Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/373

Rh find a resting-place. In the morning every part of my sleigh save the running portion was white with hoar-frost. Each little fibre projecting from the canvas and matting that formed the cover had been turned to a stalactite or a stalagmite, and the head of every nail and bolt resembled oxydized silver. Horses were white without regard to their natural color, and even the garments of the drivers had come in for their share of the congelation.

"Many times afterwards I had occasion to remark the beauties of the work of the frost-king. Houses and fences were cased in ice its

thickness varying with the condition of the weather. Trees and bushes were covered with crystals, and in the morning sunlight they sparkled as though coated with diamonds. Sometimes the trees resembled fountains caught and frozen when in full action. The pictured delineations of the frost had all the varieties of the kaleidoscope, but without its colors.

"During the night I slept well, in spite of several severe thumps received from sleighs going in the other direction. Russian sleighs are so