WE COLLECT A CROWD 31 



two yemschiks set to work in good earnest, and we doffed 

 -our malitzas and followed suit. The horses were un- 

 harnessed, and we soon succeeded in making them 

 struggle out on to firm ground. We had no difficulty in 

 pushing the sledge after them, and were soon ready to 

 start again. All this time Piottuch stood calmly by, 

 never offering for a moment to render us the smallest 

 assistance. The Russians we always found equal to any 

 emergency, and ready to lend a helping hand on such 

 occasions as an Englishman would. The Poles, on the 

 contrary, seem to be a helpless, shiftless race of people, 

 with a contemptible prejudice against manual labour. A 

 similar accident did not happen again. We had many a 

 stumble, but no irretrievable fall. Our horses were sure- 

 footed and wonderfully plucky, and we seldom had a 

 really bad animal. We started with five horses for the 

 two sledges, which we reduced to four the latter half of 

 the journey, and on one or more occasions we accom- 

 plished a stage satisfactorily with only three. 



The country is very thinly populated. After leaving 

 Mezen the villages were small, and during the last 150 

 miles there were no villages at all, only a single station- 

 house, where a change of horses could be obtained, and 

 which would shortly be deserted altogether for the 

 summer months. As we were the first Englishmen who 

 had travelled on this road during the lifetime of any of the 

 villagers, our appearance naturally excited great curiosity, 

 and when we stopped at a station in the village to change 

 horses, a crowd quickly gathered round the sledges. We 

 found the peasants very inquisitive, asking the English 

 names of various articles. They were extremely good- 

 natured, enjoyed a broad joke, laughed heartily at our 

 pigeon- Russ, and were, so far as we could judge, perfectly 

 honest. We left our sledges with all our luggage, wraps, 



