"Kazan is famous for its manufactures of leather, soap, candles, and other things, and there are said to be nearly two hundred factories in and around the city. It is specially celebrated for its tanneries, and annually turns out large quantities of 'Russia leather.'
TARTAR BAKER'S SHOP.
"We hadn't time to visit the University of Kazan, which has about five hundred students, and ranks first in the Empire for instruction in Oriental languages and literature. It has Persian, Arabic, Chinese, and other Oriental professors, and we were told that a student might study any one of twenty-six languages within its walls.
"Of course we could not neglect the cathedral, where is preserved a miraculous picture, which was found unscathed in the midst of the ashes after a great conflagration. On its head is a diamond crown, presented by Catherine II. Near the town is a pyramidal monument in memory of those who fell during the siege and capture of the city.
"Just at dusk we returned to the Nadeshda, where we found a substantial supper waiting for us, and made the acquaintance of a fellow-countryman, Mr. Hegeman, who was to be our companion for the remainder of the voyage. He was familiar with Russia, having lived in the country nearly twenty years, and travelled in all parts of it. He was well informed on every subject, and gave us a great amount of valuable statistics and descriptions. We talked until quite late in the evening; and when he joined us at breakfast the next morning the boat was steaming down the Volga and nearing the mouth of the Kama, where several passengers were to leave us.
"'They are going to Perm,' said the captain of the Nadeshda, 'and some of them are on the way to Siberia.'
"We asked if this was the way to Siberia, and the captain explained that it was one of the routes. 'Steamers ascend the Kama to Perm,' said he, 'and from Perm there is a railway to Ekaterineburg, which is on the Siberian side of the Ural Mountains. The line has been extended to Tumen, three hundred miles farther, and ultimately it will be pushed on till it reaches Irkutsk, on the shores of Lake Baikal, and close to the frontier of China.'
"How we wished we could make the journey through Siberia! Over the Ural Mountains, across the Steppes, down the Amoor, and out into the waters of the Pacific Ocean! What a magnificent tour, and what strange things to see on the way!