BOO 



715 



BOO 



Boom, 

 Boors. 



Crwn 

 boon. 



BOOM. See Naval Tactics, and Shipbuild- 

 ing. 



BOORS, a ^.neral appellation for the Russian 

 peasantry, who are divided into two great classes, dis- 

 tinguished by the names of vassal boors and free 

 boors. It is necessary to observe, however, that the 

 free peasants, though generally comprehended among 

 the boors, both in state papers, and in the enumera- 

 tion of the people, are, in reality, a distinct class, 

 forming a middle link between the burghers and the 

 vassal peasantry, to whom the name of boors proper- 

 ly belongs. These free peasants cannot be alienated 

 or sold ; most of them possess immoveable property, 

 and are left in the undisturbed possession of what 

 they earn, provided they duly pay their taxes, or per- 

 form their stated tasks of labour j they have the pri- 

 vilege of educating their children as they please ; and, 

 in short, are as completely exempted as their superi- 

 ors from all authority, except that of the sovereign 

 and the laws of the state. Under this class are in- 

 cluded the foreign colonists who have settled in Rus- 

 sia as husbandmen ; and the odnodvortzi, or one- 

 house owners, who possess their houses and the lands 

 belonging to them as free property, for which they 

 neither perform feudal services, nor give any portion 

 of their produce ; but are compelled to furnish re- 

 cruits, to pay the poll tax, and abrock, and are ex- 

 pressly prohibited from purchasing in villages, or pos- 

 sessing vassals as property. The Kozacks, or Cos- 

 sacks, in all their branches, Tartars, Bashkirs, Vo- 

 gulls, Kalmucks, most of the Monadic tribes, and 

 the inhabitants of the steppes, as they have a real and 

 heritable property in their lands, belong properly 

 to the class of free peasants. Disbanded soldiers, who 

 go to reside in the country, and vassals who have pur- 

 chased their freedom from their superiors, or obtain- 

 ed it as a reward for their faithful services, are like- 

 wise to be numbered in the same class. The male 

 Russian peasantry, or those of Little Russia, hold a 

 kind of intermediate rank between the vassal boors 

 and those we have described, being neither so de- 

 pendent as the former, nor so free as the latter : 

 they are attached as fixed property to the land, 

 separately from which they can neither be aliena- 

 ted nor sold. 



The vassal boors are sunk in the most abject slave- 

 ry. Disqualified from holding any possessions of their 

 own, they and their families are at the absolute dispo- 

 sal of their lords, by whom they may be alienated, 

 sold, or exchanged, like any other part of their pro- 

 perty. These degraded people may be distributed 

 into three classes, crown boors, boors of the mines, 

 and private boors. 



In the condition of the first class, who are the vas- 

 sals of the crown, there are various gradations of ser- 

 vitude and misery. Some of them are absolute and 

 disposable property ; others are attached to the mines, 

 and can neither be sold, nor have it in their power to 

 remove ; while others are merely tasked with a cer- 

 tain portion of work, or obliged to pay a stated 

 quantity of the produce of their labours. A stri- 

 king difference may be observed between the condi- 

 tion of the peasants of the crown, and that of the 

 boors who belong to individuals. In general the for- 

 mer merely pay to government an abrock or rent of 



about five rnbles at an average ; and as they are cer- Baorj. 

 tain that it will never be raised, they have every en- 

 couragement to exert themselves for the improve- 

 ment of their fields, or the amelioration of their con- 

 dition. Many of these are in such comfortable cir- 

 cumstances, that they might almost forget their state 

 of vassalage, did not the crown possess, and some- 

 times exert, the power of granting them away. 



The crown boors are distinguished by various de- 

 nominations, according to their respective employ- 

 ments, or to particular circumstances in their condi- 

 tion. Eight distinct kinds of crown boors are men- 

 tioned in the laws and ukases of Russia : empire boors, 

 who belong neither to the court, nor the nobility, 

 nor to the monasteries, but are members or burghers 

 of the empire ; imperial boors, who belong to the 

 monarch personally, or rather to the court ; boors of 

 the black plough, who inhabit great part of northern 

 Russia, as far as Archangel ; post boors, who, in 

 lieu of the abrock and other taxes, are bound to keep 

 post horses ; court boors, whose service and tribute 

 go to the support of the imperial court ; monastery 

 boors, formerly attached to the monasteries, but now 

 throughout Great, Little, and White Russia, uni- 

 formly found under the Kameral-hofs ; economy 

 boors, who, in Great Russia, were taken from the 

 monasteries and churches, and made subordinate to a 

 particular college of economy, established for that 

 purpose, but since abolished, so that the boors are 

 under the Kameral-hofs, retaining however their for- 

 mer name ; and peltry tribute paying boors, who 

 deliver their tribute in peltry or furs. The crown 

 boors possess one important advantage over boors of 

 every other description, being permitted to purchase 

 from noblemen, villages and lands, with the vassals 

 belonging to them. 



The next general class of boors are those called Mine 

 mine boors, who are attached to particular mines, boors.; 

 apart from which they cannot be sold or exchanged, 

 though they may be transferred along with the works 

 to different masters. 



The third class comprehends those boors who be- Private 

 long to individual noblemen, and whose condition, boorj. 

 of course, depends entirely on the temper or the 

 caprice of their lords. The condition of many of 

 these boors indeed is far from being unhappy ; for 

 when their lords are wealthy and good natured, re- 

 quiring only a moderate abrock, they are enabled 

 to grow rich, and to enjoy many of the comforts 

 of life. In general, however, the abrock demand- 

 ed by their proprietors is regulated by their means 

 of getting money, and becomes thus a direct tax 

 upon the industry of the peasant. The abrock ex- 

 acted by individual proprietors from their peasant- 

 ry, amounts, at an average, to about eight or ten 

 rubles annually for every male. Besides this abrock, 

 the lord may demand from his slave the labour of 

 three days during each week ; or may even employ 

 him every day, provided he furnish him with food and 

 clothing. Nor is this task service imposed on male 

 slaves alone. Women, and children above the age of 

 ten, are likewise compelled to perform their share. 

 When the peasant is thus obliged to give his labour 

 for three days in the week, the abrock is in general 

 diminished. But still both the quantity of labour 



