POLISH HISTORY. 91 



at some places threatened seriously to impede his 

 journey. Between Kazan and Perm he encountered 

 companies of them on their way, and this at almost 

 every station. This was in 1863 or 1864, and he writes : 

 ' The resources of the posting establishments were 

 severely taxed to provide horses for so many travellers at 

 once, and we had frequently to wait till the Poles were 

 gone, and then take the tired horses they had brought 

 from the last station. The Poles travelled in the same 

 manner as we did, in large sledges, containing three or 

 four people, sometimes more. Those who could not be 

 accommodated with sledges had carts or telegas, which 

 were more or less crowded. None of them travelled a-fooU 

 All were well clothed in furs. On the whole, I was sur- 

 prised to find such a number of people travelling with so 

 much comfort. The prisoners were invariably treated 

 with kindness and consideration by the officer in charge 

 and by the gensdarmes. They are under close surveillance, 

 but I did not see any of the prisoners in irons, though I 

 was informed that some of them were so. ... They 

 ate well, and talked loudly ; the din of their voices at a 

 post-station was intolerable. Many joked and laughed a 

 great deal, by way of keeping up their spirits, I suppose ; 

 but no indication whatever was given that they were exiles 

 undergoing the process of banishment. If one might 

 judge from appearances, I should say they rather liked it.' 

 Of the passage of the Volga, he writes : 'The ferry- 

 boats were engaged the whole day in conveying Polish 

 exiles across the river bound for Siberia. It is a sad sight 

 to see so many people in captivity, and still more so to see 

 a number of women accompanying the exiles. It is quite 

 common for the wives, daughters, and mothers of the poli- 

 tician convicts to follow their relatives into Siberia. This 

 is not discouraged by the Russian Government ; on the 

 contrary, every facility is granted to enable their families 

 to emigrate, and they have always the means of travelling 

 in company. The object of the Government is to colonise 

 Siberia, so that the more people who go there the better. 



