Besides this, when the sledge gets overturned, it is pleasanter to be shot out on to the clean, refreshing snow than to be buried ignominiously under a pile of miscellaneous baggage.
The chief requisite for winter travelling in these icy regions is a plentiful supply of warm furs.

An Englishman is very apt to be imprudent in this respect, and to trust too much to his natural power of resisting cold.

To a certain extent this confidence is justifiable, for an Englishman often feels quite comfortable in an ordinary great coat when his Russian friends consider it necessary to envelop themselves in furs of the warmest kind; but it may be carried too far, in which case severe punishment is sure to follow, as I once learned by experience.

I may relate the incident as a warning to others: One day in mid-winter I started from Novgorod, with the intention of visiting some friends at a cavalry barracks situated about ten miles from the town.

As the sun was shining brightly, and the distance to be traversed was short, I considered that a light fur and a bashlyk--a cloth hood which protects the ears--would be quite sufficient to keep out the cold, and foolishly disregarded the warnings of a Russian friend who happened to call as I was about to start.