ng village, formed of houses
constructed much in the same way as that previously described,
when our horses stopped before a detached cottage. The proprietor
came out to meet us at the threshold. "_Samovar, samovar!_" (urn),
said my companion. "Quick, quick! _samovar!_" and hurrying by him,
and hastily throwing off our furs, we endeavoured to regain our
lost circulation beside the walls of a well-heated stove.

The Russian peasants are not ignorant of the good old maxim that
the early bird gets the worm, and the few hours' daylight they
enjoy during the winter months makes it doubly necessary for them
to observe this precept. We were all up a good hour before sunrise,
my companion making the tea, while our driver was harnessing the
horses, but this time not three abreast, for the road was bad and
narrow; so we determined to have two small sleighs with a pair of
horses to each, and put our luggage in one vehicle while we travelled
in the other.

Off we went, a motley crew. First, the unwashed peddler who had
wished to be my companion's bedfellow the night before; then our
luggage sleigh; and, finally, my friend and self, who brought up
the rear, with a careful eye upon our effects, as the people in
that part of the country were said to have some difficulty in
distinguishing between _meum_ and _tuum_.

The sun was bright and glorious, and in no part of the world hitherto
visited have I ever seen aurora in such magnificence. First, a pale
blue streak, gradually extending over the whole of the eastern
horizon, arose like a wall barring the unknown beyond; then, suddenly
changing colour until the summit was like lapis-lazuli, and its
base a sheet of purple waves of grey and crystal, radiating from
the darker hues, relieved the eye, appalled by the vastness of
the barrier; the purple foundations were in turn upheaved by a
sea of fire, which dazzled the eye with its glowing brilliancy,
and the wall of colours floating in space broke up into castles,
battlements, and towers, which were wafted by the breeze far away
from our view. The sea of flame meanwhile had lighted up the whole
horizon; the eye quailed beneath the glare. The snowy carpet at
our feet reflected like a camera the wonderful panorama overhead.
Flakes of light in rapid succession bound earth to sky, until the
globe of sparkling light arising from the depths of this ocean of
flame dimmed into insignificance the surroundings of the picture.

Presently a sudden