The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

THE WHITE RUSSIANS. 285and schools have remained picturesque ruins in the landscape. In the revival ofprosperity the Jews were the chief agents, and since the "Ruin" this is theessential point in the history of White Russia. During the present century manyold Polish proprietors have been replaced by Russian nobles, and serfdom has beenabolished, but the revolution is far from complete. Large estates are still morecommon than in Central Russia ; the nobles have retained G3 per cent, of theFig. 141.—Rcrxs of the Castle of Ostroo.arable land ;and thousands of the peasantry have either received nothing, or onlyallotments too small or too unproductive to yield a living. On an average theseholdings are sufficient to supply the bare necessaries of existence, the rest beingprocuredeither by badly paid labour on the large estates, or by advances from theJews, who have thus in many places gradually become the owners of the land itself.This again has driven many to seek work elsewhere, and, in the language ofNekrasov, "the Russian railways are laid with the bones of White Russian navvies."