Tho second line of water communication is formed by the Tikhwiva Canal, near 59° 25' N. let., 34° 20' E. long. This line of gation begins in the Volga at the mouth of the Maloga, north of N. let., and near 38° 30' E. long. It ascends the last-mentioned liver to its moat northern bend, where it is joined by its large affluent the Chagoda or Chagodocha : it then follows the last-mentioned river to its junction with the Somino, which rises in the lakes of Somino and Eglino. The Lake of Eglino is united by the Tikhwina Canal with the small Lake of Lebidini, which is the source of the river Tikh winks. The Tikhwinka runs westward into the Sias, which falls into the Lake of Ladoga a few miles east of the embouchure of the Volchow. The canal itself is only 5 miles long and 36 feet wide st its upper leveL A few cuts have been mado in the Somino and Tikh winks, but their length does not exceed 4 miles.
The third line of water communication traverses the two lakes of Onega and Bjelob Otero. The Kowsha, a navigable river which rises in Lake Kowshob Otero, falls into the Lake Bjelob Ozero from the north-west. Some miles wet of the Lake Kowahoii are the sources of the river Vytegra, a feeder of Lake Ortega. Between these two rivers is the Lake of Matko, whose waters, with those of the Kow shob, are used to feed the locks of three abort canals, whose length, taken together, does not exceed 8 miles. These canals are named the Mary Canals, in honour of the empress Mary (wife of Paul), who paid the expense of the undertaking. The river Cheksina, which issues from the Bjelob Otero and falls into the Volga above Rybinsk, con tain, some rapids, which are avoided by a cut 12 miles long near the town of Tchereponetz. The Tikhwina and Mary Canals can only be navigated from the end of April to the middle of October.
As these three systems of inland navigation traverse the lakes of Ladoga and Onega, and the barges were originally obliged to ps.sa over them, heavy losses of property were frequently incurred by the barges being swamped during the gales to which the lakes are subject. To avoid this dangerous navigation, canals have been made along the 'anthers) shores of the lakes. The most western canal, called the Ladoga Canal, unites the river Volchow with the Neva ; it. is nearly 70 miles long, from 10 to 14 fathoms wide, from 4 to 7 feet deep in summer, and from 7 to 10 feet in spring. Steam-engines are used in some of the locks in this canal, which was finished in 1733. When the Tikhwina Canal was made, this line of navigation was extended farther east by the Sias Canal, which runs along the southern banks of Lake Ladoga to the mouth of the river Sias, and is nearly 7 miles long, 8 fathoms wide, and 5 feet deep. To obviate the danger which the barges passing through the Mary Canals might encounter in navigating Lake Onega, the Onega Canal was undertaken, which begins in the river Vytegra, about 10 mile* from its mouth, and runs westward to the lake. It is about 14 miles long, 12 fathoms wide, and in general 7 feet deep. From the embouchure of the Swir to that of the Sias, where the Sias Canal begins, a canal was completed in 1810, which is about 23 miles long and from 13 to 22 fathoms wide: its lowest level is 7 feet below the surface of the Ladoga. It is called the Swir Canal, and has no locks. Thus a line of canals surrounds the southern extremity of the Lake of Ladoga, from the month of the Swir to the place where the Neva issues from the lake. The whole line is somewhat more than
100 mile. long.
The Lake of Bjalob and its outlet the river Chelan* have recently afforded the means of uniting by one system of canals (Alexander Canal) the river Define and Archangel with the river Volga and with the city of St. Petersburg. This line of canals begins in the Chekana, about 20 miles below its efflux from the lake, near the town of Kinlow, whence it rune eastward through esweral small lakes to the river Porosowiza, which falls into the Lake of Kubinakob. The last mentioned lake is the source of the river Snkhona, the principal branch of the Dwina, which is navigable for large barges from the place where it leave. the lake. The whole line between Mellow and the Lake of Kubinako6 does not much exceed 40 miles. This navi gation, which was completed in 1828, is of great importance for the transport of timber, the produce of the extensive pine-foresta on both aides of the Sutton& In the year 1825 was commenced the Moakwa and Volga Canal, which beguis on the Volga, at the mouth of the river Dubna, about 40 miles below Twer, ascends the Dubin to its confluence with the &stria, and then the hitter river to the vicinity of the town of Klin. At Klin the canal begins which leads to the Lake of Cuisine, which constitutes the summit level, and where a reservoir is formed which covers about four square miles. From this lake the vessels paas by another canal to the river Istra, which passes near Voskresensk, and falls into the river Moskwa about 26 miles above the city of Moscow. Near 61' N. lat. a canal (Catherine Canal) unites the Vychegda, one of the principal branches of the Dwina, with the Kama, which Is the largest affluent of the Volga, by forming a water communication between two rivers called the Northern and Southern Keltma. The river Duna is united to the Dnieper by the Beresinakoi Canal, which joins the Oola, an affluent of the Duna, to the Berezina, a tributary of the Dnieper. The river Niemen is united to the river Dnieper by the oginsky Canal, which forms a communication between the river tizezam, a tributary of the Niemen, and the Ysalolda, an affluent of the Pripecz. or Pripets: the last-mentioned river traverses the swamp, of Pinsk and Ratuor, and falls into the Dnieper. A communication betwe4n the Vistula and the Dnieper estate by means of the Pins. Canal, which unites the river Mookhavice (which joins the Vistula at Brum Litewaki) and the Pripec& elistate.—The fact that the intensity of cold in Europe incresees from west to east, is illustrated by the climate of Russia. While the mean annual temperature of the western coast of Norway as far north as North Cape is always above 32° Fahr., or the freezing-point, in a considerable portion of the moat northern part of Russia the mean annual temperature is below 32°. This is the case with the whole of Russian Lapland as far south as 66° N. lat., and also the whole country drained by the rivers Pechora and Mezen. But this severity of climate does not prevent the growth of trees ; along the upper courses of both rivers forests of considerable extent occur. But where the mean annual temperature does not exceed 25° or 26°, which is the case near the months of both rivers, a shrub a few inches high is rarely met with. Yet on the peninsula of Kola, where the mean annual tempe rature is certainly below 32°, barley is cultivated, and generally comes to maturity. This part of Russia may be called the Arctic Region.