On changing at the station we again took four horses to each sleigh, and were glad we did so.  The ground was more bare as we proceeded, and obliged us to leave the high road altogether and seek a track wherever it could be found.  While we were dashing through a mass of rocks and stumps one of our horses fell dead, and brought us to a sudden halt.  In his fall he became entangled with the others, and it required some minutes to set matters right.  The yemshick felt for the pulse of the beast until fully satisfied that no pulse existed.  Happily we were not far from a station, so that the reduction of our team was of no serious consequence.  In this region I observed cribs like roofless log houses placed near the roadside at intervals of a few hundred yards.  They were intended to hold materials for repairing the road.

On the upper waters of the Chulim there is a cascade of considerable beauty, according to the statement of some who never saw it.  A few years ago a Siberian gold miner discovered a cataract on the river Hook, in the Irkutsk government, that he thought equal to Niagara, and engaged an artist to make a drawing of the curiosity.  On reaching the spot, the latter individual found the cascade a very small affair.  Throughout Russia, Niagara is considered one of the great wonders of the world, and nothing could have been more pleasing to the Siberians than to find its rival in their own country.

When I first began traveling in Siberia a gentleman one day expressed the hope of seeing America before long, but added, “much pleasure of my visit will be lacking now that you have lost Niagara.”  I could not understand him, and asked an explanation.

“Why,” said he, “since Niagara has been worn away to a continuous rapid it must have lost all its grandeur and sublimity.  I shall go there, but I cannot enjoy it as I should have enjoyed the great cataract.”

I explained that Niagara was as perfect as ever, and had no indication of wearing itself away.  It appeared that some Russian newspaper, misled, I presume, by the fall of Table Rock, announced that the whole precipice had broken down and left a long rapid in place of the cataract.  Several times during my journey I was called upon to correct this impression.

At the third station beyond Achinsk we found a neat and well kept room for travelers.  We concluded to dine there, and were waited upon by a comely young woman whose coiffure showed that she was unmarried.  She brought us the samovar, cooked our pilmania, and boiled a dizaine of eggs.  Among the Russians articles which we count by the dozen are enumerated by tens. “Skolka stoit, yieetsa?” (How much do eggs cost), was generally answered, “Petnatzet capecka, decetu” (fifteen copecks for ten.) Only among the Western nations one finds the dozen in use.