The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

470 EUSSIA IN EUEOrE.it is surpassed even by those of such countries as Portugal and Rumania. Thesystem also labours under the commercial inconvenience of using different gauges,though this presents the anticipated strategic advantage of preventing the Germantrains from penetrating into the country. On the main lines the five-foot gaugeprevails. Railway accidents are, on an average, more frequent in Russia thanelsewhere in Europe.The centre of the system is at Moscow, where the five main lines converge, andwhere the passenger and goods traffic is about double tbat of St. Petersburg.*From this centre the lines run westwards to the Central European network,Fig. 253. Growth or Attendance in the Russian Gymnasia and Universities from 1S0S to 1877.Upper Curve : Students of the Gymnasia. Lower Curve : University Students.southwards to Odessa, Taganrog, and the Caucasus, eastwards to the Volga atvarious points, and beyond it to Orenburg. But they do not yet reach the Caspianor Central Asia, though an isolated line connects Perm with Yekaterinenburg,beyond the Urals. The northern lines stop at Vologda, so that the Finnish andScandinavian systems advance much nearer to the Arctic Ocean than does theRussian. Some of the great trunk lines also pass from 3 to 8 miles from suchimportant places as Tver, Orol, Kursk, to the great inconvenience of passengers.•Moscow (1873), 1,903,954 passengers; 3,034,000 tons; St. Petersburg, 1,050,213 passengers;1,287,000 tons. Total passengers (1S79), 38,000,000 ; merchandise, 4,510,000 tons.