Brushing Over Difficulties

By simply saying that "we have successfully completed our journey" since leaving Poland, the Arzis letter writer brushes over some of the early difficulties the settlers faced on the way. For example, he matter-of-factly mentions that the village's settlers were quartered in Moldavia for two years and supplied with provisions by the Russian crown—a common experience faced by many of the mother colony colonists.

The 1848 Arzis chronicle expresses things a bit more pessimistically, calling the stay "a pity," since the 123 families had to "feed themselves miserably with very meager rations and money allowances." It adds: "Had they been able to come directly to their settlement places, things would have been much better." The chronicle also emphasized that the colonists were greeted by "totally empty and desolate" steppe land with no arrangements for the settlers' arrival.

Maybe the writer is trying to save face about his decision to move to Bessarabia. Did those who remained behind in Poland consider it foolish or risky? Were they skeptical? Or, perhaps in wanting to encourage his friends to come to Bessarabia (see discussion below), he felt that mentioning the miserable two years in Moldavia and the initial desolation in Bessarabia was in the past and wouldn't impact new settlers to the area anyway.

Rosy Picture?

The rosy picture painted by the writer continues in the next few sentences, however. He says the black-soiled land allotted to the colonists "appear^ good to us" and is "extremely fruitful." In hindsight, the 1848 chronicle explains that the land situation was a little more complicated in Arzis. The quality of the soil varied, with "many desjatines" of land being useless because of its layers of saltpeter and clay.

Still, the writer maintains that Arzis' pasture land was so excellent that even an original poor colonist now possessed 30-40 cattle. To drive his point home further, he emphasizes that the surrounding Bulgarians in Bessarabia had thousands of head of livestock each. He stresses that this is far better than the "poor Polish farmer" his letter recipients see around them. Or perhaps he is calling them "poor Polish farmer[s]"!