It has a population of 90,000
to 100,000 inhabitants, one-fourth of whom are Tartars.

These descendants of the old Nomad race are now here at home, and
live in the city perfectly at peace with their Russian fellow-subjects,
though being Mahometans, they have distinct, if not separate, quarters,
and mosques and a burial-ground of their own. It would seem impossible
for two races which have so little reason for mutual good-will, to
show so little disposition to quarrel. But it should be remembered
that Sclav and Tartar were not in former times so far asunder in
manners, in language, in polish, nor so free from admixture in
blood as the Russians fondly believe.

The town has its Kremlin, on the site of the old citadel, with
its cathedral and other churches, and several "telescope towers,"
if they may be so called, built on several stories, dwindling in
size from floor to floor as they rise one above the other, so that
one can conceive how they might easily sink into one another and
shut up like a spy-glass. The great brick tower of Pier Crescenzi
in Rome is such a tower; and here are many in the same style at
Moscow and in most other old Russian cities. Kasan has several public
edifices of some pretension: the Admiralty; the University--one of
the seven of the Empire, etc. But we had enough of it all after
two or three hours, and were glad to shun the heat of the rest
of the day in the cool sitting-room of Commonen's Hotel, which
alone may be taken as a voucher for the high degree of civilization
reached by Kasan.

We gave even less time to the other cities of the Volga, not thinking
it always worth while to alight at all the stations, though the
steamer stopped at some of these for many a long, weary hour.

With the exception of Kasan, Samara, and Astrakhan, the most important
cities are, as I said, on the right or Russian bank of the River;
and three of them, Syzran, Saratof, and Tsaritzin, are connected
by various railways with Moscow and all the other important centres
of life in the Empire.

The Volga, which between Nijni-Novgorod and Kasan flows in an almost
straight easterly direction, takes a turn to the southward after
leaving Kasan and the confluence of the Kama; but it makes a loop
below Simbirsk, turning eastward to Samara, and again west to Syzran,
after which it resumes its southerly course to Saratof, Tsaritzin,
and Astrakhan.

The railway from Moscow to Syzran, upon reaching Syzran, crosses
the V