268 DOWN RIVER TO THE KAMIN PASS 



as in a bed. My sledge fever was entirely gone. I 

 began actually to enjoy sledge travelling. I found 

 a pleasant lullaby in the never-ceasing music of the 

 " wrangling and the jangling of the bells." After having 

 sledged 2762 versts, or 1841 miles, one begins to feel 

 that the process might go on ad infinitum without serious 

 results. 



The weather was mild, with no absolute thaw, but 

 now and then we had snow-storms, generally very slight. 

 Our way lay across flat steppes with scarcely a tree 

 visible, until we came within 150 miles of Tomsk, when 

 we again passed through a hilly, well-wooded country, 

 like an English park. We saw the same birds as here- 

 tofore, with an occasional hazel-grouse and great tit. On 

 the steppes snow-buntings were, as before, very common. 

 On the whole the roads were good : indeed, in the flat 

 district, very good. 



In Omsk I had seen some very curious Kirghis arms 

 at Professor Slofftzoff's, and I had vainly tried to purchase 

 some. In Tomsk I learned that Barnaul was the place 

 to obtain them. There is a museum in that town. I 

 was told that M. Bogdanoff, a mining engineer, and 

 M. Funck, a shot-maker, spoke German, and further, 

 that there is an antiquary of the name of Goulaieff. 

 Tomsk is a very business-like place, apparently about 

 the same size as Omsk. From Tomsk to Krasnoyarsk 

 is 554 versts, or 369 miles, which we accomplished in 

 sixty-four hours and in twenty-seven stages. The 

 weather was very mild, and we had several slight falls of 

 snow. The country was generally hilly and well-wooded, 

 and the roads on the whole good, but occasionally we 

 found them extremely bad. After the 2;th of May (i5th 

 Russian style) we had to pay for an extra horse, and 

 upon entering the Yeneseisk Government, the cost of 



