"The rules require each station-master to keep ten troikas, or thirty horses, ready for use; many stations had forty or fifty horses each, and the villages could generally supply any reasonable demand after those in the station were exhausted. Fourteen yemshicks (drivers) are kept at every station; they are boarded by the smotretal, and receive about four dollars each a month, in addition to whatever gratuities they can pick up. When the post was expected they generally whispered that fact to our man-servant, so that we could get away as soon as possible. They preferred our service to that of the post, as we could be relied upon for gratuities, while none were obtainable from the inanimate bags of the Government mail.
"Our good road lasted for two days and into the early hours of the third; then the snow became very thin, and at times we were dragged over bare ground for considerable distances. From very cold the weather turned to warm, and threatened to spoil our provisions as well as the roads.
"Winter is by far the best time for travelling in Siberia, though at first thought one would suppose the summer preferable. In summer the weather is hot, there are clouds of dust when no rain falls, and long stretches of mud when it does; there are swarms and swarms of mosquitoes, flies, and all sorts of winged things that trouble traveller and horses to a terrible degree. There is one kind of fly that drives the horses into a frenzy, so that they sometimes break away from the carriages or become unmanageable. A Russian gravely told me that this Siberian horsefly could bite through an iron stove-pipe without hurting his teeth, but I'm inclined to doubt it.
SOLDIERS IN SIBERIAN FERRY-BOATS.
"Then, too, there are many streams to be crossed by fording or ferrying, and often there are long delays at the ferries. Fresh provisions can only be carried for a day or two at most, and a traveller must load his vehicle with a liberal stock of canned goods or run the risk of a very hard time. The frost seals up the rivers, causes the mosquitoes, flies, dust, mud, and kindred annoyances to disappear, and preserves your provisions for an indefinite period, except when a 'thaw' comes on. If you ever make a journey through Siberia, by all means make it in winter.
"The last hundred miles of our ride, from Irkutsk to Krasnoyarsk, was made over more bare ground than snow. In some places we had five or six horses to each carriage, and even then our progress was slow. Fortunately it became cold again, but the sky was cloudless; we longed for snow to cover the ground and improve the condition of the roads.
"The last morning we took breakfast at a station fifty versts from Krasnoyarsk, and learned that for the last thirty versts before reaching the city there was absolutely no snow. Very curiously the snow extended up to the door of the station, and disappeared not more than a yard beyond it! Looking one way there was bare ground; looking the other the road was good for sleighing.