nd success of his practice. Then there were makers of cigarettes,
dealers in various commodities, and professors of divers arts. Some of
the educated Siberians I met told me they had been taught almost
entirely by exiles.

Before the abolition of serfdom a proprietor could send his human
property into exile. He was not required to give any reason, the
record accompanying the order of banishment stating only that the serf
was exiled "by the will of his master." This privilege was open to
enormous abuse, but happily the ukase of liberty has removed it. The
design of the system was no doubt to enable proprietors to rid
themselves of serfs who were idle, dissolute, or quarrelsome, but had
not committed any act the law could touch.

A proprietor exiling a serf was required to pay his traveling expenses
of twenty-five roubles, and to furnish him an outfit of summer and
winter clothing. A wife was allowed to follow her husband, with all
their children not matured, and all their expenses were to be paid.
The abuse of the system consisted in the power to banish a man who had
committed no offence at all. The loss of services and the expense of
exiling a serf may have been a slight guarantee against this, but if
the proprietor were an unprincipled tyrant or a sensualist, (and he
might be both,) there was no protection for his subjects. It has
happened that the best man on an estate incurred the displeasure of
his owner and went to Siberia in consequence. Exile is a severe
punishment to the Russian peasant, who clings with enduring tenacity
to the place where his youthful days were passed.

Every serf exiled for a minor offense or at the will of his master was
appointed on his arrival in Siberia to live in a specified district.
If he could produce a certificate of good behavior at the end of three
years, he was authorized to clear and cultivate as much land as he
wished. If single he could marry, but he was not compelled to do so.
He was exempt from taxes for twelve years, and after that only paid a
trifle. He had no master and could act for himself in all things
except in returning to Russia. He was under the disadvantage of having
no legal existence, and though the land he worked was his own and no
one could disturb him, he did not hold it under written title. The
criminal who served at labor in the mines was placed, at the
expiration of his sentence, in the same category as the exile for
minor offences. Both cultivated land i