350 THE JEANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



speak English, don't you ? Who are you ?" at the same time 

 we shook hands heartily. " Are you an American ? " I con- 

 tinued. " Yes, I am Dr. Ledyard from California ; and you ? " 

 " Oh, I'm Newcomb, bug-hunter of the party." After a few 

 other remarks I went into the house and found hot tea with 

 lemons, sugar, and cake, all of which were nicely served by 

 servants. Thus we were in civilized ways again, and with 

 a good deal of " style," too. 



Irkutsk, before the fire of 1878, must have been a very 

 pretty city, situated as it is near pleasant rivers and sur- 

 rounded by well-wooded hills. The streets are wide, but 

 the sidewalks are poor. Churches are numerous ; some new 

 and others dating back years before the fire. There are 

 three hotels and several eating houses. Dekos Hotel is the 

 leading one. Here can be had good food, excellent tea, fair 

 coffee, and first-rate wines and cigars. The stores were 

 numerous and well filled with goods, fancy articles, such as 

 confections, French notions, cosmetics, perfumes, and cigar- 

 ettes being most plenty. Business in these articles must be 

 good, as there are many feast days in the church when 

 these articles are much used. French fashions prevail 

 among all (dressed) ladies. Ball costumes were some of 

 them very elegant, but a ready-made flannel shirt I could 

 not find in town. 



The theatre is quite a pretty place, with parquette, three 

 rows of boxes, and gallery. It seemed the custom to leave 

 your box and promenade in the corridors both ladies and 

 gentlemen and to visit the lunch room, where wines and 

 liquors of all kinds, with hot tea, cakes, pastry, and cigar- 

 ettes were freely indulged in. The performances were very 

 good, embracing tragedy and comedy a la mode. Of course 

 the language is Russian. There is also a hall where enter- 

 tainments by a local musical society are given. These are 

 truly enjoyable, having the characteristic Russian lunch 

 room attached, where champagne and other nice wines are 

 taken by both ladies and gentlemen. 



Irkutsk contains two market places or bazaars large open 



