46 THROUGH RUSSIA ON A MUSTANG. 



all the land between Moscow and St. Petersburg that 

 has not been cleared for cultivation or burned off. 

 Tremendous quantities of wood are piled up at the 

 stations for the railway company and for shipment to 

 cities. The piles are built up like cord-wood and at 

 some stations cover fifty acres of ground. St. Peters- 

 burg and Moscow burn wood almost exclusively, and 

 the provincial towns and villages know no other fuel. 

 The quantity of pine wood consumed in the long, cold 

 Russian winter by two cities, the size of Brooklyn, is 

 enormous, and the cutting and transportation of the 

 same give occupation to a large share of the surround- 

 ing peasantry. 



At nearly every station was seen the inevitable 

 drunken moujik, stupid and happy. One of them at- 

 tempted to pass through our car. He stumbled over a 

 bundle. " Nitchevo ! " he said in a maudlin voice, as 

 he scrambled up. " Nitchevo ! ' said two or three 

 sympathetic souls ; " never mind." 



Nitchevo is the most frequent exclamation one hears 

 in Russia. It means anything of a negative degree. 

 Nitchevo ! — never mind. Nitchevo ! — pray don't men- 

 tion it. Nitchevo ! — everything will come all right, 

 Nitchevo ! — the horse is dead, but God will provide 

 another. 



Our train plodded along, slowly but surely, like the 

 tortoise in the race. It took twenty-three hours to 

 carry us something over four hundred miles. We 

 grew impatient as the day waned and mentally wished 

 we had taken the " Courier train," which does it in 

 twelve. But the noise of the engine, which in other 

 countries seems to pant and puff with exertion, here 



