The Russian Gipsies—Midnight drives—Gipsy singing—Its fascination1—The consequences of a late night—An unconventional luncheon2—Lord Dufferin's methods—Assassination3 of Alexander II—Stürmer—Pathetic incidents in connection with the murder of the Emperor—The funeral procession and service—Details concerning—The Votive Church—The Order of the Garter—Unusual incidents at the Investiture—Precautions taken for Emperor's safety—The Imperial train—Finland—Exciting salmon4-fishing there—Harraka Niska—Koltesha—Excellent shooting there—Ski-running—"Ringing the game in"—A wolf-shooting party—The obese5 General—Some incidents—A novel form of sport—Black game and capercailzie—At dawn in a Finnish forest—Immense charm of it—Ice-hilling or "Montagnes Russes"—Ice-boating on the Gulf6 of Finland.
In my day there were two or three restaurants on the islands formed by the delta7 of the Neva, with troupes9 of singing gipsies attached to them. These restaurants did a roaring trade in consequence, for the singing of the gipsy choirs10 seems to produce on Russians the same maddening, almost intoxicating11 effect that the "skirl o' the pipes" does on those with Scottish blood in their veins12.
Personally, I thought that one soon tired of this
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gipsy singing; not so my Russian friends—it appeared to have an irresistible13 attraction for them. I always dreaded14 the consequences when some foolish person, usually at 1 or even 2 a.m., proposed a visit to the gipsies, for all the ladies present would instantly jump at the suggestion, and I knew full well that it entailed15 a forcible separation from bed until six or possibly seven next morning.
Troikas would at once be sent for. A troika is a thing quite apart. Its horses are harnessed as are no other horses in the world, since the centre horse trots16 in shafts17, whilst the two outside horses, the "pristashkui" loose save for long traces, gallop18. Driving a troika is a special art. The driver stands; he has a special badge, peacock's feathers set in a round cap; he has a special name, "yamshchik," and he charges quite a special price.
To my mind, the drive out to the islands was the one redeeming19 feature of these expeditions. Within the confines of the city, the pace of the troikas was moderate enough, but as the last scattered20 houses of the suburbs merged21 into the forest, the driver would call to his horses, and the two loose horses broke into a furious gallop, the centre horse in shafts moving as swiftly as any American trotter. Smoothly22 and silently under the burnished23 steel of the starlit sky, they tore over the snow, the vague outlines of the fir trees whizzing past. Faster and faster, until the wild excitement of it made one's blood tingle24 within one, even as the bitter cold made one's cheeks tingle, as we raced through the
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keen pure air. That wild gallop through the forest was perfectly25 glorious. I believe that on us sons of the North real cold has the same exhilarating effect that warmth and sunshine have on the Lotos-eating dwellers26 by the blue Mediterranean27.
The troika would draw up at the door of a long, low, wooden building, hidden away amongst the fir trees of the forest. After repeated bangings at the door, a sleepy-eyed Tartar appeared, who ushered29 one into a great gaunt, bare, whitewashed30 room, where other little yellow, flat-faced, Tartar waiters were lighting31 countless32 wax candles, bringing in many slim-shouldered, gold foil-covered bottles of champagne33, and a samovar or two, and arranging seats. Then the gipsy troupe8 strolled in, some twenty-five strong; the younger members passably good-looking, with fine dark eyes, abundant eyelashes, and extremely indifferent complexions34. The older members of the company made no attempt at coquetry. They came muffled35 in woollen shawls, probably to conceal36 toilet deficiencies, yawning openly and undisguisedly; not concealing37 their disgust at being robbed of their sleep in order to sing to a pack of uninteresting strangers, to whom, incidentally, they owed their entire means of livelihood39. Some ten swarthy, evil-faced, indeterminate males with guitars filled up the background.
One of the younger members of the troupe would begin a song in waltz time, in a curious metallic40 voice, with a ring in it of something Eastern,
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barbaric, and utterly41 strange to European ears, to the thrum of the guitars of the swarthy males in the background. The elderly females looked inexpressibly bored, and hugged their woollen shawls a little closer over their heads. Then the chorus took up the refrain. A tempest of wild, nasal melody arose, in the most perfect harmony. It was metallic, and the din28 was incredible, but the effect it produced on the listeners was astounding42. The old women, dropping their cherished shawls, awoke to life. Their dull eyes sparkled again, they sang madly, frenetically; like people possessed43. The un-European timbre44 of the voices conduced doubtless to the effect, but the fact remains45 that this clamour of nasal, metallic voices, singing in exquisite46 harmony, had about it something so novel and fresh—or was it something so immemorially old?—that the listeners felt absolutely intoxicated47.
On the Russians it acted like hypnotism. After the first song, they all joined in, and even I, the dour48 and unemotional son of a Northern land, found myself, as words and music grew familiar, shouting the bass49 parts of the songs with all the strength of my lungs. The Russian language lends itself admirably to song, and the excess of sibilants in it is not noticeable in singing.
These Russian gipsies, like the Austrian bands, produced their effects by very simple means. They harmonised their songs themselves, and they always introduced a succession of "sixths" or "thirds"; emphasising the "sixth" in the tenor50 part.
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One can, however, have too much of a good thing. I used to think longingly51 of my far-off couch, but there was no tearing Russians away from the gipsies. The clock ticked on; they refused to move. The absorption of much champagne has never afforded me the smallest amusement. The consumption of tea has also its limits, and my longed-for bed was so far away! The really staggering figure one had to disburse52 as one's share for these gipsy entertainments seemed to me to be a very long price to pay for a sleepless53 night.
Once a fortnight the "Queen's Messenger" left Petrograd at noon, on his return journey to London. On "Messenger mornings" we had all to be at the Embassy at 9 a.m. punctually. One morning, after a compulsory54 vigil with the gipsies, I was awakened55 by my servant with the news that it was close on nine, and that my sledge56 was already at the door. It was impossible to dress in the time, so after some rapid ablutions, I drew the long felt boots the Russians call "Valinki" over my pyjamas57, put on some heavy furs, and jumped into my sledge. Lord Dufferin found me writing hard in the steam-heated Chancery, clad only in silk pyjamas, and with my bare feet in slippers58. He made no remark, but I knew that nothing ever escaped his notice. By noon we had the despatches finished, the bags sealed up, the "waybill" made out, various precautionary measures taken as to which it is unnecessary to enlarge, and the Messenger left for London. I called to the
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hall porter to bring me my furs, and told him to order my sledge round. "His Excellency has sent your sledge home," said the porter, with a smile lurking60 round the corners of his mouth. "Then call me a hack61 sledge." "His Excellency hopes that you will give him the pleasure of your company at luncheon." "But I must go home and dress first." "His Excellency's orders were that you are to go as you are," answered the grinning porter. Then I understood. Nothing is ever gained by being shy or self-conscious, so after a hasty toilet, I sent for my heavy fur "shuba." Furs in Russia are intended for use, not ornament62, and this "shuba" was an extremely weighty and voluminous garment, designed to withstand the rigours of the North Pole itself. A glance at the mirror convinced me that I was most indelicately décolleté about the neck, so I hooked the big collar of the "shuba" together, and strode upstairs. The heat of this fur garment was unendurable, but there was nothing else for it. Certainly the legs of my pyjamas protruded63 below it, so I congratulated myself on the fact that they were a brand-new pair of very smart striped mauve silk. My bare feet too were encased in remarkably64 neat Persian slippers of green morocco. Lady Dufferin received me exactly as though I had been dressed in the most immaculate of frock-coats. Her children though, gazed at my huge fur coat, round-eyed with astonishment65, for neither man nor woman ever comes into a Russian house with furs on—an
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arrangement which would not at all suit some of my London friends, who seem to think that furs are designed for being shown off in hot rooms. The governess, an elderly lady, catching66 sight of my unfortunate pyjama legs below the fur coat, assumed a highly scandalised attitude, as though she could scarcely credit the evidence of her eyes. (I repeat that they were exceptionally smart pyjamas.)
During luncheon Lord Dufferin made himself perfectly charming, and I did my best to act as though it were quite normal to sit down to one's repasts in an immense fur coat.
The Ambassador was very susceptible67 to cold, and liked the house heated to a great temperature. That day the furnace-man must have been quite unusually active, for the steam hissed68 and sizzled in the radiators69, until the heat of that dining-room was suffocating70. Conscious of my extreme décolletage, I did not dare unhook the collar of my "shuba," being naturally of a modest disposition71, and never, even in later years at Colombo or Singapore, have I suffered so terribly from heat as in that Petrograd dining-room in the depths of a Russian winter. The only cool thing in the room was the governess, who, when she caught sight of my bare feet, froze into an arctic iceberg72 of disdain73, in spite of my really very ornamental74 Persian slippers. The poor lady had obviously never even caught a glimpse of pajamas75 before. After that episode I always came to the Embassy fully76 dressed.
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Another instance of Lord Dufferin's methods occurs to me. We had a large evening party at the Embassy, and a certain very pushing and pertinacious77 English newspaper correspondent did everything in his power to get asked to this reception. For very excellent reasons, his request was refused. In spite of this, on the night of the party the journalist appeared. I informed Lord Dufferin, and asked what he wished me to do about it. "Let me deal with him myself," answered the Ambassador, and going up to the unbidden guest, he made him a little bow, and said with a bland78 smile, "May I inquire, sir, to what I owe this most unexpected honour?" Then as the unhappy newspaper-man stuttered out something, Lord Dufferin continued with an even blander79 smile, "Do not allow me, my dear sir, I beg of you, to detain you from your other doubtless numerous engagements"; then calling me, he added, "Will you kindly80 accompany this gentleman to the front door, and see that on a cold night like this he gets all his warm clothing." It was really impossible to turn a man out of your house in a more courteous81 fashion.
There was another plan Lord Dufferin used at times. All despatches, and most of our private letters, were sent home by hand, in charge of the Queen's Messenger. We knew perfectly well that anything sent from the Embassy through the ordinary mails would be opened at the Censor's office, and copies taken. Ministries82 of Foreign Affairs
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give at times "diplomatic" answers, and occasionally it was advisable to let the Russian Government know that the Ambassador was quite aware that the assurances given him did not quite tally38 with the actual facts. He would then write a despatch59 to London to that effect, and send it by mail, being well aware that it would be opened and a copy sent to the Russian Ministry84 of Foreign Affairs. In this indirect fashion, he delicately conveyed to the Russian Government that he had not been hoodwinked by the rather fanciful statements made to him.
I was sitting at luncheon with some friends at a colleague's house on Sunday, the fateful 1st of March, 1881 (March 13, new style). Suddenly our white-headed old Chancery messenger burst unceremoniously into the room, and called out, "The Emperor has been assassinated85!" We all jumped up; the old man, a German-speaking Russian from the Baltic Provinces, kept on wringing86 his hands, and moaning, "Unser arme gute Kaiser! unser arme gute Kaiser!" ("Our poor dear Emperor!") We hurried to the Embassy as fast as we could go, and found the Ambassador just stepping into his carriage to get the latest news from the Winter Palace. Lady Dufferin had not seen the actual crime committed, but she had heard the explosion of the bomb, and had seen the wounded horses led past, and was terribly upset in consequence. She was walking along the Catherine Canal with her youngest daughter when the Emperor's carriage
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passed and the first bomb was thrown. The carriage was one of Napoleon III's special armoured coaches, bought after the fall of the Second French Empire. The bomb shattered the wheels of the carriage, but the Emperor was untouched. He stepped out into the snow, when the second bomb was thrown, which blew his legs to pieces, and the Emperor was taken in a private sledge, in a dying condition, to the Winter Palace. The bombs had been painted white, to look like snowballs.
Ten minutes later one of the Court Chamberlains arrived. I met him in the hall, and he informed me, with the tears streaming down his face, that all was over.
That Chamberlain was a German-Russian named Stürmer, and he was the very same man who thirty-four years later was destined88, by his gross incompetence89, or worse, as Prime Minister, to bring the mighty90 Russian Empire crashing in ruins to the ground, and to drive the well-intentioned, irresolute91 Nicholas II, the grandson of the Sovereign for whom he professed92 so great an affection, to his abdication93, imprisonment94, and ignominious95 death.
There was a Queen's Messenger due in Petrograd from London that same afternoon, and Lord Dufferin, thinking that the police might give trouble, desired me to meet him at the station.
The Messenger refused to believe my news. He persisted in treating the whole thing as a joke, so I ordered my coachman to drive through the great
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semi-circular place in front of the Winter Palace. That place presented a wonderful sight. There were tens of thousands of people, all kneeling bare-headed in the snow, in close-packed ranks. I thought the sight of those serried96 thousands kneeling bare-headed, praying for the soul of their dead Emperor, a strangely moving and beautiful spectacle. When the Messenger saw this, and noted97 the black and yellow Imperial flag waving at half-mast over the Palace, he no longer doubted.
The Grand Duke Vladimir had announced the Emperor's death to the vast crowds in the traditional Russian fashion. The words "death" or "die" being considered ill-omened by old-fashioned Russians, the actual sentence used by the Grand Duke was, "The Emperor has bidden you to live long." ("Gosudar Imperator vam prikazal dolga jit!") The words conveyed their message.
The body of the Emperor having been embalmed98, the funeral did not take place for a fortnight. As the crow flies, the distance between the Winter Palace and the Fortress99 Church is only about half a mile; it was, however, still winter-time, the Neva was frozen over, and the floating bridges had been removed. It being contrary to tradition to take the body of a dead Emperor of Russia across ice, the funeral procession had to pass over the permanent bridges to the Fortress, a distance of about six miles.
Lady Dufferin and I saw the procession from the corner windows of a house on the quays100. On
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paper it sounded very grand, but like so many things in Russia, it was spoilt by lack of attention to details. The distances were kept irregularly, and many of the officials wore ordinary civilian101 great-coats over their uniforms, which did not enhance the effect of the cortège. The most striking feature of the procession was the "Black Knight102" on foot, followed immediately by the "Golden Knight" on horseback. These were, I believe, meant to typify "The Angel of Death" and "The Angel of the Resurrection." Both Knights103 were clad in armour87 from head to foot, with the vizors of their helmets down. The "Black Knight's" armour was dull sooty-black all over; he had a long black plume104 waving from his helmet. The "Golden Knight," mounted on a white horse, with a white plume in his helmet, wore gilded105 and burnished armour, which blazed like a torch in the sunlight. The weight of the black armour being very great, there had been considerable difficulty in finding a man sufficiently106 strong to walk six miles, carrying this tremendous burden. A gigantic young private of the Preobrajensky Guards undertook the task for a fee of one hundred roubles, but though he managed to accomplish the distance, he fainted from exhaustion107 on reaching the Fortress Church, and was, I heard, two months in hospital from the effects of his effort.
We were able to get Lady Dufferin into her place in the Fortress Church, long before the procession arrived, by driving across the ice of the
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river. The absence of seats in a Russian church, and the extreme length of the Orthodox liturgy108, rendered these services very trying for ladies. The Fortress Church had been built by a Dutch architect, and was the most un-Eastern-looking Orthodox church I ever saw. It actually contained a pulpit! In the north aisle109 of the church all the Emperors since Peter the Great's time lie in uniform plain white marble tombs, with gilt-bronze Russian eagles at their four corners. The Tsars mostly rest in the Cathedral of the Archangel, in the Moscow Kremlin. I have before explained that Peter was the last of the Tsars and the first of the Emperors. The regulations for Court mourning in Petrograd were most stringent110. All ladies had to appear in perfectly plain black, lustreless111 woollen dresses, made high to the throat. On their heads they wore a sort of Mary Queen of Scots pointed112 cap of black crape, with a long black crape veil falling to their feet. The only detail of the funeral which struck me was the perfectly splendid pall113 of cloth of gold. This pall had been specially114 woven in Moscow, of threads of real gold. When folded back during the ceremony it looked exactly like gleaming waves of liquid gold.
A memorial church in old-Russian style has been erected116 on the Catherine Canal on the spot where Alexander II was assassinated. The five onion-shaped domes117 of this church, of copper118 enamelled in stripes and spirals of crude blue and white, green and yellow, and scarlet119 and white, may possibly
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look less garish120 in two hundred years' time than they do at present. The severely121 plain Byzantine interior, covered with archaic-looking frescoes122 on a gold ground, is effective. The ikonostas is entirely123 of that vivid pink and enormously costly124 Siberian marble that Russians term "heavy stone." Personally I should consider the huge sum it cost as spent in vain.
Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, in those days, of course, Prince and Princess of Wales, represented Great Britain at Alexander II's funeral, and remained in Petrograd a month after it.
A week after the funeral, the Prince of Wales, by Queen Victoria's command, invested Alexander III with the Order of the Garter. As the Garter is the oldest Order of Chivalry125 in Europe, the ceremonies at its investiture have 570 years of tradition behind them. The insignia, the star, the ribbon, the collar, the sword, and the actual garter itself, are all carried on separate, long, narrow cushions of red velvet126, heavily trimmed with gold bullion127. Owing to the deep Court mourning, it was decided128 that the investiture should be private. No one was to be present except the new Emperor and Empress, Queen Alexandra, the Grand Master and Grand Mistress of the Russian Court, the members of the British Embassy, and the Prince of Wales and his staff. This, as it turned out, was very fortunate. The ceremony was to take place at the Anitchkoff Palace on the Nevsky, which Alexander III inhabited throughout his reign83, as
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he preferred it to the huge rambling129 Winter Palace. On the appointed day, we all marched into the great Throne room of the Anitchkoff Palace, the Prince of Wales leading the way, with five members of his staff carrying the insignia on the traditional long narrow velvet cushions. I carried nothing, but we made, I thought, a very dignified130 and effective entrance. As we entered the Throne room, a perfectly audible feminine voice cried out in English, "Oh, my dear! Do look at them. They look exactly like a row of wet-nurses carrying babies!" Nothing will induce me to say from whom the remark proceeded. The two sisters, Empress and Queen, looked at each other for a minute, and then exploded with laughter. The Emperor fought manfully for a while to keep his face, until, catching sight of the member of the Prince of Wales's staff who was carrying his cushion in the peculiarly maternal132 fashion that had so excited the risibility133 of the Royal sisters, he too succumbed134, and his colossal135 frame quivered with mirth. Never, I imagine, since its institution in 1349, has the Order of the Garter been conferred amid such general hilarity136, but as no spectators were present, this lapse137 from the ordinary decorum of the ceremonial did not much matter. The general public never heard of it, nor, I trust, did Queen Victoria.
The Emperor Alexander III was a man of great personal courage, but he gave way, under protest, to the wishes of those responsible for his personal safety. They insisted on his always using
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the armour-plated carriages bought from Napoleon III. These coaches were so immensely heavy that they soon killed the horses dragging them. Again, on railway journeys, the actual time-table and route of the Imperial train between two points was always different from the published time-table and route. Napoleon III's private train had been purchased at the same time as his steel-plated carriages. This train had been greatly enlarged and fitted to the Russian gauge138. I do not suppose that any more sumptuous139 palace on wheels has ever been built than this train of nine vestibuled cars. It was fitted with every imaginable convenience. Alexander III sent it to the frontier to meet his brother-in-law the Prince of Wales, which was the occasion on which I saw it.
During the six months following Alexander II's assassination all social life in Petrograd stopped. We of the Embassy had many other resources, for in those days the British business colony in Petrograd was still large, and flourished exceedingly. They had various sporting clubs, of some of which we were members. There was in particular the Fishing Club at Harraka Niska in Finland, where the river Vuoksi issues from the hundred-mile-long Lake Saima.
It was a curious experience driving to the Finnish railway station in Petrograd. In the city outside, the date would be June 1, Russian style. Inside the station, the date became June 13, European style. In place of the baggy140 knickerbockers,
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high boots, and fur caps of the Russian railwaymen, the employees of the Finnish railway wore the ordinary uniforms customary on European railways. The tickets were printed in European, not Russian characters, and the fares were given in marks and pennies, instead of in roubles and kopecks. The notices on the railway were all printed in six languages, Finnish, Swedish, Russian, French, English, and German, and my patriotic141 feelings were gratified at noting that all the locomotives had been built in Glasgow. I was astonished to find that although Finland formed an integral part of the Russian Empire, there was a Custom House and Customs examination at the Finnish frontier.
Finland is a country of endless little hills, and endless forests, all alike bestrewn with huge granite142 boulders143; it is also a land of endless rivers and lakes. It is pretty in a monotonous144 fashion, and looks wonderfully tidy after Russia proper. The wooden houses and villages are all neatly145 painted a chocolate brown, and in spite of its sparse146 population it seems very prosperous. The Finns are all Protestants; the educated classes are mostly Swedish-speaking, the others talking their own impossible Ural-Altaic language. At the extremely comfortable club-house at Harraka Niska none of the fishermen or boatmen could talk anything but Finnish. We all had little conversation books printed in Russian and Finnish, but we usually found the language of signs more
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convenient. In later years, in South America, it became my duty to interview daily the Legation cook, an accomplished147 but extremely adipose148 female from Old Spain. I had not then learnt Spanish, and she understood no other tongue, so we conversed149 by signs. It is extremely derogatory to one's personal dignity to be forced to imitate in succession a hen laying an egg, a sheep bleating150, or a duck quacking151, and yet this was the only way in which I could order dinner. No one who has not tried it can believe how difficult it is to indicate in pantomime certain comestibles, such, for instance, as kidneys, liver and bacon, or a Welsh rarebit.
The fish at Harraka would not look at a fly, and could only be hooked on a phantom-minnow. The fishing there was very exciting. The big fish all lay where Lake Saima debouched into the turbulent Vuoksi river. There was a terrific rapid there, and the boatmen, who knew every inch of the ground, would head the boat straight for that seething152 white caldron of raging waves, lashing153 and roaring down the rocky gorge154, as they dashed up angry spurts155 of white spray. Just as it seemed that nothing could save one from being hurled156 into that mad turmoil157 of leaping waters, where no human being could hope to live for a minute, a back-current shot the boat swiftly across to the other bank. That was the moment when the fish were hooked. They were splendid fighters, and played magnificently. These Harraka fish were curiously158
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uniform in size, always running from 18 to 22 lb. Though everyone called them salmon, I think myself that they were really bull-trout159, or Salmo ferox. A salmon would have had to travel at least 400 miles from salt water, and I do not believe that any fish living could have got up the tremendous Imatra waterfall, some six miles lower down the Vuoksi. These fish invariably had lice on them. In Great Britain sea-lice on a salmon are taken as a certain indication that the fish is fresh-run. These fish cannot possibly have been fresh-run, so I think it probable that in these great lakes there may be a fresh-water variety of the parasite160. Another peculiarity161 of the Harraka fish was that, though they were excellent eating, they would not keep above two days. I have myself caught eleven of these big fellows in one day. During June there was capital grayling fishing in the lower Vuoksi, the fish running large, and taking the fly readily, though in that heavy water they were apt to break off. There were plenty of small trout too in the Vuoksi, but the densely-wooded banks made fishing difficult, and the water was always crystal-clear, and needed the finest of tackle.
I spent some most enjoyable days at Koltesha, a small English shooting-club of ten members, about twenty miles out of Petrograd. During September, for one fortnight, the marshes162 round Koltesha were alive with "double-snipe." This bird migrates in thousands from the Arctic regions to
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the far South, at the approach of autumn. They alighted in the Koltesha marshes to recruit themselves after their journey from the North Pole, and owing to circumstances beyond their control, few of them continued their journey southward. This confiding163 fowl164 has never learnt to zig-zag like the other members of the snipe family, and they paid the penalty for this omission165 by usually proceeding166 to the kitchen. A "double-snipe" is most delicious eating. The winter shooting at Koltesha was most delightful167. The art of "ski-walking" had first to be learnt, and on commencing this unaccustomed method of locomotion168, various muscles, which its use called into play for the first time, showed their resentment169 by aching furiously. The ground round Koltesha being hilly was admirably adapted for coasting on ski. It was difficult at first to shoot from the insecure footing of ski, and the unusual amount of clothing between one's shoulder and the stock of one's gun did not facilitate matters. Everything, however, can be learnt in time. I can claim to be the pioneer of ski on the American Continent, for in January, 1887, I brought over to Canada the very first pair of ski ever seen in America. I used to coast down the toboggan slides at Ottawa on them, amidst universal derision. I was told that, however useful ski might be in Russia, they were quite unsuited to Canadian conditions, and would never be popular there, as the old-fashioned "raquettes" were infinitely170 superior. Humph! Qui vivra verra!
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Koltesha abounded171 in black game, "ryabchiks," or hazel-grouse, and ptarmigan. Russian hares turn snow-white in winter, and are very difficult to see against a snowy background in consequence. It is almost impossible to convey on paper any idea of the intense delight of those days in the sun and the cold, when the air had that delicious clean smell that always goes with intense frost, the dark fir woods, with their purple shadows, stood out in sharp contrast to the dazzling sheet of white snow, and the sunlight gilded the patches of oak and birch scrub that climbed down the hollows of the low hills. One returned home glowing from head to foot. We got larger game too by "ringing them." The process of "ringing" is as follows. No four-footed creature can travel over the snow without leaving his tracks behind him. Let us suppose a small wood, one mile in circumference172. If a man travels round this on ski, and if the track of any animal crosses his trail, going into the wood, and this track does not again come out of the wood, it is obvious that that particular animal is still taking cover there. Measures to drive him out are taken accordingly. We got in this way at Koltesha quite a number of elks173, lynxes, and wolves.
The best wolf-shooting I ever got was at the invitation of the Russian Minister of Finance. Great packs of these ravenous174 brutes175 were playing havoc176 on his estate, two hundred miles from Petrograd, so he invited a large shooting party to his
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country house. We travelled down in a private sleeping-car, and had over twenty miles to drive in rough country sledges177 from the station. One of the guests was an enormously fat Russian General, a perfect mammoth178 of a man. As I was very slim in those days, I was told off as this gigantic warrior's fellow-passenger. Although he took up nine-tenths of the sledge, I just managed to creep in, but every time we jolted—and as the track was very rough, this was pretty frequently—I got 250 lb. of Russian General on the top of me, squeezing the life out of me. He was a good-natured Colossus, and apologised profusely179 for his own obesity180, and for his instability, but I was black and blue all over, and since that day I have felt profound sympathy for the little princes in the Tower, for I know what being smothered181 with a feather-bed feels like.
The Minister's country house was, as are most other Russian country houses, a modest wooden building with whitewashed rooms very scantily182 furnished. The Minister had, however, thoughtfully brought down his famous Petrograd chef, and I should judge about three-quarters of the contents of his wine-cellar. We had to proceed to our places in the forest in absolute silence, and the wolf being an exceedingly wary183 animal with a a very keen sense of smell, all smoking was rigorously prohibited.
It was nice open scrubland, undulating gently. The beaters were skilful184 and we were very lucky,
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for after an interminable wait, the entire pack of wolves rushed down on us. A wolf is killed with slugs from a smooth-bore. I personally was fortunate, for I got shots at eight wolves, and six of them felt disinclined for further exertions185. I still have a carriage-rug made of the skins of the wolves I killed that day. The banging all round meanwhile was terrific. In two days we accounted for fifty-two of these pests. It gave me the utmost pleasure killing186 these murderous, bloodthirsty brutes; far more than slaying187 an inoffensive bear. Should a bear encounter a human being in the course of his daily walks, he is certainly apt to hug him to death, as a precautionary measure. He is also addicted188 to smashing to a jelly, with one blow of his powerful paws, the head of a chance stranger. These peculiarities189 apart, the bear may be regarded as practically harmless. It is otherwise with the wolf.
Some of the British Colony were fond of going to Finland for a peculiar131 form of sport. I use the last word dubiously190, for to kill any game birds during the breeding season seems a curiously unsportsmanlike act. Circumstances rather excused this. It is well known that black game do not pair, but that they are polygamous. During the breeding season the male birds meet every morning at dawn on regular fighting grounds, and there battle for the attentions of the fairer sex. These fighting grounds are well known to the keepers, who erect115 there in early autumn conical shelters of fir
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branches. The birds become familiar with these shelters (called in Russian "shagashki") and pay no attention to them. The "gun" introduces himself into the shelter not later than midnight, and there waits patiently for the first gleam of dawn. He must on no account smoke. With the first grey streak191 of dawn in the sky there is a great rushing of wings in the air, and dozens of male birds appear from nowhere; strutting192 up and down, puffing193 out their feathers, and hissing194 furiously at each other in challenge. The grey hens meanwhile sit in the surrounding trees, watching, as did the ladies of old at a tournament, the prowess of their men-folk in the lists. The grey hens never show themselves, and make no sound; two things, one would imagine, contrary to every instinct of their sex. A challenge once accepted, two males begin fighting furiously with wings, claws, and beaks195. So absorbed are the birds in their combat, that they neither see nor hear anything, and pay no attention to a gun-shot. Should they be within reach of the "shagashka," that is the time to fire. It sounds horribly unsportsmanlike, but it must be remembered that the birds are only just visible in the uncertain dawn. As dawn matures into daylight, the birds suddenly stop fighting, and all fly away simultaneously196, followed by the grey hens. I never would kill more than two as specimens197, for this splendid bird is such a thing of joy in his breeding plumage, with his glossy198 dark blue satin coat, and white velvet waistcoat, that there
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is some excuse for wanting to examine him closer. Ladies, too, loved a blackcock's tail or wings for their hats. It was also the only way in which this curious and little-known phase of bird life could be witnessed.
The capercailzie is called in Russian "the deaf one." Why this name should be given to a bird of abnormally acute hearing seems at first sight puzzling. The explanation is that the male capercailzie in the breeding season concludes his love-song with a peculiar "tchuck, tchuck," impossible to reproduce on paper, moving his head rapidly to and fro the while. During this "tchuck, tchuck," the bird is deaf and blind to the world. The capercailzie hunter goes out into the forest at about 1 a.m. and listens intently. As soon as he hears a capercailzie's song, he moves towards the sound very, very cautiously. When within half a mile of the bird, he must wait for the "tchuck, tchuck," which lasts about two minutes, before daring to advance. The "tchuck" over, he must remain absolutely motionless until it recommences. The snapping of a twig199 will be enough to silence the bird and to make it fly away. It will be seen then that to approach a capercailzie is a difficult task, and one requiring infinite patience. Once within shot, there is no particular fun in shooting a sitting bird the size of a turkey, up at the top of a tree, even though it only appears as a dusky mass against the faint beginnings of dawn.
The real charm of this blackcock and capercailzie shooting was that one would not otherwise have
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been out in the great forest at break of day.
To me there was always an infinite fascination in seeing these great Northern tracts200 of woodland awakening201 from their long winter sleep. The sweetness of the dawn, the delicious smell of growing things, the fresh young life springing up under one's feet, all these appealed to every fibre in my being. Nature always restores the balance of things. In Russia, as in Canada, after the rigours of the winter, once the snow has disappeared, flowers carpet the ground with a rapidity of growth unknown in more temperate202 climates. These Finland woods were covered with a low creeping plant with masses of small, white, waxy203 flowers. It was, I think, one of the smaller cranberries204. There was an orange-flowering nettle205, too, the leaves of which changed from green to vivid purple as they climbed the stalk, making gorgeous patches of colour, and great drifts of blue hepaticas on the higher ground. To appreciate Nature properly, she must be seen at unaccustomed times, as she bestirs herself after her night's rest whilst the sky brightens.
In Petrograd itself the British Colony found plenty of amusement. We had an English ice-hill club to which all the Embassy belonged. The elevation206 of a Russian ice-hill, some forty feet only, may seem tame after the imposing207 heights of Canadian toboggan slides, but I fancy that the pace travelled is greater in Russia. The ice-hills were always built in pairs, about three hundred yards apart, with two parallel runs. Both hills
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and runs were built of solid blocks of ice, watered every day, and the pitch of the actual hill was very steep. In the place of a toboggan we used little sleds two feet long, mounted on skate-runners, which were kept constantly sharpened. These travelled over the ice at a tremendous pace, and at the end of the straight run, the corresponding hill had only to be mounted to bring you home again to the starting-point. The art of steering208 these sleds was soon learnt, once the elementary principle was grasped that after a turn to the left, a corresponding turn to the right must be made to straighten up the machine, exactly as is done instinctively209 on a bicycle. A wave of the hand or of the foot was enough to change the direction, the ice-hiller going down head foremost, with the sled under his chest.
Longer sleds were used for taking ladies down. The man sat cross-legged in front, whilst the lady knelt behind him with both her arms round his neck. Possibly the enforced familiarity of this attitude was what made the amusement so popular.
We gave at times evening parties at the ice-hills, when the woods were lit up with rows of Chinese lanterns, making a charming effect against the snow, and electric arcs blazed from the summits of the slides. To those curious in such matters, I may say that as secondary batteries had not then been invented, and we had no dynamo, power was furnished direct by powerful Grove210 two-cell batteries. One night our amateur electrician was
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nearly killed by the brown fumes211 of nitrous acid these batteries give off from their negative cells.
We had an ice-boat on the Gulf of Finland as well. It is only in early spring, and very seldom then, that this amusement can be indulged in. The necessary conditions are (1) a heavy thaw212 to melt all the snow from the surface of the ice, followed by a sharp frost; (2) a strong breeze. Nature is not often obliging enough to arrange matters in this sequence. We had some good sailing, though, and could get forty miles an hour out of our craft with a decent breeze. Our boat was of the Dutch, not the Canadian type. I was astonished to find how close an ice-boat could lay to the wind, for obviously anything in the nature of leeway is impossible with a boat on runners. Ice-sailing was bitterly cold work, and the navigation of the Gulf of Finland required great caution, for in early spring great cracks appeared in the ice. On one occasion, in avoiding a large crack, we ran into the omnibus plying213 on runners between Kronstadt and the mainland. The driver of the coach was drunk, and lost his head, to the terror of his passengers, but very little damage was done. It may be worth while recording214 this, as it is but seldom that a boat collides with an omnibus.
It will be seen that in one way and another there was no lack of amusement to be found round Petrograd, even during the entire cessation of Court and social entertainments.
Personally, I thought that one soon tired of this
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gipsy singing; not so my Russian friends—it appeared to have an irresistible13 attraction for them. I always dreaded14 the consequences when some foolish person, usually at 1 or even 2 a.m., proposed a visit to the gipsies, for all the ladies present would instantly jump at the suggestion, and I knew full well that it entailed15 a forcible separation from bed until six or possibly seven next morning.
Troikas would at once be sent for. A troika is a thing quite apart. Its horses are harnessed as are no other horses in the world, since the centre horse trots16 in shafts17, whilst the two outside horses, the "pristashkui" loose save for long traces, gallop18. Driving a troika is a special art. The driver stands; he has a special badge, peacock's feathers set in a round cap; he has a special name, "yamshchik," and he charges quite a special price.
To my mind, the drive out to the islands was the one redeeming19 feature of these expeditions. Within the confines of the city, the pace of the troikas was moderate enough, but as the last scattered20 houses of the suburbs merged21 into the forest, the driver would call to his horses, and the two loose horses broke into a furious gallop, the centre horse in shafts moving as swiftly as any American trotter. Smoothly22 and silently under the burnished23 steel of the starlit sky, they tore over the snow, the vague outlines of the fir trees whizzing past. Faster and faster, until the wild excitement of it made one's blood tingle24 within one, even as the bitter cold made one's cheeks tingle, as we raced through the
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keen pure air. That wild gallop through the forest was perfectly25 glorious. I believe that on us sons of the North real cold has the same exhilarating effect that warmth and sunshine have on the Lotos-eating dwellers26 by the blue Mediterranean27.
The troika would draw up at the door of a long, low, wooden building, hidden away amongst the fir trees of the forest. After repeated bangings at the door, a sleepy-eyed Tartar appeared, who ushered29 one into a great gaunt, bare, whitewashed30 room, where other little yellow, flat-faced, Tartar waiters were lighting31 countless32 wax candles, bringing in many slim-shouldered, gold foil-covered bottles of champagne33, and a samovar or two, and arranging seats. Then the gipsy troupe8 strolled in, some twenty-five strong; the younger members passably good-looking, with fine dark eyes, abundant eyelashes, and extremely indifferent complexions34. The older members of the company made no attempt at coquetry. They came muffled35 in woollen shawls, probably to conceal36 toilet deficiencies, yawning openly and undisguisedly; not concealing37 their disgust at being robbed of their sleep in order to sing to a pack of uninteresting strangers, to whom, incidentally, they owed their entire means of livelihood39. Some ten swarthy, evil-faced, indeterminate males with guitars filled up the background.
One of the younger members of the troupe would begin a song in waltz time, in a curious metallic40 voice, with a ring in it of something Eastern,
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barbaric, and utterly41 strange to European ears, to the thrum of the guitars of the swarthy males in the background. The elderly females looked inexpressibly bored, and hugged their woollen shawls a little closer over their heads. Then the chorus took up the refrain. A tempest of wild, nasal melody arose, in the most perfect harmony. It was metallic, and the din28 was incredible, but the effect it produced on the listeners was astounding42. The old women, dropping their cherished shawls, awoke to life. Their dull eyes sparkled again, they sang madly, frenetically; like people possessed43. The un-European timbre44 of the voices conduced doubtless to the effect, but the fact remains45 that this clamour of nasal, metallic voices, singing in exquisite46 harmony, had about it something so novel and fresh—or was it something so immemorially old?—that the listeners felt absolutely intoxicated47.
On the Russians it acted like hypnotism. After the first song, they all joined in, and even I, the dour48 and unemotional son of a Northern land, found myself, as words and music grew familiar, shouting the bass49 parts of the songs with all the strength of my lungs. The Russian language lends itself admirably to song, and the excess of sibilants in it is not noticeable in singing.
These Russian gipsies, like the Austrian bands, produced their effects by very simple means. They harmonised their songs themselves, and they always introduced a succession of "sixths" or "thirds"; emphasising the "sixth" in the tenor50 part.
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One can, however, have too much of a good thing. I used to think longingly51 of my far-off couch, but there was no tearing Russians away from the gipsies. The clock ticked on; they refused to move. The absorption of much champagne has never afforded me the smallest amusement. The consumption of tea has also its limits, and my longed-for bed was so far away! The really staggering figure one had to disburse52 as one's share for these gipsy entertainments seemed to me to be a very long price to pay for a sleepless53 night.
Once a fortnight the "Queen's Messenger" left Petrograd at noon, on his return journey to London. On "Messenger mornings" we had all to be at the Embassy at 9 a.m. punctually. One morning, after a compulsory54 vigil with the gipsies, I was awakened55 by my servant with the news that it was close on nine, and that my sledge56 was already at the door. It was impossible to dress in the time, so after some rapid ablutions, I drew the long felt boots the Russians call "Valinki" over my pyjamas57, put on some heavy furs, and jumped into my sledge. Lord Dufferin found me writing hard in the steam-heated Chancery, clad only in silk pyjamas, and with my bare feet in slippers58. He made no remark, but I knew that nothing ever escaped his notice. By noon we had the despatches finished, the bags sealed up, the "waybill" made out, various precautionary measures taken as to which it is unnecessary to enlarge, and the Messenger left for London. I called to the
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hall porter to bring me my furs, and told him to order my sledge round. "His Excellency has sent your sledge home," said the porter, with a smile lurking60 round the corners of his mouth. "Then call me a hack61 sledge." "His Excellency hopes that you will give him the pleasure of your company at luncheon." "But I must go home and dress first." "His Excellency's orders were that you are to go as you are," answered the grinning porter. Then I understood. Nothing is ever gained by being shy or self-conscious, so after a hasty toilet, I sent for my heavy fur "shuba." Furs in Russia are intended for use, not ornament62, and this "shuba" was an extremely weighty and voluminous garment, designed to withstand the rigours of the North Pole itself. A glance at the mirror convinced me that I was most indelicately décolleté about the neck, so I hooked the big collar of the "shuba" together, and strode upstairs. The heat of this fur garment was unendurable, but there was nothing else for it. Certainly the legs of my pyjamas protruded63 below it, so I congratulated myself on the fact that they were a brand-new pair of very smart striped mauve silk. My bare feet too were encased in remarkably64 neat Persian slippers of green morocco. Lady Dufferin received me exactly as though I had been dressed in the most immaculate of frock-coats. Her children though, gazed at my huge fur coat, round-eyed with astonishment65, for neither man nor woman ever comes into a Russian house with furs on—an
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arrangement which would not at all suit some of my London friends, who seem to think that furs are designed for being shown off in hot rooms. The governess, an elderly lady, catching66 sight of my unfortunate pyjama legs below the fur coat, assumed a highly scandalised attitude, as though she could scarcely credit the evidence of her eyes. (I repeat that they were exceptionally smart pyjamas.)
During luncheon Lord Dufferin made himself perfectly charming, and I did my best to act as though it were quite normal to sit down to one's repasts in an immense fur coat.
The Ambassador was very susceptible67 to cold, and liked the house heated to a great temperature. That day the furnace-man must have been quite unusually active, for the steam hissed68 and sizzled in the radiators69, until the heat of that dining-room was suffocating70. Conscious of my extreme décolletage, I did not dare unhook the collar of my "shuba," being naturally of a modest disposition71, and never, even in later years at Colombo or Singapore, have I suffered so terribly from heat as in that Petrograd dining-room in the depths of a Russian winter. The only cool thing in the room was the governess, who, when she caught sight of my bare feet, froze into an arctic iceberg72 of disdain73, in spite of my really very ornamental74 Persian slippers. The poor lady had obviously never even caught a glimpse of pajamas75 before. After that episode I always came to the Embassy fully76 dressed.
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Another instance of Lord Dufferin's methods occurs to me. We had a large evening party at the Embassy, and a certain very pushing and pertinacious77 English newspaper correspondent did everything in his power to get asked to this reception. For very excellent reasons, his request was refused. In spite of this, on the night of the party the journalist appeared. I informed Lord Dufferin, and asked what he wished me to do about it. "Let me deal with him myself," answered the Ambassador, and going up to the unbidden guest, he made him a little bow, and said with a bland78 smile, "May I inquire, sir, to what I owe this most unexpected honour?" Then as the unhappy newspaper-man stuttered out something, Lord Dufferin continued with an even blander79 smile, "Do not allow me, my dear sir, I beg of you, to detain you from your other doubtless numerous engagements"; then calling me, he added, "Will you kindly80 accompany this gentleman to the front door, and see that on a cold night like this he gets all his warm clothing." It was really impossible to turn a man out of your house in a more courteous81 fashion.
There was another plan Lord Dufferin used at times. All despatches, and most of our private letters, were sent home by hand, in charge of the Queen's Messenger. We knew perfectly well that anything sent from the Embassy through the ordinary mails would be opened at the Censor's office, and copies taken. Ministries82 of Foreign Affairs
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give at times "diplomatic" answers, and occasionally it was advisable to let the Russian Government know that the Ambassador was quite aware that the assurances given him did not quite tally38 with the actual facts. He would then write a despatch59 to London to that effect, and send it by mail, being well aware that it would be opened and a copy sent to the Russian Ministry84 of Foreign Affairs. In this indirect fashion, he delicately conveyed to the Russian Government that he had not been hoodwinked by the rather fanciful statements made to him.
I was sitting at luncheon with some friends at a colleague's house on Sunday, the fateful 1st of March, 1881 (March 13, new style). Suddenly our white-headed old Chancery messenger burst unceremoniously into the room, and called out, "The Emperor has been assassinated85!" We all jumped up; the old man, a German-speaking Russian from the Baltic Provinces, kept on wringing86 his hands, and moaning, "Unser arme gute Kaiser! unser arme gute Kaiser!" ("Our poor dear Emperor!") We hurried to the Embassy as fast as we could go, and found the Ambassador just stepping into his carriage to get the latest news from the Winter Palace. Lady Dufferin had not seen the actual crime committed, but she had heard the explosion of the bomb, and had seen the wounded horses led past, and was terribly upset in consequence. She was walking along the Catherine Canal with her youngest daughter when the Emperor's carriage
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passed and the first bomb was thrown. The carriage was one of Napoleon III's special armoured coaches, bought after the fall of the Second French Empire. The bomb shattered the wheels of the carriage, but the Emperor was untouched. He stepped out into the snow, when the second bomb was thrown, which blew his legs to pieces, and the Emperor was taken in a private sledge, in a dying condition, to the Winter Palace. The bombs had been painted white, to look like snowballs.
Ten minutes later one of the Court Chamberlains arrived. I met him in the hall, and he informed me, with the tears streaming down his face, that all was over.
That Chamberlain was a German-Russian named Stürmer, and he was the very same man who thirty-four years later was destined88, by his gross incompetence89, or worse, as Prime Minister, to bring the mighty90 Russian Empire crashing in ruins to the ground, and to drive the well-intentioned, irresolute91 Nicholas II, the grandson of the Sovereign for whom he professed92 so great an affection, to his abdication93, imprisonment94, and ignominious95 death.
There was a Queen's Messenger due in Petrograd from London that same afternoon, and Lord Dufferin, thinking that the police might give trouble, desired me to meet him at the station.
The Messenger refused to believe my news. He persisted in treating the whole thing as a joke, so I ordered my coachman to drive through the great
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semi-circular place in front of the Winter Palace. That place presented a wonderful sight. There were tens of thousands of people, all kneeling bare-headed in the snow, in close-packed ranks. I thought the sight of those serried96 thousands kneeling bare-headed, praying for the soul of their dead Emperor, a strangely moving and beautiful spectacle. When the Messenger saw this, and noted97 the black and yellow Imperial flag waving at half-mast over the Palace, he no longer doubted.
The Grand Duke Vladimir had announced the Emperor's death to the vast crowds in the traditional Russian fashion. The words "death" or "die" being considered ill-omened by old-fashioned Russians, the actual sentence used by the Grand Duke was, "The Emperor has bidden you to live long." ("Gosudar Imperator vam prikazal dolga jit!") The words conveyed their message.
The body of the Emperor having been embalmed98, the funeral did not take place for a fortnight. As the crow flies, the distance between the Winter Palace and the Fortress99 Church is only about half a mile; it was, however, still winter-time, the Neva was frozen over, and the floating bridges had been removed. It being contrary to tradition to take the body of a dead Emperor of Russia across ice, the funeral procession had to pass over the permanent bridges to the Fortress, a distance of about six miles.
Lady Dufferin and I saw the procession from the corner windows of a house on the quays100. On
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paper it sounded very grand, but like so many things in Russia, it was spoilt by lack of attention to details. The distances were kept irregularly, and many of the officials wore ordinary civilian101 great-coats over their uniforms, which did not enhance the effect of the cortège. The most striking feature of the procession was the "Black Knight102" on foot, followed immediately by the "Golden Knight" on horseback. These were, I believe, meant to typify "The Angel of Death" and "The Angel of the Resurrection." Both Knights103 were clad in armour87 from head to foot, with the vizors of their helmets down. The "Black Knight's" armour was dull sooty-black all over; he had a long black plume104 waving from his helmet. The "Golden Knight," mounted on a white horse, with a white plume in his helmet, wore gilded105 and burnished armour, which blazed like a torch in the sunlight. The weight of the black armour being very great, there had been considerable difficulty in finding a man sufficiently106 strong to walk six miles, carrying this tremendous burden. A gigantic young private of the Preobrajensky Guards undertook the task for a fee of one hundred roubles, but though he managed to accomplish the distance, he fainted from exhaustion107 on reaching the Fortress Church, and was, I heard, two months in hospital from the effects of his effort.
We were able to get Lady Dufferin into her place in the Fortress Church, long before the procession arrived, by driving across the ice of the
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river. The absence of seats in a Russian church, and the extreme length of the Orthodox liturgy108, rendered these services very trying for ladies. The Fortress Church had been built by a Dutch architect, and was the most un-Eastern-looking Orthodox church I ever saw. It actually contained a pulpit! In the north aisle109 of the church all the Emperors since Peter the Great's time lie in uniform plain white marble tombs, with gilt-bronze Russian eagles at their four corners. The Tsars mostly rest in the Cathedral of the Archangel, in the Moscow Kremlin. I have before explained that Peter was the last of the Tsars and the first of the Emperors. The regulations for Court mourning in Petrograd were most stringent110. All ladies had to appear in perfectly plain black, lustreless111 woollen dresses, made high to the throat. On their heads they wore a sort of Mary Queen of Scots pointed112 cap of black crape, with a long black crape veil falling to their feet. The only detail of the funeral which struck me was the perfectly splendid pall113 of cloth of gold. This pall had been specially114 woven in Moscow, of threads of real gold. When folded back during the ceremony it looked exactly like gleaming waves of liquid gold.
A memorial church in old-Russian style has been erected116 on the Catherine Canal on the spot where Alexander II was assassinated. The five onion-shaped domes117 of this church, of copper118 enamelled in stripes and spirals of crude blue and white, green and yellow, and scarlet119 and white, may possibly
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look less garish120 in two hundred years' time than they do at present. The severely121 plain Byzantine interior, covered with archaic-looking frescoes122 on a gold ground, is effective. The ikonostas is entirely123 of that vivid pink and enormously costly124 Siberian marble that Russians term "heavy stone." Personally I should consider the huge sum it cost as spent in vain.
Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, in those days, of course, Prince and Princess of Wales, represented Great Britain at Alexander II's funeral, and remained in Petrograd a month after it.
A week after the funeral, the Prince of Wales, by Queen Victoria's command, invested Alexander III with the Order of the Garter. As the Garter is the oldest Order of Chivalry125 in Europe, the ceremonies at its investiture have 570 years of tradition behind them. The insignia, the star, the ribbon, the collar, the sword, and the actual garter itself, are all carried on separate, long, narrow cushions of red velvet126, heavily trimmed with gold bullion127. Owing to the deep Court mourning, it was decided128 that the investiture should be private. No one was to be present except the new Emperor and Empress, Queen Alexandra, the Grand Master and Grand Mistress of the Russian Court, the members of the British Embassy, and the Prince of Wales and his staff. This, as it turned out, was very fortunate. The ceremony was to take place at the Anitchkoff Palace on the Nevsky, which Alexander III inhabited throughout his reign83, as
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he preferred it to the huge rambling129 Winter Palace. On the appointed day, we all marched into the great Throne room of the Anitchkoff Palace, the Prince of Wales leading the way, with five members of his staff carrying the insignia on the traditional long narrow velvet cushions. I carried nothing, but we made, I thought, a very dignified130 and effective entrance. As we entered the Throne room, a perfectly audible feminine voice cried out in English, "Oh, my dear! Do look at them. They look exactly like a row of wet-nurses carrying babies!" Nothing will induce me to say from whom the remark proceeded. The two sisters, Empress and Queen, looked at each other for a minute, and then exploded with laughter. The Emperor fought manfully for a while to keep his face, until, catching sight of the member of the Prince of Wales's staff who was carrying his cushion in the peculiarly maternal132 fashion that had so excited the risibility133 of the Royal sisters, he too succumbed134, and his colossal135 frame quivered with mirth. Never, I imagine, since its institution in 1349, has the Order of the Garter been conferred amid such general hilarity136, but as no spectators were present, this lapse137 from the ordinary decorum of the ceremonial did not much matter. The general public never heard of it, nor, I trust, did Queen Victoria.
The Emperor Alexander III was a man of great personal courage, but he gave way, under protest, to the wishes of those responsible for his personal safety. They insisted on his always using
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the armour-plated carriages bought from Napoleon III. These coaches were so immensely heavy that they soon killed the horses dragging them. Again, on railway journeys, the actual time-table and route of the Imperial train between two points was always different from the published time-table and route. Napoleon III's private train had been purchased at the same time as his steel-plated carriages. This train had been greatly enlarged and fitted to the Russian gauge138. I do not suppose that any more sumptuous139 palace on wheels has ever been built than this train of nine vestibuled cars. It was fitted with every imaginable convenience. Alexander III sent it to the frontier to meet his brother-in-law the Prince of Wales, which was the occasion on which I saw it.
During the six months following Alexander II's assassination all social life in Petrograd stopped. We of the Embassy had many other resources, for in those days the British business colony in Petrograd was still large, and flourished exceedingly. They had various sporting clubs, of some of which we were members. There was in particular the Fishing Club at Harraka Niska in Finland, where the river Vuoksi issues from the hundred-mile-long Lake Saima.
It was a curious experience driving to the Finnish railway station in Petrograd. In the city outside, the date would be June 1, Russian style. Inside the station, the date became June 13, European style. In place of the baggy140 knickerbockers,
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high boots, and fur caps of the Russian railwaymen, the employees of the Finnish railway wore the ordinary uniforms customary on European railways. The tickets were printed in European, not Russian characters, and the fares were given in marks and pennies, instead of in roubles and kopecks. The notices on the railway were all printed in six languages, Finnish, Swedish, Russian, French, English, and German, and my patriotic141 feelings were gratified at noting that all the locomotives had been built in Glasgow. I was astonished to find that although Finland formed an integral part of the Russian Empire, there was a Custom House and Customs examination at the Finnish frontier.
Finland is a country of endless little hills, and endless forests, all alike bestrewn with huge granite142 boulders143; it is also a land of endless rivers and lakes. It is pretty in a monotonous144 fashion, and looks wonderfully tidy after Russia proper. The wooden houses and villages are all neatly145 painted a chocolate brown, and in spite of its sparse146 population it seems very prosperous. The Finns are all Protestants; the educated classes are mostly Swedish-speaking, the others talking their own impossible Ural-Altaic language. At the extremely comfortable club-house at Harraka Niska none of the fishermen or boatmen could talk anything but Finnish. We all had little conversation books printed in Russian and Finnish, but we usually found the language of signs more
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convenient. In later years, in South America, it became my duty to interview daily the Legation cook, an accomplished147 but extremely adipose148 female from Old Spain. I had not then learnt Spanish, and she understood no other tongue, so we conversed149 by signs. It is extremely derogatory to one's personal dignity to be forced to imitate in succession a hen laying an egg, a sheep bleating150, or a duck quacking151, and yet this was the only way in which I could order dinner. No one who has not tried it can believe how difficult it is to indicate in pantomime certain comestibles, such, for instance, as kidneys, liver and bacon, or a Welsh rarebit.
The fish at Harraka would not look at a fly, and could only be hooked on a phantom-minnow. The fishing there was very exciting. The big fish all lay where Lake Saima debouched into the turbulent Vuoksi river. There was a terrific rapid there, and the boatmen, who knew every inch of the ground, would head the boat straight for that seething152 white caldron of raging waves, lashing153 and roaring down the rocky gorge154, as they dashed up angry spurts155 of white spray. Just as it seemed that nothing could save one from being hurled156 into that mad turmoil157 of leaping waters, where no human being could hope to live for a minute, a back-current shot the boat swiftly across to the other bank. That was the moment when the fish were hooked. They were splendid fighters, and played magnificently. These Harraka fish were curiously158
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uniform in size, always running from 18 to 22 lb. Though everyone called them salmon, I think myself that they were really bull-trout159, or Salmo ferox. A salmon would have had to travel at least 400 miles from salt water, and I do not believe that any fish living could have got up the tremendous Imatra waterfall, some six miles lower down the Vuoksi. These fish invariably had lice on them. In Great Britain sea-lice on a salmon are taken as a certain indication that the fish is fresh-run. These fish cannot possibly have been fresh-run, so I think it probable that in these great lakes there may be a fresh-water variety of the parasite160. Another peculiarity161 of the Harraka fish was that, though they were excellent eating, they would not keep above two days. I have myself caught eleven of these big fellows in one day. During June there was capital grayling fishing in the lower Vuoksi, the fish running large, and taking the fly readily, though in that heavy water they were apt to break off. There were plenty of small trout too in the Vuoksi, but the densely-wooded banks made fishing difficult, and the water was always crystal-clear, and needed the finest of tackle.
I spent some most enjoyable days at Koltesha, a small English shooting-club of ten members, about twenty miles out of Petrograd. During September, for one fortnight, the marshes162 round Koltesha were alive with "double-snipe." This bird migrates in thousands from the Arctic regions to
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the far South, at the approach of autumn. They alighted in the Koltesha marshes to recruit themselves after their journey from the North Pole, and owing to circumstances beyond their control, few of them continued their journey southward. This confiding163 fowl164 has never learnt to zig-zag like the other members of the snipe family, and they paid the penalty for this omission165 by usually proceeding166 to the kitchen. A "double-snipe" is most delicious eating. The winter shooting at Koltesha was most delightful167. The art of "ski-walking" had first to be learnt, and on commencing this unaccustomed method of locomotion168, various muscles, which its use called into play for the first time, showed their resentment169 by aching furiously. The ground round Koltesha being hilly was admirably adapted for coasting on ski. It was difficult at first to shoot from the insecure footing of ski, and the unusual amount of clothing between one's shoulder and the stock of one's gun did not facilitate matters. Everything, however, can be learnt in time. I can claim to be the pioneer of ski on the American Continent, for in January, 1887, I brought over to Canada the very first pair of ski ever seen in America. I used to coast down the toboggan slides at Ottawa on them, amidst universal derision. I was told that, however useful ski might be in Russia, they were quite unsuited to Canadian conditions, and would never be popular there, as the old-fashioned "raquettes" were infinitely170 superior. Humph! Qui vivra verra!
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Koltesha abounded171 in black game, "ryabchiks," or hazel-grouse, and ptarmigan. Russian hares turn snow-white in winter, and are very difficult to see against a snowy background in consequence. It is almost impossible to convey on paper any idea of the intense delight of those days in the sun and the cold, when the air had that delicious clean smell that always goes with intense frost, the dark fir woods, with their purple shadows, stood out in sharp contrast to the dazzling sheet of white snow, and the sunlight gilded the patches of oak and birch scrub that climbed down the hollows of the low hills. One returned home glowing from head to foot. We got larger game too by "ringing them." The process of "ringing" is as follows. No four-footed creature can travel over the snow without leaving his tracks behind him. Let us suppose a small wood, one mile in circumference172. If a man travels round this on ski, and if the track of any animal crosses his trail, going into the wood, and this track does not again come out of the wood, it is obvious that that particular animal is still taking cover there. Measures to drive him out are taken accordingly. We got in this way at Koltesha quite a number of elks173, lynxes, and wolves.
The best wolf-shooting I ever got was at the invitation of the Russian Minister of Finance. Great packs of these ravenous174 brutes175 were playing havoc176 on his estate, two hundred miles from Petrograd, so he invited a large shooting party to his
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country house. We travelled down in a private sleeping-car, and had over twenty miles to drive in rough country sledges177 from the station. One of the guests was an enormously fat Russian General, a perfect mammoth178 of a man. As I was very slim in those days, I was told off as this gigantic warrior's fellow-passenger. Although he took up nine-tenths of the sledge, I just managed to creep in, but every time we jolted—and as the track was very rough, this was pretty frequently—I got 250 lb. of Russian General on the top of me, squeezing the life out of me. He was a good-natured Colossus, and apologised profusely179 for his own obesity180, and for his instability, but I was black and blue all over, and since that day I have felt profound sympathy for the little princes in the Tower, for I know what being smothered181 with a feather-bed feels like.
The Minister's country house was, as are most other Russian country houses, a modest wooden building with whitewashed rooms very scantily182 furnished. The Minister had, however, thoughtfully brought down his famous Petrograd chef, and I should judge about three-quarters of the contents of his wine-cellar. We had to proceed to our places in the forest in absolute silence, and the wolf being an exceedingly wary183 animal with a a very keen sense of smell, all smoking was rigorously prohibited.
It was nice open scrubland, undulating gently. The beaters were skilful184 and we were very lucky,
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for after an interminable wait, the entire pack of wolves rushed down on us. A wolf is killed with slugs from a smooth-bore. I personally was fortunate, for I got shots at eight wolves, and six of them felt disinclined for further exertions185. I still have a carriage-rug made of the skins of the wolves I killed that day. The banging all round meanwhile was terrific. In two days we accounted for fifty-two of these pests. It gave me the utmost pleasure killing186 these murderous, bloodthirsty brutes; far more than slaying187 an inoffensive bear. Should a bear encounter a human being in the course of his daily walks, he is certainly apt to hug him to death, as a precautionary measure. He is also addicted188 to smashing to a jelly, with one blow of his powerful paws, the head of a chance stranger. These peculiarities189 apart, the bear may be regarded as practically harmless. It is otherwise with the wolf.
Some of the British Colony were fond of going to Finland for a peculiar131 form of sport. I use the last word dubiously190, for to kill any game birds during the breeding season seems a curiously unsportsmanlike act. Circumstances rather excused this. It is well known that black game do not pair, but that they are polygamous. During the breeding season the male birds meet every morning at dawn on regular fighting grounds, and there battle for the attentions of the fairer sex. These fighting grounds are well known to the keepers, who erect115 there in early autumn conical shelters of fir
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branches. The birds become familiar with these shelters (called in Russian "shagashki") and pay no attention to them. The "gun" introduces himself into the shelter not later than midnight, and there waits patiently for the first gleam of dawn. He must on no account smoke. With the first grey streak191 of dawn in the sky there is a great rushing of wings in the air, and dozens of male birds appear from nowhere; strutting192 up and down, puffing193 out their feathers, and hissing194 furiously at each other in challenge. The grey hens meanwhile sit in the surrounding trees, watching, as did the ladies of old at a tournament, the prowess of their men-folk in the lists. The grey hens never show themselves, and make no sound; two things, one would imagine, contrary to every instinct of their sex. A challenge once accepted, two males begin fighting furiously with wings, claws, and beaks195. So absorbed are the birds in their combat, that they neither see nor hear anything, and pay no attention to a gun-shot. Should they be within reach of the "shagashka," that is the time to fire. It sounds horribly unsportsmanlike, but it must be remembered that the birds are only just visible in the uncertain dawn. As dawn matures into daylight, the birds suddenly stop fighting, and all fly away simultaneously196, followed by the grey hens. I never would kill more than two as specimens197, for this splendid bird is such a thing of joy in his breeding plumage, with his glossy198 dark blue satin coat, and white velvet waistcoat, that there
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is some excuse for wanting to examine him closer. Ladies, too, loved a blackcock's tail or wings for their hats. It was also the only way in which this curious and little-known phase of bird life could be witnessed.
The capercailzie is called in Russian "the deaf one." Why this name should be given to a bird of abnormally acute hearing seems at first sight puzzling. The explanation is that the male capercailzie in the breeding season concludes his love-song with a peculiar "tchuck, tchuck," impossible to reproduce on paper, moving his head rapidly to and fro the while. During this "tchuck, tchuck," the bird is deaf and blind to the world. The capercailzie hunter goes out into the forest at about 1 a.m. and listens intently. As soon as he hears a capercailzie's song, he moves towards the sound very, very cautiously. When within half a mile of the bird, he must wait for the "tchuck, tchuck," which lasts about two minutes, before daring to advance. The "tchuck" over, he must remain absolutely motionless until it recommences. The snapping of a twig199 will be enough to silence the bird and to make it fly away. It will be seen then that to approach a capercailzie is a difficult task, and one requiring infinite patience. Once within shot, there is no particular fun in shooting a sitting bird the size of a turkey, up at the top of a tree, even though it only appears as a dusky mass against the faint beginnings of dawn.
The real charm of this blackcock and capercailzie shooting was that one would not otherwise have
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been out in the great forest at break of day.
To me there was always an infinite fascination in seeing these great Northern tracts200 of woodland awakening201 from their long winter sleep. The sweetness of the dawn, the delicious smell of growing things, the fresh young life springing up under one's feet, all these appealed to every fibre in my being. Nature always restores the balance of things. In Russia, as in Canada, after the rigours of the winter, once the snow has disappeared, flowers carpet the ground with a rapidity of growth unknown in more temperate202 climates. These Finland woods were covered with a low creeping plant with masses of small, white, waxy203 flowers. It was, I think, one of the smaller cranberries204. There was an orange-flowering nettle205, too, the leaves of which changed from green to vivid purple as they climbed the stalk, making gorgeous patches of colour, and great drifts of blue hepaticas on the higher ground. To appreciate Nature properly, she must be seen at unaccustomed times, as she bestirs herself after her night's rest whilst the sky brightens.
In Petrograd itself the British Colony found plenty of amusement. We had an English ice-hill club to which all the Embassy belonged. The elevation206 of a Russian ice-hill, some forty feet only, may seem tame after the imposing207 heights of Canadian toboggan slides, but I fancy that the pace travelled is greater in Russia. The ice-hills were always built in pairs, about three hundred yards apart, with two parallel runs. Both hills
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and runs were built of solid blocks of ice, watered every day, and the pitch of the actual hill was very steep. In the place of a toboggan we used little sleds two feet long, mounted on skate-runners, which were kept constantly sharpened. These travelled over the ice at a tremendous pace, and at the end of the straight run, the corresponding hill had only to be mounted to bring you home again to the starting-point. The art of steering208 these sleds was soon learnt, once the elementary principle was grasped that after a turn to the left, a corresponding turn to the right must be made to straighten up the machine, exactly as is done instinctively209 on a bicycle. A wave of the hand or of the foot was enough to change the direction, the ice-hiller going down head foremost, with the sled under his chest.
Longer sleds were used for taking ladies down. The man sat cross-legged in front, whilst the lady knelt behind him with both her arms round his neck. Possibly the enforced familiarity of this attitude was what made the amusement so popular.
We gave at times evening parties at the ice-hills, when the woods were lit up with rows of Chinese lanterns, making a charming effect against the snow, and electric arcs blazed from the summits of the slides. To those curious in such matters, I may say that as secondary batteries had not then been invented, and we had no dynamo, power was furnished direct by powerful Grove210 two-cell batteries. One night our amateur electrician was
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nearly killed by the brown fumes211 of nitrous acid these batteries give off from their negative cells.
We had an ice-boat on the Gulf of Finland as well. It is only in early spring, and very seldom then, that this amusement can be indulged in. The necessary conditions are (1) a heavy thaw212 to melt all the snow from the surface of the ice, followed by a sharp frost; (2) a strong breeze. Nature is not often obliging enough to arrange matters in this sequence. We had some good sailing, though, and could get forty miles an hour out of our craft with a decent breeze. Our boat was of the Dutch, not the Canadian type. I was astonished to find how close an ice-boat could lay to the wind, for obviously anything in the nature of leeway is impossible with a boat on runners. Ice-sailing was bitterly cold work, and the navigation of the Gulf of Finland required great caution, for in early spring great cracks appeared in the ice. On one occasion, in avoiding a large crack, we ran into the omnibus plying213 on runners between Kronstadt and the mainland. The driver of the coach was drunk, and lost his head, to the terror of his passengers, but very little damage was done. It may be worth while recording214 this, as it is but seldom that a boat collides with an omnibus.
It will be seen that in one way and another there was no lack of amusement to be found round Petrograd, even during the entire cessation of Court and social entertainments.
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1
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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2
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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3
assassination
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| n.暗杀；暗杀事件 | |
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4
salmon
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| n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的 | |
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obese
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| adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的 | |
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6
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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delta
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| n.（流的）角洲 | |
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troupe
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| n.剧团，戏班；杂技团；马戏团 | |
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troupes
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| n. （演出的）一团, 一班 vi. 巡回演出 | |
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10
choirs
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| n.教堂的唱诗班( choir的名词复数 )；唱诗队；公开表演的合唱团；（教堂）唱经楼 | |
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11
intoxicating
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| a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的 | |
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12
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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13
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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14
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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15
entailed
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| 使…成为必要( entail的过去式和过去分词 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需 | |
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trots
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| 小跑，急走( trot的名词复数 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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17
shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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18
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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19
redeeming
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| 补偿的，弥补的 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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21
merged
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| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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22
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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burnished
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| adj.抛光的，光亮的v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的过去式和过去分词 )；被擦亮，磨光 | |
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24
tingle
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| vi.感到刺痛，感到激动；n.刺痛，激动 | |
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25
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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26
dwellers
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| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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27
Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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whitewashed
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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32
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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33
champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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complexions
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| 肤色( complexion的名词复数 )； 面色； 局面； 性质 | |
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muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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38
tally
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| n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致 | |
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livelihood
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| n.生计，谋生之道 | |
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metallic
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| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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timbre
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| n.音色，音质 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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dour
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| adj.冷酷的，严厉的；（岩石）嶙峋的；顽强不屈 | |
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49
bass
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| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
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50
tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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longingly
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| adv. 渴望地 热望地 | |
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disburse
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| v.支出，拨款 | |
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53
sleepless
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| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
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54
compulsory
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| n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的 | |
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55
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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56
sledge
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| n.雪橇，大锤；v.用雪橇搬运，坐雪橇往 | |
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57
pyjamas
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| n.（宽大的）睡衣裤 | |
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slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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despatch
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| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
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lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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61
hack
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| n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳 | |
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ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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63
protruded
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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64
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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66
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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68
hissed
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| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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69
radiators
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| n.（暖气设备的）散热器( radiator的名词复数 )；汽车引擎的冷却器，散热器 | |
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70
suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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71
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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72
iceberg
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| n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人 | |
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73
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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74
ornamental
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| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
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75
pajamas
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| n.睡衣裤 | |
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76
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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77
pertinacious
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| adj.顽固的 | |
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78
bland
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| adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的 | |
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79
blander
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| adj.（食物）淡而无味的( bland的比较级 )；平和的；温和的；无动于衷的 | |
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80
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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81
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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82
ministries
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| （政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期 | |
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83
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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84
ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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85
assassinated
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| v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏 | |
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86
wringing
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| 淋湿的，湿透的 | |
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87
armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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88
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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89
incompetence
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| n.不胜任，不称职 | |
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90
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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91
irresolute
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| adj.无决断的，优柔寡断的，踌躇不定的 | |
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92
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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93
abdication
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| n.辞职；退位 | |
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94
imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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95
ignominious
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| adj.可鄙的，不光彩的，耻辱的 | |
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96
serried
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| adj.拥挤的；密集的 | |
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97
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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98
embalmed
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| adj.用防腐药物保存（尸体）的v.保存（尸体）不腐( embalm的过去式和过去分词 )；使不被遗忘；使充满香气 | |
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99
fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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100
quays
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| 码头( quay的名词复数 ) | |
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101
civilian
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| adj.平民的，民用的，民众的 | |
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102
knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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103
knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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104
plume
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| n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰 | |
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105
gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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106
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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107
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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108
liturgy
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| n.礼拜仪式 | |
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109
aisle
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| n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道 | |
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110
stringent
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| adj.严厉的；令人信服的；银根紧的 | |
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111
lustreless
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| adj.无光泽的，无光彩的，平淡乏味的 | |
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112
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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113
pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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114
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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115
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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116
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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117
domes
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| n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 )；像圆屋顶一样的东西；圆顶体育场 | |
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118
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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119
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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120
garish
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| adj.华丽而俗气的，华而不实的 | |
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121
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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122
frescoes
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| n.壁画( fresco的名词复数 )；温壁画技法，湿壁画 | |
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123
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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124
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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125
chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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126
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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127
bullion
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| n.金条，银条 | |
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128
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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129
rambling
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| adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的 | |
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130
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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131
peculiar
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|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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132
maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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133
risibility
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| n.爱笑，幽默感 | |
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134
succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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135
colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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136
hilarity
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| n.欢乐；热闹 | |
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137
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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138
gauge
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| v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器 | |
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139
sumptuous
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|
| adj.豪华的，奢侈的，华丽的 | |
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140
baggy
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| adj.膨胀如袋的，宽松下垂的 | |
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141
patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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142
granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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143
boulders
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|
| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
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144
monotonous
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|
| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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145
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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146
sparse
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|
| adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的 | |
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147
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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148
adipose
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| adj.脂肪质的，脂肪多的；n.（储于脂肪组织中的）动物脂肪；肥胖 | |
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149
conversed
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的过去式 ) | |
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150
bleating
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| v.（羊，小牛）叫( bleat的现在分词 )；哭诉；发出羊叫似的声音；轻声诉说 | |
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151
quacking
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| v.（鸭子）发出嘎嘎声( quack的现在分词 ) | |
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152
seething
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| 沸腾的，火热的 | |
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153
lashing
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| n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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154
gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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155
spurts
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| 短暂而突然的活动或努力( spurt的名词复数 )； 突然奋起 | |
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156
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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157
turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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158
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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159
trout
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| n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属) | |
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160
parasite
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| n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客 | |
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161
peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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162
marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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163
confiding
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| adj.相信人的，易于相信的v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的现在分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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164
fowl
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| n.家禽，鸡，禽肉 | |
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165
omission
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| n.省略，删节；遗漏或省略的事物，冗长 | |
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166
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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167
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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168
locomotion
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| n.运动，移动 | |
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169
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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170
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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171
abounded
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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172
circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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173
elks
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| n.麋鹿( elk的名词复数 ) | |
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174
ravenous
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| adj.极饿的，贪婪的 | |
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175
brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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176
havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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177
sledges
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| n.雪橇，雪车( sledge的名词复数 )v.乘雪橇( sledge的第三人称单数 )；用雪橇运载 | |
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178
mammoth
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| n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的 | |
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179
profusely
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| ad.abundantly | |
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180
obesity
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| n.肥胖，肥大 | |
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181
smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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182
scantily
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| adv.缺乏地；不充足地；吝啬地；狭窄地 | |
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183
wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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184
skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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185
exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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186
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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187
slaying
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| 杀戮。 | |
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188
addicted
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|
| adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的 | |
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189
peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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190
dubiously
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| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
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191
streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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192
strutting
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| 加固，支撑物 | |
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193
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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194
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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195
beaks
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| n.鸟嘴( beak的名词复数 )；鹰钩嘴；尖鼻子；掌权者 | |
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196
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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197
specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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198
glossy
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| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
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199
twig
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| n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解 | |
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200
tracts
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| 大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文 | |
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201
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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202
temperate
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| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
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203
waxy
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| adj.苍白的；光滑的 | |
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204
cranberries
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| n.越橘( cranberry的名词复数 ) | |
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205
nettle
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| n.荨麻；v.烦忧，激恼 | |
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206
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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207
imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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208
steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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209
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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210
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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211
fumes
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| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
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212
thaw
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| v.（使）融化，（使）变得友善；n.融化，缓和 | |
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213
plying
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的现在分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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214
recording
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| n.录音，记录 | |
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