old man if the town, or its environs, afforded anything valuable or curious in natural history. His answer was, that there were thieves, rogues, liars, and villains of every description. The conversation was pushed no further in the way of philosophical inquiry, for it was evident the Frenchman's thoughts had run very little in that channel.

There was truth in his remark, although uttered somewhat out of place. Tomsk had long been the rendezvous of the worst class of exiles, who had been banished for their crimes, and could not be expected to exercise a very salutary influence on society, or to become pattern members of it themselves. Poverty and wretchedness, the accompaniments of vice, formed here some of the prominent objects in the foreground of the picture, and beggars daily thronged the streets, as in the most populous regions of the civilized world. The charity and kind feelings of the better 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 exhibited 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 musquetoes; all the way hard rains; and when I arrived at Irkutsk I was, and had been for the last fortyeight hours, wet through and through, and covered with one complete mass of mud."

CHAPTER IX.

Residence at Irkutsk.-Miscellaneous remarks on the inhabitants, and the productions of the country.-Accounts of the Tartars.-Unsuccessful attempts to civilize them.-Fur trade on the American coast.-Visit to the Lake Baikal. Further remarks on the character and manners of the Kalmuks and other Tartars.-Leaves Irkutsk for the river Lena.-Scenery around the Baikal.-Rivers flowing into it.-Extraordinary depth of its waters.-They are fresh, but contain seals, and fish, peculiar to the ocean.—Estimate of the number of rivers in Siberia, and of the quantity of water they pour into the Frozen Ocean.-Ledyard proceeds down the Lena in a bateau.-Romantic scenery along the margin of the river.-Hospitality of the inhabitants.-Ends his voyage at Yakutsk.

LEDYARD staid 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.

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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 Goyernor-General, Jacobi, and of a military commander, and has in it two battalions of infantry. 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,