The pheasant (or at least his brother) with whom we have long been conversant as dying of every disease in the moist coverts of England, lives wild in this dry and healthy climate. The wild boar and the wolf, the bear and many forms of the antelope and deer, are to be found on the borders between Siberia and China. The rivers are full of salmon and other fish whose names I cannot attempt to give. If an Englishman were asked to choose whether he would live in St. Petersburg or in exile at Irkutsk, he would, I believe, have no doubt in deciding in favour of the latter, if--and that is a great if--the spirit of man were not so human and corrupt. We were told that there are six hundred women who are divorced in the jurisdiction of Irkutsk. Such a statement indeed seems incredible, but certainly the morals of the officers leave much to be desired. Vices go in flocks, therefore laziness perhaps accounts for the amazing state of things which exists in Irkutsk. The town is as full of officers as Eton is of boys. Epaulettes jostle you in the streets, you tumble over swords in the restaurants, and with all this force at the disposal of the authorities--for I conclude that some at least of these officers have soldiers under them--the streets of Irkutsk are unsafe after dark. Person after person warned us of the danger of being unarmed at night, at any rate in the by-streets. People are murdered in their own houses in the suburbs; women have their fur coats torn off their backs. One is aghast at the incredible slackness of the authorities, who instead of instituting a reasonable police force such as exists even in Chinese cities, allow the city to be watched at night by aged Dogberrys in huge fur coats armed with {335} rattles which they use incessantly. Certainly, though they may fail to frighten away robbers with this primitive weapon of protection, they succeed in interrupting the slumbers of the visitor. In the department of municipal activity the town is equally badly organised. The streets were under snow, and as upon a hard-seated sledge we leapt from hole to hole, we had at least the comfort of realising that in summer their condition must be even more trying. It is unsafe to trust gossip, but I give it for what it is worth. We were assured that the only reason why the priceless wealth which Russia possesses in the gold mines of Siberia was not further developed was because of a similar official incompetence. There is said to be a great deal of secret digging for gold. Men disappear in the summer and reappear in the autumn with a pound's weight of pure gold, for the gold lies only about three metres below the ground. But if this primitive form of mining came to the knowledge of the Government it would put in force the mining laws which would then successfully stifle the industry.