SLEIGHING. 335 



swampy, and the road tracks when not completely obliterated 

 are extremely difficult to find. 



Nevertheless off we had to go, on wheels at first, but with 

 the runners all ready for use, as we knew that the great snowy 

 barrier of the Caucasus was close in front of us. 



It was on the second evening of our journey that we halted 

 for the night at the foot of the mountain. At the stanitza, or 

 post-house, a serious conversation at once commenced between 

 Prince Gagarine and the post-master ; for the passage of the 

 Caucasus is never a thing to be undertaken lightly, and during 

 the debacle it requires an expert to say whether the mountain 

 can be attacked with any degree of safety. 



Only a short time previously a Russian general, against 

 advice, undertook to cross the mountain on horseback with an 

 escort of Cossacks. They were caught by an avalanche ; one 

 or two of the Cossacks perished, and the rest of the party 

 escaped with the greatest difficulty. This was enough in 

 itself to make those on whom responsibility restedr cautious. 

 Luckily for us, the weather for two or three days had been 

 cold, bright and frosty, so it was determined to take advantage 

 at once of the favourable conditions which presented them- 

 selves. 



Accordingly, next morning we were ready for a start at 

 the earliest hour, and the sight that then presented itself was 

 certainly an odd one. In the pale dawn, the tarantass, bereft 

 of wheels and lowered on its runners, seemed to be surrounded 

 by a host of men and a herd of cattle. The crowd, when it 

 took shape, consisted of eleven yoke of oxen, with their drivers 

 and various attendants. The two-and-twenty animals were 

 eventually all attached to the metamorphosed tarantass, and 

 when we had settled ourselves inside the order for a start was 

 given. 



Then there arose a din that would have done honour 

 to Smithfield in its palmy days. Whips cracked, bullocks 

 bellowed, and men howled. I don't know what they said, as 

 my studies in Russian had not extended to the mountain 



