jured their carriage, and threw down two of their horses. As a return for his carelessness the feld-jager sprang from his seat and beat the driver unmercifully with his sabre; but these accidents were of frequent occurrence. Nevertheless, the feld-jager pressed on at a speed which allowed scarcely time for rest or refreshment. Holman began now to suffer much from fatigue and cold, although his costume had been carefully adapted to the rigorous climate. He wore two pairs of woollen stockings, with two pairs of far boots coming above the knees, the inner ones made of the skin of the wild goat, the outer ones of leather lined with fur, and having thick soles to them. Added to these, his legs were enveloped in a thick fur cloak. His body, besides his ordinary clothing, was covered over with a thickly wadded great coat, over which he wore an immense "shube," made of the skins of wolves, while the head was protected by a wadded cap. Notwithstanding all these precautions, however, the rigours of a climate more severe than anything known in Europe, added to his cramped position in the sledge, began to affect his health. It was at Ekaterinburg, where he was seized with a giddiness and faintness with which he fell from his chair, that he with difficulty prevailed on his keeper to permit him to rest, after calling in a government medical man to justify him from any charge of unnecessary delay, and after warning his charge to confine himself to the house.
The respite was brief, and again the sledge set forth with its two occupants through the snows and tempests of those inhospitable wastes. In this way they travelled nearly five thousand miles, and on the 5th of March
