248 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Baku send in large, low-lying tankers 

 only a fraction of the amount of petro- 

 leum they are capable of supplying to the 

 upper reaches of the Volga. River craft 

 use no other fuel than oil. 



One of the sights of the stream is the 

 huge rafts of lumber, many of them more 

 than 500 feet long, towed at an almost 

 imperceptible rate of speed by side-wheel 

 steamboats. The size of these rafts is 

 indicated by the fact that the wash of the 

 big Volga boats does not have any ap- 

 parent effect upon them. So long is the 

 Volga journey for the raftsmen that they 

 build log houses on their rough craft, and 

 even occasionally raise vegetables and 

 flowers in miniature gardens™ As these 

 men sit gathered about their camp-fires, 

 floating downstream, they afford one of 

 the delightful night scenes of Volga 

 travel. It is woodsmen's life afloat. 



As scenery, the shores of the Volga 

 cannot compare with those of many an 

 American river. Along the upper reaches 

 the right bank is hilly and pleasant, but 

 lower down the stream enters the depres- 

 sion that once held the larger Caspian 

 Sea, and here sand-dunes are common, 

 with occasional stretches of real desert. 

 These steppes are inhabited by Tatars, 

 whose cattle come to the river bank to 

 drink and whose camels give a touch of 

 the ancient East to the landscape. Towns 

 are not as numerous as might be expected 

 along so famous a river, although some 

 of the cities have occupied an important 

 place in Russian history. 



THE BOLSHIVIK IDEA OF FREEDOM 



Recently half a dozen of the Volga 

 cities have made more than a little trou- 

 ble for the central government by declar- 

 ing themselves independent republics and 

 so continuing for a few days. What does 

 liberty mean, reason these simple-minded 

 folk, if not the right to do as one pleases ? 

 In Nizhni the soldiers rose against their 

 officers and slew many, so that a force 

 had to be sent against them from Mos- 

 cow. As there was no capital punishment 

 in existence at the time, the insurgents 

 were simply distributed among other mili- 

 tary units. 



Overshadowing every mile and minute 

 of the Volga journey is the fact of the 



war and the revolution. It is the topic 

 of private conversation and of public 

 discourse. "Swaboda," or "freedom," 

 soon becomes a familiar sound, even to 

 alien ears. No boat is without its soldier 

 passengers, traveling, apparently, on in- 

 dividual initiative. 



Immediately after the revolution, when 

 all sorts of radical conceptions of liberty 

 were abroad in the land, groups of wan- 

 dering soldiers would take complete con- 

 trol of ships, driving first-class passen- 

 gers from their state-rooms, on the argu- 

 ment, which I have since heard frequently 

 advanced, in somewhat similar condi- 

 tions, that the revolution overthrew the 

 rich, and that now the poor should have 

 the best. If the bottom does not come 

 to the top and the top go to the bottom, 

 wherein is the revolution? In one case 

 the soldiers decided, after traveling a day, 

 that they wanted to return to the port 

 of embarkation, so they compelled the 

 captain to turn the ship about and re- 

 trace that day's journey ! 



RAW MATERIAL EOR A MATCHLESS ARMY 



That these big blond fellows, in gray- 

 ish-brown fustian and khaki, could do 

 anything lawless or really vicious seems 

 hard to believe. They are like over- 

 grown, good-natured country boys. They 

 lie about the decks, sleeping most of the 

 time, and as inoffensive as so many St. 

 Bernard puppies. Their capacity for en- 

 durance seems limitless. They ask no bed 

 but a board, and can curl up into the 

 smallest space imaginable. For food they 

 have nothing but the soggy black bread, 

 which plays so great havoc with the di- 

 gestion of foreigners ; and often even that 

 is not in evidence. Yet I have seen a 

 group of these hungry soldiers travel for 

 two days alongside great hampers of 

 fruit and never touch a plum. 



It is unthinkable that the lawless young- 

 ster which is dormant in every Amer- 

 can soldier would not have possessed 

 within an hour this unguarded provender. 

 Thoughts of American militiamen clam- 

 oring for Pullmans are bound to recur 

 to the traveling Yankee, as he sees the 

 way in which Russian soldiers are herded 

 on cold decks or, worse, in triple tiers of 

 wooden bunks in box-cars. 



Everywhere that one goes in Russia 



