many hundreds are scattered through
the villages in the vicinity. The mining season begins in May and ends
in September. In March and April the clerks and superintendents
engage their laborers, paying a part of their wages in advance. The
wages are not high, and only those in straitened circumstances, the
dissolute, and profligate, who have no homes of their own, are
inclined to let themselves to labor in gold mines.

Many works are extensive, and employ a thousand or more laborers each.
The government grants mining privileges to individuals on certain
conditions. The land granted must be worked at least one year out of
every three, else the title reverts to the government, and can be
allotted again. The grantee must be either a hereditary nobleman or
pay the tax of a merchant of the second guild, or he should be able to
command the necessary capital for the enterprise he undertakes. His
title holds good until his claim is worked out or abandoned, and no
one can disturb him on any pretext. He receives a patent for a strip
of land seven versts long and a hundred fathoms wide, on the banks of
a stream suitable for mining purposes. The claim extends on both sides
of the stream, and includes its bed, so that the water may be utilized
at the will of the miner.

Sometimes the grantee desires a width of more than a hundred fathoms,
but in such case the length of his claim is shortened in proportion.

It requires a large capital to open a claim after the grant is
obtained. The location is often far from any city or large town, where
supplies are purchased. Transportation is a heavy item, as the roads
are difficult to travel. Sometimes a hundred thousand roubles will be
expended in supplies, transportation, buildings, and machinery, before
the work begins. Then men must be hired, taken to the mines, clothed,
and furnished with, proper quarters. The proprietor must have at hand
a sufficient amount of provisions, medical stores, clothing, and
miscellaneous goods to supply his men during the summer. Everything
desired by the laborer is sold to him at a lower price than he could
buy elsewhere, at least such is the theory. I was told that the mining
proprietors make no profits from their workmen, but simply add the
cost of transportation to the wholesale price of the merchandise. The
men are allowed to anticipate their wages by purchase, and it often
happens that there is very little due them at the end of the season.

Governmen