s wore played daily by all save myself; I used to look on
occasionally but never learned the games.

One of the Russian games at cards is called poker, and is not much
unlike that seductive amusement so familiar to the United States.
Whence it came I could not ascertain, but it was probably taken there
by some enterprising American. Some years ago a western actor who was
able to play Hamlet, Richelieu, Richard III., Claude Melnotte, and
draw-poker, made his way to Australia, where he delighted the natives
with his dramatic genius. But though he drew crowded houses his cash
box was empty, as the treasurer stole the most of the receipts. He did
not discharge him as there was little prospect of finding a better man
in that country; but he taught him draw-poker, borrowed five dollars
to start the game, and then every morning won from the treasurer the
money taken at the door on the previous night.

As we approached the Ousuree there was a superior magnificence in the
forest. The trees on the southern bank grew to an enormous size in
comparison, with those lower down the river. Naturalists say that
within a short distance in this region may be found all the trees
peculiar to the Amoor. Some of them are three or four feet in diameter
and very tall and straight. The elm and larch attain the greatest
size, while the ash and oak are but little inferior. The cork-tree is
two feet through, and the maackia--a species of oak with a brown, firm
wood--grows to the diameter of a foot or more.

In summer the foliage is so dense that the sun's rays hardly
penetrate, and there is a thick 'chapparel' that makes locomotion
difficult. Just below the Ousuree the settlers had removed the under
growth over a small space and left the trees appearing taller than
ever. In a great deal of travel I have never seen a finer forest than
on this part of the Amoor. I do not remember anything on the lower
Mississippi that could surpass it. Tigers and leopards abound in
these forests, and bears are more numerous than agreeable.
Occasionally one of these animals dines upon a Goldee, but the custom
is not in favor with the natives. It is considered remarkable that the
Bengal tiger, belonging properly to a region nearer the equator,
should range so far north. On some of its excursions it reaches 53 deg.
North Latitude, and feeds upon reindeer and sables. The valley of the
Amoor is the only place in the world outside of a menagerie where all
these animals a