130 SIBERIA 



for several days in order that they could get his 

 portion of food in addition to their own, and I have 

 met Englishmen who believed this tale to be true. 

 As a matter of fact, however, each convict has his 

 own quarters, to which he can return after his day's 

 work is done, and no miner is ever kept under ground 

 at night. Women prisoners, on the other hand, are 

 only employed above the surface, in much the same 

 way as women work in connection with the coal 

 mines in England. Deducting holidays, the convict 

 works for eight months in the year, his hours of 

 labour being from six o'clock in the morning to 

 midday and from two o'clock in the afternoon |to 

 seven during the summer, and from seven o'clock 

 in the morning to four o'clock in the afternoon during 

 the winter. There are more severe conditions of 

 labour than these to be met with in England, par- 

 ticularly if what is said and written about the 

 notorious sweating system is correct. It is possible 

 for a prisoner, by good conduct, to become " a free 

 command," that is to say, he is obliged to weat 

 the convict dress, but is only under police super- 

 vision and is at liberty to make any money he can 

 by practising a trade or engaging in business. He 

 may marry, and if he has any private money he is 

 entitled to retain it. He is also at liberty to receive 

 his friends. 



The climatic conditions render it impossible to 

 work the mines all the year round, so that the 

 prisoners are employed at other trades. There is 

 not sufficient work to keep the whole of the convicts 

 in constant employment ; they therefore, as a. body, 

 do not work as hard as a similar body of British 

 labourers. Sunday is a holiday and so is the day 

 dedicated to the patron saint of the mine. There 

 are, besides, so many holidays which the nation has 

 grown accustomed to keep, that they have a tendency 



