Prof. Mil ne — Across Europe and Asia. 
345 
small yillage called Esad, to take in wood. The houses are built 
lipon the side of a hill, but most of them occupy the first of a series 
of terraces with which it is furrowed. Numbers of wooden stair- 
ways join one portion of the Settlement, with the other. As the 
river has as mauy shoals beneath the surface of its waters as there 
are sandbanks which appear above it, two men are kept constantly 
at the bow to sound. This they do with a straight rod marked with 
alternate bands of black and white. Each sound ing is called out. 
When the captain hears less than 3J feet proclairaed, the signal to 
stop is given, and, if it is not too late, the vessel is ran backwards and 
a new course is tried. Early next morning we ran into a small 
steamer and smashed its bows in. After this, many hours were 
spent in finding our way between sandbanks, often grounding with 
a shake and shock which on first experience was startling. From 
the style of navigation, it may be inferred that it is impossible to 
learn or place the courses of the river, which are ever being shiftcd 
by the silting up of channels and opening of others. 
About midday, as we neared Kazan, we could see a few low hills 
away in the distance upon the north side of the river. On the south 
side the scarp, which had hitherto been red in colour, was now 
yellowish-white, and, instead of being earthy-looking, appeared 
more compact. Further on, these yellow beds were seen to underlie 
the red. Opposite to Kazan, a strip of low flat country marked the 
entrance of the Kiver Swjaga, one of the feeders of the Yolga. It 
flows from the south, and is very noticeable from the position it holds 
to the river to which it is tributary. Measured in a straight line, it 
is more than 150 miles long, and during the whole of this distance 
it flows parallel to, and only a few miles distant from the Yolga, 
which it feeds — but, stränge to say, in an entirely opposite direction. 
Whilst the Volga flows south, the Swjaga flows north. At more 
than 100 miles above their confluence, the two rivers come so close 
together that they are indicated upon the map as flowing through the 
same town of Simbirsk. Although rivers of this sort are exceptional, 
they give us hints of the difficulties which explorers may meet with 
in unknown countries when working out their topographical details. 
After passing the flat opening, we again had the hard whitish 
cliffs upon the south, the red colour appearing at last to be entirely 
lost. By disintegrating agencies acting along the lines of strati- 
fication, horizontal ledges have been left protrudiug. Although these 
are not very well defined, they are yet sufficient to form a foothold 
for small trees and bushes, which now form dark lines along the face 
of the cliff. The water of the river here was apparently the same 
as it had been at Nijni Novgorod, so charged with Sediment as to be 
of a dirty-yellowish colour. 
Next morning I awoke to find that during the night we had broken 
down, and were quietly lying alongside a hulk at a small Station 
called Cheestopol, at the entrance of the River Kama. As we were 
detained here until evening in making repairs, I had a ramble 
amongst the woods near the shore. Elm, oak, and bircli were the 
common trees ; I did not see any spruces or pines. Butterflies and 
