30 THEj FOREST LANDS OF NORTHERN RUSSIA. 



head, while I listened to the conversation carried on by 

 my fellow traveller and our host. It appeared that on the 

 preceding night, a bear had entered the kraal, and was 

 hugging one of the cows in a death-gripe, preparatory to 

 carrying it off, when it was disturbed by the bell of our 

 tarantass, and the rattling of our vehicle over the planks of 

 the bridge by which we approached the pavilion. Bears 

 are abundant in the forests there. Twenty carcasses of 

 cows hugged to death by bears had been found in the 

 neighbourhood of Petrozavodsk in the course of the pre- 

 ceding year, and game of all kinds abound. Winged game, 

 rabschick and tytark, may be had for a mere trifle, and, the 

 mystery of hare-soup being still unknown, hares are a drug, 

 the people being unwilling to eat them, and when they 

 do prepare them for the table they are larded with strips 

 of bacon introduced with a larding pin before being cooked, 

 otherwise, they say, the flesh would be too dry to be 

 eatable. 



The wages of this forest warder were 18 roubles, or 36s, 

 a month, with eight dezatines, or 20 acres of arable land, 

 free pasturage for his cows, and the horse which he is 

 required to keep. He and his wife had been there for 

 eighteen years. By way of ' stirrup cup ' our hostess had 

 prepared for us a cup of tea at our hour of starting, and I 

 having asked for a glass of milk, it seemed to give her 

 greater pleasure than even it did to me, to give me as 

 much milk as I chose to drink. 



I may mention that other forest officials are remunerated 

 in the same way salary, dwelling-house, and arable land, 

 varying with their rank and position. They hold rank 

 corresponding to that in the army, with corresponding 

 uniforms of which the higher officials have four sets one 

 appropriated to work in the forests, another to work in the 

 office, another so-called full dress uniform, and a fourth 

 characterised as undress uniform. On retiring from the 

 service they retire with rank next higher in grade to that 

 which they held, and with permission to wear the corres- 

 ponding uniform ; but not until they have attained to the 



