Mirsky had been a medical student; but during his imprisonment he took up the study of jurisprudence, and was credited with such a thorough knowledge of legal affairs that his judgments were more trusted than those of some graduate lawyers who were among us. Mirsky was of Polish extraction; but having been brought up in Russia he was in every respect a thoroughly Russian Socialist. CHAPTER XXIII THE ORGANISATION OF OUR COMMON LIFE—THE “SIRIUSES”—WAGERS On my arrival at the Kara prison I found in existence there an extremely elaborate organisation regulating the prisoners’ daily life, a system that the course of time had evolved and tested. The fundamental principle of the arrangement was equality of rights and duties; the inmates of the prison forming for all domestic purposes a commune or _artèl_, although the needs and wishes of individuals were taken into account as far as possible. It was free to anyone to enter this _artèl_ or to remain outside, and whichever they did, material conditions—in the way of food, etc.—were the same for all.[83] The Government provided a certain quantity of food per day for each prisoner—about 3¼ lbs. of bread, nearly 6 oz. of meat, a few ounces of meal, and some salt. Friends of prisoners were permitted to furnish them with the means of obtaining extra provisions, and some of us, though, indeed, only a few, received such contributions regularly, this money as well as the governmental allowances becoming the common property of the _artèl_. The money was distributed as follows: part was set aside to supplement the food-rations, especially for buying more meat (this was called in our lingo “provisioning the stock-pot”); another portion was reserved for what was called common expenses—assistance to those who were leaving the prison and going to their appointed place of exile, subscriptions to such newspapers as we were allowed, postage, etc.; and a third part was divided equally among all for pocket-money. This last was spent according to the fancy of each individual, usually on tea, tobacco, fish, butter, and such things as were considered “secondary necessaries,” though sometimes these were sacrificed and the money saved up for months, or even for a year or more, in order to buy a book or some special luxury. Our funds were very scanty; during my whole time in Kara there was never more than three or four kopecks[84] per man per day for the “stock-pot,” and the pocket-money for each never amounted to more than a rouble[85] a month, often much less. In consequence of the primitive means of transport everything imported into Siberia cost three times as much as in Europe—a pound of sugar, for instance, cost thirty-five to forty kopecks—and the prisoners had to deny themselves many of the smallest comforts of material existence. Most of us used only brick-tea, _i.e._ tea of the commonest kind, and drank it without