LABOURING POPULATION. 177 



Siberia and the English convict as formerly transported to 

 Botany Bay ; but comparing the convicts of the two nations 

 as they now are, and taking the three primary needs 

 of life clothing, food, and shelter the Russian convict 

 proves to be fed more abundantly, if not better, than the 

 English convict, and the clothing of the two, having respect 

 to the dress of their respective countries, is very similar. 

 A convict's labour in Siberia is certainly lighter than in 

 England ; he has more privileges ; friends may see him 

 oftener and bring him food ; and he passes his time, not 

 in the seclusion of a cell, nor under imposed silence, but 

 among his fellows, with whom he may lounge, talk, and 

 smoke. I am now looking at things from a prisoner's 

 point of view, and referring more especially to his animal 

 requirements. When we look at his intellectual, moral, 

 and religious nature, then it must be allowed my former 

 comparsion, as between Russian and English prisons, no 

 longer holds good/' 



c In these latter respects, he admits, the Russian system 

 is sadly deficient; and one special hardship is, that the 

 prisoner condemned to hard labour is robbed of Sunday 

 rest. The Russian Criminal Code, while it has abolished 

 capital punishment, except for murder, is not yet entirely 

 purged of barbarous methods of punishment The " knout" 

 is no longer known, and Mr Lansdell found difficulty in 

 getting a description of what it used to be like. The 

 birch rod cannot be a formidable weapon, judging from 

 the story told of a soldier who received 1100 lashes for theft, 

 and at the end of a fortnight came to Mr Lansdell's host, 

 from whom he had stolen the goods, to ask for a glass of 

 grog, remarking that " for a bottleful he would not mind 

 having another 1100, if it might again be followed by a 

 fine time in hospital." But the plete, a whip of twisted 

 hide, which, however, is only used at three prisons in 

 Eastern Siberia, must be a very efficient substitute for 

 the knout. Mr Lansdell did not see it in operation, but 

 the description he gives of it should take away any 

 hankering for a closer acquaintance with it. The taking 



H 



