ST. MICHAEL'S DAY 91 



clear. The wealthier peasants' wives and daughters were 

 arrayed in velvet and gold, silk and satin ; those of the 

 poorer in linen and cotton, almost entirely of Russian 

 manufacture. The women, as a rule, wore the rubakha, 

 which is simply a skirt put over the fur malitza, coming 

 down to within a few inches of the ground ; their 

 chaussures consisted of high boots, and their head-dress 

 of an orientally coloured handkerchief, tied behind. We 

 had already noticed this Eastern taste for colour among 

 the peasantry. A few days previously an imposing 

 wedding procession had passed our window. The larger 

 number of the party were on horseback, two on each 

 horse. All were brightly dressed : the men wore knots 

 of ribbons on their shoulders ; the women, gaily apparelled, 

 had on various and curious head-dresses, ornamented 

 with gold braid. Yet, for all their brilliancy, the colours 

 did not look garish, a little touch of grey being always 

 introduced to subdue the effect. 



On St. Michael's Day it is customary to make presents 

 to the Church. The peasants brought various sorts of 

 offerings, cows, sheep, gloves, ribbons, etc., which were 

 afterwards sold by auction. Then the afternoon was spent 

 in merry-making, and, as is too often the case on a Russian 

 holiday, the revellers all got more or less drunk. 



We found the condition of things wonderfully altered 

 at Ust-Zylma by the breaking up of the ice of the Zylma 

 and the Pizhma. Despite the map, the latter river flows 

 into the Petchora, and is not a tributary of the Zylma. 

 The thaw of the two rivers together had been too much 

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

 four versts on either side of the town ; most of it had 

 disappeared, perhaps beneath 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 



