From Stretensk to Irkutsk, the one bit of the journey which was said to be not yeh arranged, has been my one comfortable bit of travelling so far, Iwas in the first instance pat into a compartment with a very amiable lady and sweet little Chinese dog.
—gond as gold; but also a Indy whose face told her character—in fact, the admired of men—was also to share it, with two demons of children, and a very big and, I think, disagreeable soldier to wait upon them'at every turn. I begged rather to he placed second-class, and was actually given a full-sized, second-class compartment, to myself, where I at last was allowed to enjoy alittle quiet and darkness. At the same time, it must be owned, this journey from Stretensk is so arranged as to tire the strongest. If only there were a time-table to seen, But we saw none till we got across the Baikal, and then it was an old one, Thus, whenever you stop, you never know when you are going on again, Excited by the extraordinary number of flowers I saw near a pretty little lake, just beyond Velkhue Ondinsk, I thought I really should like to take a walk outside the station at the next opportunity, so hearing once we were to stop for fifty minutes, I' made a conductor show me on wy watch, so that there might, as I thought, be no mistake, whit time Tought to be back, I came back a quarter of an hour orly, but the train was already in motion, and had to be stopped for me. 'The last' day—the fourth, be it ioted—we were told we should arrive at the lake at 3.30 a.m. and the Customs would come and examine all our Tittle things, so most ladies said they should not undress, 1 got up at four and had plenty of time to dress and have tea and get: tired of waiting, before the Customs came; we did not get on board our steamer, the Angara, till after eight, Those were w tiresome four hours." We arrived on the other side, at Baikal Station, at one, having towed two barges, and been delayed by thick fog. And there we were kept waiting for three mortal hours with nothing to do, for everyone had eaten everything they could ext at the excellent steamer restaurant. In all stations one sees crowds of, people wearily camping round their worldly possessions. now saw my first-class passengers brought down to the ground in like manner, for there was not room for half in the little waiting room, And they seemed to grow cross in the process, Tt is trying. With difficulty you collar a porter, count your things over with him, with diftculty keep up with him, whilst he goes—always a very long way—with the lightest, then watch over them till he returns with the others. Then you watch and_watch till you can engage another porter for the train, count the things over with him, and then you have to wait and keep an eye upon them and upon him for three mortal hours, never knowing in the least when
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.