blinds of the steamer testified; but we were mercifully delivered by a slight breeze and the comparative lateness of the season. Farther on they were troublesome, but I'effectually checkmated these little nuisances by rubbing on my face and hands the essential oil of cloves, a secret I am happy to hand on to all whom it may concern to know. Lake Khanka (spelled also Hinka, Kenka, Khingka) extends between 44° 36' and 45° north latitude; it is sixty-five miles long, and twenty-one at its narrowest and twenty-six at its widest parts. The north-east and north-west shores of the lake are level and wooded; the southwest shore is also wooded, but not so the shores on the south and south-east. At the north-west a small stream, called the Toor Balankhe, enters the lake; another at the south-west; another below the Sungacha, on the east; and the largest, the Lifu, at the extreme south. On the north shore a low sandy strip of land separates the Khanka lake from the small Dobuka lake, lying within the same basin, and estimated at twenty miles long by three miles wide. The Russian and Chinese frontier crosses the lake in a north-westerly direction from the Sungacha; consequently the northern shore is in Chinese territory. There is, however, a Russian post station at the northernmost point, and there are three on the western shore, to facilitate the carriage of the mails in winter or when the steamer is stopped for lack of water. I was warned that I might be in difficulties if I arrived at the lake at low water, unable to speak Russian or Chinese, and without means of proceeding. My host at Nikolaefsk had, under similar circumstances, and for want of a better charger, to ride on the back of a cow. I suppose that the lake is sometimes rough, for the good-natured captain kindly inquired whether I should be afraid if the boat rocked about, and the windows were as solemnly closed and battened as if we had been going to cross the Atlantic. Toward night we steamed into the lake, which was calm as a mill-pond, and steering S. W. for about fifty miles, we reached Kamen Ruibolof at dawn, having completed a distance of 466 miles from Khabarofka, or of 510 miles if we had gone to the stations on the shores of the lake.

I had now to drive nearly a hundred miles in a springless, seatless, roofless conveyance to the river Sooiphoon, through a country singularly fertile, but almost uninhabited. The first three stations (Mo, Vstrechni, and Utosni) were merely single houses placed there for the postal service, with the poorest accommodation. After leaving the fourth station (Doobininskaya) I passed through some enormous plains covered with luxuriant herbage, a patch of which was cultivated here and there, and a haystack piled, but cattle and people rarely appeared. At the fifth station (Nikolsk) was the 3d Ussuri battalion and a telegraph office. The sixth stoppage was Baranofskaya, or the sheep station, where they had fires to keep off the insects or tigers, or both; and in a few hours I reached Rasdolni, where I found a small steamer, drawing only twenty-four inches of water, to carry me thirty miles on the Sooiphoon to Richnoi, in the Amur Bay. Here I was transhipped into a larger steamer, and after twenty miles passage brought to Vladivostock. Vladivostock, which signifies the "command of the East," is situated among the inlets of Peter the Great's Bay, and is the prettiest and busiest town I saw in the Amur region. Its population was given me as 5000, but this must vary according to the number of soldiers and sailors in the port. The houses are chiefly of wood, and there are both military barracks and winter barracks for the seamen of the fleet. There is an officer's club, two high-class schools for boys and girls, and a Russian church. In addition to these, a Lutheran church and a school for the poor have been built through the exertions of the governor, Admiral D'Erdmann, and his wife. There is also a telegraph station, a dockyard, some earth fortifications, and the governor's house, in which last I am not the only Englishman who has been hospitably entertained and who has received a kindly reception. The officers of H.M.S. the Iron Duke had dined there shortly before my arrival, and had left behind them golden opinions.

During my stay at Vladivostock I gathered information of the sea-coast province, and its various resources. Among minerals, it seems that in 1878, from the mines at Dui in Sakhalien, which are

worked by convicts, there were obtained 70,000 tons of coal. The produce of gold in the province for the same year was a quarter of a ton, but this small amount was due to lack of workmen. During the summer of six months and a half there were produced in the Ussuri district 1000 tons (59,603 poods) of corn, and 800 tons (49,635 poods) of potatoes; but this does not include all. Manufactured goods also were brought to Vladivostock to the value of 100,000l., of which 40,000l. worth were transported into the interior. There were in the town 80 merchants of the first guild, 185 of the second, 228 temporary merchants, 215 first-class clerks, 209 second-class clerks, the trade of the place representing, if I mistake not, an increase of 20 per cent on that of the previous year. I am not quite sure, however, to what particular branch of trade this increase is to be apportioned.

I heard wonderful things of the natural products of the district. My host told me that he had raised potatoes twice between the middle of April and October from the same ground in the same summer; and that in the interior grapes, carrots, and parsnips grow wild. He had raised bushels of tomatoes, but being unable to sell them to his satisfaction, he had salted them and given them to his cows. In the market I observed potatoes, pumpkins, celery, beetroot, the egg-plant, onions, and Chinese radishes. Seaweed, or cabbage, is taken away from the neighboring bays to the amount of 3000 tons (200,000 poods) a year. The riches of the animal kingdom appear to be equally plentiful. Deers' horns are taken from the animals when full of blood, and transported yearly to China in great quantities. My host told me that on one occasion he had his little schooner laden with them to the value of £2000, one good pair alone being valued at £60. In the interior, I was told, wild turkeys are to be met with, and ducks without number. Woodcocks at Nikolsk cost from Iod. to Is. each; riabchiks or black grouse, 5d. each; and pheasants like our own, 6d. each. So plentiful were pheasants in 1875 that they could be had at 7d. a pair, and at Paaseat for 2d. each. Venison in winter sells for from 1d. to 2d. a pound. But

space forbids my entering into details.

I have endeavored rapidly to describe my travels across Europe and Asia. The journey was accomplished in less than five months, and I reached the coast of Japan a few days after Professor Nordenskjold finished his memorable tour round the north of Siberia. I was, in fact, lying weather-bound off the coast when the Professor was being fêted at Yokohama. Geographically considered, I cannot but feel that my paper lacks completeness and precision; but I did not travel primarily as a geographer. For some years past my summer holidays have been spent in the visitation of European prisons, and I went last year across the north of Asia doing the same. I am pleased to repeat here what last spring I stated in the Times, that I found them in a much better condition than is generally supposed. One of the worst. features in the majority of Siberian prisons was the lack of work for the prisoners, and in most cases they had nothing to read. I was specially anxious to remedy the latter defect, and took with me many thousands of Bibles, New Testaments, and other books, which I left with the authorities to be distributed according to written instructions. I thus was enabled to provide that some portion of Holy Scripture should be placed in every room of every prison and every hospital in all Siberia. Besides this, I was able to sell and give many others to the exiles, soldiers, Cossacks, and seamen of the Siberian fleet, to the number in all of more than 50,000 publications, chiefly in Russian, but including Polish, German, Tatar, Mongolian, Finnish, French, and Hebrew. Everywhere I found both authorities and prisoners abundantly willing to accept our books. We had one striking instance in which prisoners even bought them. As we ploughed along the Obi there was tugged at our stern a barge laden with convicts, to which Dr. Johnson's definition of a ship as "a prison afloat" would with accuracy apply, for the barge was a large floating hull called the Irtish, 245 feet long and 30 feet beam, 11 feet high from the keel to the deck, with a four-feet water line, and seven feet above. It was made expressly for the transport of convicts, of whom it was intended to carry

800, with 22 officers. At one of our stoppages I was trying to make a sketch of this unique craft, when an officer came up and invited me inspect it. We went on board with hands in pockets full of reading matter for distribution. The prisoners were far from rude, but so delighted were they with the pictures on the books, and so eager to get them, that we found it hard work to hold our own. We had afterward an opportunity of testing the value in money of this apparent eagerness for reading material. In former years I had always given both Scriptures and tracts. This year it was urged, and I think urged truly, that it is better, when possible, to sell them. To offer them, however, for money to convicts seemed almost a mockery. Nevertheless, we tried it, and requested the officer to let us know how many prisoners would like to give 24d. for a copy of the New Testament or the Book of Psalms. To my surprise, he came at a subsequent stopping-place, bringing the money for forty-four copies, and said that one man was in such haste to get his book that he had been to him three times to ask for it. As we proceeded on our way, and looking back, saw the broad keel of the barge ploughing its way after us, we could not help thinking of its strange freight, and the many heavy hearts that were being tugged along farther and farther from the dear place called home. But such thoughts re

ceived little enlargement at the haltingplace, when the barge was drawn up to the bank, for the hilarity among the men, women, and children was much more noisy than that of the free people on the steamer. The convicts seemed to be having a good time of it, and it had been observed to us at Tiumen as a noteworthy remark, that although of the 800 prisoners on board, probably 250 would be murderers, nevertheless twenty sol· diers would suffice to control them. They had a considerable amount of freedom on board, though they could not go, of course, indiscriminately to whatever part of the vessel they pleased.

It was this pursuit, rather than that of geographical study, which study, which took me through Siberia, and gave an object to my travels which greatly enhanced their enjoyment. The summer climate of Southern Siberia is delightful; and I know not how to speak highly enough of the hospitality and kindness of its people. From the time that I crossed the Prussian frontier, and obtained my official letters at St. Petersburg, to the time I steamed out of Vladivostock in a Russian man-of-war, I had hardly a wish that was not gratified. I went where I would, and almost when I would. Everywhere the greatest kindness awaited me, and I shall long remember the Siberian part of my tour of the world as one of the happiest journeys of my life. -Contemporary Review.

ent matter in hand, have I neither time nor space.

In the following account I wish to state that every circumstance related is strictly true, and I invite the attention of those who may be able to render a possible explanation of facts for the personal experience of which I can vouch, and for a solution of which I have repeatedly sought, but to the present time without avail. The occurrences to which I allude took place on the night of the 28th of August, 1876. It may be as well to state briefly, first of all, a few preliminaries which bear upon the matter.

We were residing on one of my husband's estates in the outlying district of Ouvah, some thirty miles distant from the little up-country town of Badulla, destined, however, at some future day to become no unimportant centre in connection with railway extension. On an adjoining property we had long contemplated erecting a bungalow more suited to our requirements than was the little abode we then occupied, which was very small and homely. In the beginning of 1876 we designed the plan, and made arrangements for the commencement of the building. But a drawback existed to the speedy completion of the work in the fact that the indolence of the native is so great that, without constant supervision, he is not to be depended upon, and my husband soon found that his masons and carpenters were no excep· tion to the general rule, and that his occasional visits did little to expedite the progress of the bungalow.

After some persuasion I was induced to leave "Mausa-Kellie" and remove into the new bungalow on "Allagalla" estate, in order that we might be on the spot, and so hasten its completion. Had I not felt tolerably secure in the prospect of an uninterrupted continuance of fine weather, I should have quitted my quarters at Mausa-Kellie" more reluctantly than I did, for they were at least comfortable; and in going to our new residence we had to be fully prepared for "roughing" things in a way I, at least, had never done before. But the season was advancing, hotter and dryer each day, and on the Ouvah side of the hill district the weather is much more to be depended on than in the parts adjoining Kandy. On the latter side both

the southwest and northeast monsoons are felt, and nine months of the year are more or less rainy. In Ouvah the southwest or little monsoon is not so perceptible; a thunderstorm or two, or a few heavy showers just about that time of year, may serve to remind one of the season; otherwise the weather is fine and dry, almost without intermission, from January to September.

46

The physical characteristics of this locality are somewhat peculiar. Although the estates adjoined, and the bungalows were not more than a mile or so from each other, the distance to be traversed by the bridle-path which led round the base of the hills, a range of some extent, was at least four miles. On foot, by a stiff climb, the ascent from Mausa-Kellie" and the descent into "Allagalla" could be accomplished, the estates being situated on opposite sides of the hill. As this route was scarcely practicable for a lady, and I had no desire to expose myself unnecessarily to the fatigue of a ride in the hot sun, I had not previously visited the site of our new building, and certainly felt somewhat staggered at the appearance things presented on my arrival there.

I had sent over a sufficiency of furniture and household necessaries for our requirements, and E had spent the day in making the best arrangements he could for our comfort, but the scene of bustle and confusion which met my eyes when, turning a sharp angle of the road, I came suddenly in full view of the bungalow, exceeded all my anticipations. The estate was one of the steepest in the district; indeed, no suitable site for a bungalow could be found without considerable excavation, and this gave it the appearance of being built upon a ledge of rock, the sides descending almost perpendicularly to some depth. From its peculiar situation we might not inappropriately have designated it the "Eagle's Nest. That part of the estate on which the bungalow was built being a new clearing, and some of it only just burned off, the immediate surroundings were not very attractive; but the adjacent ground

young and old coffee on the lower parts, patina on the summits of the hills, dense jungle crowning some of the ranges, tufts of scrub and forest dotted here and there on others, and the