SLEIGHING. 333 



saddle for a pillow for three or four hours, then rode on again 

 into Erzroom and got through the 130 odd miles without a 

 tumble. I had left Kars early one morning and arrived at 

 Erzroom soon after breakfast the next. On the return journey, 

 after some days of heavy snow, when every trace of the tracks 

 had been obliterated, I got sixteen falls in one day, was nearly 

 lost in a tepi, chasse-neige, or blizzard, with the whole of a 

 strong escort, and took six days to do the same journey. A 

 pretty good illustration of the value of the sledging track to 

 travellers. 



I must not, however, dwell on any more adventures in that 

 wild country for fear of shouldering my crutch and showing 

 how fields were won, but pass over a year and get to Tiflis, a 

 prisoner to the Russians. 



It was to Tiflis that General Williams and his staff were 

 sent, in the first place, after the fall of Kars in the last days of 

 November 1855, and had my chief's health been as strong as 

 his indomitable will, my experiences of sleighing would pro- 

 bably have been far more varied and extended. As it was, 

 when the reaction began after months of mental and physical 

 strain, he was struck down by fever that lasted for weeks, so 

 that when orders arrived from the Czar as to our ultimate destina- 

 tion, the General was completely incapacitated for travelling. 

 Our comrades were sent off, Lake and Thompson to Penza 

 and Churchill to Riazan, a town well on the road to Moscow, 

 but somewhat to the south of it. It .was at Riazan that 

 General Williams and I were also to have remained until the 

 termination of the war, but peace having been declared before 

 our arrival there, we only passed through it and were kindly 

 permitted to travel home by Moscow and St. Petersburg. 



At length the General recovered strength enough to travel, 

 and towards the end of March 1856 we bade adieu to Tiflis, 

 and to many kind friends who had done their best to make 

 our stay there a pleasant one. Chivalrous, hospitable, kind and 

 courteous, there seemed to be nothing they would not do to try 

 and make us forget our bitter disappointment and misfortune. 



