SERGIOPOL 279 



three houses, into which all the inhabitants 

 gathered, using their old homes for fuel. Great 

 drifts of snow, 12 or 18 feet high, were piled on 

 many of the huts. Man seemed very small on 

 those vast fields of snow. Nature was pre-eminent. 

 Ridges were swept bare to the gravel by the wind 

 alone. So naked and raw did they look that it 

 seemed as if the force which swept away the snow 

 had bruised and scraped the very ground by its 

 violence. 



On March 15th we reached Sergiopol. Here 

 our drivers said that they could come no farther, as 

 they did not think they would be allowed in the 

 post-houses using private horses. Also they feared 

 that the Hassas or Kazaks would kill their horses 

 for food. They had charged 160 roubles for the 

 three sleighs, and were to have received 80 roubles 

 in addition had they taken us to Semipalatinsk. 

 George gave the chang-kwei-ti, the son of the 

 owner of the sleighs, six roubles for acting as inter- 

 preter, and the drunkard, who had quite redeemed 

 his lapse and been most useful, a small present. 

 The " elder " came hirpling up when he thought 

 there was something to be made, but to his own 

 intense disgust and our unqualified delight, departed 

 empty-handed. 



We went to the post-house, and found we could 

 get all our belongings into two post sleighs drawn 

 by three horses each. Having laid in a supply of 

 black sausages, as our tinned provisions, which had 

 held out so bravely, at length showed signs of 

 coming to an end, and some long felt boots those 

 boons to a traveller in this part of the world we 

 started again on our journey. 



