登陆注册
5382300000002

第2章 CHAPTER I(1)

TRAVELLING IN RUSSIA

Railways--State Interference--River Communications--Russian "Grand Tour"--The Volga--Kazan--Zhigulinskiya Gori--Finns and Tartars--The Don--Difficulties of Navigation--Discomforts--Rats--Hotels and Their Peculiar Customs--Roads--Hibernian Phraseology Explained--

Bridges--Posting--A Tarantass--Requisites for Travelling--

Travelling in Winter--Frostbitten--Disagreeable Episodes--Scene at a Post-Station.

Of course travelling in Russia is no longer what it was. During the last half century a vast network of railways has been constructed, and one can now travel in a comfortable first-class carriage from Berlin to St. Petersburg or Moscow, and thence to Odessa, Sebastopol, the Lower Volga, the Caucasus, Central Asia, or Eastern Siberia. Until the outbreak of the war there was a train twice a week, with through carriages, from Moscow to Port Arthur.

And it must be admitted that on the main lines the passengers have not much to complain of. The carriages are decidedly better than in England, and in winter they are kept warm by small iron stoves, assisted by double windows and double doors--a very necessary precaution in a land where the thermometer often descends to 30

degrees below zero. The train never attains, it is true, a high rate of speed--so at least English and Americans think--but then we must remember that Russians are rarely in a hurry, and like to have frequent opportunities of eating and drinking. In Russia time is not money; if it were, nearly all the subjects of the Tsar would always have a large stock of ready money on hand, and would often have great difficulty in spending it. In reality, be it parenthetically remarked, a Russian with a superabundance of ready money is a phenomenon rarely met with in real life.

In conveying passengers at the rate of from fifteen to thirty miles an hour, the railway companies do at least all that they promise;

but in one very important respect they do not always strictly fulfil their engagements. The traveller takes a ticket for a certain town, and on arriving at what he imagines to be his destination, he may find merely a railway-station surrounded by fields. On making inquiries, he discovers, to his disappointment, that the station is by no means identical with the town bearing the same name, and that the railway has fallen several miles short of fulfilling the bargain, as he understood the terms of the contract.

Indeed, it might almost be said that as a general rule railways in Russia, like camel-drivers in certain Eastern countries, studiously avoid the towns. This seems at first a strange fact. It is possible to conceive that the Bedouin is so enamoured of tent life and nomadic habits that he shuns a town as he would a man-trap; but surely civil engineers and railway contractors have no such dread of brick and mortar. The true reason, I suspect, is that land within or immediately beyond the municipal barrier is relatively dear, and that the railways, being completely beyond the invigorating influence of healthy competition, can afford to look upon the comfort and convenience of passengers as a secondary consideration. Gradually, it is true, this state of things is being improved by private initiative. As the railways refuse to come to the towns, the towns are extending towards the railways, and already some prophets are found bold enough to predict that in the course of time those long, new, straggling streets, without an inhabited hinterland, which at present try so severely the springs of the ricketty droshkis, will be properly paved and kept in decent repair. For my own part, I confess I am a little sceptical with regard to this prediction, and I can only use a favourite expression of the Russian peasants--dai Bog! God grant it may be so!

It is but fair to state that in one celebrated instance neither engineers nor railway contractors were directly to blame. From St.

Petersburg to Moscow the locomotive runs for a distance of 400

miles almost as "the crow" is supposed to fly, turning neither to the right hand nor to the left. For twelve weary hours the passenger in the express train looks out on forest and morass, and rarely catches sight of human habitation. Only once he perceives in the distance what may be called a town; it is Tver which has been thus favoured, not because it is a place of importance, but simply because it happened to be near the bee-line. And why was the railway constructed in this extraordinary fashion? For the best of all reasons--because the Tsar so ordered it. When the preliminary survey was being made, Nicholas I. learned that the officers entrusted with the task--and the Minister of Ways and Roads in the number--were being influenced more by personal than technical considerations, and he determined to cut the Gordian knot in true Imperial style. When the Minister laid before him the map with the intention of explaining the proposed route, he took a ruler, drew a straight line from the one terminus to the other, and remarked in a tone that precluded all discussion, "You will construct the line so!" And the line was so constructed--remaining to all future ages, like St. Petersburg and the Pyramids, a magnificent monument of autocratic power.

Formerly this well-known incident was often cited in whispered philippics to illustrate the evils of the autocratic form of government. Imperial whims, it was said, over-ride grave economic considerations. In recent years, however, a change seems to have taken place in public opinion, and some people now assert that this so-called Imperial whim was an act of far-seeing policy. As by far the greater part of the goods and passengers are carried the whole length of the line, it is well that the line should be as short as possible, and that branch lines should be constructed to the towns lying to the right and left. Evidently there is a good deal to be said in favour of this view.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 快穿之翻身做女王

    快穿之翻身做女王

    苏暖暖的人生总体来说还是很完美的,童星出道,19岁得最佳女主角提名,25获得影后桂冠;但是在获得影后的第二天就空难去世了,魂魄飘荡了好几天,终于被一个不知名的系统收了,认命的做任务,等复活吧!毕竟我的影后奖杯还没抱热乎呢!
  • 幻界奇缘:极品妖妻

    幻界奇缘:极品妖妻

    【原创作者社团『未央』出品】一场未完成的婚礼,原本打算借以逃婚来羞辱凤明月的绿麟,却在凤明月谜一样香消玉殒后,才得以解除强加在他身上的婚约,恢复以往的闲洒。二十年后,他邂逅一名同样背负着孤独命运的巫女风铃儿,眼看她因受到体内妖怪之血的影响,由飘渺圣洁的巫女沦为至魅祸害人间的女妖,他平静的心因她掀起层层涟漪。然而,前世未完的冤孽,横空出现的妖蝶,真假难辨的身份,三人迷离的情感纠结,究竟谁才是他一直愧对的未婚妻,他能找到属于自己的真爱吗,欲知后事如何,请关注《幻界奇缘:极品妖妻》精彩不容错过!人物简介:绿麟,神兽麒麟的化身,幻之国至高无上的台辅大人,生性孤傲闲洒不喜与人接触。风铃儿,幻之国灵力最强的巫女,她飘渺圣洁却满身血腥,天地之大却没有她的容身之所,只因她是被人类和妖魔畏惧的半人半妖,简称‘半妖’。钰姬,迷幻海的主人,妖魔形态的风铃儿,妩媚妖艳的钰姬拥有能魅惑世间所有男人的高超媚术,她本身对风铃儿的人生观就抱有嗤之以鼻的态度,更加不喜欢别人把她和风铃儿相提并论,行事作风只按照自己的喜好,不拘于任何形式的礼节,不过,如果要说有谁能阻止她肆意祸害人界的话,那个人非绿麟莫属,因为他们之间有着很深的牵绊。银月蝶,百年难得一见的稀有蝶妖,利用吸食人血来获得妖力,原本修行不到千年的女妖几乎都没有人类的情感,而她却在吸食过绿麟的血后,唯独对他情有独钟。
  • 快穿0l

    快穿0l

    “伯恩长大了呢,都不像小时候那么乖巧了呢。”少年低垂着眉眼不做声“伯恩为什么要悄悄的离开,为什么?”“你给我安分些,小心玩火自焚。”她笑着拨弄着自己的头发不去回答“既然不喜欢那么当初干嘛还招惹。”“诶,好可爱的孩子啊。要不小家伙,从今天起就跟我一起生活吧。”肉嘟嘟的孩子眨了眨眼睛似懂非懂“小家伙,我就不应该把你捡回来,真是养虎为患。”“如果我告诉你,事情不是你想的那样呢,你还会不会原谅我?”她沉默着“她不可能原谅你,也不可能再回去了,知道吗祁褚宸。”祁储宸望着她似乎是期待她缓缓地抬头看了一眼半跪在地上的人转身离开走的很干脆。“不!!别走,至少别和他一起!”
  • 冷情前夫耍无赖

    冷情前夫耍无赖

    6年前冷漠的剥夺她刚生下的孩子,逼她离婚,6年后却耍尽无赖,只为前夫变现任!“想要儿子,可以,我们复婚!”某男淡笑着撑开门。“抱歉,买一送一这种事,我不喜欢。而且,我要的是儿子,不是前夫。”某女挑眉。某男:“嗯,不是前夫,是老公!”某女怒!你还能再无赖点吗?
  • 出走

    出走

    宋雅琴手上提着一只包,走出家门,走出楼道,走出小区大门,一副急匆匆的样子,不像离家出走,反倒像是一个赶火车快要误点的倒霉女人。宋雅琴脚下走得疾,一颗心却迟疑在脚步后面,急切地期盼着男人孩子从身后赶上来,拦着她的人,截住她的包,而后她就有一个台阶下,跟着他们一块回家去。也就是说,宋雅琴不想真的离家出走,只是想跟男人孩子赌一口气。到了宋雅琴这个年龄的中年女人,情况大致都差不多,跟男人结婚过了二十多年,彼此心里都有厌倦对方的时候;管孩子管了十几年,孩子总有反抗与不满的时候。往日里,男人的厌倦与孩子的不满,是分开来的,很少交织在一块同时发作出来。
  • 百姓私房菜

    百姓私房菜

    本书汇百家之所长,经典私房菜的制作过程,让您可以在自家的厨房里,利用最简单的器具,轻松制作出好吃、好看、好营养、好创意的各种家常菜。您只需要举一反三,便能让普通的家常菜因独特的做法而与众不同。还有“厨房小常识”告诉你健康饮食生活的小窍门!
  • 血发乱舞

    血发乱舞

    天下负我,我灭天下星沉月落夜闻香素手出锋芒尘缘再续新曲心有意爱无伤江湖远碧空长路茫茫闲愁滋味多感情怀无限思量暗红,却光亮如月光滑如丝的发,在空中飞扬站在顶端,睥睨天下,一缕发,斩无数“豪杰”,唯我独尊一抹笑颜,让江湖鬼哭狼嚎,一抹笑颜,让无数人痴心痴狂如她,身着纱衣,冷面冷心亦冷情,一个丫鬟欲为她挽发,突地向后一掌,丫鬟被抛出几丈,筋脉尽断而亡;挽过自己的血发,有一下没一下的抚摸,然后用一根发带,松松的扎起来,在她身边的人都知道,不得她的允许,不准任何人碰触她的发。“主上莫恼,新来的丫鬟不懂规矩,以后这样的事不会发生了。”另外进来一人,跪在地上,战战兢兢的说道,却不敢结巴,因为主上不喜。如她,一身男子劲装,霸绝天下看着将她围得水泄不通的武林人士,“送上门给我杀,本尊成人之美。”如幻如影,看看像见了魔鬼一样的几人,是她留下的“信使”。拔身而起,猖狂而笑,撼动山岳,“要报仇,无忧宫,本尊恭候大驾。”如她,软若无骨,魅惑众生榻上,慵懒的趴着,眼前,是想要将她拆吃入腹的“恶狼”,那想要得到她而出的银两,一个赛过他一个,微微的勾着嘴角,凤目波光盈盈,妖冶,像一杯毒药,诱人品尝。…“主上。”一男子恭敬的单膝跪地。“沉…”软软的开口,让那些男子听了,酥到骨子里,有些撒娇的伸手。那些男人一个个都想冲上去握住那若无骨的手。跪在地上的男子起身,握住她的手,顺力,将她抱起,自己坐下,让她靠在自己怀里。“沉,他们都想欺负我。”似带着委屈的泣声说道。“将他们都杀了,给你出气,好不好?”“好。”…于是,血流成河,无一幸免。血发出,江湖涌,天下灭
  • 国蓄

    国蓄

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 新形势下我国优秀运动员思想政治教育研究

    新形势下我国优秀运动员思想政治教育研究

    《新形势下我国优秀运动员思想政治教育研究》是“中国体育博士文丛”之一,该书共分8个章节,对新形势下的我国优秀运动员思想政治教育问题作了探讨与研究,具体包括优秀运动员思想政治教育的环境、优秀运动员思想政治教育的对象、优秀运动员思想政治教育的内容、优秀运动员思想政治教育的原则、优秀运动员思想政治教育的方法等。该书可供各大专院校作为教材使用,也可供从事相关工作的人员作为参考用书使用。
  • 记忆中的暖夏

    记忆中的暖夏

    一场低到尘埃中去的盛大暗恋里守望卑微与悲伤!在盛大的青春时光中,青涩又懵懂的悸动心情总是那么如影随形,即使会被那个人无视,也仍然甘之如饴。这就是青春,这就是少女情怀,这就是成人世界未知的童话!从小到大,苏暖苍白的世界里只有夏言这一道光。他就像夏天那道最明亮的颜色,悄然淡化了她灰色的自卑。纵然口不能言,却依然可以站在你身边,便是最刻骨铭心的美好记忆。只是,青梅竹马的友情像是一道天堑,在留恋彼此最近距离的同时,也深深地感到了绝望。如果有一天,我终于能开口唤你的名字,你能不能站在原地,等我告诉你,藏在心中长达十年之久的那三个字?