A RUSSIAN DINNER 463 



until half-past three, when soup was brought in and laid 

 upon a side-table. The Ispravnik and I alone sat at 

 this table ; the card-players did not stir from their post ; 

 a plate of soup was placed beside each ; they quickly 

 despatched it and resumed their game. Courses of roast 

 beef, fowls, pudding, etc. followed, and between each 

 course the card-playing went on as usual. Half an hour 

 after dinner coffee was served, and after coffee cards 

 were continued as before, so I made my adieu highly 

 interested and amused. In the evening (Monday, the 

 2Oth of August) we left Yeneseisk in a post pavoska, 

 with our heavy luggage in a telega. The luggage being 

 almost all mine, I paid for three horses, and M. Spren- 

 berg, my companion, the young telegraph officer, for 

 one. 



We went along very pleasantly, progressing without 

 any accident. The country looked very different from 

 what I had found it in winter. From the tops of some 

 of the hills we could see a great distance, and many of 

 the views were striking. The fine road, with the long 

 line of telegraph posts, descended into the valley through 

 a strip of partially cleared country like an English park, 

 and then lost itself in the forest. In the middle distance 

 we could catch glimpses of the winding Yenesei. On its 

 banks was a large village, conspicuous by its two white 

 churches, whilst far away rose the distant mountains, 

 almost as blue as the sky. As we neared Krasnoyarsk 

 the country became barer and bleaker, the villages larger 

 and more numerous, and considerable patches of black 

 land were under cultivation, growing oats, wheat, rye, 

 and hemp. Our road extended in some places for miles 

 through meadows where horses and cows were grazing 

 in great numbers. Birds were plentiful for the season of 

 the year. Starlings were in large flocks. In the villages 



