' The mayor and others in Telsh assured me of a fact which will scarcely be credited — that the princes of the family of Gedroitz are so numerous, and so poor, that some of them gain their support by cutting firewood, and carting it to the Vilna market for sale. Many of them cultivate the ground for their livelihood. So low is the princely dignity fallen in Lithuania! And as to the state of the nobility of Samogatia it is also degraded beyond conception, since in the district of Telsh there are not fewer than 700 individals of noble descent who cultivate the ground with their own hands!
' The number of houses in Telsh is 160, of which one half are inhabitated by Jews, who are mostly very indigent.'
My route led from Vilna to Vitebsk. Following upward from Dunaburg the course of the Dwina, and passing New Alexandrosky on the right bank of the Dwina and Poletka we reach the town of Poletsk, one of the oldest towns mentioned in Russian history. It was formerly the provincial town of a district of the same name, which in 1796 was united to that of Vitebsk.
' It was known to the ancients under the name of Pletiscum, and in the time of Ruric, the Russian Egbert,' says Pinkerton, c it had its own princes, who reigned there until the time of Vladimir the Great. This prince, irritated at the refusal of Rogneda, daughter of the reigning prince Rogvalde, to marry him, laid siege to the city, took it, killed the prince and his two sons, married the princess against her will, and added the principality of Poletsk to his dominions. After this the son of Rogneda obtained this principality from his father, Vladimir, and his descendants continued to reign there for several centuries, until 1305, when Guedemin built Vilna, which became then the capital of those parts of Lithuania. But even to the time of Peter the Great the Russian Tsars continued to take the title of Prince of Poletsk. In the intervening ages it was repeatedly taken and retaken by the Russians and Poles, but it generally remained in the hands of the latter until 1772, when Catherine II. united it to her empire.'
The area of forests in the government of Vitebsk is 1,738,000, of which 380,615 desatins belong to the crown, equivalent to 44*5 desatins of forests, or 9'7 desatins of crown forests per square verst, and to 2'L desatins of forests, or 0'5 desatins of crown forests per inhabitant. The annual fellings in the crown forests yield 11*3 cubic feet, and the revenue is 12'6 kopecs per desatin.
The town of Vitebsk stands on the banks of the Dwina and Vitspa, which flow through it. It is a very ancient town, and is said to have been known to the Scandanavians and Greeks as early as the tenth century. The country around is level, and abounds in extensive forests, and the land produces abundance of grain and excellent hemp.
In the government of Moghileff the area of forests is 1,184,000 desatins, of which 180,415 desatins belong to the crown, equivalent to 28*1 desatins of forests, or 4*2 desatins of crown forests per square verst, and to 1-3 desatins of forests, or 0'2 desatins of crown forests per inhabitant. The fellings in the crown forests yield 134 cubic feet, and the revenue is 18'3 kopecs per desatin.
' The province of MoghilefT,' says Pinkerton, ' is about 350 versts long, and 300 broad, with a population of upwards of 900,000 souls; all are Russians, except a few Lithuanians, and a numerous tribe of Jews, who formed a settlement here during the period of the Russian civil wars, when White Russia was in the hands of the Poles. It abounds in extensive forests of fir and hazelwood ] those in the district of Tchernigov are considered the finest. Numbers of the peasantry are employed in felling and floating timber to Riga by the Dwina, and to the Black Sea by the Dnieper, and to those parts of Little Russia which are but scantily supplied with this necessary article.
' The principal commodity of trade in Moghileff is leather; there are upwards of twenty tanneries; but its merchants carry on a considerable commerce also with the ports of Danzig, Memel, and Riga, in potash, hemp, leather, and grain.