CHAPTER XL.

Beggars at Krasnoyarsk--A wealthy city--Gold mining on the
Yenesei--Its extent and the value of the mines--How the mining is
conducted--Explorations, surveys, and the preparation of the
ground--Wages and treatment of laborers--Machines for gold
washing--Regulations to prevent thefts--Mining in frozen
earth--Antiquity of the mines--The native population--An Eastern
legend--The adventures of "Swan's Wing"--Visit to lower regions--Moral
of the story

CHAPTER XLI.

A philosophic companion--Traveling with the remains of a
mammoth--Talking against time--Sleighs on wheels--The advantages of
"cheek"--A moonlight transfer--Keeping the feast days--Getting drunk
as a religious duty--A slight smash up--A cold night--An abominable
road--Hunting a mammoth--Journey to the Arctic Circle--Natives on the
coast--A mammoth's hide and hair--Ivory hunting in the frozen North--A
perilous adventure--Cast away in the Arctic ocean--Fight with a polar
bear--A dangerous situation--Frozen to the ice--Reaching the shore

CHAPTER XLII.

A runaway horse--Discussion with a driver--A modest breakfast--A
convoy of exiles--Hotels for the exiles--Charity to the
unfortunate--Their rate of travel--An encounter at night--No whips in
the land of horses--Russian drivers and their horses--Niagara in
Siberia--Eggs by the dizaine--Caught in a storm--A beautiful