bound in griffins and dragons. Even the portrait of a tiger or
other wild beast is made to look worse than the most savage of his
tribe. If there ever was a dog with a mouth such as the Chinese
artists represent on their canines, he could walk down his own throat
with very little difficulty.

[Illustration: THROUGH CHINESE EYES]

The language spoken in the intercourse of Russians and Chinese at
Kiachta is a mongrel tongue in which Russian predominates. It is a
'pigeon-Russian' exactly analagous to the 'pigeon English' of
Shanghai, Hong Kong, and San Francisco. The Chinese at Maimaichin can
reckon in Russian and understand the rudiments of that language very
well. I observed at Maimaichin, as at San Francisco, the tendency to
add an 'o' sound to monosyllabic consonant words. A Chinese merchant
grew familiar during one of my visits, and we exchanged lingual
lessons and cards. He held up a tea-spoon and asked me its name. I
tried him repeatedly with 'spoon,' but he would pronounce it 'spoonee'
in spite of my instructions. When I gave him a card and called it
such, he pronounced it 'cardee.' His name was Chy-Ping-Tong, or
something of the kind, but I was no more able to speak it correctly
than was he to say 'spoon.' He wrote his name in my note-book and I
wrote mine in his. Beyond the knowledge of possessing chirographic
specimens of another language, neither party is wiser.

Whoever has visited St. Petersburg or Moscow has doubtless seen the
_abacus_, or calculating machine used in Russian shops. It is found
throughout the empire from the German frontier to Bering's Straits,
not only in the hands of merchants but in many private houses. It
consists of a wooden frame ordinarily a foot long and six inches wide.
There are ten metal wires strung across this frame, and ten balls of
wood on each wire. The Russian currency is a decimal one, and by means
of this machine computations are carried on with wonderful rapidity. I
have seen numbers added by a boy and a machine faster than a New York
bank teller could make the same reckoning. It requires long practice
to become expert in its use, but when once learned it is preferred by
all merchants, whether native or foreign.

I saw the same machine at Maimaichin, and learned that it was invented
by the Chinese. The Celestials of San Francisco employ it in precisely
the same manner as their countrymen in Mongolia.

Beside the Chinese dwellers in Maimaichin there are many Mongol
na