226 SIBERIA 



the Barnaul district, and it would be a serious matter 

 if they were not carefully watched. 



We walked with hini to the post station, where our 

 drosky and troika were ready to start on the first 

 stage homewards. A hearty goodbye from" nearly 

 half the people of the village was a pleasant tribute 

 from this unknown village where we expected to find 

 a semi-barbarous people, and it impressed me very 

 forcibly that Russian policy evidently has a civilising 

 effect even so far away from the seat of justice and 

 the strong arm' of the law. 



We had not gone far before it became clear that 

 we were in for the very worst of the thaw, and that 

 the 250 miles to Bysk would afford a very lively ex- 

 perience. We took three hours to complete the first 

 10 miles, having just managed to get into the thaw 

 we had been trying to avoid. We calculated, from 

 all the infortiiation we could g^ather, that the thaw 

 would come while we were in the mountains, but it 

 was m"uch later, showing that the natives of Siberia 

 are quite as uncertain about the proper time to expect 

 the season's changes ais we are in England. The 

 fluctuations in tem'perature are also quite as rapid, 

 though the clim'ate as a" whole is much drier. 



Our first stage cost double the usual price — los. 

 for 10 miles instead of 5s. charged in ordinary 

 weather— and the drosky stuck fast in the m'ud on 

 several occasions. When we reached the top of the 

 Katunda Pass, I took a last farewell look at the 

 mountains— the Saptam— and the flat valley below, 

 and, with an affectionate thought for the priest and 

 his flock, we drove down the Ouemon side of the pass, 

 through the forest. We put up at the post station 

 and left our luggage thiere, and then went out to pay 

 our merchant friend a visit. The village roads were 

 4 inches deep in mad, and our high Wellington- 

 shaped goloshes were very useful. 



