ings and crossings to every point of the compass. Indeed this invariable manifestation of gratitude, even for the most trifling gift, is a remarkable characteristic of the poorer classes.

About half-way between Syzran and Kvaliensk, we entered the government of Saratov, and here the hills had subsided to their old elevation, seldom rising above three hundred feet; but they had again changed in character, and now receded some distance from the river. To judge also from the numerous herds of cattle grazing over them, they seemed to afford good pasture. The left bank was occasionally strewn for hundreds of yards with melons waiting to be conveyed away to those who should be imprudent enough to eat them.

CHAPTER VII.

SINGULAR MISAPPLICATION OF STEAM-TIMBER RAFTS-VOLSK-SHEEP FROM THE CASPIAN-A MERCHANT PRINCE-SARATOV-EMANCIPATION OF SERFS-VOLGA FEVER AND AGUE-GERMAN COLONIESTHE ROBBER STINKOROSIN-LEAVE THE SAMSON-REFLECTIONS.

IT is difficult to conceive that so magnificent a river as the Volga should be so desecrated, or so noble a power as steam so abused, as by the astonishing contrivance which passed us the day before we arrived at Saratov, and which could only have emanated from the brain of some semi-civilised Russian. So long as steam was unknown, or its application thought to be impracticable here, from the difficulty of navigation, the clumsy horse-machine might be tolerated as an original, and perhaps a somewhat ingenious method of effecting the desired end; but after such notions had been exploded, and steamers were plying regularly from Astrakhan to Rhybinski, that any man should have been found so devoid of common. sense as to construct an apparatus in which steam was to supply the place of horses in the way it did in the one before us, was certainly most amazing.

First of all, we observed approaching us a small

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steamer, towing a boat, in which were a huge anchor and a quantity of men. At a distance of little more than half a mile appeared another funnel, planted in the midst of an unwieldy square-looking barge, on each side of which were very diminutive wheels, and on the deck sundry Chinese-looking habitations, some sticks with flags flying, and a mast. Behind this grotesque monster was a string of gay-coloured barges; and the whole turn-out would have been very picturesque, had not the aforesaid funnel vomited forth black jets of smoke. Presently we saw the anchor hove over the side of the boat, which then returned with the steamer, bringing with it the hawser; upon arriving at the machine, another anchor was lowered into the boat, and both started again on the same errand. Meantime the engine on the square barge was employed in warping itself and suite to the anchor first laid down; having accomplished which, it found the second prepared for it half a mile further on; and so it dragged its weary length along, making from twenty to thirty versts a-day.

The ingenious inventor had evidently found it impossible to disabuse his mind of the excellence of this warping system; and, by this wondrous misapplication of steam, he was just six times as long, used twice as many steamers, and about twenty times as much fuel, as if he had employed a common tugboat to convey the same amount of cargo.

An immense raft of pines from Perm and the Ural

Mountains, on which were two or three cottages, was a more sensible-looking, as well as interesting object; and the wood in those regions is so cheap, that it pays to float timber from the head waters of the Kama down to the Caspian.

Before we approached our next wood station, Volsk, the downs had become more extensive. Hitherto the banks had been generally stratified, consisting of layers of yellowish sand, sometimes so soft as to be perforated by swallows, while in other parts it seemed to be undergoing a process of petrifaction. Now the cliffs were formed entirely of a cretaceous marl frequently composed of pure chalk, but often of a clayey colour. Here and there we passed a nobleman's house, situated near some miserable village, and in a very windy locality; but Volsk itself was charming. Snugly situated between two hills, one of which attains a height of nearly four hundred feet, its new green-domed churches and substantial-looking houses gave it a thriving appearance; while the valleys running inland were well cultivated and picturesque-the houses and fields, in some places, rising in terraces along the hill-side.

Since leaving Nijni, we had not seen anything half so pretty; and we doubted, indeed, whether we did not give the preference to the less elevated but more sheltered position of Volsk. From the hills above it we had some extensive views-the Volga always forming the most prominent and interesting feature. As we strolled along a shady dell, in which the dwarf

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almond, linden, and stunted white poplar seemed to predominate, we heard a very unmelodious singing, and found it proceeded from a number of barefooted girls occupied in walking through wheat spread out on a barbecue, apparently for the purpose of turning it over. The song of each maiden was different, and pitched in a very high key. It was evidently considered a part of the performance; for our unwonted appearance even scarcely diverted them-it certainly could not make them forget their tunes.

Volsk contains about ten thousand inhabitants, and its principal trade is in tallow. We passed an immense herd of sheep, which seemed, from their conformation in certain quarters, to have been created expressly for the purpose of being melted into tallow, as their wool-of a very inferior description-was of little value. What added to the grotesqueness of

their appearance, was their perfect innocence of anything like tails. Nature seemed to have compromised this absence with a fleecy bustle, which sat