cathedrals in Europe, but I know of nothing so exquisite I
as St. Saviour’ s. It reminded me most of the interior I
of Santa Sophia, at Constantinople. The floor is of I
marble, and the walls are lined with exquisite varieties I
of the same material, the entire cost of marble alone I
having exceeded £300,000. Round the cupola are I
two rows of 1,240 candelabra, placed there at a cost I
of nearly ¿40,000, and nearly as much as this was I
expended on the materials and workmanship of the I
altar space, without reckoning its ikons and pictures, I
of which latter the church is full. This costly fane I
has been erected at a cost of two and a quarter million I
pounds sterling, and is said to be capable of accom-l
modating 10,000 worshippers.
to!go. This was on the 8th July, and I left Peters-
Burg on the n th , with this offer in reserve to be
arranged by correspondence or telegram, if I met with
no one more suitable at Moscow. Here again were
two or three who would have liked to go, one of
whom I had added as a second string to my bow,
^ H en> on the morning of the day I was to proceed on
Jshort visit to the interior, I received a telegram from
Petersburg that Mr. Alfred Sevier was willing to join
me from Vienna. My mind was so evenly balanced
^^■ween the claims of two persons that I knew not
h fw to decide; but at length I telegraphed, “ Please
let him come immediately, and catch me as quickly
as ¡he can ; and this Mr. Sevier did on the steamer
gifing to Perm, where we arrived on the 29th of July
m Ve wt re, met ^ an Englishman, Mr. Parsons, junr.’
w » , with his young wife, accorded us a hearty and
h|sPitable welcome, and assisted me in the important
purchase of a tarantass, or travelling carriage, which
wfs expected to carry us 3,000 miles, and to be our
I was able, in Moscow, to add to my store of intro-1
ductions, and would gladly have pushed forward, only I
that I had not yet lighted upon a suitable interpreter. I
Thanks to the kindness of friends who had been on!
the look-out before my arrival, I found several ini
Petersburg who were willing at first to go, but sub-1
sequently some were alarmed at reports of Turkistanl
tigers and fevers ; others were weak in Russian, ml
English, or in health ; whilst a fourth, who would havel
made hardly a companion, but an energetic courier!
was eventually kept back by the entreaties of hisl
wife. I had called one morning at Messrs. Egertonl
Hubbards’ to inquire for an interpreter, and wasl
driving away almost in despair, and wondering that myl
way in other things should have been made so clear!
whilst in this it seemed blocked, when a gentleman!
named Sevier drove alongside my droshky, and saidl
he had heard I needed an interpreter. He wa|
doubtful as to whether he could offer his own services,!
but if not, he thought his brother at Vienna might like
we ing and sleeping place for a long succession of
fdt S and ni&hts- ° f two Mr. Parsons had selected
or my approval, I chose the larger, its extreme inside
X T " 1“ 18!- ngu6 f t 8in'and 4 ft. 4 ln. fr0m the floor to lothneg )t op o^f ^th e 8h iono. dw. ideIt,
I S « but came fr°m the best of builders
c o l T Kazan— and notwithstanding that it eilto r 7 f0r Cr iage from Perm- !t I sufh favo aiKiam’ gb bad 1 not bought it on
u n L ord“ termS' ' Sh° uId have done bett«
pkateririeburgCIrCUmStanCeS ‘ ° haVe ° b‘ained one
beforeTeavtn '°j;be S town we Passe<1 through
T , aV‘" g Eur°Pe’ “ I took the opportunity