with them. The
whole caravan thus became assembled at one point, and it would be
impossible to describe the disorder and confusion which prevailed in that
enormous mass, amid the darkness of night. At last, several horsemen,
pushing on their steeds and breaking the ice, actually and figuratively,
the whole caravan followed in their train: the ice cracked in all
directions, the animals stumbled about and splashed up the water, and the
men shouted and vociferated; the tumult was absolutely fearful. After
having traversed the first branch of the river, we had to manoeuvre, in
the same way, over the second, and then over the third, and so on. When
day broke, the Holy Embassy was still dabbling in the water: at length,
after infinite fatigue and infinite quaking, physical and moral, we had
the delight to leave behind us the twelve arms of the Pouhain-Gol, and to
find ourselves on dry land; but all our poetical visions had vanished,
and we began to think this manner of travelling perfectly detestable.

And yet everybody about us was in a state of jubilation, exclaiming that
the passage of the Pouhain-Gol had been admirably executed. Only one man
had broken his legs, and only two animals had been drowned. As to the
articles lost or stolen, during the protracted disorder, no one took any
heed to them.

When the caravan resumed its accustomed march, it presented a truly
ludicrous appearance. Men and animals were all, more or less, covered
with icicles. The horses walked on, very dolefully, evidently much
incommoded by their tails, which hung down, all in a mass, stiff and
motionless, as though they had been made of lead instead of hair. The
long hair on the legs of the camels had become magnificent icicles, which
knocked one against the other, as the animals advanced, with harmonious
discord. It was very manifest, however, that these fine ornaments were
not at all to the wearers' taste, for they endeavoured, from time to
time, to shake them off by stamping violently on the ground. As to the
long-haired oxen, they were regular caricatures; nothing can be conceived
more ludicrous than their appearance, as they slowly advanced, with legs
separated to the utmost possible width, in order to admit of an enormous
system of stalactites which hung from their bellies to the ground. The
poor brutes had been rendered so perfectly shapeless by the agglomeration
of icicles with which they were covered, that they looked as though