As soon as the White Sea has become navigable, that is to say, by the first days of June, the pilgrims crowd into little boats, called _karbasses_, which, from Archangel, carry them to the Holy Isle. The price of the voyage is very small, but owing to the discomforts, and indeed to the dangers of a long crossing on a sea generally very rough, many _bohomolets_ go on foot from Archangel, and skirt the shore till they reach a promontory opposite Solovetsk, from which it is separated by an arm of the sea not one verst in width, and only then do they commit themselves to the _karbasses_. No one can land on the island, except during the four months of June, July, August, and September, for by the beginning of October all navigation of the White Sea is prevented by the violence of its tempests, and still more by the ice which enters it from the Polar Sea. So from October to June there are no visitors at the convent. It is a strange thing, and one perhaps not without significance, that alongside of the very house of God, the Tzars have built one for themselves--a mysterious prison, of which the _bohomolets_ speak with the greatest terror, because no one knows what is the meaning or the use of it. Who may be the unhappy beings who are inclosed within these dungeon walls! No common criminals certainly, for _they_ are sent to Siberia. And yet the prison of Solovetsk is certainly occupied, for sentries and keepers are always on duty, and at their posts. I have been told that some years ago an old man was seen there. He had a white beard, and had become blind from weeping. I do not pretend to give any guarantee for the truth of this tale, which has, however, been narrated by many; still less do I venture to vouch for the secret which has been whispered into my ear on more than one occasion; but they say that the blind prisoner of Solovetsk is a brother of Nicholas--that he is the Grand Duke Constantine himself...!