The same thing occurred when 1 was leaving Russia. A young Dutchman had his baggage exami ed very carefully and many of his papers were seized, but although T then had many note books, etc, yet they were ug touched, I held in my liliand a copy of the' "Manchester Guardian" which Thad purchased at Leningrad, and afterwards 1 wondered whether this was. the cause of my good luck, because ax we were travelling to the first station in Finland the Russian]
Customs officer entered versation and asked for my ne paper which I gladly gave to him. On that frontier there was a young] Russian woman who evidently had. something wrong with her passport and she was turned back and she sat in the waiting room weeping. and sobbing, evidently much upset.
As T'was not travelling by the express service I stayed at Chita for few days. The town is well situated on the north bank of the Chitinka River which joins the Ingoda, a trifbutary of the Shilka River, and flows into the Amur. The town ix 2,250 feet above sea level and has a dry, healthy and invigorating climate, Even in July the nights were cold and it was necessary to wear an overcoat ut night, The streets fare unpaved, but quite wide and trees planted along the board-fed side walks. In May last the Government offices were removed to Harbarovak, and this has given the town the appearance of coma, though I was assured there was plenty of trade still done there, Crushing out Private Trade There as elsewhere in Russia the bulk of the trade is done by the Government shops (called Gostorg) which occupy the bes the town. Private she ed, but are heavily taxed and find it difficult to make ends meet. At the corners of the streets are small stalls occupied by Chinese who sell fruit, drinks, and cigarettes. One Chinese merchant at Novo-Nicolaievsk told me that he had frogs egy ing Merk ten but found it more and note diffeult to compete against the Russian Government organizations. Each year he had to obtain a trad. inggpermit which cost Ris. 500 and 1s The customs dues were heavy on goods imported from China he coul not make much profit. In travelling through Siberia I came across Chinese in the big towns-as far as Omsk, lat they told me T mate that they number about 8,000] in Irkutsk, about 60. in Novo-Nicolaiesk, and about 10 in Omsk.
I visited Kuku near Chita where! is a nice mineral water spring. The way to it was through wood: pine, larch and white birch made a delightful drive in the coolness of eatly morning. It is situat. ed in a small valley with well wooded hills" on all sides. One can never forget a stroll through the woods when the moonlight was shining on the silver birth. I was assured that the mineral water contains radium, and that many people have been cured of various illnesses there. The ground is frozen about three fect below the surface, even in summer. During the night it is exceedingly cold, and the ground is covered with hoar frost. But I was assured that it was quite warm dur-jing the day time on the surround-jing hills. Inthe winter holes are bored through the ice at the mineral] spring so that the water. never; eases to flow.
Kopeks. Siberia is literally' a land flowing with milk and honey. They charge 25 roubles per month for board and lodging there, This enables one to understand that the cost of living there or anywhere else jin Siberia Is about 30 to 45 Roubli worked at the government Chita and got 0 roubles per month, and she was quite satisfied and con: evening when returning to the hotel in Chita I reached the corner of a street and was greeted by fan angry shout from a soldier who was standing there with his levelled manner. velopments, He continued his shout~ ing and I came to the conclusion that he was drunk. So just saying "Nich Ponemai" I sauntered off. This was quite exceptional, and gen-Jevally speaking Russia is quite sao to travel in,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.