. 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 A WONDERFUL RIDE. 357 I will give it as neftrly as I can remember in the words of my informant,a gentleman who filled the position of Superintendent of Public Instruc-tion in Eastern Siberia: The lake does not freeze over until quite late in the autumn,and when it does the whole surface is congealed in a single night. Ina few days the ice is from three to six feet thick, and perfectly trans-. A NATURAL ARCH ON LAKE BAIKAL. parent. The first
. 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 A WONDERFUL RIDE. 357 I will give it as neftrly as I can remember in the words of my informant,a gentleman who filled the position of Superintendent of Public Instruc-tion in Eastern Siberia: The lake does not freeze over until quite late in the autumn,and when it does the whole surface is congealed in a single night. Ina few days the ice is from three to six feet thick, and perfectly trans-. A NATURAL ARCH ON LAKE BAIKAL. parent. The first time I crossed it was from the western to the easternshore. The former is mountainous, while the latter is low and fiat. Aswe began our ride the land on the other side was quite invisible, andit seemed to me very much like setting out in a sleigh for a voyagefrom Queenstown to New York. When I leaned over and looked down-ward, it was like gazing into the depths of the ocean. It was not untilI alighted and stood o^ the firm ice that I could dispel the illusion thatwe were gliding over the unfrozen surface of the lake, as the nativesbelieve its guardian spirit walks upon the waters without sinking beneaththem. 358 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. At night every star was reflected as in a mirror, and I saw the heav-ens above me, beneatli me, and all around. As the rising moon lighted upthe faint horizon of ice and sky, I could half believe I had left the world
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