PREPARATIONS 3 



Mrs. Littledale said she could not be left behind ; 

 my wife also insisted upon accompanying us, and 

 in this way our party of four was made up. 

 We calculated that from Moscow it would take us 

 little more than a month to reach our grounds, and 

 accordingly decided to meet there between the 10th 

 and 15th of May, so as to reach the Siberian frontier 

 towards the middle of June. Moreover, though very 

 impatient to start, I had been told that some of the 

 large rivers we should have to cross on our way were 

 absolutely unfordable until the beginning of June ; the 

 roads, too, were supposed to be very bad in spring 

 (our subsequent experience indicated that this was 

 the case all the year round) ; several passes would 

 also be difficult to negotiate — all this delayed our 

 departure and postponed our rendezvous at Moscow 

 until the middle of May. 



Having concluded our preparations in London, we 

 started, my wife and I, for St. Petersburg early in 

 April. Our tents and stores and other impedimenta 

 had been shipped a few days previously to Libau, 

 a port which at that time of year was not frozen. 

 I had a few matters to settle in St. Petersburg before 

 leaving, the most important being to secure the 

 services of a good doctor, who would not mind 

 roughing it, and who was accustomed to travelling 



B 2 



