96 SIBERIA 



enabled me to make my own tea; in a kettle I had 

 bought. At every station, nearly all the passengers 

 and guards rushed away for hot water and cheap, 

 ready -cooked refreshments from the peasant stalls. 

 I went into the buffets, which were sometimes very 

 small but always clean, the tables being laid with 

 spotless white cloths and setviettes and set with 

 white and black bread ready for the wholesomte, 

 ready-cooked food to be served by well-dressed 

 waiters, who would do sl London high-class hotel 

 credit. Everything is bright and neat, even to the 

 plants on the table. I walked along the corridor 

 and mixed with the Russians, in order to learn las 

 much Russian as possible, and was invited to tea 

 and other refreshments. The Russian traveller has 

 only one meal a: day, but it lasts all day, except for 

 intervals in which he takes breath. Although I 

 travelled first-class our compartment was full of 

 secoiid-class passengers, who had evidently arranged 

 with the ^a,rd, and, as they insisted on closed 

 windows and doors, there was no fresh air* 



I was glad when we reached Kainsk station at last. 

 A business friend had promised to show an English 

 companion a;nd myself round the town, which is eight 

 miles from the station. He had been waitipg fout 

 hours for our train and told us that it very often! 

 happened that the post trains were late, sometimes 

 by as much as eight to ten hours. On our way to the 

 town we passed through a village which has sprung 

 up quite recently near the station. It contains a 

 parish school of brick, in which a lecture illustrated 

 by a magic -lantern is occasiojially given. The popu- 

 lation of Kainsk numbers about 6,000, and consists 

 for the most part of exiled Jews and their des- 

 cendants. The town contains 525 houses, mainly 

 of wood, two orthodox churches, a cathedral, a 

 smaller wooden church, a Jewish synagogue, a 



