Chapter 1

In the cheerless regions of Arkangel, of which the aborigines say: “God made Russia, but the devil made Arkangel,” there are (S. 82, N. 7) more than two hundred of those banished ones—men and women, all young, all (= and) poor, most of them sent without trial, few amongst them knowing even of what they are accused. Victor Ivanovitch dines with his friend B., for instance, and after a stroll along the boulevards they separate. B. is arrested that very evening, and when Victor, astonished and horror-stricken, hastens to inquire the cause, he finds everybody, even B.’s own father, as much in the dark as he is himself; all questions and petitions on the subject receive vague administrative answers; all friends and relatives are systematically discouraged and silenced; eagerly they wait for the numerous political trials that come on without intermission, hoping to see the missing one’s (S. 67, N. 3) name on the list of criminals, or to see his face once more, let it be even in the prisoner’s dock; but as they wait and watch, the prisoner is, without any trial, en route for Arkangel.

Arrived there, the routine (App. § 15) is the same for all; whatever the crime alleged, the age or sex, the prisoner is taken to the police-ward,—a dreary log-building, containing two sections, one for men, the other for women. The solitary table and chair in the room, the four walls, and even the ceiling, are covered with the names of youthful predecessors, whose pencilled jests and clever caricatures bear witness to the strength of confidence in themselves with which they began their life in exile.

+des Gouvernements Archangel.+

most of them, +meistens+; sent = sent there; without trial = without any trial, +ohne jegliches Verhör+.

Say liter. ‘of whom even but (+nur+) few know’.

Here follows ‘for instance’; with = in company of.

Say ‘+und trennt sich von ihm nach+’, etc.

+auf.+

+noch an demselben Abend.+

+aufs höchste erschrocken.+

to hasten to inquire the cause, +sich eiligst nach der Ursache erkundigen+.

everybody = that all.

Supply ‘are’ (+sich befinden+) before ‘as’.

+über die Sache.+

receive — answers = are vaguely (+in unbestimmter Weise+, which place after government) answered by (S. 106, N. 23) the government.

+auf.+

= that follow one another (+auf einander folgen+).

= in the hope.

+in.+

+zu schauen+ (App. § 1); face, +Angesicht+, n.

let it be = be it even.

in — dock, +vor den Schranken des Gerichts+.

= whilst.

and watch = and attentively watch (+bewachen+) everything.

Insert the adv. +schon+ after the subject; en route for = on the way to.

+Dort angekommen+; ‘routine’, here = treatment; the words ‘the same’ are to be placed at the end of the clause.

whatever — sex, +welches Verbrechens der Gefangene auch eingeklagt und welches Alters und Geschlechts er auch sei+.

the — ward = yet (+so ... doch+) he is always taken (= conducted) to (+in+) the police-ward (+Polizeiwache+, f.).

a — women = that consists of (+aus+) a miserable block-house of (+aus+) two divisions, one of which is appointed for men and the other for women.

+beschrieben+, p. p.

of — predecessors = of the former (+früher+, adj.) youthful inhabitants of the same (to agree with room).

pencilled, +mit Bleistift gezeichnet+, which use attributively.

bear — themselves = prove the intensity (+Größe+, f.) of the confidence in themselves (+Selbstvertrauen+, n.).

‘to begin’, here +an´treten+, sep. comp. str. v. tr.; life in exile = banishment.

Section 166.

RUSSIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS IN BANISHMENT.