EXPORTS BY ARCHANGEL AND THE WHITE SEA. 127 



between Orlof Poirit and the town of Ketn, stands out a 

 notable group of islets Solovetsk, Anzersk, Moksalma, 

 Zaet, and others : islets which play a singular part in the 

 history of Kussia, and connect themselves with curious 

 legends of the Imperial Court. 



' In Solovetsk, the largest of this group of islets, stands 

 the famous convent of that name ; the house of Saints 

 Savatie and Zosima ; the refuge of St. Philip ; the shrine 

 to which emperors and peasants go on pilgrimage. . . 



' By the Maimax arm we steam through the Delta for 

 some twenty miles, past low green banks and isles, bright 

 with grass and scrub. Beyond them, on the mainland, 

 lies a fringe of pines going back into space as far as the 

 eye can pierce, The low island lying on your right, as you 

 scrape the bar, is called St. Nicholas, after that sturdy 

 priest, who is said to have smitten the heretic Arius on 

 his cheek 



' On passing into the Maimax arm, your eyes long 

 dimmed by the sight of sombre rock, dark cloud, and 

 sullen surf are charmed by soft green grass and scrub; 

 but the sight goes vainly out through reeds and copse, in 

 search of some cheery note of house and farm. One log 

 hut you pass, and only one. Two men are standing near the 

 bank, in a little clearing of the wood ; a lad is rolling in a 

 frail canoe, which the wash of your steamer lifts and laves ; 

 but no one lodges in the shed. The men and boy have 

 come from a village some miles away. Dropping down 

 the river in their boat to cut down grass for their cows, 

 and gather up fuel for their winter fires, they will jump 

 into their canoe at vespers, and hie them home. 



' On the banks of older channels the villages are thick ; 

 slight groups of sheds and churches, with a cloister here 

 and there, and a scatter of windmills whirling against the 

 sky 



' On all these banks you notice a forest of memorial 

 crosses. When a sailor meets with bad weather he goes 

 on shore and sets up a cross. At the foot of this symbol 

 he kneels in prayer, and when a fair wind rises he leaves 



