﻿Trof. Milne — Across Europe and Asia. 343 



seat in the small uncomfortable carriages in Avbicb you bave to ride. 

 Tbe former is of wood, and tbe latter of granite cobble stones. The 

 wood paving is generally laid in hexagonal blocks ; but although so 

 good in summer, in winter it is very slippery, owing to the freezing 

 of the moisture with which it is always permeated. The direction 

 taken by the water in entering the wood is very noticeable, even in 

 summer-time, by dark radiating lines parallel to the medullary rays. 

 On the evening of the 19th August I left. St. Petersburg by train 

 for Moscow, where I hoped to be successful in finding a companion 

 for the coming trip across Siberia. So long as daylight lasted 

 we were passing over a flat and marshy country. Most of it 

 was covered with corn-fields, where the reaped crops were yet 

 standing in sheaves. Here and there were clumps of birch, thickets 

 of spruce and alder, and small woods of fir and junijDer. In the 

 morning, before we came in sight of the domes and spires of Moscow, 

 the country was slightly undulating. As the line between these 

 two capitals is as straight as it could practically be made, we took 

 ever^'thing as it came. The design of the engineer had been that it 

 should pass in the vicinity of several large towns ; but the Emperor 

 Nicolas, to whom the plans were submitted, laid his rule upon the 

 paper between the two extremes, and drew a straight line, intimatuig 

 that it was between St. Petersburg and Moscow that he wished to 

 travel. And thus originated the straightest railway line in Europe. 

 The strata on which Moscow stands are, I believe, of Liassic age. 

 Comparing the site on which the town is built and the surrounding 

 countr}^ with that in and about St. Petersburg, I found myself in 

 quite a hilly country. The only museum in the town which I visited, 

 where anything of geological interest is exhibited, was the Museum 

 Polytechnique, and here all that I saw were a few maps, models, 

 sections and specimens, which are chiefly exhibited for educational 

 purposes. Notwithstanding the endeavours of many friends to find 

 me a travelling companion, on the evening of the 26th I started ofi" 

 alone upon the next section of my journey^ which was to be as far as 

 Nijni Novgorod. In going to the railway station I had a long di'ive 

 of seven miles or more, all that I remember of which was that at one 

 point the road made a sharp descent into a valley, on either side of 

 which I saw nothing but alluvium. It was nearly dark before the 

 train started, and I could see nothing until next morning, when 

 I woke up, and saw the Volga. Between us and the river there was 

 a huge flat plain, covered with corn-fields and copses. On the other 

 side, which was the south side of the river, high banks rose up to 

 form a long and well-marked scarp. On the top of this scarp the 

 old town of Nijni Novgorod is built, and it was not very long before 

 we saw its white towers glistening in the morning sun. At the time 

 of my arrival the Great Fair, which is disappointing to all sightseers, 

 was going on. It is carried on in a series of one -storied houses and 

 sheds built upon the flat ground upon the north side of the river. 

 Amongst other wares I saw a few minerals ofiered for sale. Besides 

 a few pieces of alexandrite from the Urals, and dioptase from the 

 Kirghis Steppes, there was nothing but a number of common minerals 



