Page:Letter from T.H. Barker to his wife Mary, 3 December 1903.pdf/4

 enamel. The people of all classes moved slowly to the front and before going away each one knelt or bowed, and some kissed the figures on the Bible; others pressed up to the Priest and he gracefully presented the Crucifix to them to kiss. He waved it in a most skilful manner so that a great number kissed it in a short time, and many after kissing the crusifix, once or twice, kissed the back of the Priest's hand which was small and white, and which held the crucifix. It was a singular and beautiful medieval picture, full of contrast. He in his magnificence and beauty, and they, many of them in picturesque squalor; their faces were clean, but their hair and moustaches and beards were rough and mediaeval. There were also many ladies and gentlemen, mixed with the crowd in rich furs, but the elderly ladies mostly wear a white cloth over their heads and hair, and a long dark cloak, with fur collar. Lots of these get down on their knees, and bowed their heads to the ground, and the peasants nearly all touch the ground with their foreheads, before the shrines.

I ought to have said that in the centre of Tomsk in an enormous market place, surrounded by booths, and that this in the morning is crowded with sleighs and peasants from far and near, one of the most picturesque sights in the world.

It would take me longer to describe the market scene, than the Cathedral one, and I have to go to a concert at the Club, which is to be followed by a Ball. I have not yet had time to call on the Governor, General Stroganoff, but I hope to do so to-morrow morning, when I am also going through the Technical College. The buildings are splendid, like a part of the Paris Exhibition. An American