292 SIBERIA 



storm lasted all day, the train travelling about 25 

 miles an hour, the storm area must therefore have 

 been very extensive. 



.We stopped for dinner at Kainsk at 1.30 p.m. local 

 time (10.30 a.m. St. Petersburg time). I enjoyed 

 a good lunch for 2s., served by two young waiters 

 in conventional dress. This was about the dearest 

 lunch I could buy, and it would cost 3s. at an 

 ordinary London hotel. I could have had one for 

 half the price. The tariff at Kainsk station, which 

 was posted under a shed outside the refreshment 

 rooms, was about the same as at other stations. The 

 prices were 2|d. for butter ; ijd. to 2|d. for a 

 bottle of exceptionally rich milk ; 5d. for a large 

 fresh cooked fish ; 6d. for a very nice well -cooked 

 ryabchik, more delicious than our English partridge ; 

 9d. for a well-cooked goose sufficient for four 

 people, and ijd. for a small loaf. All kinds of 

 wine and lemonade could be obtained at reasonable 

 prices. This station was being enlarged to double 

 its size, and will be a very fine one when it is com- 

 pleted. I found out that my post-office friend and 

 his companions were going from Tomsk to Moscow. 

 Although the journey is one of nearly 3,000 miles, 

 they did not think it much. They estimated their 

 expenses to Moscow with the train, including second- 

 class railway fare, at £3 6s. 4|d. (31 roubles), and 

 the same for the return journey, and they spent 

 3s. per day for food and is. 6d. per day for best 

 Russian cigarettes, which appeared to be the one in- 

 dispensable necessary for the journey. They had 

 si friend travelling third-class, whom they introduced 

 to me, and I accepted tea at his invitation in the 

 crowded third-class carriage with its wooden seats. 

 It was 5.30 and quite dark, but that was St. Peters- 

 burg time, the local time being three hours behind. 

 The tea, which I tried hard to enjoy, was accom- 



