II.

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.

[1] +Aufenthaltsort+, m.; a — spent = spends (+verbringen+) the prisoner eight or ten days.

[2] = whereupon.

[3] to mark out, +bezeichnen+; for this = to this (Dat.); personage = character; some final = his definite (+definitiv+). The Dat. should be placed immediately after ‘+Arkangel+’.

[4] = a.

[5] +Kreisstadt+, f.; such as = as for example.

[6] Construe this passage accord. to the following model: I am told the documents are destroyed, +Es+ (S. 104, N. 19) +wird mir mitgeteilt, daß die Papiere vernichtet sind+.

[7] +mit dem Bemerken, daß+, etc.

[8] ‘to start,’ of a conveyance, a train, etc., is generally rendered by +ab´fahren+.

[9] = at, +an+.

[10] for years, +jahrelang+.

[11] Use the pl. for this and the two following nouns.

[12] +auf+. Read S. 128, N. 11.

[13] the — convoy = the exhausted travellers.

[14] black = gloomy.

[15] +Viehstand+, m.

[16] +abgemagert.+

[17] +siech.+

[18] Supply ‘souls’.

[19] This term may be used in its unaltered form, but is perhaps better rendered by ‘+Polizeipräsident+’, m.

[20] +Unterbeamte+, m.

[21] +Friedensrichter.+

[22] Nom. +der kaiserliche Forstbeamte+.

[23] +einem Haufen russischer Verbrecher in Ketten.+

[24] = number.

[25] = examined; who — district = with absolute (+unumschränkt+) power (+Vollmacht+, f.) over the whole district.

[26] +begehren+; to answer = the answer, +die Beantwortung+, followed by the Gen., but without art.

[27] = your.

[28] Say ‘of your parents’.

[29] Say ‘and the answers to (+auf+, with Acc.) these questions are all entered (+ein´tragen+) in the books’.

_Section 167._

RUSSIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS IN BANISHMENT.