an squirrel
of commerce comes from this region by way of Irkutsk and St.
Petersburg. The natives hunt the bear and are occasionally hunted by
him.

At one landing a Birar exhibited an elk skin which he wished to
exchange for tobacco, and was quite delighted when I gave him a small
quantity of the latter. He showed me a scar on his arm where a bear
had bitten him two or three years before. The marks of the teeth and
the places where the flesh was torn could be easily seen, but I was
unable to learn the particulars of his adventure.

These Tungusians are rather small in stature, and their arms and legs
are thin. Their features are broad, their mouths large and lips
narrow, and their hair is black and smooth, the men having very little
beard. Their clothing is of the skins of elk and deer, with some
garments of cotton cloth of Chinese manufacture. Most of the men I saw
wore a belt at the waist, to which several articles of daily use were
attached.

At each Russian settlement above the mountains I observed a large post
painted in the official colors and supporting a board inscribed with
the name of the village. It was fixed close to the landing place, and
evidently designed for the convenience of strangers. One of my
exercises in learning the language of the country was to spell the
names on these signs. I found I could usually spell much faster if I
knew beforehand the name of a village. It was like having a Bohn's
translation of a Latin exercise.

At the village of Inyakentief I saw the first modern fortification
since leaving Nicolayevsk,--a simple lunette without cannon but with
several hundred cannon shot somewhat rusty with age. The governor of
this village was a prince by title, and evidently controlled his
subjects very well. I saw Madame the princess, but did not have the
pleasure of her acquaintance. She was dressed in a costume of which
crinoline, silk, and ribbons were component parts, contrasting sharply
with the coarse garments of the peasant women.

This village had recently sold a large quantity of wheat and rye to
the government. It had the best church I had seen since leaving
Nicolayevsk, and its general appearance was prosperous. Among the
women that came to the boat was one who recognized Borasdine as an old
acquaintance. She hastened back to her house and brought him two
loaves of bread made from wheat of that year's growth. As a token of
friendship he gave her a piece of sugar weighing a pound o