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Corn, firewood, and timber constitute two-thirds of the whole
cargoes carried. Within Russia proper, from 5740 to 7400 boats,
larger and smaller, worth from four to seven millions of roubles,
have been built annually during the last five years (7415 boats,
valued at 6,758,000 roubles, in 1882,-18 of them being steamers);
most of them are light flat-bottomed structures, which are broken
up as soon as they have reached their destination. The number of
steamers plying on inland waters, chiefly on the Volga, was esti-
mated in 1879 at 1056 (80,890 horse-power).
Twenty-five years ago Russia had only 993 miles of railways; on
January 1, 1888, the totals were 13,428 miles for Russia and
Caucasia, 888 for Poland, 734 for Finland, and 141 for the
Transcaspian region, and two years later they had reached an aggre-
gate length of 16,155 miles. The railways chiefly connect the
Baltic ports with the granaries of Russia in the south-east, and the
western frontier with Moscow, whence six trunk lines radiate in all
directions. Several military lines run along the western frontier,
while two trunk lines, starting from St Petersburg, follow the two
shores of the Gulf of Finland. Of the projected Siberian railway
one main line (444 miles), connecting Perm and Berezniki on the
Kama with Ekaterinburg and the chief iron-works of the Urals, has
beer constructed. It has been extended east to Kamyshkoff, and is
to be continued to Tiumen, 100 miles farther east, whence steamers
ply to Tomsk.

Only 738 miles of the railways of Russia belong to the state,

but most of them have been constructed under Government guarantees, involving payment of from 11 to 21 million roubles yearly. On the other hand the yearly increasing debt of the railways to the state amounted to 781,888,800 roubles in 1883. Of the aggregate value of the Russian railways, estimated at 2210 million roubles, no less than 1971 million roubles were held by Government in shares and bonds. The cost of construction has been altogether out of proportion to what it ought to be; for, whereas the average rate per verst (0.663 mile) in Finland was only 20,000 silver roubles, in Russia it reached 60,000, 75,000, 90,000, and even 100,000 roubles. In 1882 21,322 versts (14,136 miles) represented an expenditure of 2,210,047,632 roubles, and their net revenue was only 3 18 per cent. on the capital invested (4982 ronbles per English mile in 1882). In 1884 34,674,853 passengers, 2,287,955 military, and 834,500,000 cwts. of merchandise were conveyed by 5808 locomotives and 120,940 carriages and waggons. Fully one-half of the merchandise carried consisted of corn (24 per cent.), coal (13 per cent.), firewood (12 per cent.), and timber (8 per cent.).1

For the conveyance of correspondence and travellers along ordiand tele- nary routes the state maintains an extensive organization of postgraphs horses between all towns of the empire, that is, over an aggregate length of 110,170 miles. In 1882 4355 stations, with a staff of 15,560 men and 446,460 horses, were kept up for that purpose. In 1883, 242, 193,470 letters, newspapers (93,520,000), registered letters, and parcels were carried, of which 29,808,100 belonged to international correspondence. The telegraph system had in the same year an aggregate length of 65,394 miles, with 2,957 telegraph offices, and 10,222,139 telegrams were transmitted.2 (P.A. K.)

Plate III

PART IV. RUSSIAN HISTORY.

The Russians, properly so called, belong to the Slavonic race, itself a division of the great Aryan family. It cannot be denied that in the northern and eastern parts of Russia large Finnish elements have become mixed with the Slavs, and Mongolian in the south, but this is far from justifying the prejudiced attempts of Duchinski and others to challenge the right of the Russians to be called an Aryan people. The derivation of the words Russia, Russians (Rous, Rossia, Rossiane), has been much disputed. The old-fashioned view was to identify them with the Rhoxolani, who are now generally believed to have been a Medish tribe. The later and probably correct one is to derive the name from the Finnish Ruotsi applied to the Swedes, and considered by Professor Thomsen of Copenhagen to be itself a corruption of the Swedish word rothsmenn, rowers or seafarers. They are Scandinavian

1 See the Statistical Sbornik of the Ministry of Roads and Communications, vols. viii., ix., and x. (roads, canals, railways, and traffic thereon, with maps and graphic representation of traffic); Golovatchoff, "Russian Railways," in Bezobrazoff's Sbornik Gosudarstvennykh Znaniy, vols. iv., V., vii., viii.; Rybakoff and Bieloff, Our Ways of Communication, 1884; Tchuproff, Tavarnyie Sklady, &c. (trade in corn), 1884.

2 See Postal Statistics for 1883 (St Petersburg, 1885), and the Russkiy Kalendar.

brothers.

vikings with whom we first become acquainted in northern
Russia, and who in a way founded the empire, although
from Arabian and Jewish writers we have dim records of
a Slavonic race inhabiting the basin of the Dnieper about
In recent times Ilovaiski
the close of the 9th century.
and Gedeonoff have again attacked the view of the Swedish
origin of the invaders. They see in them only Slavs, but
they are not considered to have shaken the theory which
derives the name from Ruotsi. As the story goes, three Rurik
brothers, Rurik, Sineus, and Truvor, were invited to Russia and his
from the north and settled at Novgorod in 862. Nestor
calls them Varangians, a name in which most people are
willing to see Norsemen. For a long time the Russians
and Scandinavians are considered, as we shall find, to be
separate races, but at length they are fused, as the Saxons
and Normans in England under Henry I. Concerning
the origin of the town of Novgorod, which bears a purely
Slavonic name, nothing is known; it has been supposed
that at first a Finnish settlement existed on its site.
There is,

According to the legend the three brothers were invited
over by a leading citizen named Gostomîsl
however, no mention of such a person in the Chronicle of
Nestor. There is another story that Rurik was the son
of the Swedish king, Ludbrat, a person met with in
Scandinavian legend, and his queen Umila, the daughter
of Gostomîsl, and was born at Upsala in 830. Whatever
the variants of the legend may be, we seem to learn one
thing,—that a successful Scandinavian invasion occurred
in the north of Russia. The three brothers finally settled
in the country,-Rurik at Ladoga, where the river
Volkhoff flows into the lake, Sineus at Bielo-ozero, and
Truvor at Izborsk on Lake Peipus. On the death of
his two brothers without heirs, we are told that Rurik
annexed their dominions to his own, and took the title of
These three brothers are
veliki kniaz, or grand-prince.
said to have brought two other adventurers with them,
Askold and Dir, who, having had a quarrel with Rurik,
set out with some companions to Constantinople to try
their fortune. On their way they saw Kieff, situated on a
rich and grassy plain, in the occupation of the Khazars. Of
this city they made themselves masters, and permanently
established themselves on the Dnieper. The origin of
Kieff itself is involved in mystery. It is first mentioned
about the 9th century. Constantine Porphyrogenitus speaks
οἱ τὸ καστρὸν τὸ Κιοάβα τὸ ἐπονομαζόμενον Σαμβατάς.
This last word has given much labour to scholars; some are
disposed to see in it the Norse sandbakki, the bank of sand.
It is at Kieff that, according to the legend, St Andrew
preached the gospel to the Russians. From this place
Askold and Dir sallied forth two years afterwards, with
an armament of two hundred vessels, sailed up the Bos-
phorus, and plundered the capital of the Byzantine empire.
The Greek writers give 851 as the date of this enter-
prise, thus making it precede the arrival of Rurik by
eleven years. The emperor at the time of their invasion

was Michael III.

Having greatly extended his dominions oy subduing the Igor and surrounding Slavonic tribes, 'Rurik died at an advanced Oleg. age in 879, leaving the regency of the principality and the guardianship of his son Igor to the renowned Oleg. This chief subdued Smolensk, a city of the Krivitchi, in 882. Allured by its wealth and advantageous situation, Oleg now resolved to attempt Kieff, which was held by Askold and Dír. The story goes that he took young Igor with him, and disguised himself and his companions as Slavonic merchants. The unsuspecting Askold and Dir were invited to a conference and slain on the spot. Thus was Kieff added to the dominions of Igor, who was recognized as the 3 Both these names are Scandinavian. the original forms being Ingvar and Helgi.

lord of the town.1 In 903 Oleg chose a wife for Igor, named Olga,2 said to have been a native of Pskoff, the origin of which place, now mentioned for the first time, is unknown. We are told that it was a city of importance before the arrival of Rurik. The derivation of the name is disputed, some deriving it from a Finnish, others from a Slavonic root. Oleg next resolved to make an attack upon Byzantium, and his preparations were great both by sea and land. Leo the Philosopher, then emperor, was ill able to resist these barbarians. He attempted to block the passage of the Bosphorus, but Oleg dragged his ships across the land and arrived before the gates of Constantinople. The Greeks begged for peace and offered tribute. Oleg is said to have hung his shield in derision on the gates of the city. We may believe this without going so far as to give credence to Stryikowski, the Polish writer, who says it was to be seen there in his time (16th century). The atrocities committed by Oleg and his followers are described by Karamzin, the Russian historian; they are just such as the other Norsemen of their race were committing at the same time in northern and western Europe. The Byzantines paid a large sum of money that their city might be exempted from injury, and soon after Oleg sent ambassadors to the emperor to arrange the terms. The treaty was ratified by oaths: the Byzantines swore by the Gospels, and the Russians by their gods Perun and Volos. In 911 Oleg made another treaty with the Byzantines, the terms of which, as of the preceding one, are preserved in Nestor. The authenticity of these two treaties has been called in question by some writers, but Miklosich truly observes that it would have been impossible at the time Nestor wrote to forge the Scandinavian names. Soon after this Oleg died; he had exercised supreme power till the time of his death to the exclusion of Igor, and seems to have been regarded by the people as a wizard. He is said to have been killed by the bite of a serpent, which had coiled itself in the skull of his horse, as he was gazing at the animal's unburied bones. The story is in reality a Scandinavian saga, as has been shown by Bielowski and Rafn. It is also found in other countries. In the reign of Igor the Petchenegs first make their appearance in Russian history. In 941 he undertook an expedition against Constantinople and entered the Bosphorus after devastating the provinces of Pontus, Paphlagonia, and Bithynia. Nestor has not concealed the atrocities committed by the Russians on this occasion; he tells us of the churches and monasteries which they burned, and of their cruelty to the captives. They were, however, attacked by the Byzantine fleet, and overpowered by the aid of Greek fire; many were drowned, and many of those who swam to land were slaughtered by the infuriated peasants; only one of their number escaped. Thirsting to avenge his loss, Igor fitted out another expedition in the spring of the following year. The Greeks were unwilling to run a risk again; they renewed the treaty which had been signed with Oleg, and were only too glad to purchase deliverance from their adversaries. The Russian at first demanded too much, but was finally persuaded by his more prudent attendants: "If Cæsar speaks thus," said they, "what more do we want than to have gold and silver and silks without fighting? Who knows which will survive, we or they? Who has ever been able to conclude a treaty with the sea? We do not go on the dry land, but on the waves of the sea; death is common to all."

1 This story is considered by the historian Bestuzheff Riumin to be a mere legend invented to explain the connexion between Novgorod

and Kieff.

2 Here again we have a Norse name. Olga is equivalent to Helga, which in its older form is Holga.

3 It has been observed that the names of the ambassadors in this treaty are purely Scandinavian.

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A treaty of peace was accordingly concluded, which is given at full length by Nestor; of the fifty names attached to it we find three were Slavonic and the rest Norse. The two races are beginning to be fused. From this expedi tion Igor returned triumphant. He was, however, unfortunate in a subsequent attack on the Drevlians, a Slavonic tribe whose territory is now partly occupied by the government of Tchernigoff. The Drevlians had long suffered from his exactions. They resolved to encounter him under the command of their prince Male; for they saw, as a chronicler says, that it was necessary to kill the wolf, or the whole flock would become his prey. They accordingly laid an ambuscade near their town Korcsten, now called Iskorost, in the government of Volhynia, and slew him and all his company. According to Leo the Deacon, he was tied to two trees bent together, and when they were let go the unhappy chief was torn to pieces. Igor was succeeded by his son Sviatoslaff, the first Regen. Russian prince with a Slavonic name. of Olga Olga, however, the spirited wife of Igor, was now regent, owing to her son's minority. Fearful was the punishment she inflicted upon the Drevlians for the death of her husband, and the story lacks no dramatic interest as it has been handed down by the old chronicler. Some of the Drevlians were buried alive in pits which she had caused to be dug for the purpose previously; some were burned alive; and others murdered at a trizna, or funeral feast, which she had appointed to be held in her husband's honour. The town Iskorost was afterwards set on fire by tying lighted matches to the tails of sparrows and pigeons, and letting them fly on the roofs of the houses. Here we certainly have a piece of a bîlina, as the old Russian legendary poems are called. Geoffrey of Monmouth and Layamon give the same account of the capture of the city of Cirencester by Gurmund at the head of the Saxons, and something similar is also told about Harold Hardrada in Sicily. Finally, at the close of her life, Olga became a Christian. She herself visited the capital of the Greek empire, and was instructed in the mysteries of her new faith by the patriarch. There she was baptized by him in 955, and the emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus became her godfather. She did not, however, succeed in persuading her son Sviatoslaff to embrace the same faith, although hesviat took no measures to impede its progress among his sub-sla jects. This son was as celebrated a warrior as Oleg; his victories were chiefly over the Petchenegs previously mentioned, a people of Mongol origin inhabiting the basin of the Don. He began, however, the fatal custom of breaking up Russia into apanages, which he distributed among his sons. The effects of this injudicious policy, subsequently pursued by other grand princes, were soon felt. Thus was paved the way for the invasion of Russia by the Mongols, who held it for two hundred years, and communicated that semi-Asiatic character to the dress and customs of the country which the ukazes of Peter the Great could hardly eradicate, and which perhaps have not entirely disappeared even in our own times. In his division of the country, Sviatoslaff gave Kieff to his son Yaropolk; to another son, Oleg, the conquered land of the Drevlians; to another, Vladimir, he assigned Novgorod. It would be impossible to interest the reader in the petty wars of these princes. After having gained several victories over the Petchenegs, Sviatoslaff set out on an expedition against the Bulgarians, a Ugro-Finnish tribe, dwelling on the banks of the Volga, the remains of whose ancient capital can still be seen. He made himself master of their country, but his victorious career was cut short at the cataracts of the Dnieper, where he and his soldiers were slain by the Petchenegs. According to the barbarous custom of the times, their prince Kurya made his skull

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