Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/307

Rh steamboat, and fairly beat us for a short distance, though we were making nine or ten miles against the current.

"The Russians have established villages along the Amoor at intervals of twenty or thirty miles, where the steamboats are supplied with wood. Some of these villages are close to the native ones, and the people live in perfect harmony. At one of our stopping-places I suggested that I would like to see the inside of a Goldee house, and the captain kindly accompanied me to the native village.

"Guided by a Russian peasant, we picked our way among the drying fish, and reached the door. It was quite late in the evening, and all the

people had gone to sleep. With some difficulty we roused the owner of the place, and persuaded him to admit us. Our guide carried a torch of birch bark, and as he held it aloft the sight revealed to us was a strange one.

"Twenty or thirty persons were asleep on the benches, or huddled together to stare at the intruders. The captain explained that the Goldees keep their houses very warm, and sleep with little clothing; and certainly