in preparing this volume for the press, the author has followed very closely the plan adopted for "the boy travellers in the far east," and also for his more recent work, "the boy travellers in south america." accompanied by their versatile and accomplished mentor, dr. bronson, our young friends, frank bassett and fred bronson, journeyed from vienna to warsaw and st. petersburg, and after an interesting sojourn in the latter city, proceeded to moscow, the ancient capital of the czars. from moscow they went to nijni novgorod, to attend the great fair for which that city is famous, and thence descended the volga to the caspian sea. on their way down the great river they visited the principal towns and cities along its banks, saw many strange people, and listened to numerous tales and legends concerning the races which make up the population of the great muscovite empire.
they visited the recently developed petroleum fields of the caspian, and, after crossing that inland sea, made a journey in central asia to study certain phases of the "eastern question," and learn something about the difficulties that have arisen between england and russia. afterwards they travelled in the caucasus, visited the crimea, and bade farewell to the empire as they steamed away from odessa. concerning the parts of russia that they were unable to visit they gathered much information, and altogether their notes, letters, and memoranda would make a portly volume.
the author has been three times in the russian empire, and much of the country described by "the boy travellers" was seen and traversed by him. in his first journey he entered the czar's dominions at petropavlovsk in kamtchatka, ascended the amoor river through its entire navigable length, traversed siberia from the pacific ocean to the ural mountains, and continuing thence to kazan, moscow, st. petersburg, and warsaw, left the protection of the russian flag eleven thousand miles from where he first went beneath it. his second visit included the crimea[pg 6] and other regions bordering the black sea, and his third was confined to finland and other baltic provinces.
in addition to his personal observations in russia, the author has drawn upon the works of others. many books of russian travel and history have been examined; some of them have been mentioned in the text of the narrative, but it has not been practicable to refer to all. indebtedness is hereby acknowledged to the following books: "free russia," by hepworth dixon; "turkestan" and "life of peter the great," by hon. eugene schuyler; "a ride to khiva," by col. fred burnaby; "campaigning on the oxus, and the fall of khiva," by j. a. macgahan; "life of peter the great" and "life of genghis khan," by jacob abbott; "the siberian overland route," by alexander michie; "tent-life in siberia," by george kennan; "reindeer, dogs, and snow-shoes," by richard j. bush; "the invasion of the crimea," by a. w. kinglake; "fred markham in russia," by w. h. g. kingston; "the knout and the russians," by g. de lagny; "the russians at the gates of herat" and "the region of the eternal fire," by charles marvin; "travels in the regions of the upper and lower amoor" and "oriental and western siberia," by thomas w. atkinson; and "the russians at home," by sutherland edwards. the author has also drawn upon several articles in harper's magazine, including his own series describing his journey through siberia.
the publishers have kindly permitted the use of illustrations from their previous publications on the russian empire, in addition to those specially prepared for this book. as a result of their courtesy, the author has been able to present a "copiously illustrated" book, which is always a delight to the youthful eye.
t.w.k.
