Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 2, 1851).djvu/200

172 which occasion he inquired of us by what route we meant to return, intimating that he had understood that the Turks were at Buda, but that he did not know what success they had had. We returned to Dobrovna by the same road as that by which we had come, and there received our baggage, which we had sent on by the Dnieper from Viesma. There also we found our Lithuanian guide, who was awaiting our arrival; and from him we then first heard of the death of Louis, king of Hungary.

Four miles from Dobrovna brought us to Orsa; thence following the same road as I had taken in my return from my first embassy, we came to Vilna, and were there kindly received and treated with great cordiality, by John, Bishop of Vilna, a natural son of the king.

Thence to Rudnik, four miles.

Wolkonik, three miles.

Meretsch, a town which takes its name from the river so called, seven miles.

Osse, six miles.

Grodno, a principality, lying on the river Nemen, seven miles.

Grinki, six miles. On reaching this place on the 1st of January, a frost came on with such severity, the force of the wind meanwhile rolling up the snow like a whirlwind, that the horses' testicles and the bitches' teats were partly frozen, and fell off, withered with the cold; indeed, I had nearly lost my nose, but for the timely warning of my guide; for I went into a house, and only begun to get sensation in it by soaking and rubbing it with snow, as my guide advised me, which produced a kind of tingling, and then, as it gradually dryed, I recovered. There was a Russian cock also, who sat on the top of our carriage, after the German fashion, who was already dying of the cold, when my servant cut off his crest, which was frozen, and thus not only saved him, but put such life in him, that he immediately stretched out his neck and crowed, to our great admiration.