The ‘everything’ hunted down consisted of eggs, bread, and hot water.  We brought out a boiled ham, that was generally our piece de resistance, and made a royal meal.  If trichina spiralis existed in Siberian ham, it was never able to disturb us.  We found no fruit as there are no orchards in Siberia.  Attempts have been made to cultivate fruit, but none have succeeded.  A little production about the size of a whortleberry was shown me in Eastern Siberia, where it was pickled and served up as a relish with meat.  “This is the Siberian apple,” said the gentleman who first exhibited it, “and it has degenerated to what you see since its introduction from Europe.”  On dissecting one of these little berries, I found it possessed the anatomy of the apple, with seeds smaller than pin-heads.

Kotzebue and other travelers say there are no bees in Siberia, but the assertion is incorrect.  I saw native honey enough to convince me on this point, and learned that bees are successfully raised in the southern part of Asiatic Russia.

We were not greatly delayed in our team changing, though we lost several hours in small instalments.  We had two sleighs, and although there were anywhere up to a dozen men to prepare them, the harnessing of one team was generally completed before the other was led out.  When the horses were ready, the driver often went to fetch his dehar and make his toilet.  In this way we would lose five or ten minutes, a small matter by itself, but a large one when under heavy multiplication.

[Illustration:  THE DRIVER’S TOILET.]

We took breakfast and dinner daily in the peasants’ houses, which we found very much like the stations.  We carried our own tea and sugar, and with a fair supply of provisions, added what we could obtain.  Tea was the great solace of the journey, and proved, above all others, the beverage which cheers.  I could swallow several cups at a sitting, and never failed to find myself refreshed.  It is far better than vodki or brandy for traveling purposes, and many Russians who are pretty free drinkers at home adhere quite closely to tea on the road.  The merchant traveler drinks enormous quantities, and I have seen a couple of these worthies empty a twenty cup samovar with no appearance of surfeit.  So much hot liquid inside generally sets them into a perspiration.  Nothing but loaf sugar is used, and there is a very common practice of holding a lump in one hand and following a sip of the unsweetened tea with a nibble at the sugar.  When several persons are engaged in this rasping process a curious sound is produced.