1st July

"July 1st. Arrived at Archangel at 6.30pm. The course up the river was interesting. Many miles of timber ready for shipment were passed. This timber comes down the river in tremendous rafts towed by little tugboats; it is then drawn up into one of the numerous sawmills and cut into different lengths and thickness. On reaching Archangel half the watch were allowed ashore. My watch was aboard. Ones first impressions of the city from the river is an appreciative one but this appreciation goes somewhat of a change after visiting its streets and seeing the houses etc. There were the first evening shadows at the close of this day. They were welcome for somehow, after all, one misses the darkness of night with its sleep and rest. Lying in the hammock this evening I saw one of the most gorgeous sunsets I've ever witnessed. All the colours imaginable. Red, pale green, purple, yellow, just a tinge of pink, and then a blue making a most exquisite picture. Not that the sun set completely, for the night is not dark, just like the commencement of a summers evening at home. The slanting beams of sunlight falling on the golden domes and minarets of the mosques and churches with the multitude of shipping on the wide river, as the foreground, made a most picturesque scene.