The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

THE MIE, OE COMMUNE. 463both " village " and " the world," is distinguished by its orthography only fromanother term meaning " peace," "contract," " agreement," and the mir is, in fact,the general consensus of the village families to the distribution of the land.When, as in the north, the available territory is extensive, the soil is commonto several villages jointly constituting a volost. In this way about 600 villages ofthe Olonetz district are grouped in 30 communes. A single volost, stretching for36 miles along the Svir, and comprising 550,000 acres, includes over 100 villages,and, as there is here no lack ofland, the peasantry may often shift their quartersFig. 248.Distribution of Industries not liable to Excise Duty.L otP.Value over £6,000.(100 to £1,600,000 to £800.000 to £160.000 to £SO,000 to Less than£16,000,000. £16,000,000. £6,400,000. £1,600,000. £800,000. £160,000. £S0,000.and select more convenient sites, merely marking the trees that serve as temporaryboundaries. The Ural Cossacks are grouped in the same way in one vast volost,in which, till recently, every able-bodied adult was free to occupy any vacant land,but where the principle of private ownership is now spreading. The study of oldrecords has shown that the grouping of villages in volosts was the rule in formertimes."With the growth of the population and diminution of unoccupied lands, thesevolosts have been naturally broken up into distinct mirs, in which the hamlet