where it was at the same time so hot by day. All the way from Barnaoul, and particularly in its neighborhood, were perceived the ruinous effects of the violent winds, that frequently produce great devastation in those parts of Siberia. Forest trees and fields of grain were indiscriminately blown down and destroyed. The hospitality of the inhabitants, however, was unabated. They could rarely be prevailed upon to take anything for provisions or accommodation. On one occasion, for as much barley soup, onions, quass, bread, and milk, as made a hearty meal for the traveller and his corporal, the good woman, who furnished them, consented to receive one kopeek, and nothing more.†

*

They were detained two or three days at Tomsk, waiting for a mail, that was coming by another route from Tobolsk; but the Commandant was affable and generous, and did not allow the time to pass heavily. He was somewhat of a singularity, being a Frenchman, born in Paris, now seventy-three years old,

* The German translator of this work defines quass to be a beverage prepared from rye bread, or fermented rye meal.

†The value of the kopeek varies at different times. Ledyard states it to have been about one tenth of an English penny, when he was in Siberia. In Dr. Clarke's Travels it is put down as equal to an English halfpenny.

having resided twenty-five years in Siberia, and more than thirty in Russia. He spoke his native language imperfectly, and wrote it still worse. His favorite topic was the dignity of his birth, and the high rank of his family. But Ledyard wished to know more about Siberia at that moment, than of the genealogy or rank of the families in France, and he ventured to ask the old man if the town, or its environs, afforded anything valuable or curious in natural history. His answer was, that there were thieves, rogues, liars, and villains of every description. The conversation was pushed no further in the way of philosophical inquiry, for it was evident the Frenchman's thoughts had run very little in that channel.

There was truth in his remark, although uttered somewhat out of place. Tomsk had long been the rendezvous of the worst class of exiles, who had been banished for their crimes, and could not be expected to exercise a very salutary influence on society, or to become pattern members of it themselves. Poverty and wretchedness, the accompaniments of vice, formed here some of the prominent objects in the foreground of the picture, and beggars daily thronged the streets, as in the most populous regions of the civilized world.

The charity and kind feelings of the better

sort of inhabitants, however, afforded a pleasing contrast to this debasement and suffering. Ledyard observes, that the family with whom he lodged, were accustomed every morning to lay aside in the window ten or twelve farthing pieces for the charitable purposes of the day. Considering the extraordinary cheapness of food, this would afford relief to many persons. The beggars began their rounds at an early hour, and went regularly from house to house, and were very rarely sent away without something. Those who did not give money gave bread. Some of the beggars were in irons. The people asked no questions, but appeared to give cheerfully and without grudging. The demand was uniformly made pour l'amour de Dieu, "for which," says the journalist, "one may have more in this country, than in any other I have seen."

In ten days from the time of leaving Tomsk, the traveller and his corporal were safely arrived in Irkutsk, over a road of which he speaks in no terms of commendation. The River Yenissey was crossed at the town of Krasnojarsk, where the Commandant pressed him to stop long enough to dine, and celebrated the event of a stranger's arrival, with such free potations as to become intoxicated. From Tomsk to Yenissey the country exhib

ited rather an agreeable aspect, and marks of cultivation. Ledyard observes that, in this region, he "first finds the real craggy, peaked hill, or mountain," and from Krasnojarsk to Irkutsk was the first stony road which he had passed over in the Russian dominions. The streets of Tobolsk, and some of the other towns on his route, were paved with wood.

"Passing on east from the Yenissey to Irkutsk, the country is thinly peopled. A very few, and those miserable houses are to be seen on the road, and none at all at a distance from it. The country is hilly, rough, mountainous, and covered with thick forests. The rivers here, also, have all rocky beds, and are rapid in the degree of three to five miles an hour. The autumnal rains are begun, and they have set in severely. I am now in Irkutsk, and have stayed in my quarters all day to take a little rest, after a very fatiguing journey, rendered so by sundry very disagreeable circumstances; going with the courier, and driving with wild Tartar horses, at a most rapid rate, over a wild and ragged country; breaking and upsetting kibitkas; beswarmed with mosquitoes; all the way hard rains; and when I arrived at Irkutsk I was, and had been for the last forty-eight hours, wet through and through, and covered with one complete mass of mud."

CHAPTER IX.

Residence at Irkutsk. - Account of the Tartars.

- Fur Trade on the American Coast. Lake Baikal. - Leaves Irkutsk for the River Lena. -Scenery around the Baikal.—Estimate of the Number of Rivers in Siberia. - Proceeds down the Lena in a Bateau. Hospitality of the Inhabitants. — Ends his Voyage at Yakutsk.

LEDYARD stayed in Irkutsk about ten days, and his observations and general reflections during that time may be best understood by extracts from his journal, as they were written on the spot. They are rather in the nature of hints and first thoughts, than of a regular narrative; but they will show his inquisitive turn of mind, and his eagerness for acquiring such knowledge as accorded with the general objects of his travels.

"August 16th. I have not been out this morning, but I shrewdly suspect by what I see from my poor talc window, that I shall even here find the fashionable follies, the ridiculous extravagance, and ruinous éclat of Petersburg. I have been out, and my suspicions were well founded. Dined with a brigadier, a colonel,