First, there came representations of different animals.  There were the tiger, bear, leopard, and wolf, with two or three beasts whose genera and species I could not determine.  There was an ostrich and an enormous goose, both holding their heads high, while a crocodile, or something like it, brought up the rear.  Each beast and bird was made of painted cloth over light framework, with a man inside to furnish action.  While the tiger was making himself savage the mask fell off, and revealed the head of a Chinese.  A rent in the skin of the ostrich disclosed the arm of the performer inside.  The animals were not very well made, and the accident to the tiger’s head reminded me of the Bowery elephant whose hind legs became very drunk and fell among the orchestra, leaving the fore legs to finish the play.

[Illustration:  CHINESE TIGER.]

Each animal made a circuit of the stage, bowed to the sargoochay, and retired.  Then came half a dozen performers, only one being visible at a time.  They were dressed, as I conjectured, to represent Chinese divinities, and as each appeared upon the stage he made a short recitation in a bombastic tone.  The costumes of these actors were brilliantly decorated with metal ornaments, and there was a luxuriance of beard on most of the performer’s faces, quite in contrast to the scanty growth which nature gave them.  When the deities were assembled the animals returned and prostrated themselves in submission.  A second speech from each actor closed the theatrical display.  During all the time we sat under the pavilion the crowd looked at me far more intently than at the stage.  An American was a great curiosity in the city limits of Maimaichin.

The performance began about two o’clock and lasted less than an hour.  At its close we thanked the sargoochay for his courtesy, and returned to Kiachta.  One of my Russian acquaintances had invited me to dine with him; “you can dine with the sargoochay at one o’clock,” he said, “and will be entirely able to enjoy my dinner two hours later.”  I found the dinner at Maimaichin more pleasing to the eye than the stomach, and returned with a good appetite.

Some years ago the Russian government abolished the office of Governor of Kiachta and placed its military and kindred affairs in the hands of the Chief of Police.  Diplomatic matters were entrusted to a ‘Commissary of the Frontier,’ who resided at Kiachta, while the Chief of Police dwelt at Troitskosavsk.  When I arrived there, Mr. Pfaffius, the Commissary of the Frontier, was absent, though hourly expected from Irkutsk.

Mr. Pfaffius arrived on the third day of my visit, and invited me to a dinner at his house on the afternoon of my departure for Irkutsk.  As the first toast of the occasion he proposed the President of the United States, and regretted deeply the misfortune that prevented his drinking the health of Mr. Lincoln.  In a few happy remarks he touched upon the cordial feeling between the two nations, and his utterance of good-will toward the United States was warmly applauded by all the Russians present.  In proposing the health of the Emperor I made the best return in my power for the courtesy of my Muscovite friends.