260 SIBERIA 



Religious Holidays: January— i^^vf Year's Day 

 and Epiphany; February—Feast of the Purification; 

 yWarcA— Annunciation, Easter; April— three days; 

 May— one day; June— two days; July— one day; 

 ^ag«s^— one day; September— three days; October- 

 two days; November — two days; December — two or 

 three days at Christntfas. 



Official Holidays : The birthdays and name 

 days of the Csar and Csaritsa, the Dowager Empress, 

 the Cesarevich, and the Anniversary of the Corona- 

 tion of their Majesties. 



Until June, 1904, there existed legal penalties for 

 openly engaging in working on festival days, but 

 these penalties are now abolished, owing to the 

 harmful effect which the enforced idleness had upon 

 the agricultural interests of the country. It happened 

 very frequently, for instance, that crops were com- 

 pletely spoiled through the absence of hands to attend 

 to them. The abolition of compulsory holidays is 

 bound, therefore, to make a difference in the agri- 

 cultural development of the country, by assisting the 

 peasant to acquire habits of industry. So mtoy 

 holidays would make most people lazy. 



The snow fell unceasingly during the whole of that 

 night; nevertheless, next morning, we proceeded to 

 pay a visit to our friend the trader. On the way I 

 took a photograph of a Chinese cow, which appears 

 to be a cross between an ordinary cow and a small 

 buffalo. 



The house occupied by our friend was small and 

 built of wood, but it was scrupulously clean. We 

 were welcomed, and partook of lunch with him and 

 his wife. He talked long and interestingly about 

 trade with Mongolia, and as he spoke I took down 

 the substance of what he said in my notebook. I 

 have since had the opportunity of verifying most of 

 the statistical information I received from him, and 



