an extremely
pleasant appearance from the harbour. On going on shore, though, and
examining things in detail I saw that the houses which looked so
charming from the ship were constructed of rough unhewn logs of timber,
the crevices being filled up with mud. The inhabitants are principally
Russian, of course--soldiers and sailors, with their wives; but, in
addition, there are Coreans, Chinese, and a few (very few) Japanese. The
Russian women are coarse and masculine in appearance, are dressed in
cotton print gowns put on very slovenly, wear no covering on the head
except their unkempt and dishevelled hair, ride on horseback like a man,
and have their feet and legs encased in enormous sea-boots. Everybody
wears these leather boots just as everyone is an equestrian. Even the
officers' wives have a slovenly, faded look; and I can honestly say that
I never saw one amongst them whom, from her appearance, I should style a
lady. There is scarcely a street or road in the place, and the only
thoroughfare is that suggested by the deep and sloppy ruts made by the
heavy lumbering cart and the uncomfortable _drosky_--the latter a
four-wheeled concern peculiar to Russia, possessing a couple of seats
running fore and aft, and so near the ground that the passengers' feet
are in imminent danger of being brought in contact with stray stones and
other inequalities.

In a town such as this one would expect to find commodities both
reasonable in price and plenty in variety. Not so, however; what little
business there is in the provision line is in the hands of the
"ubiquitous"--I mean the Chinaman. Lemonade is a thing unknown, and none
of us was bold enough to tackle that vile brew--Russian beer. Of course,
like all salt water fish, after being on shore for a short time we
wanted "damping;" but there seemed no possibility of our wants being
understood, as, seemingly, nobody could speak English. Now, when the
British seaman particularly wants anything to drink, and can't get it,
he generally uses language which (all things considered) is rather more
forcible than polite--that is to say, we would not care for ladies to
hear it. It was so here. Vladivostock was this, that, and the other,
garnished with sundry and manifold adjectives; in fact it was anything
but a town. I dare say, had our sailors the least inkling that all this
while they were listened to and understood, they would have reserved
some of their more choice figures of speech. It w