by the Sacred Gate, I
lifted my hat in comformity to the custom, from which not even the
emperor is exempt. One of my school-books contained a description of
the Czar Kolokol, or Great Bell, and stated that a horse and chaise
could pass through the hole where a piece was broken from one side.
Possibly the miniature vehicle of Tom Thumb could be driven through,
but, certainly, no ordinary one-horse shay could have any prospect of
success. The hole is six feet in height, by about a yard wide at the
bottom, and narrows like a wedge toward the top. The height and
diameter of the bell are respectively nineteen feet four inches by
twenty feet three inches. It weighs 444,000 pounds. It was cast in
1733, by order of the Empress Anne, and the hole in its side was made
by the falling of some rafters during a fire in 1737. It remained
buried in the ground until 1836, when it was raised and placed on its
present pedestal by order of the Emperor Nicholas.

[Illustration: GREAT BELL OF MOSCOW.]

To enumerate all the wonders of the Kremlin would consume much time
and space. Somebody tells of a Yankee gazing at Niagara, and lamenting
that a magnificent water power should run to waste. I could not help
wondering how many miles of railway could be built from the proceeds
of the mass of wealth inside the Kremlin. Diamonds, rubies, pearls,
crowns, sceptres, thrones, princely and priestly robes, are gathered
in such numbers that eye and brain become weary in their
contemplation. The most interesting of these treasures are those
around which cling historic associations. The crowns of the kingdoms
of Kazan and Astrachan point to the overthrow of Tartar power in
Europe, while the throne of Poland symbolizes the westward course of
the Muscovite star of empire. There are flags borne or captured in
Russia's victories, from the storming of Kazan and the defence of
Albazin down to the suppression of Polish revolt. Mute and dumb
witnesses of the misfortunes of the _Grand Armee_ are the long rows of
cannon that lie near the Kremlin palace. Three hundred and sixty-five
French guns tell of Napoleon's disastrous march to Moscow.

The holiest part of holy Moscow is within the Kremlin. In the church
of the Assumption, the czars of Russia, from John the Terrible down to
the present day, have been crowned. In the Michael church, until the
accession of Peter the Great, the Rurik and Romanoff dynasties were
buried; while another church witnessed their bap