SPRING THAW DIFFICULTIES 229 



had come to stay aind ran persistently right in the 

 centre of the track, so the horses splashed their way 

 merrily through it. Four hours after dark the moon 

 came out, flooding mountain and valley in an ocean 

 of light. It was very beautiful and grand and in- 

 spiring, yet we were very glad indeed when we 

 reached the village of Koksa. There is nothing very 

 noteworthy about this village except that the rnian in 

 charge of the post-house had been compelled to 

 abandon it on account of the tarakans. We found, 

 however, that although abandoned by its legitimate 

 tenant we were expected to sleep there, there being 

 no other place available. Fortiuiately, it had been 

 newly whitewashed throughout and thoroughly 

 cleaned, so we resolved to make the best of it, and, 

 after a grand supper, rolled on to the floor and slept 

 the sleep of the weary, oblivious alike of tarakans 

 and everything else. 



.We were up betimes in the morning, and at four 

 o'clock were on our way through the valley, this time 

 in a sledge, for the valley, to our surprise, was 

 covered with deep, firm" snow. The sledge track had 

 been badly worn in the middle by the horses, so that 

 the runners p{ our sledge ran along two edges of hard 

 snow, except when one of them" lost its footing, so to 

 speak, and then one side of the sledge would go down 

 into the hollow and we would be dragged along with 

 our heads nearly touching one of the ridges. As 

 anticipated, we found the road hard, owing to the 

 intense night -frost, and made very good progress. 

 We ascended the pass over the Korgomskie Moun- 

 tains, and about mid-day came to a lovely spot not 

 far from Abbi, where cattle were grazing on a slope 

 front which the snow had been blown, leaving the 

 grass open for the cattle to graze on. We had some 

 difficulty from' here owing to patches of bare dry 

 earth, over which we had to drive the sledgle. 



