42 THE FOREST LANDS OF NORTHERN RUSSIA. 



opportunity several times in the coarse of the summer to 

 admire a steamboat which visits the place ; but beyond 

 this and fishing, change they have none. 



' Almost all the vessels which leave the landing-place of 

 Povonetz are laden with boards produced at this mill. In 

 the fullest sense of the word, Povonetz is a timber town, 

 and on arriving here I felt proud while I thought that my 

 profession was the principal profession of its inhabitants, 

 and had to do with the very source of its wealth. To 

 determine and specify what is the trade of the place must 

 occasion no difficulty to any one. Its imports consist of 

 everything excepting wood and fish, and its exports consist 

 of wood and fish alone, the latter principally Triska. 



' The discharge of my professional duties led me further 

 in the north. 



' For nine versts or six miles beyond Povonetz it is pos- 

 sible to travel by wheel, but beyond this point the journey 

 has to be made by water in very uncomfortable boats on 

 narrow lakes and rivers connected with them. From the 

 Lake Volozer issues the river Povetchanka, which flows 

 through a very picturesque country. Thanks to the high 

 hilly shores, the general rapid current of the river, and the 

 frequent occurrence of considerable rapids, this little river, 

 or rivulet, is in spring changed into a very dangerous 

 torrent, tearing along, and threatening to engulf and carry 

 along with it whatever may tumble into its waters. It 

 has a course of about eleven versts, nearly eight miles, and 

 by it are floated some 20,000 logs a year to the saw-mill 

 at Polonetz. 



'The construction of a road from near the Lake Volozer 

 to the White Sea has been projected, and the initiative of 

 the execution has been taken, but nothing more seems to 

 have been done. The proposal created great excitement 

 throughout the district, where there are very few roads of 

 any kind or other facilities for communication with other 

 parts. Scarcely could the projection of a railroad in any 

 other part of Russia produce so much discussion, and excite 

 so many hopes, as would the making of a common road in 



