388 EUSSIA IN EUROPE. 



beginning to reject the title of " Old Believers," applying it to the members of 

 the Orthodox Church, whom they reproach for their cold formalism. New sects 

 arise, such as the Ncmolakî, who disbelieve in the efficacy of prayer, and the 

 Neplatchhtchikî, who denounce all taxation. Yet such is the tenacity of the old 

 ritualistic habits that even amongst the Spiritualists there has been formed a sect 

 of " Sighers," who sigh and pant incessantly at their gatherings, because the 

 "breath" is "spirit." 



TOPOGRAPHY OF GREAT RUSSIA. 

 The Upper Volga to Nijni-Novgorgd. 



(Governments of Tver, Yaroslav, and Kostroma.) 



This reo-ion is peopled by Great Russians, and by Finns who have been 

 largely Slavonised. In the hilly and more inaccessible districts of the West alone 

 numerous isolated communities of Karelians have hitherto kept themselves aloof, 

 retaining their speech and customs intact. But even these are slowly becoming 

 assimilated to the surrounding Slav element. The province of Yaroslav was, a 

 thousand years ago, largely occupied by Finns, yet the present population is now 

 regarded as consisting of pure Great Russians. The Finns never having been 

 expelled, the ethnical transformation must have been slowly accomplished, and 

 even the towns and villages now mostly bear Slav names, generally in honour of 

 saints or religious feasts. 



The towns, nearly all originally mere fishing stations, are somewhat numerous 

 on the main stream and its tributaries. Even in the upland region of forests and 

 marshes near its source occurs the industrious town of Ostashkov, standing on a 

 peninsula of Lake Seliger, about 750 feet above sea-level. It is peopled by fishers 

 and boatmen, and manufactures scythes, sickles, axes, boots, and shoes. Farther 

 down are HJor, a great hemp and flax mart, Zahtzor, Starifza, and south of the 

 river the town of GJatsk, in the government of Smolensk, on a tributary whose 

 head-streams are intermingled with those of the Dniej^er. 



Ti-er, formerly the most formidable political rival of Moscow, now the capital of 

 a government and the chief port on the Upper Volga, lies advantageously at the 

 junction of the Tvertza, which flows from the northern uplands, and which at all 

 times gave access to the Neva basin and Gulf of Finland. Merchandise had 

 formerly to be conveyed across the country from the Tvertza to the Msta, and 

 although a canal has for the last hundred years afforded a navigable route from 

 Tver to St. Petersburg, the city of the " Upper Portage," or Vishni-Volochok, 

 still retains its name. During the fine season many thousands of boats laden 

 with corn and other produce call here, as well as at the industrious town of 

 Torj'ok, or " The Mart," which lies farther down on the Tvertza, and which even 

 in the Novgorod period was already a great emporium. As many as 4,000 boats 

 are yearlj^ moored at the quays of Tver, which is the largest of the three com- 

 mercial towns on the St. Petersburg Moscow railway, and one of the chief 



