Note 2 — Chapter XXIII · IRKUTSK.

I was specially anxious to open a depôt for the Bible Society in Irkutsk, and to that end called upon a bookseller and printer named Sinitzun, of Harlampi Street, and invited him to become a depositary. He replied that he had the will to do so, but that he must first consult his partners; for it was doubted whether the city would be rebuilt, and whether persons having lost their premises would not, instead of re-erecting them, go and live elsewhere. I have heard, since my return, however, that the town is rising from its ashes even on a grander scale than it formerly possessed.