pure blood and Jews, the former speaking only
their own language and never using any other. As the yemshick did not
understand our conversation, he at once set us down as Israelites in
whom there was any quantity of guile.

We breakfasted on pilmania, bread, and tea while the horses were being
changed, and I managed to increase our bill of fare with some boiled
eggs. The continual jolting and the excessive cold gave me a good
appetite and excellent digestion. Our food was plain and not served as
at Delmonico's, but I always found it palatable. We stopped twice a
day for meals, and the long interval between dinner time and breakfast
generally made me ravenously hungry by morning. The village where the
obstinate yemshick left us, had a bad reputation on the scale of
honesty, but we suffered no loss there. At another village said to
contain thieves, we did not leave the sleigh.

About noon we met a convoy of exiles moving slowly along the snowy
road. The prisoners were walking in double column, but without
regularity and not attempting to 'keep step.' Two soldiers with
muskets and fixed bayonets marched in front and two others brought up
the rear. There were thirty or more prisoners, all clad in sheepskin
garments, their heads covered with Russian hoods, and their hands
thrust into heavy mittens. Behind the column there were four or five
sleighs containing baggage and foot-sore prisoners, half a dozen
soldiers, and two women. The extreme rear was finished by two
soldiers, with muskets and fixed bayonets, riding on an open sledge.
The rate of progress was regulated by the soldiers at the head of the
column. Most of the prisoners eyed us as we drove past, but there were
several who did not look up.

At nearly every village there is an _ostrog_, or prison, for the
accommodation of exiles. It is a building, or several buildings,
enclosed with a palisade or other high fence. Inside its strong gate
one cannot easily escape, and I believe the attempt is rarely made.
Generally the rooms or buildings nearest the gate are the residences
of the officers and guards, the prisoners being lodged as far as
possible from the point of egress. The distance from one station to
the next varies according to the location of the villages, but is
usually about twenty versts. Generally the ostrog is outside the
village, but not far away. The people throughout Siberia display
unvarying kindness to exiles on their march. When a convoy reaches a
v