I.
In the cheerless regions of[1] Arkangel, of which the aborigines say: “God made Russia, but the devil made Arkangel,” there are (S. 82, N. 7) more than two hundred of those banished ones—men and women, all young, all (= and) poor, most[2] of them sent without trial, few[3] amongst them knowing even of what they are accused. Victor Ivanovitch[4] dines with his friend B., for instance, and[5] after a stroll along[6] the boulevards they separate. B. is arrested that[7] very evening, and when Victor, astonished and horror-stricken[8], hastens[9] to inquire the cause, he finds everybody[10], even B.’s _own_ father, as[11] much in the dark as he _is himself_; all questions and petitions on[12] the subject receive[13] vague administrative answers; all friends and relatives are systematically discouraged and silenced; eagerly they wait for[14] the numerous political trials that[15] come on without intermission, hoping[16] to see the missing one’s (S. 67, N. 3) name on[17] the list of criminals, or to see[18] his face once more, let[19] it be even in[20] the prisoner’s dock; but as[21] they wait and[22] watch, the prisoner[23] is, without any trial, en route for Arkangel.
Arrived[24] there, the routine (App. § 15) is the same for all; whatever[25] the crime alleged, the age or sex, the[26] prisoner is taken to the police-ward,—a[27] dreary log-building, containing two sections, one for men, the other for women. The solitary table and chair in the room, the four walls, and even the ceiling, are covered[28] with the names of[29] youthful predecessors, whose pencilled[30] jests and clever caricatures bear[31] witness to the strength of confidence in themselves with which they began[32] their life in exile.
[1] +des Gouvernements Archangel.+
[2] most of them, +meistens+; sent = sent there; without trial = without any trial, +ohne jegliches Verhör+.
[3] Say liter. ‘of whom even but (+nur+) few know’.
[4] Here follows ‘for instance’; with = in company of.
[5] Say ‘+und trennt sich von ihm nach+’, etc.
[6] +auf.+
[7] +noch an demselben Abend.+
[8] +aufs höchste erschrocken.+
[9] to hasten to inquire the cause, +sich eiligst nach der Ursache erkundigen+.
[10] everybody = that all.
[11] Supply ‘are’ (+sich befinden+) before ‘as’.
[12] +über die Sache.+
[13] receive — answers = are vaguely (+in unbestimmter Weise+, which place after government) answered by (S. 106, N. 23) the government.
[14] +auf.+
[15] = that follow one another (+auf einander folgen+).
[16] = in the hope.
[17] +in.+
[18] +zu schauen+ (App. § 1); face, +Angesicht+, n.
[19] let it be = be it even.
[20] in — dock, +vor den Schranken des Gerichts+.
[21] = whilst.
[22] and watch = and attentively watch (+bewachen+) everything.
[23] Insert the adv. +schon+ after the subject; en route for = on the way to.
[24] +Dort angekommen+; ‘routine’, here = treatment; the words ‘the same’ are to be placed at the end of the clause.
[25] whatever — sex, +welches Verbrechens der Gefangene auch eingeklagt und welches Alters und Geschlechts er auch sei+.
[26] the — ward = yet (+so ... doch+) he is always taken (= conducted) to (+in+) the police-ward (+Polizeiwache+, f.).
[27] a — women = that consists of (+aus+) a miserable block-house of (+aus+) two divisions, one of which is appointed for men and the other for women.
[28] +beschrieben+, p. p.
[29] of — predecessors = of the former (+früher+, adj.) youthful inhabitants of the same (to agree with room).
[30] pencilled, +mit Bleistift gezeichnet+, which use attributively.
[31] bear — themselves = prove the intensity (+Größe+, f.) of the confidence in themselves (+Selbstvertrauen+, n.).
[32] ‘to begin’, here +an´treten+, sep. comp. str. v. tr.; life in exile = banishment.
_Section 166._
RUSSIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS IN BANISHMENT.