Chapter 1

TRAVELLING IN RUSSIA

Railways--State Interference--River Communications--Russian "Grand Tour"--The Volga--Kazan--Zhigulinskiya Gori--Finns and Tartars--The Don--Difficulties of Navigation--Discomforts--Rats--Hotels and Their Peculiar Customs--Roads--Hibernian Phraseology Explained--Bridges--Posting--A Tarantass--Requisites for Travelling--Travelling in Winter--Frostbitten--Disagreeable Episodes--Scene at a Post-Station.