32 SIBERIA IN EUROPE. chap. iv. 



cord. Piottuch started in high glee again, assuring us that 

 his sledge was "beaucoup plus bon" than ours. The effect of 

 the alteration was, however, to raise the level of his out- 

 riggers a few inches, which made all the difference between 

 safety and danger. He was soon fast asleep as usual, for he 

 had not yet quite slept off his Mezen champagne, when his 

 sledge gave a greater lurch than it was wont to do and cap- 

 sized, waking him with a shower of portmanteaus about his 

 ears ; and he was dragged out of the deep snow by the 

 yemschik amidst roars of laughter on our part. 



As before, we found the roads in the open plain always 



good. These plains were a dead flat, with a tree or two 



here and there. The rut worn by the horses' feet was not 



deep, and the path was almost level with the side. We 



glided along smoothly and luxuriously. The roads in the 



forest were bad beyond all conception. The banks were 



high, and were always in the way of the outriggers, which 



" scrunched " against them with a most irritating sound. Both 



laterally and vertically they were as winding as a snake. 



Sometimes our sledge would be on the top of a steep hill, 



our first horse in the valley, and our third horse on the top 



of the next hill. The motion was like that of a boat in a 



chopping sea, and the sledge banged about from pillar to 



post to such an extent that we scarcely felt the want of 



exercise. The Russian forest road is not a via mala, it is a 



via diabolica. 



At Bolshanivagorskia upon entering the station-house we 

 found the room occupied by a party, and the samovar in full 

 operation. Fancying that some of the party looked English, I 



