CHAPTER XI

IN LITTLE RUSSIA

Results of the rising--Revolutionists claim some success--Some gain in unity--But the movement lost prestige--Hopes of winning over troops proved vain--Reasons of this--Consequent elation of the Government--Hopes of a new loan--Witte laments his lost faith--My journey to Kieff--Harvest rotting on the platforms--Kieff as religious centre--Pilgrimages to the catacombs--An intellectual centre--Character of Little Russians--Their costume--No thought of separation--Apprehension of Poles--The Little Russian movement--The recent riots of Loyalists--Attack on the British Consulate--Persecution of Jews--Crowded prisons and typhus--The Black Earth--Grain as Russia’s chief export--Poverty of the villages--Reasons for this--The country districts quiet 198