The road in western Siberia was hard and smooth, and the horses were so good that we made very rapid progress with comparatively little discomfort.  We stopped only twice a day for meals, and every night found us 175 or 200 miles nearer our destination than we had been the night before.  We succeeded in getting across the Urals before the end of the year, and on the 7th of January, after twenty-five days of almost incessant night-and-day travel, we drew up before a hotel in the city of Nizhni Novgorod, which, at that time, was the eastern terminus of the Russian railway system.  We sold our sleigh, fur bag, pillows, tea-equipment, and the provisions we had left, for what they would bring—­a beggarly sum; took a train the same day for St. Petersburg; and reached the Russian capital on the 9th of January, eleven weeks from the Okhotsk Sea by way of Yakutsk, Irkutsk, Tomsk, Tiumen, Ekaterineburg, and Nizhni Novgorod.  In the eleven weeks we had changed dogs, reindeer, or horses more than two hundred and sixty times and had made a distance of five thousand seven hundred and fourteen miles, nearly all of it in a single sleigh.

[Illustration:  Wooden Cup]

INDEX

  A

Abaza, Major S., appointed superintendent of Siberian division; forms plan of operations; starts northward from Petropavlovsk; scares up a bear; falls ill at Lesnoi; leaves Gizhiga for Okhotsk; orders from; returns to Gizhiga; makes trip to Anadyrsk; sails for Okhotsk; visits Yakutsk; comes to Yamsk; returns to Yakutsk; starts for St. Petersburg; letter from.  Agaricus muscarius, Korak intoxicant.  Air-hole, driving into Aklan, river Aldan, river Amur, river Anadyr, river; work on.  Anadyr River party; finding of; experience of; orders concerning.  Anadyrsk, village; arrival at; priest’s house in; history and description of; climate of; ball at; character of inhabitants; famine at.  Anadyrsk sickness Animals, of Kamchatka Anossof, Russian commissioner Arnold, member of Anadyr River party Astronomical lectures Atlantic cable, failure of first; final success of.  Aurora borealis; remarkable display of.  Aurora of the sea Avacha, bay Avacha, river Avacha, village Avacha, volcano

  B

“Baideras,” Korak skin boats “Balagans,” fish storehouses Ball, at Anadyrsk; at Irkutsk.  “Ballalaikas,” Siberian guitars “Barabans,” Korak drums Baths, “black,” Kamchatkan steam baths Bear hunts Bears Bering, monument to, in Petropavlovsk Berries Bickmore, A.S., reference to Korak marriage ceremony Birds Bivouacs, Kamchatkan Blueberries Bollman, merchant in Petropavlovsk Bordman, W.H.  Bowsher, member of Sandford’s party Bragan, Nicolai, guide Bragans, Kamchatkan traders British Columbia British Government, concessions from Bulkley, Colonel Charles S. Bush, Richard J., becomes member of Siberian party; sails for Amur River; meeting with, at Gizhiga; put in command of Northern District; bad news from; night meeting with; experience in summer of 1866 Buttercups

  C