280 CENTRAL SIBERIA. 



surroundings of a small wooden house, 18 ft. by 20 ft., 

 which is known to this day as "Alexander's House." 

 The simple furniture he used is still preserved, but the 

 simplicity and gloom of the apartment are now relieved 

 by many gilded ikons, and by portraits of Alexander I. 

 and Feodor Kuzmitch, placed side by side to accentuate 

 their strong resemblance. The place is looked upon as 

 holy ground, a shed has been raised over the whole 

 building to protect it, and services are held there every 

 Sunday. 



Papers proving his identity are said to have been 

 taken to St Petersburg after his death at his own 

 request by his landlord, Khromov ; and I was told of a 

 curious incident which is likewise held to be proof of 

 his being no other than the abdicated monarch. 



While heir to the throne, it is asserted that Alex- 

 ander II., during his tour in Siberia, visited the lonely 

 monk near Krasnoyarsk. For long he was closeted 

 with him, until at length the curiosity of the village 

 priest, in whose house the interview took place, could 

 no longer be restrained, and gazing through the key- 

 hole he saw to his astonishment the heir to the throne 

 of all the Russias humbly kneeling before the myste- 

 rious monk ! 



Be the story right or wrong, no amount of argument, 

 however forcible, will persuade Siberia that she was not 

 the unwitting host of a royal guest ; and almost the 

 last thing I saw in Tomsk was a humble citizen bowing 

 and praying before the small chapel which is now being 

 erected above the grave of the deceased ascetic. 



But even without a mystery Tomsk would be a 

 notable town. It has a university — the only one at 

 present in Siberia — with faculties for medicine and 

 jurisprudence, and the prospect of others to come, at- 

 tended at the time of my visit by 600 students. It has 



