Year: 1878

TRAVELLING IN RUssIA.-Russia is the
most uncomfortable of countries to trave
IN. Such railways us there are run mostl,
in straight lines from terminus to termin


us, without taking any account of the
towns on their road If YOU want tt
al2ht at town half wav down the line
von ind that the station which bears it,
name Is some twenty miles distant from
II" town itself You climb into para
cladnoi, three-horse truck withou


springs, and ask that your baggage may
be put in with you. The station porter
clad in kaftan reaching to his feet


Smiles kindly, but cannot give YOU voul
luggage without the permission of some
official who is absent. 1t takes money to
find this official. When he has consented
to inspect the luggage, he proceeds to ex


anime every article as if it were a new
and curious invention. More money is
required to stop him; then you scramble
into the truck again, and off it goes like
wlldfire, the Kalmuck driver yelling al


the way and thwackng the shafts with the
stump of his whip, to make you fancy
that he is dragging the vehicle by himself
The humping is something to remember


for the roads are left 10 mend themselves
and iu winter the ruts are big enough tc
hold collins. In some districts chance
OF being chevied by pack of dinnerless
wolves adds to the interest of the Journey,
but if it be night Il lantern with Il strong
reflector hung ut the back of the carriage
will be enough to keep them from ap.
preaching At length the town of your
destination is reached and, pounding along
the unpaved streets with a last flourish oil
howls, the iavostchik gallops into the
courtyard of the place that calls itself Il
hotel. Out tumbles n flat-nosed hostler,
whom the driver begins to thump and
swear at. just to show his zeal il your
service. Then comes the landlord. gener-
ally German who talks broken French,
and whose accommodation for travellers
consists in two or three rooms without
beds and some hot water. 1t is expected
that traveller should bring his own pro-
visions; if he has not done so, he must
pay for food at famine priccs-and what
food! It's no use asking for u chop or a
steak, for the last gridiron seen in Russia
Except in private houses) was the one
which Ivan the terrible used for the broil-
ing of refractory courtiers. A chunk of
beef stewed in sugar and vinegar and
served with saucerful of salted cucnm
brrs and picked cherries will be the ex-
tent of the bill of fare, though if there
happen to be wedding going on in the
town, the landlord will run off to beg
some choicer dainties, and return in tri-
umph with the leg Of goose stuffed with
cloves, or II piece of pork braised with
nulmegs and marsh malows. AS to beds,
they are quite modern innovation in
Russia, and many well.to-do houses are
still unprovded with them. Peasants sleep
On the tops of their ovens, midde-class
people and servants curl themselves up in
sheepskins and lie down near stoves; SOL
diers sleep upon wooden cots without bed
ding, and it is only within the last ten
years that the students in the state schools
have been allowed beds. A traveller must
therefore roll himself up in rugs and furs,
ard spend. bis night on the floor of his inn
room Russians see no hardship in this.
even if they be rich and accustomed to lux
ures. They rather prefer boards to mat
tresses, and are frst.rate travellers. for
they make shift to sleep anywhere.