owner.

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