THE RAILROAD IN TURKESTAN 311 AN ESCAPE FROM THE MINES OF SIBERIA 319 THE SEA FIGHT IN THE WATERS OF JAPAN 329 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. RUSSIAN. PAGE THE KREMLIN _Frontispiece._ CATHEDRAL AT OSTANKINO, NEAR MOSCOW 40 GENERAL VIEW OF MOSCOW 55 CHURCH AND TOWER OF IVAN THE GREAT 78 KIAKHTA, SIBERIA 84 CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION, MOSCOW, IN WHICH THE CZAR IS CROWNED 109 ALEXANDER III., CZAR OF RUSSIA 122 DINING-ROOM IN THE PALACE OF PETER THE GREAT, MOSCOW 136 PETER THE GREAT 142 ST. PETERSBURG HARBOR, NEVA RIVER 156 SLEIGHING IN RUSSIA 160 A RUSSIAN DROSKY 189 THE CITY OF KASAN 199 SCENE ON A RUSSIAN FARM 223 RUSSIAN PEASANTS 249 MOUNT ST. PETER, CRIMEA 267 THE WALLS OF CONSTANTINOPLE 290 THE ARREST OF A NIHILIST 297 DOWAGER CZARINA OF RUSSIA 300 GROUP OF SIBERIANS 320 _THE ANCIENT SCYTHIANS._ Far over the eastern half of Europe extends a vast and mighty plain, spreading thousands of miles to the north and south, to the east and west, in the north a land of forests, in the south and east a region of treeless levels. Here stretches the Black Land, whose deep dark soil is fit for endless harvests; here are the arable steppes, a vast fertile prairie land, and here again the barren steppes, fit only for wandering herds and the tents of nomad shepherds. Across this great plain, in all directions, flow myriads of meandering streams, many of them swelling into noble rivers, whose waters find their outlet in great seas. Over it blow the biting winds of the Arctic zone, chaining its waters in fetters of ice for half the year. On it in summer shine warm suns, in whose enlivening rays life flows full again.