338 



THE FIR TRIBE. 



who wishes to dispose of the timber on his pro- 

 perty, having completed a bargain with a St. 

 Petersburg merchant, sets his peasantry to work 

 in selecting and felling the trees, and dragging 

 them from the forests to the lakes and rivers. This 

 work usually takes place during the winter months, 

 in order that everything m.ay be ready for floating 

 the timber to the capital as soon as the ice in the 

 rivers and lakes breaks up. As the ground is 

 generally covered several feet deep with snow, 

 and as the trees judged to be sufficiently sound 

 and large for the market lie widely apart, the 

 workmen employed in selecting them are compel- 

 led to wear snow-shoes to prevent themselves from 

 sinking in the snow. When the trees are found, 

 they are cut down with hatchets, and the heads 

 and branches lopped ofi". The trunk is then strip- 

 ped of its bark, and a circular notch is cut round 

 the narrow end of it, to facilitate the fixing of the 

 rope by which the horses are to drag the trunk 

 along ; and a hole is made in the other end to 

 receive a handspike to steer the log over the 

 many obstacles that lie in its way. Many of 

 these trees are seventy feet in length, and of pro- 

 portionate diameter ; and they are drawn by 

 from four to nine horses each, yoked in a straight 

 line, one before another, since the intricate 

 narrow paths in the woods will not permit any 

 other arrangement. One man mounts upon the 

 leading horse, and another upon the middle one, 

 while others support and guide with handspikes 

 the large and distant end of the tree, to raise 

 it over the elevations of snow, and make it glide 

 smoothly along. The conveyance of these large 

 trees, the long line of horses, and the number of 



