DIFFICULTIES IN TRAVELLING. 49 



sicin merchant, bound for a fair where his early arrival 

 will give him command of the market, and then a " tip " 

 of say a rouble a stage, will in winter get him over 300 

 versts, or 200 miles a day. It is common to hear Siberians 

 boast of quick journeys made thus, but they are usually 

 attained only at cruel cost to the horses. The reader may 

 judge what speed can be made from a story told us at 

 Tieumen of a Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, whom 

 the late Emperor, some twelve winters ago, required on an 

 emergency at Petersburg, a distance from Irkutsk of 3,700 

 miles. The General was put in a bear's skin, wrapped up 

 like a bundle, placed in a sledge, and in eleven days was 

 brought to the capital. Several horses dropped dead on 

 the way, an ear was cut from each as a voucher, and the 

 journey continued, When governors of provinces travel, 

 they are supplied with the best horses in the villages, and 

 sometimes have them changed at the half stage, so as to 

 spare the animals whilst securing extra speed. 



' Having said this much about the vehicles, horses, and 

 roads, the reader may wonder how it fares with the 

 traveller in the matters of lodging and board, which 

 brings me to the subject of post-houses. These, like the 

 post-horses, are the property of the Government, and are 

 of very varied quality, from the best which have all the 

 appearance and the comfort of a roomy, well-established 

 English farm-house or country inn to the worst, which 

 are little better than hovels. Certain features, however, 

 are common to them all. On one side of the door, as you 

 enter, will be found the room in which the post-folks and 

 their children live, and on the other will be one or more 

 rooms reserved for travelling guests. The guests' room 

 will never contain less than the following articles : a table, 

 a chair, a candlestick, a bed, or rather a bench padded, 

 if in a good house, but of bare boards in the humbler ones 

 an ikon or sacred picture, a looking-glass, and sundry 

 framed notices. One of these notices is a tariff of meat 

 and drink not that you are to suppose for a moment 

 that any amount of money would purchase the luxuries 



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