and Timber-trade of the interior if' Russia. 65 
that every thing may be ready for sending it off to its destined 
port, as soon as the winter breaks up. 
The male population of the country are brought up from in- 
fancy as woodmen. Every individual carries a small hatchet in 
his belt, and is employed in the forests from the one year's end 
to the other. These men, and likewise the females, are in a man- 
ner the property of the nobleman^ and must submit to every 
species of drudgery in his service. They cannot leave the soil 
upon which they are born, without his permission ; and when 
they are allowed to do so, and to go to any distance, they con- 
tinue in the same state of bondage, paying him annually a cer- 
tain sum of money, in proportion to his avarice, and the extent 
or success of their own industry. 
These woodmen are sent into the forests under the charge of 
an overseer, where they pick out the trees whose trunks are of 
the dimensions required. These are always the largest, and 
soundest in their timber, which can be found ; and, at times, 
such are scattered over a considerable extent of forest, so as to be 
discovered with difficulty. When they have found a tree of the 
dimensions and quality required, so many of the people com- 
mence with their hatchets, and cut it down from the root. 
They then lop off the branches completely, and the top. There- 
after they strip off the bark, which is reserved for other pur- 
poses. They round the stem at the top, and cut a circular notch a 
little way down, for the rope to which the horses are afterwards 
attached, to drag it to the river or lake.. At the opposite end, 
they make a circular hole in that part of the wood which remains 
projecting after the tree has fallen, and which is formed by the 
outer timber on both sides of it, being removed by the repeated 
strokes of the hatchet in cutting it down. The intention of this 
hole is to fix handspikes into, so as to enable them to move it in 
any direction which may be found necessary, and to steer it 
clear of every obstruction, whilst the horses are dragging it 
from the forest to the water-side. All these trees are of great 
size, and, in the density of the timber, from the intense cold of 
this northern region, they may be said to be the finest in the 
world. These men, by being accustomed to handle the hatchet 
from their earlier years, and from possessing great strength of 
VOL. XII. NO. ^ 3 . JAN. 1825 . 
E 
