112 JOURNEY TO THE GEYSERS. 
route. He insisted, however, upon conduct¬ 
ing me some way on my road, and especially 
across a river, which he called Brueraa , and 
which, owing to the late wet weather, he thought 
might probably be too deep to cross to-day. 
He accordingly went to his wardrobe in the 
church, dressed himself in his best clothes, and 
was ready to start with us. We continued our 
journey along the foot of a barren mountain, at 
no great distance from the marshes. Here and 
there, indeed, we met with a few stunted birch 
trees, but no plants that I had not seen else¬ 
where. Leaving the mountain, and crossing a 
disagreeable swamp, we, in about two or three 
hours, arrived at the most fordable part of the 
Brueraa. There was already a party of horse¬ 
men, resting their horses a little, to prepare them 
for the fatigue of passing through this stream, 
the bottom of which is exceedingly rocky, and 
the river itself both wide and deep, but at this 
time considered fordable. The packages of fish, 
wool, &c., were carefully fastened by ropes to 
the top of the horses’ backs, so that they might 
be as little exposed to the water as possible; and 
the horses, being then tied in a line one behind 
the other, all reached the opposite shore in safety, 
though the smaller ones were compelled to swim. 
A foal, which was tied by the neck to the tail of 
its mother, was dragged through, and landed on 
2 
