Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/365

Rh say that nobody is ever lost in the lake; any one drowned in its waters is thrown up on the shores."

"It must be a long drive from one side of the lake to the other," one of the youths remarked.

"It is, indeed," was the reply. "Formerly they had a station on the ice in the middle of the lake, which was removed at the approach of spring. One season the ice broke up unexpectedly, and the entire station, with all its men and horses, was swallowed up. Since that time no station has been kept there in winter, and the entire journey across, about fifty-five miles, is made without a change. The horses are carefully selected, and as the road is magnificent they go at great speed, stopping only two or three times for a rest of a few minutes.

"The western shore is mountainous, and in places very picturesque. There are steep cliffs that come down to the water, and in some of these

cliffs you find caverns and arches which recall the pictured shores of Lake Superior. Earthquakes are not unfrequent, and many persons believe that the lake occupies the crater of an extinct volcano whose internal fires are determined to keep themselves in remembrance. A village on the shore of the lake was destroyed by one of the shocks. Half of it was carried