22 FORESTRY IN EASTERN RUSSIA. 



the navigation somewhat tortuous ; occasionally the poll 

 has to be used, and occasionally the steamer may stick 

 fast for a time. 



Mr Christie, in continuation of his narrative, tells : 

 'There is no particularly fine scenery on the Volga. The 

 left bank lies low, and in spring is inundated for miles 

 inland ; on the right bank there is an occasional bluff, 

 with some small town or village nestling at its foot, and 

 then beyond it the far-stretching corn lands. It would 

 repay any traveller, however, to take a sail down and up 

 the Volga, if it were only to see the effects of sunrise and 

 sunset. It is impossible to describe them, nor can these 

 glorious and glowing heavens be compared to anything, 

 than to that which the beloved John saw in vision when 

 he says, " And I saw as it were a sea of glass, mingled 

 with fire." Together with the splendour of the Volga 

 sunset, there are the delicious odours borne on the wings 

 of the evening wind, which rival the perfumes of Araby 

 the Blest. They seem to the sense to come from many- 

 acred fields of harvested wheat, and meads of honeyed 

 flowers. And if day has its life scenes, and the evening 

 hour its witchery and sweetness, night on the Volga is 

 not without its wonders. Not without, indeed ! Why, 

 it is full of awe, and wonder, and glory. In returning 

 from Kazan two nights have to be spent on the river. 

 On one of them our boat stuck fast, and as there was a 

 great deal of noise going on I went on deck, in spite of 

 the river-damp, against which travellers are warned, to 

 see what was the matter, and lo ! what a sight was that 

 which in a moment burst upon my astonished eyes ! The 

 midnight heavens were all aglow with untold myriads of 

 large, and lustrous, and liquid planets. The via lactea 

 was the milky way indeed. The stars seemed to come 

 close down upon you, and you felt as if He, that Wonder- 

 ful and Almighty One, who made the ordinances of 

 heaven, the Pleiades with their sweet influences, Orion 

 with his bands, who brings forth Mazzaroth in his season, 

 and guides Arcturus with his sons, was very near at hand. 



