We  bade  farewell  to  our  host,  and  set  out  in  a  brisk
snowstorm  to  Gavrielovsk.  Here  we  called  on  the  cah-
inetski  mines  overseer  for  the  district.  He  was  out,  but
his  wife,  a  handsome  though  rather  untidy  lady  in  a  lace
negligee,  gave  us  a  warm  welcome.  She  sent  her  pretty
little  girl,  who  was  dressed  in  a  long  Holland  smock,  to


66  THEOUGH  SIBEEIA

get  me  some  Jcvas,  a  drink  made  from  fermented  mare's
milk,  that  is  in  great  demand  throughout  the  Eussias.  It
is  like  flat  and  slightly  sour  cider,  and  assuages  thirst;
but  it  is  scarcely  a  beverage  that  you  would  go  out  of  your
way  to  imbibe  on  its  own  merits.
Mrs.  Nankin,  told  a  curious  tale  about  her  house,  a  com-
modious one  story  log  bijngalow.  It  was  a  death  house
for  pets.  'No  animal  or  bird  could  be  kept  there.  Poul-
try and  ducks  never  lived  more  than  three  weeks  or  so,
and  every  one  of  the  many  dogs  and  cats  she  had  tried
to  keep  had  gone  mad  within  a  few  weeks.  At  that  very
moment,  a  lady  who  had  been  a  member  of  the  household,
was  at  Tomsk  undergoing  the  Pasteur  treatment  for  mad
dog  bite.  Her  husband  was  inclined  to  attribute  the  trou-
ble to  the  proximity  of  a  long-disused  silver  smelting
works  a  few  yards  away.  He  thought  that  the  poison,
of  the  silver  tainted  the  water.  Yet  no  human  being  had
experienced  ill  effects  on  that  account.
