from the steppe-not to speak of the commonest foxes as bialodushki,* a name derived from their colour. This is a yellowish-white, intermixed in some parts with spots of black hair. Even these obtain a higher price than those of the steppe. The latter are commonly browner; but their hair is dry and rough and liable to be soon rubbed off, whereas the fur of the more northern region is distinguished by a dense soft hair, and usually is much more durable.

The fur trade extends to the skins of a species of ducks, called gogarki; which are most beautiful in appearance, and much in demand. Their colour is a dark violet, and the skin is very strong and elastic. They are used for little caps, and for outside coverings of fur shubas. A quantity of feathers and swan skins are also exported from this place.

Though Berezov is admitted to be the seat of trade for the most valuable and most costly skins, yet, strange to say, it is very difficult to procure in the town any fur garment ready for There are, in fact, no proper furriers or

use.

* Bialodushki, literally, means "white souls."

tanners here. All the hides and skins are sent either to Irbit or Nijni Novogorod, where they are sold by fur dealers in their raw state, and undergo the process of tanning and dressing by others, and not till then do they find their way back in a finished condition to Berezov. Thus fur garments of the choicest quality are obtained in these towns at a much more reasonable price than at the original market.

The whole of the furs sold at Obdorsk as yasak, are in the first instance brought to the Custom-house at Berezov, and afterwards transported to the Government stores at Tobolsk. Here the skins of inferior quality are sold, and the more valuable portion sent to St. Petersburg. The last frequently includes most exquisite specimens.

The severe frost of the winter did not keep me indoors. Even when the mercury had frozen, and the alcohol, or spirit thermometer, was at 50° Reamur, I went out to try what effect it would produce upon me, and particularly on my skin and lungs. Much to my surprise, I did not experience any unpleasant sensation. observed, however, that my breath was imme

I

diately transformed into a visible thick column of condensed vapour; and in all probability that very column surrounding me in a great degree screened my lungs from coming into immediate contact with the external air. The saliva, before it reached the ground, was congealed in the air. Owing, perhaps, to the quantity of clothing which I put on, the frost could not much affect my skin, and the little portion of my face that I had left uncovered could hardly be made the subject of an experiment.

4

At the approach of winter, all the birds, unable to sustain the severity of frost, leave Berezov in flocks, with the single exception of the magpie, which, while keeping close to the precincts of the town, remains in undisputed possession of the aerial regions. There are no animals in the forests but those covered with thick warm fur, which is impervious to cold, and which Nature, in bountiful regard to their condition, has made denser and richer than that of any animals of their kind inhabiting more southern regions:

Despite the intensity of the cold, our land

lord sent out his servants to the river-side to fetch some hay. Two of the servants returned with frost-bitten faces. Brandy was applied to the frozen parts, and the application repeated until the smarting pain diminished. The parts continued for some time red, as if they had been subjected to blisters.

CHAPTER IX.

Matrimonial alliance-Twelfth Night, or the Maslanca féte-Regulations restricting the sale of spirits-Visit from an exiled Tartar Khan-His dress and ordersCeremony in Lent, and its effects-Remarks on duelling-Lenten diet-Its effects on health-Assimilation of Russian settlers to the Ostiaks.

DR. WAKULINSKI, whose arrival I have already noticed, had not been long at Berezov, when an attachment sprang up between him and my friend Josephine. She received his declaration, and the feeling being reciprocal, their marriage only waited the consent of the Emperor.

* Persons banished to Siberia, whatever their previous rank, become serfs of the crown, the property of the Czar, and cannot even marry, as in the instance here mentioned, without his consent.