otion
the supply of water was not equal to the demand. For some time it
seemed doubtful which would triumph, the flames or the police. Fortune
favored the brave. The building was saved, though in a condition of
incipient charcoalism.

The Chief of Police wore his full uniform and decorations as the law
requires of him when on duty. During the affair he was thoroughly
spattered with water and covered with dirt and cinders. When he
emerged he presented an appearance somewhat like that of a butterfly
after passing through a sausage machine. A detachment of soldiers came
to the spot but did not form a cordon around it. Every spectator went
as near the fire as he thought prudent, but was careful not to get in
the way. Two or three thousand officers, soldiers, merchants, exiles,
moujiks, women, boys, and beggars gathered in the street to look at
the display.

The Russian fire engines and water carts with their complement of men,
and each drawn by three horses abreast, present a picturesque
appearance as they dash through the streets. The engines at Irkutsk
are low-powered squirts, worked by hand, less effective than the hand
engines used in America twenty or thirty years ago, and far behind our
steamers of the present day. In Moscow and St. Petersburg the fire
department has been greatly improved during the past ten years, and is
now quite efficient.

The markets of Irkutsk are well supplied with necessaries of life.
Beef is abundant and good, at an average retail price of seven copecks
a pound. Fish and game are plentiful, and sell at low figures. The
_rebchik_, or wood-hen, is found throughout Siberia, and is much
cheaper in the market than any kind of domestic fowl. Pork, veal, and
mutton are no more expensive than beef, and all vegetables of the
country are at corresponding rates. In fact if one will eschew
European luxuries he can live very cheaply at Irkutsk. Everything that
comes from beyond the Urals is expensive, on account of the long land
carriage.

Champagne costs five or six roubles a bottle, and a great quantity of
it is drank. Sherry is from two to seven roubles according to quality,
and the same is the case with white and red wines. The lowest price of
sugar is thirty copecks the pound, and it is oftener forty-five or
fifty. Porter and ale cost two or three roubles a bottle, and none but
the best English brands are drank. The wines are almost invariably
excellent, and any merchant selling even a few case