erds who
beheld the Star over Bethlehem. Every possible--or impossible--person
under the sun becomes to him a potential saviour of his country; never
does he think how he and his comrades themselves might save her. The
Russian officer, indeed, is "just a great, big, brave, lovable baby, and
nothing else." "Gulliver's Travels" ought to have an immense circulation
should it ever be translated into the Russian language. The "Arabian
Nights" appears as an unimaginative narrative of humdrum events compared
with the stories in current circulation in Omsk and Siberia generally.

The two following extracts from my diary record incidents which occurred
at this time.

"February 1, 1919. Last night three Bolshevik conspirators entered the
officers' quarters of the 1st and 2nd Siberian Regiment disguised as
Russian soldiers. The first intimation outside that anything was wrong
was rapid revolver shots inside. The sentry captured one of the
imitation soldiers as he tried to escape from the building. In less than
two minutes the conspirators had shot five officers, two of whom were
mortally wounded in the stomach. One conspirator was shot dead, one was
captured, one got away. The knout was applied to the prisoner, and at
the hundredth stroke he gave the whole conspiracy away. Over fifty
arrests followed his confession, with the result that all is again quiet
in Omsk."

"February 3, 1919. Lieutenant Munro has just arrived at Omsk from
Vladivostok with comforts from the ladies at Shanghai, Hong-Kong and
Singapore. Words fail to describe the feelings of both officers and men
as they received these tokens of love and remembrance from their own
countrywomen in this cold inhospitable climate. It is a beautiful
feeling, and though the actual work performed is the effort of a few,
the whole sex receives a crude sort of deification from these womanly
acts. The way one of the commonest Tommies looked at a small
wash-flannel that had evidently been hemmed by hands unused to work of
any description, and asked me if I would give the lady his thanks, would
have gone to the heart of the fair but unknown worker could she have
witnessed it.

"I heard news of general insubordination among the Canadian troops that
had just arrived at Vladivostok. If all the information received could
be relied upon, the sooner they were shipped back to Canada the better.
There is enough anarchy here now without the British Government dumping
more upon us. I can se