The weather gradually cleared up in the course of the day ; the gray mist dispersed, the sun broke through the clouds, and towards noon it was a fine clear winter's day, with eighteen degrees of cold. The travelling sledges here are, like the Russian sledges, very conveniently built. They are made of mipainted birch-wood ; the roof is covered with mats, and lined with bright-coloured tapestry. The whole is light and elastic. The interior is stuffed with hay, straw, luggage, cushions, and pillows, amid which the traveller lies snugly and warmly imbedded. These equipages can be purchased for a few dollars ; and when they are done with, they are immediately sold or else chopped up for firewood.
Tlie most disagreeable obstacles on a snow-road here are the uneven hillocks and holes, where the snow has been pded up or has drifted away. The Russians call these irregularities " Ukhabui" and the Germans " Griiftey The sledges dance about upon these eccentric roads Idie ships upon the waves, and many passengers become regularly seasick. These Griifte are also often dangerous, as it sometimes happens that the horses and sledges stick fast, and they and the passengers are buried in the snow together.
The road to Narva passes the north-western point of the Peipus lake, and rmis along its shore for some distance. It was now a wide desolate plain of snow, dazzlingly lighted by the midday sun. At great distances we observed little dark spots ; they were the numerous Russian and Esthonian sledges crossing the lake in different directions.
We entered a Russian village of fishermen on the shore of the lake, and our eyes, long accustomed to the Esthonian huts, were agreeably refreshed by the neatness, order, and cleanliness that distinguished this Russian village. The houses stood all well arranged near one another, whereas those of the Esthonian villages are always scattered unsymmetrically around. Houses, walls, railings, gateways, were all firmly bmlt of strong logs of fir, while the Esthonian houses are made only of decayed branches and bad straw. Many houses were two-storied and brightly painted. The Russian fishing villages round the Peipus lake are all similar to the one I have described, which is called the Ts/iornaya Derevniya.
I was at this time a novice in the management of Russian postilions, and would sometimes say entreatingly, " Pray, my good fellow, get on a Httle faster," or " Do be so good as to make haste." The postilion would stai-e, and not alter his pace in the slightest degree. My Russian companion, who understood the thing better, would exclaim in a thundering voice, " If you don't drive fiister this moment, you rascal, I'll have you flogged like a dog at the next station, and tear yomsoul from yom body. This had immediately the desired effect.
At the station of Rannapungern we resolved to dine, and opened our Pudel for the purpose. The article known by this name in the Baltic provinces, is a small bag or box given to every traveller by some careful hand, containing white bread, sausages, cheese, cold meat, wine, and other provisions, with which to supply the deficiences of the ill-provided little country inns. No one travels in Livonia without being furnished by wife, mother, daughter, or sister, with a thick comfortable Speise pudel. Ours had been so richly filled, by a fair and fi'iendly hand, ^vith all the various substantial dainties of a Livonian kitchen, that my companion exclaimed, " Truly, if we had to share these bounties with five hmigry Esthonian bears, we should have enough left." Just as he pronounced these words, the door opened, and behold there entered, one, two, three, four, five young bears, whining and howling most piteously.
" You see," said the postmaster, " I have brought you five hungry little visiters. They are all fi:om the same mother, who was killed by a peasant in the forest yesterday."
The little beings whined and cried most piteously, and in a manner closely resembling that of young infants ; I could never have believed what a striking affinity there was between the infant cry of a human being and that of a bear. The postmaster placed a basket, in which he had prepared a nest for them, in a corner of the room, and they all crept into it huddling together. Some snuffed the cold wall, sobbing, sighing, and whimpering, as if seeking the warm breast of their mother. All five had a grey-coloured, smeary, and not very fragrant fur, and a ring of snow-white hair round the neck. The postmaster told us this gTay-furred race, Avith the white ring round the neck, was peculiar to this part of Livonia. It is the largest of all races of bears, but its skin is not so much prized as that of the bro\Mi or black bear.