218 SIBERIA 



particularly in so remote a spot as Katunda, to 

 possess buildings of that material. 



After taking a photograph of the priest and his 

 two children, we were shown the humble grave of his 

 late wife. He is a priest of the Orthodox Russo- 

 Greek Church and is permitted to marry once. 



Inside the church were rough wooden seats, candles, 

 and icons. The greatest care is taken of these, 

 and the chapel -keeper is apparently always on guard. 

 One of the icons, which I attempted to photograph, 

 had been brought all the way from Palestine by the 

 Eastern route and over the Siberian railway to Bysk. 

 It weighs ID poods (3 CAvts.) and was carried from 

 Bysk to Katunda by relays of eight peasants. 



As we were leaving the church the priest was 

 accosted by one of his parishioners. It appeared that 

 the man was in trouble and wanted the batushka's 

 assistance. Another peasant owed him 5 roubles 

 (ids. 6d.) for a rather ancient horse — if I remember 

 rightly the animal was seventeen years of age — which 

 he refused to pay on the plea that the horse, while 

 too old to work, was the possessor of a very vigorous 

 appetite. It appears to be part of the priest's office 

 to settle disputes of this character, and, in the case 

 of this particular priest, the duty of arbitrator was 

 one for which, both from his ability and personal 

 character, he was very well suited. For my own 

 part, I developed quite an affection for this homely 

 priest and his two motherless children, and was truly 

 sorry to bid him good-bye. He pressed us very 

 hard to stay, but we were afraid of the thaw, which 

 could be expected at any moment ; therefore we 

 arranged to start the same afternoon and spend the 

 night at Ouemon, 10 miles distant, at the house of 

 a merchant of that place. We promised to meet 

 once more before we took our final departure. 



Our next visit was to the mansion of one of our 



