228 SIBERIA 



hitherto in which I did not see th^ " mites of our 

 affliction " and had no occasion to use Keating's. 

 After an early breakfast we took photographs of our 

 friend and his family, and made a few inquiries about 

 the life of the peasantry. By all accounts the average 

 peasant in these parts will do just enough work to 

 keep himself from absolute starvation^ and this seems 

 to be a rather common characteristic of the peasants 

 in other parts of Southern Siberia, where Nature is 

 so prodigal in her gifts. 



Having bidden our host goodbye, we recrossed the 

 stream and hurried back to our troika. The road 

 beyond Ouemton is fairly level and runs through a 

 valley, from' which the mountains rise abruptly. On 

 our arrival at Koksa — 25 versts from" Ouemon — we 

 learned that we would be obliged to continue our 

 journey on horseback and take pack-horses for our 

 luggage. The roads were in a" very bad condition 

 and the weather had become exceedingly warm, the 

 thermometer registering 1 1 o degrees in the sun at 

 mid- day. This did not improve the roads, aind there 

 was deep soft snow in every direction. Our road 

 took us down to the banks of the River Koksa. In 

 the middle of the track was a stream of water quite 

 12 inches deep, caused by the mfelting snow on the 

 mountain slopes on our right. Presently we crossed 

 a shallow stream' running into the River Koksa, and 

 began to mount a hill on the other side, the river 

 itself, now free of ice and flowing fast and furiously, 

 being about 200 feet below us on our left. Our 

 horses kept getting into deep snow, often up to their 

 necks, and tumbling about in all directions. On 

 such occasions it was very difficult to pull them' out. 

 My horse persisted in pitching forward on his knees 

 and required a good jerk to bring him to his feet 

 again without dismounting. Farther on, we found 

 that the small stream I have already spoken of 



