ABSTRACT
Russia, then, occupies a vast territory to the North of Europe and Asia, from which, however, it is shut off by mountains and frozen seas. To the North, the Arctic Ocean is frozen for from seven to ten months of the year, to the East the Sea of Okhotsk for six and the Sea of Japan at Vladivostock for three months, to the West the Baltic for four or five. To the South, the Black Sea issues to the Mediterranean through two straits in alien hands, while the Caspian Sea is landlocked. The land frontier makes equally for isolation, as it principally consists of vast and remote plateaux and mountains. The land of Russia has had a great effect upon the Russian spirit. It is a land of sadness, and of laughter; of icy Winter, and of sudden Spring; of tempest and the wolf, of lilac and the nightingale. Above all is its vastness, its mystery.
