1897.] The Geological Congress in Russia. 953 
our base of operations. A steamer trip from Samara, on the 
Volga—a walk along the railroad, fifteen miles from Acha to 
Miniar, giving a fine section of the Carboniferous and Devonain 
strata—a two day’s wagon trip to the iron mines (limonite) of 
Bakal—a visit to the foundry at Simsk and its charming en- 
virons—such were a few of the earlier excursions which, be- 
sides showing interesting geological sections, gave us a good 
opportunity to become acquainted with the customs and mode 
of living of the people of the region. And at every mine and 
foundry, in many of the towns and even at the railway sta- 
tions, we found the heartiest welcome awaiting us, great con- 
courses of people who looked upon us with undisguised curios- 
ity but evident good will, receptions by the local authorities, 
and numerous lunches and banquets of the most lavish de- 
scription. It is difficult indeed, to express the feeling of grow- 
ing wonder which all shared at the continuous ovation that 
greeted us on all sides as we made our progress through these 
mountainous regions, seemingly so little calculated to afford 
such entertainment as we found. Still, harsh as it may seem 
to criticise in such a case, it must be confessed that there was 
too large a share of our time devoted to social functions, and 
we might have seen many additional localities of geologic 
interest had we not been compelled by our kind hosts to 
arrange our movements in accordance with their too frequent 
hospitalities, 
The guide book of the excursions was prepared in the form 
of separate pamphlets for various localities or regions, written 
by the men who were best acquainted in each and who were 
to be our leaders. The descriptions were generally good, 
though often lacking in details; the sections and illustrations 
were satisfactory, though the mine sections rarely corresponded 
With the visible exposures. The accompanying geological 
map of Russia, scale 1:6,300,000, reduced from the larger map 
published bythe Geological Committee in 1892,scale 1:2,520,000 
served asa very convenient means of orientation. 
In the region between Moscow and Oufa where our leader 
was Nikitin, we saw horizontal or slightly disturbed strata 
ranging from Cretaceous downward to middle Carboniferous. 
