6 
SARYTSCHEw’s TRAVELS. 
with the addi tional recoin pence of a year's double pay on their 
departure and return. Besides which, the superior officers were 
to have a pension for life; and those who might be disabled in 
the service, were to retire on half-pay. The wives and children 
also of such as died during the expedition, were to receive the 
half pay of their husbands or fathers ; the wives until their se¬ 
cond marriage, or death; and the children until they came 
of age. 
The various preparations for the expedition lasted six months ; 
all the necessary astronomical instruments being ordered from 
England: while much time was occupied in collecting the toys 
and trilling presents for the savage inhabitants, as well as medals 
of gold, silver, and copper, which were struck for the same 
purpose. 
About the middle of September, I was dispatched with some 
■Workmen from Petersburgh to Ochotsk, to forward the requisite 
preparations at the different places. The badness of the roads 
greatly retarded my progress as far as Tobolsk, but this impedi¬ 
ment ceased with the setting in of the cold weather. On the 
£3d of October, I exchanged my wheeled vehicles for sledges, 
■with which I passed over the river Irtysch. The ice in the Ob 
not being set on the 28th, we crossed it in the boats, but not 
without very great danger. During the rest of my journey I 
found all the other rivers passable by the sledges, except the 
Angara, in the neighbourhood of Irkutsk, which, from the vio¬ 
lence of the stream, remains open till December, and I reached 
this place on the 10th of November*. 
My business here was to examine the state of the transport 
vessels and building materials, that whatever was wanting might 
be provided by order of the governor-general; and, in case of a 
deficiency in timber, hides were to be procured for making the 
baidars. These are large boats of a peculiar construction, made 
either of wood or hides. 
In the latter case, the sides of the boat are covered with the 
skins of sea-animals instead of planks. They carry from eight 
to sixteen oars, but have no rudder. 
After having made the necessary enquiries, and obtained an 
open order from the governor-general, to ail the provincial magis¬ 
trates, authorising them to afford me every possible assistance, I 
left Irkutsk in December, and arrived in Jakutsk on the 10th 
of January, after a journey still more tedious than the former. 
The road was very good as far as the river Lena ; but our pas¬ 
sage over the rough ice of this stream to the town of Alukmar, 
^Irkutsk is C016wersts, or 859 German miles, or 4295 English miles 
from Petersburgh; accordingly the author went at the rate of 16 German, 
f>r 80 English .miles a day. 
