RUSSIAN HOSPITALITY, AND QUEER WAYS OF SHOWING IT.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3512, 10 October 1882, Page 4

RUSSIAN HOSPITALITY, AND QUEER WAYS OF SHOWING IT.

Our stay at Tobolsk was short, for certain projected military movements made it imperative for Gvosdikoff to press on at once to Irkutsk, to reach which place was a long, dreary and dangerous journey. But before we left we were entertained at dinner at tho club house by a number of the wealthy merchants and the civil officers of the city. When reached the club-room, early in the evening, we found a large company assembled, the members of which in dress and in general carriage would have done no discredit to the politest society of any European capital. We were served with a dinner of the choicest viands, but the strength of the banquet evidently lay in its wines and liquors. Before we got through I came to tho conclusion that the Siberian Russians can drink moro champagne without getting drunk than any class of people I ever met. At this dinner they were drinking from beginning to end, with scarcely an intermission, but after the substantials had been removed came their grand opportunity. Champagne flowed like water, toasts being proposed and religiously and heartily drunk to everybody, from the Czar down to the humblest guest present. After several hours of this drinking bout, the dinner was held to be over, and in the adjoining coffee-room tea and coffee were served, probably as eobering-off potions. Then the champagne was brought in again, and after partaking of more wine there occurred one of the strangest scenes ever witnessed. A party of a dozen gentlemen surrounded Gvosdikoff and I thought were shaking hands with him. Suddenly I saw them seize him and without a moment's warning throw him upward into the air. Almost touching the ceiling, down he came, only to be tossed back and forth again and again amid tho shouts and the laughter of the company. I was astounded, and concluded that the whole company were so drunk that they were crazy and were not responsible for thus insulting their guest. But a gentleman at my side relieved my anxiety on one part, and increased it on another, by telling me that this was a Siberian-Russian custom of courteous attention, and that I would be served in the same way presently. And so I wa3, and was tossed back and forth until I was quite out of breath, and what with the tossing and the wine, could scarcely stand straight when our friends were through with me. This eport is called " podkedovate," or tossing up, and is always entered into by the better class of Siberians when they desire to show their respect for their guests in a special manner. We got away at last, and drove off, thankful that we had an all night's ride before us in the cold air, which might serve to revive us. Judge to our surprise, when, just outside the town, we met a pirty of our entertainers, who, taking a short cut in their sledge through the town had thus intercepted us. Champagne was again poured out and our mutual good health pledged in a final round, and then we drove out into the night and into the dreary wi'ds.

We were sound asleep from tho effects of the champagne and the cold biting air, so that the noise which fell upon our ears after we had gone a mile or two scarcely disturbed our drowsy senses. But our drivor was more wide awako and roused i.is up. ~We listened, and in the clear night air could distinguish the jingling of bells, the trotting of horses and the loud shouts of men. It was plain that whoever and whatever they were they were fast overtaking us. We were a little alarmed, not knowing whether we were the objects of pursuit or not, or whether we might not be about to fall into the hands of some desperate fellows. We sat np in our sledge and grasped our weapons, as the pursuers could be heard just behind, fast coming down upon us, and plainly calling upon us to stop. The next moment, however, our weapons dropped nerveless from our hands as the sledges dashed up alongside us on either hand, and we heard the cheery voice of one of our entertainers saluting us, while the shouts and laughter of his companions at our evident fright rang out upon the air. Some half a dozen friends, it seems, thought that their carousal had come to an end too abruptly and so had piled into their sledges and followed us for another farewell.—Boston Commercial Bulletin.