AMATEUR THEATRICALS. 59 



on a journey to some place which was evidently 

 Russian ; and by the time to be occupied in the 

 voyage (two months), and direction pointed out, I 

 have little doubt that the Fort on the Anadyr was 

 indicated. With a view to sending intelligence of our 

 whereabouts to England, a despatch was prepared for 

 the secretary of the Admiralty, with a request, in 

 French and German, to any one who might receive it, 

 to have it forwarded without delay. 



Our friends soon became accustomed to masque- 

 rades, football, and other games, and took a lively 

 part in all ; but plays were a little more mysterious ; 

 and when, on the 15th of December, the farce of 

 " The Way to Settle Accounts with yom- Laundress " 

 was enacted, the reversed dummy in the water-butt, 

 imaginary victim of suicide, was considered to be an 

 acme of conjuring, and is, I believe, an unexplained 

 wonder to this day. 



It was long before we were at all able to obtain 

 anything like a definite idea of the nature of their social 

 ladder ; there were evidently some of our friends who 

 were treated with superior consideration, and who, 

 when they visited us, always came attended by a 

 following, but they seldom attempted anything like 

 dictation to their suite. I am even now by no 

 means sure as to the actual conditions of rank ; but 



