Beishlota, is formed in this way, like a reserve reservoir, called the Upper Volga basin; The area of this pool is up to 150 square meters. versts, and the designation of the lock increased the water level in the upper reaches of the Volga during summer shallow waters. The water, backed by the beyslot, rises 21/2 fathoms above the normal level and, depending on the need, descends into the further Volga through openable shields. If all the shields are open, then the gateway extends for more than 450 versts, of course, far from the source of water supply; so, for example, in Relev Vshyan this will be expressed by raising the water level by 12-16 vershoks, in Tver by 6-8 vershoks, in Valyazin by 3 vershoks, and in Mologa and Rybinsk by barely 1 vershok.
The entire length of the Volga, counting from the Verkhnevolzheky beishlot to the Saiga hole on the Kasli Sea, is 8884 versts. The surface area of the Volga basin exceeds 80,000 square meters. miles. Compare these figures with the TFM, which are the greatest rivers of Western Europe, and you will see how insignificant it is in comparison with the great Russian river. The notorious Rhine extends only 1,225 miles in length, and there is nothing to say about its river - it is insignificant in comparison with the width of the Volga near the mouth of the Kama, not to mention the fact that it is a mighty Russian river at its mouth, where the space captured by its countless branches constitutes a good German principality, if not a grand duchy.
How many Russian people have ridden along the Rhine, along its beautiful stretch between Mainz and Cologne! How many admiring “ahs” and “oohs” were heard over its bluish-greenish waves! How these tourists admired the pretty, slightly cropped beauty of Biberich, the dark beauty of the Lurley rock and the decorative ruins of ancient castles that sometimes decorate the banks of the German beauty, carefully maintained in their dilapidated state and, in essence, reminiscent of cement rocks and structures built for anvartums. But how many of these people traveled along the Volga in the most beautiful part of its flow, from Nizhny to Saratov? How many of them are familiar with the natural beauties of the right bank of the mighty river? Meanwhile, the view of eguli, crowned with grandiose branched forests, the view of Stolbichi, Otenka Razin’s hill, and even just the view of the banks near Tetyushi, Simbirsk, Nizhny and many others, undoubtedly surpasses in its beauty what a person can see on the Rhine and Dun. Add to this the fact that a journey on a toy Rhine steamer, in a purely German atmosphere, with faint hints of comfort, can in no way be compared with a journey on a luxurious Volzhek steamer, a journey filled with such broad comfort as even the very richest
These people cannot have at home.
You took a cabin on the ship “Alexander P” of the company “Caucasus and Mercury”; for a 1st class ticket, almost a 1000-verst distance, you pay only about 10 rubles. For this you have everything that a person needs for complete comfort: a luxurious sofa in the cabin, a spacious living room, an incomparable walk along the wide decks for up to 300 steps, counting it both ways; You have at your service a piano, a bibliette, a bathtub, a luxurious and cheap bath, an incomparable table d’ôte with the best Russian and foreign wines, polite, helpful servants, electric lighting if it’s dark for you, steam heating if you’re not warm enough at night, and to all this, unparalleled cleanliness. Add to this that from the cabin window, from the windows of the common room, and from the deck, sitting under the white awning stretched over you, you admire the views,
[fragment illegible in the scan of the first edition]
Steamship "Alexander P" total. "Yuavkaz and Mercury":
The Volga is beautiful during the day! She's beautiful in the evening! The afterglow of the fading dawn; at the edge of the sky, like a forged bronze ball, the moon slowly floats up; the bustle of the day is gradually replaced by silence; everything around seems to be falling asleep - and the mirror-smooth Volga, invisible to the eye, carries its masses of water, as if motionless, but in fact rushing with terrible force and speed; The sleeping shores are silver under the rays of the queen of the night; either half-light or half-dark. The air is clean and transparent to such an extent that you become...
become involuntarily farsighted. Before you pass the dark hollows of mountain ravines, filled with the silver light of the moon along their slopes,