File:Siberia and the exile system (1891) (14780502864).jpg

Identifier: siberiaexilesyst01kenn (find matches)
Title: Siberia and the exile system
Year: 1891 (1890s)
Authors: Kennan, George, 1845-1924
Subjects: Siberia (Russia) -- Description and travel Siberia (Russia) -- Exiles
Publisher: New York : Century Co.
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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ort distance below in small vats or tanks in the spring-house, so that sufferers from rheumatism or cutaneous diseasemight be able to soak themselves in it under shelter. Itwas remarkably clear and bright in appearance, but had apeculiar soapy, slippery feeling, that suggested the presenceof soda or borax. According to the Russian chemist Haller,who has made an analysis of it, it very closely resemblesthe water of the famous springs at Carlsbad. Its tempera-ture in the tanks was 104° Fahrenheit. When we awoke Thursday morning rain was fallingheavily, and horseback travel in such a country was evi-dently out of the question. The storm continued, with an 1 Mr. Yddrintsoff is the editor of the Eastern Review in Irkutsk and a well-known author, explorer, and anthropologist. 216 SIBERIA occasional brief intermission, for two days; but on themorning i>f the tliird the weather finally cleared up and,^vithoutwaiting for the mountain slopes to become dry, wesaddled onr liorses and went on.
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The last sixty versts of our journey were made with greatdifficulty and much peril, our route lying across tremend-ous mountain ridges and deep valleys with almost precipi-tous sides, into which we descended by following the course BEIDLE PATHS OF THE ALTAI 217 of foaming moiiutaiu torrents, or clambering down themoraines of extinct glaciers, over great heaj)ed-up massesof loose, broken rocks, through swamps, tangled jungles oflaurel bushes and fallen trees, and down slopes so steepthat it was almost impossible to throw ones body far enoughback to keep ones balance in the saddle. Half the timeour horses were sliding on all four feet, and dislodgingstones which rolled or bounded for half a mile downward,until they were dashed to pieces over tremendous preci-pices. I was not wholly inexperienced in mountain travel,having ridden on horseback the whole length of the moun-tainous peninsula of Kamchatka, and crossed three times thegreat range of the Caucasus, once at a height of twelvethous

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