Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

CUSTOMS OF THE SERFS.263

siesta in the fields, make a picturesque tent of these pelisses to protect themselves from the rays of the sun. "With the ingenious address which distinguishes the Russian labourer from those of the west of Europe, they pass the sleeves of their eoat over the two handles of their wheelbarrows, and then, turning this moveable roof towards the sun, they sleep tranquilly under the rustic drapery. The sheep-skin coats are graceful in shape, and would be pretty if they were not generally so old and greasy. A poor peasant cannot often renewT a vesture which costs so much.

The Russian labourer is industrious, and is ready for every difficulty in which he may be placed. He never goes out without his small hatchet, which is useful for a hundred purposes in the hands of a dexterous man in a country which is not yet in want of woods. With a Russian by your side, were you to lose yourself in a forest, you would in a very few hours have a house to pass the night in, perhaps more commodious, and assuredly more clean, than the houses of the old villages. But if the ti`aveller possessed small articles of leather among

be safe nowhere. The Russians steal! with the address which they exhibit on all occasions, the straps, girths, and leathern aprons of your trunks and carriages, though the same men show every sign of being extremely devout.

I have never travelled a stage without my coachman making at least twenty signs of the cross to salute as many little chapels. Ready to fulfil with the same punctilio his obligations of politeness, he salutes also with his hat every waggoner that he meets, and their number is great. These formalities