ening fumes of charcoal; but I have seen them eat horribly putrid meat, not from hunger or necessity, but merely because they liked it better. VOL. II. CHAPTER X. Walk on a frosty day-Mode of preserving meat-Improvidence of the Ostiaks-Distressing case of a starving family-Cockroaches-Message from the Kirghies Khan-Going to communion-Easter reflections and visits-Cause of blindness among the Ostiaks-Meteorologic phenomena-Appearance of a crow-Snow-birds-The 3rd of May. IN March, though the weather was frosty, we had some beautiful days. The sunbeams encircling the blue vault of the sky in its huge bow, and brilliantly reflected from the crystallized surface of the snow, presented to the eye a circle radiating with myriads of brilliants profusely spread over a white sheet, extending far beyond the reach of the eye. The air was : quite still and intensely cold; but I ventured out for a walk. And delightful it was to inhale with free lungs the pure air of this desert. What a solemn, majestic stillness was around: I was all alone amid this solitude. My thoughts fled upward, they soared through infinite space there was nothing to stop them in their flight. I felt that thought alone was mistress of this immense wilderness, and on its unfolded wings, and shooting through immeasurable space, it roamed on the one hand to Behring's Straits, and on the other took rest on the rugged summits of the Uralian mountains. Nothing could stay its progress through all these desolate regions. All nature seemed in accord with the spirit of solitude, and, as though in reverence of him, preserved a profound silence. Not a breath of wind stirred; not a single bough moved; no living being rustled through the thickets of the immense forests; no bird disturbed, with its wings, the serenity of the clear air, There was something solemn-a charm indescribable—in this total and profound stillness. Gladly would I have spent whole days in the midst of it; continue my solitary walk and never return to my exile home. Home! how feebly does it represent that sacred place! how void of all its endearing associations! While my thoughts were thus busy, the frost attacked my limbs and compelled me to think of my physical wants. I felt that neither my European clothes nor my boots, were sufficient to protect me any longer from the piercing cold of Berezov. One must needs be a native of this inclement wilderness, reared and brought up amidst its snows-must, in fact, become an Ostiak or a bear, or at least adopt their peculiar habits and manners, to be able to face the rigours of its climate. Not wishing to be frozen to death, I bent my steps homeward, though not without regret, as I scarcely could expect to find such another opportunity for a solitary walk at a distance from town. The depth of snow is usually so great, that a pedestrian cannot diverge even one step from the highway without danger, and thus one is obliged to follow the only beaten track existing, which runs from Berezov to Tobolsk. There you encounter people of the strangest aspect; groups of Ostiaks, clad in reindeer-skins or Siberian Russians, with axes at their girdles, baskets in their hands, and fishing-nets on their shoulders, all moving about with the greatest caution and in the most perfect silence. The extraordinary silence and complete lethargy which prevail at this season is easily accounted for, as all the feathered tribes, unable to bear the extreme cold, take flight, at the approach of winter, to southern climes; and all the animals that remain, clad so as to brave any degree of frost, shun the vicinity of man, and seek refuge in the impenetrable recesses of the forest, where they cannot easily be tracked. Thus the country wears the appearance of a desert. The animals found in the forests adjacent to Berezov, are the elk, the bear, the reindeer, foxes, squirrels, martins, ermines and white hares. The latter are so little esteemed that they are not considered worth chasing. The Russians, from prejudice, do not eat them; and hare-skins are so cheap as scarcely to repay the transport to Tobolsk, where they are tanned, and brought to market. Hence, if a hare be |