. The boy travellers in the Russian empire: adventures of two youths in a journey in European and Asiatic Russia, with accounts of a tour across est practice were unfortunates from Poland, and so was the directorof the museum of the Geographical Society of Eastern Siberia. Some ofthe isvoshchiks were exiles. On one occasion an isvoshchik repeated the 21 322 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. conversation which I had with a friend in French, without any suspicion tliathe understood what we were saying. Hardly a day passed tiiat I didnot meet an unfortunate, and I was told that
. The boy travellers in the Russian empire: adventures of two youths in a journey in European and Asiatic Russia, with accounts of a tour across est practice were unfortunates from Poland, and so was the directorof the museum of the Geographical Society of Eastern Siberia. Some ofthe isvoshchiks were exiles. On one occasion an isvoshchik repeated the 21 322 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. conversation which I had with a friend in French, without any suspicion tliathe understood what we were saying. Hardly a day passed tiiat I didnot meet an unfortunate, and I was told that much of the reiinementof society in the Siberian capital was due to the exiles. In talking withthem I was careful not to allude in any way to their condition, and if theyspoke of it, which was rarely the case, I always managed to turn the con-versation to some other subject. When on the road I met great numbers of exiles on their way east-ward. Five-sixths of them were in sleighs or wagons, as it has been foundcheaper to have them ride to their destinations than to walk. Those onfoot were accompanied by their guards, also on foot; there was a wagon. TAGILSK, CENTRE OF IRON-MINES OF SIBERIA. or sleigh in the rear for those who Avere ill or foot-sore, and there weretwo or more men on horseback to prevent desertions. Formerly all prison-ers were obliged to walk to their destinations. The journey from St. Peters-burg to Nertchinsk required two years, as it covered a distance of nearlyfive thousand miles. Do they sleep in the open air when on the road, or are they lodged inhouses ? inquired Fred. There are houses every ten or fifteen miles, usually just outside the CONVOYS ON THE EOAD. 323 villages, was the reply. In these houses the prisoners are lodged. Theplaces are anything but inviting, as the space is not large. No attempt ismade to keep it clean, and the ventilation is atrocious. In winter it is ashelter from the cold, but in summer the prisoners greatly prefer to sleepout-o
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