Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/378

372 thirty imperial. We went at breakneck pace where the roads permitted, and often where they did not. Occasionally we stimulated the drivers to a race, and then our progress was exciting, as well as dangerous.

"The post was carried twice a week each way, and we frequently encountered it. The bags contained merchandise in addition to letters and newspapers, as the Government does a sort of express business through the post-office, to the great convenience of the public. This accounted for the large number of vehicles employed. Travellers may purchase tickets and have their carriages accompany the post, but in so doing they are liable to a good many extortions. Each convoy is accompanied by a postilion or guard, who is responsible for its security; he is usually a soldier, and must be armed to repel robbers. Sometimes these postilions were so stuck around with pistols that they resembled travelling arsenals, and must have been very dangerous to themselves."

Frank asked how many horses were required for the service of the post at each station.

"The rules require each station-master to keep ten troikas, or thirty horses, ready for use; many stations had forty or fifty horses each, and the villages could generally supply any reasonable demand after those in the station were exhausted. Fourteen yemshicks (drivers) are kept at every station; they are boarded by the smotretal, and receive about four dollars each a month, in addition to whatever gratuities they can pick up. When the post was expected they generally whispered that fact to our man-servant, so that we could get away as soon as possible. They preferred our service to that of the post, as we could be relied upon for gratuities, while none were obtainable from the inanimate bags of the Government mail.

"Our good road lasted for two days and into the early hours of the third then the snow became very thin, and at times we were dragged over bare ground for considerable distances. From very cold the weather turned to warm, and threatened to spoil our provisions as well as the roads.

"Winter is by far the best time for travelling in Siberia, though at first thought one would suppose the summer preferable. In summer the weather is hot, there are clouds of dust when no rain falls, and long stretches of mud when it does; there are swarms and swarms of mosquitoes, flies, and all sorts of winged things that trouble traveller and horses to a terrible degree. There is one kind of fly that drives the horses into a frenzy, so that they sometimes break away from the carriages or become unmanageable. A Russian gravely told me that this Siberian horse-fly could bite through an iron stove-pipe without hurting his teeth, but I'm inclined to doubt it.