Tt was here I had a conversation with a representative of the new Mongolian Republic, who war proceeding to Moscow to make Some agreement with the Soviet Government. He was very. em-photic that Mongolia was now independent of China; his country had now its own army, and no Chinese officials. He mentioned the name the Mongolian President but T did not write it down. He assured me that the Lamas now had no influence in Mongolia, and there would be no Hutuktu allowed there again as the last one had died recently. Altogether he gave me the impression that Monoglia was now very much alive, and was determined to work out its own destiny.
In this connexion we must not forget that the Russian Soviet is a federation of many republics, some of which are Asiatic, such as the Tarter Republic, capital Kazan, Bashkin Republic, capital Ufa: Kirghis Republic, capital Orenberg: Turkestan Republic, capital Tash-
Trains Crowded Anyhow In the evening I got to the station two hours before the tra was due to depart, and found the booking hall a mass of seething humanity waiting to book. To move about was almost impossible. While standing there 1 saw some men pushing their way through tha: crowd, and they happened to push against an ex-soldier who was a cripple. Immediately he: flared up, shouted, and swinging his crutches round soon cleared an open space for himself, As I could not make head-way in that mass I engaged a porter to get mo a "place carte," and it took him an hour and a half. It is surprising what a large num-her of people are travelling. The trains are always packed. At Irkutsk three women wore in my sleeping compartment, and on another occasion there were two women and a man in my sleeping compartment. The accommodation is, of course insufficient.
It is just as bad on the steamers on the river. They are" very crowded and many have to travel as deck passengers without any sleeping accommodation.
The Great Siberian Plain The Siberain plain between Lake Baikal and the Ural Mountains is largely uncultivated., Tt is sri undulating plain, with no hills, and large tracts covered with timber. casionally one sees a farm house with a few fields of grain, and vegetables and some fruit trees, but looking round one fails to see another house right up to the horizon fon all sides, The country cannot be termed beautiful nor can it be called ugly but it is assuredly montonou:. What a life these poople live—a few months of summer and then a long dreary winter! And yot they appear to be quite happy. The men and women have hard faces, wrinkled with care and bhard conditions of life, and yet they At the revolution all buildings were nationalized, and the hotels were used for government offices, ete, In Moscow and Petrograd there are hotels run by the government, but in other towns there are only: "Nomera" or furnished rooms. The latter generally are in a row of, houses and before were probably private residences. Inside there is great need for a fresh coating of paint and whitewash. The floors are covered with old, worn-out lleloth. The rooms are plainly, furnished—just a table, a couple of chairs, a sofa, and wash-hand stand. A corner of the room is partitioned Jeff to screen a bed which has a bare mattress, and no bedding is supplied in most cases.
A Communist Breakfast food is supplied at these Nomera. So as soon as you are up in the morning you go into the street on a foraging expedition. In Jeertain streets there are what are fealled "bazaars" where women and men sit on the kerbstones selling foodstuffs, ete. Food for breakfast generally costs about 25 opens, and this you carry to your room in your arms. You th for the samovar and make your own tea, For travelling in Russia it is necessary to have a good pocket-knife, tea kettle, a bottle to hold milk, and a glass. It is best to'buy granulated sugar, but once had got lump sugar' whick is supplied in big chunks. I was then faced with the problem of breaking, it up, and after, various attempts decided that I niust use the jamb of the door for that purpose. I did and the chunk of sugar fell the ground in small pieces. But! the proprietor had heard the noise and came to investigate. He saw my difficulty and supplied me with special appliance which will cut sugar into small pieces.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.