the Ural Mountains exist under another
phase of the abrok system. An iron-
worker, paying first a certain sum to the
seigneur for this liberty, employs a substitute
in the manufactories, and devotes
himself to agriculture; of which of course he
makes a good thing, even with the heavy
taxation upon him. Many peasants under this
system become rich, though at any time,
the seigneur can claim their savings. M.
le Play says they never do so; but the
fact that they have the power, is painful
and demoralising. Besides, one knows that
it belongs to human nature, not only to use
power to the utmost, but even to exceed it.
They drink large quantities of qvass, a beer
made of barley-meal, iced in summer (every
peasant has an icehouse and a bath), of
braga, a stronger beer, made also of barley-
mcal, and of souslo, made of hops, barley, and
must.

Passing eastward, M. le Play discourses of
the iron-manufacturers of Samakowa, in
Bulgaria. They are of the Greek religion,
and are a smoking, illiterate, unawakened
set of boors. They belong to their masters,
by reason of the money which these first lend
their workmen to establish themselves and
begin life with. Though no money is allowed
to be lent out at interest in any part of
Turkey, yet the master of course makes an
interest he cannot avow, and the operative
works out his debt as he best can;
sometimes, indeed, saving large sums, such as a
thousand or even twelve thousand francs.
Large common-lands supply him with
firewood and pasture. The land in Turkey is
said to belong to God, but the cultivators
pay a tax to the seigneur notwithstanding.
The terres mortes are small patches of land
cultivated by the spade, by a peasant living
in a house in the midst of his gardens. He
must leave his house and cease to cultivate
his grounds three years before they lapse to
the state. After this time, he loses all right
in them. The terres vivantes are those lands
which are under plough cultivation. The
proprietors of the terres mortes often place
them under a functionary called a mosquie;
who, for a few pence, inscribes them in the
parish books under his own name or that of
some institution, at the same time guarantee-
ing them to their actual possessor. These
lands are hereditary, if the possessor remains
stationary, which the seigneur takes good
care he shall do. M. le Play says, that even
when they have worked themselves free of
their debt, they remain in the same conditions
and at the same place as before.
Moreover, that no one feels his debt a
hardship, and no one wishes to be free—another
of M. le Play's sweeping assertions. The
women wear chains of coins strung together,
which are long in proportion to the wealth of
the family.

Many other classes of workmen in eastern
Europe work à la corvée, or with labour in
payment; among others, the Jobajjy, or
agricultural peasants of the plains of Theiss,
in Hungary, the true source of the
Hungarian people. They owe their corvée in
proportion to the amount of land possessed
by them. A whole sessio is about twenty-
five acres, in round numbers. The corvée
for this is one hundred and six days' labour
from one man, or half that time from a man
and two oxen. Besides this, there are taxes
and tithes. Sometimes the peasant has only
a quarter of a sessio: he is called then a
quarter-peasant; and for this he gives twenty-
six days' labour, or thirteen days with two
oxen. They can hold land of their lords in
one of three ways: First, either by giving
half the produce; secondly, by mowing as
much hay for the proprietor as lies on double
the extent of their own land; and thirdly,
by paying a sum of money for rent. The
lands are seldom divided below a quarter of
a sessio, and generally pass to the second son;
the eldest being taken off to the army: the
rest of the family learn different trades.

The cabinet-makers' guild in Vienna
is composed of apprentices (lehr-jungen),
companions (gesellen), and masters. The
apprentices, who are generally the sons
of masters, are admitted when eleven years
of age; but their number is limited. After
a certain number of years, and when
arrived at a certain point of cabinet-making
capability, the apprentice rises into a
companion, and then sets out on his
travels. He goes through all Germany
sometimes, helped in each town by the office
of his guild, and getting such work as he
may. He seldom saves anything from his
travels, and goes back as poor as when he
left, in all save experience. If he wishes to
be a master, he must execute a meister-stück,
or chef-d'Å“uvre, which is first submitted to a
committee of masters; and, if found
sufficiently creditable, is allowed to be his
credential for a mastership, on the payment of
from six hundred to two thousand five
hundred francs, the sum varying according
to the gains of the last-made master and
the wealth and importance of the city. No
companion may work directly for a customer.
If he does and is discovered, he is taken
by the police before a council of the guild,
his tools are confiscated, and he is fined
thirty-three francs for the first offence, and
sixty-seven for the second. If incorrigible,
he is banned, and none of the work-
shops of the guild receive him. In this case
he must take to some other means of living;
for cabinet-making is lost to him. A man
may not marry unless he can show a certificate
from his society proving that he earns so
much—the minimum—which is rarely able
to be done in early life. The consequence is,
the birth of a large number of children with
whose parents the church has had nothing
to do. But the police hunt out illicit unions
with savage severity. If they find two