of conveyance and
a land travel of less than a single week.

The tour of the world thus performed might be found monotonous. Its
most salient features beyond the overland journey from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, would be the study of the ocean in breeze or gale or
storm, a knowledge of steamship life, and a revelation of the
peculiarities of men and women when cribbed, cabined, and confined in
a floating prison. Next to matrimony there is nothing better than a
few months at sea for developing the realities of human character in
either sex. I have sometimes fancied that the Greek temple over whose
door "Know thyself" was written, was really the passage office of some
Black Ball clipper line of ancient days. Man is generally desirous of
the company of his fellow man or woman, but on a long sea voyage he is
in danger of having too much of it. He has the alternative of shutting
himself in his room and appearing only at meal times, but as solitude
has few charms, and cabins are badly ventilated, seclusion is
accompanied by _ennui_ and headache in about equal proportions.

[Illustration: CHARACTER DEVELOPED.]

Wishing to make a journey round the world, I did not look favorably
upon the ocean route. The proportions of water and land were much like
the relative quantities of sack and bread in Falstaff's hotel bill.
Whether on the Atlantic or the Pacific, the Indian, or the Arctic, the
appearance of Ocean's blue expanse is very much the same. It is water
and sky in one place, and sky and water in another. You may vary the
monotony by seeing ships or shipping seas, but such occurrences are
not peculiar to any one ocean. Desiring a reasonable amount of land
travel, I selected the route that included Asiatic and European
Russia. My passport properly endorsed at the Russian embassy,
authorized me to enter the empire by the way of the Amoor river.

A few days before the time fixed for my departure, I visited a Wall
street banking house, and asked if I could obtain a letter of credit
to be used in foreign travel.

"Certainly sir," was the response.

"Will it be available in Asia?"

"Yes, sir. You can use it in China, India, or Australia, at your
pleasure." "Can I use it in Irkutsk?"

"Where, sir?"

"In Irkutsk."

"Really, I can't say; what _is_ Irkutsk?"

"It is the capital of Eastern Siberia."

The person with whom I conversed, changed from gay to grave, and from
lively to severe. With calm dignity he remarked, "I a