66 Dr Howison’s Account of the ForesUirees 
body, have acquired such dexterity that they accomplish the 
work now mentioned in a much shorter space of time than can 
well be imagined. 
This work is carried on during the winter, when the forests 
are covered with several feet of snow. At times, before the 
intensity of the frost has taken such effect as completely to 
harden its surface, to make it strong enough to sustain a per- 
son’s weight, the woodmen are obliged to make use of snow 
shoes, to enable them to traverse the woods in search of trees, 
and to prevent them from sinking in the snow. Every indivi- 
dual has them, and becoming expert in their use through prac- 
tice, he easily makes his way over the surface of the snow, when 
without them he could hardly advance a few steps without 
sinking to his middle, and the work could not go on. 
When the fir tree is cut down, and the branches and bark 
taken off, they next drag it to the ice of the river, or lake, 
upon which it is afterwards to be rafted. For this purpose^ 
ropesare fixed to the circular notch cut round the upper extremity 
of the tree, and horses are yoked. These horses are the hardy 
natives of the count^, small, lively, and animated, very shaggy, 
and generally of a brown colour. In the interior they are general- 
ly unshod, but will traverse any sort of ground up to their middle 
in snow. During the winter months, they are seen toiling in a 
cold of twenty degrees below .the freezing point of Reaumur, as 
white as snow, covered with icicles and hoar-frost. During 
summer, they labour under the extreme of heat, and covered 
with perspiration. Such were the animals, which, along with 
their brethren from the banks of the Volga, Kuban, and Don, 
composed the irregular cavalry of the Russian army ; and which 
sustained uninjured the fatigues of the campaign, as also the 
severity of the winter, which, upon setting in, in the short space 
of one night, proved destruction to nearly the whole of those of 
the French army, natives of warmer climate, during its dis- 
astrous retreat from Russia. 
The peasants yoke from five to nine horses to each tree, accor- 
ding to its size, the nature of the country, and the distance they 
have to go. They are all yoked in a straight line, one before 
another, as the intricate narrow paths through the wood will not 
permit of their going in any other way. One man mounts 
