10 LONDON TO ARCHANGEL 



twenty-seven versts (ten to nineteen English miles). 

 The horses were generally good, though small. They 

 were tough, shaggy animals, apparently never groomed, 

 but very hardy. We had but one lazy horse out of the 

 io8 which we employed on the journey, but another 

 broke down, and had to be left on the roadside to follow 

 as best it could. That this treatment was not a solitary 

 instance was proved by the fact that on one of the 

 stages (the one of twenty-seven versts) we passed two 

 horses which had evidently broken down and had been 

 cast aside in the same way, lying dead and frozen on the 

 road. The drivers were very civil and generally drove 

 well, urging on the horses rather by the voice than the 

 whip, often apparently imitating the bark of a wolf to 

 frighten them, and at other times swearing at them in 

 every variety of oath of which the Russian language is 

 capable. The yemschiks were perfectly satisfied with a 

 pourboire of one kopeck per verst. The horses were 

 charged three kopecks per verst each. There was 

 generally a comfortable room at the stations, and the 

 station-masters usually came out to receive us. Some- 

 times we did not quit our sledge, but if we were hungry 

 we carried our provision-basket into the station-house, 

 ordered the " samovar," and made tea. The samovar is 

 a great institution in Russia. Provisions are not to be 

 had at the station-houses, but we always found a samovar, 

 and we were generally able to procure milk. The 

 samovar is a brass urn, with a charcoal fire in a tube in 

 the centre, which boils water in a few minutes. We 

 found that about a dozen words of Russ sufficed to pull 

 us through very comfortably. Arrived at a station, we 

 generally allowed the station-master to have the first 

 say. As soon as a convenient opportunity occurred we 

 interposed, " Tre loshedi saychass" which, being interpreted 



