tunately, bright calm days prevailed south of Verkhoyansk, although
in mid-winter these are the realms of eternal darkness. But in our case
spring was approaching, and on fine mornings I could throw open my
_narta_ and bask in warm sunshine while contemplating a sky of sapphire
and smoking a cigar--one of the last, alas! I was likely to enjoy on
this side of America. On such days the pure frosty air would exhilarate
like champagne, and there was only one drawback to perfect enjoyment:
the body would be baked on one side by the scorching rays, and frozen in
the shade on the other. Another inconvenience was hunger, for there was
never more than one square meal in the twenty-four hours, and often not
that, and nothing resists cold like a well-lined stomach. Our sufferings
were undoubtedly great from Yakutsk to the Arctic Ocean, but they were
greatly alleviated by the fact that it was generally possible, even in
the coldest weather, to enjoy a cigarette under cover of the hood. A
pipe was, of course, out of the question, for the temperature (even
under the felt covering) was never over 10 deg. below zero, which would
have instantly blocked the stem with frozen nicotine. But a Russian
_papirosh_ could always be enjoyed in peace, if not comfort, out of the
wind, and I have derived relief through many an hour of misery through
their soothing influence.

A brief halt only was made at Sordonnakia, for the _povarnia_ had been
left in such a disgusting state by its last occupants that we were
compelled to eat in our sleds. The fifty versts between this place and
the _stancia_ of Bete-Kul were rapidly accomplished, and during this
stage we came in sight of the Verkhoyansk range, a chain of precipitous
mountains which would form one of the chief stumbling-blocks to the
construction of the proposed All-World Railway. If the Paris-New York
line is ever laid it will probably not run through Verkhoyansk. The
direction would rather be east direct from Yakutsk to the Okhotsk Sea
although that is also mountainous enough. Nearing Bete-Kul the landscape
became yet wilder and more desolate, and we travelled along valleys of
deep snow and across dark, lonely gorges, the depths of which even a
brilliant sunshine could not penetrate. What this region may be like in
summer-time I know not, but in winter the surface of the moon itself
could scarcely present a more silent, spectral appearance.

At Bete-Kul we were kept some time waiting for reindee