From Orel there was no malle-poste in which they could continue their journey, and they were obliged to hire a tarantas, or posting-carriage, a very inferior kind of conveyance. In consequence, besides, of the fair at Pultowa, every vehicle of this description had been taken up except one, which was of course the worst in the town. When they had loaded their luggage and spread hay to lie upon, they started; but before they were out of sight of the stable the crazy vehicle broke down, and they were detained till nearly eleven o'clock at night, whilst it was being repaired. In this new kind of conveyance they experienced great discomfort: they could neither sit nor lie with ease, as the space was much too small for three passengers. The country they passed, through was very rich; it may be called the granary of Russia; they found the harvest more advanced the farther they penetrated into the south.
At Koursk they hired a fresh tarantas. The roads were inferior to those along which they had travelled, but the country was more picturesque, still fertile, and producing much wheat; the weather was very hot, as it had been all the way from Petersburg. On the 27th, at midnight, they reached Kharkov.
We have travelled, says John Yeardley, four days and nights in succession from Moscow to this place. The conveyances of the country are exceedingly bad; they almost shook our bones asunder.
The next day they visited Pastor Landesen, to whom they had a letter of introduction from Pastor Dietrich. They spent the day with the family of this intelligent and pious man. Tea was spread in the garden, to which meal a number of Christian friends were invited.
The pastor's wife, says John Yeardley, is a sweet-spirited woman. After much social converse our garden-visit closed with a religious occasion, in which I expressed a few words of exhortation. I think we were sensible of the nearness of the presence of our Divine Master, which proved a brook by the dreary way. We met at the pastor's Louse Superintendent Huber, a worthy and experienced Christian, kind and fatherly to us.
The next day William Rasche went with Pastor Landesen to hire a carriage. No such thing, however, was to be had, and they would have been happy if they could have engaged as good a vehicle as their old crazy tarantas; for the only alternative was a bauer-wagen (peasant's cart), if we except the very expensive extra-post carriage, with which they would have been obliged to take a conductor. It happened that a young man, an apothecary's assistant, wanted to go to Iekaterinoslav; his ancestors were German, and he could speak both that language and Russ. By Landesen's recommendation they took him as their companion, and he was very useful to them on the road. The bauer-wagen was much more uncomfortable than the tarantas had been; travelling in it was like gallopping over a bad road in an English farmer's waggon; and, as the vehicle had no cover, the travellers were exposed without protection to the full power of the sun. The floor of the waggon was spread with mattresses, and, thus furnished, it served them for parlor, kitchen, and lodging-room.
They travelled in this way through the night, but the next day were obliged to wait at a small dirty station for horses till the afternoon; and in the evening John Yeardley became so ill, from hard travelling and exposure to the heat, that they were compelled to alight at another little station near Novomoskovsk, and make the best of the poor accommodation they could procure. The next morning, somewhat refreshed by rest, they went forwards to Iekaterinoslav, where they happily met with a clean inn, the Hotel Suisse, kept by a German.
The same day they went in a boat up the river Samava, to Rybalsk, seven miles, to see a German schoolmaster named Schreitel, to whom they had a letter of introduction. This is a colony of twenty-five families, founded in 1788: the schoolmaster, who was also the minister, received them in a brotherly manner. It was here that their mission properly commenced. From this place a succession of German colonies extend in a south-easterly direction to the Sea of Azov. The villages are all built on the same pattern, being formed of one straight street of neat houses on both sides, adorned with trees in front and gardens behind. The German colonists consist principally of Mennonites and Lutherans. The former are the most numerous and thriving; they were invited to settle there by Catherine the Great, in order to improve the state of agriculture; but their example has not had the desired influence on the surrounding districts. Although his German neighbor is in an infinitely better condition than himself, the Russian peasant will not imitate the husbandry which is practised so successfully before his eyes.
At Rybalsk, John Yeardley had a Scripture reading and a religious opportunity with a few serious persons who came to the house; and the next evening he held a meeting for worship with the colonists.
On the 3rd, they left for Neuhoffnung. They travelled in a covered carriage, which, though without springs, was a great improvement on their last vehicle. They came the first day as for as Konski, where they passed the night, sleeping in the carriage, the air being very mild the night through. In the afternoon they arrived at another Mennonite colony, Schönweise, where they had a short interview with Pastor Obermanz and a few of his flock. These people produce a small quantity of silk. The travellers were now on the Steppes; they found them very thinly peopled, so that all the country out of sight of the villages appeared like a vast desert. On the 4th they passed through three colonies--Grünthal, Priship, and Petershagen. The settlers here are from all parts of Germany, mostly from Prussia and Würtemberg. Next came Halbstadt, the seat of the Bishop, and Alexanderwohl, where the Friends passed the night. They were surrounded by a large number of settlements on all sides.