Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - X. The Skoptsi in Exile
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years ago the virgin forest covered the marshy country
right up to the river bank. Now, cultivated fields extend far
away beyond the village. One of these remarkable people,
pointing to them, remarked: “Yes, God has verily blessed
our work.” He complained, however, of being compelled
to live so far away from his native land, for which he
was longing. The Skoptsi, I found, were making bread
and other things, which they sold, not only to the town,
but also to the gold-fields. The townspeople blamed
them for enriching themselves at their cost, totally
oblivious of the fact that bread has become four or five times
cheaper since they began to cultivate the soil. I was told
by a reliable person that these sectarians were not only
slandered, but even attacked and robbed by their
neighbours, and were compelled to keep watch-dogs and
firearms for self-defence, although this was contrary to their
religious principles. I asked one of their adversaries
why they did not raise their own crops and make bread
themselves, instead of enriching the Skoptsi.
“What! We dig in the dirt! No, Sir; our business is
with the gold-fields.”
This “business” from what I learnt, is very much of the
same nature as that carried on at Vitim. When the
gold-diggers arrive at Olekminsk, they squander their earnings
in a few days, and some of them disappear without
leaving a trace behind them. In the spring, when the
snow melts, corpses of “unknown persons” are found here
and there on the shores of the Lena or in the forests.
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