GEOGRAPHY IN RUSSIAN HISTORY 17 



To the south of the Black Earth Belt lie rich grazing lands afford- 

 ing pasturage for millions of sheep, horses and cattle. In Bessarabia, 

 on the shores of the Black Sea and the Crimea, are vineyards and fruit 

 farms of great beauty and value. But even this by no means exhausts 

 the unparalleled resources of even European Eussia. The great variety 

 of minerals in the Urals, the vast deposits of iron and coal in Poland, 

 the coal and graphite of the Donetz Valley, I can only mention in 

 passing. In the region between the Don and the Caspian Sea is the 

 great saline desert, with its inexhaustible supply of salt and fertilizer. 

 According to recent experiments, the soil can be easily adapted to the 

 growth of the sugar beet. Further to the south are the rich oil beds. 

 The output of petroleum in 1913 for the Baku region alone was 420,- 

 000,000 poods from over 4,000 wells, and the importance of this in the 

 economic development of the country is inestimable. All Volga steamers 

 now use mazout or crude oil as fuel. 



These economic and geographic areas of Eussia are in no case sepa- 

 rated by physical barriers as is our Pacific slope from the states east of 

 the Eocky Mountains, or even the Atlantic seaboard from the territory 

 beyond the Alleghenies. Eussia is without high relief ; the watersheds 

 are almost imperceptible elevations. Indeed European Eussia is so flat 

 that the Baltic-Black Sea Canal is to be made available for large ocean 

 going vessels by the construction of only two locks. Naturally therefore 

 the rivers and waterways of Eussia have been of unusual importance, 

 especially before the days of the railroad, in binding the different eco- 

 nomic areas together, affording magnificent arteries for the movement 

 of internal trade both in winter and summer. The rivers are large and 

 sluggish, owing to their great length and slight fall. The Volga is the 

 longest river in Europe. It is 2,300 miles in length, that is, three times 

 as long as the Ehine, yet its total fall is only a little over 800 feet. The 

 peat bogs in the Valdai Hills where it takes its rise are only 750 feet 

 above sea level, while Astrakhan at the mouth is 65 feet below the level 

 of the sea. The Eussian fondly speaks and sings of it as " Matushka 

 Volga " or " Little Mother Volga " in gratitude no doubt for the boun- 

 teous supply of fish, caviar and game, as well as comforts and pleasures 

 afforded by this historic stream which plays so important a part in the 

 economic life of the nation. The products of Asia and of Europe are 

 carried on its waters ; the 2,000 odd river steamers are always busy, and 

 the huge rafts consisting often of thousands of logs, being floated or 

 pulled down the stream, represent a small portion of the riches of 

 Eussia's inexhaustible forest lands. 



Equally conspicuous at almost every part of the river are the scenes 

 connected with the fishing industry, ranging from the small boy and the 

 old man with the primitive rod and bait at the landing place, to the 

 groups of queer boats with long nets which dot the bosom of the stream 



VOL. LXXXVI. — 2. 



