FROM MOSCOW 
230 
chap. a t Neivmarhet, before descending into Serpuchof'. 
i j there is a church-yard: here, among the graves 
and tombs, we saw several of the women of the 
country practising a custom which is purely 
Oriental; namely, that of visiting the sepulchres 
of friends long buried, bowing their heads to the 
ground, touching the graves with their foreheads, 
weeping aloud, and uttering short prayers. In 
this road the dress of the peasants changes 
more frequently than in other parts of Russia; 
and it is remarkable, that, although the habits 
of the women be so various in the different pro- 
vinces, those of the men are the same through- 
out the empire. 
Serpuchof. Serpuchof is a handsome little town, upon the 
river Nara. It contains a citadel, inclosed by a 
strong rampart ; and has a IVeywode, with his 
Chancery. In the market we observed some 
shops solely appropriated to the sale ot labhas, 
or Russian sandals : these were before desermed, 
as constructed of birch or linden-bark '. Some 
(l) See p. 209. According to Mr. Haber, the Linden, or Lime-tree, 
affords the bark used for these sandals. “ This practice of making 
shoes of linden-bark is very destructive to the trees, as a man will wear 
out twenty or thirty pairs of sandals in a year. 1 he Isme-tree, of 
■which these shoes are made, is a very valuable plant, owing to the 
construction of mats from its bark, which form a very considerable 
article of exportation. It is scarce in the western provinces ; but in 
.the eastern very plentiful ; and it nourishes as high as Archangel. 
Heber’s MS. Journal. 
