A SLEDGE DRIVE IN RUSSIA. [Copyright]

Otago Witness, Issue 2589, 28 October 1903, Page 71

A SLEDGE DRIVE IN RUSSIA.

[Copyright]

B\* E. A. Brayley Hodgetts.

[Published by Special Arrangement.]

It was in the winter of 1892, when the Duke >f Clarence died, that the episode I am about to relate occurred. I was travelling in the interior of Russia at the time, investigating the- :ondition of the peasantry, who were visited by a famine, which the Russian Government, notwithstanding the impassioned letters of Count Tolstoy, refused to recognise. Ir was not until the English papers published my descriptions of the sufferings of the Russian people that the Government appointed a commission to inquire into their misery. My investigations had taken me tfTSaratoff, the principal town of the .^Volga, Russia's highway by water in summer and by sledge in winter, when the river is so'idly frozen -ver and covered with a thickness of several feet of ice, oven, which it is curious to see caravans of camels ■wending' their way from distant Orenburg. The banks of this river are infested by pirates, who inhabit entire villages, which are known to the police, but left prudently alone. I was returning from a visit to a local official whose district was situated some 30 miles from Saratoff itself. The weather was bitterly cold, the thermometer showed 68deg of frost, and the cold was aggravated by bitter winds.' My driver was a phlegmatic German colonist, who had forgotten what German his forefathers had known, and had not learned any intelligible Russian by way of compensation. He did not know" his way, and, indeed, on that trackless desert of snow, devoid of landmarks, this wa3 not surprising. Fortunately, I was taking with me to Saratoff in my sledge an elderly hospital nurse who was tending the peasants, and wanted to go to the town to purchase medical comforts. She knew tha waj-. It may be interesting to describe how we travelled. The vehicle was primitive. Imagine an. enormous packing-case on a sledge, one side left high for the back, the other cut down so as to enable the occupants to see out in front! The diiver sat on a little bench introduced in front, but the passengers had no Feat at all, only a quantity of straw, and on that straw a sack and some coarse Russian canvas. Our backs and our legs were at right angles, and we were literally packed up. I, for instance, had on a fur ioat, the outside of which was reindeer skin and the inside foxskin. This was tied round the waist with a sash ; over my feet I had large felt overshoes which reached to my knees. On my head I had a fur cap, and the fur collar of my coat was turned up, covering my ears and meeting over niy nose. When I got into the eledge I was tucked up in a thick rug. lly companion was similarly attired. Warmly as I was clad, the «o!d was so greU that I nevertheless felt half-frozen, and both my companion and myself were literally helpless as we lay there, the venicle in which we i\ r-re packed jolting and bumping till every bone m my body ached again, while the villlainous little hoises, ail f-kin and bones, kicked the miow in my face and tinkled their monotonous little bells.

It was dark before we reached a village halfway between the estate I had left and Saratoff. Ht/re, the hospital nurse told me, it was her custom to alight and <lrink tea in the cottage, or rather hut, of the village elder, the Starostd. I therefore sent the driver through the snow to knock at the door while we waited in the sledge. Russian- villages are built on each side of a wide road usually several hundred feet broad, which in the winter is narrowed into a small valley running between two formidable embankments of^snow, which effectually keep out the view. In this track we waited, packed in our sledge, for nearly half an hour. At last the driver returned, and told us he had; been unable to make him=elf heard. As it was very cold, and a.« the prospect of hot tea had created a longing for it. I determined to make an effort to aiou«-e the natives myself. With some difficulty I disentangled myself from my lug, and encumbered « ith fur-coat and overshoes, I stumbled rather than waked through the snow to the neaiest hut. I reached a lighted -window, after having had several tumbles in the snow, and gently tapped at it. but ihei;? wa« no answer. I tapped again, lomlei this time. but still v ith no result. At last I lost patience and knocked so violently that the window, which the frost had made brittle. broke. There was a great commotion, and in a lev^ moments I m-- ( s surrounded on all sides by peasants armed with axes and various implements, evidently determined to set upon me. Behind them vrore trembling ■women, who ur^ed them on to kill me. TJiey took me for an evil ."niril. I stood ankle-deep in snow, my heavy fur coat preventing me from even attempting to xun away. I liad no weapon — not even a stick. For about a second I felt horribly afraid. ' but there was no time for fear. I had to summon up my courage and use the only weapon left me in the circumstances — my tongue. "You evil s-piiit '" they tried, "why do you trouble us? Kill mm!" I had the greatest difficulty in convincing them that I was no evil spirit, but only wanted tea. They kept on shouting and threatening, but were evidently quite as much afraid of me as I was of them. The Dosition was not without humour, but at

the time its ridiculousness did not particu- | larly strike me. Seeing that argument j would not avail I feigned anger, and threatened them with all sorts of penalties. I yowed I wou'd have Jiem all flogged if they did not instantly change their attitude';, and I demanded that they should at once fetch the elder of the village. After j some lengthy vituperation the elder at \ last appeared upon the scene, and invited i me into his hut. I sent for the nurse, paid for the broken w indow, and had my tea. But even then it took some time before these superstitious peasants would be pacified. My adventures on this day were not, however, to end here. Having drunk our tea and warmed ourselves, we resumed our journpy towards Saratoff. We had been driving through the snow for about an hour or two, when suddenly my companion, the | nurse, said to me: — "That driver is taking ; U3 by a dangerous road. Do you see that | village in the distance? It is inhabited by | thieves. They wrap themselves in white I sheets at night and lie down in the snow, from which they can with difficulty be distinguished. As travellers pass in their I sledges they jump up, knock them on the | head, and rob them. Keep a sharp look- ! out !" j As we approached this village we met a long train of sledges carrying merchandise. The drivers, instead of walking by their i horses in the usual manner, were walking behind the sledges, to prevent, so my com- , panion told me, the goods from' being , stolen. We passed this solemn procession, [ and drew nearer to the village of evil repute. The bells of our horses ringing loud , and clear in the still and frosty night announced our arrival. | Suddenly th"re was the sound of a whistle in the distance, to which there soon came another whistle \n reply. "Hark !"' ' said my companion, "that is their signal. \ They are calling to each other. Our horses' bells have been heard !"* I was now , thoroughly on the alert, and regretted I had no revolver with me. The road was very uneven and full of ditches, into which our sedge sank, and from which it rose up again like a tempeet-tossed ship. It was as much as v-e could do to keep our seats. Presently we heard the whistling with its answering whistles again. We were now in the village street, with huts on each side of us. "Drive ! drive for your life !" screamed my companion: "here they are!' Sure enough I could see by the light of ; the moon the figures of some five or six men ■ running like demons along the huts which lined the broad roadway. Presently the ■ road seemed to be alive with ihem. Whence j they had sprung seemed a mystery. They j gained upon iis apace, and as I looked back i I could see them coming nearer and nearer. | "If we can only get out of the village ] alive we shall be" all right — they will not | dare to fol'ow us very far. Drive, coachman, drive!" ' It was an anxious moment. I could hear the fiends yelling and laughing clo"=e behind me. I bared my fist, and got myself ready to fight for my life as best I could, but encumbered as I was wnli my heavy fur-coat I was at a disadvantage. ' Whit I most feared was not so much that we should be murdered as that we should be stripped a:id loft to freeze to death ' slowly in that prairie of snow As we drove along lumps of snow and ice were thrown at us. Even our rtolid driver was roused to a sense of the danger we were in. and lathed his hoises till they seemed to fly. I looked round, and saw t<> mv re'ief that we wviv gradually distancing ou" pursuers. Just as we were leaving the vil- i lage, however, and beginning to congratulate ourselves on our escape, the hoises floundered into a ditch, and the sledge very , nearly capsized. We came out of the ditch i with the sledge nearly on its side, and the | driver calmly stopped his horses to see if we had been upset. Meantime oui pursueis had kept up the chase, and were in full hue-and-crr within a few vaids of us. I do not think I shall ever forget that brief | moment of intense excitement. Losing all i control of myself I swoie at the driver < until we were again flying along the road , and definitely outdistanced the villager*. The frost was so great that in the few minutes during xhich I had exposed my ! hand and head by 2'eleasing my fur collar, J while the lumps of snow were falling round i me, but luckily a'yays missed me, my | rose, the tip of my ear. ana my right finger were frost-bitten. On the following I da;, I bought a revolver at Saratoff, -which latet «cived me in good i-tead. But I shall never forget that sledge drive. — The ou-stom of adoption is univeisal in ! Japan, where it l.s piactiiad to keep a j family name fiOm bLCOming- extinct-. Ici- ' depd, there is scarcply a family tn winch , it has not at som-e time or other been ob- • c cr\cd. A person who ha= no male issue a topts £> ion. and. if he has a daughter, often gi\e- her to him is mairi.->ge. A youth, or p\en p el'id. who may bo the Load of a family cccai.iona.Lly adopts, on the pemt cf dyir.j. a feon old^r than himself to succeed him. Flo::ilinf.'— For the Tketh and Breath.— 1 L few drops of the liquid " Flonhne " 6prinkled on a v.-ct tooth brn=h DrotJuces a pleasant lather, uhich thoroughly e'eanses the | teeth from all parasites or impurities, hardens 1 the gums, prevents tartar, stops decay, g-ivc 1 to the teeth a peculiar p^arly-whiteness, and a dehghtful fragrance to the breath. It Te- j moves all unpleasant cdour arising from | decayed teeth or tobacco smoke. " The ■ Fragrant Flonhne," being composed in parts of Honey and sweet herbs, is de'icious to the taste, and the greatest toi'ot discorery of the age. Of all Chemists and Perfumers. "Whole- I eale depot, 33 Farrxsdon road £ioadon, I England* 1