shops  retailed  8,139,530  gallons  of  vodka,  having  a
total  value  of  £3,242,341,  the  clear  profit  amounting
to  £2,410,568.  This  shows  an  increase  of  profit  over
the  previous  year  of  £1,252,528,  or  nearly  100  per
cent !  Excellent  for  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,
no  doubt,  though  hardly  an  inspiring  outlook  from  the
temperance  point  of  view.  What  a  pity  the  anti-
compensationists — et  hoc  genus  omne — don't  live  in
Russia !

But  my  discussions  on  the  Russian  peasant  and  his
faults  are  carrying  me  away  from  the  subject  in  hand,
which  is  the  government  of  Tomsk.  If  the  villages
are  severe  in  their  simplicity,  the  towns  show  signs  of
a  higher  ambition.  Barnaul,  capital  of  the  district  of
the  same  name,  comes  as  a  surprise.  Here  large  build-
ings of  brick  and  stone  are  plentiful,  there  are  broad
streets  and  commodious  shops,  a  substantial,  almost
magnificent.  Government  House  rises  in  the  centre  of
the  town,  and  the  churches,  of  course,  form  conspicuous
objects.  Altogether,  the  town  wears  an  air  of  pros-
perity and  progress.  Houses  of  wood  still  exist  in
parts,  but  in  many  places  these  may  be  seen  in  process
of  demolition,  while  superior  buildings  of  brick  are
rising,  phoenix-like,  from  their  ashes.  I  went  into  one
of  the  chief  shops,  which  displayed  an  assortment  of
goods  from  bicycles  to  tooth-brushes.  A  map  was  my
modest  requirement,  and  a  courteous  shop-walker  sent
off  an  assistant  to  unearth  the  maps  from  the  stationery
department.  In  the  meantime,  was  there  anything  else
he  could  show  me  ?  He  had  several  excellent  gramo-
phones, recently  imported — there  were  half  a  dozen  on
the  counter,  one  of  which  was  braying  forth  what  I
took  to  be  a  Russian  comic  song,  in  the  harsh  metallic
cadence  common  to  gramophones.  No,  I  was  in  no
need  of  a  gramophone  at  the  moment.     Well,  then,  a


A   LAND   OF  WOODS  AND  MOUNTAINS.  275

bicycle  or  revolver  ?  No,  I  did  not  require  the  former,
and  was  already  provided  with  the  latter.  I  saw
machinery,  tools,  glass-ware,  silver- ware,  jewellery,
hats,  clothes,  boots,  toilet  accessories,  saddlery,  oilman's
stores,  and  confectionery  looming  large  behind  gramo-
phone, bicycle,  and  revolver  ;  but  fortunately  the  maps
were  produced  at  this  moment,  and  I  was  spared
further  inspection  of  goods  for  which  I  had  no  possible
use.
