The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1904-06-03
his passport and letters of introduc-
ton to Russian officials.


English spy, or some kind of spy in
disguise, appears to have entered the
minds of the Gear and his ministers.
Immediately an aide-de-camp, or mes
senger of the Gse1f, was sent to appre-
bend the blind traveller and conduct
him to the frontier of the empire.
The aide-de-camp-a young officer
named Alexis Kolovin-arrived by
slelge at Irhutsk on January 10th,
when the temperature was twenty de-
grees Fahrenheit below zero. 1t had
been Holman's intention to visit Lake
Baikal and Kamchatka after the rigors
of the winter had abated. The gov
ernor and military officers at Irkutsk
were his warm friends. His genial
manners made him favorite in So
ciety.
But now came the aide-de-camp with
an imperial order to escort him to
the Austrian frontier, in the coolest
period of the Siberian winter, when
fur clad Russians hesitated to make
even the briefest trip out of doors.
In vain the blind traveller remcn-
strated and begged for delay.
you are compelled" was the gov
ernor's relustant reply.
This i1human order, too, had ar
rived when Holman's funds were for
the time being nearly exhausted; and
the order expressly stipulated that he
must bear the entire expense OF the
~ io,,r1a., hinoco1f
He and the officer set off on the
morning of January 10th, in bitter
wind, against which the hood and
curtain of the sledge offered an in.
sufficient protection. The Russian
wished to make record for celebrity
in executing his commission. If he
could reach Petersburg again within
a certain number of days, he woul
be sent on an important mission to
Paris. Three horses were attached
abreast to the telega, and the officer
ordered the driver to put them at a
gallop, although the snow was to their
knees. This rate of travelling was
kept up hour after hour. The suffer,
ings of the horses so touched the
heart of the driver at last that he
disobeyed the repeated commands Of
Kolovin to lash them forward. There
upon the latter stopped the sledge and
gave the driver thirty blows with the
steel scabbard of his saber
After fifty versts two of the horses
fell from exhaustion. One of them
expired in the snow and was left be-
hind. For each horse thus cruelty
disabled and abandoned to the wolves
the blind traveller was obliged to pay
fifty rubles.
On the first day they were upset
three times, and during the ensuing
night the horses fell over the steep
side of mountain; but the sledge
was saved from destruction by logs
which had been set up beside the
way as railing.
On the second night, while career
ing at full speed down the side Of
another mountain, they ran over the
sledge of peasant who was ascend
ing the slope. Again the telega was
overturned, and the three horses be-
came almost inextricably entangled
with those of the other sledge.
After arduous efforts in the bitter
wind and snow, the horses were olsen
tangled and compelled to get up; but
before resuming their way Kolovin
beat the peasant with his saber I'M
merc.fully, although it was not easy
to say how the poor man had been to
blame.
Owing to the headlong and violent
manner of travelling, breakdowns of
the sledge were of almost daily occur
renee and caused many hours Of delay,
over which Kolovin became furious.
His chief solace for all these en-
forced halts lay in beating the hap
less driver, who fell into such pitt
able state Of terror as to be unable
properly to guide the horses, since he
was continually looking back over his
shoulders in expectation of blow
from the hard scabbard of the officer
All the while the cold was so in
tense that Kolovin's Kalmuck SER
want, who was obliged to sit beside
the driver in front, often became SO
benumbed that he had to be carried
from the sledge to the heated plat
form over the Russian stoves in the
post-stations. Both his feet were bad
ly frozen.
OF his clothing Holman says. T
wore two pairs Of wooden stockings,
with. two pairs of fur boots which
came above my knees, the inner ones
made of the skin of the wild goat. the
outer ones of leather. lined with fur
and having thick soles. Added to
these. my legs were enveloped in a
thick fur cloak. Independent of my
ordinary clothing I also wore thick
ly wadded greatcoat. and over that
an immense shube, made of the skins
of wolves. while my head was protect
ed by large wadded cap"
In short. they wore all the clothing
that they could move about in, but
even this was insufficient to withstand