sort of inhabitants, however, afforded a pleasing contrast to this debasement and suffering. Ledyard observes, that the family with whom he lodged, were accustomed every morning to lay aside in the window ten or twelve farthing pieces for the charitable purposes of the day. Considering the extraordinary cheapness of food, this would afford relief to many persons. The beggars began their rounds at an early hour, and went regularly from house to house, and were very rarely sent away without something. Those who did not give money gave bread. Some of the beggars were in irons. The people asked no questions, but appeared to give cheerfully and without grudging. The demand was uniformly made pour l'amour de Dieu, "for which," says the journalist, "one may have more in this country, than in any other I have seen."

In ten days from the time of leaving Tomsk, the traveller and his corporal were safely arrived in Irkutsk, over a road of which he speaks in no terms of commendation. The River Yenissey was crossed at the town of Krasnojarsk, where the Commandant pressed him to stop long enough to dine, and celebrated the event of a stranger's arrival, with such free potations as to become intoxicated. From Tomsk to Yenissey the country exhib

ited rather an agreeable aspect, and marks of cultivation. Ledyard observes that, in this region, he "first finds the real craggy, peaked hill, or mountain," and from Krasnojarsk to Irkutsk was the first stony road which he had passed over in the Russian dominions. The streets of Tobolsk, and some of the other towns on his route, were paved with wood.

"Passing on east from the Yenissey to Irkutsk, the country is thinly peopled. A very few, and those miserable houses are to be seen on the road, and none at all at a distance from it. The country is hilly, rough, mountainous, and covered with thick forests. The rivers here, also, have all rocky beds, and are rapid in the degree of three to five miles an hour. The autumnal rains are begun, and they have set in severely. I am now in Irkutsk, and have stayed in my quarters all day to take a little rest, after a very fatiguing journey, rendered so by sundry very disagreeable circumstances; going with the courier, and driving with wild Tartar horses, at a most rapid rate, over a wild and ragged country; breaking and upsetting kibitkas; beswarmed with mosquitoes; all the way hard rains; and when I arrived at Irkutsk I was, and had been for the last forty-eight hours, wet through and through, and covered with one complete mass of mud."

CHAPTER IX.

Residence at Irkutsk. - Account of the Tartars.

Fur Trade on the American Coast. Lake Baikal. - Leaves Irkutsk for the River Lena. -Scenery around the Baikal. Estimate of the Number of Rivers in Siberia. - Proceeds down the Lena in a Bateau. - Hospitality of the Inhabitants. — Ends his Voyage at Yakutsk.

LEDYARD stayed in Irkutsk about ten days, and his observations and general reflections during that time may be best understood by extracts from his journal, as they were written on the spot. They are rather in the nature of hints and first thoughts, than of a regular narrative; but they will show his inquisitive turn of mind, and his eagerness for acquiring such knowledge as accorded with the general objects of his travels.

"August 16th. I have not been out this morning, but I shrewdly suspect by what I see from my poor talc window, that I shall even here find the fashionable follies, the ridiculous extravagance, and ruinous éclat of Petersburg. I have been out, and my suspicions were well founded. Dined with a brigadier, a colonel,

and a major, a little out of town; they are Germans. Had at the table a French exile, who had been an adjutant. Scarcely a day passes but an exile of some sort arrives. Most of the inhabitants of this remote part of Siberia are convicts. The country here was formerly inhabited by the Mongul or Kalmuk Tartars, who are, I conclude, the same people. Find no account of the Calumet.* The French exile had been at Quebec, and thinks the Tartars here much inferior to the American Indians, both in their understanding and persons. I observe the Tongusians have not the Mongul or Kalmuk faces, but moderately long, and considerably like the European face. These Tongusians form the second class of Tartars, so obviously distinguishable by their features from other Tartars, and from Europeans. What I call the third class are the light eyed and fair complexioned Tartars, which class, I believe, includes the Cossacs. The Tchuktchi are the only northern Tartars that remain unsubjected to the government.

"The town of Irkutsk is the residence of the Governor-General, Jacobi, and of a military commander, and has in it two battalions of in

* A pipe adorned with feathers, and used as the symbol of peace by the Indians of North America.

fantry. It has two thousand poor log houses, and ten churches. Jacobi's authority extends from here to the Pacific Ocean, an immense territory. I waited this morning on the director of the bank, Mr. Karamyscheff, who was a pupil of Linnæus. He is very assiduous to oblige me in everything, and sent for three Kalmuks in the dress of their country. Nothing particularly curious about them, but their pipes, which are coarsely made of copper by themselves; the form altogether Chinese. Karamyscheff informs me, that the Monguls and Kalmuks are the same people. From his house I went with the Conseiller d'Etat, who introduced me to Jacobi, the Governor. He is an old, venerable man, and although I believe, with Pallas, that he is un homme de bois, yet he received me standing and uncovered. Our conversation was merely respecting my going with the post, which he granted me, and, besides, told me that I should be particularly well accommodated, wished me a successful voyage, and that my travels might be productive of information to mankind. I conversed with him in French, through the interpretation of the Conseiller.

"This latter gentleman gave me the following information. The white Tartars you saw bout Kazan are natives of that country, and