Cochrane^s Journey lo ihe Iroztn Sea and Kamtchalka. 



fi20 



ImFred I have no doubf, as the srqiicl 

 will justily Ihe assertion, that a man may 

 travel through the Russian empire, as 

 long as his conduct is becoming:, with- 

 out wanting any thing — not even horses 

 and money, excepting: only i\\G civilized 

 parts between llic capitals. 



YAKUTSK. 



Yakutsk, although a considBrablc 

 place of trade, and a great pass for Ihe 

 American Company, is ill built, and 

 more scattered even than Irkutsk, in the 

 most exposed of all bleak situations on 

 the left bank of the Lena, which is in 

 summer four miles, and winter two 

 miles and a i.nlf wide, appearing, as it 

 really is, one of (he finest streams in the 

 world, running a coarse of more than 

 four thousand miles from its source, 

 riear Irkutsk, to the Frozen Sea, which 

 it enters by several mouths. 'J'he stream 

 is by no means a rapid one, but rather 

 may be called lazy, as its name seems 

 to import. There are seven thousand 

 inhabitants in the city, of whom the 

 greater part are Russians, and the rest 

 ^ akuti. Half a dozen churches, t!ie 

 remains of an old fortress, a monastery, 

 and some tolerable buildings, give it 

 some decency of appearance. >ct I could 

 not help thinking it one of the most 

 dreary looking places I had seen. 



EXPLORING JOURNEY. 



My dresses completed, and the river 

 having, according to custom, been passed 

 :ind declared closed, I packed up my 

 knapsack, and other baggage.— 1 had 

 besides a pipe, flint, steel, and axe, and, 

 what was of most importance, a Cossack 

 companion, who indeed proved invalu- 

 able to me.— My destination wasNishney 

 Kolyma, distant about one thousand 

 eight hundred miles, which were to be 

 tiavellcd over in the coldest season of 

 the year, and in what is esteemed the 

 coldest part of the woild. All this I 

 beeded nothing, and provided, as I 

 thought, with warm clothing, considered 

 Biyself as proof against at least fifty de- 

 grees of Keaunun's frost. The spirit 

 thermometer at Yakutsk, measured at 

 iVlr. Minitsky'x house, was 27° of cold 

 of I'eaumur, or nearly the same number 

 of degrees below the zero of Fahren- 

 beit, yet I walked about Ihe streets of 

 i akntsk with only my nankeen surtoul, 

 frowsers of the same material, shoes, 

 and worsted stockings: a flannel waist- 

 coat, which had lost its principal virtue, 

 was the only warm clothing; yet I can 

 truly say I was not at all incommoded. 

 The natives felt surprised, pitied my 

 "Piweiit fwlorn and hopeless situHtion, 



not seeming to consider that when the 

 mind ;ind body are in constant motion 

 the ell incnts can have little effect upon 

 the (>erson. 



It was on the last day of October that 

 I departed from Yakutsk with my 

 Cossaek, the thermoniclcr !«cing at 27" 

 of frost. I had, through (he kindness 

 of my friend, Mr. Minitsky, been pro- 

 vided with a couple of sledges, and 

 every recommendation within his 

 power. It is impossible for me lo de- 

 scribe the different emotions which agi- 

 tated my breast as I quitted the last 

 limit of civilization. 



ULl'TTONY. 



I have rcijcaiedly seen a Yakut or a 

 Tongouse devour forty pounds of meat 

 in a day. The eHect is very observable 

 upon them, fur from thin and meagre- 

 looking men they will become perfectly 

 pot-bellied. Their stomachs must -bo 

 differently formed to ours, or it would 

 be impossible for them to drink off at a 

 draught, as they really do, their tea and 

 soup scalding hot (so hot, at least, that 

 an European would have difiieulty in 

 sipping at it), witliimt the least incon- 

 venience. I have seen three of Jheso 

 gluttons devour a rein-deer at one meal ; 

 nor are they nice as to the choice of 

 parts ; nothing being lost, not even the 

 contents of Ihe bowels, which, with the 

 aid of fat and blood, arc converted into 

 black puddings. The Yakuts said that 

 one of them was accustomed to consume 

 at home, in the space of a day, or twenty- 

 four hours, the hind quarter of a large 

 ox, twenlfi pounds of fat, and a propor- 

 tionate (pta)iiiti/ of me/ted butter for his 

 drink. The appearance of the man 

 not justifying the assertion, a thick 

 porridge of rice was boiled down with 

 tiiree pounds of bulter, weighing together 

 twenty-eight pounds; and, although the 

 glutton had already breakfasted, yet did 

 he sit down lo it will) great eagerness, 

 and consume Ihe whole without stirring 

 from the spot: and, except that his 

 stomach betrayed more than an ordinary 

 fulness, be betrayed no sign ot moles- 

 tation or injury, but would have been 

 ready to renew his gluttony the follow^ 

 ing day. 



YASHIVERSIv. 



Of all Ihe places I have ever seen, 

 bearing the name of city or town, Za- 

 shiversk is the most dreary and desolate ; 

 my blood froze within me as I beheld 

 and approached the place. All that I 

 have seen in passing rocky or snowy 

 sierras or passes in Spain, in traversing 

 Ihe wastes of Canada, or in crossing the 

 o mountains 



