house is the village, inhabited by forty or fifty families of serfs, some of whom are occupied in field labour, while others are household servants. The former work three days in the week for themselves and three days for their master, from whom they receive no remuneration for their labour in money,-instead of which, a cottage with a piece of land attached to it is allotted to each of them. Each head of a family possesses one or two pair of oxen, with which he ploughs his piece of ground, carts firewood from the woods to town for sale, or employs himself in any way that he finds most profitable. Their houses are some of them wretched hovels. They are built generally of rough stone, plastered over with clay, and covered with tiles. On entering one of the poorer of these habitations, we find a slovenlylooking woman, with half-a-dozen children, each one more ragged and dirty than the other, but nevertheless strong and healthy. A large brick stove projects into this small dwelling, and serves the purposes of heating it, cooking and baking. Two rows of stakes driven into the ground, support some planks which form a bedstead, and a few small benches and a common table complete the furniture; while in a corner hangs the picture of a saint, coarsely painted on wood, with in Russia is very different from that of slaves, as they formerly existed in the West Indies, and still exist in the southern provinces of the United States; and if the laws in their favour were strictly put in execution, they would be in a condition equal, to say the least, to that of the free peasants in many of the countries of Europe. The serf cannot be sold separately from the land to which he is attached ;-thus families cannot be broken up or dispersed. Again, the master does not possess the right of punishing his serf according to his caprice, but must apply to the local police, stating the offence of which he has been guilty, and chastisement is then inflicted according to the nature of the case. In years of scarcity, and in cases of disease or old age, the master is obliged to support his serfs, who are thus freed from all anxiety about the future. Unfortunately, there are many ways of evading, to a certain extent, these laws; and the master, from his social position, and by means of his superior wealth, is generally able to influence, in favour of his own interests or wishes, the very persons who are charged with the duty of putting the law in force. In short, as I remarked before, the condition of the serf depends, in a great measure, upon the character and disposition of the master, modified, to a certain extent, by the influence of public opinion. When a proprietor does not himself reside on his property, but places it under the management of a steward, the lot of the serf is sometimes the most unfortunate of any which can befal him. The steward, or overseer, who is rarely sufficiently paid for the work he has to do, after forwarding to his employer the regular income derived from the estate, seldom fails to put aside a considerable sum for himself, nor does he scruple much as to the means he uses to wring this extra portion from the peasants. In the Crimea, few of the proprietors possess any considerable number of serfs, and although the laws relating to them are the same as in Russia, their treatment is a good deal modified by the habits of the country. The serfs, in most of the establishments, are limited to the household servants and a few families occupied in agriculture, who suffice for the ordinary routine of work, but require the assistance of extra hands during the busy seasons. If you take into account that besides this, most of the small properties are cultivated entirely by free labour, and that the household servants of all foreigners, and of the majority of the employés in the towns are hired people, you the water, which is poured cold into the vase, not only boils in the course of a few minutes, but continues hot an immense time. The evenings are usually spent in card-playing, and after a supper, something like a dinner in miniature, the host and his visitors retire to their respective apartments. CHAPTER III. SIMPHEROPOL-TARTAR PART OF THE TOWN-JEWS AND PICTURES-MUSIC-GREEK BURIAL SERVICE-MAR- THE WERE the reader to be transported blindfold into the middle of Simpheropol, it would be a puzzle difficult for him to solve, to what nation or empire this half-European, half-Asiatic town belongs. At every turn, Russians, Germans, Jews, Greeks, Armenians, and Tartars, with their peculiar costumes and physionomic characteristics, mingle with ladies and gentlemen whose style, dress and general appearance might pass unobserved in Hyde Park or the Tuileries. Simpheropol is the capital of the Crimea, the residence of the Governor, and the seat of the Government offices and tribunals. It contains about thirteen thousand inhabitants. The old part of the town, inhabited by Tartars, |