Blame
|
1 | # Sina Fosdick. My Teachers: Meetings with the Roerichs |
||||||
|
2 | |||||||
|
3 | ## Travel from Biisk to Upper Uimon |
||||||
|
4 | |||||||
| 5 | --- |
|||||||
|
6 | |||||||
|
7 | |||||||
| 8 | ||||||||
|
9 | <!-- block4placeid:null --> |
||||||
|
10 | |||||||
| 11 | **August 1, 1926** [Altayskoe](/#m=9/51.931062/85.336107&l=Gs&p=168/o) *Through: Krasnyi Yar* |
|||||||
|
12 | |||||||
|
13 | <a id="t4p-167-N1"></a><!-- text4placeid:167 --> |
||||||
|
14 | Next day, started later than planned. Mother disliked the driver, Edokoff, [and] said we |
||||||
| 15 | will have trouble, begged us to drop him and take other horses, driver, and carriages. |
|||||||
| 16 | We did not listen to her, [but] her words as always were prophetic. We had a very |
|||||||
| 17 | dangerous trip throughout because of Edokoff. |
|||||||
| 18 | ||||||||
|
19 | <p> |
||||||
|
20 | <a id="t4p-167-N2"></a><span text4placeid:167> |
||||||
|
21 | Came late to Krasnyi Yar, could not find lodging for the night |
||||||
|
22 | </span> |
||||||
|
23 | and |
||||||
|
24 | <a id="t4p-168-N1"></a><span text4placeid:168> |
||||||
|
25 | had to go to a selo, Altayskoe, where there was a hut full of people; so N.K. and |
||||||
| 26 | Maurice had to sit half the night with their elbows on the table, and the rest—Mother, |
|||||||
| 27 | George, and I, sat in the carriages. We began to see that Edokoff did not even know |
|||||||
|
28 | the road, [and] that his horses were poor. |
||||||
|
29 | </span> |
||||||
|
30 | </p> |
||||||
|
31 | |||||||
|
32 | <a id="b4p-169-N1"></a><!-- block4placeid:169 --> |
||||||
|
33 | |||||||
| 34 | **August 2, 1926** [Barancha](/#m=9/51.811438/85.028618&l=Gs&p=169/o) |
|||||||
|
35 | |||||||
| 36 | Next morning after wondering in search of a road for several hours, he started on a most |
|||||||
| 37 | awful road, full of stones, to Barancha, making ten versta in several hours.19 |
|||||||
| 38 | On the road, Avir. [Avirach] fell out of the carriage, but luckily he did not hurt |
|||||||
| 39 | himself. [Right] before, Mother heard “My son, keep to the left.” It is astonishing |
|||||||
| 40 | since Avirach sat to the right almost all the time [and] this is why he fell out. In |
|||||||
| 41 | Barancha we stopped at the house of Bochkareff, a former regiment solder, a very clever |
|||||||
| 42 | young man, who is running a newspaper there and a cooperative. A few Kerzhaks [Russian |
|||||||
| 43 | Old Believers] came to see us. |
|||||||
| 44 | ||||||||
|
45 | <!-- block4placeid:null --> |
||||||
|
46 | |||||||
| 47 | **August 3, 1926** [Mariinskoe](/#m=9/51.40514/84.96283&l=Gs&p=171/o) *Through: Taurag* |
|||||||
|
48 | |||||||
|
49 | <p> |
||||||
|
50 | <a id="t4p-170-N1"></a><span text4placeid:170> |
||||||
|
51 | Early morning we left for Taurag, where we stopped for a meal at the house of a young, |
||||||
| 52 | unmarried women teacher, who was very nice but rather sad. We started in the early |
|||||||
| 53 | afternoon and immediately were met with pouring rain, one that was such that we had to |
|||||||
| 54 | stop on the way in a little hut for an hour. |
|||||||
|
55 | </span> |
||||||
|
56 | <a id="t4p-171-N1"></a><span text4placeid:171> |
||||||
|
57 | Then went further, [and] on the road, the wheel, which we were suspicious of since |
||||||
| 58 | Biisk, broke, so we had to go in three carriages to the selo. [In ] Mariinskoe, we |
|||||||
| 59 | slept in a wretched house of a Tatar woman. |
|||||||
|
60 | </span> |
||||||
|
61 | </p> |
||||||
|
62 | |||||||
|
63 | <!-- block4placeid:null --> |
||||||
|
64 | |||||||
|
65 | **August 4, 1926** [Ust-Muta](/#m=9/51.23161/84.75156&l=Gs&p=172/o) *Through: Cherny Anuy* |
||||||
|
66 | |||||||
|
67 | <p> |
||||||
|
68 | <a id="t4p-348-N1"></a><span text4placeid:348> |
||||||
|
69 | In the morning the wheel was fixed, and we crossed over the Edin-gol [river]. |
||||||
| 70 | </span> |
|||||||
|
71 | <a id="t4p-173-N1"></a><span text4placeid:173> |
||||||
|
72 | Nature is becoming more and more grandiose—such views, colors of mountains, and |
||||||
| 73 | carpets of all possible flowers. |
|||||||
|
74 | </span> |
||||||
|
75 | </p> |
||||||
|
76 | |||||||
|
77 | <p> |
||||||
|
78 | <a id="t4p-173-N2"></a><span text4placeid:173> |
||||||
|
79 | Finally arrived in Cherny Anuy [Black Anuy], not so very beautiful but a very clean |
||||||
| 80 | house. Interesting that nearby are caves about 70 sazhen long bones and inscriptions |
|||||||
| 81 | [can be] found there. Also noticeable is the change of climate, strong winds, and |
|||||||
| 82 | mosquitoes. |
|||||||
|
83 | </span> |
||||||
|
84 | <a id="t4p-172-N1"></a><span text4placeid:172> |
||||||
|
85 | Leaving Cherny Anuy, we hoped to get by the same day to Ust-Kan [a place in Siberia], |
||||||
| 86 | but we did not calculate our awful driver and horses. On the road two horses stopped, |
|||||||
| 87 | refused to go; [so we] had to go to Multa, hiring extra horses on the road. There we |
|||||||
| 88 | slept pretty badly, not undressing—men on the tables, Mother and I on the beds. |
|||||||
|
89 | </span> |
||||||
|
90 | </p> |
||||||
|
91 | |||||||
|
92 | <!-- block4placeid:null --> |
||||||
|
93 | |||||||
|
94 | **August 5, 1926** [Kyrlyk](/#m=9/50.73397/84.93041&l=Gs&p=175/o) *Through: Ust-Kan* |
||||||
|
95 | |||||||
|
96 | <a id="t4p-174-N1"></a><!-- text4placeid:174 --> |
||||||
|
97 | Early morning (fourth day of our trip), [we] went to Ust-Kan, came upon a very |
||||||
| 98 | hospitable old women, stopped for tea, milk, eggs; interesting meeting with an old |
|||||||
| 99 | ex-teacher, a women, [and] former revolutionist who joined the V narod [movement] [who] |
|||||||
| 100 | spoke very interestingly, saying that Christ was the first Teacher of Communism, and |
|||||||
| 101 | that she and her [comrades] were the sowers and her grandchildren will be the reapers. |
|||||||
| 102 | Her son is not so bold and energetic as his mother. |
|||||||
| 103 | ||||||||
|
104 | <p> |
||||||
|
105 | <a id="t4p-174-N2"></a><span text4placeid:174> |
||||||
|
106 | Leaving in the afternoon, saw on the road a young eagle, cranes flying, many wild |
||||||
| 107 | geese. The road and scenery—such flowers: blue, purple, yellow, pink carpets! Mother, |
|||||||
| 108 | most wonderful, almost wept from joy at the sight of this beauty. And mountains of |
|||||||
| 109 | most unusual, exquisite contours—shapes of purple [and] dark-blue colors. |
|||||||
|
110 | </span> |
||||||
|
111 | <a id="t4p-175-N1"></a><span text4placeid:175> |
||||||
|
112 | Arrived unexpectedly at a place where the horses refused to go; the very poor horses |
||||||
| 113 | were almost dead anyhow, so had to stop in Kyrlyk. Edokoff had to ride to the next |
|||||||
| 114 | village to prepare horses, and we had to stay overnight. Stopped at a yamschik’s |
|||||||
| 115 | [coachman] post. Mother, George, and I stayed the whole night in the carriage. |
|||||||
| 116 | Marvelous place saw many Kyrgyz that live there—very picturesque people. Five miles |
|||||||
| 117 | from there is the place where the belief in the Bely [White] Burkhan began many deep |
|||||||
| 118 | caves around. |
|||||||
|
119 | </span> |
||||||
|
120 | </p> |
||||||
|
121 | |||||||
|
122 | <!-- block4placeid:null --> |
||||||
|
123 | |||||||
|
124 | **August 6, 1926** [Ust-Koksa](/#m=9/50.26827/85.61842&l=Gs&p=178/o) *Through: Abay, Yustik* |
||||||
|
125 | |||||||
|
126 | <a id="t4p-176-N1"></a><!-- text4placeid:176 --> |
||||||
|
127 | Started in the morning at five, with extra horses, to Abay, where [we] stopped at the |
||||||
| 128 | house of a |
|||||||
| 129 | *maralovod* |
|||||||
| 130 | Romanoff. He is a Turkman, a nice fellow [with a] nice wife. Ate there and got five new |
|||||||
| 131 | carriages and men, paying Edokoff and getting rid of him, awful man, [and] paying the |
|||||||
| 132 | other drivers, Vasily and Karpoff—decent fellows, but Alexander [is] also an awful one. |
|||||||
| 133 | They are all Altaitsy [people from the Altai] from Oirot. |
|||||||
| 134 | ||||||||
|
135 | <p> |
||||||
|
136 | Got settled on new horses, packed into five carriages, and left. |
||||||
|
137 | <a id="t4p-177-N1"></a><span text4placeid:177> |
||||||
|
138 | In Yustik, the carriage where the |
||||||
|
139 | gegen |
||||||
|
140 | sat was overturned. He jumped out and the horses rushed madly away. Luckily neither he |
||||||
| 141 | nor the driver (a very bad one) was hurt. We left the broken carriage and packing all |
|||||||
| 142 | the baggage into four carriages, carried on. |
|||||||
|
143 | </span> |
||||||
|
144 | <a id="t4p-346-N1"></a><span text4placeid:346> |
||||||
|
145 | Had a very dangerous crossing toward night in fog over the Siny Yar [Blue Yar] and |
||||||
| 146 | Gramatukha [a mountain in the Altai]. |
|||||||
|
147 | </span> |
||||||
|
148 | <a id="t4p-178-N1"></a><span text4placeid:178> |
||||||
|
149 | All the time [it was] pouring rain; had rain practically for four days, riding wet |
||||||
| 150 | through and through. God knows what happened to our baggage; the leather bags [are] |
|||||||
| 151 | all wet and swollen. <…> Arrived very late, everyone wet to the bone in Koksa, |
|||||||
| 152 | or Ust-Koksa (a town in Altai). Slept in the office of Gostorg [the state trading |
|||||||
| 153 | agency in Soviet Russia], where the representative finally permitted use of the office |
|||||||
| 154 | and foyer. Mother and I slept in the foyer on beds, men in the office on the tables. |
|||||||
|
155 | </span> |
||||||
|
156 | </p> |
||||||
|
157 | |||||||
|
158 | <a id="b4p-129-N1"></a><!-- block4placeid:129 --> |
||||||
|
159 | |||||||
|
160 | **August 7, 1926** [Verkhny Uimon](/#m=9/50.21396/85.74284&l=Gs&p=129/o) |
||||||
|
161 | |||||||
| 162 | Next day, it started pouring rain; went to Verkhny Uimon [village in the Altai], had to |
|||||||
| 163 | cross in a |
|||||||
| 164 | *parom* |
|||||||
| 165 | [ferry], very difficult. Maurice, George, and the driver had to push. Crossed the Katun |
|||||||
| 166 | [river in Altai] and got to Verkhny Uimon at about eleven o’clock. Pouring rain, |
|||||||
| 167 | obtained two houses, very nice ones—we stopped in one, they in the other. Lovely place, |
|||||||
| 168 | clean. Remarkable that all the villages are clean and [there are] no insects. We are now |
|||||||
| 169 | stopping at the Kerzhaks [Russian Old Believers]. Altogether [we] drove seven days |
|||||||
| 170 | through very dangerous and difficult roads. George said that it is right that obstacles |
|||||||
| 171 | should be on the way to Shambhala. I traveled together with Mother. She taught me to |
|||||||
| 172 | look and understand the harmony and combinations of various flowers, mountain shapes, |
|||||||
| 173 | shadows, tones, opening my eyes to the beauty in nature. Now she knows and understands |
|||||||
| 174 | nature and colors. |
|||||||
| 175 | ||||||||
| 176 | All the time she suffered from the heat, especially on the steamer; but on our trip |
|||||||
| 177 | from Biisk, her heart was better but had trouble with her knee. Fell on the stairs in |
|||||||
| 178 | Barancha and hurt the knee that had been hurt earlier. Suffered greatly, as we had to |
|||||||
| 179 | walk on a dangerous crossing and she had to get down from the carriage. What a privilege |
|||||||
| 180 | to be together with them. Father, so patient, wise and good. Mother, so loving. George, |
|||||||
| 181 | thoughtfully helping. Everywhere she called me “her daughter.” |
|||||||
| 182 | ||||||||
| 183 | Sad about America’s light-mindedness—lost opportunities. <…> |
|||||||
| 184 | ||||||||
|
185 | <a id="b4p-129-N2"></a><!-- block4placeid:129 --> |
||||||
|
186 | |||||||
|
187 | **August 17, 1926** |
||||||
|
188 | |||||||
| 189 | Today, in the morning, went across the river Katun, into the valley of Upper Uimon [a |
|||||||
| 190 | village in the Altai] and saw beautifully her snowy peaks and the snow saddle in |
|||||||
| 191 | between. Such a clear wonderful day we had and saw it splendidly. <…> |
|||||||
| 192 | ||||||||
| 193 | Had trouble on the *parom* [ferry], was very difficult, so all the men worked in |
|||||||
| 194 | order to push it, as the river has little water in that spot. |
|||||||
| 195 | ||||||||
|
196 | <a id="b4p-130-N1"></a><!-- block4placeid:130 --> |
||||||
|
197 | |||||||
|
198 | **August 20 — 24, 1926** |
||||||
|
199 | |||||||
| 200 | We traveled from Upper Uimon, on a new road—from Chernuy Anuy to Tumanovo, Matveevka, |
|||||||
| 201 | Karpovo, Solonikha, Biisk [cities in the Altai Region]. Not to compare it with the awful |
|||||||
| 202 | road taken before—a very good road. Much rain, beautiful country, sat all the time with |
|||||||
| 203 | Mother. <…> |
|||||||
| 204 | ||||||||
|
205 | <!-- block4placeid:null --> |
||||||
| 206 | ||||||||
|
207 | **August 26, 1926** |
||||||
|
208 | |||||||
| 209 | 26th of August. Started yesterday from Biisk on the steamer. The first day was fine, but |
|||||||
| 210 | today, in the morning, [it] jumped on a sandbank, unloaded a lot on the shore, sat until |
|||||||
| 211 | four in the afternoon, then went on. Worked with Mother all day. |
|||||||
| 212 | ||||||||
|
213 | <a id="b4p-132-N1"></a><!-- block4placeid:132 --> |
||||||
|
214 | |||||||
|
215 | **August 27, 1926** |
||||||
|
216 | |||||||
| 217 | 27th. Today, typical Asia—a very big *buran* [a sandstorm] [and] all covered with |
|||||||
| 218 | dust. <…> |
|||||||
| 219 | ||||||||
| 220 | Arrived today in Novonikolaevsk [Novo Nikolayevsk, Altai], received a call from home. In |
|||||||
| 221 | the evening was told that we should go home together because of the great importance of |
|||||||
| 222 | strengthening the E.I. fund for the great purpose. <…> |
|||||||
