EXPORT TIMBER TRAt>E. 121 



21 feet length, bat thu friend who had led them into the 

 business had so manipulated the people who drew up the 

 contract that he paid so much per root. This made the 

 superiors of the Department grumble : and they became 

 suspicious, and put all possible difficulties in the way, and 

 then circumstances arose which led the principal partners 

 of the company to retire from the copartnery, and to leave 

 the business in the hands of the manager, with what 

 results I have not learned. 



' On the River Mazeen one Rysanov has a contract for 

 cutting the timber. He began five or six years back. 

 At first there was a difficulty in getting ships to go there, 

 but now they go readily. This is considered to be a won- 

 derfully good business for Rysanov, as the wood is of an 

 uncommon kind for that part.' 



By another of my informants, not less conversant with 

 the work, I was told that in some cases the whole of 

 the wood belonging to several wood-cutters or dealers is 

 brought to one place on the banks of a stream, some as 

 logs, some in billets for furnace fires, 2J arschens in length, 

 some in billets for household use, or not marked as belong- 

 ing to different proprietors, but all carefully measured, and 

 the measurements of wood belonging to each carefully 

 noted, and all is floated away together to be re-collected 

 by a weir and proper appliances at a lower level, where it 

 is again divided in the proportions noted, and any defi- 

 ciency is borne by the whole in the same proportions. 

 But the large timber is generally floated on the lower 

 rivers in rafts. Much of the wood is floated, and in some 

 parts, but not everywhere, a charge is made by Government 

 for license to float the timber. 



By another gentleman, an engineer, I was informed that 

 he had not seen the cutting of trees for timber, but he had 

 seen a good deal of various saw-mills at the mouths of 

 rivers flowing into the Lake Ladoga. The timber, roughly 

 hewn, is floated down these rivers towards the lake* At 



