I found him living very comfortably in bachelor quarters that contained a library and other luxuries of civilization.

In his sitting-room there was a map of the Russian empire and one of Boston, and there were lithographs and steel engravings, exhibiting the good taste of the owner.
Rising early the next morning, I began a study of the town.
Nicolayevsk was founded in 1853 in the interest of the Russian government, but nominally as a trading post of the Russian American Company.

Very soon it became a military post, and its importance increased with the commencement of hostilities between Russia and the Western powers in 1854.

Foundries were established, fortifications built, warehouses erected, and docks laid out from time to time, until the place has attained a respectable size.

Its population in 1866 was about five thousand, with plenty of houses for all residents.
Nicolayevsk is emphatically a government town, five-sixths of the inhabitants being directly or indirectly in the emperor's employ.
"What is this building ?" I asked, pointing to a neat house on the principal street.