The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-03-23
,,CTrREs OF SIBERIAN LIFE.
,,u,are MISUNDERSTANDING by
.,o,Itabt-The POst-HOuses.

ION
be frst village Enclosure. This high
-.,s,,ng fence keeps the horses and cat
t.,, wandering INTO the forest.
aaain the delicious fragrance of
.ica woods. / scent the curling film of
smoke from the chimneys of the
,ssr-gab.ed ancient inn. Hard by stands
=. to,.-,ike church with It's green steeple.
,bs barking of innumerable dogs. 1t
r,,, morning when l arrive, aching
.ar weary night ride in my tarantass,
HSaat-shaped vehicle, swinging on roped
leap down at the inn door, and
or+arine. carefully salute the icon, and
csll for the salnovar.
~ is company within. Perhaps Rus
.a,n nr;nce in his furs and platinum
.,sns or Ii may be large family OF Tar
-. the men with belts and pistols and
ring black lambskin caps; the women
and children with fiat noses ana no eye
srocrs An sit on the ground, eating
49, 49, nurple horse sausage, odoriferous of
ss+ss or garlic Eat but a crumb of their
H.1 and for the time you are a guest
brother
in he Sunday, we shall attend early
..-,ioe standing in the little Byzantine
ct,r.b listening to the long Slavonic
o1,rts with their venerable cadences. Be
,nd the pictured screen and its gilded
g,fes the long-haired priest worships in
baritone. The stupefying grim benzoin
.,,aka is quite distinct in odor from the
catholic incense. In the afternoon the
ron,en will put on their red embroidery
and silver trinkets, and will dance in
|, sow ceremonfous steps to the minor
music played on instruments like accor-
5ons. After while they sing. Gathered
into a group one begins a long, shrih ro-
nance. the others break in with passion
ole dialogue, a story of romantic wooing,
ending in tragedy Almost all Siberian
songs ere sad; the airs wood notes Wild
dronning much into the minor key. Some
Zines a long band of exiles goes past, in
law order. watched by silent Cossack
gpsrds These also sing-monotonous
marching songs, falling at times to a sob,
or rising 10 a loud patriotic clangor. Their
chains bright as silver with the friction;
al the men bearded, ragged, but alert.
II was a dim, wintry moonlight when
We came 10 the Angara river. Our driver
had been warned at the last post-house
that the ice was bad, and that an accident
had happened a day or two before. AS
fast as the river was frozen it was again
flooded and once more frozen. Sleighing
crust. and were fatally trapped in the rot
ten ice Our own istvostchik had selected
point 10 cross where the ice seemed
smoothest. As we swept along under the
preciptous banks on the farther side, a
CHASTITY sight met our eyes in the moon
light A horses head erect, frozen stiff.
and a few yards off the legs of a second
horse; the sleigh and its human occu-
pants were beneath the ice. How joyful
was the sound at last of the grating of
our runners on the gravel shore. On
another night we were rudely awakened
from sleep by being ricochetted through
the air into deep snow When we had
struggled to our feet we found the trotka
had leaped the track to escape a long
caravan of Bactrian camels that had stol-
idly passed in the dim moonlight. They
were laden with tea from China. The poor
beasts looked the more hideous in that
they were sewed up in stiff felt to pro-
tect them from the intense cold.
The post houses are under government
control. Horses are in sets of three Off
Gals can always seize the first troitBa, so
thai private travellers have often to wait
Some of the houses are indescribably dirty
nave seen the paper of the room NOV
ing with the insect life beneath. If we
had TO sleep for an hour or two, brought
IN the skins from the sleigh, and lay upon
Inc floor At times l preferred the in
tense cold outside, and slept in the sleigh
The horses are small, but very hardy
Ihey are often left standing after a long
nde in cold of 40 degrees. They are
only lea once in twentyfour hours. 1 have
seen lclcles nine inches long hanging
rom the poor beasts nostrils and belly.
AT Iichon Sadonsk in the intensely cold
nights the silence was sometimes broken
by a loud report as of a cannon. This was
Inc bursting of one of the ice bubbles on
tae river; phenomenon l had neither
heard of nor read of before.
Inc streams coming down from the hills
were frozen on the surface some six to
l'e Ihcnes thick. The water beneath
moved faster than It could escape. and
,ne pressure on the principle of hydrau-
~ press became irresistible. First. the
Elasticity of the ice was seen nv the ris-
ns OF circular mounds some six to eight
~ ,Iet Ill uiameter, and from four to five feet
Isl Inc bursting point came at last.
"''n report like an explosion The water
'ldped' but soon froze again. have
sven scores of these ice hillocks in a few
'trSis Of the river.
oul log mousse had four rooms on a floor.
great brick fireplace in the central an
Tg warmed each room in the two stories.
~ "a was very grateful. On opening
s' uoCr al night to admit friend. the
9pAere Of the room, laden with the
INSURE OF our breath, was rolled in upon
f.n ny tne cold outer air like steam. and
W.T., Jul me snow OF course. the wooden
- Oh our rooms were double and the
.i ,,.uo"s also. The landscape outside was
T. ooscured by the frost on the panes
ga, '0 9lort summer we took off the out
6n,. s'Sles and laid them over trenches
go, ol them, and under them we raised
f-..I s. and cabbages. In winter the
can 70 dlWays frozen. Carcasses of sheen
(sn. only be divided by ak and saw Fish
r.'6 through holes in the ice freeze
at, e they jump. Eggs are as hard as
NV. have carried them In a sack over
NY horses back q s''N o'er
ce I1e rivers of Siberia abound with ex-
n e, Ilsn' among these beautiful kind
ont' wing aud the incompatible sterlet
T ne most delicious fish | know
q gi 'l descending the Yenisei. we caught
Of Init '.''lc sturgeon, yielding many pools
esta1,, Sc black caviare dainty highly
cs,,,'t w. sturgeon outlets, with wild
s,5 Va, Tor navoring. are delicious. Ouails
or5 nieks are a favorite broil for sec
b,ra Sdhiast The bread | found dark.
d.,I ana sour, but sustaining. A great
an. Nodki is drunk, but it is both peril
a