rices; but give
the Mujik his _batvina_ (salt grease and honey boiled together), a
loaf of black bread, and a peck of raw cucumbers, and he is happy.
Judging by external appearances, very little grease seems to be wasted
in the manufacture of soap. Indeed, I would not trust one of these
Mujiks to carry a pound of soap any where for me, any more than I
would a gallon of oil or a pound of candles. Once I saw a fellow
grease his boots with a lump of dirty fat which he had picked up out
of the gutter, but he took good care first to extract from it the
richest part of its essence by sucking it, and then greasing his
beard. The boots came last. In all probability he had just dined, or
he would have pocketed his treasure for another occasion, instead of
throwing the remnant, as he did, to the nearest cat.

In respect to the language, one might as well be dropped down in
Timbuctoo as in a village or country town of Russia, for all the good
the gift of speech would do him. It is not harsh, as might be
supposed, yet wonderfully like an East India jungle when you attempt
to penetrate it. I could make better headway through a boulder of
solid quartz, or the title to my own house and lot in Oakland. Now I
profess to be able to see as far into a millstone as most people, but
I can't see in what respect the Russians behaved any worse than other
people of the Tower of Babel, that they should be afflicted with a
language which nobody can hope to understand before his beard becomes
grizzled, and the top of his head entirely bald. Many of the better
classes, to be sure, speak French and German; but even in the streets
of Moscow I could seldom find any body who could discover a ray of
meaning in my French or German, which is almost as plain as English.

Some people know what you want by instinct, whether they understand
your language or not. Not so the Russians. Ask for a horse, and they
will probably offer you a fat goose; inquire the way to your
lodgings, and they are just as likely as not to show you the Foundling
Hospital or a livery-stable; go into an old variety shop, and express
a desire to purchase an Astrakan breast-pin for your sweet-heart, and
the worthy trader hands you a pair of bellows or an old blunderbuss;
cast your eye upon any old market-woman, and she divines at once that
you are in search of a bunch of chickens or a bucket of raw cucumbers,
and offers them to you at the lowest market-price; hint to a
picture-dealer th