414 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



Pkolo b,j C. I. Kazan. TARTARS. 



Scandinavian family in friendly relations with the Slavs. Eurik and his brothers willingly 

 accepted the posts offered. Tinder their command the Russians beat back the tribes which 

 invaded their lands to drive off the flocks and. herds at that time forming their sole wealth. 

 Gradually they acquired power and overcame the neighbouring peoples. They absorbed within 

 their own society the tribes they defeated, annexed their lands, and constantly carried on the 

 slow but certain process of extension till their empire reached its present size. 



Others affirm that the Russians were practically slaves until the emancipation of the serfs. 

 The Russians themselves declare that serfdom was in no sense slavery; that the nation did 

 not in the past, and could not possibly in the future, submit to slavery; in short, that 

 slavery never existed in Russia. It is impossible, however, for any one who considers the 

 subject dispassionately to avoid the conclusion that the serfs were to all intents and purposes 

 domestic slaves chattels sold and bought in open market within the present century. 

 Sir D. Mackenzie Wallace quotes from The Moscow Gazette of 1801: "To Be Sold: three 

 coachmen, well trained and handsome; and two girls, the one eighteen and the other fifteen 

 years of age, both of them good-looking and well acquainted with various kinds of handiwork. 

 In the same house there are for sale two hairdressers: the one, twenty-one years of age, can 

 read, write, play on a musical instrument, and act as huntsman; the other can dress ladies' 



