I caused them all to
be collected and sent to their destination, where they were purified and
arranged--a work of no small time and difficulty, at which I was obliged
to assist. Not finding with the type what is called 'Durchschuss' by the
printers here, consisting of leaden wedges of about six ounces weight
each, which form the spaces between the lines, I ordered 120 pounds
weight of those at a rouble a pound, being barely enough for three
sheets. I had now to teach the compositors the Mandchou alphabet, and to
distinguish one character from another. This occupied a few days, at the
end of which I gave them the commencement of St. Matthew's Gospel to
copy. They no sooner saw the work they were called upon to perform than
there were loud murmurs of dissatisfaction, and . . . [four Russian
words] which means 'It is quite impossible to do the like,' was the
cry--and no wonder. The original printed Gospel had been so interlined
and scribbled upon by the author in a hand so obscure and irregular,
that, accustomed as I was to the perusal of the written Mandchou, it was
not without the greatest difficulty that I could decipher the new matter
myself. Moreover, the corrections had been so carelessly made that they
themselves required far more correction than the original matter. I was
therefore obliged to be continually in the printing-office, and to do
three parts of the work myself. For some time I found it necessary to
select every character with my own fingers, and to deliver it to the
compositor, and by so doing I learnt myself to compose. We continued in
this way till all our characters were exhausted, for no paper had
arrived. For two weeks and more we were obliged to pause, the want of
paper being insurmountable. At the end of this period came six reams;
but partly from the manufacturers not being accustomed to make this
species of paper, and partly from the excessive heat of the weather which
caused it to dry too fast, only one ream and a half could be used, and
this was not enough for one sheet; the rest I refused to take, and sent
back. The next week came fifteen reams. This paper, from the same
causes, was as bad as the last. I selected four reams, and sent the rest
back. But this paper enabled us to make a beginning, which we did not
fail to do, though we received no more for upwards of a fortnight, which
caused another pause. At the end of that time, owing to my pressing
remonstrances and entreaties,