packed
up all the varied articles necessary for his journey, and likely to
please his Yakouta friend, consisting of tea, rum, brandy, tobacco,
gunpowder, and other things of less moment. For himself he took a
couple of guns, a pair of pistols, some strong and warm clothes, an
iron pot for cooking, a kettle for his tea, with many minor articles
absolutely indispensable in the cold region he was about to visit. All
travelers in the north have found that ample food, and such drinks as
tea, are the most effectual protection against the climate; while oily
and fat meat is also an excellent preservative against cold. But Ivan
had no need to provide against this contingency. His Yakouta friend
knew the value of train-oil and grease, which are the staple luxuries
of Siberians, Kamschatkans, and Esquimaux alike.

The first part of Ivan's journey was necessarily to the _yourte_, or
wigwam of Sakalar, without whom all hopes of reaching the goal of his
wishes were vain. He had sufficient confidence in himself to venture
without a guide toward the plain of Mioure, where his Yakouta friend
dwelt. He started at early dawn, without warning of his departure any
one save Maria, and ventured courageously on the frozen plain which
reaches from Yakoutsk to the Polar Sea. The country is here composed
of marshes, vast downs, huge forests, and hills covered with snow in
the month of September, the time when he began his journey. He had
five horses, each tied to the tail of the one before him, while Ivan
himself was mounted on the first. He was compelled to ride slowly,
casting his eyes every now and then behind to see that all was right.
At night he stretched a bearskin under a bush, lit a huge fire, cooked
a savory mess, and piling clothes over himself, slept. At dawn he
rose, crammed his kettle full of clean snow, put it over the embers,
and made himself tea. With this warm beverage to rouse him, he again
arranged his little caravan, and proceeded on his way. Nothing more
painful than this journey can be conceived. There are scarcely any
marks to denote the road, while lakes, formed by recent inundations,
arrest the traveler every half hour, compelling him to take prodigious
rounds, equally annoying and perplexing.

On the morning of the third day Ivan felt a little puzzled about the
road. He knew the general direction from the distant mountains, and he
wished to avoid a vast morass. Before him was a frozen stream, and on
the other side a