ourselves and our luggage.

The body of our _tarantas_, made, for the sake of lightness, of woven
elm withes, and varnished dark brown, was shaped not unlike a baby
carriage. Such a wagon body costs about eight dollars in Kazan, where
great numbers of them are made. It was set upon stout, unpainted
running-gear, guiltless of springs, in cat's-cradle fashion. The step
was a slender iron stirrup, which revolved in its ring with tantalizing
ease. It was called a _pletuschka,_ and the process of entering it
resembled vaulting on horseback.

Our larger luggage was tied on behind with ropes, in precarious fashion.
The rest we took inside and deposited at our feet. As there was no seat,
we flattened ourselves out on the clean hay, and practiced Delsartean
attitudes of languor. Our three horses were harnessed abreast. The reins
were made in part of rope; so were the traces. Our _yamtschik_ had
donned his regulation coat over his red shirt, and sat unblenchingly
through the heat. All preliminaries seemed to be settled at last. I
breathed a sigh of relief, as we halted at the posting-house to pay our
dues in advance, and I received several pounds of copper coin in change,
presumably that I might pay the non-existent relays.

The _troika_ set off with spirit, and we flattered ourselves that we
should not be long on the road. This being a county town, there were
some stone official buildings in addition to the cathedral, of which we
caught a glimpse in the distance. But our road lay through a suburb of
log cabins, through a large gate in the wattled town fence, and out upon
the plain.

For nearly five hours we drove through birch forests, over rolling
downs, through a boundless ocean of golden rye, diversified by small
patches of buckwheat, oats, millet, and wheat. But wheat thrives better
in the adjoining government, and many peasants, we are told, run away
from pressing work and good wages at hand to harvest where they will get
white bread to eat, and return penniless.

Here and there, the small, weather-beaten image of some saint, its face
often indistinguishable through stress of storms, and shielded by a
rough triangular penthouse, was elevated upon a pole, indicating the
spot where prayers are said for the success of the harvest.
Corn-flowers, larkspur, convolvulus, and many other flowers grew
profusely enough among the grain to come under the head of weeds.

The transparent air allowed us vast vistas of distant blue hi