There are several descriptions of sleigh for Siberian travel.  At the head, stands the vashok, a box-like affair with a general resemblance to an American coach on runners.  It has a door at each side and glass windows and is long enough for one to lie at full length.

[Illustration:  A VASHOK.]

Three persons with limited baggage can find plenty of room in a vashok.  A kibitka is shaped much like a tarantass, or like a New England chaise stretched to about seven feet long by four in width.  There is a sort of apron that can be let down from the hood and fastened with straps and buckles to the boot.  The boot can be buttoned to the sides of the vehicle and completely encloses the occupants.  The vashok is used by families or ladies, but the kibitka is generally preferred by men on account of the ability to open it in fine weather, and close it at night or in storms.

A sleigh much like this but less comfortable is called a povoska.  In either of them, the driver sits on the forward part with his feet hanging over the side.  His perch is not very secure, and on a rough road he must exercise care to prevent falling off.  “Why don’t you have a better seat for your driver?” I asked of my friend, when negotiating for a sleigh.  “Oh,” said he, “this is the best way as he cannot go to sleep.  If he had a better place he would sleep and lose time by slow traveling.”

A sleigh much used by Russian merchants is shaped like an elongated mill-hopper.  It has enormous carrying capacity, and in bad weather can be covered with matting to exclude cold and snow.  It is large, heavy, and cumbersome, and adapted to slow travel, and when much luggage is to be carried.  All these concerns are on runners about thirty inches apart, and generally shod with iron.  On each side there is a fender or outrigger which serves the double purpose of diminishing injury from collisions and preventing the overturn of the sleigh.  It is a stout pole attached to the forward end of the sleigh, and sloping downward and outward toward the rear where it is two feet from the runner, and held by strong braces.  On a level surface it does not touch the snow, but should the sleigh tilt from any cause the outrigger will generally prevent an overturn.  In collision with other sleighs, the fender plays an important part.  I have been occasionally dashed against sleds and sleighs when the chances of a smash-up appeared brilliant.  The fenders met like a pair of fencing foils, and there was no damage beyond the shock of our meeting.

[Illustration:  A KIBITKA.]

The horses are harnessed in the Russian manner, one being under a yoke in the shafts, and the others, up to five or six, attached outside.  There is no seat in the interior of the sleigh.  Travelers arrange their baggage and furs to as good a level as possible and fill the crevices with hay or straw.  They sit, recline, or lie at their option.  Pillows are a necessity of winter travel.