or
stream by which timber may be floated, the trees not used in this way
rot from old age. Under these circumstances the system is reasonable,
but it must be admitted that it does not give a very large return for
the amount of labour expended, and in bad seasons it gives almost no
return at all.

The other sources of revenue are scarcely less precarious. With his
gun and a little parcel of provisions the peasant wanders about in the
trackless forests, and too often returns after many days with a very
light bag; or he starts in autumn for some distant lake, and comes
back after five or six weeks with nothing better than perch and pike.
Sometimes he tries his luck at deep-sea fishing. In this case he starts
in February--probably on foot--for Kem, on the shore of the White Sea,
or perhaps for the more distant Kola, situated on a small river which
falls into the Arctic Ocean. There, in company with three or four
comrades, he starts on a fishing cruise along the Murman coast, or,
it may be, off the coast of Spitzbergen. His gains will depend on the
amount caught, for it is a joint-venture; but in no case can they be
very great, for three-fourths of the fish brought into port belongs to
the owner of the craft and tackle. Of the sum realised, he brings home
perhaps only a small part, for he has a strong temptation to buy
rum, tea, and other luxuries, which are very dear in those northern
latitudes. If the fishing is good and he resists temptation, he may save
as much as 100 roubles--about 10 pounds--and thereby live comfortably
all winter; but if the fishing season is bad, he may find himself at the
end of it not only with empty pockets, but in debt to the owner of the
boat. This debt he may pay off, if he has a horse, by transporting the
dried fish to Kargopol, St. Petersburg, or some other market.

It is here in the Far North that the ancient folk-lore--popular songs,
stories, and fragments of epic poetry--has been best preserved; but this
is a field on which I need not enter, for the reader can easily find all
that he may desire to know on the subject in the brilliant writings of
M. Rambaud and the very interesting, conscientious works of the late Mr.
Ralston,* which enjoy a high reputation in Russia.

* Rambaud, "La Russie Epique," Paris, 1876; Ralston, "The
Songs of the Russian People," London, 1872; and "Russian
Folk-tales," London, 1873.

CHAPTER VIII

THE MIR, OR VILLAGE COMMUNITY

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