ival inside the city limits was marked by the most respectful
silence.

We named a certain hotel but the yemshick coolly took us to another
which he assured us was "_acleechny_" (excellent). As the exterior and
the appearance of the servants promised fairly, we made no objection,
and allowed our baggage unloaded. The last I saw of our yemshick he
was receiving a subsidy from the landlord in consideration of having
taken us thither. The doctor said the establishment was better than
the one he first proposed to patronize, so that we had no serious
complaint against the management of the affair. Hotel keepers in
Siberia are obliged to pay a commission to whoever brings them
patrons, a practice not unknown, I believe, in American cities.

We engaged two rooms, one large, and the other of medium size. The
larger apartment contained two sofas, ten or twelve chairs, three
tables, a boy, a bedstead, and a chamber-maid. The boy and the maid
disappeared with a quart or so of dirt they had swept from the floor.
We ordered dinner, and took our ease in our inn. Our baggage piled in
one corner of the room would have made a creditable stock for an
operator in the "Elbow Market" at Moscow. We thawed our beards,
washed, changed our clothing, and pretended we felt none the worse for
our jolting over the rough road from Krasnoyarsk.

The hotel, though Asiatic, was kept on the European plan. The landlord
demanded our passports before we removed our outer garments, and
apologized by saying the regulations were very strict. The documents
went at once to the police, and returned in the morning with the visa
of the chief. Throughout Russia a hotel proprietor generally keeps the
passports of his patrons until their bills are paid, but this landlord
trusted in our honor, and returned the papers at once. The visa
certified there were no charges against us, pecuniary or otherwise,
and allowed us to remain or depart at our pleasure. It is a Russian
custom for the police to be informed of claims against persons
suspected of intent to run away. The individual cannot obtain
authority to depart until his accounts are settled. Formerly the law
required every person, native and foreign, about to leave Russia, to
advertise his intention through a newspaper. This formula is now
dispensed with, but the intending traveler must produce a receipt in
full from his hotel keeper.

At the hotel we found a gentleman from Eastern Siberia on his way to
St. Peter