chap. xr. PLOUGHING. 115 



thaw of the two rivers together had been loo much for 

 the Petchora. The ice was broken up for three or four 

 versts on either side of the town; most of it had disap- 

 peared, it might be under the other ice. Already several 

 boats were out, and the men were fishing in open water. 

 The breaking-up of the ice went on steadily for days. By 

 the 25th of May the great river was entirely free. Summer 

 had come upon them as suddenly as usual, and the people 

 were hard at work ; the women and children carting manure 

 on the land, using sledges, although the snow had disap- 

 peared, except where it lay in drifts ; the men breaking 

 up the ground with an antediluvian-looking plough, sowing- 

 corn broadcast, or harrowing in the seed with a wooden- 

 toothed harrow. 



A good deal of building was also going on. The year 

 before, the peasants had made large earnings out of the 

 fisheries, and were now spending larger sums than usual 

 in erecting houses. We found the demand for labour was 

 great, and wages were high. Few men could be got under 

 10s. per week. We spent our days, as usual, on the look-out 

 for the arrival of new migratory birds, in watching the 

 habits of those at hand, and in adding to our collection. 

 We saw no snow-buntings after the 18th ; the merlins dis- 

 appeared with them. Nor did w y e see any gulls after the 

 the 21st. The shore-larks and the Lapland buntings were 

 also growing scarce. Occasionally small flocks of them would 

 appear in the fields behind the house, sometimes so busy 

 feeding as to allow us to approach very near them. 



On the 21st of May we were surprised to find a pair of 



