SLEIGHING, 341 



other subjects. This was not difficult with such a wealth of 

 novel beauty around us, and any sense of danger became dead- 

 ened at last by its monotonous recurrence. I think that we 

 changed horses somewhere after descending some thousands 

 of feet, but, while all the splendour of the scenery has remained 

 brightly stamped upon my mind, the details of the reckless 

 gallop have faded away. Probably there was more danger in 

 the day's work than we knew of. More than once we heard 

 the thunder of an avalanche in the distance, and the wild pace 

 may have been put on to get away from the higher altitudes 

 before the sun had loosened the overhanging masses. When 

 lower down we were comparatively safe, and eventually we 

 reached Vladi Kavkass without the slightest mishap. Thither in 

 due course the tarantass followed, and was again put upon its 

 wheels. The snow had melted from the steppes and left the 

 soft mud bare. Sleighing was at an end, and for the next five 

 weeks we struggled through endless difficulties to Moscow. 



Some years passed before I saw sleighing in all its glory in 

 midwinter at St. Petersburg. Winter is the season in that gay 

 capital, and the Newski Prospect on a fine bright January after- 

 noon presents a sight that is not easily forgotten, and one that 

 is full of interest to all lovers of horse and harness. Every 

 possible variety of sleigh and sledge is to be seen there, from 

 the brilliant equipage of the Court to the rudimentary contri- 

 vance on which the peasant brings his huge block of ice. 



The horses are quite as varied in appearance and quality as 

 the vehicles they draw. The animal that most fills the eye is 

 the big black trotter that comes from the Don Cossack country. 

 It is a large bony beast, somewhat coarse-looking to the 

 English eye, but possessed of fine free action, great power, 

 strength and endurance. Its hind action is particularly re- 

 markable, and the way in which a good specimen of the breed 

 flexes its hocks when going at speed is quite a picture. ' These 

 big blacks are generally driven in the small sleighs singly, and 

 sometimes in pairs in the larger class. 



For the troikas, or three-horse sleighs, a smaller sort of 



