10 SIBERIA IN EUROPE. CHAP. II. 



of the Oberst Gendarme, and we were able, through him, to 

 convey our thanks to our liost for his kindness to us. 



From 8 a.m. on Sunday morning, the lith of March, to 

 Thursday at noon, we travelled by sledge day and night 

 from Vologda to Archangel, a distance of nearly 600 Eng- 

 lish miles. Our sledge was drawn by three horses, driven 

 by a peasant called the "yemschik." Both horses and 

 drivers were changed at each station. There were thirty- 

 six stages, varying in distance from fifteen to twenty-seven 

 versts (ten to nineteen English miles). The horses were 

 generally good, small, tough, shaggy, animals, apparently 

 never groomed, but very hardy. We had but one lazy horse 

 out of the 108 which we employed on the journey. Another 

 broke down altogether, and bad 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 wh-"ch 

 had evidently broken down, and bad been cast aside in the 

 same way, and were 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 pour-hoire of one kopeck per 

 verst. The horses were charged three kopecks per verst 

 each. There was generally a comfoitable room at the sta- 

 tions, and the station-masters usually came out to receive us. 

 Sometimes we did not quit our sledge, but if we were 



