356 



EUSSIA IN EUEOPE. 



Vologda, on the site of un old Hussian colony dating from the twelfth century, 

 covers a large space with its domed churches and low straggling houses. It lies 

 at the south-western extremity of the Dvina basin, on a river which here becomes 

 navigable, and which a little farther down joins the Sukhona, one of the main 

 branches of the Dvina. It is well situated for traffic with the Volga and Neva 

 basins, and when Russia opened direct relations with England through the White 

 Sea, it was chosen as the intermediary between Moscow and Archangel. It also 



Fi». 187. — Akchangel. 



became the starting-point of the Siberian trade, while the southern route by Kazan 

 remained exposed to the attacks of the Bashkirs. It still sends to the Lower Dvina 

 flax, oats, and other produce, to the yearly value of over £100,000, and to 

 St. Petersburg butter, eggs, and sail-cloth. 



For a distance of 480 miles, from Ust-Yug to Archangel, there is no town 

 properly so called, any more than on the Dvina affluents, except Ust-Sisolsk, 

 capital of the Ziryanians, in the Vichcgda basin. During the Novgorod rule the 



