Irkutsk is in the centre of the gold district, which attracts also a somewhat undesirable class of people. It is not, I think, generally known what a large quantity of gold is found in Siberia, but about five millions worth is annually sent into Russia. This by no means represents all that is found, although the Government requires that it should all pass through Irkutsk, and thence be forwarded to Russia. Smuggling is reported to be extensively carried on, and a considerable Chinese population are credited with the bulk of it. The working of the gold diggings is said by experts to be amazingly primitive. Large fortunes are both made and squandered in Irkutsk. Not only gold but tea is a great source of wealth, although the trade in the latter is by no means so great as it used to be in the old caravan days. At the present time by far the largest quantity of it is sent round by sea; but there are still many Russians who believe that the flavour of the tea is spoilt by sea air, so that the demand for caravan tea continues. It is said that wealth in Irkutsk is estimated by a man’s furs and by a woman’s furs and jewels. Curiously enough Sunday labour is entirely prohibited in this town, and fine and imprisonment may follow the breaking of the law with regard to buying and selling. Trade is greatly hampered throughout the Russian Empire by the corruption of officials, of whom there are an incalculable number; and it is the Jews who form the most successful part of the trading community. There is always a long halt at Irkutsk station, varying from one and a half to two and a half hours, for passengers have to change trains on account of the difference of the line in gauge, and when travelling by the Russian State Express it is necessary to have tickets visé-ed and fresh places allotted. On the International you are saved this because the places are numbered and passengers are required to keep the same number in both trains, so there is no confusion in having the luggage transferred from one to the other. Having to get fresh ones was decidedly tiresome, as there seemed to be no method in the madness of the officials, their knowledge of other languages than their own was almost nil, and their slowness phenomenal. One of our English fellow-passengers seemed to have a great deal to say, and knew no Russian, so he had secured the services of a Chinese waiter from the restaurant car who acted as interpreter with complete success. I do not think I am wrong in saying that the issuing of fresh tickets took more than three-quarters of an hour, and confusion reigned in the train for more than double the time.