r garlic, and stale tobacco smoke. No
house in Russia seems to be without it, of high or low degree, its
intensity only being greater in those of the lower orders. Evergreen
complained bitterly of it. His consumption of _eau-de-Cologne_ was
doubled, he said, and he declared that it alone would prevent him from
ever willingly taking up his abode in Russia, irrespective of his
dislike to the despotic system of government under which it was placed.
The travellers were ushered by a waiter into a room with a
straight-backed, leather-covered sofa, chairs with wooden seats, and an
old card-table; while the walls were ornamented with some coloured
prints of battles between the Circassians and Russians, in which a host
of the mountaineers were flying before a handful of their enemies. The
waiter would have astonished one of his brethren in England; for he wore
jack-boots, into which were tucked his full Oriental breeches, a pink
shirt, showing the tail outside, and a dirty, collarless, long coat,
like a dressing-gown, fastened round his waist by a sash. "_Tchai_,
_tchai_!" (tea, tea!), exclaimed Cousin Giles with as much dignity as
if he was thorough master of the Russian language. "_Si chasse, si
chasse_," replied the jack-booted waiter, meaning thereby that he would
bring it as suited his convenience. Mr Allwick, however, added a few
persuasive words, and in a short time the hissing _samovar_ made its
appearance, with a teapot and cups. The tea, which would anywhere be
considered excellent, the travellers had brought with them. The
principle of the _samovar_ is very simple. In the centre of a
common-shaped urn there is a cylinder with a grating at the bottom of
it. The urn is filled with water, and the cylinder with charcoal. A
brass chimney fits on to the top of the cylinder. A light is then
applied to the lower end, which soon ignites the charcoal from the
bottom to the top, and boils the water in three or four minutes. A
frame fixes on to the top of the cylinder, on which the teapot is placed
to keep it warm. There is a damper or cap, which can be placed on the
top of the cylinder when it is required to put out the fire. There is
no more convenient machine for travellers, as breakfast can thus be
prepared in a very few minutes. A sum amounting to little more than a
shilling was paid for the accommodation thus afforded. For a less sum
they might have slept all night, but then they would have had to wrap
the