20 The Hon. Mr. Strangways on the Geology of Russia. 



description as I am able of the country on its banks^ and of some remark- 

 able spots in the interior. 



At Tver the Volga receives the Tvertza^ and with it the first line of central 

 water communication. The whole country presents nothing but a reddish 

 sand, extremely loose, and bare of herbage : in many places the surface is 

 furrowed in waving ridges by the action of the wind, in the same manner as 

 the sand of the sea-shore is by that of the water. Widely different from the 

 sand of the northern districts, it is not a poor soil ; but produces rye, wheat, 

 and flax in abundance. The Volga is here shallow in proportion to the width 

 of its bed, which is strewed with boulders, partly primitive, partly siliceous. 



At Mologa the Volga receives the river of that name, and with it the 

 second line of central water communication. The country in every respect 

 resembles the environs of Tver, and siliceous boulders, containing their 

 usual organic remains, are plentiful. This is nearly the most northern point 

 of the course of the Volga. 



At Ribinsk, a handsome and flourishing town, the Volga receives the 

 Shexna, the third and last branch of the central water communications. After 

 these accessions of strength, the Volga visibly increases in size, and some 

 slight difference is perceivable in the country through which it flows. The 

 banks attain a much greater elevation, and are frequently intersected by deep 

 and precipitous ravines, which begin to form a striking feature in the scenery, 

 and are common throughout all this eastern part of central Russia. This 

 may be partly owing to the nature of the red rock, which here quits its 

 sandy character to acquire that argillaceous one, which so commonly distin- 

 guishes the salt formation in every corner of Europe where it occurs. The 

 original sandy appearance, however, recurs at frequent intervals ; but the 

 marl usually discovers itself at the depth of a few feet. It is of a deep I'ed 

 colour, and often contains thin beds of the same substance, coloured greenisli 

 gray or white. This soil produces the finest pastures and most brilliant ver- 

 dure found in Russia. 



The next considerable town is Yaroslaf or Yarollart, capital of the govern- 

 ment of the same name, and situated in a rich and cultivated country. In 

 several parts of this government exist salt springs, especially in that part of 

 it south of the Volga. In this and the neighbouring governments of Tver 

 and Kostroma, the soil is remarkably favourable to the culture of flax, the 

 principal manufactures for which are in the governments of Kostroma and 

 Yaroslaf: and it is remarkable, that a similar soil produces also the finest 

 quality of that which is exported from the northern ports, which is grown in 

 the governments of Pscov and Novgorod. 



