After passing through an extensive grazing country, interspersed with large fields of grain, about 300 versts from Witim we came to rapids, with high precipitous banks on either side, where the velocity of the current was so great that we were obliged to hug the shore to avoid it. In some parts of it we could only get along by sending a small boat ahead to carry a line to warp by. This was a slow and laborious operation, and we were heartily rejoiced when we were through with it. The rapids once passed, the scenery became as interesting as it had been before, and the country, if anything, rather more populous and thriving. We saw, beside farming and grazing, a number of men engaged in fisheries along the banks of the stream. I could not see but that there was as great a degree of happiness here as in any other part of the world. The wants of the people were abundantly provided for by the produce of the soil and the river, and beyond this they seemed to have no desire.
After passing through some more rapids, where we were again obliged to cast off our horses and warp the boat, on the 19th we reached Kirinsk, which is about 1,650 versts from Yakutsk. From here we went on quickly, owing to the good path for the horses on the shore, and on the 26th reached Wercholinsk. This was a considerable town, situated on the right bank of the Lena; but we pushed by it without stopping. We now began to be troubled with the shallowness of the water, but we made out with difficulty to reach Katschuk, beyond which there was hardly enough to float a canoe, and we concluded we had reached the head of navigation. According to agreement I delivered up my boat here, and took a post-carriage for Irkutsk, where I arrived on the afternoon of the 28th of August, 1807, and drove into the court square of the Company’s establishment.
IX.
Irkutsk.—Journey to Tomsk.—New Travelling Companion.—Tobolsk.—Russian Leave-taking.
I presented my letters of introduction from the Chamberlain, Baron von Resanoff, and was kindly welcomed by the Superintendent. He invited me to make his house my home while I remained in the place. I replied that my stay must be short, and begged him to assist me in procuring a convenient vehicle for my journey, so that I might not be obliged to change at every station, as I should if I went in a public conveyance.
I discharged my Cossack when I gave up my boat, and made him a present of fifty rubles, all my cooking utensils, provisions, and some other articles. He took his leave, with many thanks and good wishes, which I cordially returned. I had brought Kutsnetsoff home to his native town, from which he had been absent ten years. He started off immediately to find his mother. The next morning he made his appearance at my room, leading her in. She was a very dignified-looking elderly lady, dressed in black. As he introduced her to me, she dropped upon her knees, and, while the tears from an overflowing and grateful heart were coursing down her cheeks, poured out her thanks for the interest I had taken in the return of her son. It touched me so deeply, that I could scarcely refrain from tears myself. It carried my thoughts home to my poor mother, and I raised her up, and assured her that, if I had done her son a favor, or brought comfort and consolation to her, I was amply compensated by the pleasure and satisfaction the deed itself afforded me. Kutsnetsoff had previously observed that he should like to go on with me to Moscow to see his brother, if his mother were willing. When it was suggested to her, she readily gave her consent, being also desirous that he should see his brother.
While we were talking about the matter, who should drive into the court square but Dr. Langsdorff. I was rejoiced to see him, but could not account for his being so close upon my heels. It appeared that he had arrived at Yakutsk shortly after my departure, and, making but a short stay, had been pushing on in the small boats, hoping to overtake and surprise me on the river. He had gained two days on me, but encountered all kinds of troubles and vexations, such as leaky boats, drunken boatmen, an inefficient Cossack guide, the upsetting of the boat, and loss of papers. He was quite chagrined when I told him that I, by taking a larger craft under my own control, had avoided all these difficulties, and had made quite a pleasant excursion of it.
The Doctor having decided to make a longer stay than I desired to, that he might visit Kiakta, across the Lake Baikal, I purchased a vehicle which I thought would answer my purpose. It was called a pervoshka, and was nothing more than a box rounded at the bottom, and fixed firmly to the axletree without springs. A covered top reached from the back part nearly to the middle, resembling the top of a cradle. The forward part of the box was covered far enough to make a seat for the driver, from which a boot extended to the cradle-top. On the bottom of this outlandish concern I must either lie or sit upright throughout my whole journey. I therefore procured a good substantial feather-bed and put it in, with which and two or three well-stuffed pillows, my luggage, and other wadding, I thought I might get along without much chafing. As this carriage was only calculated for one person, I took a post-carriage of much the same construction for Parker and Kutsnetsoff.
Being now all ready for the road, I decided to stay a day or two, and look round the place with my friend the Doctor. I shall not attempt a description of this large, and I might say handsome town. It is the modern capital of Siberia, and is situated on the banks of the beautiful river Angara, which is one of the largest tributaries of the Yenisei. It was in that day, and I suppose still is, the great commercial emporium of the eastern part of the empire, whence the more distant provinces are supplied, and whither are brought the furs and the products of the fisheries from Kamtchatka, Ochotsk, and the Aleutian Islands; and through the frontier town of Kiakta, across Lake Baikal, the teas, nankins, silks, and other articles which are obtained from the Chinese in exchange for the sea-otter and sable skins, and find such a ready market in Russia.