book peafants frequently wear only a fhort coarfe fhxrt and
— .— «trowfers.
Their cottages are conftrudted in the fame manner as thofe
of Lithuania, but they are larger, and fomewhat'better provided
with furniture and domeftic uteniils :• they are of a
fquare ihape, and are formed of whole trees, piled upon one
another, and fecured at the four corners Where their extremities
meet, with mortaifes . and . tenons, The interftices
between thefe piles are.filled up with mofs. Within the
houfe the timbers are fmoothed with the axe, fo as to form
the appearance of wainfcot; but without are left with the
bark in their rude ftate. The roofs are in the penthoufe
form, generally compofed of the bark of trees or fhingles,
which are fometimes covered with mould or turf. The
peafants ufually conftracl the whole houfe folely with the
affiftance of the hatchet, and cut the planks of the floor with
the fame inftrument, in many parts being.unacquainted with
the ufe of the faw: they finifh the ihell of the houfe and the
roof, before they begin to cut the windows and doors. The
windows are openings of a> few inches fquare, clofed with
Aiding frames ; and the doors are fo low as not to admit a
middle-fized man without itooping.
. Thefe cottages, fometimes, though very rarely, confift of
two ftories ; in which cafe the lower apartment is a kind of
ftore-room for their pro vifions, quafs, 8tc. and the upper room
is the habitable part of the houfe; the ftair-cale is moil
commonly a kind of ladder on the outfide ; moft of thefe
huts are, however, only one itory in height; a few of them
contain two rooms, the generality only One. In fome of this
latter fort I was frequently awakened by the chickens picking
the grains of corn in the ftraw upon which I lay, and
more
more than once by alefs inoffeniive animal. At Tabluka, chap-
a village, where we pafled the night of the 27th, a party- of >— *— 1
hogs gained admittance into the room at four in the morning,
/and roufed me by grunting clofe. to my ear. Not much
pleafed either with the earlinefs of the vifit, or the faluta-
tion of my viiitors, I called out to my fervant, “ Jofeph,
“ drive thefe gentry out of the room, and ihut the door.”
“ There is no door that will ihut,” replied Jofeph with great
compofure, “ we have tried every expedient to fatten it
“ without fuccefs;. the hogs have more than once been
“ excluded, but have as often returned.” This converfation
fo eftedtually roufed me, that I determined to refign to my
unwelcome guefts that litter which I could no longer enjoy
myfelf: I accordingly raifed myfelf from the ftraw,. and,
fitting down, contemplated by the light of a flip of deal the
fcene around me. My two companions were ftretched upon
the fame parcel of ftraw from which I had juft emerged ; a
little beyond them our ferva-nts occupied a feparate heap-;
at a fmall diftance three Ruffians, with long beards,,
and coarfe fackcloth ihirts and, trowfers, lay extended upon
their backs on the bare floor ; on the oppoiite fide of the
room three, women in their clothes fl.umbered on a long
bench,; while the- top. of the ttove afforded a couch to a
woman dreffed like the others, and four fprawling children
almoft naked.
The furniture in thefe cottages con lifts chiefly of a
wooden table or drefler, and benches fattened to the tides of
the room : the uteniils. are platters, bowls, fpoons, 8cc. all
made of wood, with perhaps one large earthen pan, in which
the family cook their vi£tuals,: The food of the peafants is
bl'ack-rye-bread,, fometimes white, eggs,, falt-fiftq bacon,
mufhrooms ; their favourite diih is a kind of hodge-podge
made/