THE SAMARA-ZLATOUST RAILWAY.
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western direction. The northern portion, including the Bugulmfnsk, Bugu-ruslan. Stavropol and part of the Samara and Buzuluk districts, is mountainous; the suthern part, comprising the remainder of the Samara and Buzuluk districts, and those of Xikohiev and Xovouzensk, presents a steppe. In the north of the government, the soil consists of clayey blackearth or sand. The subsoil is formed of different kinds of clay and, at some points, of sandstone and limestone. On the south, in the eastern portion of the government, the soil consists of sedimentary rocks, while on  the west, the  steppe
Alexander Bridge on the Volga.
is chiefly characterised by tertiary and more recent formations. In the first instance, it is represented by a thin layer of argilaceous blackearth which, diminishing in thickness towards the south, further on disappears altogether. The banks of the Volga have a sandy and blackearth soil, while in this part of the government the subsoil contains clay, limestone and different kinds of slate.
The climate of the Samara government is continental, the highest mean temperature in July being 21.4°, and the lowest in .January,—16.2°. In its southern portion, the heat and cold are greater. Near Samara, the A^olga is free of ice from the 16-th April to the 13-th December; thus, the winter lasts four months. The settlement of the Samara government, whose past history is closely connected with that of the Volga river, the chief water-way of Russia, dates from the end of the XVI century. Its colonisation progressed rapidly after 1.764, when the Empress Catherine II permitted the settlement of foreigners and dissenters, granting them considerable immunities. The whole population may be ethnographically divided into the following groups:  1)  the  Russian Slavonic  village and town population  forming 68%;
2)  the natives belonging to the Finnish race, and represented by Mordva, Chuvash, Votiak. and Cheremis (14%), inhabiting the north of the government;
3)  the natives of the Mongolian race, the Tatars (2%); 4) those of the Vogul race, the Bashkirs (8%), and 5) German colonists, forming about (8%) of the total population.
Agriculture is the most important industry in this goA^ernment, which on account of its physical conditions is one of the most fertile in Russia.