tivation was not owned by one person or a family, but by
all the members of a community, or _mir_. The heads of the families
composing the mir assembled in a council or _vetche_, which had
authority over the mir. Only the house and the _dvor_ or inclosure,
and his share in the harvest, were the property of each householder.
In the course of time, several of these rural communities united (p. 028)
in a canton or county, called a _volost_, which was then governed by a
council composed of the elders of several communes. It happened
sometimes that one of these elders, who was considered unusually wise
or powerful, became chief of the volost, a dignity which might become
hereditary. This was probably the origin of the boyards or nobles. As
a rule, the volosts were proud of their independence; they disliked
entangling alliances, although in time of danger or necessity they
would enter into a confederacy of all the counties belonging to the
same tribe, which was then called _plemia_. But it was always
understood that such an arrangement was temporary. In most of the
volosts, there was at least one spot fortified by earthen walls and
wooden palisades, where the people might take refuge in case of an
attack.

We know that some of the Slav tribes attained some degree of
civilization as early as the seventh century of our era. Novgorod was
a town, large for that time, which carried on a brisk trade with Asia.
This is amply proved by the discovery of Asiatic coins belonging to
that period. Although the favorite occupation of the Slavs was
agriculture, the construction of the fortified places suggests that
they were not averse to increase their wealth by an occasional raid
upon their unprepared neighbors. There is other evidence that
Novgorod, grown into a wealthy city in the middle of the ninth
century, longed for peace. No wonder that such a community sought for
means of security for its commerce. But the manner in which it
accomplished this desire, decided the fate of Russia.

III--THE NORSEMEN (OR VARINGIANS) IN RUSSIA. (p. 029)

It would have been strange indeed, if the bold Norsemen, the bold
buccaneers who in their frail craft pillaged the west coasts of Europe
and extended their voyages into the Mediterranean, should have omitted
to pay a visit to the shores of the Baltic Sea. We know that they
settled in England and France, and it causes no surprise when we read
that the Slavs in the neigh