CHAPTER IV.

To Mrs Heber.

'My dear Mother,

Moscow, Jan. 4, 1806.

'Our journey has been prosperous, and after about ninety hours' continued jolting, we arrived safely at Moscow about eight o'clock last night. Mr Bayley* came with us, and we have found his knowledge of the Russian language and manners of great service to us on the road. Our method of travelling deserves describing, both as very comfortable in itself, and as being entirely different from everything in England. We performed the journey in kibitkas, the carriages usually employed by the Russians in their winter journeys; they are nothing more than a very large cradle, well covered with leather, and placed on a sledge, with a leather curtain in front; the luggage is packed at the bottom, the portmanteaus serving for an occasional seat, and the whole covered

*Sir Daniel Bayley, now, 1830, Consul-General of England in St Petersburg.

with a mattrass, on which one or more persons can lie at full length, or sit supported by pillows. In this attitude, and well wrapped up in furs, one can scarcely conceive a more luxurious mode of getting over a country, when the roads are good, and the weather not intense; but in twentyfour or twenty five degrees of frost, Reaumur, no wrapping can keep you quite warm; and in bad roads, of which we have had some little experience, the jolting is only equalled by the motion of a ship in a storm.

In the weather we were very fortunate, having a fine clear frost, about as mild as an English Christmas. Our first forty hours were spent in traversing an unfertile and unlovely country, the most flat and uninteresting I ever saw, with nothing but occasional patches of cultivation, and formal fir woods, without a single feature of art or nature which could attract attention. Once, indeed, from a little elevation, we saw the sun set to great advantage; it was singular to see it slowly sinking beneath the black and perfectly level horizon of the sea of land which surrounded us. The night which followed was distinguished by more jolting than usual; and about sunrise Thornton

drew the curtain, and cried out 'England.' I started up and found we were on the summit of a low range of stony hills, with an enclosed and populous country before us, and a large town, Valdai, which, with its neighborhood, had some little resemblance to Oxford, as seen from the Banbury road.

'The whole plain from Valdai to Moscow is very level, entirely arable, generally common fields with some shabby enclosures, thickly set with villages and small coppices, in which the firs begin to be relieved by birch, lime, ash and elm. Tver and Torshok are large towns, but have nothing in them to detain a traveller. During this journey I was struck by observing the very little depth of snow on the ground, which was not more, or so much as we often see in England, and no where prevented my distinguishing the meadows from the stubble

fields. Mr Bayley said he had often made the same observation, and that it was not peculiar to the present year. We had our guns with us, and often left the kibitka in pursuit of the large black grouse, of which we saw several,- a noble bird as large as a turkey. They were, however, so wild, we could not get a fair shot. We had

some hopes of killing a wolf, as one or two passed the road during the first part of our journey; but it was during the night, and before we were fairly roused and could get our guns ready, they were safe in the wood. In severe winters they are sometimes easily shot, as they keep close to the road side; and when very much famished will even attack the horses in a carriage; they are not considered dangerous to men except in self-defence. Of the people, we of course saw but little; though having so good an interpreter with us, we asked many questions and went into several of the cottages, which we found much cleaner than we expected, but so hot that we could not endure to remain in them long. A Russian cottage is always built of logs cemented with clay and moss, and is generally larger than an English one; it has two stories, one of which is half sunk and serves as a storehouse thirds of the upper story are taken up with the principal room, where they sit and sleep, and the remainder is divided between a closet where they cook their victuals, and an immense stove not unlike an oven which heats the whole building, and the top of which, for the chimney is only a small flue on the side, serves as a fa

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vorite sitting and sleeping place, though we could scarcely bear to lay our hands on it. In the corner of the great room always stands the bed of the master and mistress of the family, generally very neat and with curtains, sometimes of English cotton; the other branches of the family sleep on the stove or floor. In the post-houses, which differ in no respect from this description, we always found good coffee, tea and cream; nothing else can be expected, and we carried our other provisions with us.

The country people are all alike, dirty, good-humored fellows, in sheep skin gowns, with the wool inwards. The drivers crossed themselves devoutly before beginning each stage, and sung the whole way, or else talked to their horses. A Russian seldom beats his horse, but argues with him at first, and at last goes no further than to abuse him, and call him wolf or Jew, which last is the lowest pitch of their contemptuous expressions.'

After leaving Moscow, Heber continued his journey through Russia, Crimea, and Hungary, to Vienna. Until his arrival at the latter place