Section 166. RUSSIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS IN BANISHMENT. II.
Reading edition
In this dreary abode[1] a week or ten days is spent, when[2] the governor of Arkangel, after due reflection, marks out[3] for this dangerous personage some final place of exile (S. 76, N. 22, B), some[4] miserable little district town[5], such as Holmogor, Shenkoursk, Pinega, or Mexen. The[6] prisoner is then told his “documents” are ready, and a gendarme enters, saying[7] it is time to start[8]. The exile jumps into the jolting post-waggon, two gendarmes jump in after him, the bell above[9] the horse’s neck begins to ring—and rings on for[10] days and weeks—through wood[11], and swamp, and plain, along[12] roads inconceivably drear and lonely, until the[13] weary convoy at length arrives at his destination. The little town is desolate and black[14], and consists of log-huts, two unpaved streets, and a wooden church painted green, and the[15] live-stock consists of ten or twelve raw-boned[16] horses, a small herd of sickly[17] cows, and thirty or forty reindeer. The population rarely (S. 102, N. 30) exceeds one (S. 132, N. 10) thousand[18], and consists of the Ispravnik[19], ten subaltern[20] officers, the Arbiter[21] of the Peace, the[22] Crown Forester, a priest, a few shopkeepers, thirty or forty exiles, a[23] chain-gang of Russian felons, and a crowd[24] of Finnish beggars. On his arrival, the prisoner is driven straight to (S. 72, N. 4) the police-ward, where he is inspected[25] by (S. 106, N. 23) the Ispravnik, a (S. 53, N. 9) police officer, who is absolute lord and master of the district. This representative of the Government requires[26] of him to answer the following questions: His[27] name? How old? Married or single? Where from? The address of[28] parents, relations, or friends? Answers[29] to all of which are entered in the books.