Constable's miscellany of original and selected publications |
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Anadyr appearance arrived baidares banks Baron beautiful Cape North Captain Burney chief cold consequence considerable considered Cossack crossed distance dogs doubt dwellings eight Ekatherinebourg Emperor fatigue felt fifteen fish five fortress forty miles four frozen governor governor-general honour horses hospitable hundred and fifty induced inhabitants Irkutsk Irtish islands JOHN DUNDAS COCHRANE journey Kamtchatka Kazan Khan Kiakhta Kolyma Kolymsk land late latter ment merchants Mordva morning mountains nartes Nertchinsk night Nishney north-east Novgorod obliged officers Okotsk Omekon Omsk passed pasture Pavlutzki poods pounds pounds weight present prince procured quantity reached Reaumur received rein-deer river road roubles route Russian Russian empire sables seen Selenga Shelatskoi Noss Siberia situation snow St Petersburg tains Tartar Tchuktchi thing thirty miles thousand tion tobacco Tobolsk town traveller twenty valley versts vessels village Volga voyage winter wood Yakuti Yakutsk Yermak yourte
Popular passages
Page 1 - I determined to undertake a journey, varying only the object and the scene, similar to that of the unfortunate Ledyard, viz. to travel round the globe, as nearly as can be done by land, crossing from Northern Asia to America at Behring's Streights. I also determined to perform the journey on foot, for the best of all possible reasons, that my finances allowed of no other. Having procured two years' leave of absence, I prepared to traverse the continents of Europe, Asia, and America.
Page 247 - Tchuktchi, their manners and customs, pronounce them of American origin, of which the shaving of their heads, puncturing of their bodies, wearing large ear-rings, their independent and swaggering way of walking, their dress, and superstitious ideas, are also evident proofs...
Page 191 - Tongousi of eating whenever there is food, and never permitting any thing that can be eaten to be lost. I gave the child a candle made of the most impure tallow, a second, and a third, — and all were devoured with avidity. The steersman then gave him several pounds of sour frozen butter; this also he immediately consumed ; lastly, a large piece of yellow soap ; — all went the same road ; but as I was...
Page 200 - Zashiversk, not ungrateful for the hospitality of its poor inhabitants, who had supplied me with plenty of fish, here eaten in a raw state, and which to this hour I remember as the greatest delicacy I have ever tasted. Spite of our prejudices, there is nothing to be compared to the melting of raw fish in the mouth ; oysters, clotted cream, or the finest jelly in the world is nothing to it ; nor is it only a small quantity that may be eaten of this precious commodity. I myself have finished a whole...
Page 9 - Rub the feet at going to bed with spirits mixed with tallow dropped from a candle into the palm of the hand ; on the following morning no blister will exist. The spirits seem to possess the healing power, the tallow serving only to keep the skin soft and pliant. This is Captain Cochrane's advice, and the remedy was used by him in his pedestrian tour...
Page 51 - I resumed my route. I had still left me a blue jacket, a flannel waistcoat, and a spare one, which I tied round my waist in such a manner that it reached down to the knees ; my empty knapsack was restored to its old place, and I trotted1 on with even a merry heart.
Page 56 - Hippius, and had for some time been on the look out for me, treated me very heartily to a biscuit and glass of wine. I then wished him a pleasant journey, and resumed mine, light as a lark at the unexpected pleasure of seeing English faces, and hearing my own tongue. Those who have been similarly situated, can readily conceive how happy I was to have met with a countryman in such a manner. My way lay over a country where the Tver is a wandering stream, and where numerous handsome seats and neat villages...
Page 192 - Yakuti said that one of them was accustomed to consume at home, in the space of a day, or twenty-four hours, the hind quarter of a large ox, twenty pounds of fat, and a proportionate quantity of melted butter for his drink.
Page 199 - ... me as I beheld and approached the place. All that I have seen in passing rocky or snowy sierras or passes in Spain, in traversing the wastes of Canada, or in crossing the Cordilleras or Andes of North America, the Pyrenees, or the Alps, cannot be compared with the desolation of the scene around me ! The first considerable halting-place from Yakutsk, the half-way house, is nine hundred or one thousand miles removed from a civilized place. Such a spot gives name to a commissariat, and contains...
Page 119 - ... forage for their beasts, getting, in winter, as near the woods as possible for the advantage of fuel, though, in most parts, the dried dung of their cattle provides a ready and efficient substitute. I saw one of their chiefs, a good-looking fellow, but very filthy ; and indeed they are in general the most miserable and filthy race I ever beheld, scarcely, during the warm weather, affording themselves a pair of trowsers for mere decency. One large iron kettle, with wooden spoons, constitutes the...