Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/105

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ITINERARY OF THE PRISONERS.

77

Czernihow,^[1] the chief-town of the province of the same name, which, as well as Kiow, belonged to Poland, until John Sobieski, being engaged in his wars with the Turks, had abandoned it definitively to Russia. The inhabitants of this province preserved, until this time, sincere attachment to their mother country. After dinner, two old officers brought us a plateful of fine apples, and begged us to accept them. Our guards not being present for some time, they talked to us in Polish, with an interest which touched us deeply. “The Polish blood runs in our veins,” said they. “We sincerely pity your

↑ At Czernihow I saw, for the first time, paper money exchanged for copper coin. These are large pieces of five sous (2½ pence) or kopeikas, very heavy and troublesome to the traveller. Ten roubles in copper take more room, and weigh more than all the luggage; there is, however, no other money in circulation. These notes had previously fallen 40 per cent below their nominal value,—they have now fallen 75 per cent.—(Note of the Author.)

[1] At Czernihow I saw, for the first time, paper money exchanged for copper coin. These are large pieces of five sous (2½ pence) or kopeikas, very heavy and troublesome to the traveller. Ten roubles in copper take more room, and weigh more than all the luggage; there is, however, no other money in circulation. These notes had previously fallen 40 per cent below their nominal value,—they have now fallen 75 per cent.—(Note of the Author.)

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