Simpson in Russia
Horse and Cat
So Sir George Simpson and his friend, the mysterious McIntyre, have reached Russia after a long ship journey west from Sitka to Okhotsk, on the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk. They had started their sailing journey from Sitka on Monday May 10, 1842, by the Russian calendar. (By adding 12 days to the Russian calendar date you will know what date it was on the British calendar, if you need to know that.)
Anyway, they sailed west past the Aleutian Islands and reached the Sea of Okhotsk, on the Russian coast north of Japan, on June 13 by the Russian calendar. Simpson said that it took them only twenty eight days to make the journey, but they still can’t set foot on Russian soil. On June 17, 1852, they spotted land. On June 23 they stepped off the ship in the town of Okhotsk, and Simpson said:
Ochotsk, now that we had reached it, appeared to have but little to recommend it to our favor, standing on a shingly beach, so low and flat as not to be distinguishable at our distance from the adjacent waters. We saw nothing but a number of wretched buildings, which seemed to be in the sea just as much as ourselves, while from their irregularity, they looked as if actually afloat; and, even of this miserable prospect one of the characteristic fogs of this part of the world begrudged us fully the half.
So, that was Okhotsk! The next stage of their journey will bring them to a place called Yakutsk, in the interior. On my map of Russia, I placed a ruler with its zero point on the town of Okhotsk, and its other end on Petersburg, their Russian destination. There is eleven inches between Okhotsk and Petersburgh. And between Okhotsk and Yakutsk, there is only two. They have a very very long way to go still even when they reach Yakutsk! No wonder Simpson is worrying whether or not he will make it across the Russian territory. It is already the end of June….
Two days after his arrival at Okhotsk, Simpson sent off a batch of letters for England, and on the same day “I learned from a Yaukut, that the roads” that would lead him into the interior, “were exceedingly bad, in consequence of the unusual height of the waters. This state of things was very much against the comfortable and speedy prosecution of our journey as far as Yakutsk, though it might be favorable to us in ascending the Lena [river] to Irkutsk, as facilitating the tracking of boats along the banks. The news was disheartening, for the track at its best, would be a mere apology for a highway.” And that was the least of his problems:
I had some trouble in procuring horses and guides, the Yakut being inclined to drive a hard bargain; but, on being marched before Governor Golovin by a party of Cossacks, they agreed to convey us to Yakutsk in eighteen days, at the rate of forty-five roubles a horse, no load being to exceed five Russian poods or a hundred and eighty English pounds. The leader and guide, an old fellow of the name of Jacob, was said to be worth 40,000 roubles, having acquired the greater part of his wealth by lending money to his less provident countrymen at usurious interest. Notwithstanding all our precautions our princeling, for Jacob was a man of rank in his tribe, had been too keen for us inasmuch as the charge even for post-horses was only fifty roubles, while in the case of animals that had come loaded and were returning, it hardly ever exceeded forty. Considering that a horse costs only thirty or forty roubles one is inclined, at first sight, rather to buy the nags than to hire them. But a little inquiry on the spot is sure to save a great deal of vexatious and expensive experience. Your cheap bargains may be unsound from the beginning; even if they are sound, they are seldom able to accomplish the whole journey; and even if they neither die nor break down, they are almost certain of being stolen. In addition to all this, guides and drivers must be separately paid, while, from having no interest in your cattle, excepting, perhaps, an interest adverse to our own, they may prove more troublesome than the very brutes themselves. As a general rule, a traveler, whether in Siberia or elsewhere, rarely promotes either comfort or economy by being wise in his own conceit.
So, on June 27, “immediately after breakfast, we took leave of our kind hostess, Madame Zavoila, and then, accompanied by Lieutenant Zavoila, ascended the Ochota [River] in a boat to an encampment about ten miles distant, where we were to meet our princeling and his party.” The princeling is the man named Jacob. “At this spot, which presented neither tree nor shrub to shelter us from the north wind–always a cold one in these regions–that was blowing, we found a caravan of about five hundred horses, just arrived from Yakutsk. Whilst we partook of a farewell dinner with our hospitable friend [Zavoila], packs were arranged, harness repaired, and horses laden. Our little band consisted of my two fellow travellers and myself, my servant, a Cossack, and three Yakuti, with about thirty horses.”
It seems that Sir George is travelling with two companions: one will be the mysterious Mr. McIntyre, and the other is unknown to me. Who? I wonder. Simpson’s secretary Edward Martin Hopkins isn’t there: Hopkins sailed back to Fort Vancouver and went out in the express to York Factory and England. [A.C. Anderson was in charge of this particular Express, by the way.] It could be an employee of the Russian American Company, I suppose. I will try to figure out who it is.
To continue: As Simpson said above, his party bid adieu to Lieutenant Zavoila and took their departure, riding about ten versts along the coast. What is a verst, you may ask? It is an obsolete Russian unit of lengh, equal to 1.0668 kilometers of 3,500 feet. Simpson himself says below that there are about three versts to two miles, which means a verst is about 2/3 of a mile. That should help you understand what distance a verst is. His manuscript continues: “Then, striking into the country we passed through a miserable district of burnt wood, which, however, improved as we advanced, into forests of pine, larch, willows and alder, with abundance of swamp tea such as grows in Labrador and many parts of the Hudson’s Bay territories. Our progress did not exceed four or five miles an hour, Jacob being ready with the standing apology of all first days, that the horses, being fresh from the pasturage, must not have their bellies shaken. In all such cases, whether the excuse be well founded or not, the traveler, as there is no use in going ahead of his baggage, must of course acquiesce in the pace of the slowest quadruped in the caravan, unless, indeed, he has a Cossack with him to argue the point in his own summary way.”
I think I am going to be following this Cossack in the next post in this series: he is a very interesting man, and I think his presence here will help me tell Simpson’s story!
They camped that night on a branch of the Ochota River–the Ochota River is the southernmost of the two rivers that flow into the shallow harbour of the town of Okhotsk. At any rate, after unloading the horses, “the Yakuti tied them to trees for about an hour, in order to prevent them from eating or drinking while they were warm; and having thus taken care of their cattle, they attacked their own potage of rye flour, butter, and sour milk, not forgetting the libation due to the tutelary divinity of the neighborhood.” He had mentioned cattle previously, and so, perhaps, there were cattle being driven along as well as the horses they rode. And did they drink? It seems they did.
On their third day out Simpson said they “made out sixty-two versts, fording eleven rivers and encamping on the Porrick.” Then,
in the course of the night we nearly lost our Cossack with all the incidental advantages of his military discipline. My servant, having injured his eye against the branch of a tree, had poured into a glass a little laudanum to be applied to the hurt; and the Cossack took an opportunity, when unobserved, to toss off the tempting beverage. But McIntyre, on seeing his comrade’s wry faces, guessed the cause; and luckily an emetic was given in time to save the fellow’s valuable life, turning his stomach inside out to his infinite astonishment.
And so we find that Mr. Mysterious McIntyre is still here–still travelling with Sir George Simpson.
On our fifth day, the first of the Russian July, we continued our march up the valley of our yesterday’s river [the Ochota], generally riding across or along its very bed. We at length came to a steep mountain, at the foot of which the Yakuti chanted a short prayer to all and sundry, the elves and fairies of the neighborhood, invoking their aid, or at least their neutrality, in the ascent, while the bunches of horse hair, besides being here unusually numerous, were in some cases very neatly plaited. The top of this hill, which we reached about noon with the help of the spirits and our Cossack, proved to be the height of land between the tributaries of the Polar Ocean, and those of the Sea of Ochotsk, presenting a sheet of water about five miles in circumference, which, like the Committee’s Punch Bowl in the Athabasca Portage of the Rocky Mountains, was said to send forth two rivers down the opposite slopes, namely, the stream which we had just traversed, towards the Sea of Ochotsk, and the Krestoffka, through the Mayo Fordoma and the Aldan and the Lena to the Polar Ocean….The country about the height of land was poor and dismal, inhabited by neither bird nor beast, and studded with large fields of perpetual snow and ice…
After crossing the height of land we proceeded down the banks of the Krestoffka [River]…By nine in the evening, after eight hours of heavy rain, we reached Udomsky Krest, or the Udoma Crossing; and late as it was, we passed the river, here about three or four hundred yards wide in a canoe, having accomplished, in the course of the day, about sixty versts.
They continued their horse journey, travelling a little faster than they had done in their first few days. There’s a reason for that, and I am not telling you about that right now. “On our eleventh day, the seventh of the month [July], our road was even more rugged than yesterday; and from the summit of the Nanukau, an eminence of about a thousand feet in height, we obtained a beautiful view of the mountains that we had traversed during the two preceding marches, presenting, with their uniformly conical shape, the appearance of so many gigantic mole-hills.” The road eventually improved. A few days later, “the scenery now begins to lose its alpine character, the mountains flattening down to hills, the torrents sobering themselves into rivers, and the roads becoming level, while the landscape was rendered more cheerful by a variety of something like civilized plants, shrubs, and flowers, among which the wild rhubarb, represented to be of good quality, was particularly plentiful.”
“On the morning of our thirteenth day, being the ninth of the month [July], we, the passengers, pushed ahead of our little caravan through sheer impatience. After crossing some deep morasses, we reached the noble river Aldan at half-past eight, gaining two hours on the loaded horses in a run of eighty-three versts. Of the last forty-five versts, fully two thirds lay over pieces of corduroy road, so rotten and open that the animals frequently caught their legs between the logs, giving several of us severe falls; but we had reason to be thankful that we got off so cheaply for, what with the swamps themselves, and what with their bridges, travellers had often lost two or three days in doing our work of four hours and a half.” That sounds like Simpson at his best, does it not?
They reached the Aldan River, which was three quarters of a mile wide, even though it was fifteen hundred miles from the northern Ocean into which it drained. “We crossed the river in boats, though there were also in use canoes of birch bark, of the same peculiar shape as those on the Pend’d-Oreille River near Fort Colvile, excepting that the Yakuti employed a double bladed paddle like the Esquimaux and Aleutians. These canoes also serve as coffins in like manner as among the Chinooks, and other tribes of the American Coast. Having all got safely across we encamped on the left bank, where there was one house, at half-past-eleven, the sun’s rays being still visible even at this late hour.
Learning that the road would be very much better, I determined, more particularly after the success of our experiment of today, to push on ahead of our baggage all the way to Yakutsk, still distance three hundred and fifty verts, hoping by this arrangement to see whatever was to be seen and to get everything ready for proceeding up the Lena [River], before I could otherwise well finish my journey at our present rate of progress. Having formed this magnanimous resolution, we made a hearty supper of eggs, meat and milk, turning in for the night as late as half-past one.
In the morning they were delayed until eleven a.m., and then “we started with fresh horses, accompanied by two Yakuti, and also to Jacob’s great delight, by our Cossack. Everything conspired to put us in good spirits…
Our first stage of twenty-nine versts to Natchinsk was accomplished, chiefly at a gallop, in three hours and a half. This station was kept by some Yakuti, whose hospitality knew no bounds; they were comfortable and independent, possessing abundance of cattle and horses. The kindness of these people has an opportunity, which it never fails to improve, of putting its best foot foremost. To give warning of the approach of travellers, the postboys have bells attached to their stirrups, aiding the jingle with all sorts of shouting and bawling, so that, before we arrive in our own proper persons, the house is swept, the fire lighted, and the floor carpeted with sprigs of pine.
He does tell us quite a bit about this journey across Russia. Simpson’s party rested an hour in this newly cleaned house, and then travelled to Amginsk, “beautifully situated, as the name alone would imply, on the Amga, accomplishing seventy-eight versts in all–pretty well for a day that began only at eleven o’clock. The stream was about the size of the Thames above London, and its clear and placid waters afforded a delicious bath after our hot and dusty ride. Here we made a supper of milk, rye bread, and horseflesh, and slept in our clothes on branches of pine, with our great coats for coverlets, and our saddles for pillows.” The Amga is a river, about 900 miles long, and flows out of the Aldan Highlands, which I suppose is the mountain range that Simpson and his party crossed. It is the largest tributary of the Aldan River.
We were truly glad to learn that from Amginsk we had but one small stream to cross on the way to Yakutsk; and as there were posthouses at every thirty or forty versts, horses could be frequently changed, the hire being eight kopecks a verst for each horse, or something like five farthings a mile. We now, therefore, had got rid of nearly all our troubles excepting, perhaps a few swamps with their corduroy roads.”
On July 13 the party reached Temooloya, and went on to Toolgyachtach, where “after filling ourselves with iced milk, we took a siesta of three hours. From this station, passing through a sandy district, we ascended a hill overlooking the course of the Lena, and commanding the sight, at the distance of twelve or fourteen versts, of the spires and cupolas of Yakutsk. After a toilsome progress of seventeen days, through an inhospitable and almost impassable wilderness, the prospect of a large town, with all its signs of civilized life, was a change as agreeable as it was sudden. The height whence we gained this first glimpse of rest and comfort, was two or three hundred feet above the level of the plain below, being part of a ridge which extended on either hand as far as the eye could reach, while a similar ridge on the other side of the town formed the opposite boundary of the valley. These ridges, which at present served as natural barriers against the inundation of the stream, were most probably, at one time, the ordinary banks of the river.”
At the foot of the hill we found fresh horses, forwarded for our use by the agent of the Russian American Company; and a ride of five versts brought us to the ferry of the Lena, where an officer of police, sent by the Governor of Yakutsk, had been waiting for two days to welcome our arrival, which our new friend and ourselves accordingly celebrated, with great hilarity, in our own best glass of wine. After a swim in the river, which served to wash off the dust of the day’s work, we spent an hour and a half, even with two sets of rowers to relieve each other, in crossing this sea of fresh water. The stream is of a brownish color, though as it passes over a bed of sand, it is not turbid; and it is studded with willowy islands and naked sands.
The Lena is one of the grandest rivers in the world. Even here, at a distance of twelve or thirteen hundred versts from the sea, it is about five or six miles wide; and its entire length is not less than four thousand versts. Of all the streams in this country of the first class, it is the only one that flows exclusively through Russian territory…On arriving at the west side of the river, we were met by a party of Cossacks, who helped us up a steep bank of sand, where we found three droskies for ourselves and some carts for our baggage, all forwarded by the governor; and, on reaching the town, we were received by the head of the police, who conducted us to a well-furnished house that had been prepared for our reception. As I was a good deal fatigued, to say nothing of the lateness of the hour, I deferred till next day the duty of paying my respects to this kindest of all governors, and thanking him for his evidently hearty politeness. In the evening however, I had the pleasure of seeing company at home, in the person of Mr. Shagin, representative of the Russian American Association.
Thus was our journey from Ochotsk to Yakutsk completed on the seventeenth day, without any accident or loss. The distance was estimated at nine hundred and forty-six versts, which, at the rate of three versts to two miles, would amount to six hundred and thirty miles. But at Yakutsk I was informed, that to the east and north of Irkutsk, the versts were of the old standard, which bear to the new the proportion of seven to five; so that we had actually accomplished about eight hundred and eighty of our own miles. If this information was correct, then, on our last march but one, we had told off before night nearly ninety-two miles; and even at the modern standard, sixty-five miles, the equivalent, in that case, of ninety-eight versts, were not an idle day’s work.
So its still July, and it is sometime in the middle of that month. They had taken 17 days from Okhotsk, Simpson said, and had left Okhotsk on June 27. So did they arrive on July 16, 1842? Probably. The Cossack is still here, and so is Mr. Mysterious McIntyre. They spent some time here, and after some sort of splendid feast, Simpson wrote this: “Feeling that, whatever might be the case with my guests, I had myself had quite enough of the feast, I left our Cossack and McIntyre to see that there should be no foul play in getting rid of the meat and drink; and on returning, about two hours afterwards, I was assured by my deputies and others, that all was right, while the gluttons themselves tacitly confirmed the testimony by wallowing prostrate on the earth, relieving me, at the same time, from all sense of wrong in the matter by thanking me for my liberality, and kissing the ground reverentially for my sake. After such surfeits, the victors remain for three or four days in a state of stupor, neither eating nor drinking; and meanwhile they are rolled about, somewhat after the manner of the tumee tumee of the Sandwich Islands, with a view to the promoting of digestion, an operation which the slipperiness of their surface renders peculiarly difficult. Two of these gormandizers, one for the bride and another for the bridegroom, form part of the entertainments at every native wedding.” This last sentence or two, I presume, refer to the Sandwich Islanders and their celebrations, not to the Russians.
To return to the beginning of this 1842 thread, go here: https://nancymargueriteanderson.com/mysterious-mcintyre/
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