. Side-lights on Siberia; some account of the great Siberian railroad, the prisons and exile system; . ntinued calls, the ferry-boat put off; butinasmuch as it was nothing more than a simple rowing-boat,the same precautions were necessary as before, and we wentover in detachments. About that time also the pleasingsound of tinkling bells broke on us from the rear, and soonthe men came up with the kolyasha, which, after beingrelieved of the weight of its four occupants, had been dis-lodged with the help of seven horses. Four versts still 102 TRAVEL IN SIBERIA. separated us from the post-station,
. Side-lights on Siberia; some account of the great Siberian railroad, the prisons and exile system; . ntinued calls, the ferry-boat put off; butinasmuch as it was nothing more than a simple rowing-boat,the same precautions were necessary as before, and we wentover in detachments. About that time also the pleasingsound of tinkling bells broke on us from the rear, and soonthe men came up with the kolyasha, which, after beingrelieved of the weight of its four occupants, had been dis-lodged with the help of seven horses. Four versts still 102 TRAVEL IN SIBERIA. separated us from the post-station, into the court of whichwe drove at 3 cokl and wet, and after an hours haltwere again en route for Nertchinsk. There is nothingunusual in these incidents; they may be the lot of any onewho sets out on this trans-Siberian drive. The only pityis that the advancing railway lessens more and more thechance of such entertainment. Several methods of ferrying the rivers are still in these mention has already been made of the horse-drivenand the oar-propelled boat. The most common type is the. Pendulum ferry-boat 07i the Nertcha. pendulum or swing ferry-boat, which takes advantage ofthe current in performing its passage. Again the requiredsize of platform is only gained by lashing two hulks rope, attached to the stern, is then led over the cross-bars that join each of a couple of pairs of upright poles,two of which are set up towards the bow and two nearthe stern, and thence carried over a series of free-swingingboats to the last of the line, which is anchored in helm is put down and the current does the rest. Someof the smaller streams were spanned by a cable, along which, A KIVER VOYAGE. 103 by the help of a wheel, the ferry-boat was worked by manuallabour. It is, however, when one traverses these rivers in theirlength that the experience tends to become has immense waterways at its command, but per-haps in no other country are
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectsiberia, bookyear1898
