NOTE. The 12-inch gun weighs 40 tons; 11-inch, 28 tons; 9-inch, 12 to 15 tons; 8-inch, 9 tons; 6-inch, 4 tons.

The most powerful vessel now afloat of the Russian ironclad fleet is the mastless turret-ship Peter the Great, constructed in the harbour of Kronstadt, and launched in 1874. She resembles in design and construction the great mastless turret-ships of the British navy, more especially the Dreadnought, though of larger size, its length being 330 feet, and extreme breadth 64 feet. The Peter the Great carries two turrets. The engines originally fitted in the ship having proved unsatisfactory, the ship was sent to England in 1881, and fitted with engines of the most modern type.

The three ironclad ships now (Jan. 1885) in course of construction at Sevastopol and Nicolaieff, the Tchesma, Sinope, and Catherine II., and which will be launched in 1886, will be still more powerful vessels than the Peter the Great. Both in tonnage, armament, and thickness of armour, these three vessels will exceed the Peter the Great ; they will all be of the same dimensions, which are: length between perpendiculars 330 feet, extreme breadth 69 feet, mean draught 26 feet. The Admiral Nakhimoff and Alexander II., which are now (Jan. 1885) being built at St. Petersburg, will also be formidable vessels. Their dimensions will be:

These vessels are expected to be launched in 1885.

Breadth

61

67

Next to these ships come the five belted cruisers. The Duke of Edinburgh, originally called the Alexander Nevsky, and the GeneralAdmiral, are each 285 feet long and 48 feet broad, built of iron sheathed with wood, and with a six-inch armour-belt on the water line to protect the vital parts. The battery deck of these cruisers is not protected by armour, the guns being so arranged as to fire in all directions. The Minin, converted into an ocean cruiser in 1878, is 299 feet long and 49 feet broad. The last additions to the list of Russian cruisers are the armour-belted frigates Vladimir Monomakh and Dmitri Donskoi, launched in 1883, and now completed and commissioned. They are sister ships, and are 295 feet along the water line, with an extreme breadth 52 feet; depth at stern 25 feet. Their average speed is 15 knots.

The Vitiaz and Rynda are two corvettes, sister ships, now being built at St. Petersburg by the Franco-Russian Company. They will be of steel, wood-sheathed. Their vital parts will be additionally protected by a steel plate of 11⁄2 inches thick 3 feet below the water line. Their dimensions are: 265 feet long between perpendiculars; extreme breadth, 45 feet; depth, 24 feet; speed, 15 knots. The Vitiaz was launched in October 1884, and the Rynda

will follow in the spring of 1885. Next in the list of sea-going: cruisers stand the four Russian ironclads named after admirals-i.e., the Admiral Tchitchagoff, Admiral Spiridoff, Admiral Greig, and Admiral Lazareff. They are turret-ships of the type of the Prince Albert in the Royal navy, the turrets being encased in six-inch armour. The next ship in the list, the Kniaz-Pojarski, was built by English engineers at the naval yard of St. Petersburg, and launched in September 1866. The Kniaz-Pojarski is a central battery ship, 272 feet long, 49 feet broad, and is fully rigged. The armour-clad ship the Petropaulovski is of obsolete type, having been built in 1863 and 1864. The Netron-Minia was constructed at St. Petersburg in 1864. The Pervenetz and Kreml, floating batteries, serve as gunnery ships, and their speed is only 7 knots. Like all floating batteries, they do not behave well at sea.

An entirely new feature in the construction of armour-clad vessels is represented by the two circular monitors, also called 'Popoffkas,' after their designer, Admiral Popoff. The first of these ships, named the Novgorod, of 2,000 tons burthen and 480 horse-power, was launched in June 1873, at the docks of Nicholaieff, near Sevastopol; and the second, named Admiral Popoff, was launched in October 1875 from the dockyard of Nicholaieff. The Admiral Popoff is 120 feet in diameter against 100 feet of the Novgorod, and of greater speed, with less draught of water, namely, 12 feet. However, as the mean speed of the circular monitors is not calculated to be more than from six to eight miles an hour, they must be held to be chiefly fitted for defensive purposes, serving as floating fortresses.'

The Imperial navy was commanded, in 1884, by 29 admirals, vice-admirals, and rear-admirals, 404 captains, and 934 lieutenants and midshipmen. In addition to these 76 admirals, 140 captains, and 50 lieutenants were employed on shore in various administrative capacities. Moreover, 35 captains and 39 lieutenants and midshipmen of the Imperial navy were serving in 1884 on board steamers of the Black Sea navigation, the Caucasus and Mercury, and other subsidised lines of steamers. Besides the above, 1,094 officers of various grades belonging to special branches of the navy, such as pilots, engineers, artillerists, were borne on the active list in 1884. The effective number of sailors of the Imperial navy during the same period serving afloat was 24,512. They are, like the soldiers of the army, levied by recruitment. The period of service in the navy is nine years, seven of which must be spent in active service, and two in the reserve.

Russia has an extensive frontier both by sea and land, protected by numerous fortifications of various classes. On the west, Poland his defended by a system of four strongholds, sometimes called the

Polish Quadrilateral-Novogeorgeïevsk on the right bank of the Vistula; the fortifications of Warsaw, Ivangorod on both sides of the Vistula; Brest-Litovski on the Bug. There are numerous other fortified places, mostly neglected, on the Vistula and Bug; and works are being executed in the south at the foot of Mount Lysa-Gora. Between Poland and the Duna is the citadel of Vilna, while other works are being carried out on the river Niemen. The river Duna is defended at its mouth, at Riga, Dunaburg, and Vitebsk. On the west frontier, south of Poland, are several old fortified places which are being restored. The lower course of the Dniester is defended at Bender and Akkermann; behind this line are Bobruisk and Kiev; the entrance to the Dnieper and the Bug is defended by Kinburn and Ochakov. The Baltic coasts are defended at Dunamunde, Revel, Narva, Kronstadt, Viborg, Frederickshamm, Rochtensalm island, Sveaborg islands, Hangœud, Abo, and the Aland islands. Besides the places already mentioned, the Black Sea coast is defended by the batteries of Odessa and at Nikolaieff; in the Crimea Sevastopol has been refortified and the Isthmus of Perekop has various lines of defence, while small fortifications are found at Kertch, Yenikalé, Kaffa, Azov, and Taganrog. There are numerous fortified posts on the Caucasian coast, the chief of which is Poti, at the mouth of the Rion. The Caucasus itself has numerous fortifications of varying importance: Yekaterinodar on the Kuban; Adagun, Krymskaya, and Bakar on affluents of the left bank of that river; Vladikavkaz on the Terek and Nalchik on one of its left affluents; Derbend on the Caspian; Gunib and Deshlagar in Daghestan; Tiflis; Akalchik, Alexandropol, Erivan, and the recent annexations Kars, Ardahan, and Batum. In the Asiatic dominions are Krasnovodsk and Chikishlar on the Caspian; Chat, Kizil-Arvat, Askabad, and Sarakhs, on the Persian frontier; Nukuss and Petro-Alexandrovsk on the Khiva frontier; on that of Bokhara, Katykurgan and Samarkand, Uratiube and Khojent; on that of Kashgar, Karakol and Naryn; on the Chinese frontier, Bakhta and Borokhudzyr. In the interior of Russian Turkestan are several fortified places, as at Kazalinsk, Karamakchi, and Tashkent. On the Pacific coast there are fortifications at Nikolaievsk, at the mouth of the Amour, and Vladivostok. All these latter are earthworks, of importance only against the Asiatic neighbours of Russia.

Area and Population.

The Russian empire comprises one-seventh of the terrestrial part of the globe, and about one twenty-sixth part of its entire surface. Owing to the vast extent of the Empire, and its social condition, no surveys that can lay claim to accuracy have yet been made, and

the area is obtained in greater part from estimates. There has been likewise no general census of the population, but various enumerations, made by the government in recent years, mainly undertaken for purposes of finance or war, serve to furnish an approximately correct return of the numbers of the people. According to them, the total area of the Empire embraces 8,520,637 English square miles, while the total population numbers 102,682,124, being, on the average, 12 individuals to the square mile. The density of population of European Russia is considerably greater than that of the Asiatic part of the Empire. Russia in Europe (including Poland and Finland), comprising an area of 2,041,402 English square miles, with 86,486,959 inhabitants, has, on the average, 40 individuals to the square mile, while Asiatic Russia, extending over 6,479,235 English square miles, with 16,195,165 inhabitants, has not much more than two individuals to the square mile.

The following table exhibits the details of official estimates,referring mostly to the year 1882, as regards the whole of European Russia, and mostly to 1878-82, in respect to the Asiatic portion of the Empire-concerning the area and population of the various political and geographical divisions of the Empire of Russia :