Road to Kazan--Polish prisoners--Arrive at Kazan--More croaking--Temptations to delay--Sell our sledge--View of Kazan--The ferry at the Volga--Ice-boats and icebergs--The military--Tatars--Polish exiles--Kindly treated by their escort--Erroneous ideas on this subject--The distribution of exiles in Siberia--Their life there--The Polish insurrection--Its objects--Imprudence--Consequences--Success would have been a second failure 331 CHAPTER XXII. KAZAN TO PETERSBURG. A day lost--The moujik's opportunity--Return to Kazan--Hotel "Ryazin"--Grease and butter--Evening entertainment--Try again--The ferry--A term of endearment--Ferrymen's devotions--A Jew publican--"Pour boire"--Villages and churches--The road to Nijni--Penance--A savage--A miserable night--Reach Nijni--"Sweet is pleasure after pain"--The great fair--Nijni under a cloud--Delights of railway travelling--A contrast--Reach Moscow--Portable gas--Foundling hospital--The Moscow and Petersburg railway--Grandeur of Petersburg--Late season--Current topics--Iron-clads--The currency--Effects of Crimean war-- Russian loyalty--Alexander II. as a reformer--Leave Petersburg 343 CHAPTER XXIII. RUSSIA AND CHINA. Earlier intercourse--Analogies and contrasts--Progress of Russia and decadence of China--Permanence of Chinese institutions--Arrogance justified--Not really bigoted-- Changes enforced by recent events--The rebellion-- Fallacious views in parliament--British interest in China--A bright future--Railways--Telegraphs--Machinery and other improvements--Resources to be developed--Free cities 357 POSTSCRIPT 401 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE PAGODA AND GARDENS OF THE EMPEROR'S SUMMER PALACE, YUEN-MIN-YUEN. (From a Photograph by Beato) _Frontispiece._ TOMB AT THE DEPOT. PEKING. (From a Photograph by Beato) _Vignette._ TUNG CHOW PAGODA. (From a Photograph by Beato) 27 WALLS OF PEKING. (From a Photograph by Beato) 32 PAVILION OF THE SUMMER PALACE OF YUEN-MIN-YUEN. (From a Photograph by Beato) 37 THIBETIAN MONUMENT IN LAMA TEMPLE. PEKING. (From a Photograph by Beato) 42 GREAT TEMPLE OF HEAVEN. PEKING. (From a Photograph by Beato) 48 PART OF THE EMPEROR'S PALACE, YUEN-MIN-YUEN. DESTROYED 1860. (From a Photograph by Beato) 55 THE NANKOW PASS 63 HALT IN THE DESERT OF GOBI 104