It was very interesting to look up these peculiar people in their own homes and to make personal acquaintance with them. Of course, there were many comical episodes and absurd misunderstandings; and on the other hand, I had glimpses of very sad—even tragic—circumstances. My trouble was so far rewarded that the inhabitants expressed their gratitude to me in various ways, and the officials seemed to be impressed by my promptitude. I had accomplished my task some little time previously when one day in January, 1897, the _starshinà_ paid me another visit. The good man had again something to ask me. It was prescribed by the instructions that the head of every census-area should finally call together a certain number of the persons who had undertaken the work of enumeration in his district—one from each commune—to correct the results and draw up a general report. The head of our district was, as I have said, my old opponent the _prìstav_; and I now learned that that gentleman was particularly desirous to persuade me, through the mediation of the _starshinà_, to represent our commune—the Shilkìnskaya Vòiost—at the committee of census-takers for his district. The proposal had much to attract me. For more than eleven years I had never left Kara, and I knew only the adjacent villages. Now I was offered the chance of travelling a distance of some hundreds of versts, and that in a province which, as I was aware, contained much that was of great interest. The work of drawing up the general report likewise interested me. The only objection was association with a man I had come against in such an unpleasant way; but the eloquence of the _starshinà_ again prevailed over my doubts, and I agreed to undertake the task. Permission for me to leave my place of internment was at once given, and I set off on my journey. Of course I travelled at the State’s expense. I received a pass from the Governor, which entitled me to requisition horses for my use wherever I went, and to lodge in the _zèmskaya kvàrtira_, or official residences;[113] in short, I was for the time being an official travelling on Government business. Footnote 113: In every Siberian village a house is kept up by the inhabitants, at local expense, for the accommodation of any officials who may be passing through. _Zèmskaya kvàrtira_ literally means “provincial quarters,” or “communal quarters.”—_Trans._