oes not perceive it at all.
Ekaterineburg stands eight hundred feet above the sea; the pass,
twenty-four miles distant, is only nine hundred feet higher. The
range is depressed at this point, but nowhere attains sufficient
loftiness to justify its prominence on the maps. In Ekaterineburg I
asked for the mountains.

"There they are," said the person of whom I enquired, and he waved his
hand toward a wooded ridge in the west. The designated locality
appeared less difficult of passage than the hills opposite Cincinnati.

"Don't fail to tell the yemshick to stop at the boundary." This was my
injunction several times repeated as we changed horses at the first
station. Eight or ten versts on our second course, the sleigh halted
and the yemshick announced the highest point on the road.

I stepped from the sleigh and waded through a deep snowdrift to the
granite obelisk erected by the first Alexander to mark the line
between the two continents. It Is a plain shaft--- Bunker Hill
monument in miniature--bearing the word "EUROPE" on one side, and
"ASIA" on the other. Two fir trees planted by His August Majesty are
on opposite sides of the monument.

[Illustration: EUROPE AND ASIA.]

A snow-drift in the middle of a frosty night is not the place for
sentimental musings. I rested a foot in each of two continents at the
same moment, but could not discover any difference in their manners,
customs, or climate.

Regaining the sleigh, I nestled into my furs, and soon fell asleep. I
was in Europe. I had accomplished the hope and dream of my boyhood.
But in my most romantic moments, I had not expected to stand for the
first time in Europe on the ridge of the Ural Mountains.

[Illustration: A RUSSIAN BEGGAR.]

After passing the boundary, we dashed away over the undulating road,
and made a steady though, imperceptible descent into the valley of the
Kama. As I commenced my first day in Europe, the sunbeams wavered and
glistened on the frost-crystals that covered the trees, and the flood
of light that poured full into my opening eyes was painfully dazzling.
Where we halted for breakfast, the station was neat and commodious,
and its rooms well furnished. We fared sumptuously on cutlets and
eggs, with excellent bread. Just as we were seated in the sleigh, a
beggar made a touching appeal, as explained by the doctor, in behalf
of the prophet Elias. The prophet's financial agent was of so
unprepossessing appearance that we declined investi