484 HOMEWARD BOUND 



I can only regret that they are buried alive in such a 

 God-forsaken place as the University of Kazan. 



I had now seen much of the Tatars. By their appear- 

 ance they seem to belong to a much higher race than the 

 Dolgans or Tungusks. More or less copper- coloured, 

 with high cheek-bones, small noses, sunken eyes, and 

 large jaws, their features are yet much more regular than 

 those of their supposed relations, and their beards more 

 developed. This may be the result of their more civilised 

 life in a more genial climate. Yet it seems to make them 

 indebted to the Arabs for something more than their 

 religion. Probably the change of faith was not made 

 without some admixture of Arab blood, or, perhaps, like 

 the Turks the Tatars have undergone a national change 

 of feature through the importation of Aryan blood into 

 their harems. 



We ought to have left Kazan at eight o'clock the next 

 morning, and we were at the station punctually at that 

 hour, but we waited and waited in vain — no steamer 

 came. At eleven a telegram arrived with the news that 

 our vessel had been injured by collision with another. A 

 spare steamer was now made ready for us, and the Kazan 

 passengers departed, leaving the Kama passengers to 

 their fate. I was told that three hundred steamers ply 

 the Volga and the Kama, and considering the darkness 

 and storminess of many of the nights, and the narrowness 

 of the navigable channels in some parts of the river, an 

 occasional collision is no matter for surprise. The scenery 

 of the Volga was very similar to that of the Kama, but 

 the river was wider, the country somewhat flatter, and 

 the towns larger. Formerly the church was the only 

 stone building to be seen, now there were stone dwellings 

 in most of the villages we passed. 



We reached Nishni Novgorod about five o'clock in 



