57 



by which are brought the goods obtained in this town from Archangel. 

 Add to this two or three legends or traditions about Peter, and all 

 records of his having been here are exhausted. 



" Almost close to the town, on the estuary of the Povetchanka, is 

 the saw-mill, which gives some little life to the town, and is the 

 only thing which vivifies its existence. 



" The whole biographies of the place tell only of what relate to the 

 works, besides which the inhabitants have an opportunity several 

 times in the course of the summer to admire a steamboat which visits 

 the place ; bub 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 profes- 

 sion 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 official duties led me further in the north. 

 " For nine versts or six miles beyond Povonetz it is possible to 

 travel by coach, but beyond this point the journey had to be made 

 by water in very uncomfortable boats on narrow lakes, and rivers 

 connected with them. From the Lake Volozer issuesthe river Povet- 

 chanka, 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 Eussia produce so much discussion and excite so many hopes 

 as would the making of a common road in this country. This part of 

 the government of Olonetz is passing through that period of its his- 

 tory at which any measures taken for the formation of roads, the 

 opening up or clearing of forests, or the introduction of regular syste- 

 matic agriculture, possess very great interest. 



