398 EUSSIA IN EUEOPE. 



near the point where the Oka enters the province of Tuiubov, Its staple industries 

 are rope-making and tanning. 



The chief river of the government of Tambov is the Tzna, which joins the 

 Oka below Kasimov. Near its source is Tamhoi\ the provincial capital, on the 

 Moscow-Saratov railway, but otherwise a place of no importance. 3IornJian>ik is 

 much more conveniently situated lower down the Tzna, which is here navigable, 

 and by means of which the town forwards the agricultural produce of a vast 

 district. Morshansk is one of the centres of the Skoptzi sect. Farther north is 

 S/iatzk, on a small western affluent of the Tzna. 



After its junction with the Tzna, the Oka flows by Tetalma through a rocky 

 gorge, which is continued northwards by the valley of a lateral stream, on which 

 stands the town of Mclenkl. 



On the left bank, and a little above the confluence of the Tosha, are Murom, 

 one of the oldest places in East Russia, and the thriving town of Arzamas, which 

 takes its name from the Finnish tribe of the Arza. For over two hundred years 

 Murom was the chief Russian mart in the Mordvinian country, and here the 

 Volga Bulgarians came every summer to exchange their produce for the wares 

 supplied by the Slav and Greek traders. Murom thus became the centre of a 

 remarkable civilising movement, and even still remains a sort of capital for the 

 surrounding Finnish tribes. But its chief importance is derived from its trade 

 with Nij ni- Novgorod and the rest of Russia. It is the great emporium of corn 

 for the whole of the Lower Oka basin. Near it is the village of Karacharovo, 

 where a lacustrine town, like those of Switzerland, has been discovered by Polakov 

 in the alluvium of an ancient Inke. 



The Klazma, which joins the Oka at Pavloro, the centre of the Rvissian 

 hardware trade, is the chief river of the government of Vladimir, It rises 

 north of Moscow, and at the town of Vladimir becomes navigable throughout the 

 year for small boats, and in sj)ring for large craft. Vladimir-na-Klazmo, or 

 Vladimir-Zaleakiij, the old capital of the principality which later on became 

 Muscovy, dates from the twelfth century, and owes its name to Vladimir 

 Monomnchus, Prince of Kiev. During his rule Vladimir was much more populous 

 than at present, and it has preserved of that epoch various sculptures in its 

 churches, besides the "Golden Gate" of its kreml. It has few industries, and 

 exports little beyond vegetables and cherries from the surrounding gardens. 



A still more decayed place is Suzdal, formerly Suj'dal, which existed at the 

 very dawn of Russian history, and gave the name of Suzdalia to all the country 

 watered by the Klazma and Lower Oka. It has preserved its old kreml, but is 

 otherwise now chiefly noted for the excellency and abundance of its cucumbers, 

 onions, radishes, and other garden produce. The Suzdalian mercers have for 

 centuries visited every part of Russia, and the term " Suzdalian " is often applied 

 collectively to hawkers and pedlars, as if they all came from this place. In the 

 same way the paintings, of which two or three millions are annually produced 

 at Kliohry and other villages in the Lower Oka districts of Vazniki and Gorok- 

 hovetz, are usually known as "Suzdalian images." A simple "artist" can 



