r place of imprisonment.

The region around the Yablonoi mountains is so desolate that escape in
that direction is almost impossible. By way of the post route to Lake
Baikal it is equally difficult, as the road is carefully watched and
there are few habitations away from the post villages and stations.
No one can travel by post without a padaroshnia, and this can only be
procured at the chief towns and is not issued to an unknown applicant.

I heard a story of a young Pole who attempted, some years ago, to
escape from exile. He was teacher in a private family and passed his
evenings in gambling. At one time he was very successful at cards, and
gained in a single week three thousand roubles. With this capital he
arranged a plan of escape.

By some means he procured a padaroshnia, not in his own name, and
announced his intention to visit his friends a few miles away. As he
did not return promptly search was made, and it was found that a
person answering his description had started toward Lake Baikal.
Pursuit naturally turned in that direction, exactly opposite to his
real course of flight. He traveled by post with his padaroshnia and
reached the vicinity of Omsk without difficulty. Very injudiciously he
quarreled with the drivers at a post station about the payment of ten
copecks, which he alleged was an overcharge. The padaroshnia was
examined in consequence of the quarrel and found applicable to a
Russian merchant of the third class, and not for a nobleman, which he
claimed to be.

The station-master arrested the traveler and sent him to Omsk, when
his real character was ascertained. On the third day of captivity he
bribed his guards and escaped during the night. He remained free more
than a month, but was finally recaptured and sent to Irkutsk.

At Nerchinsk I resumed my efforts to purchase a tarantass, but my
investigations showed the Nerchinsk market 'out' of everything in the
tarantass line and no promise of a new crop. Fortune and Kaporaki
favored me, and found a suitable vehicle that I could borrow for the
journey to Irkutsk. I was to answer for its safety and deliver it to a
designated party on my arrival there.

The regulations did not permit, or at least encourage, Borasdine to
invest in vehicles. A courier is expected, unless in winter, to travel
by the post carriages. All breakages in that case are at the expense
of government, with the possible exception of the courier's bones and
head. If a carriage