WINDOWS OF ICE. 
7 
was extremely troublesome. Between Alukmar and Jakutsk, 
I experienced no inconvenience from the roads, but much from 
the horses ; which being used in those parts only for riding, drew 
our sledges on very slowly. 
Jakutsk, situated on the left bank of the Lena, is the oldest 
of all the cities in that quarter. The ostrog*, or wooden for¬ 
tress, was erected in the year 1647, and soon afterwards the 
building of the town commenced. This old edifice, with its 
towers, is still standing, but in some places is fallen very much 
to decay. Within the enclosure there is a public building of 
stone, and a church : there are, besides, two stone churches; 
one by the convent, the other in the town, and two of wood. 
All the dwelling-houses are built of wood, in the old Russian 
taste, with here and there Jakutish huts interspersed between 
them. The want of glass for the windows is supplied either 
by isinglass or by bladders in the summer, and plates of ice 
in the winter, frozen into frames by snow. These are conti¬ 
nually sprinkled with water, which is quickly congealed by the 
extreme cold of the climate, to such a degree as to resist the 
strongest heat of a room. The light penetrates through these 
ice-windows in a similar manner as it does through glass covered 
with white frost. 
The inhabitants of the town consist of civil officers, Boga 
ren Kinder rf*, Kosaks, Jakutish merchants, and citizens. The 
latter are principally exiles, some of whom, even among the 
felons, have amended their lives, and attached themselves again 
to civil society. In fact, this remark will generally hold good, 
that criminals of the lowest order, sent to Siberia for extraor¬ 
dinary crimes, the sight of which impresses us with horror, 
not only have their liberty, but use it w ith the greatest modera¬ 
tion. Many of them gain the confidence of the inhabitants, 
and are admitted into their houses in different capacities. They 
are, of course, particularly on their guard to prevent even the 
suspicion of doing amiss, from the apprehension of being de-* 
Jivered over to perpetual labour in the mines of Nertschink J. 
* The word ostrog is here translated fortress, for which the Russians 
have likewise the wordkrepost; this, however, is never used in the present 
work. Ostrog is the peculiar appellation for Siberian fortresses, the greater 
part of which are aptly enough described by the deceased Georgi, when he 
says, “ It would be dangerous to attempt storming them, for whoever 
wanted to mount their greatest and only bulwark, the wooden paling, would 
most probably come to the ground with the whole structure about him.” tr. 
f A class of inferior nobility, existing only in Siberia, and composed of 
meritorious Kosaks, who have been in the service of the emperor. They 
owe their establishment to Peter the Great. 
X Considerable alterations have probably taken place in this respect since 
that period; for even in Catherine’s reign, repeated ukases were issued, to 
