Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/106

78 fate; but, alas!” Titow happened to come in, and interrupted them.

 is a pretty little town. The Russians excel in the art of constructing wooden houses; I have nowhere seen them better built, and it may be said they have manufacturers of them. In large towns, such as Moscow, there are markets where ready made houses are sold ; the pieces are brought numbered, and require only to be put together to form a house.

The winter did not allow us to see the fertility and beauty of the country through which we were passing. It was Ukrania, the most beautiful province of the Russian empire, rich in corn, pasturage, honey, and especially in horses and cattle. Despotism, however, and the great distance from navigable rivers, deprive it in some measure of commercial advantages. We did not see a single silver-coin, either here or upon all the road as far St Petersburg. There were only bank-notes and large copper coins of five kopeikas, which we carried with us in huge