. The boy travellers in the Russian empire: adventures of two youths in a journey in European and Asiatic Russia, with accounts of a tour across rwords, they were to remain where they were when the decree was issued,and whenever the land was sold they were sold with it. It is said that the object of this decree was not so much in the in-terest of the land-owners as in that of the Government, which was unableto collect its taxes from men who were constantly moving about. Wherethe land belonged to the Government and not to individuals, the peasantsliving upon it became serfs of the Cr
. The boy travellers in the Russian empire: adventures of two youths in a journey in European and Asiatic Russia, with accounts of a tour across rwords, they were to remain where they were when the decree was issued,and whenever the land was sold they were sold with it. It is said that the object of this decree was not so much in the in-terest of the land-owners as in that of the Government, which was unableto collect its taxes from men who were constantly moving about. Wherethe land belonged to the Government and not to individuals, the peasantsliving upon it became serfs of the Crown, or Crown peasants. Thus the 17G THE BOY TKAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. Russian serf might belong to a lorince, nobleman, or other person, or hemight belong to the Government. Private estates were often mortgagedto the Government; if the mortgage was unpaid and the property for-feited, the serfs became Crown peasants instead of private ones. There w^as a curious condition about serfdom in Russia, that wliilethe man and his family belonged to the master, the land which he culti-vated was his own, or at any rate could not be taken from him. The. peasants house in southern RUSSIA. serf owed a certain amount of labor to his master (ordinarily three daysout of every seven), and could not leave the place without permission. Aserf might hire his time from his master, in the same wa} that slaves usedto hire their time in America; but he was required to return to theestate wdienever the master told him to do so. Many of the mechanics,isvoshchiks, and others in the large cities before the emancipation wereserfs, who came to find employment, and regularly sent a part of theirwages to their masters. Sometimes the masters were very severe upon the serfs, and treatedthem outrageously. A master could send a serf into exile in Siberia with-out giving any reason. The record said he was banished by the w^ill ofhis master, and that was all. A woman, a serf on an estate, who had a THE TEEAT
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