The Russians are a people of great emotions.
There is a candor in their recognition of the needs of the senses which does not obtain in our self-conscious nature.

These strangely constituted people of the North--a budding nation, a nation which shall some day overrun the world--are easily intoxicated.

And there is a deliberation about their methods of seeking this enjoyment which appears at times almost brutal.

There is nothing more characteristic than the ice-hill.
Imagine a slope as steep as a roof, paved with solid blocks of ice, which are subsequently frozen together by flooding with water; imagine a sledge with steel runners polished like a knife; imagine a thousand lights on either side of this glittering path, and you have some idea of an ice-hill.

It is certainly the strongest form of excitement imaginable--next, perhaps, to whale-fishing.
There is no question of breathing, once the sledge has been started by the attendant.