606 Cochrane' s Journey to the Frozen Sea and Kamtchatka. 



througli the capitiil, the duke constantly 

 haranguing the assembled crowds, 

 whom he witli infinite difficulty suc- 

 ceeded in bringing to reason. 



NARRATIVE 



OP 



A PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY 



THROUGH 



RUSSIA AND SIBERIAN TARTARY, 



FROM THE 



FRONTIEKS OF CHINA 



TO THE 



FROZEN SEA AND KAJITCHATKA ; 



I'ERFOHMED DimiNC THE YEARS 



1820, 1821, lt-22, AND 1823, 



BY 



Capt. JOHN DUNDAS COCHRANE, n.N. 



1 vol. 8vo. price 18s. 



[The title of this vtork bespeaks its own 

 recommendation to the attention of our 

 readers. Captain Corhraue's Travels 

 are a romance; but, as an author, he is 

 not a romancer; and his work is as much 

 to be admired for its self-evident vera- 

 city, as for the extraordinary achieve- 

 ment which it discovers. None but a 

 British sailor would have made the at- 

 tenipt, and none but a captain in the 

 British navy would have succeeded,] 



THE AUTHOR. 



Even in these days of wonderful 

 achievements, it has excited some sur- 

 prise that a Captain of the British Navy 

 sliould undertake a journey of many 

 thousands of miles, alone, on foot, and 

 over a country considered as next to im- 

 passable. That the journey has only in 

 part been performed on foot, is to be at- 

 trilinted to the liberality of the Russian 

 government, as well as to the hospitality 

 of its people. Had the Emperor Alex- 

 ander, however, refused the assistance 

 I solicited, required, and obtained, I am 

 free to declare that it is next to impos- 

 sible to traverse his empire on foot, I 

 fairly made the experiment. For a long 

 time I adopted that economical mode 

 of travelling, until the pressing solicita- 

 tions of every one convinced me it would 

 be folly to decline any longer the accept- 

 ance of such offers as they were pleased, 

 from real benevolence, to make me. 



1 fiequently walked, and us frequently 

 rode, and was thus enabled to go over a 

 vast extent of country in a short time ; 

 and such is the kind disposition of the 

 Russian character towards a stranger, 

 as evinced in my case, that I feel con- 

 vinced that, by studying their manners 

 and customs, partaking of their amuse- 

 ments, shewing respect to Uielr religion, 

 and otherwise conforming to tlieir rude 



notions, the empire of Russia may he 

 traversed by a foreigner in every direc- 

 tion, with much convenience, plenty of 

 food, good lodgings, and even suitable 

 raiment, without molestation ; and this 

 for so inconsiderable a sum, that to 

 name it were to challenge disbelief. I 

 shall, therefore, only state that the ex- 

 penses of my journey from Moscow to 

 Irkutsk (by the route I went six 

 thousand miles), certainly fell short of « 

 guinea. 



I may be allowed to add, that after 

 such a journey, I might be supposed 

 cured of the spirit of travelling, at least 

 in so eccentric a way ! yet the suppo- 

 sition is far from the fact, for as I am 

 conscious that I was never so happy as 

 in the wilds ofTartary, so have I never 

 been so anxious to enter on a similar 

 field as at this moment. 



OBJECT. 



Finding that a young commander 

 like myself was not likely to be employ- 

 ed afloat, I determined to undertake a 

 journey, varying only the object and the 

 scene to that of the unfortunate Led- 

 yard, viz. to travel round the globe, as 

 nearly as can be done by land, crossing 

 from Northern Asia to America, at 

 Behring's Sireights ; I also determined 

 to perform the journey on foot, for the 

 best of all possible reasons, that my 

 finances allowed of no other. I accord- 

 ingly procured two years' leave of ab- 

 sence, and prepared to traverse the con- 

 tinents of Europe, Asia, and America. 



My first and leading object was to 

 trace the shores of the Polar Sea along 

 America, by land, as Captain Parry is 

 now attempting to do by sea ; and at the 

 same time to note my observations on 

 men and manners in the various situ- 

 ations and conditions of life; for which 

 such a journey could not fail of present- 

 ing many opportunities. Having, there- 

 fore, procured such documents as were 

 necessary, and filled my knapsack with 

 such articles as I considered requisite 

 to enable me to wander thiough the 

 wilds, deserts, and forests, of three 

 quarters of the globe, I quitted Loudon 

 and landed at Dieppe from the packet- 

 boat. 



NAPOLEON. 



I fell in with one of Napoleon's 

 soldiers, who iiad had the misfortune of 

 being for two years and a half immured 

 in a Russian prison, if the wilds of Si- 

 berian Tartary possess any building 

 which can merit such an appellation. 

 He protested " by his faith and respect 

 for Napoleon ;" and, if I may judge from 

 7 what 



