THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



•JO 



the riot and clamor 

 of a congested traffic, 

 with the impossibility 

 of providing accom- 

 modation for those 

 desiring it, the Amer- 

 icans were cared for 

 at every step of the 

 journey. 



russians uke the 

 "americanski" 



Officials of the boats, 

 army officers, and pri- 

 vate citizens vied with 

 one another to show 

 courtesy to the Amer- 

 icans. While Russia 

 is full of stories of 

 the malicious efforts 

 of the returned radi- 

 cals from America — • 

 some of them unques- 

 tionably paid pro- 

 German agents — to 

 foment a feeling 

 against the United 

 States, and to attrib- 

 ute all sorts of sinister 

 motives to our efforts 

 to serve Russia, the 

 experience of an 

 American who has al- 

 ready traveled 8,000 

 miles in Russia is that 

 the eyes of even the 

 peasant and the sol- 

 dier light up with new 

 interest and friendli- 

 ness at the word 

 "Americanski" or at 

 the sight of the little 

 button flag on the coat 

 lapel. 



When we were in- 

 troduced aboard the boat to Kerensky's 

 assistant minister of war, en route to in- 

 spect the great munition plants at one of 

 the Volga cities, the general straightway 

 gave us an autograph letter to the com- 

 mander in the Caucasus, ordering that all 

 things be placed at our disposal, clear 

 down to the front line of fighting, simply 

 because we are Americans. 



As the clear waters of the Kama, itself 

 an imperial river, flow into the turbid 



Photograph by Williai 

 ARMENIAN CHILDREN OE THE VOLGA REGION 



Until the hand of history ceases to write down the chronicles of 

 man and its records are forgotten, the world will never look into an 

 Armenian face, be it that of youth or age, without recalling with a 

 shudder the tortures these people have endured at the hands of the 

 Turk. Their poverty is bad, their lack of human liberty is worse; 

 but their bitter persecution ranks with the cruelties of the darkest 

 ages and the most despicable tyrants of history. 



Volga, keeping distinct for a time, like 

 the waters of the Yellow Sea and the 

 Pacific, but ultimately blending, so the 

 Volga River basin represents the great 

 blend of the diverse races that go to 

 make up this marvelous Russia. 



A POTPOURRI OE RACES 



The distinct types are ever clearly be- 

 fore one, and also the amalgamation of 

 the Slav and the Teuton and the Tatar 



