urning to the right and then to the left, but the
difficulty only grew greater; the water was so shallow that the boat, in
its laboured advance, turned up the mud. We were compelled ourselves to
take the sculls, while the boatman, getting into the water and passing
across his shoulders a rope, the other end of which was tied to the boat,
tried to pull us along. We applied our united efforts to the task of
moving the vessel, but all in vain; it scarcely advanced a foot. The
boatman at last resumed his seat and folded his arms in utter despair:
"Since we cannot get on by ourselves," said he, "we must wait here until
the passage-boat comes up, and then follow in its course." We waited.

The boatman was evidently altogether disconcerted; he loudly reproached
himself for having undertaken this laborious business; while we, on our
parts, were angry with ourselves for having permitted a consideration of
economy to deter us from proceeding with the ferry-boat. We should have
got into the water and waded to the shore, but, besides the difficulty
connected with the baggage, the undertaking was dangerous in itself. The
ground was so irregular that, while at one moment you passed through
water so shallow that it would scarcely float the boat, in the next
moment you came to a hole, deep enough to drown you three times over.

It was near noon when we saw three passage-boats passing us, which
belonged to the family who enjoyed the monopoly of the ferry. After
having, with infinite labour, extricated ourselves from the mud and
attained the channel indicated by these boats, we were quietly following
their course when they stopped, evidently awaiting us. We recognised the
person with whom we had tried to bargain for our passage over, and he
recognised us, as we could easily perceive by the angry glances which he
directed against us. "You tortoise-egg," cried he to our boatman, "what
have these western men given you for the passage? They must have handed
over a good bagful of sapeks to have induced you to trespass upon my
rights! You and I will have a little talk about the matter, by-and-by;
be sure of that." "Don't answer him," whispered the boatman to us; then
raising his voice and assuming an air of virtuous indignation, he cried
to the ferryman: "What do you mean? You don't know what you're talking
about. Consult the dictates of reason, instead of getting into a fury
about nothing. These Lamas have not given me a sapek;