and Timber-trade of the interior of Russia* 59 
hood, a gentleman of extensive information, and who had de- 
voted particular attention to the subject, that whenever an oak, 
exceeding in thickness a man’s arm, made its appearance in 
the surrounding forests, it was immediately cut down by the 
woodmen, taken to the large cities, as Moscow, and sold to 
the carriage-makers, who paid a considerable price for it, to 
make the axle-tree of sledges or of drosclilms, for which, from its 
durability, it was peculiarly adapted; and that, of late years, 
such a tree can scarcely be met with. That gentleman had re- 
peatedly mentioned the circumstance to Count Romanzoff (upon 
whose estate he is settled), as also to various noblemen about 
Moscow, pressing them to put a stop to it, but as yet without 
success. The alder-trees suffer nearly to the same extent. 
When the peasantry meet with them in the woods, they imme- 
diately cut them down, and make snow-shoes of the twigs and 
bark, for the winter ; so that they also are becoming rapidly 
scarce. The hares also prove very destructive to the alder by 
barking it for food, during the winter months. In the southern 
parts of Russia, however, as in the neighbourhood of Kasan, 
there are forests of oak ; and from these the timber which is used 
in the construction of the Imperial Navy is furnished. 
I shall now make a few remarks upon the numerous and im- 
portant benefits which these forests contribute to the general 
comfort and wealth of the proprietors and peasantry of this great 
empire. 1^^, They furnish them with fir-timber of the finest 
kind, possessing the most durable and dense texture, and in the 
most profuse abundance, with no trouble but that of cutting down. 
Of this timber, as already mentioned, with the addition of a little 
dried moss stuffed into the interstices, they construct their i^has 
or cottages, vapour-baths, and other buildings. In the interior, 
they make little or no use of brick, stone, or lime, excepting in the 
construction of churches, peatcJies or stoves, and chimneys. Their 
wooden isbas are warm and comfortable, and are far superior, in a 
climate such as this, to those built of brick or stone ; they are soon 
heated, and when once this takes place they retain heat long. 
Of this timber their furniture and utensils are also made. In 
large cities, and in the houses of the nobility in the country, of 
late years, they are gradually introducing mahogany, which 
they get from America, at a reasonable rate, by vessels coming 
