"That R is backward," suggested the commodore.
"No," interposed the professor of languages; "that letter has the value of ya in English. The first letter is the same as the English R; the C's have the value of S, and the I sounds like long E. In Russian the name is pronounced as though it were spelled Ro-see´-ya."
"It looks like poke ear," laughed Scott.
"You will not be able to read even a word of Russian, the letters are so different from ours," added Mr. Badois.
"Like other countries, it has different names in different languages," continued Mr. Mapps. "In German, it is Russland; in French, Russie; in Italian, Russia, but pronounced Roo´-see-ah; in Spanish, Rusia. The best English authorities pronounce it Rush´ee-a, though it is often given with the u like oo. It was formerly called Muscovy. It has an area, in Europe and Asia, of about seven and one quarter millions of square miles; or one seventh of all the land on the globe. The United States,—including Alaska, has about one half as much territory; but Russia in Europe contains only one third of this vast area. It has a population of seventy-four millions—I give you the figures in round numbers,—of whom four millions only are in Asia. It has about double the population of the United States, which would give the same number of people to the square mile, on the average. Russia consists mostly of two great plains rather indefinitely separated by the water-shed between the rivers that flow south into the Black and Caspian Seas, and those which flow north and west into the Baltic and the Arctic Ocean. The Valdai Hills, in the west-central part, which are not over a thousand feet above the level of the sea, are the only elevations or any consequence, except on or near the frontiers, where we find the Ural and Caucasus ranges. Some portions of the country are uneven, as Russian Poland and the Crimea; but there is very little variety of scenery in the greater part of this vast region. In such a country you would, of course, expect to find large rivers. The largest of these is the Volga, twenty-two hundred miles long, and navigable to within fifty miles of its source. The Don and the Dnieper are about a thousand miles long. The Ural, the Dwina, the Petchora, and the Vistula are important rivers. Russia contains thousands of lakes, most of them in the northern and north-western part. Lake Ladoga, the largest in Europe, is about the size of Lake Ontario; Onega is half as large; Lake Peipus is twice as large as Lake Champlain; and Lake Ilmen is a little larger than Moosehead, in Maine. Nearly all these rivers and lakes are navigable for steamers and barges. You may take a boat,—the commodore's barge, if you please,—go up to St. Petersburg, through the Neva to Lake Ladoga, by the Volkof to Lake Ilmen, by canals, lakes, and rivers, into the Volga, which becomes navigable for steamers at Tver, a town on the railroad from Petersburg to Moscow. Continuing on your voyage down the river to Nijni Novgorod, where the traveller by steamer takes a larger boat, fifty-three miles below Kazan, or eight hundred and fifty from Tver, you will reach the Kama River, the longest tributary of the Volga. Pursuing your voyage up this river, you would arrive at Perm,—if you went by steamer;—in about a week; and this town is within two hundred miles of Asia. This is the usual route to Siberia below Nijni, and the one by which convicts are sent. Instead of going up the Kama, you could continue down the Volga, passing the large towns of Simbirsk, Saratoff, to Tsaritsin, from which there is a railroad to Kalatch, on the River Don, down which steamers descend to the Crimea. From Tsaritsin you may proceed down the river to Astrakhan, on the Caspian Sea, on which steamers ply to ports in Persia and elsewhere. The Volga is the Mississippi of Russia, and of quite as much importance to that country as the Father of Waters to us. The Baltic and the Black Seas are also connected by a canal which unites the Beresina, a branch of the Düna, or Western Dwina, to the Dnieper. There are several other canals which connect the great natural water-ways, so that boats may go from either of the seas on the border of Russia to either of the others.
"A grand system of railroads has also been projected, as you may see on the map. The first important one built was that from St. Petersburg to Moscow, which was constructed by Americans at a vast expense, considering the nature of the country through which it passes. An English gentleman waited upon the Russian minister of finance with a letter of introduction.
"'Then you have come to see Russia,' said his excellency.
"'Hardly the whole of it; I only desire to see what is most curious in the country,' replied the tourist.
"'Ah! I then I will first show you the contract with the Americans to build the railway to Moscow,' added the minister.
"Doubtless it was a very curious document, especially in the price which his imperial majesty agreed to pay for the work. When he was asked where he would have the road located, he took a ruler, and drew a straight line on the map between the two cities; and except one deviation to avoid the erection of an expensive bridge, this line was followed, and consequently very few towns are upon the road. A line extends south from Moscow to Kief, over six hundred miles, and the communication of St. Petersburg with Odessa will soon be completed. Lines from Cracow and Warsaw to Odessa are also in course of construction. One may now go all the way by express train from Paris, Ostend, or Calais, to St. Petersburg, in three days. Russia has now forty-seven hundred miles of railway open for traffic; and nearly ten thousand miles more are to be completed in four years.[A]