The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

8.14 EUSSIA IN EUEOPE.The Pomori, or " People of the Sea," as all the Great Russians of these northernprovinces are called, are hy far the most numerous element in Archangel andVologda. Separated hy vast intervening spaces from the rest of the family, theyhave in some respects preserved an extremely pure type, although otherwiseaffected in a special manner by the development of independent religious sects.Nowhere else has the family life acquired a more despotic character. Thebetrothed calls her future lord ost&dnichok, the " fear inspirer," and before thebridal kiss the bridegroom plucks her flowing tresses, and sings her a threateningsong ": Under the nuptial couch lies an oaken staff ; to this oaken staff isattached a silken whip with three lashes, and when it falls the blood flows." Thusthe wretched bride shudders at the prospect of her future thraldom, and withtearful eyes thrice bends the knee before the holy images : "I make the firstgenuflexion for the most pious Czar ;I make the second for the most jiious Czarinaand the third I make for myself, that the Saviour may take pity on this haplessmaiden in her new home." The Czar for whom she prays is, in the popularestimation, far less the ruler than is the "land czar" (zemskiy tzar), who representsall the landed interests, who, in the language of the national songs, " serves theland." Most of the Pomori escaped the hard yoke of serfdom. Scarcely had theMuscovy peasantry been attached to the glebe, when the acquisition of thesouthern provinces attracted the attention of the nobles, whose thirst of land andslaves found fuller scope in this direction. Thus the pine forests and frozentundras of the north were happily overlooked, and in 1866 there were no more than476 serfs in the whole government of Archangel.Topography.Kola, capital of Russian Lapland, had a population of less than 800 at thelastcensus ;yet under a more temperate climate it would be well situated for traffic,and might become a place of some importance. For it stands at the junction of tworivers, at the head of an estuary running far inland, and continued still farthersouthwards by a lacustrine depression, which forms a communication between theGulf of Kandalaksha and the Arctic Ocean. Its position has been accordinglyappreciated by traders from the remotest times, and it is mentioned in 1264 as afishing station and mart frequented by the Novgorod merchants. But its naturaladvantages failed to attract any large numbers, and it consisted of nothing morethan a group of wooden barracks when bombarded and half destroyed by theEnglish during the Crimean war. Its chief industry consists in shark fishing, apursuit rendered doubly dangerous by the storms of the Frozen Ocean and theshoals of these animals, which at times capsize the boats and devour the crews.Kern, on the west side of the White Sea, is the chief trading centre in theKarelian territory.Like Kola, it was an old Novgorod colony, favourably situatedat the mouth of a navigable river affording the easiest communication with theGulf of Bothnia and Scandinavia. But its present importance is largely due to thevicinity of Soloretzkiy, or Solovh Island, and the famous monastery founded here