. Siberia and the exile system. the highest degreecreditable to its warden, Mr. Sipiagin, and not discreditableto the Russian prison administration. It gives me greatpleasure to say this, because I did not find much to approvein Siberian prisons generally, and I am glad to have an op-portunity to praise where praise is deserved. Monday morning, after having thanked Mr. Sipiagin andhis bright, intelligent wife for their courtesy and hospital-ity, we bade them good-by and resumed our journey. Theroad, which lay along the edge of the river, under the high,abrupt hills that bound the Angara on the
. Siberia and the exile system. the highest degreecreditable to its warden, Mr. Sipiagin, and not discreditableto the Russian prison administration. It gives me greatpleasure to say this, because I did not find much to approvein Siberian prisons generally, and I am glad to have an op-portunity to praise where praise is deserved. Monday morning, after having thanked Mr. Sipiagin andhis bright, intelligent wife for their courtesy and hospital-ity, we bade them good-by and resumed our journey. Theroad, which lay along the edge of the river, under the high,abrupt hills that bound the Angara on the east, had beenoverflowed by the backing up of the water due to the for-mation of the ice gorge, and it was with the greatest diflfi- ADVENTURES IN EASTERN SIBERIA 351 culty that we could make our way at all over the hugecakes of ice with which it was bestrewn, or along the steephillside above it. The slope of the bank finally became sosteep that our horses could no longer stand upon it, and HS woaa B o oz BB ► O w ■■3=-. ■A we were forced to drive out upon the thin, treacherous iceof the half-frozen river. While we were going at a brisktrot just beyond the village of Olon, the ice suddenly gaveway under us, and, with a great crash, horses, sleigh, and allwent through into the deep, swift current of the river. For-tunately, the widely extended outriggers of our sleigh pre- 352 SIBERIA vented it from sinking at once, and by the exercise ofagility and good judgment we all succeeded in getting outof it and seeming a foothold on the solid ice. We cut ourhorses free from their harness, dragged them out one byone, hauled out our sledge with fresh horses, and returnedto Olon to repair damages. After consultation with thevillagers we decided that it would not be prudent to con-tinue our journey down the river in that way. Night wascoming on, the river road was impassable, and if we shouldbreak through the ice again, in the darkness and awayfrom help, the consequences might be m
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectsiberiarussiadescrip
