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COXE’Ss TRAVELS IN RUSSIA. 577
the ftraw upon which I lay, and more than once by a lefs inoffenfive animal. At
Tabluka, a village where we pafled the night of the 27th, a party of hogs, at four in
the morning, roufed me by grunting clofe to my ear. Not much pleafed either with
the earlinels of the vifit, or the falutation of my vifitors, I called out to my fervant,
“¢ Jofeph, drive thefe gentry out of the room, and fhut the door.”’ ‘* There is no door
that will fhut,” replied Jofeph, with great compofure, ‘ we have tried every expedient
to faften it without fuccefs ; the hogs have more than once been excluded, but have as
often returned.”’ -This converfation, effectually roufing me, I determed to refign to
my unwelcome guelts that litter which I could no longer enjoy ; and contemplated, by
the light of a flip of deal, the furrounding fcene. My two companions were ftretch-
ed upon the fame parcel of ftraw from which I had juft emerged ; a little beyond our
fervants occupied a feparate heap ; at a {mall diftance three Ruflians, with long beards,
and coarfe fackcloth fhirts and trowfers, lay extended upon their backs on the bare floor ;
on the oppofite fide of the room three women in their clothes flumbered on a long
bench, while the top of the ftove afforded a couch to a woman dreffed like the others
and four fprawling children almoft naked.
The furniture in thefe cottages confifts chiefly of a wooden table or dreffer, and
benches faftened to the fides of the room: the utenfils are wooden platters, bowls, and
fpoons, with perhaps one large earthen pan for cooking. The food of the peafants is
black rye bread, fometimes white, eggs, falt-fifh, bacon, mufhrooms ; their favourite
difh is a hodge-podge of {alt or frefh meat, groats, and rye-flour, highly feafoned with
onions and garlic, which are much ufed by the Ruffians.
The peafants were greedy of money ;. almoft always demanded previous payment for
every trifle, and were in general much inclined to thieving. In Poland it was not
neceflary to be always upon the watch; and we frequently left the equipage during the
whole night without a guard: but in Ruffia, without the precaution of regularly ftation-
ing a fervant in the carriage, every article would foon have difappeared ; yet even
with this expedient, the watchfulnefs of our Argus was continually baffled by the fu-
perior vigilance of the natives, and the morning generally announced fome petty lofs,
to which the night had given birth.
The peafants at every poft were obliged to furnifh us-with horfes at a fixed and reas
fonable rate, which had the ill effe&t of rendering them extremely dilatory in their mo-
tions ; and as our only interpreter was a Bohemian * fervant, not perfectly acquainted
with the Ruffian language, his difficulty in explaining, joined to their backwardnefs in
executing our orders, occafioned delays of feveral hours for a change of horfes. The
peafants adted in the capacity of coachmen and pottillions ; they always harneffed four
horfes a-breaft, commonly put eight, and fometimes even ten horfes to our carriage: as
the {tages were for the molt part twenty, and fometimes thirty miles, and the roads ex-
tremely bad. They feldom ufed either boots or faddles, and had no fort of ftirrup,
except a rope doubled and thrown acrofs the horfe’s back. Each horfe was equipped
with a fnaffle-bridle, which however was feldom inferted in the mouth, but generally
hung loole under the jaw. The method of driving was not in a fteady. pace, but by
ftarts and bounds, with little attention to the nature of the ground: the pealants fel. -
dom trotted their horfes, but would fuddenly force them into a gallop through the
worft roads, and fometimes as fuddenly checked their fpeed upon the moft level fur-
face. A common piece of rope ferved them for a whip, which they feldom had any
eccafion to ufe, as they urged their horfes forwards by hooting and whittling like cat
* The Bohemian and Ruffian languages are both dialects of the Sclavonian tongue.
VOL. VI. 4 calls
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