JOURNEY FROM ST. PETERSBURO. 25 



10,000 inhabitants, the capital of the Government of 

 Orenburg. It was built in 1573 by Ivan Vassiliwitch to 

 collect the tribute of the Baskirs, and to serve as a 

 barrier against the inroads of the Kirghiz. It is 

 alleged that there was anciently upon this spot a great 

 Tartar city, the capital residence of the Khans of the 

 Nogais. 



The site of Ufa is intersected by numerous torrents and 

 ravines. It was once fortified, but the works have been 

 allowed to fall into decay. 



The kinsmen whom my friends had gone to visit 

 resided at Bogoyavlensk and Verchotov, both situated in 

 the district of Sterlinatamak, in the Government of Ufa. 

 One of the party wrote to me from on board the steamer 

 when they had reached the vicinity of Ufa. 



' Much as we should have liked that you had accom- 

 panied us, it is a constant theme of thanks to our 

 heavenly Father that you were prevented. The run to 

 Nijni by rail was tolerable, though at times we were un- 

 comfortably crowded. The great fair of the world was in 

 full operation, but we were too tired to notice anything, 

 and bad no guide; we therefore drove directly to the 

 steamboat pier and secured places. The steamer of the 

 Sounolet Company (there are four or five others com- 

 peting, many grander in appearance, but they could take 

 us only as far as Kazan, therefore we refused) was very 

 comfortable. We got two cabins for two persons each, and 

 one in the general room. The voyage down the Volga was 

 interesting mainly from its novelty, but generally tiring 

 by its monotony. One bank is high, the other low — both 

 alike sand — by no means thickly wooded, excepting in 

 places. The river is wide, and would be noble-looking 

 were it not for the numerous sandbanks. The course of 

 the river itself is tortuous, and the distance the steamer 

 has to run must be extraordinary compared with the 

 measurement by map, for we often seemed to go from one 

 shore to the other, hug it for a few hundred yards, and 



