in a great hurry, my wife has not had time yet to unpack her things, and put them in their proper places." The lady, who was standing by, looked very foolish at this, while the men replied, that they must have not only the chests, but also their contents. Upon this, the bridegroom got in a rage, and asked if they meant to carry off his wife's wardrobe. "Don't talk nonsense about your wife's wardrobe," said the intruders with a provoking laugh; "you don't really suppose all those things belong to her; the old gentleman only hired them for the occasion, to make a show, and we are sent now to fetch them back." The bride, on being appealed to, was obliged to admit that all the men had said was true; and accordingly, they carried off the handsome furs, silks, jewels, and other valuable articles of a Russian trousseau in that class of life; while the husband betook himself in no good humour to his father-in-law to complain of his deceit, and to get the money which he had left in his charge. "What money?" said the old man, in pretended surprise. "Why," said the other, "the two hundred thousand roubles which you paid me yesterday as your daughter's dowry, and which I left in your care last night." "Ah!" said the father-in-law, laughing, "you can't pretend to be serious. I gave you the money yesterday to make a show before the company, and you gave it me back afterwards, as it was always understood between us that you should."

In vain the young man denied the assertion, and claimed the payment of the money, and the fulfilment of the contract; argument and entreaty proved alike useless, and he was obliged to go home with the satisfaction of having been cheated out of his wife's fortune, as well as her wardrobe, by her own father.

179

LETTER XIII.

Winter quarters-Commencement of sledging-Arbozes-Projected railway-The conscription-Managed by a board-How constituted-Account of the system-What being enlisted means in Russia-Standard of height-How the conscripts are selected-On the estates of private individuals-On the estates of the crownOppressive circumstances occasionally arising-Age of conscripts -Substitutes-Penalty on the Board for enlisting an unfit man— Bribery-A sitting of the Board-Description of their proceedings -Examination of a conscript from a private estate-Meaning of lop and zatillac-A Crown peasant-Character of the scene-Attachment of the Russian to his family-Anecdote-Disposal of the recruits.

Tamboff, December 16th, 1837.

We have now been settled for nearly three weeks in the town of Tamboff, where we are to spend the winter; and where all the families around are fast assembling. We have had an uninterrupted frost since the 16th of November, but no snow, beyond a mere sprinkling, fell until Sunday last, and even then the quantity was but moderate: it was, however, sufficient to allow of the use of sledges, a few of which were in motion, to the joy of their owners, before the ground was thoroughly white; and, by the following morning, the droschkas and tilègas had entirely dis

appeared, and no wheeled vehicles were to be seen except a few gentlemen's carriages, which may be used in the streets of a town all winter.

Our English ideas of a heavy fall of snow are so closely connected with the notion of stage-coaches buried in drifts, mails due but not arrived, and parties imprisoned in country-houses, that it is a little difficult at first to enter into the feelings of the Russian, who looks forward to the same event as affording him means of traffic and communication, which he could not otherwise possess. The rise of the Nile is not more interesting or important to the Egyptian than is the establishment of the trainage or snow-roads to the Russian. If this period is delayed, the consequences are most injurious to the country, in the difficulty of transporting goods, and the general interruption to traffic.

The cross-roads, especially in this part of the country where, as I have already told you, there is no stone, become perfectly impassable before winter, being first cut into very deep ruts and holes during the wet weather of the autumn, and then frozen hard in this form. It may therefore be readily supposed how welcome is the snow which spreads a smooth covering over this broken surface, and enables traveller and merchandise to glide easily and swiftly to their destination, without risk or injury.

The internal commerce of Russia is carried on in a manner quite peculiar to the country. There are

no bulky stage-waggons, but all goods are transported in tilègas* or sledges, according to the season, each vehicle being drawn in general by one horse. These travel in trains, which are called arbozes, and their traffic on the principal roads is very great, even in summer. As we came from Moscow to Tamboff, we were seldom half an hour without meeting or passing an arboze, the number of tilègas in each varying from fifteen or twenty, up to a hundred. In the winter, however, the trains are much more numerous,† from the increased facility of travelling and the consequent cheapness of conveyance. The average load for each sledge drawn by one horse, is, I am told, about seven hundred weight; the animals are, it must be remembered, in general small and weak.

Important as these arbozes are to the internal trade of Russia, they are the source of considerable inconvenience to the winter traveller. The horses are under little control from the small proportion of drivers, so that the line which they keep is but irregular, and the sledges being on smooth wooden runners, are constantly sliding sideways, and it is often difficult to avoid coming in contact with them.

* Small light waggons.

† I am credibly informed, that in the winter fifty thousand sledges come daily into Moscow, loaded with provisions and goods. The charge in the winter, for conveying goods from Tamboff to Moscow, a distance of about three hundred and sixty miles, was a rouble per pood, or one penny per three and a half pounds, nearly.

The law requires that there should be at least one driver to every three tilègas or sledges, but it is not rigorously enforced.