The division of the stations is very irregular, varying from
fourteen to thirty wersti. Between the second and third stations, I
passed over a very short space of ground, where I found a kind of
lava, exactly resembling the beautiful, brilliant, glassy lava of
Iceland (black agate, also called obsidian), which was stated to be
found in that island only. The second stage led through a newly-
erected Russian village, extending to Lake Liman.
August 27th. Today I had another evidence of the pleasure of
travelling by the Russian post. On the previous evening I had
ordered and paid for everything before-hand; yet I was obliged in
the morning to awaken the post officers myself, as well as to see
after the driver, and to be constantly about among the people, in
order to get away. At the third station I was kept waiting three
hours for the horses; at the fourth they gave me none, and I was
obliged to stay all night, although I had gone only fifty-five
wersti the whole day.
The character of the country changes before reaching Delischan: the
valleys contract to narrow gorges, and the mountains seldom leave
space for small villages and plots of ground.
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