Before we started the driver brought an additional horse, and after a preliminary kick or two we took the road.  For a few miles we went up and down hills along the edge of the river, where the route has been cut at much labor and expense.  This was not especially bad, the worst places being at the hollows between the hills where the mud was half-congealed.  When we left the river we found the mud that Lovett prophesied.  Quality and quantity were alike disagreeable.  All roads have length more or less; ours had length, breadth, depth, and thickness.  The bottom was not regular like that of the Atlantic, but broken into inequalities that gave an uneasy motion to the telyaga.

To travel in Siberia one must have a padaroshnia, or road pass, from the government authorities, stating the number of horses to which he is entitled.  There are three grades of padaroshnia; the first for high officials and couriers; the second for officers on ordinary business; and the third for civilian travelers.  The first and second are issued free to those entitled to receive them, and the third is purchased at the rate of half a copeck a verst.  These papers serve the double purpose of bringing revenue to government and preventing unauthorized persons traveling about the country.  A traveler properly provided presents his papers at a post-station and receives horses in his turn according to the character of his documents.

A person with a courier’s pass is never detained for want of animals; other travelers must take their chance.  Of course the second class of passport precedes the third by an inflexible rule.  Suppose A has a second class and B a third class padaroshnia.  A reaches a station and finds B with a team ready to start.  If there are no more horses the smotretal (station master) detaches the animals from B’s vehicle and supplies them to A. B must wait until he can be served; it may be an hour, a day, or a week.

The stations are kept by contract.  The government locates a station and its lessee is paid a stipulated sum each year.  He agrees to keep the requisite horses and drivers, the numbers varying according to the importance of the route.  He contracts to carry the post each way from his station to the next, the price for this service being included in the annual payment.  He must keep one vehicle and three horses at all times ready for couriers.  Couriers, officers, and travelers of every kind pay at each station the rate fixed by law.

In Kamchatka and North Eastern Siberia the post route is equipped with dog-teams, just as it has horses in more southerly latitudes.  In the northern part of Yakutsk the reindeer is used for postal or traveling service.  A padaroshnia calls for a given number of horses, usually three, without regard to the number of persons traveling upon it.  Generally the names of all who are to use it are written on the paper, but this is not absolutely necessary.  Borasdine had a padaroshnia and so had I, but mine was not needed as long as we kept together.