it happens that it is impossible to conciliate private rights and Communal interests, and in such cases the former are sacrificed in a way that would not be tolerated by men of Anglo-Saxon race.  This leads, however, to no serious consequences.  The peasants are accustomed to work together in this way, to make concessions for the Communal welfare, and to bow unreservedly to the will of the Mir.  I know of many instances where the peasants have set at defiance the authority of the police, of the provincial governor, and of the central Government itself, but I have never heard of any instance where the will of the Mir was openly opposed by one of its members.

In the preceding pages I have repeatedly spoken about “shares of the Communal land.”  To prevent misconception I must explain carefully what this expression means.  A share does not mean simply a plot or parcel of land; on the contrary, it always contains at least four, and may contain a large number of distinct plots.  We have here a new point of difference between the Russian village and the villages of Western Europe.

Communal land in Russia is of three kinds:  the land on which the village is built, the arable land, and the meadow or hay-field, if the village is fortunate enough to possess one.  On the first of these each family possesses a house and garden, which are the hereditary property of the family, and are never affected by the periodical redistributions.  The other two kinds are both subject to redistribution, but on somewhat different principles.

The whole of the Communal arable land is first of all divided into three fields, to suit the triennial rotation of crops already described, and each field is divided into a number of long narrow strips—­corresponding to the number of male members in the Commune—­as nearly as possible equal to each other in area and quality.  Sometimes it is necessary to divide the field into several portions, according to the quality of the soil, and then to subdivide each of these portions into the requisite number of strips.  Thus in all cases every household possesses at least one strip in each field; and in those cases where subdivision is necessary, every household possesses a strip in each of the portions into which the field is subdivided.  It often happens, therefore, that the strips are very narrow, and the portions belonging to each family very numerous.  Strips six feet wide are by no means rare.  In 124 villages of the province of Moscow, regarding which I have special information, they varied in width from 3 to 45 yards, with an average of 11 yards.  Of these narrow strips a household may possess as many as thirty in a single field!  The complicated process of division and subdivision is accomplished by the peasants themselves, with the aid of simple measuring-rods, and the accuracy of the result is truly marvellous.