March 29th, 1873. Fine.

Today, at four o'clock in the afternoon, we enjoyed a farewell meal at Eydtkuhnen Station [now Chernyshevskoie] with the three Germans who had been in attendance on us. We reached Russian territory after our train had travelled two miles. The signs displayed on the walls of the station buildings were all in Russian script, and everything around us looked dramatically different. The station was called Wierzbolów [now Virbalis in Lithuania]. The German railway comes to an end here, and on the other side are the Russian railway tracks.

Everywhere our party went in Europe we found custom-houses on the borders between the countries we passed through. There, luggage is inspected and duties are charged, but we did not experience this ourselves. Wherever there is a custom-house on a border, the train stops for a long time. In the station building there is usually a large room and the passengers all disembark. Inside is a long counter, serpentine in shape like ancient calligraphy. The passengers take out their keys, have the porters bring their luggage and place it on the counter, and then sit down beside it to wait for a customs official to arrive. There are several customs officials and they take the keys from the passengers one by one, open their luggage and perhaps ask them about the goods they are carrying. In dubious cases they sometimes open sealed items.