116 SIBERIA 



wood. I should think them the swiftest insects alive. 

 I concluded that they were too brusque and abrupt 

 in their manners for it to be worth my while to try 

 to shoot them, but assumed that they might be 

 amenable to reason in the form of insect powder, so 

 I spread a tin of Keating's round the bed to form 

 a frontier and retired to rest with a piece of muslin 

 over my mouth. Perhaps it was just as well that 

 the company were too restless to allow me to sleep, 

 for I had to be up early on the morrow for a long 

 day's work. As soon as it was light I complained 

 of the nuisance to the night porter, but he only 

 laughed. They do not think very much of tarakans 

 in Siberia. It sometimes happens, in fact, that a 

 peasant will take a handful of these insects from' 

 an old house when removing to a new one, for 

 luck. Englishmen are obviously too particular. 



After breakfast our first visit was to Professor 

 Sapozhnikoff. We drove through the massive gates 

 of the magnificent university in a sledge. The snow 

 piled up at each side of the roadway at the entrance 

 gave evidence of a snowy winter. After driving 

 through several avenues of fir-trees, a,nd obtaining 

 at the same time a splendid view of part of the 

 university and the grounds, we pulled up at last 

 before the door of a very fine house, which constituted 

 the Professor's quarters. We were not surprised to 

 be shown into a massive drawing-room full of 

 mountaineering pictures. The professor is a fine 

 specimen of humanity. Beneath his friendly smile 

 the lines about his mouth are a good indication of 

 the determination of character necessary for a suc- 

 cessful explorer. He was very pleased to see me, 

 as, indeed, I was to see him, but from the com- 

 mencement of our conversation he discouraged and 

 laughed at the idea of a winter exploration of the 

 Katunskie Belki range. He even went so far as 



