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

240THE COUNTRY РЕОГЬЕ.

quiekness of his slightest movements, the lightness of his step when he reaches the ground, his erect stature, his manner of wearing his dress, in short, his whole person reminds me of the most naturally elegant people on the earth — the Gitanos* of Spain. The Russians are fair-complexioned Gitanos.

I have already noticed some female peasants less ugly than those seen in the streets of Petersburg. Their form invariably wants elegance, but their complexion is fresh and bright. At this season, their head-dress consists of an Indian handkerchief, tied round the head, and the ends of whieh fall behind with a grace that is natural to the people. They often wear a little pelisse reaching to the knees, drawn round the waist by a girdle, slit on eaeh side below the hips, and opening in front so as to "show the pettieoat underneath. The appearance of this dress is tasteful, but it is their boots whieh disfigure the persons of the women. The leather is greasy, the feet are large and rounded at the toe, and the folds and wrinkles entirely eoneeal the shape of the legs: so elumsy are they, that it might be supposed the wives had stolen them from their husbands.

The houses resemble those that I described in the excursion to Sehlusselburg, but they are not so elegant, The appearance of the villages is monotonous. A village consists always of two lines, more or less extended, of wooden eottages, regularly ranged at a certain distanee backwards from the road, for, in general, the street of the village is broader than the embankment of the highway. Each cabin, con-