al to their horses, and the speech
they use depends much upon the character and performance of the
animals. If the horse travels well he may be called the dove or
brother of his driver, and assured that there is abundance of
excellent hay awaiting him at home. Sometimes a neat hint is given
that he is drawing a nice gentleman who will be liberal and enable the
horse to have an extra feed. Sometimes the man rattles off his words
as if the brute understood everything said to him. An obstinate or
lazy horse is called a variety of names the reverse of endearing. I
have heard him addressed as '_sabaka_,' (dog); and on frequent
occasions his maternity was ascribed to the canine race in epithets
quite disrespectful. Horses came in for an amount of profanity about
like that showered upon army mules in America. It used to look a
little out of place to see a yemshick who had shouted _chort!_ and
other unrefined expressions to his team, devoutly crossing himself
before a holy picture as soon as his beasts were unharnessed.

A few versts from Achinsk we crossed the boundary between Eastern and
Western Siberia. The Chulim is navigable up to Achinsk, and during the
past two years steamers have been running between this town and Tomsk.
The basin of the Ob contains nearly as many navigable streams as that
of the Mississippi, and were it not for the severity of the climate,
the long winter, and the northerly course of the great river, this
valley might easily develop much wealth. But nature is unfavorable,
and man is powerless to change her laws.

On changing at the station we again took four horses to each sleigh,
and were glad we did so. The ground was more bare as we proceeded, and
obliged us to leave the high road altogether and seek a track wherever
it could be found. While we were dashing through a mass of rocks and
stumps one of our horses fell dead, and brought us to a sudden halt.
In his fall he became entangled with the others, and it required some
minutes to set matters right. The yemshick felt for the pulse of the
beast until fully satisfied that no pulse existed. Happily we were not
far from a station, so that the reduction of our team was of no
serious consequence. In this region I observed cribs like roofless log
houses placed near the roadside at intervals of a few hundred yards.
They were intended to hold materials for repairing the road.

On the upper waters of the Chulim there is a cascade of considerable
beauty, a