lo TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



nia. The land of the White Eussian is heavily wooded and in parts 

 marshy, the soil like that of the Baltic provinces being poor and un- 

 productive. The territory of the Little Eussian, on the other hand, is 

 flat and open, comprising the rich black earth belt and the vast grazing 

 steppes of the south. The home of the Great Eussian extends from 

 White Eussia eastward to the Volga and from Little Eussia northward 

 towards the Arctic. 



The distinction between these groups is not fanciful but very real. 

 The language spoken by the three groups, though basically the same, 

 differs so much that they can not understand each other. One may be 

 quite conversant with Muscovite and yet be unable to understand the 

 Eussian of the Ukraine. Indeed on the border territory between Great 

 and Little Eussia villages are found where the two peoples have lived 

 side by side for generations without mixing and without understand- 

 ing each other's speech. The two groups also differ markedly in ap- 

 pearance. The Great Eussian is blonde with chestnut or auburn hair, 

 light complexion and beer colored eyes. In disposition he is phlegmatic, 

 stolid and stubborn. The Little Eussian, on the other hand, though 

 possessing the head type of the eastern Slav, as I have already indi- 

 cated, is dark, even swarthy, with brown eyes and dark brown hair. A 

 further difference appears in his stature, for the Little Eussian, despite 

 his name, is big, considerably taller on the average than his brother 

 the Great Eussian. The reason for this is not easy to find, unless the 

 greater stature of the Little Eussian is but another reflection of the 

 influence of environment. The Little Eussian occupies the best land 

 of Eussia, the fertile soil of the black earth belt, and the consequent 

 better nourishment extending over a long period of time together with 

 some admixture of old Polish stock is doubtless responsible for his 

 larger stature. 



But it is not merely physically that the Little Eussian differs from 

 the Great Eussian. He differs from him quite as much in disposition 

 and habits of life. He is more mellow and open hearted; the sun of 

 the southland has made him kind, hospitable and emotional. He is 

 musical, highly imaginative and poetical, fond of pleasure, games and 

 dancing. To him Eussia owes most of her music, her poetry and her 

 folk song. " What ecstasy, what joy has a summer day in Little Eussia," 

 cries Gogol, in the bleak and uncongenial Petersburg, as he writes 

 his "Evenings on a Farm in the Ukraine." Indeed this gifted son of 

 Little Eussia, whose sketches reflect so many of the characteristics of 

 his native land, denied to the Great Eussian with his roughness, surli- 

 ness and phlegmatic character, any share or claim in the Slavonic race. 

 With the White Eussian we can not linger; he is regarded by some 

 as nearest the original type of the eastern Slav. His name is probably 

 a result of the color of his clothes — a light-colored homespun devoid 



