The night came upon us cold and with a strong wind blowing from the north.  We wrapped ourselves closely and were quite comfortable, the dog actually lolling beneath our sheepskin coverlid.  Approaching Selenginsk we found a few bits of bad road and met long caravans laden with tea for Irkutsk.

These caravans were made up of little two-wheeled carts, each drawn by a single horse.  From six to ten chests of tea, according to the condition of the roads, are piled on each cart and firmly bound with cords.  There is one driver to every four or five carts, and this driver has a dormitory on one of his loads.  This is a rude frame two and a half by six feet, with sides about seven inches high.  With a sheepskin coat and coverlid a man contrives to sleep in this box while his team moves slowly along the road or is feeding at a halting place.

All the freight between Kiachta and Lake Baikal is carried on carts in summer and on one-horse sleds in winter.  From Kiachta westward tea is almost the only article of transport, the quantity sometimes amounting to a million chests per annum.  The tea chests are covered with raw hide, which protects them, from rain and snow and from the many thumps of their journey.  The teams belong to peasants, who carry freight for a stipulated sum per pood.  The charges are lower in winter than in summer, as the sledge is of easier draft than the cart.

The caravans travel sixteen hours of every twenty-four, and rarely proceed faster than a walk.  The drivers are frequently asleep and allow the horses to take their own pace.  The caravans are expected to give up the whole road on the approach of a post carriage, and when the drivers are awake they generally obey the regulation.  Very often it happened that the foremost horses turned aside of their own accord as we approached.  They heard the bells that denoted our character, and were aware of our yemshick’s right to strike them if they neglected their duty.  The sleeping drivers and delinquent horses frequently received touches of the lash.  There was little trouble by day, but at night the caravan horses were less mindful of our comfort.  Especially if the road was bad and narrow the post vehicles, contrary to regulation, were obliged to give way.

[Illustration:  EQUAL RIGHTS.]

It was three or four hours before daylight when we reached Selenginsk, and the yemshick removed his horses preparatory to returning to his station.  I believe Selenginsk is older than Verkne Udinsk, and very much the senior of Irkutsk.  The ancient town is on the site of the original settlement, but frequent inundations caused its abandonment for the other bank of the river, five versts away.  New Selenginsk, which has a great deal of antiquity in its appearance, is a small town with a few good houses, a well built church, and commodious barracks.