t. nt. o. lg. sl. S. r. = ther. - z

"Start at night on a long sleigh ride over a Siberian road with the
thermometer below zero."

A bouran arose in the afternoon of the second day, but was neither
violent nor very cold. At Barnaool I had my sleigh specially prepared
to exclude drifting snow. I ordered a liberal supply of buttons and
straps to fasten the boot to the hood, besides an overlapping flap of
thick felt to cover the crevice between them. The precaution was well
taken, and with our doors thoroughly closed we were not troubled with
much snow. The drivers were exposed on the outside of the sleigh, and
had the full benefit of the wind. At the end of the first drive after
this storm commenced our yemshick might have passed for an animated
snow statue. The road was tolerable, and a great improvement upon that
from Krasnoyarsk to Tomsk.

[Illustration: TAIL PIECE]

CHAPTER XLVI.

The great steppe of Baraba is quite monotonous, as there is very
little change of scenery in traveling over it. Whoever has been south
or west from Chicago, or west from Leavenworth, in winter, can form a
very good idea of the steppe. The winter appearance is much like that
of a western prairie covered with snow. Whether there is equal
similarity in summer I am unable to say. The country is flat or
slightly undulating, and has a scanty growth of timber. Sometimes
there were many versts without trees, then there would be a scattered
and straggling display of birches, and again the growth was dense
enough to be called a forest. The principal arboreal productions are
birches, and I found the houses, sheds, and fences in most of the
villages constructed of birch timber. The open part of the steppe, far
more extensive than the wooded portion, was evidently favorable to the
growth of grass, as I saw a great deal protruding above the snow.
There are many marshy and boggy places, covered in summer with a dense
growth of reeds. They are a serious inconvenience to the traveler on
account of the swarms of mosquitoes, gnats, and other tormenting
insects that they produce.

While crossing the Baraba swamps in summer, men and women are obliged
to wear veils as a protection against these pests. Horses are
sometimes killed by their bites, and frequently became thin in flesh
from the constant annoyance. A gentleman told me that once when
crossing the swamps one of his horses, maddened by the insects, broke
from the carriage and fled out of si