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Show hllit r la's NondcrHit I.ale. On the road from Itkutsk to Klskhti, the frontier town of the Chinese em pile, the monotony of the lourney Is broken by crosslcg Lake llalkal, a wonderful lake, frozen for nine months In tho year, which has sixty times the area of the Liitoot (leueva, and has an average depth of no list than fiioi feet, or more than a mile, The cold Is so terrible that when a hurricane stirs tho waters tho waves olten freezoas waves, letnalnluV In hummocks ntovo the surface. Hut when J. M, Price, author of "From Iho Aretla Ocean to the Yellow Kea," crossed, the cold haJ caught tho lake asleep, and the li o was perfectly smooth. He hsd thirty mlks todrlveonthe solidified water, "Fur about a mile from the shore Iho Iro had a thin layer of snow over It, but wo gradually left this sort of dtzzllng white cnrit, and at length reached the clear Ice, when I taw around ma Ihe most wonderful and beviltehlng fight I ever liebeld. Owing lo the transparency of the water the Ice resented re-sented everywhere the appearance of polished crystal, and, although undoubtedly un-doubtedly of great thickness, was to colorloss that It was like passing over spaee. It gavo me nt first an uncanny feillng to look over tho sldoof tho sledgo down Into the blsok abyss I.e. neath. This feeling, however, gradually gradu-ally changed to one of fascination, till atisit I found It positively dlHltultto withdraw my gsrs from the awful depths, with nothing but this sheet of crystal between inennd eternity. I believe that most travelers on crowing the lake on the Ice for Ihe first time, experience the tame weird and fascinating fas-cinating InUuencc. About half wsy across I stopped to rnsko n sketch and take some 11 holographs. holo-graphs. It was no eatymatUr, as I fouudon geltlugoutof tho slsdgo, for Iho Ico was so slippery that, In snlto of my having felt snowboola on, 1 could hardly stand. Tho deathlike slleuct) of the surriiindlnga was occasionally broken, howovii, by curious sounds, ns though big rubs weru being Hied at somo little distance. They were cause I by Ihe cracking of tho Ice here and there. I was told that In somu mils of the lake wero hugo Assures through which the water could bo sceu. It Is for this lesson that It Is nlwais advisable advis-able to 1I0 tho Journey by daylight. Wo reached Mculslikaya, on tho opposltu coast, exactly four nnd n half hours alter leaving Lltslvenllz, the horses having douu tho wholu distance of thirty miles wlt'i only two sl0 rages of n few mlnutts inch. It was evidently evi-dently un easy bltosiwork for them, ns thoy seemed as !m h when wo drew up In the post jnrd as when they started lu the morning. |
