On the back streets is the '_Slobodka_,' or poorer part of the town.

Here the laborers of every kind have their dwellings, and here the _lafka_ is most to be found.
Lafkas are chiefly devoted to liquor selling, and are as numerous in proportion to the population as beer-shops in Chicago.

I explored the '_slobodka_,' but did not find it attractive.

Dogs were as plentiful and as dubious in breed and character as in the Sixth Ward or near Castle Garden.
The church occupies a prominent position in the foreground of the town, and, like nearly all edifices at Nicolayevsk, is built of logs.
Back of it is the chancellerie, or military and civil office, with a flag-staff and semaphore for signalling vessels in the harbor.

Of other public buildings I might name the naval office, police office, telegraph house, and a dozen others.
On the morning after my arrival I called on Admiral Fulyelm, the governor of the Maritime Provinces of Eastern Siberia.