Journey from Riga to the Crimea Author:Mary Holderness Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAP. IV. Besankovitch, the Residence of Count Crep- lovitch, remarkable for the Characters of its present Owners, and for having been the Head-Quarters of Bu... more »onaparte, in his Route to Moscow—Accidental Detention on the Road—Description of a Russian Kabac— Meeting with the Count Romanzoff-—Mog- Uloff. Besankovitch is the residence of Count Creptovitch, a Polish nobleman. Mr. Y. having heard from Count Platoff, that this gentleman had been long in England, and was much attached to the English, and that he was anxiously pursuing an improved system of agriculture on his estate, he (Mr. Y.) resolved to visit him in passing ; and at the station before he reached Besankovitch, he sent over a servant with a letter to the Count, who returned a very handsome answer written in English, inviting the party to go 38 ARRIVAL AT BESANKOVITCH. there, for which purpose he sent us horses the following morning. From Dubovinka to Besankovitch is twenty- one versts. We set off late in the morning, and the road being very bad, it was getting dusk when we came within sight of the Count's residence. Here we again crossed the Dvina; the descent to it is extremely bad, the road lying below a rock on one side, the other having a perpendicular precipice overhanging the river, and being so very narrow, that our carriage, which was somewhat wider than the rest, was in great danger of being precipitated down its rocky side; but having eight or ten men to assist in getting it safe down, they recovered its balance, and we reached the opposite shore in safety. Here another delay was occasioned by one of the carriages getting set fast, and the ice not being strong enough to bear well, the horses could not draw it out. After much difficulty it was extricated, and at length we reached the chateau of ...« less