From: henry999@eircom.net   
      
   Joe Fineman  wrote:   
      
   > ...a gang of   
   > Volga boatmen (I suppose they were pirates of some kind)...   
      
   Actually, the Volga boatmen were the labourers who pulled the boats   
   through unnavigable stretches of the river.   
      
   See the famous painting from the 1870s by Ilya Repin:   
      
   http://www.auburn.edu/academic/liberal_arts/foreign/russian/art/repin-bo   
   atmen.html   
      
   This is one of my favourites. I have a print on the wall above my desk   
   and every time I look at it I am reminded how lucky I was to be able to   
   go to university.   
      
   cheers,   
      
   Henry   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)