f the vessel into the Mole. One of the first things I
remember hearing in a Russian port was a savage mate swearing at some
labourers and threatening to throw them overboard. It is no
exaggeration to say that almost every day dead bodies came to the
surface and were taken to the "Bran" Wharf or to the mortuary, with
never a word of inquiry as to how they came by their end, though it
was well known that there had been foul play. It is true they were
awful thieves, very dirty, very lazy, and very provoking, and it was
because the officers were unable to get redress that they took the law
into their own hands. It is incredible that such a condition of things
was allowed to exist.

A stock phrase even to this day of predatory Russians is, "Knet
crawlim, tackem"--_i.e._, "I have not stolen, I have only taken." They
have a pronounced conviction that there is a difference between
stealing and taking. Tradition has it that a humorous seaman ages ago
conveyed this form of distinction to them, and it has stuck to them
ever since. Another peculiarity of the race is that they wear the same
large grey coat in the summer as they do in the winter; they are
taught to believe that what keeps out cold keeps out heat. When they
take drink they never stop until they are dead drunk, then they lie
anywhere about the streets and quays. The police, who are not much
better, use them very cruelly. During the Russo-Turkish war hundreds
of the common soldiers, who are similar to the common labourer, were
found lying on the battle-field, presumably dead, when it was found
they were only dead drunk. I was told by a doctor, who went right
through the campaign, that it was customary to fill the "soldads," as
they are called, previous to a battle, with vodka. The lower order of
Russians must be hardy, or they could never stand the extremes of cold
and heat, and the terrible food they have to eat. They are not
long-lived. I cannot recall ever having seen a very old Russian
labourer.

The emancipation of the serfs was a great grievance to the old seamen,
who looked back to the days when they could with impunity chastise or
finish a serf without a feeling of reproach. After the emancipation it
became a terror to have them aboard ship. Many a mate has been heavily
fined and locked up in a pestilential cell for merely shoving a
fellow who was caught in the act of stealing, or found skulking, or
deliberately refusing to work properly. Labourers, in fact, b