Siberia and the exile system . ery now and then asilvery fish ; Mrs. Maiefski was superintending the prepara-tions for dinner, while Mr. Zavalishin and I, having neitherduty nor speciality, strolled aimlessly about the neighbor-hood, picking flowers, watching the Kirghis, and enjoyingthe picturesque effect of the dark-red tent against thebackgiound of green trees, the blue curling smoke of thecamp-fires and the pale malachite coloring of the glacier-tinted stream. After an excellently cooked and well-served dinner ofsoup, freshly caught fish, roast lamb, boiled mutton, coldchicken, pilau of ri
Siberia and the exile system . ery now and then asilvery fish ; Mrs. Maiefski was superintending the prepara-tions for dinner, while Mr. Zavalishin and I, having neitherduty nor speciality, strolled aimlessly about the neighbor-hood, picking flowers, watching the Kirghis, and enjoyingthe picturesque effect of the dark-red tent against thebackgiound of green trees, the blue curling smoke of thecamp-fires and the pale malachite coloring of the glacier-tinted stream. After an excellently cooked and well-served dinner ofsoup, freshly caught fish, roast lamb, boiled mutton, coldchicken, pilau of rice with raisins, strawberries and confec-tionery, we spent a long and delightful afternoon in bot-anizing, fishing, rifle-shooting, catching butterflies, telling BRIDLE PATHS OF THE ALTAI 205 riddles and singiiig songs. It was, I think, the most pleasantand successful picnic that I ever had the good fortune toenjoy, and when, late in the afternoon, Mr. Frost and I badethe party good-by, I am sure we both secretly wished that W. we could stay there in camp for a week instead of going tothe Katunski Alps. We spent that night at the little Cossack picket of Jingis-tai, which consisted of two newly built log houses situatedin the shallow, flower-carpeted valley of the Bukhtarma, ;tl(; SIBERIA altout tliirty rersfs from the Altai Station. The Cossackfamily that coiistitntod tlie picket occupied only one ofthe houses, and we therefore bivouacked in the other. Oarsleeping apartment contained no furniture of any kind, itswindows were mere rectangular openings in the wall with-out sashes or glass, and we were forced to make our bedson tlu^ rough-hewn planks of the floor; but the room wastillrd with the faint, clean fragrance of pine shavings andspruce boards, the air that came in through the sashlesswindows was fresh from the flowery slopes of the hills, andwe slept as soundly and awoke as much refreshed as if wehad lain on couches of rose petals in the palace of the Tsar. Tuesday,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectsiberiarussiadescrip
