n6 LISKI 



girl is in her grave." For his sake I hope that his belief 

 in a hereafter is true, and that he will be rewarded for his 

 long years of weary waiting. 



Russia is a very hard country for a person unacquainted 

 with the language to travel in ; for the vast majority of pure- 

 bred Russians know no tongue bar their own. I really think 

 they are worse linguists than the English, which is saying a 

 great deal. Almost all the officers of the Guards can make 

 themselves understood in two if not three languages ; but, 

 as I have already said, very few of the officers of other 

 regiments are educated up to that pitch. Russian naval 

 officers tell me that they are obliged to learn English. All 

 the Russian generals I have ever met, with the exception of 

 General Avscharof, spoke French, which language appears 

 to be obligatory on every Russian officer who aspires to wear 

 a red-lined overcoat. Russian ladies are all supposed to 

 know French. Their facility in that language is a boon to 

 publishers, if not to literature ; for in that country of copies, 

 the usual honorarium for translating a French novel of, say, 

 100,000 words is five guineas! As there is no copyright in 

 foreign books in Russia, the Muscovite scribbler has a big 

 task to compete against the cream of foreign literature pro- 

 duced at a line of ten words for half a farthing. In Russia, 

 there is a large number of people of German descent, not 

 only in the Baltic Provinces, but also in German colonies 

 scattered throughout the country, almost all of whom jealously 

 keep up a knowledge of their mother-tongue. I have been 

 often told that the German - speaking population of St. 

 Petersburg numbers 200,000. History tells us that even 

 in the time of Peter the Great, there was a large German 

 colony at Moscow. When travelling by train in the 

 interior, I seldom failed to get help from a German-speaking 

 passenger, when I was unable to express my wants in 

 Russian. 



