386 KASAN. 



On die 20th of May the party started for Moscow. Be- 

 sides a courier, and the mining officer already mentioned, 

 they were furnished with a Russian cook, as in the sta- 

 tions beyond Moscow travellers were obliged to cook for 

 themselves. The broad highway between St. Petersburg 

 and Moscow was soon traversed, and they halted for a 

 few days in the old capital of Moscovj^ After making 

 some barometric observations and examining the geology 

 of the country, they continued their journey over a 

 marshy level until they reached Nishni JNovgorod, on the 

 Yolga. Here they met with Count Poller, the owner 

 of several large mining estates in the Ural, and as he 

 was on his way thither he joined the party. They em- 

 barked on the Yolga on the last of May, and reached 

 Kasan on the 4th of June. 



Originally the seat of a Tartar Khanate which was 

 overturned in 1552, after flourishing for three hundred 

 years, Kasan was still inhabited by Tartars, especially in 

 the suburbs. The travellers visited the temples of these 

 Tartars to see their form of worship : the guides removed 

 their slippers as they entered, but as the travellers wore 

 boots they were permitted to keep them on. 



The party reniained at Kasan five days, during which 

 they made several excursions in the neighbourhood. 

 The most interesting of these was to the ruins of Bul- 

 gar, the capital of ancient Bulgaria. As they drew near 

 the modern village they were met by groups of men, 

 women, and children ; the whole population came forth 

 to meet them. At the head of these groups walked the 

 oldest inhabitants, who, when they came to Humboldt, 

 offered him bread and salt as a token of reverence, 

 according to the Russian custom. 



