Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/291

Rh "We left Nijni about noon, and the captain says we shall be twenty-four hours getting to Kazan, where he will stop long enough for us to see the place. As I write, we are passing Makarieff, formerly the seat of the great fair, but now of little importance.

"There are many boats and barges floating with the current in addition to the huge tows which are managed by the steamboats. The captain says that before steam navigation was introduced there was a great deal of towing by horse-power; and how do you suppose it was done?

"There was an immense barge, with powerful windlasses or capstans, which were operated by horses walking in a circle as in the old-fashioned

cider-mills. A huge cable, all the way from a quarter of a mile to two miles in length, would be sent up stream, and either anchored in the channel or fastened to a tree on shore. When all was ready the horses were set in motion, and the towing-barge, with all the boats and barges attached to it, slowly ascended against the current. Progress was very slow, but it was safe, as there was no danger from exploding boilers or overheated furnaces. As many as two hundred horses were sometimes employed by single barges.

"Our captain says that back from the river are many villages of Cheramess, a people of Tartar origin, who preserve many of their ancient customs. They are loyal subjects of the Government, and in nearly all their cottages one will find the portraits of the Emperor and Empress. In accordance with their custom of veiling women, they hang a piece of thin gauze over the portrait of the Empress.