Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Anton ChekhovSTATION LISTVENITCHNAYA, ON LAKE BAIKAL, June 13.I am having an idiotic time. On the evening of the 11th of June,the day before yesterday, we set off from Irkutsk, in the fond hopeof catching the Baikal steamer, which leaves at four o’clock in themorning. From Irkutsk to Baikal there are only three stations. Atthe first station they informed us that all the horses were exhaustedand that it was therefore impossible to go. We had to put up for thenight. Yesterday morning we set off from that station, and by middaywe reached Baikal. We went to the harbour, and in answer toour inquiries were told that the steamer did not go till Friday thefifteenth. This meant that we should have to sit on the bank andlook at the water and wait. As there is nothing that does not end intime, I have no objection to waiting, and always wait patiently; butthe point is the steamer leaves Sryetensk on the 20th and sails downthe Amur: if we don’t catch it we must wait for the next steamer,which does not go till the 30th. Merciful Heavens, when shall I getto Sahalin!We drove to Baikal along the bank of the Angara, which rises outof Lake Baikal and flows into the Yenissey. Look at the map. Thebanks are picturesque. Mountains and mountains, and dense forestson the mountains. The weather was exquisite still, sunny andwarm; as I drove I felt I was exceptionally well; I felt so happy thatI cannot describe it. It was perhaps the contrast after the stay atIrkutsk, and because the scenery on the Angara is like Switzerland.It is something new and original. We drove along the river bank,came to the mouth of the river, and turned to the left; then we cameupon the bank of Lake Baikal, which in Siberia is called the sea. It islike a mirror. The other side, of course, is out of sight; it is ninetyversts away. The banks are high, steep, stony, and covered with forest,to right and to left there are promontories which jut into the sealike Au-dag or the Tohtebel at Feodosia. It’s like the Crimea. Thestation of Listvenitchnaya lies at the water’s edge, and is strikinglylike Yalta: if the houses were white it would be exactly like Yalta.Only there are no buildings on the mountains, as they are too overhangingand it is impossible to build on them.We have taken a little barn of a lodging that reminds one of any of183