no inconvenience. The valley became wider and the hills
less abrupt, while the villages had an air of irregularity more
pleasing than the military precision on the Amoor. I saw many
dwellings on which decay's effacing fingers were busy. The telegraph
posts were fixed above Gorbitza, but the wires had not been strung.

There were many haystacks at the villages, and I could see droves of
cattle and sheep on the cleared hills. At one landing I found a man
preparing his house for winter by calking the seams with moss. Under
the eaves of another house there were many birds that resembled
American swallows. I could not say whether they were migratory or not,
but if the former they were making their northern stay a late one.
Their twitterings reminded me of the time when I used to go at
nightfall, 'when the swallows homeward fly,' and listen to the music
without melody as the birds exchanged their greetings, told their
loves, and gossipped of their adventures.

[Illustration: PREPARING FOR WINTER.]

Just at sunset we reached Shilikinsk, a town stretching nearly two
miles along the river, on a plateau thirty feet high. We stopped in
the morning where there was abundance of wood, but only took enough to
carry us to Shilikinsk. There was a lady in the case. Our first
officer had a feminine acquaintance at the town, and accordingly
wished to stop for wood, and, if possible, to pass the night there.
His plan failed, as no wood could be discovered at Shilikinsk, though
our loving mate scanned every part of the bank. We had enough fuel to
take us a few miles farther, where we found wood and remained for the
night. The disappointed swain pocketed his chagrin and solaced himself
by playing the agreeable to a lady passenger.

I saw in the edge of the town a large building surrounded with a
palisaded wall. "What is that?" I asked, pointing to the structure new
to my eyes.

"It is a station for exiles," was my friend's reply, "when they pass
through the town. They generally remain here over night, and sometimes
a few days, and this is their lodging. You will see many such on your
way through Siberia."

"Is it also the prison for those who are kept here permanently?" "No;
the prison is another affair. The former prison at Shilikinsk has been
converted into a glass manufactory. Just behind it is a large tannery,
heretofore celebrated throughout Eastern Siberia for its excellent
leather."

As we proceeded the country became more ope