Siberia and the exile system . where the soft green carpetof turf was sprinkled with violets, pansies, and forget-me-nots ; and every verst or two a clear rushing stream cametumbling down across the trail from a melting snow-fieldin some deep shaded glen high up among the hills. Early in the afternoon we reached a small Cossack villagecalled Arul, about thirty versts from Jingistai, and wentto the house of the ataman to present our order for freshhorses. The atammis son, a good-looking young fellow oftwenty-two or three, soon made his appearance in full uni-form, and said that his father, for
Siberia and the exile system . where the soft green carpetof turf was sprinkled with violets, pansies, and forget-me-nots ; and every verst or two a clear rushing stream cametumbling down across the trail from a melting snow-fieldin some deep shaded glen high up among the hills. Early in the afternoon we reached a small Cossack villagecalled Arul, about thirty versts from Jingistai, and wentto the house of the ataman to present our order for freshhorses. The atammis son, a good-looking young fellow oftwenty-two or three, soon made his appearance in full uni-form, and said that his father, for whom we had inquired,was making hay on the mountain-side about twelve verstsaway, but that he would send for him if it was shipkanuzhni [awful necessary]. We replied that we must have BRIDLE PATHS OF THE ALTAI 207 horses to continue our journey, and that if we could notget them without an order from the ataman., the atamanmust be summoned. The young man, thereupon, saddleda horse and galloped away down the valley. While wait-. ing for his return we refreshed ourselves with bread andtea, and Mr, Frost made the sketch of the village that isreproduced on this page. The ataman arrived in about anhour and a half. He proved to be an officer of intelligenceand energy, and procured the necessary horses and a guidefor us at once. The distance from Arul to the Cossack 20S SIBERIA villaj^c of Berel, where we expected to leave the valley oftlio HiikhtarinA, was only about twenty rersts^ and the roadlay, as before, along the river. The foothills that boundedit were higher and steeper than in the part of the valleythrough whieh we had passed, and here and there, alongtheir bases, were enormous masses of loose rocks and boul-ders which looked as if they might have been brought downinto the valley by tremendous avalanches or half-past four oclock we crossed, on rude corduroybridges, two or three turbid, milky arms of the BukhtarmaRiver, and rode into the little hamlet of Berel
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectsiberiarussiadescrip
