enient
are symbolic signs to a man who cannot read. A picture of a hat, a
glove, or a loaf of bread was far more expressive to my eye than the
word _shapka_, _perchatki_, or _kleb_, printed in Russian letters.

The Russians smoke a great deal of tobacco in paper cigarettes or
'_papiros_.' Everywhere east of Lake Baikal the papiros of Irkutsk is
in demand, and the manufacture there is quite extensive. In Irkutsk
and to the westward the brand of Moscow is preferred. The consumption
of tobacco in this form throughout the empire must be something
enormous. I have known a party of half a dozen persons to smoke a
hundred cigarettes in an afternoon and evening. Many ladies indulge in
smoking, but the practice is not universal. I do not remember any
unmarried lady addicted to it.

Irkutsk was founded in 1680, and has at present a population of
twenty-eight or thirty thousand. About four thousand gold miners spend
the winter and their money in the city. Geographically it is in
Latitude 52 deg. 40' north, and Longitude 104 deg. 20' east from Greenwich.
Little wind blows there, and storms are less frequent than at Moscow
or St. Petersburg. The snows are not abundant, the quantity that falls
being smaller than in Boston and very much less than in Montreal or
Quebec. In summer or winter the panorama of Irkutsk and its
surroundings is one of great beauty.

[Illustration: VIEW IN IRKUTSK.]

There are twenty or more churches, of which nearly all are large and
finely placed. Several of them were planned and constructed by two
Swedish engineer officers captured at Pultawa and exiled to Siberia.
They are excellent monuments of architectural skill, and would be
ornamental to any European city.

The Angara at Irkutsk is about six hundred yards wide, and flows with
a current of six miles an hour. It varies in height not more than ten
or twelve inches during the entire year. It does not freeze until the
middle of January, and opens early in May. There are two swinging
ferries for crossing the river. A stout cable is anchored in
mid-stream, and the ferry-boat attached to its unanchored end. The
slack of the cable is buoyed by several small boats, over which it
passes at regular intervals. The ferry swings like a horizontal
pendulum, and is propelled by turning its sides at an angle against
the current. I crossed on this ferry in four minutes from bank to
bank.

There are many public carriages in the streets, to be hired at thirty
cope