SCENES ON THE ROAD. 129 



the chicken, and a counter-suggestion of " samovar " 

 on the question of the eggs. 



" Samovar " meant that it would be less trouble to 

 cook the eggs in the same water that was being boiled 

 to make tea, a handy, slip-shod method exceedingly con- 

 genial to a shiftless, reluctant mind. There were ex- 

 ceptions, however, and they are as memorable as fresh 

 little oases on a journey across a desert, no less from 

 their scarcity than from their striking contrast. 



After leaving Count Tolstoi's, the nature of the 

 country and the character of the villages underwent a 

 change. We were leaving the region where all had 

 formerly been covered with forest, and were getting 

 into the borderland between forest and steppe. The 

 houses of the moujiks were no longer built exclu- 

 sively of wood ; but, commencing with Yasnia Polyana 

 itself, at least half the number in the villages were of 

 brick. The moujiks make their own bricks, and for 

 the most part build their own houses. In work of this 

 sort, which in most countries would be performed by 

 professional bricklayers and carpenters, the moujiks 

 are probably cleverer than the peasants in almost any 

 other country in the world. To a man, almost, they 

 are expert with an ax, and can hew logs and build a 

 house far neater than the American backwoodsman. 



In building a log-house, the walls are calked with 

 hemp, twisted up like a hay rope and punched tightly 

 into every crack and crevice. The house is put to- 

 gether close to where it is to stand, and then moved 

 into its proper position by means of rollers and levers. 

 Whilst in process of building, a rude wooden cross is 

 erected close by, presumably as a measure of protec- 



