EXPORTS BY ARCHANGEL AND THE WHITE SEA. 127 
between Orlof Point and the town of Kem, stands out a 
notable group of islets—Solovetsk, Anzersk, Moksalma, 
Zaet, and others: islets which play a singular part in the: 
history of Russia, and connect themselves with curious 
legends of the Imperial Court. 
‘In Solovetsk, the largest of this group of islets, stands 
the famous convent of that name; the house of Saints 
Savatie and Zosima; the refuge of St. Philip; the shrine 
to which emperors and peasants go on pilgrimage. i 
‘By the Maimax arm we steam through the Delta for 
some twenty miles, past low .green banks and isles, bright 
with grass and scrub. Beyond them, on the mainland, 
lies a fringe of pines going back into space as fur as the 
eye can pierce, The low island lying on your right, as you 
scrape the bar, is called St. Nicholas, after that sturdy 
priest, who is said to have smitten the heretic Arius on 
his cheek. x 
‘On passing into the Maimax arm, your eyes—long 
dimmed by the sight of sombre rock, dark cloud, and 
sullen surf—are charmed by soft green grass and scrub ; 
but the sight goes vainly out through reeds and copse, in 
search of some cheery note of house and farm. One log 
hut you pass, and only one. Two men are standing near the 
bank, in a little clearing of the wood; a lad is rolling ina 
frail canoe, which the wash of your steamer lifts and laves; 
but no one lodges in the shed. The men and boy have 
come from a village some miles away. Dropping down 
the river in their boat to cut down grass for their cows, 
and gather up fuel for their winter fires, they will jump 
into their canoe at vespers, and hie them home. 
‘On the banks of older channels the villages are tliick ; 
slight groups of sheds and churches, with a cloister here 
and there, and a scatter of windmills whirling against the 
BEY a) Gis, 
"On all these banks you notice a forest of memorial 
crosses. When a sailor meets with bad weather he goes 
on shore and sets up across. At the foot of this symbol 
he kneels in prayer, and when a fair wind rises he leaves 
