FOOTNOTES:
[1] Primeval forest.
[2] Vodka could only be procured at the stores belonging to the mine-owners, and was dealt out in limited quantities. On this account there was a flourishing contraband trade. A gallon of even inferior quality was sold for a hundred roubles. A strong, sober miner, able to forgo his vodka and sell it, could make a good sum in this way.—Author's note.
[3] Brodiaga—a criminal deported to Siberia, who has escaped from prison, or who, not having been sentenced to imprisonment, cannot find work, and has become a vagrant or bandit.
[4] The Poles deported to Siberia from Poland in the eighteenth century.
[5] "Juntas"—boots without heels, with soft soles and wide legs.
[6] The Polish Revolution of 1863.
[7] The greeting commonly used by the peasants.
[8] I.e., about the Revolutionists' plans. Maciej is accused of being a spy.
[9] "Sorokowiki"—58 degrees below zero.
[10] Alluding to the universal custom in Poland at the Christmas Eve dinner. The host hands round a wafer—which has been blessed by the priest—and breaks it with the guests, and they with another, good wishes being exchanged meanwhile. It is also sent with good wishes to friends at a distance.
[11] "Get thee behind me, Satan!" In Yakut the accent falls on the last syllable.—Author's note.
[12] "Pępki"—from Russian "pupki," the salted roes of a large fish caught in the Lena.
[13] The Polish custom is to spread hay under the tablecloth at the Christmas Eve dinner—an allusion to the hay in the manger.
[14] "Oładi"—a favourite Yakut dish. It is a kind of pancake, made with reindeer fat, and eaten with reindeer milk which is frozen into lumps.
[15] Country dances interspersed with songs.
[16] A well-known Cracowiak.
[17] "God, great God, have mercy!"
[18] The greeting usual among peasants.
[19] The colloquial name for policeman.
[20] The Uniats are forbidden by the Russian Government to be baptized, married, etc., by their own or Roman Catholic priests.
[21] Children are only allowed to attend specially licensed schools—one of the measures taken by the Russian Government to prevent Polish subjects from being taught.
[22] It is considered a special privilege to walk on either side of the priest and support his arms in the procession.
[23] Answers more or less to the old-fashioned term "beadle."
[24] "Eagle."