had seen streams in the interior of Kamchatka so filled with salmon
that one could cross on them as on a corduroy bridge! The story has a
piscatorial sound, but it _may_ be true.

House gardening on a limited scale is the principal agriculture of
Kamchatka. Fifty years ago, Admiral Ricord introduced the cultivation
of rye, wheat, and barley with considerable success, but the
inhabitants do not take kindly to it. The government brings rye flour
from the Amoor river and sells it to the people at cost, and in case
of distress it issues rations from its magazines.

When I asked why there was no culture of grain in Kamchatka, they
replied: "What is the necessity of it? We can buy it at cost of the
government, and need not trouble ourselves about making our own
flour."

There is not a sawmill on the peninsula. Boards and plank are cut by
hand or brought from California. I slept two nights in a room ceiled
with red-wood and pine from San Francisco.

On my second evening in Asia I passed several hours at the governor's
house. The party talked, smoked, and drank tea until midnight, and
then closed the entertainment with a substantial supper. An
interesting and novel feature of the affair was the Russian manner of
making tea. The infusion had a better flavor than any I had previously
drank. This is due partly to the superior quality of the leaf, and
partly to the manner of its preparation.

The "samovar" or tea-urn is an indispensable article in a Russian
household, and is found in nearly every dwelling from the Baltic to