FOOTNOTES:
[33] Evidently, an Imperial Messenger.
[34] Apparently, a slate. The point is, that Russians still perform all their calculations on the ancient abacus, with marvellous rapidity, and look upon pen-and-paper or slate-and-pencil as a slow, cumbrous process.
[35] By this twist of pronunciation the word becomes "storm-meter."
[36] The North Sea. The Mediterranean, literally translated, is "Sredizemnoe"—Midland. Therefore the old gunsmith twists this into "Tverdezemnoe."
[37] The old gunsmith uses a word which sounds fairly right, but means "a disturber."
[38] By substituting an l for a d the old gunsmith turns "under-skipper" into "half-skipper."