CHAPTER XXXVII.

Serfdom and exile--Peter I. and Alexander II.--Example of Siberia to
old Russia--Prisoners in the mines--A revolt--The trial of the
insurgents--Sentence and execution--A remarkable escape--Piotrowski's
narrative--Free after four years

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Preparing to leave Irkutsk--Change from wheels to runners--Buying a
suit of fur--Negotiations for a sleigh--A great many
drinks--Peculiarities of Russian merchants--Similarities of Russians
and Chinese--Several kinds of sleighs--A Siberian saint--A farewell
dinner--Packing a sleigh--A companion with heavy baggage--Farewell
courtesies--Several parting drinks--Traveling through a frost
cloud--Effect of fog in a cold night--A monotonous snow scape--Meals
at the stations--A jolly party--An honest population--Diplomacy with
the drivers

CHAPTER XXXIX.

A Siberian beverage--The wine of the country--An unhappy pig--Tea
caravans for Moscow--Intelligence of a horse--Champagne
frappé--Meeting the post--How the mail is carried--A lively shaking
up--Board of survey on a dead horse--Sleeping rooms in peasant
houses--Kansk--A road with no snow--Putting our sleighs on wheels--A
deceived Englishman--Crossing the Yenesei--Krasnoyarsk--Washing
clothes in winter--A Siberian banking house--The telegraph system--No
dead-heads--Fish from the Yenesei--A Siberian Neptune--Going on a wolf
hunt--How a hunt is managed--An exciting chase and a narrow escape