CHAPTER I. 
CONTOUR AND GENERAL APPEARANCE OF TUE 
COUNTRY. 
From the account I have given of my voyage from’St. 
Petersburg to Petrozavodsk, and of my trip thence to the 
Falls of Keewash, and from the narratives given by Messrs 
Judre and Hepworth Dixon of their journeys through the 
forests which they traversed, there may be gathered a pretty 
correct idea of the contour and general appearance of the 
western portion of the forest zone of Northern Russia, and 
more especially of those of the Government of Olonetz. 
To the east of Olonetz is the Government of Vologda, 
extending thence to the Ural Mountains, between the 
Governments of Archangel on the north, and those of 
Perm, Viatka, Kostroma, and Yaroslaf on the south, with 
an area of 337,111 square versts, or 150,000 square miles, 
The surface is generally flat. Mountains are rare, but a 
succession of hill and dale is very common; and in many 
places these inequalities produce scenery which is not 
deficient in beauty. Nearly all the rivers belong to the 
bason of the Arctic Ocean. The principal are the Dwina, 
the Sukhona, the Louza, Vega, Vitchegda, Mezen, Pisega, 
and Petchora, The Government takes its name from the 
river Vologda, which, taking its rise from a marsh, flows 
into the Sukhona on the right bank, after a course of 90 
miles. The Louza, rising 90 miles east of Nikolsk, and 
flowing north-east and west, passes Lalsk, and joins the 
Joug, 18 miles south-east of Veliki-Oustioug. 
A small portion of the Government in the south is 
drained by affluents of the Volga. ° 
