as I have already observed, live entirely in villages. Their houses and outbuildings are almost universally constructed of wood, and covered with a loose thatch; and, therefore, if a fire once breaks out, it spreads with inconceivable rapidity from house to house, and whole villages are sometimes thus destroyed. The period when these misfortunes are most common is in the autumn, immediately after harvest, when the peasants are drying their corn at fires made in wooden thatched buildings. sants. If the proprietors are careful in placing their drying-houses at a safe distance from one another, and from the dwellings, and also in prohibiting the peasants from stacking the whole of their produce close around them, the worst that can ensue from an accident is the destruction of a drying-house with the corn which may happen to be in it at the time: but nothing can exceed the characteristic imprudence of the Russian peaThe orders of their masters are disobeyed. To save a little trouble, the whole of their produce is brought at once as near as possible to the drying-house; a fire breaks out, and a year's provision is destroyed in an hour. The master may inflict punishment for the disobedience of his orders, but the loss to a great degree falls on himself; for the law decrees, that if, from a failure of crops, or from any other misfortune, the peasant should be in want, his master shall supply him with the necessary provisions. The exhibition which introduced this subject was as follows. -I was walking on the Boulevard with M— and her uncle, when the latter proposed to us to see the fire-establishment, which was close by. We readily assented, expecting merely to be shown over the place, and to hear the system explained. As we entered the yard, however, the general made a sign to the watchman on the look-out tower, the latter touched the alarm-bell, and instantly all was in a state of activity. Men sprung out from every quarter; the engines were run out of the houses; horses were brought full trot out of the stables ready harnessed, and were put to; and in the space of four minutes and a half from the original signal, fourteen vehicles, with thirty-three or thirty-four horses attached to them, were drawn up in a line in the yard ready to start. The machines consisted of fire-engines, carriages conveying barrels full of water, ladders, and an apparatus for covering the walls and roofs of houses adjacent to the fire with a screen of sail-cloth. The water-barrels are necessary, since there are no pipes or fire-plugs in a Russian town. At a second signal from the Governor, the engines, &c., filed one after another out of the yard, and went slowly down the street, the men having taken their proper places upon them. At the further end of the street they turned, and came thundering back at full gallop. Some of the machines were drawn by two, and others by three, horses abreast, all being strong and serviceable animals. When we expressed our admiration. at the rapidity and alertness shown in getting the horses and engines ready for action, the General assured us that, so far from any preparation having been made, his appearance was totally unexpected, and that, the day being a fête, all the men were absent who could be spared from duty. And the truth of this was proved by the arrival of the master of police at a gallop in his droschka, he being the chief of the fireestablishment, and having just been informed that the engines were rattling through the town. Whether it was for actual service, or, as proved to be the case, merely for inspection by the Governor, this officer did not know till he arrived on the scene of action. : A few days after this we were invited to see an exhibition of the manner of proceeding and working the engines in case of a fire but the display on this occasion was not nearly so interesting to me, since everything was prepared beforehand; while the activity on the former day furnished a proof of the real utility and good organization of the establishment, and of the efficiency and alertness of the men in a case of emergency. The powers of the engines, and the manner in which they were worked, as displayed in this second exhibition, could not stand a comparison with the performances of London engines in the hands of London firemen; but I think that few provincial towns in England could boast of superiority in these respects over Yaroslav. Besides the engines, the chief implements to be remarked were ladders, divided for the convenience of packing like the parts of a telescope, and drawn out by pulleys, so as to reach when required to a very considerable height; grappling irons for pulling down walls; and the apparatus, which I have already mentioned, of sail-cloth stretched on poles, which could be hoisted up like the sails of a ship, and placed in front of a house, with other pieces of sail-cloth for laying over roofs. These cloths, being kept constantly wet by means of the engines, form a great protection to the timber walls and boarded roofs which are so common in a Russian town; and the houses are easily covered, being generally low, and frequently not more than one story in elevation. In St. Petersburg the building wooden houses is now wisely forbidden by law. On the morning of the 21st the Governor's brother-in-law, Prince André Galitzin, proposed to me at breakfast to accompany him to the monastery of Tolga, about seven miles hence, where he was going to pay a visit to the ex-archbishop of Yaroslav,* a prelate who has resigned his episcopal functions, and who now lives in retirement in the convent. We went in a light low calèche belonging to my companion, with three horses abreast, or, as this is called in Russia, a tröika. The horses had cost, as I was assured, but five pounds each; yet we went sometimes at the rate of eighteen, and never less than fifteen, miles an hour, the middle horse trotting all the time while the others galloped. A light open calèche is, in some respects, much better for Russian travelling than a close carriage, as it is less liable to upset in bad roads; and three or four horses being always sufficient to draw it, no leaders are required, and therefore in going fast the life of a postilion is not risked. For a long journey, however, especially with a lady, the comfort of a close carriage is very requisite. The monastery being on the further side of the Volga, we crossed the river in a boat, and landed at the gate of the convent. The reaches of the river in both directions are here extremely fine, and the banks handsome and well wooded. We were received by the archbishop, with whom we sat some time; however, as he only spoke Russian, the conversation lay entirely between him and my companion. He was dressed * Every government in Russia is an episcopal or archiepiscopal see. No one but a monk can become a bishop. F consisted of fire-engines, carriages conveying barrels full of water, ladders, and an apparatus for covering the walls and roofs of houses adjacent to the fire with a screen of sail-cloth. The water-barrels are necessary, since there are no pipes or fire-plugs in a Russian town. At a second signal from the Governor, the engines, &c., filed one after another out of the yard, and went slowly down the street, the men having taken their proper places upon them. At the further end of the street they turned, and came thundering back at full gallop. Some of the machines were drawn by two, and others by three, horses abreast, all being strong and serviceable animals. When we expressed our admiration at the rapidity and alertness shown in getting the horses and engines ready for action, the General assured us that, so far from any preparation having been made, his appearance was totally unexpected, and that, the day being a fête, all the men were absent who could be spared from duty. And the truth of this was proved by the arrival of the master of police at a gallop in his droschka, he being the chief of the fireestablishment, and having just been informed that the engines were rattling through the town. Whether it was for actual service, or, as proved to be the case, merely for inspection by the Governor, this officer did not know till he arrived on the scene of action. A few days after this we were invited to see an exhibition of the manner of proceeding and working the engines in case of a fire: but the display on this occasion was not nearly so interesting to me, since everything was prepared beforehand; while the activity on the former day furnished a proof of the real utility and good organization of the establishment, and of the efficiency and alertness of the men in a case of emergency. The powers of the engines, and the manner in which they were worked, as displayed in this second exhibition, could not stand a comparison with the performances of London engines in the hands of London firemen; but I think that few provincial towns in England could boast of superiority in these respects over Yaroslav. Besides the engines, the chief implements to be remarked were ladders, divided for the convenience of packing like the parts of a telescope, and drawn out by pulleys, so as to reach when required to a very considerable height; grappling irons for pulling down walls; and the apparatus, which I have already mentioned, of sail-cloth stretched on poles, which could be hoisted up like the sails of a ship, and placed in front of a house, with other pieces of sail-cloth for laying over roofs. These cloths, being kept constantly wet by means of the engines, form a great protection to the timber walls and boarded roofs which are so common in a Russian town; and the houses are easily covered, being generally low, and frequently not more than one story in elevation. In St. Petersburg the building wooden houses is now wisely forbidden by law. On the morning of the 21st the Governor's brother-in-law, Prince André Galitzin, proposed to me at breakfast to accompany him to the monastery of Tolga, about seven miles hence, where he was going to pay a visit to the ex-archbishop of Yaroslav,* a prelate who has resigned his episcopal functions, and who now lives in retirement in the convent. We went in a light low calèche belonging to my companion, with three horses abreast, or, as this is called in Russia, a tröika. The horses had cost, as I was assured, but five pounds each; yet we went sometimes at the rate of eighteen, and never less than fifteen, miles an hour, the middle horse trotting all the time while the others galloped. A light open calèche is, in some respects, much better for Russian travelling than a close carriage, as it is less liable to upset in bad roads; and three or four horses being always sufficient to draw it, no leaders are required, and therefore in going fast the life of a postilion is not risked. For a long journey, however, especially with a lady, the comfort of a close carriage is very requisite. The monastery being on the further side of the Volga, we crossed the river in a boat, and landed at the gate of the convent. The reaches of the river in both directions are here extremely fine, and the banks handsome and well wooded. We were received by the archbishop, with whom we sat some time; however, as he only spoke Russian, the conversation lay entirely between him and my companion. He was dressed * Every government in Russia is an episcopal or archiepiscopal see. No one but a monk can become a bishop. F |