Jottings. 375 



The buck-board form is, however, universal and gives a sway- 

 ing, jerky motion to the vehicle, which is not so bad on a smooth 

 road but becomes horribly tiresome on the rough roads, which 

 seem to be the rule here. Off went our seventy wagons ; 

 horses at full gallop in a race for place, drivers yelling and 

 cracking whips, wagons creaking, passengers shouting to 

 friends or to driver. Occasionally along the route, the road 

 would widen out into a dozen tracks and then the drivers would 

 send their horses at tremendous pace to try for a place ahead. 

 To look forward or behind at the mass of plunging horses and 

 swaying wagons threading here or there was a sight to remem- 

 ber. When going along down hill in close order at full galop, 

 (the shaft horse always trots, however,) it is rather terrifying 

 at first, for they leave only a few feet between the wagons, and 

 when the column is brought to a halt, the horses often climb up 

 on the next wagons' back before they can stop. Again at a 

 halt, the drivers all push up as far as possible, and there is a 

 jam and a crush, apparently inextricable. But on they go 

 again, scrambling for place, swearing at one another and lash- 

 ing their horses. Away we went for five solid hours, through 

 a country of heavy woods of birch and pine — more or less moun- 

 tainous, but the slopes not very steep, and the valleys wide 

 and grassy, dotted with clumps of trees. Rain fell at intervals, 

 but was not heavy. It was night-fall with heavy, lowering 

 clouds when we passed through the village of Bakal, going on 

 to the mines where we were to find quarters. We were divided 

 into parties, entertained by two hosts. I fell into the party 

 which was taken high up on top of the mountain ; and here in 

 a log house we found a good warm dinner awaiting us. We 

 slept on straw, ten in a room, and I for one had a restless night. 

 We woke at our leader's call at 2 130 A. A\.; made a poor toilet, 

 had a rather forlorn breakfast, and then walked through rain 

 and heavy mist a mile and a half down to the other house where 

 we were to find our leader, Tschernycheff. He had lost his 

 voice through a cold, and at the same time seemed to have lost 

 h's \ .'.I d, for throughout the day, we were sent about aimlessly 



