[54]. In Russia it is the custom at Easter in every house to spread a large table with cold dishes of all descriptions, and the master of the house invites every visitor to partake of the feast, which they are bound to do, eating and drinking standing. This “Easter table” is kept going throughout the festival time.—Trans.
[55]. Value one farthing.—Trans.
[56]. By this name the common people throughout Russia and Siberia designate all prisoners.
[57]. Carriages with three horses harnessed abreast in a peculiar manner, the two outside facing somewhat outwards. The middle horse is trained to trot very fast, and the two outside ones to canter.—Trans.
[58]. Head of the district police.—Trans.
[59]. A “swop” is carried out in the following way. A convict under heavy sentence—of so many years’ penal servitude, e.g.—takes an opportunity of exchanging personalities, so to speak, with one of the ordinary criminals who is simply being deported. A member of this class will undertake the business for a ridiculously small compensation. Then at the first station whence the exiles are to be despatched to their separate destination the supposed exile escapes, to wander about in Siberia, and, if lucky, find his way back to European Russia. The other who has taken his place reveals after a time his true character, and confesses that he exchanged with So-and-so at such and such a place. The matter is investigated, and the culprit receives a hundred lashes and a year’s hard labour. It is generally the very lowest class of criminals who offer themselves as merchandise in these cases—wretched outcasts, who only receive a trifle—a few roubles, perhaps—as their share of the reward. The organisers of the traffic, the leaders of their artèl (union), see to it that when once a prisoner undertakes a “swop” he sticks to his part. If he dare attempt to betray them he is simply murdered.
[60]. A kopeck is equal to a farthing.—Trans.
[61]. This celebrated scholar and political writer, though not an active member of the revolutionary party, was arrested in 1866 and condemned to penal servitude. During his imprisonment in the Fortress of Peter and Paul he wrote his famous novel, What Should We Do? which had such a great influence on the youth of his time.—Trans.
[62]. Agàpov was sentenced in the case of fifty Propagandists, in 1887, to three years and eight months’ penal servitude. In 1880 he was released from prison and interned as a “colonist” in Eastern Siberia.