50 THE FOREST LANDS OF NORTHERN RUSSIA. 



forest lands in Russia is, and of what is seen on such a 

 journey. His conveyance was a tarantass, which he thus 

 describes: ' Atarantass is a better sort of cart, with the 

 addition of splash-board, hood, and step. It has no 

 springs ; for a carriage slung on steel could not be sent 

 through these desert wastes. A spring might snap ; and 

 a broken coach, some thirty or forty miles from the nearest 

 hamlet, is a vehicle in which very few people would like to 

 trust their feet. A good coach is a sight to see ; but a 

 good coach implies a smooth road, with a blacksmith's 

 forge at every turn. A man with roubles in his purse can 

 do many things ; but a man with a million roubles in his 

 purse could not venture to drive through forest and steppe 

 in a carriage which no one in the country could repair. 



* A tarantass lies lightly on a raft of poles ; merely 

 lengths of green pine cut down and trimmed with a 

 peasant's axe, and lashed on the axles of two pairs of 

 wheels, some nine or ten feet apart. The body is an 

 empty shell, into which you drop your trunks and traps, 

 and then fill up with hay and straw. A leather blind and 

 apron to match keep out a little of the rain ; not much ; 

 for the drifts and squalls defy all effort to shut them out. 

 The thing is light and airy, needing no skill to make and 

 mend. A pole may split as you jolt along ; you stop on 

 the forest skirt, cut down a pine, smooth off the leaves and 

 twigs ; and there, you have another pole ! All damage is 

 repaired in half-an-hour.' 



A tarantass was supplied to him for the journey by a 

 private friend, and the British Consul supplied him with a 

 trustworthy servant to do what was needful by the way, 

 and fetch back the vehicle when the journey was com- 

 pleted ; and the journey is thus described : 



' This private 1 tarautass is brought round to the gate ; an 

 empty shell, into which they toss our luggage, first the 

 hard pieces hat-box, gun-case, trunk ; then piles of hay 

 to fill up chinks and holes, and wisps of straw to bind the 

 mass ; on all which they lay your bedding, coats, and 

 skins. A woodman's axe, a coil of rope, a ball of string, a 



