SHEEP AND GOATS 261 



My objective was a place called Ongodai, situated 

 in the Altai, about twenty-one days' posting from 

 Omsk. From this place on to Kochagatch I had 

 to pack on ponies, as the road for wheel traffic finishes 

 at that place. 



Having gone through the usual vicissitudes that 

 such a journey on such roads, or rather trails I should 

 call them, entails, I arrived at Ongodai without much 

 trouble ; and taking it all round, except when hung 

 up by thunderstorms, which are no joke in that part 

 of the world, or small accidents in the way of a 

 wheel coming off, or ponies non est at the posting- 

 house when you arrive, I rather enjoyed the journey, 

 doing an average of 100 versts per diem. As a rule 

 I did not travel at night, but started at daylight, and 

 put up at the first posting-house after dark. These 

 posting-houses are generally clean and comfortable ; 

 but it is well to be provided with the necessaries of 

 life as they can generally only supply you with bread, 

 milk, and eggs. I may as well mention that as a 

 rule a camp bed is useful unless you want to be 

 eaten alive. At a place called Bisk, seven days from 

 Ongodai, which is only a village, I was able to outfit 

 in the way of stores, as it is a place of considerable 

 size. Soon after leaving Bisk the country changed 

 in feature, and I found my road winding up the 

 valleys of the Altai. It was indeed a pleasant change 

 after the dead flats of the Siberian steppe, green 

 valleys, brawling streams, and hills covered with 

 forests of pine and cedar. 



I reached Ongodai in due course, and rested for 



