"I say, Mr. Fatmanoffsky, don't you think that wheel is twice as big as it need be?" said Scott. The mate laughed, and talked Russian, but, as he pointed at the wheel, he was evidently talking about it. Even the solemn pilots were amused, either at what the Russian said, or at the absurdity of two persons talking together when neither could understand the other. The party retired early. There was a pillow to each divan, but no bed-clothes--none are furnished on any of the Volga steamers, and travellers usually carry a robe or two. They slept very well, for all of them were accustomed to "turning in" with their clothes on. In the morning the country appeared to be about the same, though the bluff on the right was higher, and a range of hills was seen in the distance, on the same side. At eleven o'clock, the steamer arrived at Kazan, in just twenty-four hours from Nijni. The city is seven versts from the river, though there is a small village on the bluff. The shore is lined with steamers and boats, loading and unloading. There was nothing attractive in the locality, and nothing interesting except the Tartar teamsters, on shore, who wore white felt hats, and sheep-skin coats; some of them with their feet and legs tied up in rags, others in boots or straw sandals. Four droskies were hired at three rubles apiece for the day, to go up to the city and return. Dr. Winstock wished to find the Professor of English of the University of Kazan, to whom he had a letter of introduction. It would be impossible for the party to speak a word to anybody, and the captain kindly sent the steward with them to the university. The ride is a dreary one, over a region which is covered with water when the Volga floods its banks. On the left of the road is a curious pyramidal monument to the memory of the Russians who fell in the capture of the city from the Tartars. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Kazan, founded in the thirteenth century by the Golden Horde, a tribe of Tartars who invaded Russia. They were continually at war with the people of Muscovy, and after repeated expeditions on the part of the Russians against the city, it was finally subdued by Ivan the Terrible, and the kingdom incorporated in his dominions. "I suppose we shall not go any farther east than we are now," said Lincoln, who was riding with the doctor. "No; we are within three hundred and twenty miles of Asia now, the nearest part of which lies a little east of south of us." "What do you suppose the people of New York and Boston are doing just now, doctor?" "They are asleep, I hope." "It is quarter past twelve now," added Lincoln, looking at his watch, which he had set by Kazan time. "In Boston it is two minutes of four o'clock in the morning, and in New York fourteen minutes of four. It seems very odd." "I don't know that it does."