othsome little cakes
and pies. These with half a dozen cups of tea to each person prepared
us for a ride of several hours. We dined a little before sunset, and
for one I can testify that full justice was done to the dinner.

Very little can be had at the stations on this road, so that
experienced travelers carry their own provisions. One can always
obtain hot water, and generally bread, and eggs, but nothing else is
certain. In winter, provisions can be easily carried as the frost
preserves them alike from decaying or crushing. Soup, meats, bread,
and other edibles can be carried on long routes with perfect facility.
There is a favorite preparation for Russian travel under the name of
_pilmania_. It is a little ball of minced meat covered with dough, the
whole being no larger than a robin's egg. In a frozen state a bag full
of pilmania is like the same quantity of walnuts or marbles, and can
be tossed about with impunity. When a traveler wishes to dine upon
this article he orders a pot of boiling water and tosses a double
handful of pilmania into it. After five minutes boiling the mass is
ready to be eaten in the form of soup. Salt, pepper, and vinegar can
be used with it to one's liking.

Our _diner du voyage_ consisted of pilmania, roast beef, and partridge
with bread, cakes, tea, and quass. Our table furniture was somewhat
limited, and the room was littered with garments temporarily
discarded. The ladies were crinolineless, and their coiffures were
decidedly not Parisian. My costume was a cross between a shooting
outfit and the everyday dress of a stevedore, while my hair appeared
as if recently dressed with a currant bush. Captain Paul was equally
unpresentable in fastidious parlors, but whatever our apparel it did
not diminish the keenness of our appetites. The dinner was good, and
the diners were hungry and happy. Fashion is wholly rejected on the
Siberian road, and each one makes his toilet without regard to French
principles and tastes.

According to Russian custom, somebody was to be thanked for the meal.
As the dinner came from the provisions in the servants' sleigh we
presented our acknowledgments to Madame Rodstvenny. With the
forethought of an experienced traveler the lady had carefully provided
her edibles and so abundant was her store that my supply was rarely
drawn upon. We were more like a pic-nic party than a company of
travelers on a long journey in a Siberian winter. Mademoiselle was
fluent in Fr