Rising early the next morning, I began a study of the town.  Nicolayevsk was founded in 1853 in the interest of the Russian government, but nominally as a trading post of the Russian American Company.  Very soon it became a military post, and its importance increased with the commencement of hostilities between Russia and the Western powers in 1854.  Foundries were established, fortifications built, warehouses erected, and docks laid out from time to time, until the place has attained a respectable size.  Its population in 1866 was about five thousand, with plenty of houses for all residents.

Nicolayevsk is emphatically a government town, five-sixths of the inhabitants being directly or indirectly in the emperor’s employ.  “What is this building?” I asked, pointing to a neat house on the principal street.  “The residence of the Admiral,” was the reply.

“And this?”

“That is the Chancellerie.”

“And this?”

“The office of the Captain of the Port.”

So I questioned till three-fourths the larger and better establishments had been indicated.  Nearly all were in some way connected with government.  Many of the inhabitants are employed in the machine shops, others in the arsenals and warehouses, and a goodly number engage in soldiering.  The multitude of whisky shops induces the belief that the verb ‘to soldier’ is conjugated in all its moods and tenses.  The best part of the town is along its front, where there is a wide and well made street called ‘the Prospect.’

The best houses are on the Prospect, and include the residences of the chief officials and the merchants.  On the back streets is the ‘Slobodka,’ or poorer part of the town.  Here the laborers of every kind have their dwellings, and here the lafka is most to be found.  Lafkas are chiefly devoted to liquor selling, and are as numerous in proportion to the population as beer-shops in Chicago.  I explored the ‘slobodka,’ but did not find it attractive.  Dogs were as plentiful and as dubious in breed and character as in the Sixth Ward or near Castle Garden.

The church occupies a prominent position in the foreground of the town, and, like nearly all edifices at Nicolayevsk, is built of logs.  Back of it is the chancellerie, or military and civil office, with a flag-staff and semaphore for signalling vessels in the harbor.  Of other public buildings I might name the naval office, police office, telegraph house, and a dozen others.

On the morning after my arrival I called on Admiral Fulyelm, the governor of the Maritime Provinces of Eastern Siberia.  The region he controls includes Kamchatka and all the seacoast down to Corea, and has an area of nearly seven hundred and fifty thousand square miles.  He had been only a few months in command, and was busily at work regulating his department.  He spoke English fluently, and was well acquainted with America and American affairs.  During my voyage on the Variag I heard much of the charming manners of Madame Fulyelm, and regretted to learn she was spending the summer in the country.