After wild sheep in the Altai and Mongolia; . \Ian\- rocks bear witness to his journey, with in-scriptions in places where he had camped. A fewvillages are scattered about the country, most of themhaving sprung up owing to mines or gold washingsin the neighbourhood. At their outskirts usuallystands a shed where the peasants, each in turn, placebread and kvas, a Russian beverage made ofbarley. A wooden board above the shed bears thesestrange words : For the miserable. This is an oldcustom of the country. Russian convicts, who con-trive to escape from the Eastern Siberian galleys,cross
After wild sheep in the Altai and Mongolia; . \Ian\- rocks bear witness to his journey, with in-scriptions in places where he had camped. A fewvillages are scattered about the country, most of themhaving sprung up owing to mines or gold washingsin the neighbourhood. At their outskirts usuallystands a shed where the peasants, each in turn, placebread and kvas, a Russian beverage made ofbarley. A wooden board above the shed bears thesestrange words : For the miserable. This is an oldcustom of the country. Russian convicts, who con-trive to escape from the Eastern Siberian galleys,cross the Ural range on their way back to short of food, and in order to obtain it, theyused to raid the villages by night, and bloodshedwould often ensue. In order to put an end to thisstate of things, the inhabitants decided to providethese outlaws with food in the way I have described,and thus prevent the frequent murders that tookplace. The mining people are sometimes very savageand cruel ; in one case a girl was slowly burnt to. THREE DAYS AT TAGUIL 19 death for non-compliance with the wishes of her torturers. Other instances of this kind might be given, but it would carry me too far from my subject. On the day we arrived at Taguil (the Littledales, my wife, and myself), we visited the iron-works, and having heard that there was some fair woodcock shooting to be obtained in the vicinity of the town, we decided (Littledale and I) to go out that evening with our guns. Spring woodcock-shooting is a favourite sport in Russia. It is known under the name of Tiaga, which signifies a marked place where woodcock fly towards evening in search of their mates, skimming the tops of trees and uttering a hissing cry, which is heard from afar. They usually skim in circles round the place, and the guns are posted in the centre of the line of flight. I have heard of a dozen birds having been bagged in this way between 7 and We travelled in a luggage van for about ten miles
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1900
