, pine and silver birch at intervals, marshy plains and cultivated
ground (like Fens) alternating. Flocks of sheep and geese, herds of
cattle and horses. Very few birds of any kind--only saw some crows and
linnets.

Roads were wretched, being mere tracks a foot deep in mud, and looked as
though they had never been repaired, or even made.

Houses built low with no upper storey, walls of wooden beams and roofs
of thatch. Men mostly clad in sheep skins, and women in red dresses with
a red cloth over the head, bare legs and sandals. Winter wheat well
grown.

_19th October._--Passed a good night, despite five in the compartment.
This morning much colder, and at 10 o'clock saw snow, at first lying in
drifts, but gradually increasing as the day wore on until everything was
covered, while ponds were frozen.

Hardly any good houses. Peasants with hair four or five inches long and
wearing sheep skin coats and knee-boots, came to stations to look at the
train. The women had shawls over their heads, and squelched through the
mud and slush with bare feet. All looked cold and dejected, while the
landscape was most depressing.

With the exception of a few wild and tame pigeons, saw hardly any birds,
but turkeys at a farm.

Arrived in Moscow at 4 p.m., and drove in a droski (four-wheel cab) to
the Slavianski Hotel, where my passport was again required.

In the evening, after an excellent dinner, I went to a first-class
variety entertainment at the Aquarium theatre.

My bedroom at the hotel was warmed in a curious manner. There was
neither stove nor hot-water-pipe, but in one of the walls at some seven
feet from the floor was a round hole about three inches in diameter.

Being curious to know what this hole could be for, I put my hand up to
it, and was greatly surprised to find a current of hot air pouring into
the room, which was thereby kept at a most comfortable temperature both
by day and night.

_20th October._--It was a miserable day with rain and snow, so that
while the streets, which are wretchedly paved with big blocks of stone,
were bad for wheeled traffic, there was not sufficient snow for
sleighing.

In the morning I went to the Kremlin, which comprises the new and old
Imperial palaces, churches, treasury, etc., all grouped within a lofty
wall, pierced here and there by gateways, one of which being holy, it
behoves every good Russian to remove his hat on passing through. In the
vast courtyard are ranged in long