We landed on a gravelly beach, where we were met by a crowd of Cossacks and “Lamuti.”  The almond-shaped eyes and high cheek bones of the latter betray their Mongolian origin.  As I walked among them each hailed me with sdrastveteh, the Russian for ‘good-morning.’  I endeavored to reply with the same word, but my pronunciation was far from accurate.  Near these natives there were several Yakuts and Tunguze, with physiognomies unlike the others.  The Russian empire contains more races of men than any rival government, and we frequently find the population of a single locality made up from two or more branches of the human family.  In this little town with not more than ten or twelve dozens of inhabitants, there were representatives of the Slavonic, the Tartar, and the Mongolian races.

We found Captain Mahood, of the Telegraph service, in a quiet residence, where he had passed the summer in comparitive idleness.  He had devoted himself to exploring the country around Ohotsk and studying the Russian language.  “We don’t expect to starve at present,” said the captain; “Providence sends us fish, the emperor sends us flour, and the merchants furnish tea and sugar.  We have lived so long on a simple bill of fare that we are almost unfitted for any other.”

We had a lunch of dried fish, tea, whisky, and cigars, and soon after went to take tea at a house where most of the Variag’s officers were assembled.  The house was the property of three brothers, who conducted the entire commerce of Ohotsk.  The floor of the room where we were feasted was of hewn plank, fastened with enormous nails, and appeared able to resist anything short of an earthquake.  The windows were double to keep out the winter’s cold, but on that occasion they displayed a profusion of flower pots.  The walls were papered, and many pictures were hung upon them.  Every part of the room was scrupulously clean.

[Illustration:  WAGON RIDE WITH DOGS.]

Three ladies were seated on a sofa, and a fourth occupied a chair near them.  The three were the wives of the merchant brothers, and the fourth a visiting friend.  One with black eyes and hair was dressed tastefully and even elaborately.  The eldest, who acted as hostess, was in black, and her case in receiving visitors would have done credit to a society dame in St. Petersburg.  By way of commencement we had tea and nalifka, the latter a kind of currant wine of local manufacture and very well flavored.  They gave us corned beef and bread, each person taking his plate upon his knee as at an American pic-nic, and after two or three courses of edibles we had coffee and cigarettes, the latter from a manufactory at Yakutsk.  According to Russian etiquette each of us thanked the hostess for her courtesy.

Out in the broad street there were many dogs lying idle in the sunshine or biting each other.  A small wagon with a team of nine dogs carried a quantity of tea and sugar from the Variag’s boats to a warehouse.  When the work was finished I took a ride on the wagon, and was carried at good speed.  I enjoyed the excursion until the vehicle upset and left me sprawling on the gravel with two or three bruises and a prejudice against that kind of traveling.  By the time I gained my feet the dogs were disappearing in the distance, and fairly running away from the driver.  Possibly they are running yet.