iver several boxes
that encumbered the sleighs. The servants have a way of putting small
articles, and sometimes large ones, in the forward end of the vehicle.
They are no special annoyance to a person of short stature, but in my
own case I was not reconciled to the practice. A Russian sleigh is
shaped somewhat like a laundry smoothing-iron, much narrower forward
than aft, so that a traveler does not usually find the space beneath
the driver a world too wide for his shrunk shanks.

We thawed out over a steaming samovar with plenty of hot tea. The lady
of the house brought a bottle of nalifka of such curious though
agreeable flavor that I asked of what fruit it was made. "Nothing but
orange peel," was the reply. Every Siberian housewife considers it her
duty to prepare a goodly supply of nalifka during the autumn. A glass
jar holding two or three gallons is filled to the neck with any kind
of fruit or berries, currants and gooseberries being oftenest used.
The jar is then filled with native whisky, and placed in a southern
window where it is exposed to the sunlight and the heat of the room
for ten days. The whisky is then poured off, mixed with an equal
quantity of water, placed in a kettle with a pound of sugar to each
gallon, and boiled for a few minutes. When cooled and strained it is
bottled and goes to the cellar. Many Siberians prefer nalifka to
foreign wines, and a former governor-general attempted to make it
fashionable. He eschewed imported wine and substituted nalifka, but
his example was not imitated to the extent he desired.

Our halt consumed three or four hours. After we started an unfortunate
pig was found entangled in the framework of my sleigh, and before we
could let him out he was pretty well bruised and shaken up. How he
came there we were puzzled to know, but I do not believe he ever
willingly troubled a sleigh again.

We encountered many caravans of sleds laden with merchandise. They
were made up much like the trains I described between Kiachta and Lake
Baikal, there being four or five sleds to each man. The horses
generally guided themselves, and followed their leaders with great
fidelity. While we were stopping to make some repairs near the foot of
a hill, I was interested in the display of equine intelligence. As a
caravan reached the top of the hill each horse stopped till the one
preceding him had descended. Holding back as if restrained by reins he
walked half down the descent, and then fin