alking up the hill the captain hailed a washerwoman, and asked
for the residence of Madame Rodstvenny. Her reply was so voluminous,
and so rapidly given that my friend was utterly bewildered, and
comprehended nothing. To his astonishment I told him that I understood
the direction.

"_C'est impossible_," he declared.

"By no means," I replied. "The madame lives in a stone house to the
left of the gastinni dvor. The washerwoman said so."

Following my advice we found the house. As we entered the courtyard,
the captain begged to know by what possibility I understood in his own
language what he could not.

I explained that while the woman spoke so glibly I caught the words
"_doma, kamen, na leva, gastinni dvor_." I understood only the
essential part of her instruction, and was not confused by the rest.

I was somewhat reluctant to convert a private house into a hotel as I
expected to remain four or five days. But Siberian hospitality does
not stop at trifles, and my objections were promptly overruled. After
toilet and dinner, Paul and I were parboiled in the bath house of the
establishment. An able-bodied moujik scrubbed me so thoroughly as to
suggest the possibility of removing the cuticle.

In the morning I went to the bank to change some large bills into
one-rouble notes for use on the road. Horses must be paid for at every
station, and it is therefore desirable to carry the smallest notes
with abundance of silver and copper to make change. The bank was much
like institutions of its class elsewhere, and transacted my business
promptly. The banks in Siberia are branches of the Imperial Bank at
St. Petersburg. They receive deposits, and negotiate exchanges and
remittances just like private banks, but do not undertake risky
business. The officers are servants of the government, and receive
their instructions from the parent bank.

My finances arranged, I went to the telegraph office to send a message
to a friend. My despatch was written in Russian, and I paid for
message and response. A receipt was given me stating the day, hour,
and minute of filing the despatch, its destination, address, length,
and amount paid. When I received the response I found a statement of
the exact time it was filed for transmission, and also of its
reception at Krasnoyarsk. This is the ordinary routine of the Russian
telegraph system. I commend it to the notice of interested persons in
America.

There is no free telegraphing on the gove