There are two kinds of capstans in use, one actuated by horse-power and the other by steam engines. A horse capstan boat carries according to size 150 to 200 horses, which are stabled in the hold. On deck a number of horse gears are arranged at which the horses work. The power of the separate gears is transmitted to a main shaft, which is connected to the drums that wind on the rope. The horses work under an awning to protect them from the burning sunshine, and are changed every three hours. Eight and sometimes ten horses work at each horse gear. The horses are changed without interruption of the work, the gears being disengaged from the main shaft in rotation and the horses taken out and put in while the gear is standing. The horses are bought at the place of departure in the south of Russia and resold at the destination, usually Nishny-Novgorod, at a fair profit, the capstan boat carrying fodder and provender for the attendants. The capstan is accompanied by a steam launch which carries the anchor and hawser forward in advance of the capstan. The latter has a diameter of as much as 5 in., and is two to three miles in length. The anchor is dropped by the tug and the hawser carried back to the capstan, where it is attached to one of the rope drums, and the boat with the barges attached to it towed along by the horse gears described above winding on the hawser. The advance continues without interruption day and night, the launch taking a second anchor and hawser forward and dropping the anchor in advance of the first by a hawser's length, so that when the capstan has wound up the first hawser it finds a second one ready for attachment to the rope drum. The launch receives the first hawser, picks up the anchor, and passes the capstan to drop it again in advance of the anchor previously placed, and carries the hawser back to the capstan, and so on. A capstan tows twelve or more barges, placed in twos or threes beside and close behind each other, with a load of a million pounds, or about 16,000 to 17,000 tons. From Astrachan and the mouth of the Kama the capstans make during the season from the beginning of May to the end of July in the most favorable case two journeys to the fair of Nishny-Novgorod; after this time no more journeys are made, as the freights are wanting. At the end of the up-stream journey the horses are sold, as mentioned before, and the capstan towed down stream by the steam launch to Astrachan or the Kama mouth, where meanwhile a fresh lot of barges has been loaded and got ready, a new supply of horses is bought, and the operation repeated.