few beggars circulated in the crowd and gathered here and there a
copeck.

The frost whitened the beards of the men and reddened the cheeks of
the women. Where hands were bared to the breeze they were of a
corned-beefy hue, and there were many persons stamping on the ground
or swinging their arms to keep up a circulation. The little horses,
standing, were white with frost, but none of them covered with
blankets. The Siberian horses are not blanketed in winter, but I was
told they did not suffer from cold. Their coats are thick and warm and
frequently appear more like fur than hair.

Everything that could be frozen had succumbed to the frost. There were
frozen chickens, partridges, and other game, thrown in heaps like
bricks or stove wood. Beef, pork, and mutton, were alike solid, and
some of the vendors had placed their animals in fantastic positions
before freezing them. In one place I saw a calf standing as if ready
to walk away. His skin remained, and at first sight I thought him
alive, but was undeceived when a man overturned the unresisting beast.
Frozen fish were piled carelessly in various places, and milk was
offered for sale in cakes or bricks. A stick or string was generally
frozen into a corner of the mass to facilitate carrying. One could
swing a quart of milk at his side or wrap it in his kerchief at
discretion.

There were many peripatetic dealers in cakes and tea, the latter
carrying small kettles of the hot beverage, which they served in
tumblers. Occasionally there was a man with a whole litter of sucking
pigs frozen solid and slung over his shoulder or festooned into a
necklace. The diminutive size of these pigs awakened reflections upon
the brevity of swinish life.

CHAPTER XXXV.

Custom is the same at Irkutsk as in all fashionable society of the
empire. Visits of ceremony are made in full dress-uniform for an
officer and evening costume for a civilian. Ceremonious calls are
pretty short, depending of course upon the position and intimacy of
the parties. The Russians are very punctilious in making and receiving
visits. So many circumstances are to be considered that I was always
in dread of making a mistake of etiquette somewhere.

Nearly all my acquaintances in Irkutsk spoke French or English, though
comparatively few conversed with me in the latter tongue. The facility
with which the Russians acquire language has been often remarked.
Almost all Russians who possess any education, ar