the deacon's one-horse shay in its eightieth year, the
vehicle was not broken but had traces of age about it. As there was
considerable rough road before me I thought it advisable to put
everything in order, and therefore committed the carriage to a
blacksmith. He labored all day and most of the night putting in bolts,
nuts, screws, and bits of iron in different localities, and astonished
me by demanding less than half I expected to pay, and still more by
his guilty manner, as if ashamed at charging double.

The iron used in repairing my carriage came from Petrovsky Zavod,
about a hundred miles southeast of Verkne Udinsk. The iron works were
established during the reign of Peter the Great, and until quite
recently were mostly worked by convicts. There is plenty of mineral
coal in the vicinity, but wood is so cheap and abundant that charcoal
is principally used in smelting. I saw a specimen of the Petrovsky
ore, which appeared very good. The machine shops of these works are
quite extensive and well supplied. The engines for the early steamers
on the Amoor were built there by Russian workmen.

There are several private mining enterprises in the region around
Yerkne Udinsk. Most of them have gold as their object, and I heard of
two or three lead mines.

During the night of my stay at this town Captain Sideroff insisted so
earnestly upon giving up his bed that politeness compelled me to
accept it. My blankets and furs on the floor would have been better
suited to my traveling life especially as the captain's bed was
shorter than his guest. I think travelers will agree with me in
denouncing the use of beds and warm rooms while a journey is in
progress. They weaken the system and unfit it for the roughness of the
road. While halting at night the floor or a hard sofa is preferable to
a soft bed. The journey ended, the reign of luxuries can begin.

[Illustration: TAIL PIECE]

CHAPTER XXVI.

When we left Verkne Udinsk we crossed the Selenga before passing the
municipal limits. Our ferry-boat was like the one at Stratensk, and
had barely room on its platform for our tarantass. A priest and an
officer who were passengers on the steamer from Blagoveshchensk
arrived while we were getting on board the ferry-boat. They had been
greatly delayed on the way from Stratensk, and waited two days to
cross the Nercha.

The Selenga was full of ice, some cakes being larger than the platform
of our boat. The temperature of the a