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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Maynard Owen Williams 



EASTER MERRYMAKING IN THE GREAT SQUARE AT IRKUTSK 



Irkutsk is the principal city of Siberia, 3,792 miles by rail east of Petrograd. It is the 

 capital of the government of Irkutsk, which has an area 20,000 square miles greater than 

 that of Texas. The building in the background is the Cathedral of the Virgin of Kazan. 



May. They were mostly of west Euro- 

 pean genera, some of them British 

 species — blue larkspur, columbines, and 

 (if I remember right) the blue Jacob's 

 ladder (Polemonium) , purple and yellow 

 aconites, campanulas, gentians, and the 

 white grass of Parnassus (a plant widely 

 scattered over the world), the tall pink 

 willow herb, and, in great profusion, one 

 of the most ornamental among British 

 wild flowers, the purplish blue geranium 

 {Geranium pratense). Such a wealth of 

 color I have seldom seen. 



On the third day we reached a charm- 

 ing hollow surrounded by cliffs, whose 

 sheltered situation and pure air have 

 occasionally drawn to it a few visitors 

 threatened with tubercular disease. It 

 would be an excellent spot for a sana- 

 torium if the track were rendered pass- 

 able for invalids and if there were an inn. 



Not far off a Russian landscape painter 

 had made a studio for himself in a hut. 

 He was absent, and as it stood open, we 



saw the studies of Altaian scenery, 

 which were decidedly clever, though 

 rather hard in color. These were the 

 only signs that met us during the journey 

 to indicate that any one ever comes here 

 from the plains except on official busi- 

 ness or for the slender trade in Mon- 

 golian wool. 



It was a singularly beautiful valley, 

 bold rocks rising out of the forest and 

 the splendidly bright torrent of the Katun 

 sweeping down through pastures gemmed 

 with Alpine flowers. 



Desiring only to convey a general im- 

 pression of the region, I will not attempt 

 to describe the course of our wanderings, 

 nor the difficulties encountered on rocky 

 tracks and along the crumbling edges of 

 deep ravines, nor in plunging through 

 swamps where stones hidden in the mud 

 sometimes all but capsized the luckless 

 vehicle into the water. 



Worse still were the risks we ran of 

 being overset in the mire of the track 



