the effect of a score of
sleepers on the air of a room is 'better imagined than described.'

On the road west of Irkutsk the rules require each smotretal to keep
ten teams or thirty horses, ready for use. Many of them have more than
that number, and the villages can supply any ordinary demand after the
regular force is exhausted. Fourteen yemshicks are kept at every
station, and always ready for service. They are boarded at the expense
of the smotretal, and receive about five roubles each per month, with
as much drink-money as they can obtain. Frequently they make two
journeys a day to the next station, returning without loads. They
appeared on the most amiable terms with each other, and I saw no
quarreling over their work.

On our first and second nights from Irkutsk the weather was cold, the
thermometer standing at fifteen or twenty degrees below zero. On the
third day the temperature rose quite rapidly, and by noon it was just
below the freezing point. Our furs designed for cold weather became
uncomfortably warm, and I threw off my outer garments and rode in my
sheepskin coat. In the evening we experienced a feeling of suffocation
on closing the sleigh, and were glad to open it again. We rode all
night with the wind beating pleasantly against our faces, and from
time to time lost our consciousness in sleep. For nearly two days the
warm weather continued, and subjected us to inconveniences. We did not
travel as rapidly as in the colder days, the road being less
favorable, and the horses diminishing their energy with the increased
warmth. Some of our provisions were in danger of spoiling as they were
designed for transportation only in a frozen state.

Between Nijne Udinsk and Kansk the snow was scanty, and the road
occasionally bad. The country preserved its slightly undulating
character, and presented no features of interest. Where we found
sufficient snow we proceeded rapidly, sometimes leaving the summer
road and taking to the open ground, and forests on either side. We
pitched into a great many _oukhabas_, analagous to American "hog
wallows" or "cradle holes." To dash into one of these at full speed
gives a shock like a boat's thumping on the shore. It is only with
pillows, furs, and hay that a traveler can escape contusions. In mild
doses _oukhabas_ are an excellent tonic, but the traveler who takes
them in excess may easily imagine himself enjoying a field-day at
Donnybrook Fair.

[Illustration: JUMPING CRA