e the night was so dark that one could not see ten feet ahead.
About two o'clock in the morning we reached the station nearest to
Verkne Udinsk. Here was a dilemma. Captain Molostoff had business at
Verkne Udinsk which he could not transact before nine or ten in the
morning. There was no decent hotel, and if we pushed forward we should
arrive long before the Russian hour for rising. We debated the
question over a steaming samovar and decided to remain at the station
till morning. By starting after daylight we might hope to find the
town awake.

The travelers' room at the station was clean and well furnished, but
heated to a high temperature. The captain made his bed on a sofa, but
I preferred the tarantass where the air was cool and pure. I arranged
my furs, fastened the boot and hood of the carriage, and slept
comfortably in a keen wind. At daylight the yemshicks attached horses
and called the captain from the house. He complained that he slept
little owing to the heat. Boika was in bad humor and opened the day by
tearing the coat of one man and being kicked by another.

The ground was rougher and better wooded as we came near the junction
of the Ouda and Selenga, and I could see evidences of a denser
population. On reaching the town we drove to the house of Mr.
Pantoukin, a brother of an officer I met at Chetah. The gentleman was
not at home and we were received by his friend Captain Sideroff. After
talking a moment in Russian with Captain Molostoff, our new
acquaintance addressed me in excellent English and inquired after
several persons at San Francisco. He had been there four times with
the Russian fleet, and appeared to know the city very well.

Verkne Udinsk is at the junction of the Ouda and Selenga rivers, three
hundred versts from Irkutsk and four hundred and fifty from Chetah. It
presents a pretty appearance when approached from the east, when its
largest and best buildings first catch the eye. It has a church nearly
two hundred years old, built with immensely thick walls to resist
occasional earthquakes. A large crack was visible in the wall of a
newer church, and repairs were in progress.

In its earlier days the town had an important commerce, which has been
taken away by Irkutsk and Kiachta. It has a few wealthy merchants, who
have built fine houses on the principal street. I walked through the
_gastinni-dvor_ but found nothing I desired to purchase. There were
many little articles of household use bu