POSITION AND CHARACTER OF KRASNOYARSK.—A LESSON IN RUSSIAN PRONUNCIATION.—MARKET SCENE.—SIBERIAN TREES.—THE OUKHABA.—A NEW SENSATION.—ROAD-FEVER AND ITS CAUSE.—AN EXCITING ADVENTURE WITH WOLVES.—HOW WOLVES ARE HUNTED.—FROM KRASNOYARSK TO TOMSK.—STEAM NAVIGATION IN SIBERIA.—BARNAOOL.—MINES OF THE ALTAI.—TIGERS AND TIGER STORIES.—THE BOURAN.—ACROSS THE BARABA STEPPE.—TUMEN AND EKATERINEBURG.—FROM EUROPE TO ASIA.—PERM, KAZAN, AND NIJNI NOVGOROD.—END OF THE SLEIGH-RIDE.  
Frank asked what was meant by the word Krasnoyarsk: was it derived from a river, a mountain, or did it belong to an individual?
"Krasnoe," said Mr. Hegeman, "means 'red,' and Krasnoyarsk gets its name from the red cliffs of the Yenisei on which it stands. All around the town the soil is of a reddish hue, and so are the hills that form the horizon in every direction. The Yenisei is a fine river, one of the largest in Siberia, and where it passes Krasnoyarsk it is fully half a mile wide. In summer there are two or three steamboats running to the Arctic Ocean from a point a little below Krasnoyarsk; rapids and shoals prevent their coming up to the town. The tributaries of the river are rich in gold deposits, and many of the residents have grown wealthy by gold-mining.
"Krasnoyarsk has a population of about twelve thousand, and in a general way is a sort of pocket edition of Irkutsk. It is the capital of the province of Yeniseisk, and the centre of trade for a wide extent of country. Markets, churches, and buildings in general are like those of Irkutsk, and there is an appearance of prosperity throughout the place."
Fred asked how it happened that the names of nearly all the towns in Siberia ended in "sk." They had been hearing about Irkutsk, Yeniseisk, Selenginsk, and he didn't know how many others.
Dr. Bronson came to the young man's relief as follows:
"I think you learned in St. Petersburg that the termination 'sk' is equivalent to 'of' in English?"
"Certainly," replied Fred, "I learned that 'vitch' means 'son of.' Paul Ivanovitch, for example, being Paul, son of Ivan. I understand also that Alexandrovsky was named after Alexander, Petrovski after Peter,[Pg 378] Nicolayevsk after Nicholas, and so on through the list of Russian saints and emperors. But I've not heard of any distinguished personages with the names I've just quoted belonging to towns or cities."
 BEGGAR AT A SIBERIAN STATION.
"These Siberian names really assist the memory in a geographical way," the Doctor answered, "as they tell us where the town is located. Selenginsk is on the Selenga River; Irkutsk is on the Irkut, where it empties into the Angara; Yeniseisk (province) is in the valley of the Yenisei, and the town of that name is on the river's bank. In the same way Omsk is on the Om, Tomsk on the Tom, Tobolsk on the Tobol, Irbitsk on the Irbit, and Kansk on the Kan. The list could be extended to great length."
"I must make a note of that," said Fred, "as it will be of use to students of geography in the schools at home. But what hard words they are to pronounce!"
"They are not as difficult as they seem at first sight," said the Doctor. "The chief difficulty comes from our knowing they are Russian, and expecting they will twist our tongues. Three consonants together are terrible—in Russian; in English they are easy enough."
[Pg 379]
"I quite agree with you," said Mr. Hegeman. "After I went to America, on my return from Siberia, many of my friends complained of the jaw-breaking names of the places I had visited, and declared they never could speak them. A lady of my acquaintance tried in vain to pronounce Irkutsk; its three consonants, t, s, and k, were too much for her, but she had not the slightest difficulty in asking me about the fasts and feasts of the Church. The s, t, and s of 'fasts' and 'feasts' are consonants, and just as difficult of pronunciation as the others; but the one set is Russian and the other 'English, you know.'
"Let me suggest an easy way of wrestling with the Russian terminals tsk, nsk, msk, and the like:
"If you're struggling with Irkutsk take the word 'coot,' which is perfectly familiar to you. Put an s to it and make 'coots,' and then a k to that and make 'cootsk' or 'kutsk.' With the prefix er you have the capital of Eastern Siberia before you.
"In the same way dispose of Kansk by building up the word 'can' till you have reached the end. The other terminals which seem so difficult may be rendered perfectly innocuous to the organs of speech if kindly and intelligently treated.
"To return to Krasnoyarsk and its snowless district.
"A description of the place, its buildings, markets, and other features would be nearly a repetition of that of Irkutsk, but on a smaller scale. In the market I was particularly interested in the character and abundance of the fish offered for sale. Among them were pike, sturgeon, perch, and others with which I was familiar, and there was one fish which closely resembled the smelt. Another that I had never before seen had a bill resembling that of a duck and a long and thin body. All these fishes came from the Yenisei or its tributaries; some of them dwell permanently in the river, and others ascend in the summer from the Arctic Ocean.
"There is a fish called omulli by the Russians, and evidently a member of the trout family. It lives in the smaller streams of Siberia, and furnishes a caviar that is greatly prized. The omulli's caviar is of a golden color, and quite in contrast with the black caviar made from the roe of the sturgeon.
"The Yenisei at Krasnoyarsk has a swift current, and resembles the Mississippi at St. Louis, according to the descriptions they gave me. Of course I could not verify the statement, as the river was frozen over at the time of my visit. The width and volume of the Yenisei gave interest to a story which was told by one of the residents:
[Pg 380]
 POLICEMAN AT KRASNOYARSK.
"One of the good citizens of Krasnoyarsk had been attending a wedding on the other side of the river, and started for home rather late at night, with the intention of reaching the ferry about daylight. He was in a telega drawn by two horses; on the way from the wedding he fell asleep, and the horses took their own course. When they reached the river they were doubtless hungry, and impatient to return to their stable. The ferry-boat was on the other side, and the animals did not choose to wait. They plunged in and started across; the telega, being wholly of wood, had sufficient buoyancy to keep it afloat, but the occupant was awakened by the cold bath. Though frightened half to death, he had the good sense to lie perfectly still and make the best of the situation; the hardy beasts took him safely over, but he never cared to repeat the adventure. The few individuals that saw him coming in the early daylight could hardly believe their eyes; and one, at least, thought it was Neptune in his chariot ascending the waters of the Yenisei."
"Another illustration of the excellence of the horses of Siberia," said Fred. "I long to travel in that country, and have the experience of riding behind them."
Frank asked Mr. Hegeman if there were any high mountains in the neighborhood of Krasnoyarsk.
 HILLS NEAR A SIBERIAN RIVER.
"There are not," was the reply, "only some low hills and rounded peaks that do not rise to the height and dignity of mountains. I believe most geographers are agreed on applying the term 'mountain' only to elevations of fifteen hundred feet and more, everything below that figure being called a hill. Under this restriction there are no mountains on the road through Siberia between Lake Baikal and the Ural range. Most of the country is flat and uninteresting; sometimes it is a perfectly level plain, and in other places it is undulating like a rolling prairie in Kansas or Nebraska. Along the rivers it is broken by ranges of hills, but as soon as you go back from the rivers you come to the plain again.
[Pg 381]
"Hour after hour, and day after day, we rode over this monotonous country, the landscape, or rather snowscape, presenting very little to attract the eye. This feature of the country makes the Siberian journey a dreary one, not unlike the journey from the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains before the days of the transcontinental railway."
Fred asked if this level part of Siberia was treeless like many portions of our Western country.
"There is a vast amount of treeless land," said Mr. Hegeman, in response to the inquiry, "but it is not all of that sort. There are many forests of birch, pine, spruce, and larch. In some localities birch is the only wood for building purposes, in others larch, and in others pine or spruce. Other Siberian trees are willow, fir, poplar, elm, and maple. Central and Southern Siberia are well wooded, but the farther we go towards the north the fewer trees do we find. The plains bordering the Arctic Ocean are treeless; the poplar disappears at 60° north latitude, the birch at 63°, and the pine and larch at 64°."
"I thought I had read about a species of cedar that grows over the plains to the far North," said the Doctor, "and that it serves to make that region habitable by furnishing fuel for the natives."
"I was about to mention the trailing cedar," said Mr. Hegeman. "The Russians call it kedrevnik, and some of the native tribes regard it as a special gift of Providence. It spreads on the ground like a vine, and has[Pg 382] needles and cones similar to those of the cedar; the trunks are gnarled and twisted, very difficult to cut or split, but vastly preferable to no wood at all. Thousands of miles of country are covered with the trailing cedar, and in winter it is found by digging in the snow.
"On leaving Krasnoyarsk," continued Mr. Hegeman, "I travelled with a gentleman who had been northward to the shores of the Arctic Ocean during the previous summer, he accompanying me in my sleigh, while his own was occupied by a servant and a goodly amount of baggage. For thirty miles there was no snow, and so we mounted our sleighs on wagons and sent them to the beginning of the snow road, while we followed in a telega a few hours after their departure. We overtook them just at the beginning of the snow road, and were glad enough to change from the telega. The vehicle had no springs, and we were shaken in it worse than if tossed in a blanket. The frozen ground was rough, and reminded me of a nutmeg-grater on a Brobdingnagian scale.
"We had started with the intention of overtaking the sleighs before sunset, but our slow progress over the rough roads had so delayed us that the evening was well advanced before our destination was reached. The transfer of baggage was made in the moonlight; one or two small articles disappeared in the operation, but whether stolen or accidentally lost we never knew.
 JUMPING AN "OUKHABA."
"In Irkutsk I had been told that a new sensation awaited me in the Siberian oukhaba, and I found it on the first night's travelling after leaving Krasnoyarsk. What do you suppose it was?"
[Pg 383]
Both the youths shook their heads and said they didn't know, while Doctor Bronson preserved a discreet silence.
"The oukhaba of the Siberian road," Mr. Hegeman explained, "is the equivalent of the 'hog-wallow' of the American one; the former is formed in the snow, and the latter in the bare ground. It is caused by the snow lying in drifts or ridges when it is blown by the wind, and also by the roads being worn with much travel. The road is a succession of ridges and hollows; the drivers go at full speed, without the slightest regard to the pitching and tossing of the sleigh, and the result is a severe trial of one's nerves. The motion causes a rush of blood to one's head, and develops what the Russians call 'the road-fever.'
"I did not escape the road-fever, and to this day I shudder when thinking of this part of my experience, the most disagreeable feature of the journey. My body was sore and stiff; at every jolt it seemed as though the top of my head would fly off; sleep was next to impossible; and when I did manage to slumber, my dreams were something frightful. My temper was spoiled, and a quarrel might have been created with anything and anybody without the least effort. The fever runs its course in two or three days, but may last longer; as long as the roads are bad the inexperienced traveller is liable to it. Sometimes the sleigh made a clear jump of five or six feet, and the wonder was that the vehicle did not go to pieces and leave us hopelessly wrecked."
Fred asked if any wolves were seen in this part of the journey or elsewhere in Siberia.
"Occasionally we saw wolves," was the reply, "but not often. There are plenty of wolves in Siberia, but they have enough to live upon in the game that abounds everywhere, so that they are not likely to attack travellers. Siberian and American wolves are much alike, but the former are said to be larger and fiercer than their American cousins.
"I can tell you some wolf stories, but they do not belong to Siberia. It is only in Western Russia and in Poland that travellers are attacked by wolves, and then only in the severest winters, when game is very scarce and hunger has made the animals desperate."
"Please tell us one of those stories," said Frank. "I have read accounts of men being chased by wolves, but have just now forgotten what they were."
The request was echoed by Fred, and Mr. Hegeman kindly gratified their wish.
"To begin with," said he, "the horses are the object of attack and not the men in the vehicle; but of course when the horses are overpowered[Pg 384] the wolves make no distinction and devour everything edible. When desperate they will venture to the farm-yards to kill sheep and cattle. Their favorite article of food, other than wild game, is a pig, and the squealing of a pig is an appeal that no hungry wolf can resist.
 WOLVES ATTACKING A BUFFALO.
"Advantage of this propensity is taken by those who go out to hunt the wolf for amusement. On a moonlight night two hunters go out with an open sledge drawn by two horses; they carry their guns, with plenty of ammunition, a pig tied by the feet, and a bag of hay, together with furs and robes to keep them warm. When they reach the middle of the forest where the wolves abound, the horses' heads are turned towards home, the bag of hay, fastened to a rope from twenty to forty feet long, is thrown out, and the pig's ear is pinched until the poor creature squeals in his loudest tones. If a wolf is within hearing he comes at once, and if there are other wolves they follow him and his example. The pig's ear is continually twisted; the squealing resounds through the forest, and when the wolves come in sight they mistake the bag of hay for the animal they seek. They rush for it, and as they come within range are shot down. The[Pg 385] sleigh does not stop to pick up the game, but continues its course at a walk or slow trot, provided the driver can restrain the terror-stricken horses. The next day the dead wolves, if any, are gathered for the sake of their skins.
"Sometimes a dozen or more wolves will be killed in this way in a single night, but more frequently the hunters return empty-handed. Sometimes the wolves come in great numbers, and with so much fierceness that the hunters are obliged to flee for their lives—not always successfully.
"And now comes the wolf story I promised; it was told to me by a Russian officer some years ago, and I will endeavor to give it as nearly as possible in his own words. Imagine that he is talking to you as he talked to me:
"'I was stopping for a part of the winter at the house of a fellow-officer near Vilna, where he had a large estate. His name was Selmanoff, and he was noted for his excellent horsemanship and his love for all kinds of hunting sport.
"'The winter was one of the worst that had been known for a long while, and two or three times we heard of travellers through the forest having been pursued by wolves. Of course this led to a wolf hunt, which Selmanoff proposed and I heartily accepted.
"We made our preparations, selecting a broad sledge open all around, and formed of wicker-work, so that it was light as well as strong. We carried two short, smooth-bore guns of large calibre—rifles are not desirable on these hunts, as it is impossible to take accurate aim from the moving sledge in the moonlight. The guns were breech-loaders, and the charge was a heavy one of buck-shot and ball.
"We had two horses, young and powerful beasts, and the driver was one of the best on the estate. After dining heartily we started about sunset and drove some twenty miles or so into the middle of the forest, over a good road which had been trodden by the peasants carrying their produce to the market at the nearest town. Our decoy pig lay quietly among the furs, and gave no sign of his presence save an occasional grunt of dissatisfaction at his uncomfortable position.
[Pg 386]
 A SIBERIAN WOLF.
"'At the spot where the hunt was to begin we turned about and threw out our bag of hay; then we twisted the pig's ear and he protested with a loud squeal.
"'An answering howl came from the forest, and seemingly not a dozen yards away. Another howl and another followed quickly, and then the air was full of them.
"'In a minute or so a dark form was revealed on the snow behind us, and making straight for the hay-bag. Selmanoff gave me the first fire, and I took it. The wolf fell at my shot just as he was within a few yards of the bag.
 SUMMER AND WINTER IN RUSSIA.
"'But another came, and then another, and in a few minutes there were a dozen or more in sight. We shot them as fast as they came within range, but the numbers did not diminish. The shooting[Pg 387] and the howling of the wolves frightened the horses, and the driver had a difficult task to restrain them.
"'As the wolves increased in number, we saw we were in danger; the extent of the pack was far beyond our expectation, and the long-continued hunger of the brutes had made them very fierce. The shooting of one after another did not seem to restrain their ardor in the least; those that were untouched by our shot dashed madly ahead, and showed a determination to appease their hunger at all hazards.
"'Selmanoff told the driver to increase the speed of the horses. He gave the order not a moment too soon. Just as the horses were put to a gallop, several wolves sprang from the forest at our side, and if we had been going slowly they would have easily reached the sleigh. As it was, we passed within a few feet of them, and their howls of angry disappointment rang in our ears.
"'We cut the rope that held the hay-bag; it detained our pursuers only a few moments, as they quickly discovered it was not what they wanted.
"'On they came again. We loaded and fired as fast as we could; there was no occasion to take accurate aim, as the road behind us was fairly filled with wolves, and it was quite sufficient to point our guns at the dark mass revealed against the snow.
"'We had made six or eight miles on our return, when an additional danger that threatened us was suggested by my friend. There was a sharp angle in the road a mile or so ahead of us, and, at the pace we were proceeding, the sledge would certainly be upset in going around the angle. As we approached the point of peril we ceased firing, laid our guns among the furs, ordered the speed of the horses to be slackened—no easy thing to accomplish—and then both of us hung out as far as possible on the inner side of the sledge, to keep it from going over.
"'As we made the turn the sledge was poised for some distance on one of its runners, and if we had not taken all the precautions I have named, it would have gone over. From this point was a clear and comparatively straight run homeward of ten or twelve miles, and the horses were put to their best work. They had no need of urging, as they knew the danger that threatened as well as we did.
"'One horse stumbled and fell; he was up in an instant, but not before the wolves had actually reached the sledge. One of them jumped directly at it, but as he did so I pressed the muzzle of my gun to his head and fired. Another sprang upon the fallen horse as he was rising to his feet, but was shaken off before he obtained a good hold with his fangs.
"'The servants of the chateau heard us coming at full speed and our[Pg 388] rapid firing. They knew something was the matter, and as we neared the house they began shouting and waving lanterns. The wolves slackened their speed and gave up the chase, but not until we were within a hundred yards of safety.
 VILLAGE ON A RUSSIAN ESTATE.
"'We dashed into the court-yard, the gates were closed, and then Selmanoff and I, both fainting from exhaustion after our terrible ride, were assisted from the sledge and into the house. You may be sure that since then I have never wished to............