Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/294

288 miraculous picture, which was found unscathed in the midst of the ashes after a great conflagration. On its head is a diamond crown, presented by Catherine II. Near the town is a pyramidal monument in memory of those who fell during the siege and capture of the city.

"Just at dusk we returned to the Nadeshda, where we found a substantial supper waiting for us, and made the acquaintance of a fellow-countryman Mr. Hegeman, who was to be our companion for the remainder of the voyage. He was familiar with Russia, having lived in the country nearly twenty years, and travelled in all parts of it. He was well informed on every subject, and gave us a great amount of valuable statistics and descriptions. We talked until quite late in the evening; and when he joined us at breakfast the next morning the boat was steaming down the Volga and nearing the mouth of the Kama, where several passengers were to leave us.

They are going to Perm,' said the captain of the Nadeshda, 'and some of them are on the way to Siberia.'

"We asked if this was the way to Siberia, and the captain explained that it was one of the routes. 'Steamers ascend the Kama to Perm,' said he, 'and from Perm there is a railway to Ekaterineburg, which is on the Siberian side of the Ural Mountains. The line has been extended to Tumen three hundred miles farther, and ultimately it will be pushed on till it reaches Irkutsk, on the shores of Lake Baikal, and close to the frontier of China.'

"How we wished we could make the journey through Siberia! Over the Ural Mountains, across the Steppes, down the Amoor, and out into the waters of the Pacific Ocean! What a magnificent tour, and what strange things to see on the way!

"Mr. Hegeman heard our wish, and said he would tell us all about the trip across Siberia as soon as we were under way again. As the Nadeshda steamed down the Volga he gave us an account, which we have tried to preserve as nearly as possible in his own words."