ur a-breast; as had also some of
those that were heavy laden with baggage.

When we had proceeded about four miles it began to rain; which, added to
the darkness of the night, threw us all into confusion. It was at last
agreed, that we should remain where we were till day-light; and accordingly
we came to anchor in the snow, (for I cannot better express the manner in
which the sledges were secured,) and wrapping ourselves up in our furs,
waited patiently for the morning. About three o'clock we were called on to
set out, our guides being apprehensive, that if we waited longer we might
be stopped by the thaw, and neither be able to proceed nor to return. After
encountering many difficulties, which were principally occasioned by the
bad condition of the road, at two in the afternoon we got safe to an
_ostrog_, called Natcheekin, situated on the side of a small stream which
falls into the Bolchoireka, a little way below the town. The distance
between Karatchin and Natcheekin is thirty-eight wersts (or twenty-five
miles;) and had the hard frost continued, we should not, by their account,
have been more than four hours in performing it; but the snow was so soft,
that the dogs, almost at every step, sunk up to their bellies; and I was
indeed much surprised at their being at all able to overcome the
difficulties of so fatiguing a journey.

Natcheekin is a very inconsiderable _ostrog_, having only one log-house,
the residence of the _Toion_; five _balagans_, and one _jourt_. We were
received here with the same formalities, and in the same hospitable manner,
as at Karatchin; and in the afternoon we went to visit a remarkable hot-
spring, which is near this village. We saw at some distance the steam
rising from it as from a boiling cauldron; and as we approached, perceived
the air had a strong sulphureous smell. The main spring forms a bason of
about three feet in diameter; besides which there are a number of lesser
springs, of the same degree of heat, in the adjacent ground; so that the
whole spot, to the extent of near an acre, was so hot, that we could not
stand two minutes in the same place. The water flowing from these springs
is collected in a small bathing pond, and afterwards forms a little
rivulet, which, at the distance of about an hundred and fifty yards, falls
into the river. The bath, they told us, had wrought great cures in several
disorders, such as rheumatisms, swelled and contracted joints, and
scorbutic ulcers. I