Russia


Russia, by Various

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Russia, by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Russia As Seen and Described by Famous Writers
Author: Various
Editor: Esther Singleton
Release Date: October 14, 2006 [EBook #19534]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUSSIA ***

Produced by Robert J. Hall

[Illustration: MOSCOW.]

RUSSIA
As Seen and Described by Famous Writers
Edited and Translated by
ESTHER SINGLETON
Author of "Turrets, Towers and Temples," "Great Pictures," and "A Guide to the Opera," and translator of "The Music Dramas of Richard Wagner."
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
New York
Dodd, Mead and Company
1909

PREFACE
This is intended to be a companion volume to Japan, and therefore follows the same general plan and arrangement. It aims to present in small compass a somewhat comprehensive view of the great Muscovite power. After a short description of the country and race, we pass to a brief review of the history and religion including ritual and ceremonial observances of the Greek Church. Next come descriptions of regions, cities and architectural marvels; and then follow articles on the various manners and customs of rural and town life. The arts of the nation are treated comprehensively; and a chapter of the latest statistics concludes the rapid survey. The material is all selected from the writings of those who speak with authority on the subjects with which they deal.
The Russian Empire is so vast that it would be impossible to give detailed descriptions of all its parts in a work of this size: therefore I have been forced to be content with more general descriptions of provinces with an occasional addition of a typical city.
E. S.
New York, April 21, 1904.

CONTENTS

PART I
THE COUNTRY AND RACE
The Russian Empire Prince Kropotkine.
Siberia Jean Jacques élisée Reclus.
The Russian Races W. R. Morfill.

PART II
HISTORY AND RELIGION
The History of Russia W. R. Morfill.
Church Service Alfred Maskell.
The Creeds of Russia Ernest W. Lowry.

PART III
DESCRIPTIONS
St. Petersburg J. Beavington Atkinson.
Finland Harry De Windt.
Lapland Alexander Platonovich Engelhardt.
Moscow (The Kremlin and its treasuries--The Ancient Regalia--The Romanoff House) Alfred Maskell.
Vassili-Blagennoi (St. Basil the Blessed) Théophile Gautier.
Poland Thomas Michell.
Kief, the City of Pilgrimage J. Beavington Atkinson.
Nijni-Novgorod Antonio Gallenga.
The Volga Basin. (The Great River--Kasan--Tsaritzin--Astrakhan) Antonio Gallenga.
Odessa Antonio Gallenga.
The Don Cossacks Thomas Michell.
In the Caucasus J. Buchan Teller.
Khiva Fred Burnaby.
The Trans-Siberian Railway William Durban.

PART IV
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS
High Life in Russia The Countess of Galloway.
Rural Life in Russia Lady Verney
Food and Drink H. Sutherland Edwards.
Carnival-Time and Easter A. Nicol Simpson.
Russian Tea and Tea-Houses H. Sutherland Edwards.
How Russia Amuses Itself Fred Whishaw.
The Kirghiz and their Horses Fred Burnaby.
Winter in Moscow H. Sutherland Edwards.
A Journey by Sleigh Fred Burnaby.

PART V
ART AND LITERATURE
Russian Architecture Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc.
Sculpture and Painting Philippe Berthelot.
Russian Music A. E. Keeton.
Russian Literature W. R. Morfill.

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