er, so that each person might mix the ingredients
according to his taste, consisted of cold boiled sterlet, raw ham, more
cubes of cucumber, more bits of green onion tops, lettuce, crayfish,
grated horseradish, and granulated sugar. The first time I encountered
this really delectable dish, it was served with salmon, the pale,
insipid northern salmon. I supposed that the lazy waiter had brought the
soup and fish courses together, to save himself trouble, and I ate them
separately, while I meditated a rebuke to the waiter and a strong
description of the weak soup. The tables were turned on me, however,
when Mikhei appeared and grinned, as broadly as his not overstrict sense
of propriety permitted, at my unparalleled ignorance, while he gave me a
lesson in the composition of _botvinya_. That _botvinya_ was not good,
but this edition of it on the banks of the Volga, with sterlet, was
delicious.

We shirked our meals at the establishment with great regularity, with
the exception of morning coffee, which was unavoidable, but we did
justice to its kumys, which was superb. Theoretically, the mares should
have had the advantage of better pasturage, at a greater distance from
town; but, as they cannot be driven far to milk without detriment, that
plan involves making the kumys at a distance, and transporting it to the
"cure." There is another famous establishment, situated a mile beyond
ours, where this plan is pursued. Ten miles away the mares pasture, and
the kumys is made at a subsidiary cure, where cheap quarters are
provided for poorer patients. But, either on account of the
transportation under the hot sun, or because the professional "taster"
is lacking in delicacy of perception, we found the kumys at this rival
establishment coarse in both flavor and smell, in comparison with that
at our hostelry.

Our mares, on the contrary, were kept close by, and the kumys was
prepared on the spot. It is the first article of faith in the creed of
the kumys expert that no one can prepare this milk wine properly except
Tatars. Hence, when any one wishes to drink it at home, a Tatar is sent
for, the necessary mares are set aside for him, and he makes what is
required. But the second article of faith is that kumys is much better
when made in large quantities. The third is that a kumys specialist, or
doctor, is as indispensable for the regulation of the cure as he is at
mineral springs. The fourth article in the creed is that mares grazing