158 THE JEANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



their fringes of pendant birch overtopped by lofty pines, and 

 the coloring on the mountains, produce a picture of extra- 

 ordinary beauty and grandeur. A few miles further, and 

 the Baikal is seen spreading out like a sea, and its waves are 

 heard beating on the rocky shore. 



In July, 1879, the city of Irkutsk was devastated by a ter- 

 rible fire, from the effects of which it has not yet recovered. 

 Mr. Henry Landsell, an English traveler, arrived at a hotel 

 in Irkutsk just as the fire broke out, and has given a graphic 

 description of what followed, in his book "Through Siberia," 

 from which the following extracts are taken : 



" The waiter said he thought the fire would not come to- 

 wards the hotel, as the wind blew from the opposite direc- 

 tion ; but I was disinclined to wait and see, and so we 

 bundled our things back into the tarantass, and told the 

 yemstchiks, who fortunately had not left the yard, to put to 

 their horses, and in a few minutes we were out in the street, 

 witnesses of a sight that is not easy to describe. Men were 

 running from all directions, not with the idle curiosity of a 

 London crowd at a fire, but with the blanched faces and 

 fear-stricken countenances of those who knew that the de- 

 vastation might reach to them; they looked terribly in 

 earnest women screamed and children cried. The yemst- 

 chiks asked, 'Where should they go?' and my companion 

 suggested that we should go out of the town, across the 

 river. We soon put nearly a mile between us and the 

 flames, and reached the bank of the Angara, where was a 

 swinging ferry. 



" Meanwhile the increased smoke in the distance showed 

 that the fire was spreading, and the inhabitants of the small 

 suburb called Glasgova, to which I had come, were looking 

 on in front of their houses. Among the people I noticed a 

 well-dressed person, whom I addressed, asking if she spoke 

 English or French. She at once inquired who I was, and 

 what I wanted. I replied that I was an English clergyman 

 traveling, that I had just arrived in Irkutsk, had run awaj 

 from the fire, and was seeking a lodging. She answered 



