I slept well during the night, awaking occasionally at the stations or when the sleigh experienced an unusually heavy thump.  In the morning I learned we had traveled a hundred and sixty versts from Irkutsk.  The road was magnificent after leaving the valley of the Angara, and the sleigh glided easily and with very little jolting.

“No cloud above, no earth below;
A universe of sky and snow.”

I woke to daylight and found a monotonous country destitute of mountains and possessing few hills.  It was generally wooded, and where under cultivation near the villages there was an appearance of fertility.  There were long distances between the clusters of houses, and I was continually reminded of the abundant room for increase of population.

We stopped for breakfast soon after sunrise.  The samovar was ordered, and our servants brought a creditable supply of toothsome little cakes and pies.  These with half a dozen cups of tea to each person prepared us for a ride of several hours.  We dined a little before sunset, and for one I can testify that full justice was done to the dinner.

Very little can be had at the stations on this road, so that experienced travelers carry their own provisions.  One can always obtain hot water, and generally bread, and eggs, but nothing else is certain.  In winter, provisions can be easily carried as the frost preserves them alike from decaying or crushing.  Soup, meats, bread, and other edibles can be carried on long routes with perfect facility.  There is a favorite preparation for Russian travel under the name of pilmania.  It is a little ball of minced meat covered with dough, the whole being no larger than a robin’s egg.  In a frozen state a bag full of pilmania is like the same quantity of walnuts or marbles, and can be tossed about with impunity.  When a traveler wishes to dine upon this article he orders a pot of boiling water and tosses a double handful of pilmania into it.  After five minutes boiling the mass is ready to be eaten in the form of soup.  Salt, pepper, and vinegar can be used with it to one’s liking.

Our diner du voyage consisted of pilmania, roast beef, and partridge with bread, cakes, tea, and quass.  Our table furniture was somewhat limited, and the room was littered with garments temporarily discarded.  The ladies were crinolineless, and their coiffures were decidedly not Parisian.  My costume was a cross between a shooting outfit and the everyday dress of a stevedore, while my hair appeared as if recently dressed with a currant bush.  Captain Paul was equally unpresentable in fastidious parlors, but whatever our apparel it did not diminish the keenness of our appetites.  The dinner was good, and the diners were hungry and happy.  Fashion is wholly rejected on the Siberian road, and each one makes his toilet without regard to French principles and tastes.