50 THE FOREST LANDS OF NORTHERN RUSSIA. 
forest lands in Russia is, and of what is seen on such 
journey. His conveyance was a tarantass, which he thi 
describes:—‘ Atarantass is a better sort of cart, with tl 
addition of splash-board, hood, and step. It has 1 
springs; for a carriage slung on steel could not be sei 
through these desert wastes. A spring might snap; ar 
a broken coach, some thirty or forty miles from the neare 
hamlet, is a vehicle in which very few people would like : 
trust their feet. A good coach is a sight to see; but 
good coach implies a smooth road, with a blacksmith 
forge at every turn. A man with roubles in his purse cz 
do many things; but a man with a million roubles in h 
purse could not venture to drive through forest and step] 
in a carriage which no one in the country could repair. 
‘A tarantass lies lightly on a raft of poles; mere 
lengths of green pine cut down and trimmed with 
peasant’s axe, and lashed on the axles of two pairs 
wheels, seme nine or ten feet apart. The body is « 
empty shell, into which you drop your trunks and tray 
and then fill up with hay and straw. A leather blind ar 
apron to match keep out a little of the rain ; not mucl 
for the drifts and squalls defy all effort to shut them or 
The thing is light and airy, needing no skill to make ax 
mend. A pole may split as you jolt along ; you stop « 
the forest skirt, cut down a pine, smooth off the leaves ai 
twigs; and there, you have another pole! All damage 
repaired in half-an-hour.’ 
A tarantass was supplied to him for the journey by 
private friend, and the British Consul supplied him witl 
trustworthy servant to do what was needful by the wi 
and fetch back the vehicle when the journey was coi 
pleted; and the journey is thus described :— 
‘This private tarantass is brought round to the gate; : 
empty shell, into which they toss our luggage, first t 
hard pieces—hat-box, gun-case, trunk; then piles of h 
to fill up chinks and holes, and wisps of straw to bind t 
mass; on all which they lay your bedding, coats, a 
skins, A woodman’s axe, a coil of rope, a ball of string 
