are admitted, and no interference is made with their religious belief. Some of the professors of the Oriental languages are Tartars, and I have been told that one of the rooms of the university is fitted up as a mosque.
"This is a good place to say," continued the Doctor, "that while the Russian Government makes an earnest effort to convert all its subjects to the faith of the Orthodox Greek Church, it rarely allows that effort to take the form of oppression. Sometimes it happens that an over-zealous priest goes beyond the limit; but as soon as his conduct is known to the proper
IN THE LIBRARY.
authorities he is reprimanded, and replaced by one who is more cautious. The Polish exiles in Siberia are nearly all Catholics; the Government builds churches for them, and allows their priests (generally exiles like their co-religionists) to travel from place to place in the performance of their religious duties; and as long as they do not join in any political plots, or make other trouble for the authorities, they are allowed the greatest freedom. Among the peasant inhabitants of Siberia a Catholic church is called 'Polish,' while a Lutheran one is known as 'German.'
"The Moslem and Pagan inhabitants of Asiatic Russia have the most
11
