Chapter I: Front Matter

Streets of Odessa--Jews--Hotels--Partiality of the Russians for
Odessa--Hurricane, Dust, Mud, Climate, &c.--Public Buildings 5

CHAPTER III.

The Imperial Family in Odessa--Church Music--Society of the
Place, Count and Countess Voronzof--Anecdote of the Countess
Braniska--The Theatre--Theatrical Row 10

CHAPTER IV.

Commerce of the Black Sea--Prohibitive System and its Pernicious
Results--Depressed State of Agriculture--Trade of Odessa--Its
Bank 14

CHAPTER V.

Navigation, Charge for Freight, &c. in the Black Sea 26

CHAPTER VI.

Agriculture and Manufactures of Southern Russia--Mineral
Productions--Russian Workmen 28

CHAPTER VII.

Departure from Odessa--Travelling in Russia--Nikolaief, Olvia,
Otshakof--Kherson--The Dniepr--General Potier--Ancient
Tumuli--Steppes of the Black Sea--A Russian Village--Snow
Storm--Narrow Escape from Suffocation--A Russian Family--
Appendix 32

CHAPTER VIII.

An Earthquake--Ludicrous Anecdote--Sledging--Sporting--Dangerous
Passage of the Dniepr--Thaw; Spring-Time--Manners and Customs
of the Little Russians--Easter Holidays--The Clergy 45

CHAPTER IX.

Excursion on the Banks of the Dniepr--Doutchina--Election of
the Marshals and Judges of the Nobility at Kherson--Horse-Racing
--Strange Story in the "Journal des Debats"--A Country House and
its Visiters--Traits of Russian Manners--The Wife of Two Husbands
--Servants--Murder of a Courier--Appendix 55

CHAPTER X.

Departure for the Caspian--Iekaterinoslav--Potemkin's Ruined
Palace--Paskevitch's Caucasian Guard--Sham Fight--Intolerable
Heat--Cataracts of the Dniepr--German Colonies--The Setcha of the
Zaporogues--A French Steward--Night Adventure--Colonies of the
Moloshnia Vodi--Mr. Cornies--The Doukoboren, a Religious Sect 69

CHAPTER XI.

Marioupol--Berdiansk--Knavish Jew Postmaster--Taganrok--Memorials
of Peter the Great and Alexander--Great Fair--The General with
Two Wives--Morality in Russia--Adventures of a Philhellene--A
French Doctor--The English Consul--Horse Races--A First Sight of
the Kalmucks 82

CHAPTER XII.

Departure from Taganrok--Sunset in the Steppes--A Gipsy Camp
--Rostof; a Town unparalleled in the Empire--Navigation of the
Don--Azof; St. Dimitri--Aspect of the Don--Nakitchevane, and
its Armenian Colony 89

CHAPTER XIII.

General Remarks on New Russia--Antipathy between the Muscovites
and Malorossians--Foreign Colonies--General aspect of the
Country, Cattle, &c.--Want of Means of Communication--River
Navigation; Bridges--Character of the Minister of Finance--
History of the Steamboat on the Dniestr--The Board of Roads
and Ways--Anecdote--Appendix 96

CHAPTER XIV.

The different Conditions of Men in Russia--The Nobles--Discontent
of the Old Aristocracy--The Merchant Class--Serfdom--Constitution
of the Empire; Governments--Consequences of Centralisation;
Dissimulation of Public Functionaries--Tribunals--The Colonel
of the Gendarmerie--Corruption--Pedantry of Forms--Contempt of
the Decrees of the Emperor and the Senate--Singular Anecdote;
Interpretation of a Will--Radical Evils in the Judicial
Organisation--History and present State of Russian Law 102

CHAPTER XV.

Public Instruction--Corps of Cadets--Universities and
Elementary Schools; Anecdote--Plan of Education--Motives for
attending the Universities--Statistics--Professors; their
Ignorance--Exclusion of Foreign Professors--Engineering--
Obstacles to Intellectual Improvement--Characteristics of the
Sclavonic Race 127

CHAPTER XVI.

Entry into the Country of the Don Cossacks--Female Pilgrims of
Kiev; Religious Fervour of the Cossacks--Novo Tcherkask, Capital
of the Don--Street-lamps guarded by Sentinels--The Streets on
Sunday--Cossack Hospitality and Good Nature--Their Veneration
for Napoleon's Memory 134

CHAPTER XVII.

Origin of the Don Cossacks--Meaning of the Name--The Khirghis
Cossacks--Races anterior to the Cossacks--Sclavonic Emigrations
towards the East 137

CHAPTER XVIII.

Journey from Novo Tcherkask along the Don--Another Knavish
Postmaster--Muscovite Merchants--Cossack Stanitzas 154

CHAPTER XIX.

First Kalmuck Encampments--The Volga--Astrakhan--Visit to a
Kalmuck Princess--Music, Dancing, Costume, &c.--Equestrian
Feats--Religious Ceremony--Poetry 162

CHAPTER XX.

Historical Notice of Astrakhan--Mixed Population; Armenians,
Tatars--Singular Result of a Mixture of Races--Description of
the Town--Hindu Religious Ceremonies--Society 178

CHAPTER XXI.

Commercial Position of Astrakhan--Its Importance in the Middle
Ages--Its Loss of the Overland Trade from India--Commercial
Statistics--Fisheries of the Caspian--Change of the Monetary
System in Russia--Bad State of the Finances--Russian Political
Economy 187

CHAPTER XXII.

Departure from Astrakhan--Coast of the Caspian--Hawking--
Houidouk--Three Stormy Days passed in a Post-house--Armenian
Merchants--Robbery committed by Kalmucks--Camels--Kouskaia--
Another Tempest--Tarakans--A reported Gold Mine 202

CHAPTER XXIII.

Another Robbery at Houidouk--Our Nomade Life--Camels--Kalmuck
Camp--Quarrel with a Turcoman Convoy, and Reconciliation--Love
of the Kalmucks for their Steppes; Anecdote--A Satza--Selenoi
Sastava--Fleeced by a Lieutenant-Colonel--Camel-drivers beaten
by the Kalmucks--Alarm of a Circassian Incursion--Sources of
the Manitch--The Journey arrested--Visit to a Kalmuck Lady--
Hospitality of a Russian Officer 208

CHAPTER XXIV.

Review of the History of the Kalmucks 229

CHAPTER XXV.

The Kalmucks after the Departure of Oubacha--Division of the
Hordes, Limits of their Territory--The Turcoman and Tatar
Tribes in the Governments of Astrakhan and the Caucasus--
Christian Kalmucks--Agricultural Attempts--Physical, Social,
and Moral Characteristics of the Kalmucks 235

CHAPTER XXVI.

Buddhism--Kalmuck Cosmogony--Kalmuck Clergy--Rites and
Ceremonies--Polygamy--The Kirghis 247

CHAPTER XXVII.

The Tatars and Mongols--The Kaptshak--History and Traditions
of the Nogais 264

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Banks of the Kouma; Vladimirofka--M. Rebrof's Repulse of a
Circassian Foray--Bourgon Madjar--Journey along the Kouma--
View of the Caucasian Mountains--Critical Situation--Georgief
--Adventure with a Russian Colonel--Story of a Circassian Chief 276

CHAPTER XXIX.

Road from Georgief to the Waters of the Caucasus--A Polish Lady
carried off by Circassians--Piatigorsk--Kislovodsk--History
of the Mineral Waters of the Caucasus 285

CHAPTER XXX.

SITUATION OF THE RUSSIANS AS TO THE CAUCASUS.

History of their Acquisition of the Trans-Caucasian Provinces
--General Topography of the Caucasus--Armed Line of the Kouban
and the Terek--Blockade of the Coasts--Character and Usages of
the Mountaineers--Anecdote--Visit to a Circassian Prince 293

CHAPTER XXXI.

Retrospective View of the War in the Caucasus--Vital Importance
of the Caucasus to Russia--Designs on India, Central Asia,
Bokhara, Khiva, &c.--Russian and English Commerce in Persia 309

CHAPTER XXXII.

A Storm in the Caucasus--Night Journey; Dangers and Difficulties
--Stavropol--Historical Sketch of the Government of the Caucasus
and the Black Sea Cossacks 334

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Rapid Journey from Stavropol--Russian Wedding--Perilous Passage
of the Don; all sorts of Disasters by Night--Taganrok;
Commencement of the Cold Season--The German Colonies revisited 343

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Departure for the Crimea--Balaclava--Visit to the Monastery of
St. George--Sevastopol--The Imperial Fleet 349

CHAPTER XXXV.

Bagtche Serai--Historical Revolutions of the Crimea--The Palace
of the Khans--Countess Potocki 358

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Simpheropol--Karolez--Visit to Princess Adel Bey--Excursion to
Mangoup Kaleh 366

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Road to Baidar--The Southern Coast; Grand Scenery--Miskhor and
Aloupka--Predilection of the Great Russian Nobles for the Crimea 371

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Three Celebrated Women 375

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Ialta--Koutchouk Lampat--Parthenit--The Prince de Ligne's Hazel
--Oulou Ouzen; a Garden converted into an Aviary--Tatar Young
Women--Excursion to Soudagh--Mademoiselle Jacquemart 387

CHAPTER XL.

Ruins of Soldaya--Road to Theodosia--Caffa--Muscovite Vandalism
--Peninsula of Kertch--Panticapea and its Tombs 391

CHAPTER XLI.

POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL REVOLUTIONS OF THE CRIMEA.

Extent and Character of Surface--Milesian and Heraclean Colonies
--Kingdom of the Bosphorus--Export and Import Trade in the Times
of the Greek Republics--Mithridates--The Kingdom of the Bosphorus
under the Romans--The Alans and Goths--Situation of the Republic
of Kherson--The Huns; Destruction of the Kingdom of the Bosphorus
--The Khersonites put themselves under the Protection of the
Byzantine Empire--Dominion of the Khazars--The Petchenegues and
Romans--The Kingdom of Little Tatary--Rise and Fall of the
Genoese Colonies--The Crimea under the Tatars--Its Conquest by
the Russians 402

CHAPTER XLII.

Commercial Polity of Russia in the Crimea--Caffa sacrificed in
Favour of Kertch--These two Ports compared--The Quarantine at
the Entrance of the Sea of Azof, and its Consequences--Commerce
of Kertch--Vineyards of the Crimea; the Valley of Soudak--
Agriculture--Cattle--Horticulture--Manufactures; Morocco Leather
--Destruction of the Goats--Decay of the Forests--Salt Works--
General Table of the Commerce of the Crimea--Prospects of the
Tatar Population 410

CHAPTER XLIII.

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF BESSARABIA.

Topology--Ancient Fortresses--The Russian Policy in Bessarabia
--Emancipation of the Serfs--Colonies--Cattle--Exports and
Imports--Mixed Population of the Province 424

Note 435

THE
STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN SEA, &c.