y screwing it in, it opens. As the shrines which claim
the poor Russians' devotion exist in every direction,--indeed, they
cannot walk twenty yards without seeing them,--while they run along on
their daily avocations they are continually bowing and crossing
themselves. The pictures of the saints which adorn these shrines were
probably intended to remind people of their religious duties; but, like
other unwise human inventions, which do not take into consideration the
evil tendencies of the human mind, they have led to a system of
degrading idolatry, while the simple truths of Christianity have been
superseded by a flimsy tissue of falsehoods. Although the members of
the Greek Church are iconoclasts, or image-breakers, and allow no actual
images to be set up on their altars, it must be owned that they pay just
as much adoration to the pictures of their saints as the Roman Catholics
do to the statues of theirs.

One of the most amusing places our friends visited in Moscow was the
great bazaar in the Chinese City. They made frequent trips through it,
although their purchases were neither very extensive nor expensive.
They bought some slippers made by the Tartars of Kazan, of gold and silk
and silver thread, beautifully worked, and some ornaments of silver and
steel made by the same people, and wooden bowls and spoons used by the
peasants, as well as their leather purses and cotton sashes of many
colours, and winter boots of white felt, and the head-dresses worn by
the women, and a hat such as is worn by ishvoshtsticks, and many other
things, all helping to illustrate the customs of the people. Among them
was a samovar or tea-urn. It is in shape like an ancient urn. In the
centre is a cylinder with a grating at the bottom. The water is held in
the space between the cylinder and the sides of the urn. It is filled
with water, and then a small piece of ignited charcoal is dropped into
the cylinder, which is filled with black charcoal. A chimney is then
placed above the charcoal, which now ignites and boils the water. By
adding fresh charcoal and more water, a supply can be kept up for hours
together. A frame fits on above the chimney, on which the teapot can be
placed, to keep it warm, while a lid, called a damper, is used to put
out the fire.

These samovars are used on all occasions, and are especially valued by
the peasants at their picnics or open-air tea-parties, of which they are
very fond. They purchased a