280 A PHANTOM JOURNEY 



Leaving Sergiopol at 4 p.m., we travelled five 

 stages practically without a stop, being fortunate 

 enough to find horses at each post-house. The 

 ground is very quickly covered, provided all goes 

 well on the Russian post road, but only too often 

 the foreign traveller is delayed by the exigencies of 

 the mails, officials, or a prior arrival. Sadly he 

 watches the back of a departing sleigh, realising 

 that he may be detained for hours, if not days. 



Many of the horses were in wretched condition 

 — mere studies in osteology — and how they got over 

 the ground was a mystery. Once, unable to get 

 post horses, we hired some private animals, which 

 collapsed and walked slowly, very slowly, towards 

 our goal, until relieved by a relay. Dead horses 

 were common — I saw six in one day — and at times 

 the cold wind and loose, blowing snow were very 

 trying. 



One stage from Semipalatinsk we had to abandon 

 our large covered post sleighs, and transfer our 

 baggage to two of lighter make. We covered the 

 last stage in three hours, to find Mr. Peterson and 

 his party and Mr. Hansen already in the town. 

 The latter had arrived nearly a week before, but 

 had been delayed by the wind, which had blown 

 unceasingly for nine whole days, and rendered 

 travelling impossible. He had travelled the whole 

 distance in the sleigh in which he had left 

 Chuguchak. We had been friendly rivals all the 

 way, but here we parted for good, as he had not 

 reached Omsk when we left for Moscow. 



Semipalatinsk is quite a large place, and we 

 seemed to have reached civilisation once more, with 

 steamers, telephones, and high buildings. We 



