in 1486, and

it is a characteristic specimen of Russian art of the period.

A peculiar ornament or sacred vessel of the Russo-Greek church

is known under the name of _panagia_, and of this there are two

kinds. One is a jewel or pectoral worn suspended from the neck by

bishops, and is an object on which much care and rich decoration

are lavished. In a somewhat altered form it is worn by priests

in the same way for carrying the holy sacrament on a journey or

to the sick.

Pectoral crosses for the dignitaries of the church are of course

not uncommon; not only priests, however, but every Russian man,

woman or child carries a small cross, more or less ornamental. They

are various in form and richness of decoration; from the simple

bronze cross, rudely stamped, of the peasant, to the enamelled and

jewelled one of the metropolitan or noble. Nearly always the plain

three-armed cross is set in the centre of another more elaborate

or conventional. Almost invariably also the sacred monograms and

invocations in Sclavonic characters are engraved in the field.

In some cases it is more a medallion than a cross, the form of

the cross being indicated by cutting four segments in the manner

of the ancient stone crosses to be seen in many parts of England.

Besides the inscriptions, emblems such as the spear and nails and

crown of thorns are often to be distinguished though conventionally

indicated.

Crosses on church tops are made of silver, wood, lead, and even

gold. The open-worked designs of many of them, although intended

to be placed at great height, are extremely elegant. They were

occasionally ornamented with coins, and those on churches erected

by the Tsar are surmounted by an imperial crown.

A crescent as a symbol beneath the cross is very frequent. Various

explanations of this symbol have been given. According to some it

is in remembrance of the victory of the cross over the crescent

on the deliverance from the Mongol yoke. Others think it to have

originated simply in the freak of some goldsmith, afterwards copied

by others until it came to be accepted as a necessity. It is certain

that the use of the crescent is anterior to the Mongol invasion,

and was an old symbol in Byzantium, as appears from coins.

The pastoral staff of Russian bishops is tau-shaped; and there

are many good old examples, a few in ivory, but for the most part

in silver-gilt. Processional crosses are also used.

The censer is a piece of church furniture in constant use in the

Russo-Greek church, and we find several examples very characteristic

of Russian art. As in the west, the application of architectural forms

is very frequent, and it is not surprising that the peculiarities of

Russian ecclesiastical ornament should be prominent and especially

the dome which naturally suggests itself.

Amongst the objects kept in the sacristy of the patriarchs in the

Cathedral of the Assumption, in Moscow, is one which is held in

special veneration. This is the vase in which is preserved the

deposit of holy chrism used in the annual preparation of holy oils

for distribution to the various churches of the empire.

The preparation of this oil is an occasion of great ceremony in

Holy Week. From the fourth week in Lent the preliminary mixings of

oil, wine, herbs, and a variety of different ingredients begin. In

the Holy Week these ingredient are prepared in a public ceremony:

two large boilers, several bowls and sixteen vases together with

other vessels being used. All of these are of great size of massive

silver, and, presented by Catherine II. in 1767, are specimens of

silver work of that time.

_THE CREEDS OF RUSSIA_

_ERNEST W. LOWRY_

A report was brought to Basil, the Metropolitan of Moscow, in the

year 1340, by merchants of Novgorod, who asserted that they had

beheld a glimpse of Paradise from the shores of the White Sea.

Whether their vision were merely the dazzling reflection of some

sunlit iceberg, or only the glow of poetic imagination, it so fired

the ardour of the mediæval prelate that he longed to set sail for

this golden gleam. Be the old legend true or false, it is certain that

to this day the northern Mujik shows an even more marked religious

enthusiasm than his brother of the central governments. Fanaticism,

mysticism, and fatalism go ever hand in hand in Northern Russia.

The Empire of the Tsars being so vast in area and so embracive of

races affords space for all forms of belief, or want of belief,

within her boundaries. All creeds are represented, from the pagan

Samoyede of the _tundras_ to the Mohammedan Tartar of the Steppes.

Our concern is with but one of these--the Old Believers. But to

understand their doctrine, we must glance at the clergy of the

State Church from which they dissent.

[Illustration: A RELIGIOUS PROCESSION, LOKA.]

The clergy of the Orthodox Russian Church are divided into Black

or monks of St. Basil, and the White or parish priests. The latter

must be married before they are ordained, and may not marry again

(which has led to the saying, "A priest takes good care of his

wife, for he cannot get another"), while the monasteries, of course,

require celibacy. From the latter the bishops are elected, so that

they--in contradistinction to the priests--must be single. This

system is much condemned by the lower clergy, who ask pertinently,

"How can the bishop know the hardships of our lives? for he is

single and well paid, we poor and married." The rule, observed

elsewhere, holds good in Russia, the poorer the priest, the larger

the family. Few village priests receive any regular stipend, but

are allowed a plot of land in the commune wherein they minister.

This allowance is generally from thirty to forty dessiatines (eighty

to one hundred and eight acres), and can only be converted into

money, or food products, by the labour of the parson and his family

upon it--very literally must they put their hand to the plough.

Priests are paid for special services, such as christenings or

weddings, at no fixed tariff, but at a sliding rate, according

to the means of the payer, the price being arrived at by means of

prolonged bargaining between the shepherd and his flock. Would-be

couples often wait for months until a sum can be fixed upon with

his reverence for tying the knot; and sometimes, by means of daily

haggling, the amount first asked can be reduced by one-half, for

the cost of the ceremony varies--according to the social status of

the happy pair--from ten to one hundred roubles. Funerals, too, are

at times postponed for most unhealthy periods during this process.

Generally, however, the White Clergy[1] are so miserably poor that

they cannot be blamed for making the best market they can for their

priestly offices. Whether the system or the salary be at fault

it is hard to say, but from whatever cause the fact remains that

the parish clergy of the villages are not always all they might

be; there are many among them who lead upright lives and gain the

respect of their parishioners, but it would be idle to deny that

there are many whose thoughts turn more to _vodka_ than piety,

the _kabak_ than the Church. Such shepherds have little in common

with the best elements of their flocks, and much with the worst,

in whose company they are generally seen.

[Footnote 1: The White Clergy wear any colour but that from which

they take their name--a deer-skin cap and long felt boots.]

The poor "Pope" spends much of his time going from _izba_ to _izba_,

giving his blessing and receiving in return drink and a few copecks;

from this come, all too easily, the proverbs of his parishioners,

"Am I a priest, that I should sup twice?" etc. Count Tolstoi makes

his hero remark in the trial scene of the _Resurrection_, when his

fellow jurymen are more friendly than he would wish, "The son of

a priest will speak to me next." But most of them have a side to

their natures which, though not always to be seen, is, nevertheless,

latent--the hour of need often lifts them to the lofty plane of

their sublime functions; the labouring--often hungry--peasant of

the weekdays becomes on Sunday exalted above the petty surroundings

of Mujik life, and becomes indeed the "little father" of his people.

From the Established Church of the State, the Church of the few in

the North, let us turn to the old faith, the Church of the many.

The Old Believers, Raskolniks, or dissenters, are indeed a numerous,

although officially an uncounted, body in the North; half the trade

of Moscow, most of that which is Russian at all, in the Port of

Archangel, all the Pomor shipping lies in their hands.

The word Raskolnik means, literally, one who splits asunder, and

that is just what the Old Believer is--one who has split off from

the Orthodox Church.

Two hundred and fifty years ago Nikon, a friar of Solovetsk, an

island monastery in the White Sea, having quarrelled alike with

equal and superior, was set adrift in an open boat; he reached

the mainland at Ki, a small cape in Onega Bay, wandered southward

to Olonets, where he got together a band of followers, proceeded

to Moscow, obtained the notice of the throne, got preferment, was

soon made Patriarch. He ruled with an iron hand, made many enemies,

and when at last he obtained from Mount Santo, in Roumelia, authentic

Greek Church-service books, and, having had them translated into

Sclavonic, forced their use upon the Church, with the aid of the

Tsar Alexis, in the place of those previously in use, the revolt

began in earnest. In addition to the altered service book, Nikon

introduced a cross with but two beams, a new stamp for the holy

wafer, a different way of holding the fingers in pronouncing the

blessing, and a new way of spelling the name Jesus, to which the

Church was unaccustomed. In each of these changes Nikon and his

party really wished to go back to older and purer forms of Greek

ritual, but many resisted the alterations, believing them to be

innovations.

Such was the beginning of Raskol; the end is not yet. Those who

could not accept these reforms, or returns to older forms, took

up the name of "Staro-obriadtsi," or Old Believers, holding that

theirs was indeed the true old faith of their fathers. For them

began, in very truth a hard time; a time which has left its mark

most clearly upon their descendants to-day. Excommunicated and

persecuted under Alexis and Peter I., they were driven in thousands

from their village homes to seek refuge where they could, in forest,

mountain or island; a party reaching in the year 1767, even to

Kolgueff Island, where, as might be expected, they perished during

the following year from scurvy. To these brave bands of Old Believers,

setting forth under their banner of the "Eight-ended Cross," to

find new homes beyond the reach of persecution, is, in large part,

due the colonization of the huge province of Archangel and the

northern portion of Siberia. That it was not always easy for the

Raskolnik to get beyond the range of official persecutions is shown

by many an old "_ukas_," and by many an old entry in the books of

far-distant communes. Farther north and farther east, from forest

to _tundra_ and Steppe were they driven, spreading as they went

their Russian nationality over regions Asiatic; as exiles they

settled among Polish Romanists, Baltic Protestants, and Caucasian

Mussulmans, and with the heathen Lapp and Samoyede, and Ostiac, on

the Murman coast of Russian Lapland, in the bleak Northern _tundra_,

on the Petchora, and away beyond the Ural Spur, they found at last

the rest they sought.

Their most dangerous enemy was not, however, the persecution of the

dominant Church; they had placed themselves geographically beyond the

reach of that: far more dangerous was further Raskol--splitting--among

themselves, and it was not long before this overtook them. Cut off

by their own faith, as well by excommunication, from the Orthodox

Church, the supply of consecrated priests soon gave out; they had

lost their apostolic succession and could not renew it, for the one

Bishop--Paul of Kalomna--who had joined them, had died in prison,

without appointing a successor. Without an episcopate they were soon

without a priesthood; and the vital question, "How shall we get

priests and through them Sacraments?" was answered in two ways,

and according to the answer, so were the Old Believers divided into

two main sects. One sect declared that, as there were no longer

faithful priests, they were cut off from all the Sacraments except

Baptism, which could be administered by laymen. These "Bespopoftsi,"

or priestless people, were unable to marry; and to this--in a land

where the economic unit, is not man, but man and wife, where the

ties of family life are so strong--was due their further splitting.

In 1846, however, they persuaded an outcast bishop to join their

ranks, and founded a See at Bielokrinitzkaga, in Austrian Bukovina,

beyond the Russian Empire; from thence the succession was handed

down, and now after long decades of waiting, they have bishops

and priests of their own.

The practice of hiring a priest from the Orthodox Church, to conduct

a service for the Old Believers, is still very common in the far

North, where all villages have not the means to keep a "Pope" of

their own; and many an Orthodox clergyman thus adds considerably

to his precarious income by officiating for those whom his

great-grandfathers excommunicated as heretics; indeed, the Government

now encourages this practice, and has made some attempt to heal up

the schism by allowing its priests to adopt, to a slight extent,

the old customs in villages where all the inhabitants are Raskolniks.

This can the more readily be understood when it is remembered that

the Old Believers hold in all essential points the same creed as

the Orthodox; they are--and their name implies--believers in the

old faith of the Russian branch of the Greek Church, as expressed

since the day of St. Vladimir until the Seventeenth Century, but

not in the so-called innovations of Nikon. The points of difference

are so small that it seems impossible a Church should by them have

been cleft in twain. The Orthodox sign the Cross with three fingers

extended, the dissenters with two, holding that the two raised

fingers indicate the dual nature of Christ, while the three bent

ones represent the Trinity. It does not seem to have occurred to

either party that the reverse holds true as well. The Orthodox

Cross has but two beams, while that of the Raskolnik has four,

and is made of four woods--cypress, cedar, palm, and olive; the

latter, too, repeats his Allelujah thrice, the Orthodox but twice.

Such are the points to which in all probability, the peopling of

the outlying portions of the Empire of the Tsars is due.

The Raskolniks have set a far higher value upon education than the

Orthodox; the instruction given in their settlements often sheds

a strong light upon the darkness of Orthodox ignorance around, and

with the spread of education so does the sect extend and multiply.

Their house can generally be distinguished by cleanliness, the

presence of many Eicons, brass and silver crosses, and ancient

books; its mistress by her greater thoughtfulness and capability.

Old Believers are always glad to seize the opportunity, given so

well by the long northern winter, with its almost endless night,

of reading, and on their shelves are seen translations of our best

authors, from whom, perhaps, it is that they have taken their advanced

political views, and the outcome of whose perusal is that the hunter

and fisherman will often propound to one questions which show a

mind well trained in logical thought. The Raskolnik is generally

fairly well to do, for, like the Quaker and the Puritan, he finds

a turn for business not incompatible with religious exercise, and

to this is in part due the superiority and comfort of their homes.

Most of them in the far North are fishers and hunters, sealers and

sailors, and in these and kindred trades they make use of better

and more modern appliances than their neighbours, and so generally

realize more for their commodities.

Far from civilization, in the impenetrable forests of the great

lone land of Archangel, the fugitive Raskolniks were able to found

retreats for themselves, untroubled and unobserved; these refuges

still exist, and are called "Obitel" or cells. In the district of

Mezen there are many such establishments, both for men and women;

among the former the Anuphief Hermitage, or cells of Koida, stand

in a splendid position, on the banks of both lake and river Koida,

some 100 versts in summer by river, and 50 in winter, over ice,

from the town of that name.

On Nonconformist, as on Orthodox, is laid the burden of severe

fasting; as Master Chancellour tells us, in 1553, "This people

hath four Lents,"--indeed, the eating working year is reduced to

some 130 days. In the North, where vegetables and berries are few

and fruit non-existent, the Mujik is left to fast on "_treska_,"

rotten codfish--and the condition of the man who begins Lent underfed

is indeed pitiable when he ends it. The endurance of the Old Believer

is marvellous; no offer of food will tempt him from what he considers

his duty.