Oriental and Western Siberia; A Narrative of Seven Years' Explorations and Adventures in Siberia, Mongolia the Kirghis Steppes, Chinese Tartary, and P

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: A LAUNCH. there is not a nail, or an iron bolt in them, they being put together with wooden pins; and they must be built the year before they are launched. The decks are formed with strong boards framed together, but not fastened to the barque; a precaution absolutely necessary, as they are often sunk iu deep water after striking the rocks. When this happens, the deck floats, by which the men are saved. Each barque, whose cargo has a weight of 9000 poods, requires thirty-five men to direct it; and one with a cargo of 10,000 poods, has a crew of forty men. Oars, usually of forty-five to fifty feet long, with strong and broad blades, guide it at the head and stern; and a man stands Launching a Barque on the Tchoussowaia. upon a raised platform in the middle to look out and direct its course. I saw several of these vessels launched: it was a curious spectacle; on the top of the craft there were about twelve men; two gave, or rather sang, the words of command, which was followed by the others. About 400 men and numbers of women stood ready with long poles, to push the vessel toward the stream, which was done most lustily, 16 BLESSING THE BARQUES. all singing a chorus, and each verse bringing the vessel nearer the water. The first I saw launched occupied more than three hours; much of the physical force of the operators having been spent in singing. On the 15th of April, there was an earthquake at forty minutes past twelve o'clock at noon, which caused a great sensation throughout the Oural, although no damage was done. A large boat had been built for me at the pristan, and was to have a crew of five men and a boy. Unfortunately there was a marked change in the weather; we had rain and a strong wind, which caused a great flood, that swept large masses of ice down...