In the morning I went to the Kremlin, which comprises the new and old Imperial palaces, churches, treasury, etc., all grouped within a lofty wall, pierced here and there by gateways, one of which being holy, it behoves every good Russian to remove his hat on passing through. In the vast courtyard are ranged in long tiers the many hundreds of cannon which the Russians took from Napoleon I. It is impossible in this brief diary to deal with the splendours of the Kremlin. Nothing I have ever seen in Europe, Asia, Africa or America, can in any way compare with its semi-barbaric magnificence.
The ball-room in the new palace is of immense size and of most majestic proportions, the walls being entirely of mirrors and gold gilt, and the floor richly inlaid with many kinds of beautiful woods. Columns built of malachite, crystal, and precious stones. Stairways of marble and jade, while countless ornaments of pure gold adorned the various apartments. The old palace, which adjoins the new, is smaller, less magnificent, being of cloister like build, but intensely interesting. Here I saw the bedroom and the bed in which Napoleon slept for a few nights before Moscow was laid in ashes by her own inhabitants, and the French invaders driven out to die like flies in the snow.
In the afternoon I visited several beautiful churches, a museum, and an exhibition of Verestchagin’s famous war pictures.
On the 21st October I returned to the Kremlin and visited its churches, which are stored with priceless icons, golden vessels, gem-studded crucifixes, and silken vestures stiff with gold and precious stones. In striking contrast to such wealth, some of the chapels had dirty, uneven brick floors, and were horribly dark. Afterwards I passed through the Treasury, until I was weary of looking on diamond-studied saddles, bejewelled swords and guns, thrones, crowns, the regalia and coronation robes of all the Russian Czars, etc., etc. Altogether the wealth of the Kremlin must represent scores of millions of pounds in value.
The bazaars of Moscow are far-famed, though more so in Asia than in Europe. I passed through the newest and largest. It struck me as being more extensive than the Crystal Palace, though not so lofty, and I was told that it contained under its roof a thousand shops of the best class.
At 10 p.m. that night I left the hotel in pouring rain and drove to the station, where I was soon on board the trans-Siberian express, which started at 11 p.m. In my coupé were two Russian Officers and a Japanese—all hurrying eastward in anticipation of a Russo-Japanese war. The most interesting part of my journey now commenced. I was about to go where but comparatively few Englishmen have ever been, and to pass through a region chiefly known to the civilized world as a place of exile, a place of horror, a dreary wilderness of frost and snow and wind, a place to which the words “ye who enter here must leave all hope behind” were ever applicable. The greater part of this journey of over 5,000 miles from Moscow to the Far East, which I was about to make in a few days in a train de luxe, was, until recently, made by the wretched exiles on foot, taking from one to two years.
22nd October.—Passed through flat, uninteresting country. Much wheat cultivated. No trees, no hedges, no ditches and but little grass. Cloudy and depressing. Inhabitants ill-clad and poverty stricken. Miserable houses with mud or wooden walls and thatch roofs. Some were built partly below ground for warmth, while earth heaped up round the walls and over the roofs, gave them the appearance of enormous potato heaps, having a door, chimney, and two or three windows. Churches were the only substantial buildings.
23rd October.—Same kind of country as yesterday. In afternoon more hilly on approaching the Ural mountains. Dining-car far too small and had often to wait hours for meals. General Wogack, a prominent Russian Officer on his way to the Far East, seeing that I could not get a seat, very kindly invited me to lunch at his table, which had been reserved for him and his aide-de-camp. Both the General and his aide spoke English perfectly.
Another passenger was a Chinese Secretary of Legation from Rome, who, not being able to speak anything but his own language, hailed me with delight, and we had long conversations in Mandarin.
Grouped round towns and villages were enormous stack-yards, representing what must have been the entire wheat crop of the surrounding country, for I saw no other stacks in the fields. It seemed to me a very dangerous plan, for if one stack caught fire, the others would be almost sure to go too. There may have been as many as a thousand stacks close together. I saw numerous turkeys at the farms.