Siberia and the exile system . spoiled the road and rendered it in places almost im-passable. The jolting of our heavy tdrantds through deepruts and over occasional stretches of imperfect corduroy gaveus \iolent headaches and prevented us from getting anyrestful sleep; warm, nourishing food was rarely to be ob-tained at the post-stations; we had not yet provided our-selves with winter clothing, and suffered more or less everynight from cold; and finally, we were tormented constantlyby predatory insects from the roadside prisons and single hardship connected with our investigation of


Siberia and the exile system . spoiled the road and rendered it in places almost im-passable. The jolting of our heavy tdrantds through deepruts and over occasional stretches of imperfect corduroy gaveus \iolent headaches and prevented us from getting anyrestful sleep; warm, nourishing food was rarely to be ob-tained at the post-stations; we had not yet provided our-selves with winter clothing, and suffered more or less everynight from cold; and finally, we were tormented constantlyby predatory insects from the roadside prisons and single hardship connected with our investigation of theexile system was more trying to me than the utter impos-sibility of escaping from parasitic vermin. Cold, hunger,sleeplessness, and fatigue I could bear with reasonable THE GREAT SIBERIAN ROAD 365 patience and fortitude; but to be forced to live for weeksat a time in clothing infested with fleas, lice, or bedbugsfrom the unclean bodies of common criminal convicts notonly seemed to me intolerable in itself, but gave me a hu-. it ;^M THE DEPARTURE OF THE MAIL. miliating sense of physical defilement that was almost asbad as a consciousness of moral degradation. We tried inevery possible way to rid ourselves of these parasitic prisoninsects, but without success. The older and more neglectedStapes along the road were swarming with vermin of allsorts, and whenever we examined one of these places wecame away from it with a small but varied entomologicalcollection in our clothing. The insects soon secured lodg- :U>G SIBEKIA lueiit in our blankets and pillows as well as in the crevicesiiud lining of onr tdnmtds, and then it was impossible eitherto exterminate or to escape them. After throwing away suc-cessively two or three suits of underclothing, I abandoned allliope of relief and reconciled myself to the inevitable as bestI could. There were insects on my body or in my clothingduring the greater part of four months, and when I wasable to undress for the first time after our nine


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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectsiberiarussiadescrip