CHAP. vni. FIRE. 85 



calling, and many sledges would drive up to the house where 

 we were, from the neighbouring villages. The peasants 

 combined business with these visits to town, and we bought 

 one Sunday four skins of the white fox and one of the grey fox 

 for nine roubles and a half, from one of Boulegan's visitors. 



Once we had an opportunity of seeing the people of Ust- 

 Zylma turning out to extinguish a fire. A small conflagra- 

 tion burst out in the house of Captain Arendt. All the 

 villagers trooped to the spot, armed with axes, wooden 

 shovels, and boat-hooks. It is the law that in case of fire 

 every peasant should assist in putting it out. On each 

 house a board is nailed up, on which is roughly sketched 

 the article its inhabitant mast furnish to assist in extin- 

 guishing the flames. The people keep to their primitive 

 ways and habits. We watched a peasant one day shooting 

 at a mark with a flint-lock rifle. The barrel was very 

 thick, and the bore the size of a large pea. He carried 

 a spiral coil of lead, and, when the unsophisticated fellow 

 wanted a bullet, he bit a piece off with his perfectly 

 white regular teeth, and chewed it into a rough bullet. 

 His gun, which he told us was worth five roubles, was 

 ornamented all over the stock with by no means unartistic 

 carvings. 



On one occasion we assisted at a wedding in the Orthodox 

 Greek church. The marriage ceremony took place in the 

 afternoon, and was sufficiently imposing. The priest met 

 the couple at the vestibule of the church. After going 

 through a form of prayer, he presented the bride and bride- 

 groom with a lighted taper, which he had first crossed over 



