seven months in Russian Poland

Anderson’s book was published in London in 1864. It was a shock for the British. The case of Anderson himself, who was tortured in prison for unknown reasons and was not allowed to meet the ambassador, was announced in the parliament. Hrodna historians have known the book for a long time, but it has only now appeared in its entirety in Belarusian. Fortescue Anderson is a young Briton with a degree as an Anglican pastor. In Bonn, he met 20-year-old Count Alexander Bisping, a large landowner from Hrodna region, a descendant of a family of Westphalian Germans who came to us during the time of Batory. Bisping invites a new friend to visit him… But the year is 1863 in the yard. The first part of the book is travel notes. People and landscapes of the Hrodna region: drunken cheerful peasants, lovers of “whiskey” (apparently, vodka or moonshine). The Jews who hold all the trade. Features of local cuisine: cold meat, pike, game or – a fabulous device – samovar! Hunting traditions, beggars, Dazhinka, sleepy towns and villages… “The peasants’ depravity stems from their lack of education and is exacerbated by the easy availability of alcoholic beverages. In every village there are three or four Jews who sell whiskey, and this is the bane of the whole land. The houses of these Jews [taverns] are to be found along the roads at a distance of about a mile from each other, and the drink is so cheap and strong that drunkenness has become a general phenomenon.’