In Siberia. 



hence the lunch and the vodka. I stayed there about an hour 

 and then bidding him farewell set out again. 



As soon as we were comfortably installed in the sledges the 

 liorses bounded forward at the touch of the yemschik's whip 

 over the hard and firm snow, the sledge gliding swiftly along 

 with no sensation of movement or discomfort, an exhilarating 

 mode of progression peculiar to such travelling. The country was 

 a barren undulating steppe covered with a white layer of snow, 

 and monotonous in the immensity of its extent. 



It was my first march within the mighty Russian Empire, 

 my first acquaintance with the Siberian Steppes, which stretch 

 away to the shores of the Arctic Ocean. I had crossed the 

 dividing line between the dominions of the Flowery Kingdom 

 and those of the Northern Colossus, not without a feeling of 

 relief, for the journey had now reached a stage where it was no 

 longer a matter of keeping warm but a stern question of keeping 

 alive. 



It was onward, ever onward, across the vast and silent steppes 

 with the land locked in the icy grip of winter, the aspect of 

 dreariness and desolation being oppressive and gloomy in the 

 extreme. 



Twenty-four versts from the frontier I reached a village and 

 drove up to the post-house, a wooden building of two rooms, in 

 one of which the family lived, the other being set apart for me. 



That day, January 8th, was a Russian feast day, and the 

 inhabitants were exchanging visits and parading through the 

 streets in sledges, singing carols and drinking healths at intervals. 



The old man in charge of the post-house and his wrinkled 

 wife were in a hilarious state of mind, having imbibed not 

 wisely but too well, so that business for the nonce was attended 

 to by the son, a lad of sixteen, who looked bored with life and 

 moved about as though he had lost a lo-rouble piece and picked 

 up a kopeck. 



After my travels through the desperate country just quitted, 

 the furniture of the post-house, meagre though it was, came as 



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