ON THE CZAR'S HIGHWAY. 79 



and Americans had been employed by the government 

 to proceed thither and instruct the people in improved 

 methods of cultivation. The dream of Russian states- 

 men is to see the Trans-Caspian and Lower Volga 

 regions develop into manufacturing districts that shall 

 eventually supply all Russia with cotton goods. The 

 idea is, that when Russia is able to manufacture suffi- 

 cient for her own people, to keep foreign goods out of 

 the market altogether by means of a prohibitory tariff. 

 Cheap clothing, for the welfare of the masses, is of 

 course, not for a moment to be considered in a country 

 where the interests of the people are always made 

 subservient to that of the state. 



We spent Sunday night at a dirty traktir in Podolsk. 

 Wayfarers, other than tramps and pilgrims, were 

 mostly moujik teamsters, whose idea of cleanliness and 

 comfort are on a par with those of the American 

 Indian. The Podolsk traktir contained no bed for 

 transient guests but the bare floor, which, however, 

 the proprietor did something to improve by means of 

 an armful of spiky hay. Sascha had his Cossack 

 bourka, an ample cloak of goat-hair, and the writer had 

 an English rug. With these spread over the hay, and 

 the cushions of our Circassian saddles for pillows, our 

 beds were at least as good as our supper of milk, black 

 bread, and tiny raw salt fishes. 



A dozen drunken moujiks, in an adjoining room, 

 added to the sum of our appreciation by howling 

 bacchanalian songs and arguing with each other 

 violently till past midnight. Drunken peasants were 

 an every-day feature of the road, as we pursued our 

 way along the great military chaussee. Whether we 



