these kind and hospitable people, acquiring much useful information respecting the regions I intended to visit. My Siberian friends reached Ekaterineburg two days later. We met frequently during my stay, and then separated, they going 2500 versts eastward, and I turning to the north, but hoping to meet again in the summer when I reached the Altai.

CHAPTER II.

IRON MINES.

THE ice on the River Tchoussowaia broke up last night: this was the signal for my departure. I started at twelve, with an officer of the mines, to Outkinskoï Pristan (port). The roads. were very bad-in some places almost impassable. Even with five horses yoked to a very light carriage, we were five hours traveling twenty versts. We arrived at Bilimbawsky at eight o'clock, and went to the iron-works of Count Strogonoff. The director gave us a hearty welcome, and entertained us most sumptuously. His supper was good and his wine excellent. He also gave me some English porter, which I enjoyed much more than his Champagne. We spent a very pleasant evening; my two friends smoked and talked until one o'clock, and then I was taken to my sleeping apartment-the drawing-room, where I passed the night upon the same sofa on which the Emperor Alexander had rested the evening of his visit to these works.

Having slept well, I turned out early in the morning, and walked over the iron-works, with which I was greatly interested. They are well conducted, and produce a large quantity of very good metal. Our host gave us a most substantial breakfast, after which we were taken in his carriage to the pristan on the Tchoussowaia, about three versts from the iron-works, where a small boat and three men were ready to take us down the river. At this port numbers of workmen were busily engaged loading thirty-six barks with bar and sheet iron to send to the fair at Nijne-Novgorod, where they were expected to arrive in July: each carries a cargo of 9000 poods, or about 144 tons.

At nine o'clock we bade adieu to our hospitable host, stepped

IRON-WORKS.-BARK-BUILDING.

27

into the boat, and were soon floating down the stream at a great speed. The view from this part of the river is not very interesting; in most places there is forest to the water's edge on both banks, rising high on the south side, but at some distance from the river; yet the scenery is pretty in some parts. Though the sun was shining brightly, the masses of ice and snow piled up in the valley rendered the atmosphere exceedingly cold; nor were there any indications of spring. We descended the river rapidly, making the thirty versts in two hours, and arrived at Outkinskoï Pristan at eleven o'clock. This is the place where most of the barks are built to convey the produce of the Oural mines and ironworks, belonging to the crown, to Nijne-Novgorod, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. It was now a scene of great activity, there being four thousand men in this small village, brought from various places (some from villages five and six hundred versts distant), all diligently engaged in loading the vessels with guns of large dimensions, made in Kamenskoi Zavod; also with shot, shell, and other munitions of war from the different works in the South Oural, destined for Sevastopol and the forts on the Black Sea. These munitions of war are made with great care and accuracy under the superintendence of very intelligent artillery officers.

The barks are built on the bank of the Tchoussowaia with their sides to the stream; they are flat-bottomed, with straight sides. 125 feet long, have a breadth of twenty-five feet, and are from eight to nine feet deep; the head and stern are formed by a sort of obtuse angle, the ribs of birch-trees selected for the purpose, and the planking of deal: there is not a nail or an iron bolt in them, they being put together with wooden pins; and they must be built the year before they are launched. The decks are formed with strong boards framed together, but not fastened to the bark; a precaution absolutely necessary, as they are often sunk in deep water after striking the rocks. When this happens, the deck floats, by which the men are saved. has a weight of 9000 poods, requires thirty-five men to direct it; and one with a cargo of 10,000 poods has a crew of forty men. Oars, usually of forty-five to fifty feet long, with strong and broad blades, guide it at the head and stern, and a man stands upon a raised platform in the middle to look out and direct its course.

Each bark, whose cargo

I saw several of these vessels launched: it was a curious spec

tacle. On the top of the craft there were about twelve men; two gave, or rather sang, the words of command, which was followed by the others. About 400 men and numbers of women stood ready with long poles to push the vessel toward the stream, which was done most lustily, all singing a chorus, and each verse bringing the vessel nearer the water. The first I saw launched occupied more than three hours, much of the physical force of the operators having been spent in singing.

On the 15th of April there was an earthquake at forty minutes past twelve o'clock at noon, which caused a great sensation throughout the Oural, although no damage was done. A large boat had been built for me at the pristan, and was to have a crew of five men and a boy. Unfortunately, there was a marked change in the weather; we had rain and a strong wind, which caused a great flood, that swept large masses of ice down the river at a fearful speed, producing much confusion and anxiety at the port, as the barks were in danger of being cut through by the blocks of ice as they floated past. Not far from the government pristan I saw seven belonging to a merchant in Ekaterineburg, laden with tallow, and ready to float down the Tchoussowaia to the River Kama, and two were seriously damaged by the ice. I received an invitation, which I accepted, to go on board and see the priest bless them before starting on their voyage. I found the

NATURAL LANDSCAPE-GARDENING.

29

ceremony highly interesting, and it was attended to with much solemnity by every person on board. After this the company began feasting on the various good things provided by the merchant. The wodky (brandy) soon performed its part, for in an hour they had forgotten their toil, and were embracing each other with the fervor of brothers after twenty years' separation.

The flood having subsided, the storm of wind, snow, and rain was followed by a bright sunny morning, which induced me to hasten my departure. The water had risen 6 feet 4 inches higher than since 1830, and much damage had ensued. My friends at the pristan provisioned me, and added some bottles of Madeira and rum, believing it probable we might have a storm that would compel us to seek shelter in the woods. Having thanked my hospitable host and wife, I stepped into the boat; my crew, by direction of the steersman, offered up a prayer for our safe voyage down this rocky and rapid river; this ended, they pulled out into the stream, and we were soon floating with the current at a great speed. From information I had received, I did not expect to find much fine scenery for the first twenty-five or thirty versts; still, there were some parts very pretty; indeed, if this river were in England, every point of it would be sketched.

The valley for the first twenty versts is not wide; on one side the hills rise from the stream, but not abruptly; they are covered with a pine forest to their summit, but the trees are small. On the opposite bank there is meadow-land—at least such it appears, although no cattle graze there excepting near the villages, and these are very far apart. We traveled thirty and forty versts without seeing even a cottage. On this low land there are fine clumps of pine and birch trees, often so beautifully arranged that I fancied they had been planted with the greatest care; Nature alone, however, has been the landscape gardener. I was told there were many elks in these valleys, but saw none, nor did I make any attempt to get at them, it being impossible at this season to penetrate the forests, as the mountain streams are pouring down with great fury. Bears are also numerous, which I do not wonder at, for they are never disturbed, the inhabitants in these parts being few in number. There are many places containing thousands of acres, upon which it is probable man has never set his foot. In summer it would be impossible to penetrate these

gloomy forests, on account of the extensive morasses, which no one would dare to cross; and in winter, the certainty of being frozen to death in these wilds is a sufficient check upon any daring spirit.

In some places I passed masses of rock most curiously thrown up and broken, affording abundant proof that at some very remote period volcanic agency had been at work. In many parts the strata, which had once been horizontal, were now turned up, and curved into most extraordinary forms, and other substances forced

through them. I saw in the limestone rocks several apparently large caverns, but it was impossible to enter them in the then state of the flood. Had our boat touched the rocks, she would