that
the northern shores of the Black and Caspian Seas in January have
about the same temperature as Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. The
mountains of Western Europe shut off the aerial current of the Gulf
Stream which tempers the summer heat as well as the winter cold. (p. 019)
Russia's climate, therefore, is one of extremes. In summer the
heat is very oppressive, owing to the absence of the sea breeze which
elsewhere affords so much relief; and when a wind does blow, it only
adds to the discomfort, because it has lost its moisture. That is the
reason why Russia suffers so often from drought. This is especially
the case in the south where no forests are found to attract rain.

Nature has provided a substitute in the splendid waterways. In about
the center of European Russia, rises the Valdai plateau to a height of
1,100 feet above the sea level. This is Russia's great watershed. Near
it, in Lake Volgo, rises the largest river of Europe, "Mother Volga,"
as the Russian ballad singers love to call it. Its entire length is
2,336 miles, or nearly the length of the Missouri; it has a basin of
590,000 square miles. Owing to the slight slope of the land, the great
river flows placidly in its bed, which is fortunate since its Waters
are swollen by several large rivers, so that there are points where it
is seventeen miles wide. The Kama, one of the tributaries of the
Volga, is 1,266 miles long; the Oka, another confluent, has a length
of 633 miles. At Kazan, the Volga is 4,953 feet wide, at Jaroslaf
2,106 feet, and at Samara, 2,446 feet. It empties into the Caspian
Sea, with a delta of more than seventy branches. The fish caught in
this river often grow to gigantic proportions; its sturgeons,
lampreys, and salmon, are highly prized. Since time immemorial, the
Volga has been a great highway of trade. Kostroma, Nishni Novgorod,
Kazan, Simbirsk, Saratof, and Astrakhan, are the most populous cities
on its banks.

Other large rivers rise on the Valdai plateau. The Dnieper runs (p. 020)
south, passing by Kief, and empties in the Black Sea, near Odessa. The
Dwina runs northward, seeking the icy Arctic, which it enters by way
of the White Sea near Archangel. The Duena takes a westerly course
towards the Gulf of Riga where it empties near the city of that name.
Of greater importance are the small streams which feed Lakes Ladoga
and Onega, because they connect Central Russia with the Baltic Sea by
means of the Neva.

European Ru