CHAP. IV. HERR ROSENTHAL. 33 



inquired if any of them spoke German, and the least Russian- 

 looking gentleman among them replied that he did. I in- 

 formed him that we were Englishmen, travelling from London 

 to the Petchora, and I added that we were glad to find some 

 one on the route with whom we could converse. I then 

 asked him if he and his party were also travelling. He 

 replied that they were stationed there for some time. I 

 then asked if his name \yas Eosenthal. He said it was, 

 and a hearty laugh followed at the success of my guess. 

 We enjoyed his astonishment for some time, and then 

 explained that we had been told by the Ispravnik at Mezen 

 that there was only one man in the district who could speak 

 German, the forest engineer, Herr Eosenthal. We spent 

 an hour pleasantly together. Like every one we met who 

 had not been to the Petchora, he exaggerated the dangers 

 and difficulties of the journey. He was engaged in measuring 

 the timber felled on Eusanoff's concession on behalf of the 

 Eussian Government, who receive so much per tree according 

 to the quantity of available wood in it. 



On the other hand, it is possible that we may have under- 

 estimated the dangers and difficulties of our journey, seeing 

 we had the good luck to pull through them so well. The 

 roads were certainly giving way, and it may have been a 

 happy accident in our fayour that the weather changed again 

 when it did. On one occasion the crust of snow not being 

 firm enough to support the horses, they all three suddenly 

 sank up to their bellies. Of course they were utterly help- 

 less. We feared for a moment that our journey had suddenly 

 come to an end, and that we had hopelessly stuck fast. We 



D 



