pression of the face, the details of the clothing, the links of
the chains, the limbs of the tree, and even the roughness of its bark,
were carefully represented. It was the work of a Polish exile, who was
then engaged upon something more elaborate. Chessmen, tree, barrow,
chains, and all, were made from black bread! The man took part of his
daily allowance, moistened it with water, and kneaded it between his
fingers till it was soft like putty. In this condition he fashioned it
to the desired shape.

When I called upon the watchmaker he told me of an American recently
arrived from Kiachta. Two hours later while writing in my room I heard
a rap at my door. On opening I found a man who asked in a bewildered
air, "_Amerikansky doma?_"

"_Dah_," I responded.

"_Parlez vous Francais_?" was his next question. "_Oui, Monsieur,
Francais ou Anglais_."

"Then you are the man I want to find. How do you do?"

It was the American, who had come in search of me. He told me he was
born in England and was once a naturalized citizen of the United
States. He had lived in New York and Chicago, crossed the Plains in
1850, and passed through all the excitements of the Pacific coast,
finishing and being finished at Frazer's River. After that he went to
China and accompanied a French merchant from Shanghae across the
Mongolian steppes to Kiachta. He arrived in Chetah a month before my
visit, and was just opening a stock of goods to trade with the
natives.

He was about to begin matrimonial life with a French lady whose
acquaintance he made in Kiachta. He had sent for a Catholic priest to
solemnize the marriage, as neither of the high contracting parties
belonged to the Russian church. The priest was then among the exiles
at Nerchinsk Zavod, three hundred miles away, and his arrival at
Chetah was anxiously looked for by others than my new acquaintance.
The Poles being Catholics have their own priests to attend them and
minister to their spiritual wants. Some of these priests are exiles
and others voluntary emigrants, who went to Siberia to do good. The
exiled priests are generally permitted to go where they please, but I
presume a sharp watch is kept over their actions. When there is a
sufficient number of Poles they have churches of their own and use
exclusively the Romish service.

The Germans settled in Russia, as well as Russians of German descent,
usually adhere to the Lutheran faith. The Siberian peasants almost
invariably spea