CHAPTER V 

 A WINTER EXPEDITION TO THE ALTAI 



We leave Novo-Nicolaevsk — Sledging in Siberia — Shooting 

 " ryabchiks " — Barnaoul — Immigration — Cattle-breeding and 

 other local industries — Influence of the railway — Exports — 

 Waterways — The hotel at Barnaoul — We leave for Bysk — 

 Butter caravans — Wolves and dogs — Kharlipko — A night at 

 a post-station — Bysk — We attend a reception — I am supplied 

 with a "shuba" — Krasnobaisk — A journey through the dark 

 to Altaiskoe — Shimelovskaya Pass — Barancha — Tavourack — A 

 Russian bath — We are upset — Siberian horses — Chorni-Anni — 

 A dust storm — Kalmuck settlement — Abbi — A difficult journey 

 — The Koksa River — Ouemon — We are advised to abandon our 

 undertaking — Katunda. 



Shortly after we arrived at Novo-Nicolaevsk the 

 weather changed, and we began to fear lest the 

 roads should be spoilt by the thaw. We therefore 

 hastened our preparations in order to be able to 

 make a start after a day's rest. We had decided to 

 take a large, heavy, covered sledge, as we would 

 require to sleep in it at night. Mr. O. Cattley and 

 his family assembled outside to have their photo- 

 graphs taken a:nd to bid us farewell. They made 

 a very fine group round the sledge. At four o'clock 

 in the afternoon of March the 28th we started. We 

 were drawn by a " troika," ' but the pace was very 

 slow at first. We had been warned that the roads 



■ " Troika," three horses ; one trotting between the shafts and 

 the two outside horses cantering. 



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