frozen with cold.

Some short time after we had lost sight of our three wolves, we had a
singular encounter enough. We saw advancing towards us, on the same
road, two chariots each drawn by three oxen. To each chariot were
fastened, with great iron chains, twelve dogs of a terrible and ferocious
aspect, four on each side, and four behind. These carriages were laden
with square boxes, painted red; the drivers sat on the boxes. We could
not conjecture what was the nature of the load, on account of which they
thought it essential to have this horrible escort of Cerberuses. In
accordance with the customs of the country, we could not question them on
this point. The slightest indiscretion would have made us pass in their
eyes for people actuated by evil intentions. We contented ourselves with
asking if we were still very far from the monastery of Tchortchi, where
we hoped to arrive that day; but the baying of the dogs, and the clanking
of their chains, prevented us from hearing the answer.

As we were going through the hollow of a valley, we remarked on the
summit of an elevated mountain before us a long line of objects without
motion, and of an indefinite form. By-and-by these objects seemed to
resemble a formidable battery of cannons, ranged in line, and the nearer
we advanced, the more were we confirmed in this impression. We felt sure
that we saw distinctly the wheels of the carriages, the sponge-rods, the
mouths of the cannons pointed towards the plain. But how could we bring
ourselves to think that an army, with all its train of artillery could be
there in the desert, amidst this profound solitude? Giving way to a
thousand extravagant conjectures, we hastened our progress, impatient to
examine this strange apparition closely. Our illusion was only
completely dissipated when we arrived quite at the top of the mountain.
What we had taken for a battery of cannons was a long caravan of little
Mongol chariots. We laughed at our mistake, but the illusion was not an
unnatural one. These small two-wheeled chariots were all standing still
on their frames, each laden with a sack of salt, covered with a mat, the
ends of which extended beyond the extremities of the sacks, so as to
resemble exactly the mouths of cannon; the Mongol waggoners were boiling
their tea in the open air, whilst their oxen were feeding on the sides of
the mountain. The transport of merchandise, across the deserts of
Tartary, is ordinarily eff