30 SIBERIA 



40 miles away. To get to Belukha itself in April 

 will be very difiScult, and at this time of the year 

 it would be necessary to travel partly by sledge 

 even to reach Katunda." 



This letter proved my best guide. 



I bustled about London for a fortnight, collecting 

 information, procuring nine letters of introduction 

 and m"y all-important passport, buying a fur coat-, 

 wanK clothing, and other airticles. These arrange- 

 ments completed, I embarked at Millwall Docks on 

 the 5th of March. 



In the North Sea we passed a number of fishing- 

 smacks, and were prompted to moralise feelingly 

 on the rough and hazardous life of the fishermen. 

 We did not slacken speed until the time came for 

 us to take on board the German pilot, whose business 

 it was to guide us up the Elbe and into the Kiel 

 Canal, aind there to hand us over to the canal pilot. 

 The journey through the canal occupied eight hours* 

 A little way through we made fast to allow S, 

 German man-of-war to pass; the sailors on board 

 were drilling. A peep through the porthole as the 

 vessel left the canal wa:s rewarded by the sight of 

 the Emperor William's statue looking towards Russia 

 across the Baltic Sea. The water of the Baltic 

 appeared to me to be much darker than that of 

 the North Sea. The revolving lightship on the reefs 

 served to rernind one that the treacherous Baltic 

 has the worst character for shipwrecks of any sea 

 in the world. There was a fair amount of traffic, 

 the captain calling my attention to the only ten- 

 mast ship I have ever seen. A small bird, not unlike 

 a duck in appearance, flies about in flocks; it is, 

 however, too strongly flavoured with fish to be palat- 

 able. Forging our way through the broken ice near 

 Riga, we passed a fort in which the soldiers were 



