246 SIBERIA 



service, and were taking provisions with them to be 

 blessed by the priest and sprinkled with holy water. 



As we approached the village we found that the 

 snow and ice on the slopes had not quite thawed, and 

 were very slippery for the horses. It was about five 

 o'clock when we reached Solonofka. We at once 

 made inquiries about the road and were told that the 

 postmaster had taken a peasant on to the next 

 station, Starebrolikave, seven miles farther and on 

 the other side of the River Katun, and that he would 

 be back before long. iWhen we asked how long that 

 meant we were told " seychas," which means 

 " presently." iWe had some tea, dyed Easter eggs, 

 and Easter fruit cake. This cake was the only one 

 that had not been blessed at the Church, so it was 

 given to us as we were not supposed to be particular. 



After tea we decided to allow the two sons of the 

 postmaster to guide us on the next stage, as they 

 were quite sure they knew all about the road. A 

 description of our experience in travelling the next 

 seven miles may serve as an illustration of the 

 pleasures of travelling in Siberia in early spring. 

 As a .preliminary step we inquired our way to the 

 station. We were informed that we would have to 

 cross the river, which had shortly before been 

 spanned by a bridge, but the spring floods, which had 

 come very suddenly that year, had carried it away 

 bodily. What was worse, however, was, that we 

 seemed to have arrived in the village when the floods 

 were at their highest. We were assured by our 

 guides that they were quite^ certain of the road 

 and would take us along the same route that their 

 father had taken that morning. This sounding quite 

 satisfactory we caught our horses, which were loose 

 in the yard, and proceeded to saddle and load them. 

 Two horses were loaded with our baggage, while the 

 other four bore my companion and myself, and the 



