Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Anton Chekhovit. We are in no haste. When I asked a passenger, “Whenever are wegoing on?” he asked, “Why, aren’t you all right here!”And that’s true. Why not stay, as long as we are not bored?The captain, his mate, and his agent are the acme of politeness.The Chinese in the third class are good-natured and funny. Yesterdaya Chinaman sat on the deck and sang something very mournfulin a falsetto voice; as he did so his profile was funnier than anycaricature. Everybody looked at him and laughed, while he tooknot the slightest notice. He sang falsetto and then began singingtenor. My God, what a voice! It was like the bleat of a sheep or acalf. The Chinese remind me of good-natured tame animals, theirpigtails are long and black like Natalya Mihailovna’s. Apropos oftame animals, there’s a tame fox cub living in the toilet-room. It sitsand looks on as one washes. If it sees no one for a long time it beginsto whine.What strange conversations one hears! They talk of nothing butgold, the mines, the Volunteer Fleet and Japan. In Pokrovskaya allthe peasants and even the priests mine for gold. The exiles followthe same occupation and grow rich as quickly as they grow poor.There are people who look like artizans and who never drink anythingbut champagne, and walk to the tavern on red baize which islaid down from their hut to the tavern.* * *The Amur country is exceedingly interesting. Highly original. Thelife here is such as people have no conception of in Europe. It remindsme of American stories. The shores of the Amur are so wild,original, and luxuriant that one longs to live there all one’s life. I amwriting these last few lines on the 25th of June. The steamer rocksand prevents my writing properly. We are moving again. I have comea thousand versts down the Amur already, and have seen a milliongorgeous landscapes; I feel giddy with ecstasy …. It’s marvellousscenery, and how hot! What warm nights! There is a mist in themornings but it is warm.I look through an opera-glass at the shore and see a prodigiousnumber of ducks, geese, grebes, herons and all sorts of creatures193