FOREST EXPLOITATION. 195 



selves, against an advance, to cut and drive a certain 

 quantity of wood down to the banks of the rivers. These 

 advances are sometimes a third or one-half of the amount 

 they can expect to earn during the course of the winter, 

 but when the agreement is signed by the elected 

 members of the court of the village, or the Starosta and 

 the Uradnisk, as they are called here, there is hardly any 

 risk of loss. 



' In November the peasants come to the woods, each 

 with one or two, sometimes three, of their small pony-like 

 horses, in the last case called troskas, collecting together 

 often as many as 200 to 300 horses from one village. A 

 sort of abode for the winter is then erected in the woods, 

 built of small poles, earth, and straw, which reminds one 

 more than anything of the huts of the Esquimaux and 

 the Laplanders. The building is made in the following 

 manner: earth is thrown up so as to form a round flat 

 cake, 1 foot high, and 12 to 15 feet in diameter. On this 

 platform poles are placed in the shape of a sugar-loaf. On 

 the poles, at the top of which is a little hole for the 

 smoke to escape, is laid straw, and on the straw earth and 

 sand ; and in the side of this extraordinary Russian mud- 

 house there is an opening made for ingress and egress. 

 When ready, 12 to 15 men make it their home for the 

 winter. Furs, rags, and little boxes for provisions are 

 placed all around, and the fire, composed of large logs, 

 with the large saucepan, in the middle. When the work 

 of the day is over, the workmen seat themselves each on 

 his place round the flaming fire, on which the soup, com- 

 posed of meat, cabbage, and onions, boils ; this is the time 

 to see the Russian peasant, and to hear his monotonous 

 chant, reminding one of the inhabitants of some wild 

 country. As for him, he has no delicate nerves, and his 

 smelling organs seem to enjoy the smoky air as it 

 becomes heavier and thicker ; he puts his rags round him, 

 stretches himself out on the sandy ground, and, unmindful 

 of storm or cold, sleeps the sleep of the innocent till the 

 morning light, which wakes him up and reminds him it 



