3 3& DRIVING. 



with endless snow, miles and miles away from any habitation 

 of man, beast, or bird, no sound to hear but the howling of 

 the wind, no movement but the driving storms, no interest but 

 the rising and setting of the sun. 



It would be more than needless to say that fuel in such 

 an eerie was scarce, and that the night was desperately cold. 

 There was no fear, however, of any bad results arising from 

 damp sheets, seeing that neither beds nor sheets are things 

 known in stanitzas. Those who travel in luxury as we did can 

 generally manage to get some straw, hay, or a bundle of rushes 

 littered down upon the floor, and then with the blankets and 

 pillows that are an indispensable part of the travelling equip- 

 ment, some very satisfactory rest and sleep can be obtained 

 after a wearisome day's travelling. 



On the night in question sleep came quickly enough, though 

 it was troubled by the dread that a storm might come in the 

 night and oblige us to remain imprisoned in the ice-house for 

 an indefinite period. As good luck would have it there was 

 no change in the weather, so when the colourless day broke 

 again preparations had already been made for the descent of 

 the pass. 



The contrast between the arrangements for that day's work 

 and those for the previous one was something startling. No 

 oxen were in sight, nor was there any crowd of men, and the 

 lumbering tarantass was left aside as if it had not yet recovered 

 from the exertions of the day before. In its place there stood 

 the smallest and most primitive of sleighs. It was, in fact, 

 nothing but a deal box on runners, with shafts attached to it. 

 The general and I had just room enough to sit on a piece of 

 plank at the back, and the driver hitched himself on to one of 

 the corners in front. There was a pickaxe team put to hind 

 side before that is to say, there was one horse in the shafts and 

 two in the lead. How they were guided, governed, or con- 

 trolled, remains a mystery to me to this day, but the perfumed 

 mass of sheepskin who held the ropes in front of us seemed 

 to be ubiquitous in the very limited space for his movements, 



