"I arrived here in the latter part of January, when the temperature was running very low. The ordinary mercury thermometer, which freezes at 39° below zero, was of no use, as the mercury would be frozen solid almost every day. Spirit thermometers are the only practicable ones for northern Russia, and during my stay here they marked -53° Fahrenheit. This is an unusual and extreme figure, the mean winter temperature being about 18° above zero. The average summer temperature is 62°, and the extreme summer figure 99°.
"Everybody wears furs or sheepskins in winter; they are donned when the frosts come, and not laid aside till the trees are budding. Furs are for the rich, or those who pretend to be so, and sheepskins for the lower classes. Both kinds of garments are worn with the fur or wool inside; the fur coat or cloak has a backing of cloth, while the sheepskin coat has only the skin of the animal without any cloth addition."
One of the boys asked what kinds of furs were most in use.
"Nearly everything that bears the name of fur," was the reply; "but fashion rules here as everywhere else, and it often happens that a fur will be in great demand at one time and quite neglected a few years later. Sable is the most expensive fur, and a coat or cloak lined with it is worth all the way from five hundred to five thousand dollars, depending upon the excellence of the skins. Another fur, that of the black fox, is still more costly; but as it is worn only by the Imperial family and the highest nobility, it does not come into our category.
FUR-BEARING SEALS.
"Coats lined with astrachan (the soft wool of very young lambs) are fashionable, and bring high prices. I have known of coats of this kind selling for six or eight hundred dollars each. I took to America a cap of astrachan wool; it cost me about three dollars, and with my inexperienced eye I could not distinguish it from one that sold for ten times as much. My Russian friends could readily detect the difference; but as I was buying the cap for American and not for Russian use, I was quite content with my purchase."
"Why is this fur or wool called 'astrachan?'" one of the youths asked.