A LUNCH.-EARTHQUAKE.-YERNAK.

51

A strip of canvas sheltered the new-born infant, and protected alike the mother and her child from the inclemency of the season. It was he who subsequently, by superior genius and, indefatigable industry, left imperishable monuments of his greatness in the different works established by him in many parts of the Oural. While I was sketching this scene, my men were tapping the birch-trees and drawing off the sap. Having finished my labors, I sat down on a rock, and my steersman brought me a piece of black bread with a little salt, and a bottle of sap drawn from a tree near the cross-a sweeter morsel or a better draught I thought I had never tasted.

We continued our voyage, and in about an hour I stopped to sketch another fine scene—some isolated masses of rock standing in the bed of the river. This was the last of twenty-eight sketches I had made on the Tchoussowaia. While at work I observed that there were +18° R. in the shade at half past two o'clock—a wonderful change within the last few days. After descending the stream, now running through a thickly-wooded forest, we arrived at Cynowskoi Zavod, iron-works belonging to Count Strogonoff. Here I found excellent quarters in the house of a gentleman who spoke German, with whom I spent a most agreeable evening.

The earthquake which occurred on the 15th of April was felt severely at these works. A terrible growling sound, like subterranean thunder at a great depth under ground, was instantly followed by a violent motion of the earth, causing great alarm to every one. I was told that the horses trembled as it passed.

It was from this Zavod, and under the protection of the Strogonoffs, who then possessed nearly all this region, that Yermak the Cossack commenced his expedition for the conquest of Siberia. His battle-fields are on the other side of the Oural; but it was at this place, and in the caravans on the Tchoussowaia, that he found a safe retreat after his first defeats in Asia.

During the night the water in the Tchoussowaia had risen three feet, caused by the snow melting so rapidly yesterday, and apparently it will be still warmer to-day. I was induced to remain and visit the works in this Zavod. A great quantity of wire, both strong and fine, is drawn here, which produces a very good price in the fair at Novgorod on account of its superior quality. Bar iron is also made. After visiting the iron mines we returned to

52

A NEW WINE.-SNOW-STORM.-SEREBRIANSKOI.

the house of my host, and sat down to an excellent dinner, well cooked and well served. It would be impossible in England to give the different varieties of game placed on the table. We had also English porter, Scotch ale, and Champagne, with several sorts of Ouralian wine; of the last I tasted one kind for the first time made from cedar-nuts: it equaled the best Maraschino.

A great change had taken place in the weather: at four o'clock there were -5° R. with a strong wind; at five I left the Zavod, and away we went at a good speed down the river. It was exceedingly cold, with dark clouds rolling over the tops of the mountains; in less than half an hour we had a tremendous snow-storm,. which gave to every thing a winter clothing, and rendered my last day's voyage on the Tchoussowaia cold and unpleasant. After sitting nine hours in an open boat, the snow falling the whole time, we arrived at Oslanskoï at two o'clock in the morning. Such are the changes of temperature in this region, and I am told this will not be the last of the winter.

The river has a most tortuous course, winding about among the mountains in a very singular manner. It has happened to me more than once that, after descending it sixty or seventy versts, I have found, on inquiry, that the place I started from in the morning was not more than sixteen or twenty versts distant across the mountains. Having finished my voyage on the Tchoussowaia, my men were obliged to return home. I parted with them on excellent terms; a few rubles had rendered them happy, and kissing my hand, they all declared they would go any where with me. At three o'clock I left Oslanskoï in a carriage; the road, passing through a thick forest, was bad, owing to the fall of snow, which lay deep on the ground. At five I found myself comfortably lodged in new quarters at the house of the director of the ironworks in Serebrianskoï, a Zavod belonging to the crown on the small river Serebrianka.

PICTURESQUE SCENERY.-A SOUVENIR.

53

CHAPTER IV.

ASCENT OF THE KATCHKANAR.

A LARGE lake has been made at great expense by a very high embankment across this little valley, by which water-power is obtained for the iron-works. About fifteen versts below Serebrianskoi the river runs through a deep, narrow, and winding ravine, containing some very picturesque scenery, which furnished me with several subjects for my pencil. Both the Tchoussowaia and Serebrianka also afford many highly interesting studies to the geologist, by the numerous sections of strata exposed in these rugged defiles, the characteristics of which are well described by Sir R. I. Murchison.*

I shall now bid farewell to the Tchoussowaia and to Europe, and cross the Oural into Asia, where my wanderings will be far and wide. Still, I carry along with me many pleasing recollections of this region, and the kind people I found there. I have a remembrance also of a different sort, occasioned by a cut on my knee from a fall among the rocks of this wild river, which it seems likely I shall retain through life.

During my stay in Serebrianskoï, the director, who was a great

* See his valuable work, "The Geology of the Oural." He speaks also of their picturesque beauties in terms of high praise at page 125: "No description of the geologist, still less a mere sectional drawing, can convey an adequate idea of the contortions and pictorial beauty of these wild gorges. The flexures on the Meuse may, in some respects, be compared with them, but the channel of the Tchoussowaia being narrower, the rocks more rugged, and diversified with foliage, and the defiles highly intricate, the Russian scene appeared to us more striking than that in Belgium." Again at page 388: "A more picturesque river gorge was certainly never examined by geologists. Between the hamlet of Kinish and Ust-Koiva we passed through scenes even surpassing in beauty those higher up the stream, and to which it would require the pencil of a professed artist to do justice. The river runs in a limestone gorge, in which are cliffs of every variety of form, occasionally exposing large caverns along their vertical faces, with trees and flowers grouped about in the clefts-rocks varying in color from black to white."

54

REPCHICK SHOOTING.-DESCENT INTO ASIA.

sportsman, wished to give me a day's repchick (tree-partridge) shooting. It was arranged that we should start early in the morning, as a few hours before ten o'clock, and in the evening after four, are the best times to find this game. We were both armed with pea-rifles, with which they are usually shot when sitting on the branches. Each sportsman is provided with a quill, formed into a whistle, and with this he imitates so well the call of the birds that they instantly respond. By this means they are easily found in the thick forest, and fly from tree to tree, always approaching their supposed mate, when they shortly find their way into the gamebag. A good woodsman was appointed to attend me, who imitated them with so much success that we soon had numbers on the trees around us, affording me plenty of sport. He was also my instructor in the use of the whistle, which I learned, and before the day's shooting was over had employed successfully. In after times this accomplishment enabled me to obtain many a meal I could not otherwise have procured. When I met the director at the appointed place for dinner, I had ten brace and a half, and he turned out sixteen brace of repchicks and a black cock. He considered that mine was good sport, but his own was usually bet

ter.

When I left Serebrianskoï, the director and several other friends accompanied me a few versts on the road to a place in the forest where tea and other good things had been provided, that we might take our leave in the true Siberian fashion. The eating and drinking being over, we shook hands and parted. I then continued my journey toward the crest of the Oural. The country across this part of the chain has no striking features: there are no rugged mountain summits to break the monotony of the well-rounded hills covered with pine and larch. Some of the valleys are cultivated, and the new-grown rye was now looking fresh and green. I found many flowers I had not seen before, which I added to my collection. At three o'clock I stood on the summit of the chain: it does not rise to a great elevation, and no very extensive views are seen from this portion of the road; but the whole of these rounded summits are clothed with a luxuriant growth of pines of different varieties. The descent into Asia is somewhat more abrupt than would be the descent to the European side. The country between Serebrianskoï and Barantchinsk is exceedingly plain and uninter

esting, but on approaching to within ten or fifteen versts of Kooshwinsk the scenery improves.

During the latter part of this journey I was suffering much from my knee; I also began to feel the effects of a violent cold, caught during the storm on the Tchoussowaia, and was apprehensive that I should be laid up with a fever. On entering the director's room after my arrival at the Zavod, noticing my indisposition, he immediately ordered tea; his next step was to send for a physician. In the course of half an hour the latter arrived, and, seeing the condition I was in, directed that I should at once go to bed, while a Russian bath should at once be prepared for me. This was commencing business in earnest. In due time the bath was got ready, to which I was carried by two sturdy Cossacks. Having laid aside my last clothing, the body-guard placed me on the top shelf of the bath-room, within an inch of the furnace, if I may so call it, and there steamed me till I thought my individuality well-nigh gone. After about forty minutes of drubbing and flogging with a bundle of birch twigs, leaf and all, till I had attained the true color of a well-done crawfish, I was taken out, and treated to a pail of cold water, dashed over me from head to foot, that fairly electrified me. I found myself quite exhausted and helpless, in which condition I was carried back to bed. I had scarcely lain down ten minutes when a Cossack entered with a bottle of physic of some kind or other, large enough apparently to supply a regiment. The doctor followed instead of preceding the apothecary, and instantly gave me a dose. Seeing that I survived the experiment, he ordered the man in attendance to repeat it every two hours during the night. Thanks to the Russian bath, and possibly the quantity of medicine I had to swallow, the fever was forced, after a struggle of eight days, to beat a retreat.

At the expiration of this time a returning desire for green fields and mountain scenery convinced me that I might safely resume my journey, which I was soon enabled to do.

The director of the iron-works at Nijne Toura arrived in Kooshwinsk. This morning we dined at the same table, and on my name being mentioned, he addressed me: "I have received instructions to aid you in visiting the Katchkanar. If you will take a place in my carriage to-night to Nijne Toura, I will then make arrangements for you to ascend the mountain, which is about 120