The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

OROL— TULA. 391the artisan classes are most numerous outside of Poland ; here is the historic capitalof Great Eussia, which later on became that of all Eastern Slavdom ;here convergegreat arteries of the railway system. This region supplies, with Poland and LittleEussia, the heaviest contributions to the public revenue, and for aggressive purposesit may be regarded as the very heart of Eussia. With the exception of the Mordvinians,the inhabitants are all Yeliko-Bussians. The indigenous Finnish tribes ofthe East have long been absorbed by the Slav element, and the Golad Lithuanians,who dwelt to the west of Moscow, have disa2)peared without leaving any tracesbeyond the geographical names of a few villages.Oral, or Arol, capital of the province of like name, and situated on the UpperOka, is one of the chief cities of Eussia. Founded in 1564, after the conquest ofthe country from the Tatars, its old site was abandoned after a fire in 1679 ;hence the new town, only two hundred years old, comprises extensive quarters,consisting of little wooden houses, which still present quite a temporary appearance.But thanks to the four railway lines converging here, and to the Oka,already navigable at this point, Orol has become a busy commercial centre,doing a large export business, especially in cereals and hemp. These are the chiefproducts supplied by its two neighbours, Bolkhov and Mtzensk, both on tributariesof the Oka. The women of Mtzensk are mostly engaged in the lace industry.The place is surrounded by tumuli, recalling the fierce struggles formerlycarried on in the neighbourhood between the Tatars, Cossacks, Lithuanians, andPoles.North of Orol the Oka flows successively by the towns of Bclor, one of thegreat centres of the hemp trade, Likhvin, and Peremichl, the latter bearing thesame name as the Galician Przemysl. After its junction with the Egra, whichnearly doubles its volume, the Oka turns from its northerly course eastwards, anda little below the bend stands the city of Kaluga, capital of a government, and setapart as a residence for Moslem princes interned in Eussia. It belongs to theindustrial district of Moscow, and produces leather, linens, and sweetmeats highlyappreciated in Central Eussia. Here the Government has an artillery depot anda powder-mill. The other large towns of the province, Jizdra, Kozelsk, Meshchovsk,Media, Malo-Yaro&lavets, Borovsh, all lie west of the Oka, on tributaries ofthat river or of the Egra. When the French invaders left behind them the ruinsof Moscow in 1812, they penetrated into this part of the country, but after themurderous battles of Tarutino and Malo-Yaroslavetz they were forced to the northward,in the direction of Smolensk.Tula, also a provincial capital, is more populous than either Orol or Kaluga. Itstands on the Epa, an eastern affluent of the Oka, and is the chief railway stationbetween Moscow and Kharkov. But its importance is mainly due to the Governmentsmall-arms factory, established here by Peter the Great in 1712, and now producingabout 70,000 rifles yearly, besides swords, bayonets, and other weapons. Tula isthe Russian Birmingham, and also manufactures knives, mathematical instruments,machinery, and gold and silver plated wares, besides supplying 200,000 samovars,which are so indispensable to every Russian household. The Tula factories haveD D 2