1 6 THROUGH RUSSIA ON A MUSTANG. 



batraks (men without land who work for wages) 

 here ? " 



" Men and mirs are very much alike," he returned ; 

 v some are wise and some foolish. Most men become 

 batraks because they have foolishly borrowed money, 

 and, being unable to repay, their horses and cows have 

 been sold, and they have lost their power to cultivate 

 any of the mir's land. Every member of the mir has 

 the right to work a share of the land for the support of 

 his family and the payment of his taxes, a large or 

 small portion according to the number of persons 

 capable of field-work and tax-payment in the family ; 

 but with the loss of his horses and the means of work- 

 ing land he is no longer a moujik, but a batrak, a man 

 who would starve but for charity or work given him by 

 others." 



" What is the hardest thing about the way you are 

 governed?" 



" The taxes," sang out our hearers in one voice, and 

 the countenances of all lit up, and tongues wagged vol- 

 ubly in eager rivalry to tell their tale of woe. 



" So the government taxes you prettv heavily, does 

 it?" 



" No, no; the government gets but very little of it. 

 If the government knew all that happens to the moujik, 

 it would pity him. The government taxes the mir and 

 the mir taxes the individual. The elders collect the 

 taxes and go off to Novgorod and drink vodka and eat 

 caviar with the Novgorod officials, then come back 

 and demand more taxes. It would be much better for 

 us all if the Czar could sweep away everybody that 

 stands between the Imperial Government and the 



