CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION ON CHINA AND THE CHINESE Cornell University Library DK 771.S2H39 1904 3 1924 023 036 266 AN OKOCHUN WOMAN. \Fro//lisJ'iu The original of tiiis book is in tile Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023036266 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST BEING AN ACCOUNT OF INVESTIGATIONS AMONG THE NATIVES AND RUSSIAN CONVICTS OF THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN, WITH NOTES OF TRAVEL IN KOREA, SIBERIA, AND MANCHURIA BY CHARLES H. HAWES IflTH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS ,53-157 FIFTH AVENUE 1904 PREFACE Many books on Siberia have appeared during the last two decades, most of which fall into one of two categories ; the earlier, into what we may label "exile literature," and the later, " Siberian railway sketches." The present work belongs in part to both of these classes, but deals chiefly with a portion of Siberia far beyond the terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway— the little-known island of Sakhalin. Such a terra incognita has Sakhalin been in the history of exploration, that until the year 1849 it was believed to be a peninsula even by the Russians ; and six years later, in 1855, an English naval commander was outwitted owing to the prevailing ignorance of its insularity.* It is therefore not surprising that, even as late as this twentieth century, I should have been the first English traveller to explore the northern interior. The sources of our knowledge of Sakhalin, even in Russian, are few and in English, if little has been heard of the convicts there, nothing has been written about the Gilyak and Orochon natives. With the expansion of the penal settle- ments, and the future, though not impending, development of the resources of the island, must follow the decay of the * See post^ p. 100. viii PREFACE native in the presence of the white man. Already the former is modifying or abandoning his religious rites and ceremonies. It therefore behoved me to place these on record before they became lost to the investigator or buried in tradition. If in the course of the narrative faunal and floral species have been noted, this is only what every traveller owes to the scientist and the ever-increasing body of students. At the same time no one regrets more than I do, that I was so inadequately equipped for my task among almost unknown peoples and amid strange physical conditions. Of the faulty state of the penal administration, and the unfortunate condition of the "exile-settlers" described in these pages, it is devoutly to be hoped that in any future investigations no trace may be found. At the same time a word of warning is due, lest the reader should found a generalization for Siberia upon this particular settlement. Sakhalin is the colony to which all Russia's worst criminals are despatched, and the very name of the island is banned in St. Petersburg. Moreover, it is a far cry to the capital — ^the sign-post in front of the post-office at Alexandrovsk says io,i86 versts (6752 miles) — and the threads of control cannot be pulled tight. Since the publication of Mr. George Kennan's two volumes,* great improvements have been made in the conditions of prisoners, throughout Siberia, not excepting Sakhalin ; but that island still lags, as ever, many years behind the average penal settlement on the mainland. In Chapter VI. will be found a brief risum6 of the * " Siberia and the Exile System." PREFACE ix history and general features of Sakhalin. The rest of the book, including the notes on Korea and Manchuria, consists mainly of a personal narrative. It makes no claim to an exhaustive account of Sakhalin or the neighbouring regions, for the author's object has been to place before the reader pictures. Incidents, trivial in themselves, illus- trate and bring home to the mind the everyday life of. native and white man in this far eastern world, more effectively than any detailed statement of habits and customs. The incognito of five or six persons who figure in the narrative has been preserved. Courtesy, if not fairness, to certain exiles and officials demanded this; and not to have done so could have served no good purpose, and perhaps embarrassed or injured them. Should this book find its way to Sakhalin or Eastern Siberia, these persons will be recognized, and, indeed, two or three of them are well-known in European Russia. My thanks are due first of all to Mr. X., my interpreter on the island of Sakhalin, a man of rank and education and a convict, without whom these investigations could never have been made. A few days before these words were penned, I received a letter telling of his escape to Japan — after many exciting experiences — "packed up in a cupboard." To Mr. Ellinsky, I am also deeply indebted, not only for the meteorological records of Alexandrovsk, but for many notes, which he had made on the subject of the natives. In confirming my own observations of the fauna and flora of the island, I have derived assistance from the X PREFACE work of two St. Petersburg professors, A. M. Nikolsky and Fr. Schmidt. In the matter of illustrations, I have a like pleasant duty to fulfil. Those appearing in the text have been sketched from articles in my possession, but the plates are in all cases from photographs. For those not taken by myself I am indebted to Mr. A. von Friken, Inspector of Agriculture on the island of Sakhalin, to Mr. Kuznetsov and to Mr. EUinsky. For seven out of the eight (the first was by the author) forming the remarkable and unique series of the bear f^te, I can only here record my thanks to one whom I met on the island, but who wishes to remain anonymous. Cambridge, October, 1903. CONTENTS I'AGE List of Illustrations . xvii Glossary xxi CHAPTER I FROM NAGASAKI TO GENSAN Bound for the Russian Empire — A dangerous coast — Korea a land of mystery — Where are the i:, 000,000? — Fusan — City gentlemen from mud-huts — The site of a great invasion — Gensan — A difficult arithmetical problem — 800 mung for a pair of hinges . . i CHAPTER II AT VLADIVOSTOK Russia, Japan, and Korea — Vladivostok — Siberian hotels — Search for an ice-free port — Tariff imposition and its results — Difficulties of travel 15 CHAPTER III FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK The railway journey — The Ussuri region — The terrible massacre at Blagovestchensk — Stories of eye-wilnesses — Khabarovsk . 30 CHAPTER IV ON THE AMUR A lonely post — On the broad bosom of the Amur — Village scenes — A 2000-mile sledge journey — Nikolaevsk — A visit to the prison — A night affray — "If he moves, shoot him"— Bound for Sakhalin at last ........... 48 xii CONTENTS CHAPTER V NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK FAGB A treacherous passage — A lonely coast — Sakhalin at last — I am put under guard — Am I a spy? — Strange story of an ex-convict mer- chant—A drunken host to the rescue— The terrible deed of a student— Alexandrovsk— An interview with the Governor— A ride to Arkovo and a warning — Armed outlaws — The mail held up — Preparations for a 750-mile journey ....•• 74 CHAPTER VI THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN History of the discovery of the island — Captain Vries in search of the "Gout en Siiverycke eylant" — Believed to be a peninsula — The Jesuit Fathers' quaint reports — How the island got its name — La P&ouse's discoveries — Captain Nevelsky settles the question of its insularity — Native legends of a deluge — Was it a peninsula? — A forest-clad land, the home of the great brown bear — S5° below zero — Mails by dog-sledge across the frozen sea — A mystery of the ice-bound straits — Geology — Strange races — Who were the aborigines ? — Dwellers in pits — The Russian occupation . . 93 CHAPTER VH ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO Into the interior by kibitka — A " Free-command " — Miserable crops — A tragedy by the wayside — The famous Robin Hood of Sakhalin and his escapades — On the track of iraiiya^' . . . .118 CHAPTER VIII SLAVO TO ADO TIM A start is made on the 6oo-mile canoe journey — A settlement of ill-repute — So-called " civil marriage " — A terrible environment for children — ^Doubtful quarters .... . -135 CONTENTS xHi CHAPTER IX ON THE RIVER TIM PAGE " Each facing our man with arms loaded " — A notorious thief and Ivan Dontremember — An ex-naval captain shot — A native's idea of measurement — A village possessing seven bears — Dug-outs in course of making . ........ 148 CHAPTER X TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM " A departed spirit " — The big brown bear — Salmon for the spearing — Sun-dried fish — Eagle's wings to aid the flight of the soul of the murdered — We pass brodyagi encamped — I miss 5000 rubles — We join a bear in a seal hunt — A night in the swamps . . . 163 CHAPTER XI IN THE BAY OF NI A curious coast-line — Gilyak huts and their origin — An interior — " Give something to the god " — The great bear fete — A unique band and artiste — The Cham's adjuration — The bear not a pious Gilyak — Signification of the festival 186 CHAPTER XII CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND An Orochon village — Strange surroundings — A monopolist — Prepara- tions for a great feast — The New Year's festival — Barter — Our host "the richest man in the world" — The value of a needle — Petroleum lakes — The tundra — An unwritten tragedy . . . 204 CHAPTER XIII WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO An "inter-continental" boat-race — The Cha7n and the Shaman — Exorcising the evil spirit — Why the Gilyaks are without written characters — The journeys of a soul after death — Strange rites at the funeral pyre 22S l> xiv CONTENTS CHAPTER XIV NIVO PAGE The powerful Tol ni vaakh—Avi fauna— The great sea-holiday— The Black Killer— Fish in " posts "—The Grand Old Beggar— A "great city" — The "Lord Mayor" — Polygamy — An elopement — Gilyak maiden's song — A scorned lover — Curious marriage ceremony — Causes of the decrease of the Gilyaks ..... 248 CHAPTER XV FROM NIVO TO IRR KIRR An aristocrat — A party intent on buying a bear — Five brodyagi on our path — ^A memorable escape — A two months' campaign — Canni- balism — Migration of birds — Seal added to the menu — Tol ni vookh delivers us — Tracking a bear — A winter duel with Bruin — Reindeer hunting in the buran 277 CHAPTER XVI A RIDE THROUGH THE "TAIGA" Irr Kirr — The bears' constitutional — A salmon for \d. — Ado Tim — The difficulties of riding in a telyega — Miserable settlements — An exciting ride— The 19th of the month — Rikovsk prison — Sophie Bluffstein — An extraordinary career — Refuge from a storm — A convict home ......... 300 CHAPTER XVII SCENES AND PERSONS IN ALEXANDROVSK Flans for departure — A broken cable — Rumours of war with Japan — A reply telegram in nineteen days — Chief buildings of Alexan- drovsk — Classification of prisoners— Flogging — The plet — Putrid prison rations — The painful story of Mrs. A. — Twenty years in the dungeons — " Who are you ? " — Arrival of prisoners — A tale of murders ........... 227 CONTENTS XV CHAPTER XVIII STORIES OF PRISONERS FACE A show of arms necessary — A murderer with nineteen victims — I am warned — Black crosses by the wayside — "What do you think of Patrin?" — A fearful struggle — A saintly old prisoner — Eight years' hard labour for stealing a loaf — The ' ' game " of the super- intendent and the " exile-settlers " 3SS CHAPTER XIX STORIES OF CRIMES IN ALEXANDROVSK Chinese prisoners — An armed escort — Church service — A night for deeds of darkness — Tunnelling and firing houses — An employer of assassins — Sakhalin ; the Utopia of no taxes — The power of the ruble .... 372 CHAPTER XX SAKHALIN TO VLADIVOSTOK The Russian priest — The prisoner's hope — Sister de Mayer — Her story — Heroic efforts — Her solution of the unemployed problem — Sakhalin coal — Farewell to the island — De Castries Bay — I am to cross Manchuria as a " book-keeper " ..... 388 CHAPTER XXI ACROSS MANCHURIA A brief historic sketch — Area and resources — Railway route — Scenery — Journey in a construction train — Kharbin — Difficulty of finding the train — The steppe — ^Approaching Tsitsikar — A poor railroad . 407 CHAPTER XXII MANCHURIA TO CHITA The river Nonni — Overtaking the train — A Chinese village— The Khingans — A two and a half days' stop — Six thousand miles of snow — Curious dwellings — Manchuria station — Tickets obtained under difficulties— Struggles at buffets— Chita .... 428 xvi CONTENTS CHAPTER XXIII TRANS-BAIKALIA TO MOSCOW PAGE The Burials — Nomads — Lamas — Gelung Nor Lamaserai — A " living god " — Mystery play — English missionaries — Lake Baikal — Irkutsk — Pictures en route — Boundary of two continents — The Ural mountains — Isolation of villages 446 Index . . . 465 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO FACE PAGE An Orochon Woman . . . . Frontispiece The "Bazar," Fusan, Korea 8 The Korean Post-office, Gensan lo Korean Bureau Hinges. Korean Hat-box. Korean Bamboo Under-vest and Horsehair Cuffs 12 Members of the Gold Tribe 35 "Trenches were hastily dug around the Town'' (Blago- vestchensk) 38 Statue of Count Muraviev-Amursky and House of Governor- general Grodekov, Khabarovsk 44 Striking off the Fetters 68 The Governor of Sakhalin 85 The " Pristan " (Jetty), Alexandrovsk go An Attack on the Post. Repairing the Bridge cut by the " Brodyagi " 90 Alexandrovsk Prison and Offices 91 A Map of Sakhalin 93 Map by d'Anville, 1737. By the " Isle du Fl(euve) Noir," is meant Sakhalin 98 Arrival of the Dog-sledge Mail from the Mainland . . 108 10,186 Versts to St. Petersburg. Departure of the Dog-sledge Mail for the Mainland no A Sakhalin Ainu Family at Home 114 Map of Northern Sakhalin 120 A Sakhalin Murderer 129 The Famous Barratasvili . . 129 Reading the Death Sentence 132 xvii xviii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO FACE PAGa A Sakhalin Murderess 141 A Gilyak Tracker of "Brodyagi" I54 Gilyak Wife and Maiden 158 Gilyak Storehouses for Dried Fish 174 Gilyak Summer Hut . 192 The Bear F6te 196, 198 Feeding Bruin [p. 195) — " He emerges too readily " (/. 197) — "The Gilyaks proceed to muzzle him" (J). 197) — ^"Led to the Hut of his Owner" {p. 197) — "To the Strains of a Unique Band " {p. 197) — " Left tied up to ruminate over his Position " {p. 198) — " A Few . . . shoot Blunt, Wooden- ended Arrows" {p. 199) — "The Arrow had missed the Heart" (/. 200) An Orochon Man (Mainland) 206 " Our Supper of Fish was spitted before the Fire " . . . 233 A Tungus "Shaman" 235 Setting out for an Afternoon Call 252 A Group of Tungus 257 An Unrecorded Tragedy {see p. 227) 259 Pillaniitsich, or the " Grand old Beggar '' 259 The " Lord Mayor " (on the left) and the two " Lady Mayoresses " of Nivo 272 " By the cleared Track from Onor to Nay-ero "... 280 The Village of Hamdasa II 284 Vasiliv, " The Cannibal " 286 Off to the Bear-hunt . 294 A Sakhalin Bridge 312 A Gang of Murderers, of whom the Four to the Left were hanged 316 The Famous Sophie Bliififstein, or " Golden Hand," being Manacled 320 The Stockade of the Alexandrovsk Prison .... 324 A Gang from the " Testing " Prison Road-making . . . 337 The "Reformatory" Prison, Alexandrovsk. The "Testing" Prison is in the Background 338 Convicts under Guard hauling Logs 339 Chained to Wheelbarrows Night and Day . . . . 340 The "Kabila" (Flogging Bench), "Rozgi" (Birch rods), and. the " Plet " at Rikovsk 341 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xix TO FACE PAGE Golinsky, the present " Palach,'' or Executioner, with the " Plet," Alexandrovsk 342 Political Exiles, Rikovsk 344 The Arrival of Convicts from Russia 348 A Night Watchman, Alexandrovsk 358 A Desperate Character 363 The Dark Cells (or " Cachots Noirs "), Alexandrovsk Prison . 365 " In the Market-place are several Ramshackle Shelters " . 386 Farewell to Sakhalin 400 Inhabitants of Kirin, Manchuria 412 The Author 429 Chinese General at Tsitsikar receives the Russian Governor- general Grodekov 436 A Buriat . . 441 Buriat Family and "Yurta" (Tent) ... -447 Buriat Wife and Maiden in Festive Attire .... 448 The Late Kan-po, or Grand Lama of the Buriats . . . 449 Taranatha, a Buriat " Khubilgan," or " Living Buddha " . 450 The Actors (Lamas) in the Mystery Play . . . .452 Summons to the Temple Service 453 Baikal Station on the Lake, with the two Ice-breakers . . 456 At a Wayside Station, Trans-Siberian Railway . . ,461 " An Obelisk bearing the Inscription on one Side Asia, and on the other Europe " 461 Map of North-East Asia .... ... At end GLOSSARY An adequate transliteration of Russian words, giving their exact phonetic equivalents in English seems to me impossible, and the following is an admittedly faulty attempt; yet, such as it is, its value will be increased to the reader by a few words on the pronunciation of the transliterations. The following remarks may be taken to apply not only to the Russian but also to the Gilyak and Ainu words. The vowel sounds have the value of the Italian a is pronounced as in ia'Caex. e „ „ „ th(?re. i „ „ ee „ ieeA.. o „ „ „ c^d. u „ „ 00 „ iooA. The letter i in the following transliterations, B/t, Gotov/, Isp«'tuem»kh, Isp/tovat, Kabila, R?ba and V«, has the sound of a shortened td. Double vowels are not diphthongs, but are pronounced separ- ately, e.g. Due and Manue (names of Sakhalin villages) are respectively Doo-e (like the French town Douai) and Ma-noo-e. Of the consonants g is always hard, and s as in awew, but never like z; ch is pronounced as in chnxck, and never as in German ; shtch as shed ch in ia.rm.shed chi[6. ; and finally zh as z in azure. RUSSIAN WORDS. Al^n, plural alhii . Deer, used in Sakhalin to denote reindeer. Arestdnt, plural i . Prisoner. Artel .... A guild or workmen's association. Balshdy . . . Great. XXll GLOSSARY Edrin . Blin, i . Bog . Bdyka . Brdtsky Brodydga, i BAdet . Burdn . Chai . Chas . Chto . Dek&br Desyatina, i Do Ddkha . Dugd Etape Eto . Familiya Gilydkskiy CorMsha GSrod . GotSvi . GrScha . Gubirnski Guslnoy I . IkSna, i Jkrd . IntelUginti Gentleman. Pancake. God. Dat. case, Bogu. "Pidgin" Russian (in the East) for "boy," i.e. waiter, etc. Fraternal. See p. 455, n. Vagabond, a passportless vagrant ; gener- ally in Eastern Siberia an escaped convict. Will be ; 3rd pers. sing, future of bit, to be. Snowstorm. Tea. Hour ; sey chas, lit. this hour, immediately. What? December. Square measure = 27 acres (nearly). Till, to. Do ox da sviddniya. Seesviddnie. A term current in Eastern Siberia for a long and ample coat lined inside and outside with fur. An arc, hence the bow-shaped yoke span- ning the shafts. Prisoners' resting-place en route, where they sleep two consecutive nights. A .p6lu dtape accommodates them for one night only. This, that. Family, surname. Adj., of or belonging to the Gilyaks. A term current in Eastern Siberia, Kam- chatka, and North America, for Salmo proteus. Town, city. Ready. Buckwheat, generally cooked or steamed like boiled rice. Local (gaol). An adj. formed from Gus, a goose. Gusi- noy 6zero, Goose Lake. And. Image, sacred picture. Caviare, roe of sturgeon. The educated classes. GLOSSARY XXIU Ispitiiemikh . Ispravly&yushtchikhsya Ispravnik Izvdstchik, i Kabargd Kabila . Kak . Kdmera, i . Kanddlnaya Kantselydriya Kavkdz Kdya . Khaldt, i Khlyeb Kibltka Kita . Kitdesky Knut . Kopyiyka Kto Limdn . Lyodokdl Ldshad, i Lund . Mdlenkiy Mdtushka Razry&d ispituemikh, the division or cate- gory of those being tested ; " testing " prison. Gen. plural of the pres. part, pass, of ispitovat, to test. Gen. plural of pres. part, of the reflective verb ispravlyatsya ; razry&d isprav- lydyushtchikhsya, the division or cate- gory of those (prisoners) being re- formed. " Reformatory " prison. Chief of the police in a district. Cabman, or driver of hired vehicle. Musk-deer. Lit. mare, hence a bench to which the prisonerabout to be flogged is strapped. How, in what manner. A room, a prison-ward. Fern, of adj. kanddlnoy, chained. Kan- ddlnaya tyurmd, lit. chained prison, the prison of the chained. Chancellerie. The Caucasus. An Eastern Siberian term for the driver of a n&ria. Lit. a morning gown, but used for the long overcoat worn by the prisoners in summer. Bread, a loaf. A rude little four-wheeled vehicle with a seat for two behind the driver. A term current in Eastern Siberia, Kam- chatka, and North America, for Salmo lagocephalus. Chinese, from Kitdi, China. Whip. See p. 340. A kopyek ; one-hundredth part of a ruble, or one farthing in value. Who? Estuary. Ice-breaker. Horse. The moon. Little, small. Dim. of mat^ mother, mother dear! XXIV GLOSSARY Mayd . Adj. fem. of moy, my. Medvyet Lit. honey eater, bear. Mishka Colloquial for bear. Dim. of Mikhael. Muzhik, i . Peasant. NacMlnik . Superintendent or chief, whether of an officer or men. Ndrta . An Eastern Siberian term for a dog- sledge. Ne . . . Not. Nichevo Nothing, it matters not. Nyet . No. Oblast . Province or " territory." Okrug, i District. Oknizhni . Adj. from okrug, of a district. Ostrov . Island. bzero . Lake. Paldch Executioner, flogger. Pardsha Excrement bucket. Pazhdl'sta, ipazhdluista , Please, if you please. Perestlnt A forwarding prison. See p. 66. PirasMk, •^\.pirashki Pasty, dough-nut with minced meat inside. put . Whip. See p. 340. Polu- . Half. Pos{/)eUmts " Exile-settler." PoseUnie Exile-settlement. Prdzdnik . Holiday, feast-day. Pristan Wharf, jetty. Prolyotka . Small Victoria (carriage). Pud . 40 lbs. Russian, or 36"ii lbs. English. Razry&d Section, category. Razydzd Lit. passing place. Kit&esky razyisd. Chinese junction. Riba . Fish. Rdzga, i Rod, birch rods. Rubdshka . Shirt. Rubl . A ruble. The exchange value fluctuates about IS. id. Sabdka Dog. Samovdr Kettle in the form of a tea urn. S&zhen, i Lineal measurement = 7 ft. Serdiiiy Angry. S^y . . . . This. ShtcJii . . . . Cabbage soup. GLOSSARY XXV Shiiba, i Fur coat, generally applied to the peasants' sheepskin coats. Skolko . How much ? SkSro . Quickly. Sldva . Glory. S/dva Bogit, thank God. Smotritel Superintendent. Sdlntse . Sun. Stakdn Glass, tumbler. Stdntsiya, sii Station, post-station. Stdrosta Bailiff, headman of a village. Stoit Costs, or is worth. Stryelyiiy Shoot ! Imperat. 2nd pers. sing, of stryelydt, to shoot. Stupay . Go away ! Imperat. 2nd pers. sing of stiip&t, to go. Sviddnie Meeting, da sviddniya, tiU we meet again. Taigd . The Siberian forest or jungle. Takoy . Such, chio eto takoy, what is it ? Tarn . There. Telyiga, i . Cart. See p. 308. Titerev Capercailzie. Tishe . Gently ! Troika, i Team of three horses abreast. Ti'mdra The northern belt of Siberia, a treeless waste of swamps. See p. 224. Tyttrmd Prison. Tyotushka , Auntie, dim. of tyotka, aunt. Tyuleniy Adj. from tyulin, a seal, Ostrov tyuldniy. Seal Island. Ukdz . Edict, Imperial proclamation. Versta . A verst = 3500 feet, or -663 mile nearly. Vi You. YamshtcMk . Post-boy, but here driver of a telyega. Ynkola A Kamchatkan term for dried or cured fish, used generally throughout Siberia. Y-Arta, i Nomad's tent. Zakt'iska Snack, hors-d'oeuvre. Zaryd . Dawn. Zdrdvstvueie Good morning ! 2nd pers. plural imperat. of Zdr&vstvovat, to be in good health. Zndytt . I know. Zolotnik, i . A weight, one-ninety-sixth of a Russian lb.. or 'IS oz. avoirdupois. XXVI GLOSSARY GILYAK WORDS (Mainly forms of the Tim and Tro Gilyaks, but including some in use by the West Coast tribe). Cha or chai A bay. Chak vi hunch . . See Tol vi hunch. Cham . Medicine-man of the Gilyaks. See pp. 234-S- Cham-gash Seal-harpoon of great length. Ch'khnai Wooden images used by the cham in exorcising. See p. 237. Chookh Thou, God ! CMuff . Bear. Dghakho Knife ; used as the men's hunting and general purposes knife. Gazhu . A remedy. A piece of a wasp's nest. Genich . To buy. Umgu genich, to buy {i.e. to marry) a wife. Hakhpisakh Woman's wadded hat with lappets, from Manchuria. I . River, Jigind . To quit a hut. See p. 191. Kakh . Bear-spear. Kanga A rude Jew's harp of wood. Kan-hi Haddock (jGadus ceglefinus or Vachnyci). Karr-long Crow month. On Sakhalin March. Kashk . Lily {Fritillaria Kamchatkensis). Kau . To the right (hand). Kaur . Iron-tipped sticks for guiding and arrest- ing the dog-sledges. Kaukray No, nothing. Khal, pi. a Clan. Kham-long Eagle month. On Sakhalin February. KKm . Quiver. Kikkik. Hooper swan {Cygnus musicus). Kiskh . God, the creator or judge of good and evil, but used also in a vague and general way for all gods. Kiskh ni mui 'h . . God give. Klenu . The council of village elders. Koiba . Rings (finger). GLOSSARY XXVll Koscka A tambourine covered with fish-skins. Ku Arrows. Kuni , " Many Fish and Bears River," a tributary of the Tim. ICttsind To enter a hut. See p. 191. J\wvi . " Many Sables River," a tributary of the Tim. Langerr Hair seal [Phoca vitulind). Locha . Russians. Marikh Fish-spear. Meskh . Earrings Mligh-vo The " other world " village whither the spirits of those who died a natural death journey. Moshun-totn ash . . Field camomile. Nakh . The bench that surrounds three sides of the Gilyak hut. Ni vookh A god or lord. See Pal ni vookh, etc. Nookh-tses Carved bone needle-cases. Olf-rega A remedy. Squirrel's tail. Of'nish The name by which the Orochons are known to the Gilyaks. Paff . Box in which the ashes of deceased are placed. Pal . Mountain, forest. Pal ni vookh Lord or god of the (mountain or) forest. Pal ni vookh chi-sonch The prayer to the lord of the forest (Sable holiday). Pal rush Forest daimones. Pilencho Halibut (Pleuronectes hippoglossus'). Pis Heracleum barbatum. Pore.' . Stop ! Puchi . Tangle seaweed {Laminaria esculenta). Punch . Bow. Raff . The tiny hut for the temporary sojourn of the soul of the deceased. Rik . Cuckoo {Cuculus canorus). Ru-er . Cousins. Takh! . On! Tif . Forward ! Tim . Cranberry. The name given to one of the two great rivers of Sakhalin. Tin kirn A rude fiddle of one string. xxvm GLOSSARY Tlo . Tol . Tolf an Tolftuf Tol ni vookh Tol vi hiinch Torif . Tiilf an Tul-noss Tur .... Tur ni vookh Tu-tut .... Tzakh .... Uich .... Uichka rush Umgu, or ungu dzkakho Vibuis .... Vo . . . . Yu-rii .... Heaven, whither the spirits of the murdered and suicides fly direct. Water. Summer year, which includes spring and summer, and is inaugurated by the seal hunt and Tol vi hiinch. Gilyak summer hut. Lord or god of water (sea and rivers). " Water or sea holiday." Gilyak winter hut. Winter year, which includes autumn and winter, and is inaugurated by the sable holiday, Pal ni vookh chi-sonch. A remedy. A piece of a squirrel's ear. Fire. Lord or god of fire. Eastern turtle-dove (Turtur orientalis) A twig with whittled shavings at the top. Unlucky, ill-omened. Water daimones. Woman's (fish and domestic) knife. Belt with gunpowder, skin flask, shot horn, flint and tinder pouch, etc. A village. Automatic bow-and-arrow snare. Chi Inao Kotan Nai Poro Toi AINU WORDS Baked or dried. A twig with whittled shavings depending from the top. A village. River. Great. Poronai, great river. Clay. Toichi, makers of baked clay. See pp. 114-S. IN THE UTTERMOST EAST CHAPTER I FROM NAGASAKI TO GENSAN Bound for the Russian Empire — A dangerous coast — Korea a land of mystery — Where are the 11,000,000? — Fusan — City gentlemen from mud-huts — The site of a great invasion — Gensan — A difficult arithmetical problem — 800 mung for a pair of hinges. AFTER many wanderings in the Orient, I found myself at length on board a Japanese steamer at Nagasaki, bound for Vladivostok. There was some stir in the harbour as a Russian vessel, filled with homeward-bound troops from Port Arthur, steamed slowly in and let go her anchor. Rumour had it that this was the Yaroslav, of the Russian "Volunteer Fleet," bound for the island of Sakhalin with its sad freight of convicts, but it was not so, for she had not left Odessa then, and more than two months were to elapse before I was to see her and her cargo. All doubt was set at rest when the Russian Tommy was seen in his great jack-boots wandering through the narrow streets of the Japanese town, lost in amazement at the dapper little light-hearted people, and their numberless shops gay with a thousand and one strange novelties. The last sampan had left our side, steam was up, and our bow turned to the west ere the setting sun warned us 1 B 2 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST to be alert. Even as we got under weigh a charming sight met our gaze. Far off, silhouetted against the sky, picturesque junks with spreading sail were returning through the golden gateway of the harbour. One by one great ironclads were passed, for the Powers were but slowly evacuating Peking, and here, as off Taku and in the Yang-tse-Kiang, the great battleships of Europe flew their different flags. The verdant and richly wooded slopes of Nagasaki harbour left behind, a respectable berth was given to the isle of Pappenberg (Japanese, Takoboko), which a mistaken tradition has assigned as the scene of the martyrdom of native Christians in the seventeenth century. Our course lay north-north-west, and as darkness set in, a pleasant surprise awaited those who, familiar with the coasts of China, Korea, and the Orient generally, gazed for the first time upon the coast-line of Japan by night. Hundreds, nay, thousands of twinkling lights like myriad glow-worms decked the shores, telling of busy villages and hinting at the populousness of Japan. The traveller re- cently arrived from the Philippines, Australia or Korea, and steaming by night through the Inland Sea, with its gaily lit shores, is as much taken aback as was the Suffolk farmer who, driving up to London, and struck by the sight of so many people as he reached Shoreditch, asked, " Be there a fair here to-day ? " The general reader, who thinks of New Zealand as separated from Australia by merely a channel instead of a 1 200 knots' steam, probably makes the opposite mistake in the relative positions of Korea and Japan. Though by no means the nearest points, Nagasaki, from which I had started, and Fusan, for which I was bound, are only 100 knots apart, and even this distance is halved by the intermediate islands of Tsushima. " The Twins," as they are also called, have this peculiarity — that at low tide they form one island. Tsushima is beautifully FROM NAGASAKI TO GENSAN 3 wooded and mountainous, possesses a magnificent natural harbour and promises to become a great health resort. Early on the following morning, the mountainous east coast of Korea, with its striking contrast to the low sand- flats of the western shores, broke upon our view ; but as I approached this, the south-eastern corner of the penin- sula, I missed the charming picture of a sea dotted with green islets, which one enjoys off the south-western coast. Several weeks earlier, in travelling from Chifu to Na- gasaki, our vessel had threaded its way for some hours through a maze of islands gay with patches of green barley and paddy fields, and the hill slopes dotted with tiny clusters of thatched huts. Suddenly a fog drove down upon us, darkness descended, and we were compelled to heave to. The next morning we awoke to find our- selves still in the net-work of verdant islands and barren rocks, some of which were but a stone's throw from our starboard bow. It was a difScult coast, only partially surveyed, and the scene of many a wreck — a coast rendered more dangerous by an entire absence of light-houses, a feature of modern civilization of which Korea is devoid. It was with keen expectation I looked forward to really setting foot in Korea, that land of mystery which lured the wanderer with its promises of secret surprises, and drew him with all the glamour of an unknown country. With such a feeling did I gaze upon the scene before me as we entered the port of Pusan, or rather Fusan, the Japanese name by which it is more generally known. The harbour, backed by great bluff hills, offers a sheltered anchorage. The least depth of the entrance at low-water springs is twenty-eight feet. There is a noticeable absence of trees, a barrenness accentuated by a clump or two of cryptomerias (Japanese cedars) brought over by the Japanese settlers voluntarily exiled from the land of their birth ; but this dearth of foliage was by no means displeasing to the visitor from 4 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST Japan, for the breezy hills with their short grass, inviting to a run and a climb, were a pleasant contrast to the damp- ness and smell of the paddy fields and the suffocating closeness of the thickets one had left behind. But my surprise was great when I saw such an in- significant settlement. On maps and in statistics of Korea, the ports Fusan, Gensan, and Chemulpho loom large and important, and what now lay before us in the bay was a mere collection of thatched mud-huts. Such was the Korean " town " of Fusan ! In front of us was a busier settlement of several hundred Japanese homes, the Japanese Fusan or Sorio ; but if this was one of the first ports of Korea, where were the 11,000,000 of popula- tion, and what did they do for a living? It is true one heard much about the exports of rice, for Japan and Korea were almost on the eve of a quarrel, a bad harvest having determined the latter to consider the question of prohibiting the export of rice, a proceeding which threatened to spell famine for Japan. Mention was made also of gold, beans, seaweed, and ginseng (from Chemulpho), and figures told of an increasing trade. The import of foreign cottons and kerosene had grown so rapidly that it was within human possibility that this influx might disturb the immemorial reposefulness of the Korean character. Was not an economic upheaval possible when the peasant, largely dependent on the proceeds of his hemp crop, which he sold to native weavers, and his castor-oil beans, which went to native oil-refiners, found his means of livelihood rapidly going? But where were the signs of a great trade ? Another puzzle stared one in the face. What was to be made of the anomaly that this country claimed to have given Japan her art at the end of the sixteenth century ; that from that time Japanese painting, faience,* and * It is interesting to note that in the village of Tsuboya, in the Japanese province of Satsuma, the manufacture of the famous " Satsuma FROM NAGASAKI TO GENSAN 5 metal-work took on a new lease of life ; and yet, in a short campaign from 1593 to 1598, the latter nation so abso- lutely crushed the former that she presents the lamentable spectacle of to-day ? The Japanese settlement lies at the foot of abruptly sloping hills of imposing height, and bears a no distant resemblance to the site of Hobart in Tasmania, though the latter is situated at the base of a much deeper inlet. By the kindly intervention of the Japanese ex-Consul of Hankau, who was bound for his new post at Gensan, kagos, or palanquins, were secured for myself and a fellow- passenger, in which to make the three-mile journey along the coast to the native "city " of Fusan, which we had already espied from the ship. Our way was a pleasant marly track, with the beautiful harbour on our right, and the grand verdant hills on our left. We found the kagos awaiting us at the Chinese settlement of Sinsorio. They were not nearly so comfortable as those in use in South China, and resembled small meat-safes, with green gauze curtains. The passenger had to sit screwed up tailor- fashion, and the three stalwart bearers, unlike the Chinese or Japanese, insisted on a rest at about every half-mile. The road was evidently a much-used one, for we met numbers of foot-passengers, and one notable personage on horseback. He was a sedate Korean, perched on a couple of band-boxes, on top of a diminutive pony, be- spectacled — the man, not the pony — with great saucer-like horn goggles, such as one sees in old collections. But his confrh'es on foot astonished me. I felt I was but in dhhabilU compared with these swell-dressed beaux — fine tall men, with tufty beards and bronzed countenances, clad in spotless white, and Welsh-shaped black hats perched on the top of coils of glossy hair, and tied under faience " is still carried on by the descendants of the Korean captives brought over by Shimadzu Yoshihiro, the feudal lord of Satsuma, in 1598. 6 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST the chin, sauntering past, long pipe in hand. I remarked to my acquaintance that these must be the " ten to four frock-coated, silk-hatted city gents" of Fusan. But as we neared their homes in the native city, our wonderment increased. These were no double-fronted villas, with " tradesmen's entrance " in staring capitals on the further gate, but a collection of mud hovels, with thatched roofs. No chimney broke the outline, nor relieved the dead level of seeming ant-heaps, for the chimneys rose from the ground at the end of little tunnels, or were simply pipes emerging low down from the wall of the hut. Adjoining the one living-room was a tiny strip of a kitchen on a lower level, so that the fire might be kindled from here under the floor of the living-room, as with a Chinese bed ; a very economical method of heating the room, though perhaps an Englishman, who sleeps for the first time in winter above one of these stoke-holes (agimg), might in his dreams fancy he had left this world for another, but not better ! But if we were surprised at the poverty of their homes, we were more puzzled to know how, in these low-roofed hovel-rooms of 8 X 8 X 6 feet, the white-robed gentry could be turned out so clean. The problem was partially solved for me two days later, when, wandering in the native village or town of Gensan, I observed a Korean gentleman taking a siesta, his legs in the hut, and the rest of him in the street, his coiffure and " top hat" undisturbed, as his head was resting on a wooden pillow. The husbands of the lower classes are frequently supported by their wives, which perhaps accounted for the number of loungers we met along the coast road and in the village street. Thus the poor wife does not only the cooking, sewing, washing, and multifarious home duties, but, espe- cially in remote parts, the weeding, reaping and general field work. Needlework takes up no inconsiderable portion of her time, for her lord has all his clothes made at home, and this means a heavy tax on her, for unless he FROM NAGASAKI TO GENSAN 7 be turned out spotless, she will be known as a slattern. The amount of work this involves in unpicking, washing, and sewing is astonishing, for all his clothes are washable ; and his garments are so voluminous that one writer, who has lived in Korea for years, has said that his " pantaloons would provide a loose under-garment for the statue of Liberty, New York harbour." After this, it is needless to say, that the qualities sought for in a wife are not beauty or charm of manner, but those of a good " hausfrau." The goal of life of the Korean, the Korean male at least, is not to accomplish some great work, but rather to get along without working at all. This is to be a gentleman of the true aristocratic school. Passing through the native " town " of Fusan, we came by narrow alleys to the back of it, and began to climb the great hill which sheltered it from the north wind. A clamber up the red marly slopes, covered with the greenest of grasses and dotted with tiny quartz fragments, brought us to the summit. From here on that memorable day, the 13th of the fourth month of the year 1 592, what a sight must have met the eye ! A vast invading army of at least 1 30,000, possibly double that number, had set sail from the shores of Japan, and landing here, probably on the site of the present Japanese settlement, captured the Korean town of Pusan and the neighbouring castle of Tong-nai. And though victory was coy and favoured this year the Japanese, and the next the Koreans and Chinese, that first day was most surely the beginning of the end — the down- fall of Korea. It could have been no virile state that fell from its height so suddenly, but rather like the Roman Empire, its fall had begun from within ere it was attacked from without. From where we stood could be descried the unique and picturesque gate, erected after this memorable invasion, giving entrance to the old walled city, which is being deserted for the adjoining site to the west. Just inside were 8 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST later historical links in the shape of memorial stones, calling to mind Celtic crosses, which we were told had been erected to the memory of mandarins who had " squeezed " less than was customary from the inhabitants. Among the mud and thatch hovels of the new " town " stood out a bungalow, the home of the Australian Presbyterian Mission, whither we had been courteously invited to a midday meal. On our way thither we passed through the main street empty of buyers and offering no tempting wares to the passer-by save some stiff hempen muslin, brass bowls and chop-sticks. I noted little save their somewhat conventional if not uncomfortable dress, that betokened an earlier civilization. The illustration shows the same street on a market or fair day, for, as in England seven centuries ago, most of the buying and selling is done at fairs. The bazars in the populous cities of India are busy all the week through, but in Korea, as in the Shan States, east of Burma, I found the fairs were held on every fifth day, i.e. at one village in the district on the first, sixth, eleventh, and so on, and at another on the second, seventh, twelfth, etc., and on other days they were practically deserted. The next day was spent in watching the mountainous east coast of Korea, the long rugged, jagged, dentelle range with its deep, narrow and dark valleys. The razor-backed ridges and deeply furrowed sides of the mountains testified to the torrential nature of the streams, while their spurs, ending in abrupt cliffs, defied the attack of tide and wave. There could scarcely be a greater contrast to the low islet- studded shores of the western coast, where a tide of more than thirty feet sweeps in and out, alternately concealing and exposing great expanses of sand. Dense forests, the home of the tiger, " the old gentleman of the mountains," as the Koreans call him, clothed the steeps, and not to miss any of the wild setting of this scene, pirates had been captured here three or four weeks previously. FROM NAGASAKI TO GENSAN 9 A shoal of whales was sighted, and some fine basaltic columns on our port side, and then bending our course shorewards we entered the beautiful natural harbour of Wonsan (Chinese, Yuensan), or, as it is more commonly called, Gensan (Japanese). Communications with the outer world were irregular and not too frequent, but better, except in the winter, than eight years before, when one of our passengers, a Russian naval doctor, had been wrecked here, and had to spend fifty-two days on shore before he could get away. It was afternoon as we glided slowly in, and there spread out before us a most beautiful, sheltered bay, dotted with islets, a dreamland of fishing, yachting and bathing. An out-of-the-world spot with a pleasant climate, forests to explore, big game to hunt, a curious people to study and the most glorious effects of light on land and sea ; at any rate so appears to have thought an English gentle- man, whose large house stands on an island about three or four miles from the shore. Here, indeed, he could indulge his love of quiet and be quit of the demands of Society. On the mainland, scattered in the neighbourhood, were three missionaries, the Commissioner of Customs and two other Englishmen, besides a Russian and another European. After a short spell on terra firma we put out at sun- down to rejoin the steamer, and a most glorious scene encircled us. Our sampan seemed to ride on a sea of molten silver, backed by great purple-black mountains, arched by a pale rose-shot sky. The Japanese settlement at Gensan, off which vessels anchor, is a rapidly growing one. The population could not have numbered less than 2000, while it is estimated that the Koreans total some 15,000, but this latter figure includes inhabitants scattered over a considerable area. The next morning we landed on the stone jetty, where petroleum and Shanghai cotton stuffs were being unloaded, and whence beans and rice were to be shipped at the end of harvest. 10 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST As I wished to seek out any survivals of Korean art and craftsmanship, if such existed, I took with me as interpreter the secretary of the Japanese Consul, who at the same time politely told off one of the Consulate Guard to make a small collection. Our first visit was to the Korean Post-office. We, my American companion, an acquaintance made on board, and the interpreter, passed through the " Magistrature ; " a series of bow-roofed courts which to a Westerner sug- gested stables, and in the furthest of them were politely received by two white-robed and black-hatted officials. Our wants were duly explained. We wished to purchase a goodly number of stamps, for there were several issues still extant, and the youthful stamp collectors at home would expect us to do our duty that day. Our whole attention was absorbed in a careful selection, and little did we reck of the difficult work of calculation to follow. The head official resorted as usual in the East to the abacus, but such an abnormal purchase presented unusual difficulty. The sum had been done in my head, and we differed. The chief essayed again, and so did his assistant, but with differing results. At last, discarding the abacus for a slate, he commenced a long addition sum, for fifteen twos (a portion of the calculation) apparently in Korea do not make thirty by multiplication, but only by addition. To our great mutual satisfaction the slate confirmed me in my solution of this tremendous problem ! Our business trans- acted, permission was willingly given me to photograph the officials and the post-office. Two of them gravely sat down, the chief stood, and the result is seen in the accom- panying view. From here by the road we proceeded in a southerly direction along the coast to the main body of the Korean village or town. A shaky bridge, with here and there a broken plank, spanned the river, but pack-ponies found surer foothold and saved their masters toll by wading the ford. ^t ^* Nil'. kmri:\\ I'mm -dFuci , i":i\s\\, [ /;- /a.v/iyi' lo. FROM NAGASAKI TO GENSAN ii Peering into the huts as we threaded the long, straggling street of the village, I observed an occasional chest of drawers, painted a bright yellow, with handsome pierced plate-iron clamps or hinges of considerable size. These bureaux correspond to our old coffers or dowry chests, being made for the reception of the trousseau of the Korean bride. My cupidity was aroused. I could not transport a bureau, but I might compass the portage of some hinges. A Japanese official was appealed to for information, and a youthful guide and interpreter was added to our " staff." He wore a most extensive rush or bamboo hat, which for three years forms part of the mourning costume. It resembled an inverted flower-pot, with five scallops around the edge. So huge was it that I found myself calculating how many gallons of water it would hold were it water- tight, and manfully resisting the temptation to knock on the outside to inquire if the owner were within. We had now a small cavalcade of the "unattached." For about a mile and a half we proceeded thus by the " High Street," which threaded its way between the huts. From the neighbouring heights these must have looked like a collection of ant-hills. Korean gentlemen were stalking proudly down the street, or under the influence of the noonday heat had retired to rest on the floors of the small rooms, or lay partly in the street. Halting before one of these huts, and withdrawing the hanging mat, I found to my satisfaction a man squatted on the floor making hinges. But there was need for a considerable stock of patience. What mattered it to the Englishman if the steamer did leave without him ? Life is not worth living if you have to rush through it as do these foreigners. In the first place the difficulties of language had to be overcome. The Consul's secretary understood English and Japanese, and two of our youthful party claimed to know Japanese, but I would not vouch that they knew more than their numbers 12 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST in that language. It took some considerable time to make the Korean craftsman understand that I wanted to buy some of his hinges. Then the question of price was evidently a poser. Why, I do not know. Whether he was wont to barter with his neighbours, or did not sell them alone, but only affixed to the bureaux, or was staggered at the prospect of getting a hitherto undreamt of price from the "foreign devil," I cannot tell. The guide said he had no fixed price. It was evidently a serious business this, of making up a price on the spur of the moment, and we must give the poor man time to think. Finally the verdict came — 800 mung for one pair of hinges, at least so it was interpreted to me. It sounded a great deal, but 600 cash coins being then the equivalent of a Japanese yen (2s. id.), the price was about 2s. gd., probably at least twice as much as a native would pay, but not exorbitant in my eyes. When I proceeded to pay for two or three pairs, I remembered that I had only Russian money, and there- fore a long squabble ensued as to the relative value of a ruble and a yen. In the East the former was worth a fraction more than the latter at that time, but an authority in the shape of another tradesman was called in to pro- nounce. By this time a large audience of Korean gentle- men, hard at work (!) smoking their pipes, had arrived on the scene ; but, notwithstanding, one shopkeeper averred with delightful impartiality that Russian money was cheap, and he would give me 80 sen (100 sen = i yen) for one ruble, at the end of a battle, we agreed to regard them as equivalents, and I proudly walked off with my hinges, the purchase of which had been nearly a whole morning's work. On my way back I passed a coolie carrying money — Korean cash — on his back. The Korean cash is a similar coin to the Chinese, and in size is between a farthing and a halfpenny, but thinner than either. In the centre is a FROM NAGASAKI TO GENSAN 13 square hole, by which it is strung on straw ropes for con- venience of carrying. In journeying into the country one must employ a man to carry one's money thus, or if it be for more than a week a mule will be necessary. A mis- sionary whom I met made a fortnight's journey from Fusan, and took with him 10,000 cash, and he could hardly have been blamed for extravagance, for he had barely 3S.y. for his expenses. Silver and nickel coins have recently been put into circulation, but in the country it would be more difficult to change them than a five-pound note in a tiny English village. A few evidences or survivals of a past civilization were forthcoming in the Korean's wardrobe. I obtained some beautifully woven horse-hair cuffs, under-vests, and hats. The object of the two former was to keep their white linen from contact with their perspiring bodies in the heat of summer. Less expensive substitutes were made of bamboo. What might we not be saved in England in both purse And temper if we could dispense with the services of the laundress and wear bamboo underclothing ! The conventional headgear of a Korean gentleman is an expensive item, for he will pay as much as £2 and £2, for a horse-hair hat, with which to cover his precious top- knot. Another refinement is noticeable in an oiled paper folding cover, which is worn over the hat in the rain, making of the whole a picturesque, conical-shaped head-dress. This latter and a large hat-box of oiled yellow paper on a bamboo frame, handsomely painted with Korean cha- racters, were just as inexpensive, costing the equivalents of \d. and 6d. respectively. As we made our way back to the boat we passed the village fields of millet (sorghum vulgare) stretching away to the foot of the hills, and rising from out their midst the little stagings so familiar in China and throughout India. This stork-nest kind of erection is the family " look-out " 14 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST from which to warn ofif grain pilferers of the biped class, both feathered and featherless. It is extremely hard work, but absolutely necessary, if a farmer has several small scattered lots, to keep watch day and night over the wide area. He is not safe even from relations, for it is said that poverty is so great " that it is necessary to work all day and steal all night to make an honest living." The harvest, however, was not yet ready, and neither the watchers nor the poorer women whom the strenuous battle of life renders impatient of the restrictions and seclusion of their richer sisters had arrived on the scene, i If the Korean coolie has not the reputation for industry and energy at home, it is quite otherwise in Vladivostok. Probably it is the energetic, the venturesome, who have emigrated, but even so they are measured against a similar class from China and Manchuria. The most obvious explanation is that under Russian rule their earnings are their own, whereas in their own country they are liable to be squeezed, hence nothing is to be gained by persistent industry and thrift, for that would mean an invitation to official despoliation. CHAPTER II AT VLADIVOSTOK Russia, Japan, and Korea — Vladivostok — Siberian hotels — Search for an ice-free port — Tariff imposition and its results — Difficulties of travel. FROM Gensan north to Vladivostok is a twenty-four hours' steam, the boundary between Korea and the Russian Empire (Primorsk) being passed at the mouth of the river Tum^n, about ninety miles before reach- ing the latter town. The Russian maritime province of the Primorsk and Korea are conterminous, save for the river, for a few miles inland, thus squeezing Manchuria into a wedge-shaped piece which fails to reach the coast. Hereabouts the great rugged scarred mountains give place to sloping hills, which fall gently to the sea. This contiguity of Russia has had a great influence on the attitude of Japan towards Korea. After the negotia- tions, in which Japan, at the close of the Chino-Japanese war, was prevented by Russia, Germany and France from acquiring any territory on the Chinese mainland, feeling ran high in the Island Empire, and there remained the impression in Europe that Japan might soon come to blows with Russia over Korea. The rapid and abnormal increase of Japan's navy, and the supposed need for the latter to attack Russia before her trans-continental railway was finished, made a rupture, to European eyes, imminent. As time went by, and Japan joined with the Powers in the Peking expedition, these fears were somewhat allayed, IS i6 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST but not dispelled, as was evidenced by the refusal to lend Japan money to prevent the financial crisis of 1901. And yet, all the while, politicians in the West were labouring under a misapprehension. Notwithstanding all our boasted rapidity of communication, the telegraph and the press, distance counts for very much as a factor of ignorance. Youthful Japan was fired with patriotic enthusiasm, and we heard the echoes of their rampings in the press, but meanwhile the older heads at the helm knew and realized fully the true situation. As one of them remarked to me, " What is there to go to war with Russia about ? Korea ? We are settled in Korea — witness our merchants, our own settlements at Fusan, Gensan, etc. — just as truly as Russia is in Manchuria. It is as futile for her to attempt to turn us out of Korea, as for us to evict her from Manchuria. Moreover, we older heads realize that to go to war with Russia would be to stake our very national existence on one throw of the dice." This is interesting in the light of later events. Statis- tics corroborate the strength of the mercantile position of Japan in Korea. Whereas there are (I quote from the figures of 1901) 16,142 Japanese in the country, the Russians number only 97. Sixty-five per cent, of the shipping trade is Japanese, and it is they who are con- structing the railway from Seoul to Fusan. Foreign correspondence is mainly done through the Japanese post- offices, and, as I found, the Korean coinage was largely supplemented by Japanese paper-money. It is obvious, however, that with the absorption of Manchuria, and the acceleration of communication by the Trans-Siberian and Chinese Eastern railways, Russia's position for an attack, commercial or military, is greatly strengthened. She has certainly possessed herself of another weapon, viz. her power to menace the indepen- dence of Korea, which, like her attitude towards Afghanistan, she finds so useful in the game of bluff. AT VLADIVOSTOK 17 Nagasaki had been left on August 14, and Vladivo- stok reached on August $. I do not mean that we had performed the journey in minus nine days, but that Russia is still thirteen days behind the rest of Europe in her kalendar ; and some of her writers would have us believe that she is not even this much behind the West in civilization. Vladivostok is picturesquely situated at the head of a narrow inlet in the Muraviev-Amursky peninsula. This inlet was first discovered by an English naval captain in 1856, and named "Port May;" but it has been re- christened by the Russians, Zolotoy Rog, or Golden Horn. To the south, the peninsula is separated from " Russian Island " by the Eastern Bosphorus straits, and on the west and east is bounded by the Gulf of Amur and the Ussuri Gulf. Threading the straits, our vessel entered the Golden Horn, and shortly afterward the town came into view at a bend of the coast. Its situation on the hilly slopes of a haven with many ramifications, is certainly picturesque, and had it not been for the total destruction of the trees, the site would have been truly beautiful. The houses showed painfully new in the brilliant afternoon sunshine, and jostled each other in higgledy-piggledy fashion. The white stone cathedral stood out glaringly against the red- brick merchants' warehouses ; but most prominent of all on entering the harbour were the fortifications and barracks. These were visible in all directions, overflowing into en- campments of white tents. On prominent spurs big guns were mounted, and the next morning I counted eight Russian ironclads at anchor. Vladivostok has a population of between 40,000 and 50,000 inhabitants, of whom about half are Russians, and the rest Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, with a sprinkling of Europeans and Americans. From the point of view of C i8 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST buildings, it is still the finest town in Siberia, for while Irkutsk, the Paris of Siberia, as it has been called, boasts only a few public buildings in brick, the rest in wood, Vladivostok possesses several streets of brick and stucco buildings. At the same time, a Siberian town is always full of contrasts. Imposing buildings line a road which would disgrace an English farm. The trottoirs are of wooden planks. Substantial erections jostle wooden shanties. Hotels, illuminated with electric light, offer the traveller filthy floors, and beds with no bed-linen, and charge him extra for the use of a towel ! Telegrams were exceedingly cheap, but there was no knowing when they would get to their destination. The Vladivostok banks allowed twenty-five days for the transmission of money by telegram to St. Petersburg in calculating interest ; and the bank manager, a Frenchman, at Nikolaevsk, at the mouth of the river Amur, told me that it once took him forty days to get a wire through to the capital. He was dependent on a single wire for a great distance, and this is not infrequently brought down by floods or a storm. The accident having been located and the repairs at last completed, there is an accumulation of official telegrams which take precedence. An "urgent" telegram of mine once lay undelivered on the counter of the telegraph-office at Vladivostok for ten days, and for this triple prices had been paid, in addition to the reply. A foreign resident, who spoke Russian and was a friend of the Governor of Vladivostok, told me that it took him sometimes two hours to get an " urgent " tele- gram accepted at the office, and then he had the satisfac- tion of knowing that it might have to wait for a sufficient number to accumulate before it was despatched to its destination. You are fortunate if you do not arrive to find yourself at the end of a queue of people waiting. The clerk's attention at length arrested, you hand him your telegram. AT VLADIVOSTOK 19 He glances at it, and calls " boyka" * and orders "stakan cfiai " (a glass of tea). This brought, he discovers there is no sugar, and recalls the boy and scolds him. Again he glances leisurely down the telegram, and begins to turn over his book preparatory to making several copies of it. Between whiles he pauses to drink tea, and at length summons the boy again, this time for cigarettes and matches. And so time wears on and your patience wears out, for time is no object to the Russian, and he would characterize our adage, "Time is money," as either mad- ness or low principle. Nevertheless, improvements on the line of travel march quickly even in Siberia, especially since the Manchurian railway has been completed, and it would be unfair to post-date the above picture. I have recently received a cable in England from Vladivostok in twenty-four hours. As I have mentioned, the rates are very cheap, and special efforts are now made to get telegrams from or to Europe put through rapidly, and without murdering the English or German spelling more than the officials can possibly avoid. As regards hotel accommodation, so obvious was the lack of a decent hotel that a large building originally designed for offices was going to be adapted as a " hotel run on European lines," so that in this matter also ere now, the above description, while still true of most Siberian towns, ought no longer to be so of Vladivostok's best hotel. Banking arrangements were not much in advance of the postal and telegraphic. In the East, whether it be at Hong Kong, Shanghai or Yokohama, one expects to spend half an hour in getting a letter of credit cashed, but I was warned that in Siberia it would be advisable to leave one's letter in the morning and call again in the afternoon. Even so I heard of the following incident with some surprise. A foreign merchant stepped over to the * Pidgin Russian for " boy." 20 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST Russo-Chinese Bank in Vladivostok to deposit a few thou- sand rubles. It was just after 9 o'clock in the morning. It seems scarcely credible, but by 12 o'clock he had got the matter finished ! A London cashier would have settled the matter in less than two minutes. There was a passing backwards and forwards to different departments. In some the official was busy and delay occurred, then finally after quantities of paper had been used and much ink had flowed, the signatures of two directors were required, and only one was present. The other had his own office else- where, and had to be found. It would be of course quite absurd to expect Western smartness in Vladivostok, and in fairness we ought to com- pare it with other towns in the East, where life is taken easily ; but even so it suffers by contrast. The Russians after all are only slowly developing a commercial class. In 1861, they possessed no middle class, the nation consisted of the aristocracy and the serfs. They were an agricultural people, and the Jews were doing what little trade and commerce existed. I once asked a Russian official, " How is it you do not allow the Americans or English to go up to Kharbin (in Manchuria) to trade?" "Why," he replied, with the greatest candour, "they are so quick that they would capture all the trade before we Russians had a look in." This patriotic feeling is having some curious results. As I write, M. de Witte, the Russian Finance Minister, is as anxious as Lord Curzon to encourage manufactures and industrial developments, the one in Russia, the other in India. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, M. de Witte sees possibilities of increased revenue in flourishing manu- factures, but we may credit him as we do our Indian Viceroy with the desire to render the large mass of people less dependent on agriculture, and therefore less subject to famine. The Russian Minister has not hesitated to invite English AT VLADIVOSTOK 21 capital. I sometimes wonder whether his emissaries have informed him that his underlings in Eastern Siberia, con- sumed with the natural desire of " Russia and Siberia for the Russians," are doing their best to oust the foreigner. The imposition of the tariff at Vladivostok has been a handy weapon, and under this pretext heavy fines may be inflicted for non-observance of intricate regulations, the duty on an article new to the import list stated on pre- liminary inquiry to be so much may be raised to five times the amount on the arrival of the consignment, and the previous statement disclaimed. Restrictions are hemming in enterprises more closely, but these press scarcely more heavily on the foreigner than they do upon the native, and are dictated by an empty exchequer. With care and a careful observance of the regulations laid down, I am inclined to believe that profit- able ventures may yet be made by foreigners in Siberia. Greater care is needed in dealing with local officials, and I suspect that most of the troubles the foreigner encounters are not due to the policy of the Government, but mainly to new weapons of bureaucratic peculation. But to resume my story. Having been visited on board by the medical and police authorities, and no objection taken to our passports, a sampan, rowed by a Korean, took us ashore, and landed us in the market, or bazar. Here we plunged into a medley of nationalities, Chinese, Manchu, Koreans, Japanese, Golds (an Amur tribe), Russians, and, not to be mistaken anywhere, a group of gipsies. A Russian naval officer had already warned us that the hotels throughout the empire were " abominable and dear," a generalization about as true as most. There are cer- tainly exceptions in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and one in Siberia at Blagovestchensk (kept by a Frenchman). But at Vladivostok, the biggest, the " Tikiy Okean " (the Pacific Ocean) hotel, with its dirty floors and its cafi chantant from midnight until 4.30 a.m., was to be avoided. 22 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST Fortunately, through friends, I found a quite " tolerably clean" hostelry in the Moskovsky Padvarey, a family hotel which had nothing, however, to boast of in its restaurant, for the same friends, when they stayed at it, had been wont to go out to a " patissier " to obtain their breakfast. I fared boldly on, even after I had to give up my one hope — eggs, which I began to suspect were «' made," if not " in Germany," at least in China. Meals, I must confess, especially in more out-of-the-way places later on, were a difficulty in the Russian Empire. The Russian revels in things tart and acid, and does not object to chunks of food. Sour cream and small cucumbers or large gherkins played a great part in Siberian menus. At dinner and supper the latter regularly appeared, while the soup contained a great cubical chunk of coarse beef. It is only fair to say that the Russians do know how to make soups, for these when well made are rich, thick, and tasty. Vegetables of all kinds abound in them, and make this first course to a Westerner almost a meal in itself. Perhaps the national soup, which was the first viand placed before me in the Russian Empire, would scarcely appeal to an Englishman. It was swimming with chopped vege- tables of all kinds, including cabbage, beetroot, carrot, turnip, etc., and contained the usual solid piece of beef, on the top of which rode a portion of sour cream, and, to crown all, a lump of ice. It was not without adventures that we reached the Moscow Inn, for our izvostchik persisted in driving us to the Moscow Restaurant, which was situated in the lowest quarter of the town. On the way we encountered some drunken Russian sailors, ashore for the Sunday holiday, who were having a free fight in the street. Since leaving Port Said, with the exception of Peshawur, I did not remember to have been in such a rowdy place ; but we were helped out of the difficulties our driver had plunged us into by a fellow Britisher, who ran us to earth in the AT VLADIVOSTOK 23 hole in which we now found ourselves and explained the mistake. Then he asked me, "You carry your six- chamber ? " " I have it in my bag, but I suppose reports are exaggerated, are they not ? " " Well," he replied, " I hadn't been here a week when, in broad daylight, at two o'clock in the afternoon, I heard shots, I ran up a yard, and there saw a woman lying on the ground shot, and a man reloading his pistol. I seized him, calling a Russian passer-by to my assistance, and we handed the culprit over to the police." As the American rather forcibly put it, "You don't want your revolver often, but when you do you want it bad." After the summer heat of Japan, Vladivostok is quite a relief, for though it is situated on lat. 43° 6' and lies south even of Florence and Nice, it experiences a cold winter and not an excessively hot summer. The winter is fine and dry, and the summer free from the troublesome dust-storms of Peking. South-east winds laden with moisture prevail in summer, and fogs occur in May, June and July, but the months from October to March are quite free from fog, and European residents from Japan, Shanghai, etc., come up here to avoid the heat of August and September. J"he monthly average tempera- ture ranges from 5° Fahr. in January to 69° Fahr. in August. In winter the harbour is frozen from the first week in December until the last in March, and the Japanese mail- steamers cease to run for two or three months, although there are ice-crushers in the port. Otherwise it is a fine almost land-locked haven, and could ride any Far Eastern Fleet, though the natural position is scarcely a defensible one. The town has spread not only along the Golden Horn, but over to the shores of the Gulf of Amur. Land has risen rapidly in value ; and one gentleman whom I visited 24 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST told me he was paying for his flat of six rooms on the first floor of a two-story wooden house ;£'i8o per annum. The port has made very rapid strides. However, the recent imposition of a customs tariff, and the determination of the Imperial Government to make Dalni, which is less than thirty miles by rail from Port Arthur, the great port of the East and the direct route to Japan is already being felt in the older town. It is the old story of the long scheming for an ice-free port which has at last been fulfilled. Petropavlovsk, in Kamchatka, at one time a naval station and the scene of the repulse of the Allies in the Crimean War, is to-day a village ; for it had to give way, after the cession of the Amur in 1858, to Nikolaevsk, which was henceforth the naval base of Russia in the East. In 1872 a removal was again made to Vladivostok, a site over which we are told tigers roamed but a few years before. To-day Nikolaevsk wears a partially deserted air, though the process of decline has been arrested by the discovery of gold on the Amgun river. Finally, Vladivo- stok has to-day to give way to Dalni, which, according to Russians, is to become the greatest sea-port of the East, and to dwarf Hong Kong ! There was no question that Vladivostok up to the time of the imposition of the tariff had been making great strides ; but already the baneful effect of this was evident, and since then matters have gone from bad to worse. M. de Witte has been bombarded with petitions from the Vladivostok Chamber of Commerce. To the injuries sus- tained from the tariff imposition, trade was also suffering from the competition for the Manchurian trade of the then free ports of Dalni and Port Arthur. Such were the delays and troubles of custom house formalities, that goods in transit for Manchuria were diverted to these ports, and for Sakhalin and North-Eastern Siberia to Japanese ports. Local industries dependent upon imported ra!w material AT VLADIVOSTOK 25 have been killed off, and the effects have been felt through- out the Primorsk, though the chief cause of depression in that region was the diversion of the traffic to the Chinese Eastern (Manchurian) Railway. I fear that the social life of few eastern ports would bear looking into, and perhaps Vladivostok less than most. At most of these the disease of the social body was decently hidden, but here it was thrust upon you. Even more than these others it is a place where men congregate from various parts of the earth to do business, to make ventures, but whither their women-folk do not generally follow them. At the last census, of all towns in Siberia this had the smallest proportion of females to males, viz. 1 5 6 per cent. In so distant a spot, amidst a strange environment, amongst a mingling of different beliefs and customs, where it is easier to cast all away than to find common ground, tradition and convention are thrown to the winds. And this is not confined to unknown people, for you learn afterwards, with a shock, that the officials and persons of distinction with whom you have been dining are leading exponents of this life. In pursuit of my plan to get to the island of Sakhalin, I turned to the genial American Consul, Mr. Greener, who kindly assisted wandering Britishers. Quite recently a British commercial agent has been appointed ; but at that time the Americans outnumbered the British residents, as now, I believe. It was at the house of one of the former that I met an interesting American Episcopalian clergy- man. He was certainly not of the ordinary type, and combining as he did a love of sport with his more serious pursuits, his travels had taken him into various parts of the world, including Japan and South Africa. Mention of the latter led to an interesting story about Cecil Rhodes, which is quite worth repeating. Dr. Z. confessed that as a public man Rhodes had not attracted him, but personal contact with the man had quite changed his 26 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST opinion of him ; thereupon he told us the following story : — "The first occasion I was staying with him," said Dr. Z,, " was at the time of the Matabele War. Carrington's troops had not been able to effect permanent results owing to exceptional difficulties, and Rhodes had gone out unarmed, parleyed with the big chief, and arranged a peace ; but as yet the smaller chiefs had not given in. Every day he and I rode out into their country ; but after the first day I asked him to lend me a gun. He said, ' What for ? ' ' Oh ! ' I said, ' I have seen some leopards and should like to shoot one ; besides, you yourself admit that these smaller chiefs are not to be trusted.' 'Well,' he replied, 'you know our troops could do nothing with these tribes in their natural fastnesses, and I must depend solely on moral influence. I have agreed with these big chiefs for a peace, and I want to show them that I trust them.' ' But,' I asked, 'why not carry a revolver in your pocket, no one would know, and I confess I should feel happier myself? ' ' My dear fellow,' he replied, ' my servants know everything that is in my baggage, and everybody else would soon know also. Besides,' added he, ' if we were attacked on one of these narrow ledges what could we do ? We might send a few of these fellows to their account, and certainly in the end be killed ourselves ; and would you feel any better for having to render account for a dozen natives ? ' " From Vladivostok my intention was, if possible, to visit the island of Sakhalin, and then traverse Siberia to Europe. My original plans were based on catching a coasting vessel putting in at Sakhalin on its way to Nikolaevsk on the mainland ; but one of these had left a few hours before I arrived. This was annoying, but I guessed that if I took the train by the Ussuri railway, that isolated piece of line which connects Vladivostok with Khabarovsk on the Amur, and made connexions with a AT VLADIVOSTOK 27 steamboat down the river to its mouth, I might at Nikolaevsk yet catch the coasting steamer on its return, and hope for its calling at Alexandrovsk in Sakhalin. Of course I must take my chance of being allowed to land. As will be seen, this plan did not wholly succeed, but perhaps it was as well. But even with success assured there were other difiR- culties which I wished to avoid, if possible, by carefully laying my plans beforehand. In the first place, no reliance could be made on the dates of sailing or of con- nexions in so-far-out-of-the-world a place as Sakhalin or Nikolaevsk. If I left the island before the Straits of Tartary froze I could get some vessel or other to take me to Nikolaevsk, and so by steamboat for 2025 miles, frost permitting, to Stretensk, the terminus of the Trans-Siberian railway. The Manchurian railway, which might have been an alternative, was still in course of construction. There was one alternative for the first stage of the journey as far as Khabarovsk, for I might by catching a steamer to Vladivostok again take the Ussuri railway to Khabarovsk, and from that point ascend the Amur to Stretensk, a distance of only 1402 miles. Perhaps the choice of these routes reads rather like deciding to go to Paris vid Calais or Boulogne, but it was scarcely so ejisy or reliable a performance. Four Germans landed with me at Vladivostok, intend- ing to cross Siberia. I asked them, " Did they know their route — that it was highly important to get influence to bear to obtain a berth on the steamboat at Khabarovsk before leaving Vladivostok?" They asked, "Where is Kha- barovsk } We never heard of it before ! " They had come from Japan with the idea that they merely had to take a ticket at Vladivostok and be whirled away to Europe! I referred them to compatriots of theirs, the great merchants Kunst and Albers, whose aegis, I trust, was all-sufficient. 28 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST Friends of mine, who had been well posted up, spent twelve days in Vladivostok obtaining the promise of berths on the steamboat at Khabarovsk, and when, two days later, they arrived there, these had been annexed by officers, who always take -precedence in means of com- munication and transport. However, they got away in a tiny steamer shortly after, and spent twenty-nine days on board ascending the Amur and Shilka, sometimes on sandbanks, and sometimes returning to fetch a third barge, that had to be towed ! The Amur journey, under favour- able conditions, should take about twelve days, but the river is very fickle, and while Dr. Z. had come with scarcely a hitch (perhaps Prince Khilkov's name was all- powerful, not only with the officials, but with the river deity), others had experienced unheard-of difficulties. One's own countrymen told of crowded boats, of camping in the gardens of an hotel waiting for connexions, of first- class passengers, even ladies, sleeping thick on the deck, and of one steamer passed that had spent eleven days on a sandbank. Arrived at length at Stretensk, I should have four days' train and boat to Irkutsk, whence thrice a week a train de luxe accomplished the 3390 miles to Moscow in eight days. But my difficulties would be over if I could make sure of getting so comparatively easy a journey as this. What I had to fear was that the river Amur or its tributary the Shilka would be frozen somewhere en route. The steamboat would, as is usual, remain where it stuck for six months, and the river being insufficiently frozen for sledging, for nearly two months I might be stranded at some lonely Siberian emigrant settlement on the Amur, lucky if a poor stantsiya, or post-house, would give me shelter, black bread and shtchi. The uncertainty as to when the river would freeze, the doubt as to whether the last steamer would take days or weeks, and if the latter, when it would be frozen up, were insoluble even by the AT VLADIVOSTOK 29 one or two people I sought out who had lived on the Amur. "Was it possible," I asked, "to cover the 1400 miles between Khabarovsk and Stretensk supposing I got frozen up ? " The only alternative suggested was to buy horses on the spot, and get a Kazak * to accompany me as guide. This was almost impracticable, because I should require too many pack-horses for my effects and food, not to mention the likelihood of parting company with one's baggage in swimming semi-frozen tributaries of the Amur, or in an encounter with brodyagi (escaped convicts). It was clear, therefore, that if I wanted to spend Christmas in Europe, and not in Siberia, I must make sure before crossing to Sakhalin of being able to catch a river steamboat at Nikolaevsk that had ample time in which to reach Stretensk before the Amur and Shilka began to freeze. This promised a very short stay on Sakhalin, but events turned out otherwise. * This and not Cossack is the correct transliteration of the Russian word. CHAPTER III FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK The railway journey — The Ussuri region — The terrible massacre at Blagovestchensk — Stories of eye-witnesses — Khabarovsk. THE Ussuri railroad, by which I was to reach the river Amur, is 475 miles in length, and connects Vladivostok with Khabarovsk. This line, which was finished in 1897, was intended to be the last stage of the Trans-Siberian railway traveller's journey. Starting from Moscow, and having reached and crossed Lake Baikal, he would then use the Trans-Baikalian line as far as Stretensk, and thence the (as yet non-existent) extension of that line along the banks of the rivers Shilka and Amur vid Blagovestchensk to Khabarovsk, This was still, at the time of my travel, the route for the Trans-Siberian traveller, with this difference, that the journey of 1402 miles between Stretensk and Khabarovsk was accomplished by steamer and not by train. The reason of this abrupt termination of the railway at Stretensk was due to negotiations with China; for in the autumn of 1896, the Russo-Chinese Bank and the Chinese Government entered into an agreement whereby the former was to form a company for the construction of a railway through Manchuria, connecting the Trans- Baikalian portion of the Trans-Siberian railway with a branch of the southern section of the Ussuri railway at Pogranichnaya. The point of departure from the Trans-Baikalian line 30 FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 31 has been shifted more than once in the official plans, and reports vary even in authoritative publications. The junction station for Manchuria is neither Chita nor Ner- chensk, Onon, Kaidalovo nor Karimskaya, but a little station called "Kitaesky Razyezd " (Chinese junction), sixty-eight miles beyond Chita, going east. This new line, which, as I write, is now available for trans-con- tinental traiiSc, effects a saving of several hundred miles over the originally projected route by the Amur. The Ussuri railroad borders the Gulf of Amur, then keeping to the east of the river Suifun as far as Nikolskoy, which is the junction for the branch-line joining the Chinese Eastern (Manchurian) railway at the frontier, makes for Lake Hinka, or Khanka, which it leaves from fifteen to thirty miles on the left. After this the Ussuri river is crossed by a bridge of 840 feet, one verst (two-thirds or ■663 of a mile) beyond Ussuri station, and rather less than halfway to Khabarovsk. Thereafter the line follows the right bank of the Ussuri, keeping at a tolerably safe dis- tance from the flood area, until its junction with the Amur at Khabarovsk. It was at 9 a.m. on the morning of August 24, 1901, when my train started out of Vladivostok with eight corridor carriages, including a buffet-car. An ascent up the valley of the Suifun river had to be accomplished, and notwithstanding our two big Baldwin (American) loco- motives, these gradients were crawled at about three miles an hour. From the top of this ascent an average speed of twelve miles an hour was maintained, the line wisely dispensing with engineering feats of skill, going round hills and avoiding river-crossings as far as possible. Of course, there are no tunnels ; in fact, between Vladivostok and St. Petersburg there are but two and these very short ; one is near Zlatoust and the other in that mountainous region, Trans-Baikalia. In the course of a year, the traveller from Europe to Vladivostok, Dalni, or Peking will 32 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST be able to note four exceptions to this rule on the Man- churian railway, which are at present avoided by zig-zags and reversing stations. Passing, as the Ussuri line does, along a valley, the scenery is mainly meadow-land, virgin pasture, with scrub and scantily forest-clad undulating hills, occasionally approaching and receding. Mountains are visible from the line in the distance, but the great range of the Sikhota Alin bordering the coast lies from 80 to 150 miles to the east. The immediate region of the railway is scarcely typical of the rest of the country with its rugged scenery, wild Tungusian peoples and its brigands. In the valley of this river, Kazaks had been established for years to defend the frontier between Manchuria and the Primorsk, and they had been followed by other emigrants. Thus, all along the line the land is settled for at least one-third of the way, as far as Spaskaya, but by no means closely settled. There are patches of cultivated land and occasion- ally some cattle to be seen by a river's edge. Seldom is a cottage to be descried, more seldom a village. Some- times, when the train drew up at a station, one could make out a so-called town about two or three miles off, and pick out one by one the whitewashed wooden cottages, two or three brick houses of officials and, towering above all, the cupola of a church. The colonization of the district was begun in 1855, but proceeded slowly owing to the great difficulties of travel and transport. By 1897, the population of the Primorsk region, which has an area of just under 716,000 square miles, or nearly seven times that of New Zealand, had not attained to one-third of the number of that country's in- habitants. Communication has improved of late, and considerable inducements have been made by Government, but the number of emigrant families from Odessa in 1898 totalled no more than 578, and even from this must be FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 33 deducted leakages, for in 1900 and 1901 a reverse stream was to be noted, as immigrants were becoming emigrants, and returning home across Siberia. It seemed strange that they should be willing to throw up the chance of a freer life than they could ever hope for in European Russia, under a climate that was not more inhospitable ; but it will appear less so when we remember that the Russian peasant loves companionship, and picture to our- selves the awful loneliness of outlying settlement life. It is true that in Russia his village may be isolated by long distances, but within his village 'he finds a world of fellow- ship. Then, too, he has not the stock of energy of an Anglo-Saxon. Hampered by want of sufficient capital, and confronted by considerable natural difficulties, he gives in, where others of a race less stoical to suffering, but more energetic, would win. Although the Ussuri district is rich in flora, and the vegetation good, agriculture suffers from a delayed spring and a wet summer. In July and August come the monsoon winds, as we may call them, from the south-east, laden with rain from the Pacific, preventing the ripening of the crops, while spring lags at the heels of the frost and impedes an early sowing. The great Lake Khanka, with an area of 250 square miles, is frozen from the first half of November until the first half of April. Oats, wheat and rye are grown, and less commonly, buckwheat, millet and barley, but the quality of the crops is poor and the fields very weedy. An analysis of the imports of Vladivostok for this and the Amur region shows a proportion of 1 5 per cent, of corn and flour, which is in itself a sufficient com- ment, when we think of the large available arable area and the scanty population. Grazing is more successful, and it is said that each household owns on an average eight or nine head of cattle and two or three pigs and goats, but the standard of quality of these leaves much to be desired. D 34 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST As I looked out on the scenery I was reminded of New Zealand, and the development of that country. How different the results ! True, the latter had had many advantages, a more agreeable climate and a start of at least fifteen years in colonization, but it had its disad- vantages also in the large areas of thick bush, which even to-day can only be cleared with great labour. Little did these Russian settlers know of the huge difficulties of clearing New Zealand bush, nor had they to burn off the wild grasses, nor clean and nurse the land through several seasons before they could sow the grass from home that would yield good feed for sheep. Here in the Ussuri country large areas of rich meadow-land await the herds of cattle. The explanation is surely this, that New Zealand has had sturdy, restless members of the Anglo-Saxon race, and many a younger son of gentle family with a moderate capital seeking his fortune and carving it out, whereas in the Primorsk poor emigrants without capital and ex- convicts with less hope have been imported to struggle with nature in a wild mood. The scenery altered little as the train entered on the northern section of the Ussuri railway, save that the valley opened out into a wider plain. These great stretches of meadow-land seemed to invite American methods of agri- culture. Many a stream rising in the Sikhota range, far away to the east, was hurrying across the plain to join the Ussuri, and as we crossed them I was reminded of the Norfolk Broads, for their banks were gay with meadow- sweet, white campanulas, gentians, Michaelmas daisies and spiraea (5". betulafolia f). The trees, which at first were mostly oak, ash, willow, walnut, hornbeam and cedar, gave way to birch and spruce, and then to the elder, larch, elm, maple and acacia. To the north forests were more frequent and settle- ments less so. Our train was making up for lost time, for at the end of twenty-four hours we had averaged fifteen FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 35 miles an hour, making no allowance for some moderately lengthy stoppages. The stations were well built of wood, sometimes of brick, and occasionally stood well back from the line, with a garden between. Curiously enough the station names were painted in Slav characters, which for an ordinary Russian are more difficult to read at a glance than old English characters would be for us. The halts were fully made use of by the third-class passengers to procure food. As the train steamed in, a few women, barefooted, with kerchiefed heads, were to be seen hurrying from the railway-workers' huts with aprons full of victuals — eggs, roast corn (maize), cucumbers, beans, even cooked fowls and rude pots containing milk. A lonely sort of life this, of two or three families at a wayside station ; nothing but forest and plain, with no companions for miles, but not to be compared with that of those who had no passing trains to break the monotony, albeit they did arouse envy of the happy travellers bound for home. At Bikin, which we reached about 7 o'clock the next morning, I descended into the midst of some natives, members of the Gold tribe, who had attained to the exalted rank of railway porters. They made picturesque figures, especially their women, who had their two pig-tails re- trotisies, bound with cord and adorned with many coloured glass beads and shells. Their dress consisted of smocks bordered with various gaily coloured cotton stuffs, and strung round with " cash " coins, and leggings similarly adorned. A Russian colonel of the railway staff, seeing my interest in them, politely offered to get the chief of the Golds and his wife, who were on the train, to pose for a photograph. It appeared that the chief had become semi-Europeanized, but judging by the extraordinary and gaudy attire of the wife, who looked like an Indian squaw in loud-coloured 36 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST shawls, she could scarcely claim to belong yet to the Russian " intelligenti." Until he had reached Bikin, the ordinary traveller could hardly have realized that he was passing through the country of the Fish-skin Tartars. To the east and to the north live these wild tribes, hunting and fishing and main- taining their strange old traditional customs and cere- monies, of which I shall have more to say later on. And though with the Orochons or Oroktis, the Golds and the Gilyaks, the custom of clothing themselves in fish-skins, which gained them their name of Yu-pi-ta-tse with the Chinese, is going rapidly before the advent of the Manchu trader with " ta-pu," or Chinese cloth, yet I myself have mixed with Gilyaks and Orochons who still wore fish-skin garments and who did me honour by spreading a rug of fish-skins for me to recline upon. Occupying the coupi facing mine was a fellow pas- senger of whose familiarity with these parts I was glad to avail myself. He was a Canadian of Russian descent, settled at Vladivostok, and now travelling as far as Blagovestchensk on the Amur. In the course of our conversation he showed me with some pride a new rifle. " I don't mean to be caught napping again," he said. I asked him what he meant, and it appeared that he and another Britisher, whom I had already met, were in Blagovestchensk at the time of the panic and the terrible massacre of the Chinese by the Russians. One had heard so many reports at second hand of this shocking affair, that I eagerly embraced the opportunity of correcting former impressions. If all were true that I had heard, this was the greatest blot on the record of any civilized Power during the last century, not excepting the terrible massacre at Geok Tepe twenty years earlier. To go back to the events of the previous year (igcx)), there seems no doubt that the outbreak in Peking came as a complete surprise to the Russians in Manchuria. FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 37 Railway employees and settlers fled precipitately before the advance of the Chinese forces, and embarking helter- skelter on the Sungari, made their way up the Amur to Khabarovsk and Blagovestchensk ; thereupon the few troops that could be spared from these towns were hurried up the Sungari to Kharbin. This left Blagovestchensk partially denuded of soldiers Now, on the opposite or south side of the Amur, was the Chinese or Manchu town of Sahalien, or Heh-lung-kiang, and twenty-four miles lower down, the town of Aigun. One Sunday afternoon, as Mr. S., the other Britisher, was walking on the " parade " along the river, shots were fired by Chinamen from the opposite side. A few Russian soldiers were bathing at the time, and one was hit, but only slightly, and during the whole of the supposed bom- bardment of the town, not a single Russian, according to reliable reports, was wounded in Blagovestchensk. The suddenness of the attack in Manchuria, and the fact that all but a few soldiers had been withdrawn from the town, threw the inhabitants into a panic. At once they besieged the authorities, and ransacked the shops for arms. Even so, there was great scarcity, and the town was policed by men carrying axes. Out of a population of about 30,000, 5000 or 6000, including many servants, were Chinese. Under the circumstances, perhaps it was not surprising that the inhabitants of Blagovestchensk should suspect a plot between the Chinese on the Manchurian side and their compatriots in the town. What was to be done? They were harbouring the enemy within their gates — in their very homes. The authorities telegraphed to the Governor-general at Khabarovsk for instructions, and it is said that his reply was, " Kill as in war." Whatever that meant, it certainly would not be interpreted by an officer of a civilized nation as the slaughter of defenceless inhabitants. Outside the town, in the neighbouring villages, were about 25,000 Chinese, and it was felt that they might at 38 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST any time attack the town. Kazaks of the Reserve were sent out, and those of the Chinese who had not fled were simply massacred, and their homes burnt ; and Mr. S. afterwards saw with disgust the Kazaks prodding the dead bodies. Meanwhile, trenches were hastily dug around the town, and a thin line of defence formed by volunteers, but the pressing question was, what was to be done with the Sooo or 6000 Chinese in their midst? They must be driven out, and not only driven out, but the river must be put between them and the Russians. To send them over in boats was to give the unknown Chinese forces on the other side means of crossing and attacking the town at close quarters. At last orders came, it is disputed from whom, to collect and drive the Chinese to a narrow part of the Amur above the town, where they were to be ferried across. The scenes that followed were heart-rending. The proprietor of the Grand Hotel, a Frenchman, had to give up his Chinese concierge, a faithful servant, who had been with him for seventeen years ; a rich old Chinaman, who had had considerable transactions with the Russians, many of whom had received striking kindnesses at his hands, was hurried along in the crowd of doomed ones. Arrived at the river, no ferries were there, and a panic seized the small force of Kazaks who were driving the 5000 to 6000 wretches before them. It has been said by Russian officials that rafts were made ; or was the order given, and not carried out in the excitement? At the point of the bayonet the defenceless victims were forced like a flock of sheep into the river. Many, said an old resident on the spot, were tied together in fours by their queues, and driven up stream. How many thus met their sad fate has been disputed, some saying 3000, others 10,000, but the number given by this same resident was 5300 driven into the river, of whom perhaps fifty or sixty, he added, reached the other side. FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 39 The current bore the dead bodies down past the town, but so many lodged on the banks that, for sanitary reasons alone, men with long poles were sent down at night to prod the corpses off into mid-stream. The river banks for weeks after were strewn with swollen bodies, lying in some places over one hundred together. Many travellers, including an American professor, have testified to this awful state of things ; but we may refer to an unwilling witness in the person of General Gribsky, who, in en- deavouring to cow the inhabitants of Northern Manchuria, issued a proclamation {Times, September 25, 1900), in the course of which he boasted that "the water of the Amur is polluted by masses of dead bodies of Manchus." A much more detailed account of this terrible affair has recently appeared in the Russian journal Zarya (Dawn), by one who signs himself " Eye-witness." I give here a brief outline of it, as it supplements and explains the reports of my informants, from which it differs but slightly ; while I have purposely kept the two accounts separate, in order that the reader may form his own judgment from independent testimonies. This writer refers, in the first place, to the withdrawal of troops to the Sungari river, but adds that, roughly, about 1000 regulars were left in Blagovestchensk. Am- munition, however, was short. The disturbed state of Manchuria found echo in the breasts of the inhabitants, and a meeting was called, but the authorities did not share these feelings, and rather laughed at their fears. Meanwhile, at the Manchu village of Sahalien opposite, the inhabitants could be seen drilling, mostly with obsolete weapons. Messengers were sent over to inquire what this meant, and the reply was that no offence was intended, but owing to the disturbed condition of affairs they were only making their town secure. At this time, a steamboat or two arriving from Kha- barovsk reported that they had been hit by stray rifle- 40 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST shots of the Chinese on the right bank. Nobody, however, had been hurt. (If one refers to the Times telegrams of the autumn of 1900 from St. Petersburg, there will be found an account of bombardments, artillery attacks on the steamers, and a glorious campaign ! Our Russian writer characterizes these "official" telegrams, without qualification, as fiction.) Meanwhile, the Chinese in Blagovestchensk, who num- bered, according to this writer, about 3000 or 4000, mostly merchants and servants, also became alarmed at the anti- Chinese feelings aroused, and in fear for their own safety, sent a deputation to the Governor of the town. He pooh- poohed any notion of danger. In the light of later events we know they had only too much reason to fear ; but what is not easily understood is, why, if there was no such bombardment, as official telegrams afterwards led us to suppose, the Russian inhabitants were in such a panic. This our Russian eye-witness goes on to explain, to clear up the mystery that has reigned here (but not in Blagovestchensk, for it is no secret there) over this sad affair. He says a number of the most unscrupulous in- habitants, in league with the police officials, immediately took advantage of the fears that first arose, fanned them to a flame, and then, under cover of " definite measures," proceeded to do their dastardly work. And why ? In order to spoil the Chinese merchants, and to absolve them- selves from all debts to them under cover of war. It is even said that many of the shops were previously honey- combed so that, on the expulsion of the Chinese assistants, the wares might be abstracted. The popular fear having been sufficiently worked upon, the terrible work of "defence" began. Harrowing scenes were enacted on the river-side. All the Chinese in the town were hauled out with the exception of perhaps forty. To their credit, some of the richer Russian merchants did their utmost to save their faithful Chinese servants, and by bribing or FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 41 disguise succeeded in saving a few from the awful fate of their companions. The wretched victims, men, women and children, cripples, and mothers with babes in their arms, were driven to the water-side — some begging not to be killed in this dog-fashion, others entreating to be allowed to pray before being slain, and yet others falling on their knees and raising hands to heaven, offered to embrace Christianity if only they were spared ; but one and all, mothers and children, old men and cripples, received the one answer, a watery grave or cold steel. Rifles and sabres were busy, and if a wretch hesitated to plunge into the hopeless waters, he was immediately bayoneted. This, our writer remarks, is called in the official despatch, " an offer to go over 1 " This slaughter continued for days, and some of the methods adopted are characterized as worthy of the Inquisition. The clergy and the " intelligenti," disgusted at heart, adopted an apologetic attitude, for they dared not openly criticize the action of the party who were in league with the police. They excused the deed by the assertion that "if they had not attacked first they would have been attacked." Meanwhile, the object of the unscrupulous section and the police was clearly seen ; and our writer states that not merely underlings, but high officials, were implicated. The deserted shops and godowns of the Chinese were surrounded, and simply looted under guise of protection. Money and valuables were shared between the police and the unscrupulous, rumours having been carefully spread that gunpowder, arms and dynamite had been found in the Chinese quarter. It was an open secret that this administrative official and that police officer had netted so many thousands of rubles, even the Russo-Chinese Bank officials being 42 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST mentioned by name in this matter ; and I happen to know that this is a matter of common talk in Blagovestchensk to-day. Their ghastly work completed, on August 3 the Russians crossed the Amur and took Sahalien, which they immediately fired, the blaze illuminating the country at a great distance for two nights. They then advanced into Manchuria, slaying men, women and children, first violating and then killing the girls ; and when any criticism on the action of the Russians is made in Blagovestchensk to-day, the reply is, " Read the horrible doings of the German, French and English soldiers in China, and don't forget the German Emperor's address to his troops." In judging the Russians in this terrible matter, it should be remembered that this happened in a very far-off part of their dominions, that such a thing could scarcely have taken place in European Russia, and that at the time a minority of Europeans inadequately armed, were sur- rounded by thousands of Chinamen who, if they had attacked and captured the town, would have committed the most horrible and inconceivable barbarities in torturing and killing their victims. Yet when all is said that in fairness should be said in palliation of this lamentable occurrence, it remains a terrible blot on the records of a Power which is always claiming to be included within the comity of civilized nations. To return to the adventures of the Canadian and Englishman whose unpleasant experience did not end in Blagovestchensk. Disgusted with the state of affairs and anxious to get back to Vladivostok, they determined to run the gauntlet. With two or three Russians they planned to escape to Khabarovsk, which is rather over 600 miles down the river. A tarantass and horses were bought, and the chief of the police, although he gave his consent, warned them of the madness of their venture. At the last moment the FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 43 Russians backed out of it, and the two were left to carry out their plans alone. Outside the town they found ruined and charred villages, and sights too horrible to mention. They came upon a Russian who was boasting of having killed three Chinese, and at the moment was actually feeding his dog on one of the bodies of his victims. When remonstrated with, he said he could not get him other food. I have seen a photograph of pleasure-parties of Russian ladies and officers picnicking among the corpses of the razed village of Sahalien. Continuing their journey, the two Britishers found the post-road and the Russian villages in a disturbed state. At the best of times the food to be obtained at an Eastern Siberian stantsiya is scanty, but now they suffered the actual want of it. Their horses had to be left behind, and others were not forthcoming. Skirting the river they found a deserted " dug-out " (native canoe), and ventured in this light craft on the current of the great Amur. They were obliged to hug the northern or Russian shore, but even so they had to proceed with great care lest they should be shot by the Chinese on the southern shore, or in mistake by the Russian sentries on the northern. Eventually, worn out by all they had gone through, they reached Khabarovsk, and finally Vladivostok, where their friends would scarcely credit their story of escape, such were the reports of the terrible state of the country at the time. To return to the Ussuri railway journey, Khabarovsk was reached in thirty-one hours, and my fellow passenger and I were met by two Americans, one of whom, the manager of a store there, was in the habit of assisting wandering Anglo-Saxons, and at the same time of enjoying a chat with a passing countryman, before winter locked him up from the outer world for six months. As usual with the Ussuri railway stations, the town 44 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST was distant some two or three miles. A couple of drozhkies were hailed, and in these we lurched and bounded and all but overturned as they sped along a broad, muddy, and deeply rutted track. To add to the excitement of the drive some Golds, gaily clad and look- ing much like Red Indians, had filled to overflowing another drozhky, and were enjoying the fun of forcing our izvostchik to race them. Khabarovsk, or Khabarovka as it was called until 1893, was founded as a military post in 1858 by Count Muraviev-Amursky. The name was chosen by him in memory of Khabarov, a great explorer, who in 165 1 de- scended the then unknown Amur,* and chose this spot at the confluence of the Ussuri and Amur for his fortified camp. As we have already seen, Russia's naval base in the East was transferred from Nikolaevsk to Vladivostok in 1872, and eight years later the administration of the Pri-Amursky region was also removed from the former to Khabarovka. This town had become a junction on the line of transport from Europe and Siberia to Vladivostok effecting a short cut as compared with that vi& its older rival. Also in winter, while Nikolaevsk was cut off by an unnavigable frozen strait, Khabarovsk was accessible from the south by sledges on a post-road, and over the surface of the Ussuri. Since 1897, the latter has had the additional advantage of the railway south. In 1884 came yet another promotion for the youthful town, the " Pri-Amursky Oblast," or Amur and Maritime region, including the island of Sakhalin, and the littoral including Kamchatka, i.e. from Korea to the Arctic Ocean, was cut off from the Oblast of Eastern Siberia, and a Governor-general was appointed with his residence at Khabarovsk. His house is seen in the illustration. As the traveller from Europe approaches the town by * Poyarkov discovered it seven years before (1644). > 'i »; V ,y^ . , v '^•^.^' If I.. * '»' .;' i . f ,' FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 45 the Amur, a tall statue stands out prominently from amidst the foliage at the bend of the river. It is a striking memorial to a no less striking figure in the history of Siberia. Count Muraviev-Amursky alone in his day realized the future value of the Russian advance in the East. Laughed at for his enthusiasm even by his royal master, he pushed on undismayed, and by organization and diplomacy won in 1858 * the Amur region, i.e. the country on the left bank of the Amur from the junction of the Argun to the mouth of the Amur. While China was occupied with the Anglo-French campaign in i860, he with Count Ignatiev cleverly added thereto the Primorsk or Maritime region, i.e. the country lying south of the Amur, west of the Ussuri, and north of Korea. Seen from the Amur, up stream, the town in summer presents a picturesque appearance from its situation on hilly ground ; but my experience of it was under quite different circumstances. Approached from the back under a pouring rain, which lasted throughout my stay, I had a view of vast muddy stretches called roads, and of a far- * Treaty of Aigun. In the delimitation of the new boundaries of the Russian and Chinese Empires, the French text of this treaty says, " La rive gauche du fleuve Amour, k partir de la riviere Argoun jusqu'k I'embouchure de rAmour, appartiendra k I'Empire de Russie, et sa droite en aval jusqu'k la rivifere Oussouri appartiendra k I'Empire Ta-Tsing." The Chinese text, however, instead of saying the left bank of the sea-going (fleuve) river Amur to its mouth shall belong to Russia, has, " The territory on the left bank of the Amur and Sungari rivers from the Argun river to the sea-mouth of the Sungari river shall belong to Russia," etc. According to European cartographers, the Chinese text would have given thus early an undefined area of Manchuria to Russia, and Mr. A. Hosie, in his excellent book, " Manchuria," calls attention to this " mistake.'' It was no mistake on the part of the Chinese, nor did it involve the giving away of Manchuria. It was only a difference of geographical terms. The Chinese regarded the Sungari as the more important river, and the Amur, or Weak Water, as they sometimes called it, as a tributary. From their junction to the sea, the combined river was known to them, not as the Amur, but as the Sungari. 46 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST west American township. Scattered over a large area are a few brick buildings, including the fine railway offices, the Governor-general's house, the church and other State erections, and a thousand or more wooden houses, from the merchants' stores to the Manchu's pkdnza. An un- developed place, like most Siberian towns, yet it had the makings of a fine town, had not Fortune already deserted it in the deviation of the Trans-Siberian route through Manchuria. The population numbers about 16,000, of whom a quarter are Chinese, Korean and Gold, The males out- number the females by seven to three. Life here offers few attractions, a severe winter which lasts for seven months, slender communication with the outside world, a lack of intellectual society, poor homes, and a high rate of living increased by the cost of lengthy transport. The average winter temperature is 7° below zero Fahr., and the average summer temperature 68° Fahr. The river remains frozen from about November 8 or 9 until April II or 12. Such is the " capital of Greater Russia," as it has been rather unhappily termed. Fate has no immediate future for it. Trade and commerce are deserting it, stores have been closed up, and it is scarcely likely that the Governor- general will be able to resist following suit. He cannot afford to remain in a place left high and dry by the retreating tide of commerce, and must place himself on the main line of communications. A great shuffling of cards is no doubt going on, though the secret has been well kept. It would, indeed, be an amusing commentary on the numerous professions and declarations by Russia that Manchuria belongs to China, and that she has no designs upon the integrity of that Empire, if the seat of administration of Russia's possessions in the East should be removed, as is most probable, to a town in her neigh- bour's territory. FROM VLADIVOSTOK TO KHABAROVSK 47 Floundering about in the streets in torrential rains, walking for 300 yards along the planked and fossed foot- ways of the main street in order to find other planks upon which to cross the lOO-feet sea of mud, was none too pleasant an occupation, and determined one to lose no time in getting into a pair of Russian top-boots. Things looked as dreary indoors. It is true I had been assigned " No. i " room in the first hotel, which was superior to anything I had yet seen in Siberia, although I was expected to supply bed-linen. Breakfast was hardly up to this standard, for neither milk nor butter was forthcoming, and I was fain to make the best of dry bread and a glass of tea. For this magnificence I had to pay. My bedroom cost me 1 3J. for one night, plus a charge of IS. "id. for candles, meals of course being extra. There were four tallow candles in the room, of which I had used a small portion of two. This obnoxious if somewhat amusing charge for candles used or unused, not unknown to travellers on the Continent, but fast dying out there, is also doomed in Russia before the introduction of electric light, therefore it behoves me not to allow the following incident to be lost. An English nobleman staying in a St. Petersburg hotel was given a bedroom with a candelabra and galaxy of candles. He had used but a fraction of the number when he came to leave, but found to his surprise that he had been charged for them all, and at twenty kopyeks (5^.) each. Putting the unused ones in his pocket he descended the stairs, at the foot of which his departure was awaited by the usual crowd of would-be tip-receivers in a Russian hotel. To their astonishment he presented each with a candle, adding, "These candles are very valu- able ; they cost me twenty kopyeks each ! " CHAPTER IV ON THE AMUR A lonely post — On the broad bosom of the Amur — Village scenes — A 2000-mile sledge journey — Nikolaevsk — A visit to the prison — A night affray — " If he moves, shoot him " — Bound for Sakhalin at last. MY Canadian-Russian acquaintance had driven straight to the river, and there through influence managed to squeeze on to an already filled boat going up to Blagovestchensk. The river was reported full, which, however, could not have been the case, for higher up, a few days later, steamboats were aground on sand- banks. I was in easier case ; there would be no crowded cabins or sleeping on deck for me, as I was bound down the river on the comparatively little used route to Niko- laevsk, or Sakhalin, and "no further." In fact, on the second day, I found myself alone with an official who was, to put it politely, muddle-headed, and at times aggressively so. The first day our number was increased by one of the Americans met with at Khabarovsk, a Californian. At one of the few villages passed, Malmizhkoy by name, we dropped him. Here the tributary stream was in flood, and he could not get rowed up even in a primitive flat- bottomed boat, but had to wait on the chance of being sent for. At the gold mine for which he was bound, he had no companions but poor Russian emigrants or ex- convicts and a few natives. His Russian vocabulary was ON THE AMUR 49 of the meagrest, and there in this out-of-the-world spot in Eastern Siberia, frozen up for seven months in the year, he had spent a whole year without seeing a person to whom he could talk freely. Living like this on poor food, mostly fish, he had fallen ill, and in a state of depression had determined to throw up his post, but a ten days' stay at Khabarovsk had recuperated him, and he was now ready to face another winter's banishment. A superintendent engineer for an old-established English gold-mining com- pany, with its offices — it did sound rather odd — in Token- house Yard, he had not always been stationed so long in one spot, but had travelled in the Okhotsk district among its many wild tribes, the dog-Tungus, the Manguns, the Koryaks, and the Chukchis. How impossible it is to convey the impression this mighty river makes upon one ! If we include its main tributary, the Argun, it is over 30CX5 miles long, and navigable for steamboats as far as Stretensk on its other great tributary, the Shilka, i.e. for 2050 miles. At Khabarovsk, which is 650 miles from its mouth, it is more than a mile wide, and on the way it opens out, spreads into many channels, forms islands, and in some places broadens to five or six miles in width. A wonderful sight is this vast expanse of water, with a low-lying black line on the horizon, encircling us as if we were in the centre of a great lake. Four days I spent on this great river, with the delight- ful feeling that one was moving ever into the unknown. The banks were low and swampy, lined with willows, and backed by limitless forests of birch, poplar and larch. No hills were in sight, only miles upon miles of forest, untrodden save for the foot of the native hunter or more rarely a venturesome gold-seeker. The first day was a time of pouring rain and of rough, wind-swept waters, followed on the morrow by a cloudless sky and a still surface. There is yet another aspect, which E 50 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST I expected to see later, when — frozen hard and ice-bound — a deep white mantle covers it and all the country round, and more than ever makes of the scene one great lone land. The third day brought us glorious sunshine and hills, for the Sikhota Alin range from the south began to send its spurs as outriders to meet us, and suddenly, at a bend where lies the village of Bor, they pushed their way down to the river, narrowing it to about two-thirds of a mile. At this abrupt bend, a gale of wind met us, and we could make out a storm cone-signal in this wild spot on the top of the towering cliff. The river had become a tossing sea, which lasted for about a quarter of an hour, when almost at once we were in still water again. At night, a light or two at the head of a swampy islet warned our steersman of the shifting channels, and some- times by day we would spy the tiny boat of the lantern- trimmer on his lonely round. Villages were few and far between. We stopped about every sixty miles for fuel, a lengthy business, as we had to turn and head up the river to allow our four barges to swing round and lie down stream. Soon after leaving Khabarovsk we had attached four barges, two of them laden with 300 convicts bound for Sakhalin. A few wig- wams of the Gold tribe, and very rarely a tiny hamlet, were passed. The villages of log-huts, each with its brightly painted green and white church and posting-inn, or stantsiya, looked their best in the brilliant sunshine, and I forgot the loneliness of the long frost-bound winter, the thousands of miles separation from friends and home. Long boats, made of three planks only, curving high at bow and stern, and copied from the native canoe, pushed off as we anchored a few yards from the shore. They were paddled by rough-bearded men in jack-boots and red rubashka (shirt), and women barefooted, with gaily kerchiefed head, or by Golds decked out in their brightly ON THE AMUR 51 embroidered toggery. The third-class passengers on our steamboat, mostly emigrants or peasants, leaned over the rail of the lower deck eagerly scanning the contents of the boats. As the latter came alongside, there was a chattering and bargaining and a passing from above and below of greasy ruble notes, bottles of milk, eggs, and slabs of smoked fish two feet long. It was just such a scene, though under a very different sky, as I had witnessed off the Malabar coast of India, where, putting into some palm-girt, sandy bay, canoes manned by semi-naked figures put out to barter with the hungry and thirsty third-class passengers who crowded the lower decks of the coasting vessel bound for Goa, offering green cocoanuts for drink, and stalks of sugar-cane for meat. At one village the vessel was able to approach near enough to connect the shore with planks, and while stacks of fuel were being slowly transferred to our decks, the women-folk with their babes gladly went ashore, kindled a fire, and made a hearty breakfast on terra firma. At another village, the priest, with his long locks and rusty, threadbare cassock, put off to help unload and count the sacks of flour for the winter's supply. The land was too wet here to allow of corn being grown. The poor colonists therefore relied on fish, vegetables grown in their patches of garden, and the produce of their cattle, pigs, or poultry ; and last, but not least, the arrival of winter provisions by the boat. An occasional failure of transport in past years had resulted in terrible privations. The settlements occupy a mere strip on the edge of the bank, carved out, or more literally, burnt out, of the forest, just broad enough to stand their log-houses on, and to give feed to their cows. In summer the one event of the week is the calling steamer, but in winter even this is denied them. Outside, deep snow covers everything on river and banks alike, and there is nought to be done in 52 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST field or garden. Rarely is the sleeping village disturbed by the mails, or by an official travelling in hot haste, who arrives at the little post-station on his looo or 2000 miles' sledge journey upon the ice-bound river, changes horses, and is gone as swiftly as he came. As we glided eastward and ever eastward on the broad bosom of the mighty Amur, to the right and left stretched the same limitless forests, the home of the bear and the deer, with a few huts of the Golds or Gilyaks making the loneliness more lonely by contrast. This, the third day of our river journey, had been brilliant throughout, and now the sun was setting in all its glory. How can one describe a sunset on the Amur ! We were floating on a silvery expanse under a harvest-golden sky, on which a celestial hand in gathering had left a few dusky, fleecy clouds. Below stretched an undulating horizon of moun- tains, limned in black, and between us and them rose an ever-heightening slope, crowned with a fringe of firs filigreed against the steely blue into which the gold was paling. We had reached and passed Sophisk, where the river, running thus far in a north-easterly direction, suddenly trends north. If the reader looks at the map, he will see that, if this were not so, the Amur would find outlet between Sophisk and Marinsk in De Castries Bay. As it is, it turns north, flows parallel with the coast, and delays its discharge into the Straits of Tartary for more than 200 miles. How narrowly it escapes emptying itself into De Castries Bay is not generally known. Later on I had opportunities of landing twice in this bay ; and there I learned that a hill of only 1 50 feet separates through water-communication between the Amur and the Straits of Tartary. This does not, of course represent the barrier to be destroyed to permit of com- munication by canal. It simply means that natives pro- ceeding from Lake Kizi, into which the Amur overflows at ON THE AMUR S3 Marinsk, up a stream which descends from a hill on the east, have only to drag their canoes over a crest of 150 feet, to find another stream running down on the western slope into the Straits of Tartary, near De Castries Bay. Marinsk is about thirty miles as the crow flies from the sea, and a track connects this and Sophisk with the telegraph-station in the bay. Communication is made in winter, so the telegraph-chief at De Castries told me, by dog-sledges. Lake Kizi, which is 27 miles long, has doubtless been formed by great floods on the river Amur at some time unknown. A fog settled down upon us soon after leaving Marinsk, and compelled us to anchor for the night, for the land on the left bank was low and flooded for miles, and the shifting of currents rendered navigation difficult. The fourth day our course was north-westerly for twenty miles or so, until we came to a sudden bend of the river at the native village of Tir, whence the river flows due east. At Tir, on some rocks on the hilltop, are strange inscriptions, which have been variously interpreted. Some have asserted that they are Chinese characters, and witness to the ancient limits of that great Empire ; others, and this seems more probable, hold that they are a Nii-chen or Mongolian inscription of the famous Buddhist invocation, " Om mani padmi hom " (Oh, the jewel in the lotus). At Tir, a great tributary, the Amgun river, on which there are gold workings, joins the parent stream. Four hours later, on the afternoon of the fourth day, our vessel, casting off its sorry burden of convicts, crept up to the pristan or wharf at Nikolaevsk. Here I learnt to my chagrin that the steamer for Vladivostok vi& Sakhalin had already departed, the fog of the previous night having cost me my connexion. Hope dawned again when I bethought me of the mails and convicts, and I inquired how they would be despatched. 54 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST " Oh ! " was the reply, " We expect another vessel in sixteen days ! " If there is one thing to be learnt in the East, it is never to hurry, but to take things as they come. It takes a long time to become proficient, and to cure one's self of the besetting sin of making definite plans. Bred up in the ignorance of the West, I had always regarded mails with awe and respect. Visions floated before my eyes of the daring deed of Mr. Gladstone, stopping the Irish Mail near Hawarden one night, despite all warnings of the signalman, in order to obey the command of the Queen ; and of the Pennsylvanian and New York Central railways racing for the mail contracts. To wait sixteen days was out of the question. " Could I not," I asked, in my ignorance, " cross the river and post down the coast to the narrowest part of the Straits of Tartary (which separate the mainland from Sakhalin), and there cross over in a native boat and continue my journey by post to Alexandrovsk, the chief place on the island ? " It was their turn to be astonished now. " You would be killed and eaten by the natives ! " they said. I little knew then that impenetrable forests barred my way to Cape Lazarev on the mainland, and that no posting track existed either there, or on the island from Cape Pogobi. That natives might mistake me without escort for a brodyaga (a passportless vagabond or escaped convict), and capture, or even shoot me, was just possible, but that they were cannibal was either pure invention or legend born of ignorance. " No ! don't worry yourself," was the advice of the manager of the branch of the Russo-Chinese Bank ; " we shall hear if a steamer puts in that is likely to call at Sakhalin, though few do, as there is nothing for them to go for, excepting coal, and the lading of that is always an uncertain business." This did not sound hopeful. Mean- while, what was to be done ? To wait possibly sixteen days, probably more — for dates are elastic in East Siberia — ON THE AMUR 55 would involve being stopped by the frozen river at some out-of-the-way spot on the return journey up the Amur. The river naturally freezes earlier at its upper waters than at the mouth. Towards the end of October * floating blocks of ice are met with, and almost suddenly, with little other warning, the steamer finds itself ice-bound. Six weeks or two months must elapse before the surface throughout its length, in the lower reaches as well as the upper, can be declared safe for troiki (three-horse teams, attached in winter to sledges). Heavy snowfalls are experienced at Nikolaevsk and in the coastal region, mainly in December, the white pall lying from three to nine feet deep. Three feet of snow present considerable difficulties to progress, and render it impossible for horses to flounder any distance through it. In December, there- fore, the post-master of each little Government stantsiya, or post-house, twenty to twenty-five versts (13 to \6\ miles) apart, stakes out a course, with pine branches on the snow- covered frozen surface of the river, when it is sufficiently hard. In doing this he is assisted by the village to village traffic, which is somewhat insignificant it is true, and a narrow track within this course gets beaten down. This done the authorities give notice that the road is open, and a few military officers, and here and there a merchant or engineer whose business will not wait, venture on their long and trying journey. Sledging over the smooth white surface to the galloping of three spirited steeds and the merry peal of bells, sounds a most delightful experience, and so it is if taken in small doses for pleasure ; but it is another story when long distances are travelled. In that case you go on day after day, night after night, stiff and sore, cold and numb, seizing the opportunity of the two- hourly change of horses — and of sledges if you have not * The dates given throughout are according to the English style, unless otherwise stated. The difference is thirteen days, e.g. October 8, Russian or old style (o.S.) = October 21, English or new style (N.s.)- 56 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST been wise enough to buy one — to drink a glass of hot tea, chafing at a delay which, nevertheless, is all too short to get thawed in. By day, by night, unhasting you go, counting the weary versts which, though they speed by at the rate of two hundred a day, seem so slow in mounting to thou- sands. Then comes a check, and you arrive at a stantsiya to find the post-horses already taken by officials. There is nought to be done. The night must be spent here. At least you will have the opportunity of a rest, for hitherto you have had to snatch an hour or two's sleep when travelling on smooth stretches. But peering into the room you find the floor crowded with the sleeping forms of muzhiki, and an atmosphere that is staggering. There is not a vacant space, and even if there were, you reflect that if Russians are immune to asphyxia an Englishman is not. Stiff and cold you wrap yourself in furs and elect to 'pass the night outside. A Russian, whom I met in Sakhalin, and whom I will call Mr. Y., set out only this last winter (January 1903) to sledge this journey which I had just completed by steamer — the 623 miles from Khabarovsk to Nikolaevsk. He was making the journey in the opposite direction, and so bad was the weather that he only accomplished it in twelve days. Soon after he had left Nikolaevsk a buran, or great snowstorm, enveloped him, his team, and every- thing around. The horses struggled on gallantly, the izvostchik whipping and urging them on ; but the snow grew deeper and deeper as they proceeded, until the poor floundering creatures could go no further. There was nothing to be done but to loose the horses, mount them bare- backed, leaving the sledge and baggage in the snow, and make their way as best they could through the blinding fall to the nearest stantsiya. This is' slow travelling for sledges, as the mails reckon to cover on the Amur, despite all delays for changing horses, on an average 250 versts, or 166 miles, in the twenty-four hours ; while in the journey from St. Petersburg to Yakutsk before railways existed, the ON THE AMUR 57 9000 versts (nearly 6000 miles) was performed in twenty- eight days, or at the rate of 2 1 3 miles a day. But for long distances such rapid journeys are not to be attempted by the traveller, unless he wishes to become a wreck ; it is advisable to sleep at nights where stantsii offer possible accommodation. Mr. S., the Englishman who escaped from Blagovestchensk, undertook, before the time of railways, the tremendous journey from the Ural moun- tains to Yakutsk, and managed it in this fashion in six weeks. In severe winters, however, there are times when the cold at night is too intense for one to proceed. When the thermometer records — 35° Fahr., and your izvostchik gets frost-bitten, and the frozen breath of the horses chokes their nostrils, compelling the driver to descend every quarter of an hour to free them, then it is time to give up and wait for the sharp spell to abate. There was little time in which to decide whether to return at once or run all the risks that delay would involve, for the steamboat by which I had come was leaving in four hours. The question, however, was decided for me, for the berths had all been taken by those who were anxious to return before navigation became uncertain. The town of Nikolaevsk, in which I now found my- self stranded for an unknown period, was founded on August 6, 1850, by Captain Nevelskoy, acting without instructions from headquarters, for it was not until 1858 that the Treaty of Aigun gave this, the left bank of the Amur, to Russia. I have already referred to the severe blow it received when, in 1872, the naval base was trans- ferred to Vladivostok, and again when the administration of the province was removed to Khabarovsk. The town, which is perched on the rugged slope of the northern bank of the Amur, consists mainly of one broad street or road with one offshoot down to the pristan, and a few parallel green tracks. The main street contains half 58 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST a dozen well-built wooden structures, including the church the Russo-Chinese Bank, and some merchants' stores. There are a few shops and residences of officials, the rest are log- houses straggling away into the scrub and forest, out of which the site of Nikolaevsk has been carved. At the foot is the collection of wooden wharves, which in the autumn present quite a busy scene. An Amur steamboat is in, three or four steamers bringing provisions, tea, flour, etc., for the winter are lying in mid-stream, huge lighters, which I am told were made in England, are being tugged ashore, while a small fleet of schooners rides at anchor higher up stream waiting for their annual load of fish for Japan. Yet Nikolaevsk wears a iriste look. The two prison buildings, with their dingy, forbidding-looking stockades, frown upon you, and the deserted old rambling wooden houses of the admiral and military officials tell of its fallen fortunes. As I wandered about the place, I could not resist the feeling of oppression in the air. It was, as if the inhabitants were allowed their liberty — a very modified form of it — by the officials, only on sufferance. What a contrast to merry, happy Japan, and the gay village scenes there, and the Japanese pride in their police and military ! Of course, it should be remembered that besides officials there were scarcely fifty Russians who were not ex-convicts. This explained the presence of strange-visaged Jehus, whose faces haunted me until I remembered pictures of these Judas-looking countenances, and wrote them down at once as Kirghiz from Trans-Caspia. By one of these I was driven up in a " fiddle-back " to the chief inn of the place. The " fiddle-back " I should describe without exaggeration as a car specially designed for the discomfort of the passenger. It has a cloth-covered ridge, or backbone, with a step on each side. I proposed to sit astride, on seeing it, en cavalier, but I soon learnt that it was customary to squat on whatever space was left by a passenger on the opposite side, and to cling on ON THE AMUR 59 as successfully or unsuccessfully as might be, while the horses bounded over tracks that reminded one of a building estate. At the ramshackle wooden inn of one storey, I again had the honour of occupying " No. i " room. Two windows gave on to a yard, in which the presence and music of pigs contributed to the pleasures of existence. The room was comfortably furnished for these parts, that is, there were some chairs, a couple of tables and a bedstead, for which I supplied my own bedding. Of course, the floor was bare, and as I found decent food difficult to obtain, I camped out in my room, drawing largely on my stores of tinned foods. Strolling out in the evening, I met a band of sorrowful women and children, some carrying babes, escorted by soldiers. These were the wives and families of convicts going out to Sakhalin. This feeling of oppression dogged me still, and I sought relief in wandering on to the neighbouring moorlands, where I could breathe freely, and gaze with forgetfulness on the broad flowing river beneath, and the great forest- clad hills opposite. It was one of those first impressions which are soon lost It is strange how quickly one becomes accus- tomed unconsciously to new situations. Those who have travelled know this well, but those who have not been far from their native land make a great mistake if they imagine that the novel impressions of strange conditions last long. I have gone ashore in Korea, and had to pull myself up suddenly with the reminder that I was not sauntering in a Surrey or Devonshire lane, but that thou- sands of miles separated me from old England. So it was, that first evening at Nikolaevsk ; I returned to the inn, where not a soul spoke anything but Russian, and mechanically sat down with my books, quite unconscious of the 12,000 versts which separated me from London. 6o IN THE UTTERMOST EAST The next morning, in strolling down to the wharves at the foot of the town, I came across some rude shanties which I will dignify with the title of market. People were trudging along carrying great circular nine-pound loaves of black bread, or gleaming salmon, freshly caught. I wondered if there was any beef to be had — there are no sheep hereabouts — for the previous day not a scrap of meat was to be obtained. The shanties exhibited a mixed lot of articles. Each was a " Whiteley " on a small scale, decked out with a motley collection — Russian long boots, horses' collars, dirty furs, kettles and hardware, and a toy bagatelle board ! Perhaps they tickled my sense of the fitness of things less than the native bazar at Darjiling, where, within a hundred miles of the borders of Tibet, and surrounded by natives of many lands, Tibetans, Bhotans, Bhotanese, Nepaulese and Hindus, amid a col- lection of charm-boxes, prayer- wheels, etc., stood two plaster statuettes of Gladstone and Disraeli ! By the pristan were moored some barges, with flights of steps inviting would-be customers to descend. A fox- skin or a pair of felt top-boots for winter's snows, dangled from a line on deck to tempt purchasers. The owners of these are the modern representatives of the old-time pedlars, with this difference, that they travel with a barge instead of a basket. Starting in spring from Stretensk, 2025 miles up the river, and leisurely drifting down stream, calling at the little villages en rouU — a great event in the village economy, especially to the female inhabitants — they finally fetch up at Nikolaevsk, where they moor for the last time. There a trade is done until autumn warns the pedlars to be gone, when, jobbing off the rest of their stock, including the barges, the timbers of which come in useful for trottoirs, they catch the steamer back to Stretensk ere the river freezes. I believe that the corn-barges of Western Siberia and the coal-barges on the Mississippi are similarly disposed of at the journey's end. ON THE AMUR 6i I had not been more than a day or two in Nikolaevsk, before I discovered an old white-haired American, who had been a captain in the employ of the long-extinct Russian- American Company, which, founded under Imperial patronage in 1798, played a similar rdle to that of the Hudson's Bay Company, until 1868, a year after the cession of Alaska to the United States. As he was about to pay a visit to a fishery at the mouth of the Amur, near Pronge Point, he offered to take me. For thirty-nine years he had been voyaging in these parts, and seventeen of these he had spent whaling in the Okhotsk Sea, where his home and family were, for he had married a Tungus woman. In those days, when his vessel was frozen up in the Bay of Okhotsk, clad in furs and snow-shoes, he would start out to traverse the wilds of this almost unknown country between Okhotsk and Nikolaevsk. Taking with him a small store of flour, sugar and tea, he relied on his gun for the flesh of deer, wolf, or bear. Such a journey generally occupied about twenty-five days, and often, he said, he went for as many as sixteen days without meeting a single soul. Now he had command of a tiny steamer which plied up and down the Amgun, taking provisions and fetching gold from the mine, when the state of the river allowed. On the forecastle, just below the bridge, was a heavily clamped iron coffer, which held the gold-dust and nuggets. This, with the rough, drunken, and lawless-looking crew, put the finishing touch to it as the picture of a pirate vessel. At the mouth of the Amur, the owners of the vessel (the chief partner was the son of a convict) were making the first attempt at salmon-canning in Siberia. The chief occupation of the poor is fishing, and in the month of August, at spawning-time, salmon {Salmo lagocephaliis) and shad swarm. Some idea of their abundance may be gathered from the fact that the prices fixed by the municipality at Nikolaevsk for a moderate-sized salmon, 62 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST say eighteen pounds, was six kopyeks (i|a?.). Salted, it forms the staple food of the natives and poor Russians. To lack of variety, the absence of vegetables, which will not grow in Nikolaevsk, and the unhealthy conditions of living, must be attributed the leprosy among the Rus- sians on the Amur. A few years back there was no accommodation for these lepers, and many suffered from want of food, or lay untended, but now there is a properly constructed leper-house two or three miles from Niko- laevsk. So plentiful are the fish that I have seen Rus- sians spearing the salmon from the banks ; but on the journey from Khabarovsk down the Amur, the usual method appeared to be to build a wattle-weir projecting into the stream, and just visible above the surface of the water. At the mid-stream end was fixed a "set" net, into which the fish crowded as they hurried round the corner. A boatman sat waiting until the net was heavy with its living freight, when he hauled it up, and emptied the catch into his boat. At Pronge, seine-nets were being used, a good average haul of the net yielding 3000. The native village of Pronge is really in the Straits of Tartary, just round the southern foreland at the mouth of the Amur, but the temporary Russian fishing settlement is situated on the right or southern bank of the river just before one reaches the headland. Our little vessel threaded its way very gingerly between the sandbanks and shoals, past the batteries, and then by miles of forest-clad slopes, the home of the bear and reindeer, to the little settlement where the great river broadens out until it is eight miles wide from head to head. A few log-huts, and a native shelter or two of pine- branches, and a wooden jetty in embryo, told of our arrival at the curing-station. Until then, I had thought our crew were a rough lot, but they were quiet and respectable com- pared with the ex-convicts on shore. Several boarded our vessel, and three of them burst into my cabin, but satisfied ON THE AMUR 63 themselves with staring long at me as though I were a strange new animal, and departed. On shore we found them busily cutting up and cleaning the salmon before plunging them into the pickling vats. Most of this salted salmon goes to supply Eastern Siberia, the emigrant population, and the convicts, and some is exported to Japan in casks. The scrupulous cleanliness which the English public demands in the preparation of food to-day, and which machinery ensures, could not be expected here. If similar methods are to be employed in the canning of salmon that were used in the curing of the salted article then tinned salmon, at least the Russian article, will be- come a food to be avoided more than ever. The Siberian, I had almost said Russian, is well known for his want of personal cleanliness of living, notwithstanding the weekly bath that we are constantly reminded of. Russian writers may point to this as evidence of the cleanliness of the mtishik, but no one can accuse the poorer population — and their number is legion — of cleanly personal habits, and to have your food prepared on a wild spot with no con- veniences, and by the lowest rabble of Russia, is sufficient disqualification for the article in question. We landed a large number of tins of vodka for the men, who would not have worked without it any more than English harvesters without their beer or cider. These were stored for safety in the wooden hut of the foreman, under our eyes, and as I sat on a box watching this opera- tion, I didn't envy the position of that man. What was there to prevent these rough, cut-throat-looking individuals from taking his life and helping themselves ? Outside the scene was a wild though picturesque one. The sun was setting, the broad expanse of water was silvering, and behind us darkness was shrouding in mystety the primeval forest. On the shore strange uncouth figures, in great boots and shaggy astrakhan caps were gathering 64 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST round the fires. A great pot of fish hung in the flames, and a solitary woman was griddling greasy blini (pan- cakes). The captain and I put off with a freshly caught salmon to our vessel, and after a repast prepared by the Chinese " boy," I lay down and tried to sleep, the while a drunken party from the shore grumbled and thumped and swore over my head. The next morning, as soon as daylight allowed us, we threaded our way back. It seemed a comparatively civilized life to come back to in Nikolaevsk, though when told that the single line of telegraph wire has been broken for a week, and that tele- grams to St. Petersburg take not infrequently a month, and letters two and a half months, you do not feel in closest touch with the civilized world. On the following morning, as I was down on the wharf, I found that the convicts, whom we had towed down the river, were being disembarked. Their names, crimes, and sentences were being called out, and the prisoners came forward in turn and marched out of the shed to join their companions, who were lined up with soldiers in front and to the rear of them. As each came forward, I had leisure to examine his face and general appearance. All wore unbleached cotton rubashka and trousers, shoes and socks, or strips of cloth wound '' putty "-fashion round their legs. Over all they had the khalat, or long ulster-like garment of frieze, excepting one or two, who may have bartered it for a mess of pottage. Some had diamond-shaped coloured patches let in to the back of their khalati, the colour indicating the prison district from which they came ; yellow, for instance, being the Moscow colour. On their heads were brown frieze caps, and round their ankles chains. These are long but not heavy, weighing barely seven pounds, and they can be hitched up to the waist, so as not seriously to impede walking. On their shoulders they bore their worldly ON THE AMUR 65 possessions, in bundles of varying sizes, and in their hands or at their belts were the inevitable samovars or kettles, and pots. Their faces were not prepossessing, though very few had the villainous features one might have expected to see. I thought I descried some Jews, and more than one follower of the Prophet, these latter, Kirghiz, from Tashkend and neighbourhood. As they came forward to join the lines, laughing and talking or calling to their companions, and interchanging remarks with the sentries, I wondered at the freedom allowed. One raised a laugh all round. He was the solitary proud possessor of a box, padlocked and all, which he bore on his head. A titter went round when a soldier, asking what it contained, the prisoner replied " Gold." When the 300 had all passed out and ranged up, four deep, facing me, the seventy odd soldiers took up position — right turn — and with a sudden painful jangling of chains, the miserable column moved off and up the street to the prison. One only of the convicts did I see who was without boots. The march was not hurried, and the soldiers considerately allowed the prisoners to pick their way along the muddy road. Official strictness is considerably relaxed as one gets further east in Siberia. Three weeks before, the famous student Gubermann had arrived, and the inhabitants, struck by his story and his fine erect bearing, which marked him out among the slouching figures of criminals, collected twenty guineas on the spot for him. His was a marvellous story of imprisonment and escape. According to my informant, and I give the story as he told it me, Gubermann was incarcerated in the Schliisselburg near St. Petersburg, in 1896, for taking part in political disturbances. Released after one year and a half, he was again involved in 1898, and sent with a batch of students to the Baikal region. They decided to send one of their number with messages to their former companions F 66 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST in Moscow. The lot fell upon him, and, notwithstanding the truly remarkable vigilance of the Russian police, he escaped, and once more joined in the riots of 1900. Arrested yet again, he was sent to Sakhalin. There one morning I was hurrying past the prison at Alexandrovsk, when I saw a crowd gathering and officials driving up in haste. Going over to make inquiries, I learnt that Gubermann had been creating a disturbance, in the course of which he had accused the Chief of the prison of theft. His brother exiles thought he was suffering from over- strain. The accusation may have been true, but no good would come of making it, and all might suffer for his ill-timed protests. The second day after their disembarkation, by permis- sion of the Ispravnik, I visited some of the prisoners in their new quarters. Some had been taken to the new, but more to the old prison. The former combined the functions of an etape ox peresilni, and agubernski. The ^tape is a resting-place en route where the prisoners generally sleep two nights, while at a polu etape, or half (way) itape, they spend one night. A peresilni serves a similar purpose, but for a longer time. A stay of weeks or months is sometimes necessitated by irregular communica- tions, or some other reason, preventing immediate continua- tion of the journey. A gubernski is a gaol for local offenders. The new prison was constructed for sixty- seven, but with a few local offenders now contained 120. The old prison was described by Mr. H. de Windt as he saw it seven years earlier, in 1894, as "a rickety wooden structure, rotting with age, and by no means weather-proof. It is now seldom used," he adds, " save for local offenders. I found only nine inmates." This was now crowded out with 300. The Chief of the police did not wish me to see it, as can readily be imagined, and he procrastinated with such success that before I could bring him to the point, I had to seize the opportunity of getting over ON THE AMUR 67 to Sakhalin ; but the description I received on the spot of the filthy condition of this forwarding station was too disgusting for me to repeat. This state of things was what met the miserable wretches in past years. Hungry and weary after a long day's march, hopeless and fearful, failing in the scramble to obtain one of the miserable plank resting-places, they had to lie on the filthy floor, thankful if there a stronger neighbour didn't crush them, for the most brutal-tongued and hard-fisted got the best place, the timid and weak went to the wall. But this is no longer a true picture of Siberian prisons or Stapes, or only in very exceptional cases ; and here a special cause was at work producing, let us hope, exceptional conditions. The ukaz abolishing deportation was to come into force on January i (O.S.), 1902, necessitating considerable alterations in the prison buildings throughout the Empire. There wanted but four months to January i, and prisoners bound for Sakhalin were being hurried on before the frost set in to block navigation. Driving up with a Russian companion to the house of the Chief of the prison, we were ushered in. There we waited for a considerable time, during which I suppose finishing touches were being made in theprison for thebenefit of the English visitor. At last the chief appeared, and we walked across to the sombre-looking building. A stockade of pine poles, twenty feet high, like gigantic pencils with sharpened ends upwards, formed the outer enclosure, the entrance to which was guarded by saluting sentries. Inside the square was the long prison building, divided lengthwise by a corridor, off which doors heavily bolted and padlocked opened into different-sized rooms or kameri. We entered this building, the prison master, my com- panion and myself, guarded by three soldiers armed, twa of them with bayonets and the other with pistol and sword. The first room which the warder unlocked was small, as 68 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST nearly as I could judge 14 X 16 feet, and contained nine local accused waiting their trial for minor offences. They included natives (Gilyaks) and Koreans, and wore their ordinary dress. Their beds were of sloping planks with straw mattresses and pillow, a dirty-looking sheet and frieze blanket, yet these were doubtless quite as good as anything they were used to. The air was heavy, and in nearly all the kameri the iron-barred windows were tightly closed, for the Russian does love warmth. The next cell contained a very different class of inhabi- tants, viz. convicted criminals going on to Sakhalin. Some had already been here a long time, others had just arrived the day before. Several of them had rough, repellent faces, with lowering brows, piercing eyes, unkempt hair, and wore dirty clothes, and iron fetters polished bright by much wear. Altogether they presented the picture of abasement. I experienced a curious sensation as the door of the kamera was flung open, and the prisoners rose clank- ing their chains ere the soldiers had time to close around us. The prison master made some remarks, and one man complained that " he had not had a bath for six months, and was covered with vermin." The master flew into a passion, and swore at him. The visit of a stranger is an opportunity for prisoners to make complaints, whether genuine or not, but the behaviour of the master lent con- firmation rather than otherwise to the convict's statement, and caused me to take his own remarks cum grano, when showing me the bath-house, he declared that the prisoners had baths twice a week. Another prisoner of gentler disposition, who wore spectacles, asked if he might have his chains struck off, and be permitted to help in the kitchen. His term had expired, and he might have gone free in Nikolaevsk, but what would he have done there in an utterly strange place ? He might even have required protection himself. ON THE AMUR 69 The next room was about 20 X 16 feet, and contained as many as twenty-five. The inmates slept on the floor, covered by whatever their bundles yielded. I asked whether they had a blanket in winter, but was assured that the rooms were sufficiently heated. The prisoners crowded round us, and I learned in answer to questions of the prison master that they had been three months tramping from Nerchensk, 2075 miles, with an occasional lift on barges towed by a steamer. Just as we were turning to leave, a tall not unpleasant- looking prisoner stepped forward and asked, " Where does the barin come from .' " " America," replied the master. I corrected him. " Don't they treat the prisoners better in England ? " To which I believe the reply was, " No, they hang such as you ! " — which was probably true. Some of the men complained that they wanted more to eat. To this came the indignant reply, " They have plenty, the ruffians ! " The regulations for food in Russian prisons are good, and compare well as to quantity with other countries, but the quantity and quality of food which reaches the prisoner is quite another story in far Siberia. There are two causes which tend to bring this about ; an insufficient monetary allowance in the face of local con- ditions, in other words, scarcity or dearness of foods, and " leakages," for which officials are responsible. At Nikolaevsk meat is dear and vegetables are scarce, there- fore salted fish and black bread form the staple diet of the criminals. Owing to the absence of transport during winter, the accumulation of provisions results sometimes in the fish being a year old before it is consumed, and, unfortunately, it is less palatable (I use the word in a comparative sense) to the European Russian than to Nikolaevsk-bred persons. Knowing this, I was not surprised to find in a small, narrow room, two men suffering from scurvy. They both looked dreadfully sallow, which was partly due to their 70 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST confinement, and one of them had been ill since April (it was then August 23, O.S.)- Leaving the kameri the prison master showed me the bathroom, whence several prisoners had once made their escape, of whom only one had been recaptured ; the exercise-ground, a small grass court with a rectangular and diagonal path, around and across which slip-shod figures were drearily pacing, who, at the sight of the master, immediately doffed their caps ; and finally the kitchen, where I met the only free inmate of the prison, to wit, the cat. It seemed to me that this forwarding prison reflected the normal state of things to-day. There are better, and there are worse. Here, at least, the sanitary arrangements, the state of which is sometimes inconceivable, are probably better than in their own homes. The food is certainly a deplorably weak point, and the absence of variety baneful ; and so is the herding together of a mixed lot of prisoners, the lowest type naturally tending to drag the others down ; but in judging this state of things, and in condemning the forced inactivity, one extenuating cir- cumstance should be borne in mind, viz. that their gaol is a temporary one, an Hape in which it is intended that they should stay only a short while. As the days elapsed I grew impatient to be off to Sakhalin, an impatience only accentuated by the un- pleasantness of my present quarters. It was not that the course of life in a ramshackle old wooden inn, with " switchback" floors, whence I could study to my heart's content the life and manners of Siberian pigs, ran too smoothly. On the contrary, there were times when one would have preferred a more even course. Two strolling minstrel girls appeared in the inn for several evenings to regale the habituis with music ; whence they came and whither they were going in this out-of-the-world place I wot not. I had retired to rest one night while this ON THE AMUR 71 " music " was still progressing, when, between twelve and one, I was startled by a big struggle outside in the passage, then a great rattling of the door, and the noise of some one trying to force an entrance. I seized my revolver and waited, but, fortunately, my door was pad- locked, and the would-be intruders, whoever they were, soon desisted, and I heard the sound of their footsteps as they hurried down the passage. The disturbance in the neighbouring room, however, did not cease, but con- tinued until it culminated between two and three, when a rush was made for the yard ; but fortunately the shutters gave protection against attacks from that quarter. The next morning I learnt from a Dane, Mr. N., an engineer from Vladivostok, who had been present as a spectator of the previous night's fracas, that three or four of the officers of a small German steamer had come ashore, and had been drinking with the Russians and listening to the harpist. A quarrel shortly ensued as to who should sit next the girls, which soon developed into an international dispute ! One German tore part of the beard of a Russian out, another a portion of his coat, and these were flourished around, while yet another drew his revolver. The struggle soon involved them all, and con- tinued down my passage and eventually into the yard ; and some of them seemed to have made up their minds, or the soldiers who arrived on the scene had, that the fugitive, whoever he was, had taken refuge in my room. Meanwhile, no news had reached the bank of any vessel bound for Sakhalin, but one day, observing a strange steamer standing up the river, I made inquiries. The agent, whom I sought out, said that it was a tramp steamer, that it was certainly in want of coal and might put in at Sakhalin for it on its return to the south, and, as a favour, he would take me, but I must say nothing about it. The vessel could not sail for a few days, because the weather was not favourable for unlading. As it was, I do not know 72 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST whether he wanted to put me off or not, but the steamer started very shortly and rather suddenly, and it was only through my importunity that late one afternoon I learnt of its intended departure in a few hours. I fled pre- cipitately, managed to get money from the bank in rather under two hours (!), and had packed ready to start at IO.IO p.m. on a dark stormy night in the pouring rain. A Russian acquaintance kindly accompanied me to the wharf, insisting by the way that my revolver should be transferred from an inside to an outer breast-pocket, in order, as he said, to enable me to draw it at a moment's notice. " My dear fellow," he continued, " you'll have a Chinaman in a sampan, and he may do anything to a stranger who he knows won't be missed. One's sufficient, don't take two. The moment you see him move, fire over his head, and if he attempts it again, shoot him. No inquiries will be made, one Chinaman more or less doesn't matter." The prospect was not pleasant, but it was an incident in travel that one gets accustomed to by degrees. I must confess, however, that I didn't approve of the Russian's ethics. As it was, I had no occasion to solve the question from a British point of view, and to defend myself without mortally wounding the attacking China- man ; for we found no sampan owners there. It was late, the night was stormy. Our izvostchik called in vain to invisible Chinamen on dimly silhouetted sampans. "Perhaps he is asleep, or peradventure he is on a journey ; " and my Russian companion, having adjured the izvostchik not to stand there speaking politely, but to go down into the boat and kick the Chinaman, discovered that he was on a journey. After about twenty minutes of this, things looked certainly dark. It was towards I I o'clock ; no sampan, my steamer lay somewhere out there in the dark watery waste a mile or more away. I had been told to board it that night, as it was to start early in the morning. What was to be done ? At last an ON THE AMUR 73 idea occurred to us ; a small steam-tug, which had arrived from up the river that day, was lying by the quay. All was dark, but we boarded her, and stumbling over the sleeping form of the " bosun," effectually roused him up ; and after wearing down the captain's refusal, got him to agree to allow three of his now sleeping crew to row me out to the German tramp steamer. My baggage was pitched into the boat, and bidding my friend good-bye, I set off, feeling comparatively safe with my Russian crew, who were not drunk, or at least not superlatively so. It was a puzzle in the darkness to single out from the lights of many lighters, fishing-boats and steamers those of the tramp steamer I was bound for, but a guess proved happily correct ; and after a mile and a halPs rowing we were close under the hull of a vessel from which, in answer to my shout, " Sind Sie das Tsintau f " came the welcome, " Ja ! Das Tsintazi." Scaling the side by a rope- ladder, I at last boarded a steamer bound for Sakhalin. CHAPTER V NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK A treacherous passage — A lonely coast — Sakhalin at last — I am put under guard — Am I a spy ? — Strange story of an ex-convict mer- chant — A drunken host to the rescue — The terrible deed of a student — Alexandrovsk — An interview with the Governor — A ride to Arkovo and a warning — Armed outlaws — The mail held up — Preparations for a 750-mile journey. INCOMPREHENSIBLE as it may seem, it was a translation to a land of luxury from Russian fare in a Siberian inn to tinned foods on a German tramp steamer. At the evening meal we actually indulged in the luxury and novelty of fresh mutton, for the solitary sheep which had been visible on deck in the morning was the only one I have ever seen in these parts. The Russian dislikes mutton, and to keep sheep on Sakhalin would be to feed the bears. Perhaps a menu in the English language, on a German steamer in the far East might be considered a further luxury ; but it was only another witness to the fact that English (or rather pidgin-English) is the language of commerce and travel in the Orient, and one soon gets accustomed to hearing the German or Russian captain shouting orders from the bridge in pidgin-English to his Chinese crew. Our course was to descend the river to its mouth, a distance of twenty-seven miles, then, turning south, to thread the Straits of Tartary for about 120 knots, putting into De Castries Bay on the mainland, and thence to 74 NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK 75 cross to the island of Sakhalin, which is a sixty knots' journey. At early morning we began to thread our way through the narrow winding channels of the Amur to the liman, or delta-like embouchure of the river, where it broadens out from the one and a half to three miles at Nikolaevsk to eight at the heads. Very awkward and difficult is this passage of the Amur and the northern half of the Straits of Tartary ; and in one place the narrow channel, which gives passage through the treacherous shoals and sandbanks, becomes so shallow that at neap tides only thirteen feet of water is to be found, and hence only vessels of moderate draught can ascend, even with more favourable tides. Similar devious passages, through shoals slightly less shallow, extend to the north and to the south of the mouth of the river, even as far as the S2nd parallel. Our vessel had therefore to proceed slowly, with anchor ready to drop at a moment's notice, and a look-out was kept for a couple of large lighters, which were said to have been in danger of going aground on a sandbank, as the Tsintaic was on its way up. The officers made merry over the incident, but it was not always a laughing matter for the poor helmsman on the lighter. Stranded on a sandbank in the dreary delta, with little hope of rescue — for there was no altering a ship's course in this terrible maze of sand — he stood considerable chances of being starved or drowned. Indeed, there were many stories of loss of life hereabouts, and we made out quantities of wreckage at the mouth. The chief pilot of De Castries, who was on board, had many a story to tell of adventures during the seventeen years he had been stationed on this coast. On one occasion the vessel he was piloting was wrecked in the Straits, but with four others he had managed to escape, though without provisions. For four days, he said, they rowed 138 miles (versts ?) along this 76 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST lonely, inhospitable coast, until exhausted, they reached De Castries Bay. Darkness descended before we had cleared the narrow- channel, and forced us to anchor for the night, and another delay occurred the next morning, when a small tug, at the mercy of wind and weather, begged some coal of us. We had kept within sight of the coast of the mainland all along. A bold coast it is, with hills of about looo feet, rising at De Castries to 1540, and covered with dense forests. A few native inhabitants, Gilyaks, are found just to the south of the river mouth at Pronge and Mi, but otherwise it is uninhabited save by bears, foxes, etc. At De Castries, a beautiful natural harbour opens out to the view with a couple of islets, Observatory Island and Basalt Island, reposing in the smooth water. This haven was discovered and named by La P^rouse in 1787. There is a small Russian post here, consisting of the dwellings of a telegraph chief, his assistants, and a few soldiers, for the cable to Sakhalin crosses from this point.* I was to set foot here again, but for the present we did not enter the bay, but merely landed the pilot at the foot of the southern headland, some miles from the post, on which stands a fine, strikingly built lighthouse. It is a lonely post, and only occupied by the pilots during the summer, for navigation ceases with the freezing of the Straits, The dim outline of the Sakhalin mountain range had been faintly discernible soon after we left the Amur, and at the narrow neck of the Straits of Tartary, where they are but five miles wide, the low sandy shore running out from the foot of the mountains was plainly visible. Our course was now steered east-south-east for the * This cable, which was broken in June, 1901, has now been abandoned, and a fresh one laid between Capes Lazarev and Pogobi. The post is to be maintained at De Castries, because it has communi- cation by telegraph with Vladivostok, and is the only safe haven for ships passing through the Straits of Tartary, NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK ^^ "isle of the banished," where we arrived, and anchored within two miles of Alexandrovsk, at about 6 o'clock in the evening. Unfortunately for its development, the island of Sak- halin has no safe anchorage. On the west coast, where the coalfields occur, the sea has a pebbly bottom, and the emerging funnel of a sunken steamer near the beach at Alexandrovsk warns the navigator of the danger of stand- ing in with a shoreward breeze. Indeed, I was fortunate, for often since, I have seen a vessel approach within a couple of miles of the shore, and then reluctantly turn round and flee over to De Castries for refuge from a west wind. However, I was not yet ashore, and the captain's signals for a launch were apparently disregarded. Was there too much sea on for the tiny tugs, which put out to tow the lighters, laden with convicts or provisions, from the incoming vessels ? Yes, the captain thought so, and gave me no hope of being able to land. However, he promised to wait half an hour. As a doubtful encouragement he related how recently a French professor (M. Chaillet), making a tour in the East, had arrived off Vladivostok with the intention of returning to Europe across Siberia, and had been refused permission to land. His crime appeared to have been an acquaintanceship made with some Russian students in a German university, and a written promise to visit them en route to Paris vid Siberia ! My good fortune had not, however, deserted me, and before the half-hour had elapsed and the captain's patience had been exhausted, a launch put out to us, and, rather to my surprise, I was allowed to board it without question. I had not, however, mounted the steps of the pristan, before a loud official voice inquired where I was going, and what was my business. My very slender acquaint- ance with the Russian language stood me in good stead. I understood better than I could speak. Partly in Russian, 78 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST and partly in German, I made them understand that I had a letter for Mr. Y., who was an ex-convict, a merchant, and acted as agent for the Russo-Chinese Bank. His was a strange story, which I will tell later. It was evident that I was viewed with suspicion. In fact, recent events all tended to make them think that I was a military spy. Mr. y. was at the coal-mine, they said, and I must remain in that room (on the jetty) for twenty-four hours at least, and, on his return, they would know what to do with me. I had been in much worse places than this, and a traveller ought to accustom himself to sleeping anywhere. The main point was gained. I was on the island, and the Tsintau was about to depart to coal elsewhere, so the officials might lock me up if they pleased. However, I wanted my books, and going to the door, I found my exit barred by a soldier. Having demanded ray baggage, which was brought in, I settled down by the light of the lamp to study my Russian grammar. At last I had landed on the island of punishment, and for the nonce I was a prisoner myself. As I gazed out of the window seawards, the sun was setting behind a cloud- bank of fiery red as of live coal. To me it pictured the passionate longing of the exiles, whose eyes were straining ever westward to the land of the sunset, to the homeland, the abode of friends and loved ones so long ago left behind ; but whose hopes, like the sun, sank into the dark waters of despair. Meanwhile, I was called to the realization of my position by the sound of telephoning which was going on between the officers on the jetty and the Governor. I could hear enough to make out that they were talking about me. I was also being watched from outside. My main object in coming to the island at all was to visit the Ainus, whom I believed I should find more primitive here than on the island of Yezo ; also, incidentally, NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK ^^ I hoped to observe the treatment of convicts on what was well-known in Russia to be the worst penal settlement, the very name of which is not to be mentioned in St. Petersburg. If the authorities were determined to watch me closely, I, too, would be circumspect. I had, therefore, no need to advertise my secondary object, and to dwell only on my purpose to visit the natives. It was neither surprising nor unreasonable that I should be arrested and detained while inquiries were made. Twice during my stay rumours were afloat, telegrams had actually been received, I was told, that Japan had declared war with Russia, and my position was rendered less comfort- able since it was taken for granted that England was the ally of Japan. Only recently, guns and ammunition had been sent over from the mainland, followed by a Russian major-general, who had held a field-day. There was another reason which in fairness should be credited to them, and that was the protection of my person. Such was the state of things on the island, the number of out- laws and criminals at large, that while the officials might be held responsible for my life, they could not assure my safety. Before I reached the island I had been told that I should certainly be shot, that a pair of boots or twenty kopyeks (s^.) was sufficient bait for a convict to murder one, and that on landing after 6 o'clock in the evening, an escort was necessary. I knew from more authoritative reports that there were dangers to be prepared for, but these statements I regarded as considerably exaggerated. My " durance vile " lasted but a few hours. Scarcely an hour had passed, when the door opened and in walked a short, gentlemanly looking man in semi-undress military uniform, who, with a politeness of manner noticeably absent from my previous interrogators, addressed me in English. He apologized for asking me personal questions, but he had been bidden to, I explained that I had an introduction to Mr. Y., and had come to visit the Ainus, Then my 8o IN THE UTTERMOST EAST good fortune pursued me. My interrogator, Mr. X., turned out to be himself a convict, the son of a very high official in St. Petersburg, and the husband of the Countess of . A highly educated man, speaking English, French and German, besides his native tongue, he was surprisingly au courant with English literature. I seized the opportunity of free speech, made all the inquiries I could about the Ainus, produced my maps, and discussed the geography of the island. That my earnestness im- pressed the under-officials was evident, and they were drawn in to contribute their quota of knowledge. By this time arrived the Chief of the district and Mr. Y. I handed my letter to the latter, and it was strange to see in this tall, fine, military-looking man, well-educated and refined, who addressed me in excellent French — a murderer and convict of twenty years' standing. His story is well-known throughout Siberia and European Russia. The details differ slightly with the narrator, but the main facts are, I believe, as follows : — He was left an orphan, heir to large estates which the traveller by rail from Berlin to St. Petersburg, vid Eydtkunen, passes. One day he had an interview with his trustee, an old uncle, in which the latter refused to pay a debt of honour, or, as some accounts say, refused his consent to his marriage, and in a fit of anger the younger struck the elder, and to his great misfortune the blow ended fatally. Other accounts make him guilty of murder rather than manslaughter, and of strangling an old servant who attempted to defend her master. Mr. Y. was sentenced to twenty years' hard labour on Sakhalin, where he worked in the mines with gangs of the most debased criminals, and in those early days must have witnessed awful cruelties on the part of the officials, for those were bad times indeed. How he had gone through it, and come out unscathed in manner and carriage, is almost inconceivable. His good behaviour had gained him rapid promotion through the NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK 8r various stages, and his term had already expired some years ago, but he had elected to remain in a part of the world where he had earned the respect of his neighbours, rather than become an outcast in more civilized society. He is a store-owner and a concession-holder, and his position is peculiar in this, that, while he is regarded by the con- victs as one of themselves, he nevertheless enjoys the con- sideration of the highest officials. Yet this position could not be maintained without considerable circumspection in his attitude to the latter, and perhaps this was why he only offered generally to render me any assistance in his power, although I was without the prospect of any shelter. That he faithfully kept his promise in this, I gratefully acknowledge. However, the question was still to be settled, what was to be done with me. It was, indeed, a puzzle. To me it mattered not, so that they dilly-dallied a while longer, for then the vessel would have gone and they could not send me away. Suddenly there arrived,post-haste,myand their deliverer from the quandary, in a mud-covered, travel-stained, drunken individual. He had posted from the interior in haste to transact business with the captain of the unexpected vessel, for he was the agent of the biggest German firm in the East. With good-natured hospitality he offered to give me a bed on the couch in his office. The officials discussed the matter and finally made no demur, since I was equally under surveillance there. My new acquaintance, having further imbibed on sea and on shore, was ready to start at 10.30 p.m. After four hours my detention had come to an end, and we were whirled away to Alexandrovsk. The distance traversed was about a mile and a half, and lay first through a straggling pine wood and then through the town. My companion was of doubtful use as an escort, for he had now so much champagne and vodka "on board " as to be stretched full length in t\it prolyotka,* shouting. I * A small victoria. G 82 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST therefore kept my hand on my revolver and peered into the darkness. Here and there I made out a solitary figure standing stationary and rigid, and I guessed that they were watchmen or sentries. My host was not yet content with the quantity of liquor he had consumed, and notwithstanding all my attempts at dissuasion, an adjournment was made to what was called "the club," where we found several officials beginning their evening at midnight. They had only just ordered supper, which was to be followed by drinking and cards until 3 or 4 a.m. One, a high officer of the Kantselyariya (Chancellerie), in gorgeous uniform of green and gold, sat with his head resting on the table, snoring loudly. It was in vain that the others attempted to arouse him to introduce me, for he remained in that posture until after we left. The night was spent in the log-house of my new and hospitable, if somewhat muddled, acquaintance, and we were well waited upon by ex-convicts, one of whom was a Kirghiz. The next day opened gloriously. It was September 8, the fields were green and the sea was "brilling" in the sun. I could hardly believe myself to be on Sakhalin. An early caller appeared — it was the interpreter, Mr. X. I had requested him to make application to the chief of the Alexandrovsk district, Mr. Semevsky, to be allowed to become my interpreter. All through my stay I had reason to be grateful to this official, who as nachalnik of the Alexdndrovskiy Okrug ranked next to the Governor on the island. He spoke French well j and I sometimes wondered if the fact of his sister having married an Englishman influenced him favourably towards me. It may seem surprising that a convict, such as Mr. X., should be allowed to do so light a duty, and further that he should be told off for my use ; but several things had conspired to give him the comparative liberty he was then enjoying. He was not strong, and had been in the NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK 83 earlier days transferred from his cavalry regiment to the War OfiSce on account of ill-health. On arrival on Sakhalin, he was placed in the prison with criminals, and an attempt was made to enforce his hard labour sentence, but a com- mission, composed in part of doctors, declared him unfit. He was, therefore, put on half duty, and for some time became doctor in a native village, to and from which he had to walk altogether twenty miles, and later on he was schoolmaster in Due, where he received ten rubles (a guinea) a month, during the school terms, on which to feed, clothe and house himself. His sentence would expire in three months, and these were now the holidays, and partly for one and partly for another reason my application had been granted. My passport had been produced and given up ; but no one of the officials could read English, which appears to have stood me in good stead, for I was told they were much impressed by the lithographed signature at the bottom, naifvely remarking that here was a person of im- portance who had a letter from the Marquis of Salisbury ! However, before three or four days had passed, and I was about to set out for the interior, where I should be out of sight and mind, my companion was warned that if I turned out to be a spy his fate would not be enviable. Slipping my revolver, as bidden, into my pocket, we made our way past the gaily painted wooden church to the house of a student -convict, of whom I hoped to procure some photographs to add to those I proposed to take myself. I could scarcely believe the story of this man when I met him. He had a tall figure, delicate features, and a mass of hair ; in fact, was altogether the artist in appearance and manner. How could he have committed the horrible deed attributed to him ? The son of a general, and at the time a university student, he had joined a society of youths of " reforming tendencies." An outsider obtained somehow or other information which endangered the whole society. 84 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST It was determined to compass his death, and lots were drawn, and it fell to this one to do the deed. The victim was thereupon killed, and, horrible to relate, his body cut up and distributed among the members. The murderer was sentenced to twenty years on Sakhalin, of which seven were yet unexpired. He had spent the earlier portion of his sentence in the mines, and now, largely owing to the dearth of educated men, for the officials are only in exceptional cases so, he was installed as meteorological observer. To earn a living he had borrowed money for the purchase of a camera, and executed the orders mainly of the officials. Like Mr. X., he had pre- served all his society deportment, though he was nervous, apprehensive and very cowed in his manner, a noticeable result of contact with the prison officials. The town of Alexandrovsk, or rather Post Alexan- drovskiy, as it is called, for it has no municipal authority, and comprises a population of only 6000, lies mainly in a hollow at the foot of the mountains, worn by the two streams, the Great and the Little Alexandrovka rivers, which here break the line of sea-cliff" for about half a mile. Marshy land stretches between the town and the sea. Two principal streets cross at right angles in the centre of the town, one containing the church, the chief officials' houses and the post-office and leading to the bazar or market, and the other, beginning on the hill slopes, con- tinues past the prison down to the jetty. Though the former street is wide and planted in part with young trees, the log buildings give it a dingy and sombre look. These two streets boast plank "street walks," which the foot passenger does well to avoid at night, owing to the occasional absence of a plank. Out- side of these two streets the rest are tracks, wide and grassy, as in all Russian villages, with ditches on either side. The laying out of the place resembles that of a poor far- west American township. Each hut, with its small windows. lui i;^ ivi K\i ii; ni ,\Ki[\ii\. [/'' /r/i-i-/.7,;(. S5. NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK 85 looking as if it feared either robbers or the cold hand of Jack Frost, had a tiny yard fenced in with a shed forming two sides of the square. In late autumn this little court would be scantily roofed with pine-branches to catch the snow and form a warm covering. The 6000 inhabitants of Alexandrovsk consist of con- victs and ex-convicts, their wives and children, and officials and their families. Besides these there are probably not a dozen free-born individuals, whose business here is that of merchants' agents, etc. I will not stop here to tell of the life of the place, for I was to experience much more of it on my return from an expedition to the north-east coast ; suffice it to say, that the Russian population of the island consists of convicts and officials. Out of a total of the former actually engaged in hard labour — 7080 (January i, 1898) — the murderers numbered 2836, of whom 634 were women. The number of convicts and ex-convicts at the same date was 22,167, so that a moderate estimate would give 8000 of these as murderers. Lying off the main street, in which stands the church is the Governor's house, and I now proposed to beard him. My companion was, naturally, very nervous at the thought of the coming interview, and though by this time I was becoming quite Russian in a stoical indifference as to what happened next, and in the frequent use of the word nichavo {n'importe), I realized that my journey into the interior depended on this interview. If the Governor were drunk or in one of his fits of violent temper, I was assured by all, even by officials, that I should fail, and perhaps bring down his unreasoning wrath upon my head. Mr. Semevsky had allowed me my interpreter ; I had now to gain permission to travel in the island, which is entirely under martial law, the military Governor being responsible only to the Governor-general at Khabarovsk. However, again fortune favoured me, and the Governor proved most 86 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST courteous, and with true Russian politeness regretted that my projected stay was so short for the object I had in view. I congratulated myself on finding him in such an ex- cellent mood. On my return he was by no means so compliant, and the higher officials let me know that he was no exception to the generality in Sakhalin, whose indulgence in fits of drunkenness and uncontrollable bursts of temper were taken as a matter of course. It would be unfair not to mention that during the last year there has been an improvement on the part of the Governor. I have received reports to this effect, though to what to attribute the change I do not know. It is, however, true that one cannot expect any great improvement in the administra- tion from his initiative ; for he is a .'man of weak will, and easily swayed. His term has now nearly expired, and I trust he will be followed by no worse a choice, but by one strong enough to carry out reforms ; for with a firm but beneficent governor, what might not be done? We have only to turn to the work of the nachalnik of the Alexandrovsky Central prison, near Irkutsk, to see. It must be remembered that the term of official life in Sakhalin is almost as much a banishment for them as for those under their charge ; and, excepting to those appointed in the cause of science and agriculture, it is considered as a reflexion. The result of my interview was to leave me free to travel on the island, and I believe the authorities were thankful to have me out of their way in the interior among the natives, where I could of course make no observations on their administration of the penal system. Meanwhile, my passport was retained as a check against any attempt on my part surreptitiously to aid my inter- preter in escaping ; though, when some 250 miles on my journey, I met two high officials returning from an ex- pedition, I was in the position of a brodyaga, or passport- less vagabond, subject to arrest, and had to make my explanations. NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK 87 On the evening of my arrival on the island, in talking about the Ainus, the officials had declared to me that it was impossible to get to them overland from Alexandrovsk. The dangers and difficulties at this time of the year were practically insurmountable. This I found afterwards to be true, and as my time was limited, by the fear of being cut off from the mainland by the cessation of navigation, I was forced to give up any attempt which, whether success- ful or not, would involve the expenditure of too much time. I was the more easily reconciled to this, because the opportunity was offered of visiting another tribe, the Gilyaks. This people, I was told, I might reach in their own domain by a land journey of about fifty miles, and visit en route in the course of a river and sea trip of about 600 miles in native canoes. With threats from the chief of the Timovsk district, in which their territory lay, and by openly carrying arms, the officials said, I might safely mix with them. I must be prepared to meet bears, but a greater danger, which they made much of and seemed to think prohibitive, was the escape of a batch of convicts armed. News of this escape was brought by my drunken acquaintance of the first night, who added that this was serious news, for such was the harshness of their treatment, that for a few kopyeks they would kill you, and that in broad daylight in Alexandrovsk. Regarding these statements as probably exaggerated, and soon becoming acclima- tized, as any one similarly situated would, to an atmo- sphere of ready defence, I and my interpreter began to make preparations for an expedition to the Gilyaks on the river Tim, and the north-east coast of the island. Meanwhile, an opportunity presented itself of visiting a village of this tribe, of the west coast division of the people, who were somewhat Russianized, at Arkovo, ten miles north of Alexandrovsk, along the coast. A couple of raw Siberian ponies were procured — they had never felt the weight of a saddle before — and we made 88 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST for the coast, following the Great Alexandrovka river until it lost itself in meanderings in the sands, and then steer- ing north for the remaining nine miles ; Mr. X. warning me to give a wide berth to seals, which had a fondness for jumping up and biting the horses' feet. It was indeed a wild coast, and the cold, grey-green sea, which stretched away to the frozen north, to the Okhotsk Sea, ice-bound for two-thirds of the year, frowned drear and inhos- pitable. On our right were argillaceous cliffs slipping away, and making descent easy for the brodyagi from the Alexandrovsk prison, who haunted the for ests above, descending at night, and if opportunity favoured, by day, to waylay travellers. Keeping together, and maintaining a sharp look-out, nothing happened to us, save that about halfway, our ponies suddenly bolted. At the time we took little notice of it, but that same week a youth was murdered here, who lived in the house we did — in fact, was the brother of our landlady — and at this spot his body, covered over with leaves, was found several weeks after. A rude shelter told of the habitation of the murderer, or one of them who was most likely in hiding here when we passed, and whose presence had scared our steeds. Arrived at the Gilyak village of Arkovo, to my dis- appointment the natives had departed for the salmon- fishing, ascending a river higher up the coast to take advantage of the spawning season. We therefore pushed on inland, past the strange native huts built on piles, to the Russian settlement called Arkovo the First A stranger from Europe, suddenly dropped down here would certainly ask, " Is this Sakhalin, the dreary isle of punishment, the Hades of Russia ? " Outwardly, this village wore a look of contentment, with its cosy log cottages and gardens, in which flourished potatoes and cabbages. Sunflowers I saw also, and was told that wild roses {rosa rugosd) perfumed the air in early summer ; while away in the distance, forest-clad heights and grand NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK 89 purple mountains reminded me of some of the finer scenery of Japan. My interpreter had been schoolmaster here for a while, and as we entered the village, through a gateway intended to keep out straying cattle, he was recognized all along by the villagers as the barin who was, like them, a convict, and yet not like them in speech and manner. Halfway down the " street " he pointed out his little log-hut, where, though one of themselves, he had been robbed of his clothes, and even his wedding-ring, of which we were to hear more afterwards. Stopping at a rich farmer's (for he owned three cows !), we entered the high-fenced yard, above which were strewn already long pine-poles and branches to catch the snow and form the winter roof. Our ponies being duly hitched up, we ensconced ourselves in the kitchen, which also did duty for parlour and bedroom. A great brick oven, on which the children slept, a wooden structure in the corner, with a bundle of rags on, politely termed a bed, a table, and two benches, comprised the furniture. But I must not omit to mention two mural decorations, the one an advertisement picture of the Tsar, so often met with, even in the most unexpected places, and the other a representa- tion of an equally distant object, machine-made boots. The children gathered round the stranger ; and telling them of some of the countries I had visited, pleasantly surprised me with their geographical knowledge. Our frugal supper over, we thought of returning by the forest road, as the tide was now high, and barred our passage ; but our host, who had spent fifteen years on the island as convict and " exile-settler," tried for some reason to dissuade us. We were aware that the forest road de- manded defence on two sides, while the route by the sands was only dangerous from the cliff-side ; but as we both carried revolvers, and my companion a heavy police one, and were mounted, we still thought we might risk it. Our 90 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST host, however, becoming very earnest in his entreaties, Mr. X. remarked to me, "I believe there's something behind this. You know, there's a freemasonry among the convicts and ex-convicts, and I believe he knows more than he dare tell." And to add weight to his warnings, the farmer told us that the brodyagi were armed with rifles, for which our revolvers were, he added, no match. To my surprise, I learned from him that the post which travels up to Rikovsk from Alexandrovsk (forty-four miles) every Friday had recently been held up, and this notwithstanding that it carries an armed official, and two soldiers with fixed bayonets. Nevertheless, a few miles out of the jchief place on the island, it was stopped by brodyagi. One of the soldiers behaved with great coolness and presence of mind. Dropping off the kibitkd, he crept into a ditch, whence he kept up a fusillade, moving about to deceive his opponents, while the post hurried back to fetch up reinforcements. This determined us, and as by this time it was already dark, and later than we had expected, we rode off to the sea, hoping that the tide would not long delay us. Thread- ing a mile or so of wood, we reached the sea, and splashing through the retreating tide, finally made Alexandrovsk without hindrance. True, it was eerie work watching, in the dark, the dimly outlined cliffs for the possible forms of outlaws, but we met only one, and he was no match for the two of us. Not wishing to be a burden to my drunken, but good- natured host, I looked about me for some other shelter. There was no inn of any description in Alexandrovsk, not even for the poorest, but Mr. X. found an ex-overseer of the prison, Mr. M,, an honest-faced, good-natured official, in good repute with the convicts, who offered me his spare room. A special effort had been made to provide me with a bedstead. A wooden frame four-square had been pro- cured — perhaps made by a prisoner — and the vacuum was f:'s^:^ i*.., ISIW" (JKIIV), \LI X \MiKw\'SK. A.\ AIIWJK nN llic, pi is 1. KII'MKIM.; Ill :i 'II \:y Mil, ■■ l;m in\ \GI. [7,'/;/, ■■/,/.,', CIO. NIKOLAEVSK TO ALEXANDROVSK 91 bridged over by some box-lids. The choice was to lie on the box-lids or the floor, and I elected to do the former. But let not the reader think this reflects on my host and hostess, who were kindly, simple people doing their utmost to make the stranger comfortable, and the procuring of a bedstead at all was evidence of that. The great difficulty had been to find a place in which my goods and chattels would be secure, and here I was assured they would be. The next two days were spent in preparations for the journey to the north-east coast of the island, and these took me into the prison offices and about the town in several directions, where much of the life of the place stood revealed. Here I met in so doing gangs of convicts, the worst among them chained, shuffling off" to the mines, or dragging trailing loads of wood or provisions ; there I saw through the barred windows of the eastern wing of the prison front, convict women and girls at work, sewing. These represented those not chosen as wives by the " exile-settlers," but were really the ones selected by officials for their appearance, though nominally to do the sewing and cleaning of the prisons. For it is too true that the majority of the officials live in drunkenness and open adultery. A little way beyond this eastern end of the prison I came upon an old man, moving with difficulty, and about to sink down upon the grass. I could not help being struck by the difference between his intelligent face and those of the criminals one saw everywhere in the streets, and I asked my companion who he was. "Yes, you're right," he replied, " he is an intelligent man. He was a millionaire (in rubles), but his big ' fabrik,' heavily insured, was burnt down, and he was accused of incendiarism. Sentenced to fifteen years' hard labour on Sakhalin, he had no means of leaving the island at its expiration. He is now between sixty-five and seventy, and is broken down and ailing, after his degrading sentence. He must now earn his 92 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST living or starve, but is paralyzed, and subsists on a scanty charity." Truly the place was redolent of sad stories of lives wrecked, and this island was the last place in which to expect any ray of hope to brighten their horizon and once more give hope of regeneration. Our preparations consisted of food, clothing, and arms. For barter with the natives we laid in twenty pounds of coarse leaf tobacco, bricks of tea (tea-dust and twigs pounded and compressed and probably mixed with ox- blood), gunpowder and shot, etc., pipes, needles, cotton, matches, coloured handkerchiefs, cloth, sweets, rice, sugar, etc., etc. Provisions presented considerable difficulties. A Rus- sian engineer, who had been prospecting petroleum lakes on the north-east coast, had been delayed in ascending the river on his return, and his stores having given out, he and his men had arrived in a terrible plight, having been starved for three days and terribly bitten by mosquitoes. It was therefore desirable to err on the side of excess, but the difficulties of transport prevented this, for besides the uncertainties of land carriage, native canoes could carry but light cargoes. Our tent canvas, shubi (great over- coats lined with sheepskin or fur), mackintoshes, bedding, etc., besides guns and ammunition, were no light weight. We could, therefore, only add to these, small quantities of tinned foods, baked pulled black bread, rice, etc., and rely upon the chances of shooting ducks or bear, and bartering with natives for reindeer's flesh to make up the deficiencies of our larder. 11-a ^'^°E.o{GrKnu„ch '^g [ To face p. 93. CHAPTER VI THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN History of the discovery of the island — Captain Vries in search of the " Gout en Silverycke eylant " — Believed to be a peninsula — ^The Jesuit Fathers' quaint reports — How the island got its name — La Pdrouse's discoveries — Captain Nevelsky settles the question of its insularity — Native legends of a deluge — Was it a peninsula ? — A forest-clad land, the home of the great brown bear — 55° below zero — Mails by dog-sledge across the frozen sea — A mystery of the ice-bound straits — Geology — Strange races — Who were the aborigines ? — Dwellers in pits — The Russian occupation BEFORE narrating my experiences on the journey to the north-east coast, I propose to give the reader some idea of the general conditions of the island, a brief rhumi of its history, and a slight sketch of its inhabitants and physical features. Unless ancient Chinese annals, yet untranslated, contain some reference to Sakhalin, the earliest record in existence concerning it, is the report of an expedition made by a few Japanese in the year 161 3. On their return they drew a map of the southern portion, the only part they had seen, and called it Karafto,* by which we may conclude that they imagined it to be a portion of the mainland of China (Eastern Tartary), Kara being the old Japanese name for that country. * Kara in many languages of the East, Mongol, Urdu, and Manchu, etc., means black, and it is tempting to see in this name the same signification as Sahalien, a Manchu word also meaning black, but the probabilities are in favour of the interpretation adopted in the text. 93 94 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST Thirty years later, a Dutch captain, Martin Vries, sent by the famous Governor-general of the East Indies Antonio van Diemen, to discover the " Gout en Silverycke eylant," i.e. a legendary island rich in gold and silver, sailing north-west from the coast of Yezo anchored in Aniva Bay, the southernmost bay of the island, being the first European to land on this terra incognita. Rounding Cape Aniva he reat:hed the 49th parallel, and named a prominent headland on the east coast. Cape Patience, which name it bears to-day. Nothing had been known by the Russians, before this date, of the north-eastern extremities of Asia, for Yermak, the pioneer of Russia in Siberia, had only crossed the border in 1581. Yet within less than seventy years the vast continent had been crossed, and Vasili Poyarkov, in 1645, having descended the Amur, reported confused rumours from the natives of an island lying at the mouth of the river. One other reference to it about this time was made in an old Russian record of the seventeenth century, which says that, " On a great island lying over against the mouth of the river dwell a people, the Gilyaks ; who keep in their villages 500 to 1000 dogs; all possible animals they eat, and bring up bears to do peaceful work," It is therefore strange that after a lapse of 200 years, notwithstanding all reports to the contrary, the island should still be thought a peninsula as late as the middle of the nineteenth century. The first authentic information on the subject came from the Jesuit Fathers at the court of the great Chinese Emperor K'angshi. This indefatigable ruler, who prose- cuted so seriously his study of mathematics, astronomy, etc., with the reverend fathers, proposed that they should make a map of the district in which the nearer portion of the Great Wall lay. This region he knew well from his frequent hunting expeditions, and he was so well pleased with the work of his tutors that he deputed them to THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 95 go out in couples and map out the whole of his vast empire. It was in the year 1709 that the three PP. Regis, Jartoux and Fredelli set out to traverse Manchuria, or as it was then called. Eastern Tartary ; and, though they never reached Sakhalin, they managed to get as far as the village of Tondon (to-day called Dundun), which is on the right bank, about 400 miles from the mouth of the Amur, and had something to say of the island. I will let them tell their story in their own words. " We felt it very sharp at the beginning of September ; and the eighth of that Month, on which we were at Tondon, the first Village of the Ke tching ta se Tartars, we were oblig'd to get us Habits lin'd with Lamb-skins, which we wore all the Winter. They also began to fear that the Saghalien oula (Amur), though so large and deep a River, would be froze over, and that the Ice would stop our Boats ; accordingly it was froze every Morning to a certain distance from its Banks, and the Inhabitants assured us that in a few Days the Navigation would become dangerous by reason of the Quarries of Ice which fell down the River : The Cold is also very much prolong'd by the great Forests in this Country, which are more numerous and thicker of Wood the nearer you advance to the Eastern Ocean : We were nine Days in passing through one of them, and obliged to have several Trees cut down, by the Mantcheou Soldiers, to make room for our Observations of the Sun's Meridian." * The good father runs on in his interesting way, telling of strange peoples with curious dress and food, but closely resembling the Gilyaks, the Golds, and the Orochons, who still inhabit the banks of the lower Amur to-day. And, though they never reached Sakhalin, he has something to relate of it which he learnt from the Ke tcheng ta se, whose country, he says, " extends along the Saghalien oula, from * Du Halde's " History of China," translated by R. Brooks, 1736. 96 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST Tondon to the Ocean. . . . They were the first that inform'd us, of what we did not know before, that opposite to the Mouth of Saghah'en oula was a great Island inhabited by People like themselves ; the Emperor afterwards sent some Mantcheoux thither, who passed over in Barks of these Ke tcheng ta se, who live by the Sea-side, and trade with the Inhabitants of the Western Parts of the Island. " Had these Gentlemen been as careful in measuring the South Part as they were in traversing the East, and had returned by the North to the Place from whence they set out, we should have had a compleat Knowledge of this Island ; but they neither brought us the Measure of the South Coast, nor the names of the Villages there ; where- fore we could only describe that Part from the Reports of some of the Inhabitants. ... It is variously named by the Inhabitants of the Continent, according to the different Villages which they frequent ; but the Name by which it is generally distinguished is Saghalien anga hata,* the Island at the mouth of the Black River. . . . The Mantcheoux who were sent thither learned only the Names of the Villages through which they passed, for the want of necessaries obliged them to return much sooner than they could have wish'd, they told us that these Islanders fed no Horses, nor any other Beasts of burthen, but that in several Parts they had seen a sort of tame Stag which drew their Sledges, and which, according to their descriptions, were like those used in Norway." So far as the description goes it tallies with the con- ditions to-day, saving only the occupation of portions of the west and south coast by the Russians. It was owing incidentally to the reverend fathers, and the great geographer d'Anville, that the island received its : * This is Manchu, and the words mean — Saghalien, or Sahalien, black, (oula, or ula, understood, river.) anga, mouth, hata, rock. THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 97 present name, for it has had many, as the following list will show : — Tarakai, Repun (Ainu), Khuye (Chinese), Karafto Kita-sima (Japanese), Tun (Manchu), and Tchoka (native, Orochon). The name by which it was known among the Manchus was Tun, or Toung, which means, "a hole dug in the ground, to which retreat certain wild men," possibly a reference to the pre- Ainu race, which is believed to have inhabited Sakhalin, or even to the present northern tribes who used to live in mounds, and still do so in winter. This name, however, does not appear to be mentioned by the Jesuit explorers, perhaps because they regarded it as equally fabulous with the statements of the Chinese geo- graphers, who wrote of the "northern crab barbarians" as inhabiting a region evidently intended for Sakhalin ; and of their neighbours on Yezo as having "Bodies covered with Hair, Whiskers that hung down to their Breasts, and their Swords tied by the Point behind their Heads." Their information was, indeed, out of date, for we may perhaps see in these so-called fabulous tales, re- ference to the prehistoric pit-dwellers of Yezo (the Goro- pok-guru), and the warlike Ainus of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The reverend fathers appear, on the other hand, to have been impressed by the mention of Saghalien aula anga hata, or the rocks at the mouth of the black river ; and on the copy of the map of the Chinese Empire, sent home to the King of France, only a very few of the Chinese, Man- chu, and Khalka names of places, mountains, and rivers, were transliterated into Latin characters, the island re- maining unnamed ; but at the mouth of the Amur appeared this legend, "Saghalien oula anga hata." The copyists employed by d'Anville in 1734 found this too long, and simply wrote Saghalien,* thinking it was meant * Sakhalin, is the official Russian name of the island, and, accord- ing to the Manchu scholar, Mr. M. F. A. Fraser, " gets very near to the Manchu pronunciation " of the characters, which he transhterates H 98 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST to apply to the island, to which it has ever since stuck. It is a coincidence that such a curiously apt name — "black" — for the penal island to which Russia's worst criminals are despatched, should have thus accidentally been given to it. The illustration in the text is a reproduction of a map, d'Anville appended to a letter he published in 1737, ex- plaining why he had so constructed his map of this much- debated region, and particularly his reasons for making Yezo an island. It will be noticed that Sakhalin is about half its true size, and that Capes Aniva and Patience, of which d'Anville had heard, through a report of Captain Vries' expedition just to hand, are added by him to the mainland, instead of being placed on the southern half of the island, which should extend southwards for another 4°. In 1787, the famous explorer La Pdrouse, following the coast of Tartary, with d'Anville's map before him, deter- mined to steer eastwards to reconnoitre the Kurile islands. He was then in latitude 48°, and, to his surprise, soon encountered land, though the map marked nothing nearer than the southern end of Sakhalin at 49^°. Neither to the south-east nor to the north-east could he find a channel, and he came to the conclusion that this was the island called Saghalien by the geographers, and that it stretched much further to the south than they had imagined. Proceeding in a northerly direction along the coast, he landed in three bays ; and has left us an interesting account of his meetings with the natives, who from his description are recognizable as Ainus. Beyond latitude 51°, the Straits becoming shallower, he made over to the coast of Tartary, and found and named the De Castries Bay. In answer to his inquiries here, Nwhether there was a passage between the isle and the Sa-kha-li-yen. "The stress," he adds, "is diffused as in Japanese or French." MAP BY D'ANVILLE, 1737. BY THE "ISLE DU FL(eUVE) NOIR," IS MEANT SAKHALIN. [ To face page 98. THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 99 mainland, the natives indicated that there were sandbanks, that marine flora grew thereupon, and that they had to drag their canoes over the shoals. He therefore turned south, and navigated the strait which divides Yezo from Sakhalin, to which he gave his name. Nine years later an English captain, W. Broughton, attempted to pass, but failed, although his brig drew only ten feet. Krusenstern met with no greater success during his three years' expedition in East Siberian waters, from 1803 to 1806 ; but a Japanese surveyor, Mamia Rinzo, two years later, succeeded where all others had failed. He was despatched by the Japanese Government, whose suspicions had been aroused by the arrival of a Russian embassy at the Mikado's Court in 1805, and in 1808 an expedition was fitted out to survey the coasts of Eastern Tartary. Mamia Rinzo navigated the Straits (hitherto called the Gulf) of Tartary, and returned with carefully drawn up plans and charts. These were pigeon- holed in the archives at Yeddo, and only discovered many years later by P. von Siebold. The insularity, of Sakhalin therefore still remained a secret. As late as 1846 Lieutenant Gavrilov, who was despatched on a Government expedition, and was wrecked,, wrote, " Sakhalin is a peninsula." It was left to Captain Nevelskoy to establish once and for all the insularity of Sakhalin. The great Count Muraviev, whose brilliant administra- tion I have already referred to, in conjunction with Captain Nevelskoy at sea, had been searching for a suit- able naval base on the Eastern Siberian coast, with a view to strengthening the Russian position and hold on the Amur. They had parted in Europe in the year 1848, both bound for the East. No news of the latter had been received for months, and fears were entertained of the loss of his vessel, when on September 3, 1849, she appeared on the horizon off Ayan (Sea of Okhotsk). It is said that 100 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST Muraviev, impatient to hear the news, set out to meet him in a row-boat, and was hailed through a speaking- trumpet by Nevelskoy in the following words : — " God has assisted us . . . the main question is happily solved . . . Saghalien is an island, and sea-going ships can penetrate into the estuary of the Amur both from the north and the south. An ancient error is completely dissipated ; I now report to you that the truth has been discovered." * This discovery, however, did not become public pro- perty at once, for, in 1855, during the Anglo-French war with Russia, an English commander, with a small squadron, coming upon six Russian vessels in De Castries Bay, retired to the south to block their exit and await reinforcements, thinking that an isthmus to the north had rendered the Russian position a cul de sac. Mean- while, the Russian squadron slipped out of the bay, and, steering north, navigated the narrow strait between Capes Lazarev and Pogobi, and reached the mouth of the Amur. It is interesting to note, in regard to the reported connexion of the island and mainland in historical times, that the Gilyak natives have a legend telling of the destruction of the isthmus which is said to have united them. It is one of the deluge stories that are so curiously world prevalent. The story tells how, " In the good old times no boat was needed to go to and from the Amur land (mainland at the mouth of Amur), for then dry land united it with Sakhalin, but once there came water from the sea — much, much water — then only were seen the tops of the mountains. During that flood many Gilyak hunters perished, but one found himself, by chance, on the top of a mountain, sharing it with a bear. The beast did him no harm, and even allowed him to sit upon its back while he swam to the tops of other mountains, where more refugees from the flood were congregated. When the waters receded and * Vladimir. " Russia on the Pacific." THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN loi life went on as usual, the Gilyaks wanted to return whence they had come, to sell the furs they had saved ; but on arrival at the familiar spot, lo ! the isthmus was gone, swept away by the flood, and in its place was the narrow strait, which remains to this day. At the time of this catastrophe," they added, " the river Amur overflowed, and large numbers of our brethren on its banks perished." I asked them where this mountain was, and they in- dicated a peak about forty miles south of Alexandrovsk, called Ktaiisi pal (pal = peak or mountain), and named by La Pdrouse, " Pic la Martini^re," after the botanist of his expedition.* When the natives see this peak, my Gilyak informant said, they always make an offering to the god of the mountain. I have wondered whether the following had anything to do with the Gilyak story, or was only a coincidence. I happened to be passing down the Straits of Tartary on a small Russian cargo steamer, and talking to the captain about the weather encountered there, when he said, " There are frequent fogs here, and you know how difiScult naviga- tion is, but there is always one guide. In the thickest of fogs can always be seen the top, just the summit, of a mountain in Sakhalin." Is this the mountain, towering above the heavenly floods, the clouds and fog, on which the Gilyak and bear found themselves ? Another legend bearing on the point is told by their old men, who say that " their fathers or grandfathers * La Pdrouse says, in his account of his voyage round the world, " Le 22 (juillet, 1787) au soir, je mouillai h. una lieue de terre, par trente — sept brasses (fathoms) fond de vase. J'etais par le travers d'une petite rivifere ; on voyait k trois lieues au Nord xssx. pic iris — remarquable ; sa base est sur le bord de la mer, et son sommet, de quelque c6td qu'on I'apergoive, conserve la forme la plus r^gulifere ; il est couvert d'arbres et de verdure jusqu'k le cime : je lui ai donn^ le nom de pic la Martinierc, parce qu'il offre un beau champ aux recherches de la botanique, dont le savant de ce nom fait son occupation principale." 102 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST remembered the time when on the island there were no Russians, and it was very hot. The Russians came, and brought with them the cold and snowstorms. Before this, grapes ripened on the island, and now only in the south, and even there they are very sour, and not really ripe. In the north there is only the plant, and it bears no fruit." Such is not an uncommon tale of primitive folk, who, like their more civilized neighbours, look back upon " the good old times," and unconsciously gild earlier days with "memory's sunset ray." But taking these two legends together, and translating the time to which they relate to a period not later than three or four centuries ago, there seems some probability, or at least possibility, of a basis of fact. The strange intermixture, observable in the fauna and flora, arctic, temperate, and sub-tropical, and even more noticeable in the Primorsk, the coast region of the mainland opposite, suggests a chapter in the history of these regions when their climate approximated to that of Central Japan to-day. The tiger, larger and with longer fur than his Bengal brother, is found where the elk wanders ; and though I do not credit the Gilyak's reports to Dr. Schrenck, of traces of it found on Sakhalin, it is met with every winter between Khabarovsk and Nikolaevsk, and crosses the Amur on the ice, when wild boars are scarce, and the horses of the Russians or the Soluns are to be had. I have seen the little striped ground-squirrel which is so common among the mosques of India, in the bushes of the interior of Sak- halin, and not far off the reindeer nibbling the lichen growing on the tundra, which in winter is a solitary frozen waste. It has been calculated that 15 per cent, of the species of birds observed on the isjand are from the polar regions, and 12 per cent, sub-tropical. The long-tailed rosefinch from the south {Uragus sanguinolentus) and the osprey {Pandion halicetus) of the arctic regions are both found on THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 103 Sakhalin. The flora exhibits as great a diversity. Bam- boos {Arundinaria kurilensis) and Swiss pines {Pinus cembra pumila), hydrangeas, the cork- (Phellodendron amu- rense) and spindle-trees {Euonymus macropterus) are here, with the Betula ermani, and the gnarled larch {Larix dauricd), and birch, and the berry-laden bushes of the Siberian tundra. Now, if we suppose that a neck of land once united Sakhalin with the mainland, the cold current from the Okhotsk Sea — which runs strong through the Straits of Tartary, forcing back a weaker branch of the Kuro Siwo or Gulf Stream of the East — must then have found its way blocked. The warm current flowing north from the Japan Sea would have pursued its course up the Gulf of Tartary without the active opposition of the colder one, and wash- ing first the shores of the mainland, or Primorsk, would, on reaching the isthmus, have swept round in a southerly trend, laving the west coast of Sakhalin. This might account for the partial survival of sub-tropical vegetation. The present configuration of the shoals and sandbanks immediately to the north of the "funnel" of the Straits of Tartary seemed to me, when travelling through them and studying the charts, also to support the theory of the existence at some time, not remote, of an isthmus joining Capes Lazarev and Pogobi. The great accumulation in the form of sandbanks, and one in particular in mid- channel, but three-quarters of a fathom deep and imme- diately to the north of the " narrows," could be much more easily accounted for by the previous existence of a neck of land, and,the consequent check and deposition of alluvium in a quiet bend, than by the present conditions of a strong current from the north at four knots an hour. Nor is it difficult to conceive how the catastrophe, pictured by the Gilyaks, might have taken place. Peter Dobell, writing in the year 181 3, has described for us the circumstances which brought about the insulation of the I04 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST town of Okhotsk. He pictures the then site as a long narrow island sandbank, and adds, " a few years ago the river became choaked (sic) at the mouth by a more than ordinary quantity of ice. The strength of the stream not being sufficient to force it out by the usual channel, it sank to the bottom, and at length completely obstructed the egress of the waters. Thus repelled, they swelled to an enormous height, covering all the country round, and forced themselves at length through the sandy beach, by what is called the new channel, insulating the town on the spot I have already described." The island of Sakhalin is 590 miles long, or the dis- tance from Land's End to Cape Wrath, and from 17 to 100 miles broad, with an area of 29,336 miles, or a trifle less than that of Scotland ; while its population on January i, 1898, was about 36,000, or scarcely one-eighth of the population of the city of Edinburgh. It is separated from the most northerly of the large islands of Japan, Yezo, by La Perouse Strait, which presents to the mariner a difficult and dangerous crossing, though only twenty- eight miles in width. It is a mountainous country, a long backbone or ridge running from north to south, and keeping near to the western coast; and three spurs stretching to the east coast. The longest ends in Cape Patience, with Mount Tiara, 2000 feet in height, rising about midway ; and the other two in the extreme south, one at Cape Aniva, and the latter a few miles to the north-west of Korsakovsk. The ridge maintains an average altitude of about 2500 feet, culminating in Ichara pal or Pic Lamanon, 4860 feet in height, about fifty miles to the north of the narrowest part of the island. Two main rivers, each with a course of about 300 miles, have their watershed about the centre of the island ; one, the Poronai (Ainu, poro = great ; and nai = river), flowing south into the Bay of Patience, and the other the Tim (in the Gilyak THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 105 tongue, tint means cranberry, which is abundant on the banks), which I descended, finding outlet in the Bay of Ni, on the north-east coast. Short torrential streams there are in great numbers, especially on the west and south- east coasts. The land is for the greater part covered with primeval forest. So dense is this, that the natives depend for high- way upon the rivers, which they traverse in summer in canoes dug out of tree-trunks, and in winter in dog- or rein- deer-sledges over the frozen surfaces. The commonest trees in the forests in the northern half are larch {Larix dauricd) and hiTch(Be(ula alba), and in the south spruce (Piccea ajanensis), and ^t {Abies sachalinensis). In addition to these are the less common aspen, willow, elm, maple, nut, Swiss pine, mountain ash, etc. The forests naturally change their personnel with their situation. On the mountain-side, and down in swampy places, where cold winds prevail, the flora is limited, and the sparse vegetation, the hoary moss-hung trees, and the almost snow-white; lichen-sprinkled ground, the home of the reindeer, hint of approaching arctic conditions. In sheltered valleys, on the other hand, I have found lofty larch trees measuring, as nearly as I could tell by pacing a fallen giant, 145 feet, and in the south, as already mentioned, are found the spindle- and cork-trees, the bamboo, hydrangea, and the heracleum. The thick undergrowth was chiefly composed of wild rose, spiraea {betulcefolia ? ) and berried bushes, including the cloudberry {Rubus chamcemortis), cranberry {Oxycoccus falustris), crowberry {Empetrum nigrum), and the red whortleberry or cowberry ( Vaccinium vitis idcea). On the whole it is the taiga, the Siberian " jungle " or belt of trackless forests of birch, larch, and spruce that prevails on Sakhalin ; and the tundra, with its meres and swamps, covered with dank grass, gnarled and stunted larch and birch, low clusters of berry-laden brushwood, io6 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST shrouded in a drear sunlit mist in summer, or a frozen waste in winter, is only met with in parts, more especially in the north on the west coast. If the human population of Sakhalin is small in number, the four-footed inhabitants are many. It was probably as a happy hunting-ground that the island appealed to the Gilyak pioneers from the Amur, whose descendants are settled to-day on the east and west coasts and the banks of the river Tim. The most striking of all the animals on Sakhalin is, without doubt, the big brown bear ( Ursus arctos), which is found in great numbers. Wolves also haunt the forests, but chiefly in the south, and even there not in any great numbers to-day. Foxes are, however, prolific, and the skins of these, the reindeer, the sable, and the otter, go to make up the bulk of the fur trade to the mainland. Though situated in the temperate zone, Sakhalin, certainly in its northern half, has a climate similar to that of Lapland and southern Greenland. Alexandrovsk, the chief place on the island, lying about sixty miles north of the centre on the west coast, has exactly the same latitude, even to the second, as Brighton ; yet its mean annual temperature is just below freezing-point (31 "64° Fahr.). The summer heat is considerable, and hence a great range is experienced. The figures for 1900, which were not then (1901) published, but kindly given me by the student-convict and meteorological observer, showed a maximum of 81° Fahr. in July, and — 38° Fahr. in January, or a range of 1 19° Fahr. In the interior, at Rikovsk, this has been increased to 149° Fahr., the thermometer rising to 94° (1897) above and falling to 55° below zero Fahr. (1890). This falls considerably short of the low temperatures experienced in the extreme north of Siberia, notably at the reputed pole of cold, Verkhoyansk, on the river Yana, where it is said that —81° Fahr. have been registered. THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 107 A more instructive comparison, however, may be made from monthly averages. In the following table are re- corded the averages of mean readings for the coldest and warmest months of the year, and the ranges between. Lat. N. Jan. July. Range. 1 II F. F. F. SO 49 so Alexandrovsk (Sakhalin, W. coast) -3° 62° 6>;° 50 43 [circa\ Rikovsk ( „ interior) -8 63 71 46 39 Korsakovsk ( ,, S. coast) 13 64 51 67 20 Verkhoyansk (Siberian mainland, E. Siberia) -56 58 114 51 1 Chita (Siberian mainland, Trans- Baikalia) -IS 66 81 48 28 Khabarovsk (Siberian mainland, Primorsk) -7 70 77 43 6 Vladivostok (Siberian mainland, Primorsk) S 69 64 59 57 St. Petersburg IS m SI SI 29 London ..>.••... 37 64 27 It will be seen that, whereas Sakhalin experiences nearly the same temperature during July as do other places in Siberia, and even St. Petersburg and London, during January the cold is less intense than in the interior, on the mainland, but much more so than in the two European towns. Korsakovsk in the south, though suffering as does the rest of the island from keen north winds, shows a striking contrast to other Sakhalin places in its winter records. Winter lasts long, and the figures for 1900 recorded 208 days on which frost occurred, and on 141 of these no thaw took place. Late in September, or early in October, the snow begins to fall. At first it lies only on the tops of the mountains. Soon, however, it creeps down the sides, and the old men of Alexandrovsk told me that from October 13 (October 26, N.s,) it should come to stay. Thence onwards for nearly six months the land is covered with a white pall, on an average for 170 days, but in 1895 it remained for no less than 203 days. Its depth io8 IN THE UTTERMOST. EAST varies from one to three feet (at Rikovsk 34J inches were recorded in 1896), being deeper in the tundra valleys of the rivers and shallower on the mountains, but almost anywhere one may come unexpectedly upon drifts of seven feet, from which it is not easy to extricate one's self. With the opening of winter comes the closing of the Straits of Tartary to navigation. From the middle of November until May no ships are seen, and communica- tion is absolutely cut off, save for the cable, excepting during two months in midwinter. Even this slender and uncertain means of communication was denied the inhabi- tants, for in June, 1901, the cable was broken, thus rendering their isolation complete during the following winter. Towards the end of December, or the beginning of January, the sea is suiificiently frozen for natives to under- take the arduous task of sledging to Nikolaevsk with the mails. At Alexandrovsk, and generally to the south of the " funnel " of the Straits, only the coastal fringe of the sea is frozen, but to the north of that all is covered save for occasional holes. It is no easy journey along the ice- bound fringe of the coast, northwards to Cape Pogobi, and thence across the snow-covered frozen sea to the mainland. To the narta, as the sledge is called, are harnessed thirteen dogs of the Arctic type No. i is the leader, a valuable animal, the cleverest and most experienced. He has shoulder-straps, and one also passing between his legs is attached to the sledge. To this strap the others are joined by thongs on either side, and should any shirk their work, they are pounced upon by the leader or their fellows, and severely bitten. No reins, nothing but the strap connects the team with the sledge and its driver. The narta is a lightly constructed framework of wood, about fourteen inches high and fourteen feet long. Higgledy- piggledy lie the dogs outside the post-office at Alex- androvsk, their master in furs, mocassins and long skin hood, from out which peeps his pigtail. But already the THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 109 mails are out and on the narta, and the Gilyak, seizing the dogs, casts them to right and left. Throwing himself quickly astride of the sledge, feet on rails, clasping his two short iron-shod sticks, and calling, Ti ti, i.e. "Forward," to the dogs, the mail is away. A dash down the hill, and less than a mile's run brings them to the sea ; but which is sea and which is land ? All is covered with snow. For 100 miles they pursue their course over the frozen fringe of the sea. Should they meet a traveller, the driver digs his sticks {kaur) into the snow, and calls, " Pore ! " (Stop !) or " Kau ! Kau ! " (Right ! Right !) The dogs swerve, the left leg of the Gilyak is seen oddly in the air, but the sticks maintain his balance, and the equipage is quickly turned aside. Should the owner, however, fail to see the traveller, the dogs may fly at the stranger and do him grievous injury, for in order to keep them running they are only half fed until the end of the journey. From Cape Pogobi the crossing of the Straits is made in a north-westerly direction, threading the Khazeliv Islands to a Gilyak village Mi on the opposite shore, nearly fifty miles distant This part of the journey must be compassed in daylight, and an early start (5 a.m.) is made. At first the dogs speed along over the smooth snow-covered surface at about seven miles an hour, with halts of five or ten minutes at every ten versts (6| miles) to give them breath. As the middle is neared rougher going is met with, for hummocky ice has been piled up by the wind in open water, and detours have to be made to avoid dangerous holes. So strong is the wind that the narrow strait between Capes Lazarev and Pogobi, though barely five miles across, is always kept open, the ice being swept onwards as quickly as it forms, to cling to the fringe further south, therefore it is that the crossing lengthens out to nearly fifty miles. Halfway across a halt is called, and the dogs are given half a dried fish each. Time presses, however, the days no IN THE UTTERMOST EAST are short, and soon they are off again, the driver calling to his team, " Takhl takh ! " (On ! on !) to hasten their steps. At last the islands are reached and threaded, but the sun has already set, and darkness has descended ere the glad sounds of barking announce the arrival at the Gilyak village of Mi. The next day the coast must be skirted again, and the , Amur ascended, unless the driver is venturesome and takes a short cut, clambering over the Pronge headland, before Nikolaevsk can be reached. It is by no means an easy journey, and not to be attempted without an experienced kaya (driver), for open water or a thinly frozen surface may swallow the unwary. Two men this winter (1902-3) made an attempt to cross on a horse-sledge. They were, I believe, ex-convict merchants, but nothing has been heard of them since, up to the time of writing. The two horses were found in the Straits, one frozen to death, and the other nearly so ; but no trace of their masters at all. It seemed most likely that they had been drowned, but how they had met this fate, and the horses escaped, was a mystery. Possibly, overtaken by darkness, they ventured on foot to find a way, and were engulfed in a hole or in the open sea to the south. Such are the dangers and difficulties of the journey of the mails, and of any venturous passenger during midwinter from Sakhalin to the mainland. We can picture the excitement of the first arrival, after the many weeks' absence of news, as the team of dogs dashes up the hill to the post-office. Outside stands a sign- post, as if to remind the inhabitants of their exile and hopeless separation from civilization, with the inscription, "St Petersburg, 10,186 versts" (6752 miles). Another interval of six weeks' or two months' isolation follows midwinter communication, during which no ship ^Silliii THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN m can plough the ice-laden strait nor sledge venture across the treacherous ice. Although it is common knowledge that the farther east of Paris one goes, the more extreme is the climate, a fact which Napoleon did not seem to have realized in 1812, yet we should scarcely expect such extremes of climate as a range of 149° Fahr. on an island in the same latitude. There appear to be two main causes. The first is the pre- valence of northerly and north-westerly winds in winter, and of southerly and south-easterly in summer ; the second is the presence of a cold current from the Okhotsk Sea flowing down both sides of the island. The ice, led by the current and driven by the wind from this great reservoir of frost, fills up all the northern portion of the Straits of Tartary, and makes of it a continuation of the sub-arctic region of frost. The winter's cold is, however, fine and dry, and though it has been said that Sakhalin does not know the calm days that prevail throughout the winter in Eastern Siberia, yet during the latter half of January and the month of February, beautiful bright windless days succeed one another on the island, and the dog-sledges and reindeer are brought out, and the natives make their journeys for the barter of skins. The climate has been much maligned, and the notion of a land of fog and snow still holds the popular imagina- tion. For such ideas we are largely indebted to navigators. The truth is that there is a great deal of fog at sea, but the mariners were not aware that it generally remains — like themselves, at sea — leaving a margin of about four miles from the land clear. The thawing of the river Amur, the floating down the Straits of great ice-blocks, and the mingling of cold and warm currents, or a keen northerly blast on the summer sea, are the causes which contribute to this state of things. Mr. H. de Windt, after a flying visit to the island, has 512 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST written, "There are fogs throughout the year, except in the interior." Dr. James Y. Simpson, in his admirable book on Siberia, gives us a chapter on Sakhalin, compiled from statistics, and in it he remarks, " In the Alexan- drovsky district there were only five days free from rain, cloud, or fog in 1895, and in no year has there ever been more than nine or ten. The island is therefore almost unsuitable for ordinary settlers, and forms only a penal colony." I have before me the meteorological reports for several years, and reference to them shows the number of clear days (and the sky has to undergo a very strict examination before the meteorological authorities will pass it as clear) in the year 1895 was no less than forty. There is less annual cloudiness, in other words, more sun- shine recorded on the island than in England, and the rainfall also averages less, being but 22^ inches. My own experience, as well as the meteorological records, runs counter to the above-mentioned authors' remarks. At the time when the break-up of the weather is expected, i.e. in September and early October, I enjoyed brilliantly sunny days on Sakhalin, such as one seldom gets in England. During the whole of the fifty days I spent on the island I never saw a fog, but on several occasions the coast-line of the mainland, sixty miles dis- tant, was visible. The southern portion of the island, having a more temperate, or rather, less extreme climate, experiences, in parts, more fog and humidity than the northern half If I had almost omitted in this brief resume of the history and physical conditions of Sakhalin to say any- thing of its geological formation, it would have been because so little is known. The island is attributed to the Tertiary period, although the Secondary is represented in the south by green sandstone, containing cretaceous sea- urchins; and I have observed on the coast, at Alexandrovsk, THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 113 just to the north of Jonqui^re Point, huge ammonites in the ferruginous marl. Attempts have been made to find traces of geologically recent volcanic action, but so far they have not met with success. Posting one day along the sands south of the headland just mentioned, I descended to examine some- thing that caught my attention, and found what I thought to be a piece of lava. On inquiry, however, I learned that an adjoining coal-mine had been set on fire, accidentally or wilfully, by convicts, and had been smouldering for thirty years ; hence my discovery ! It seems much more probable that, while the line of volcanic action runs down from Kamchatka through the Kurile Islands and Japan, Sakhalin represents the remaining outcrop of the line of weakness. In general, exposures — the cliffs to the north of Alexandrovsk and the banks of the river Tim — showed conglomerate resting on a hard argillaceous sand- stone, and occasionally calcareous schist. Marine fossils have been found at eight feet elevation above low-water mark, and the natural conclusion is that the island is undergoing a period of emergence. The presence of nearly completed lagoons on the north-east and south-west coasts are also evidence of this emergence. The story of the earliest occupation of Sakhalin carries us back to prehistoric times. To-day, in addition to the latest comers — the Russians — five different peoples are found on the island. They are the Ainus, Gilyaks, Orochons, Tungus and Yakuts. Of the last, a Turki tribe whose habitat is Eastern Siberia with the town of Yakutsk as a centre, there are only ten men and three women on Sakhalin. Which of these five peoples, it will be asked, were the aborigines .' The Tungus, whose home is also in Eastern Siberia, and who roam from the borders of Korea to the Arctic Ocean, and from the Yenisei river to the Okhotsk Sea, are certainly not, for they have I 114 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST arrived since the Russians. The Gilyak hunters pro- bably came over from the mainland before the Orochon, and whether we are right in conjecturing their first settle- ment to have been made not earlier than two and a half centuries ago, it is certain that their traditions testify to their meeting the Ainus already in occupation of the island. Whence did the Ainus come, and are we to regard them as the aborigines of Sakhalin? This race, finding itself among Mongol peoples, one of whose striking cha- racteristics is their comparatively hairless faces, has struck the imagination of strangers by its possession of abundant hair and full beards. Their patriarchal look and absence of any marked Mongoloid features have further puzzled the ethnologist in attempting to classify them. Some of their customs are similar to those of northern tribes, and have induced a belief in their northern origin ; but there are others, e.g. the habit of tattooing, which savour of the south, and we know by history and the old Ainu place- names in the south of Japan that they have been driven north thence to the island of Yezo. Probably the origin of the Sakhalin Ainus must be sought either in the flight of refugees from Yezo on the imposition of the Japanese yoke, or the early and original migrations of the race from the mainland (now the Primorsk). They themselves, like their brethren in Yezo, have a legend that a pit-dwelling race were in possession before them ; and they point to the scooped-out holes and kitchen- middens which are near their own villages of Siraroka and Tikmenev, on the east coast of Sakhalin. In these have been found obsidian and diorite implements, and clay potsherds. The Ainus have not been known to make stone implements, and diorite and obsidian do not as far as we know exist on the island. Moreover, the Ainus disclaim the knowledge and art of making clay vessels, and call the dwellers in these holes the Tontchi or Toichi. THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 115 In Ainu toi means clay, and chi baked or dried, i.e. " Makers of baked clay vessels." In recent years we have been continually meeting with further evidence of the existence of a prehistoric dwarf race in our own land and elsewhere. Kamchatkan legends seem to indicate the comparatively recent (400 years) existence of a dwarf people in that peninsula, and if that be so, then further links are added to the chain of pigmies stretching from Africa to Bering Straits, through the Andaman Islands, the Malay Peninsula, Formosa, Yezo, Sakhalin and Kamchatka. Of the origins of the other three tribes it is almost as difficult to conjecture as of the Ainus. The Tungus, so-called, we may class as the most backward — the wildest offshoots of the race, of which the Manchu is the most civilized representative to-day, the people that has given China her reigning dynasty for the last two and a half centuries. A thousand years ago, according to Chinese records, these tribes were beyond the limits of even the peoples who brought yearly tribute of skins and arrows to the Court of China; and even in 1586 the annalist described them as " wild men of the northern mountains who ride about on deer." To go back further is to lose ourselves in conjecture. Philologists, who handle milleniums as ordinary his- torians centuries, tell us that from the seat of the Asiatic peoples in the Altai region, on the borders of Siberia and Western Mongolia, occurred several wanderungen some- where between 5000 and 7000 years ago, and the offshoots which were to become the Chinese and the Japanese peoples were followed by the Mongols, Turks, and Manchus or Tungus. A study of the Orochons suggest that they are a tribe which has mostly Tungus blood in its veins, mingled by intermarriage with various neighbours, such as the Gilyaks, Golds, etc. ii6 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST The Gilyaks are even more difficult to classify racially. Separated in speech, manners and customs from their neighbours, they yet have some affinities in feature. This only adds to the puzzle; for while many have scarcely any hair on their faces, others, whose ancestors, perhaps, have intermarried with Ainus, have bushy beards and copious heads of hair. The most plausible suggestion is that they are of a semi-Tungus, semi-Mongol race. Phi- lologists of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, and of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, hold that their language knits them in origin to the dwellers on the Pacific coast of Northern Asia, and America, and the Aleutian isles. The total number of natives on the island is between 4000 and 5000, of whom about 1 300 are Ainus, more than 20CX) Gilyaks, at least 750 Orochons, and perhaps 200 Tungus. The island is therefore very sparsely populated ; and how sparsely may be judged from the fact that during more than three days' journeying on the river Tim, the native highway to the east coast, I saw not a solitary person or dwelling. The Russian occupation is practically confined to the district enclosed in a radius of thirty miles from Alexan- drovsk on the west coast, and another smaller one around Korsakovsk in the south. The island is divided into three administrative districts — the Alexandrovsk, Timovsk, and Korsakovsk okrugi. Each of these is presided over by a chief of the district, or okruzhni nachalnik, over whom is the military Governor of the island. The latter has great authority, but in his turn is subject to the Governor-general of the Pri-Amursky oblast. The biggest prison centre is at Alexandrovsk. The next is at Korsakovsk, and the Timovsk district has two, one at Derbensk and the other at Rikovsk, thirty-five and forty-four miles, respectively, by road inland from Alexandrovsk. THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN 117 Immediately around these centres clearings have been made, and beyond are a few villages dotted about in the forest, with a population varying from 200 to none at all ! I came across one, poverty-stricken, with huts roofed with bark and a liberal allowance of holes (!), which contained six men only. In the late Governor's report he mentions the arrival of soldiers, who were tracking escaped convicts, at one that had the large total of two, and yet another that had none at all ! The Russian connection with the island dates from 1852, when Lieutenant Boshniak was sent to explore Sakhalin, the possession of which had become necessary in order to guard the entrance to the Amur, at which a year before 'the Russian flag had been planted. During the following year Ilinsky Post (Kusunai), on the west coast, and Muravievsk Post, in the Bay of Aniva, were formed. In 1858, forty convicts were at work in the coal- mines at Dui, on the west coast, and in 1869, 800 were forwarded from Trans-Baikalia. The Japanese, who had been alarmed at the landing of the Russians in Aniva Bay at the beginning of the century, were now considerably disturbed by this fresh activity. For decades back, Japanese fishers and traders in skins, etc., had haunted the coasts of Sakhalin. Now Russia wanted to claim the whole island. For the time an amicable arrangement was come to, with a joint owner- ship and freedom to occupy unoccupied territory. This, of course, could not last, and finally, in 1875, negotiations were completed by which Japan gave up her claim to the southern half of the island. In lieu thereof she received the cession of the Kurile islands, and an annual payment for a fixed number of years. A Japanese consul has his residence at Korsakovsk to receive this, and to pay a pro rata tax levied on the Japanese fishermen who still ply their trade in Sakhalin waters. CHAPTER VII ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO Into the interior hy kibitka — A " Free-command " — Miserable crops — A tragedy by the wayside — The famous Robin Hood of Sak- halin and his escapades — On the track of brodyagi. TO resume my narrative where I left off at the end of Chapter V. ; the morning of September 1 1 my interpreter and I were ready prepared with arms, provisions, outfit, and articles of barter for the expedition to the north-east coast of the island. To compass my object of visiting the native tribes on the banks of the Tim and along the coast, it was necessary to make for the nearest spot on the river where it was navigable for native canoes, and then to descend it for about 200 miles. So dense was the primeval forest, that the river alone afforded a route to us and to the natives to the east coast. A preliminary journey of thirty-five miles by a convict- made road to the prison centre of Derbensk lay before us, followed by fifteen miles of forest, threaded by a track, which must be traversed somehow, we knew not how. At the end of this was the village of Slavo, on the Tim, where we hoped to find natives to take us in a canoe down to the sea and along the coast. This much we had been able to glean beforehand of our route, and the rest had to be gathered as we went along. A troika (team of three horses) was ordered for 6 a.m., 118 ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO 119 and with Russian punctuality, a drozhky, or, more strictly speaking, a kibitka, of primitive description, with three rough steeds, dashed up two hours later. It was a most unaccommodating vehicle in which to stow ourselves and baggage. In front sat the izvostchik, and parallel to his seat was ours, giving just room for two. A bare board with three or four inches of back, scarcely sufficient to prevent us being jerked off or slipping off backwards, is not the most comfortable seat for a day and a half's journey, and we retained reminiscences, for longer than we cared, of our intimate acquaintance with a Sakhalin kibitka. In addition to our two selves, six puds * of baggage, chiefly in sacks, had to be stowed away somehow. Most of it was roped on behind, while the rest was packed with difficulty between our feet. That which was behind de- manded a constant look-out, lest by much jolting it should drop by the way or fall a prey to the unnoticed brodyaga experienced in the stealthy abstraction of passengers' luggage. The centre horse of a troika is strapped in an arched yoke (dugd), which holds his head erect in a somewhat vice-like grip, while the outside horses are held by an off-rein apiece only. When you chance to be flying along the even sands of the seashore, the centre horse stepping high and the outside horses galloping, and the three bells on the duga merrily ringing, the sensation is indeed delightful. It was nearly 9 o'clock before all was securely packed on to the kibitka; and we were off and away past the prison, the church, and the post-office and down the hill towards the Little Alexandrovka river. Here at Mr. Y.'s house and stores we stopped to leave parting instructions. With his usual politeness he offered to telegraph forward to the Nachalnik Derbenskoy iyurmi (the chief of the * A pud=4o lbs. Russian, or 36"ii lbs. English. I20 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST prison at Derbensk), to smooth the way for us, an action which was duly appreciated the next day. On leaving the house we followed the river, passing on our right the hill to the north, with its dreary cemetery and terrible records of crime, our route lying along the seashore to Arkovo, the place of our previous visit on horseback. Guiding our vehicle over the drier parts, avoiding the snake-like channels in which the river lost itself before reaching the sea, about half a mile farther, we came to an old pirate vessel (Korean, I believe) lying high and dry. A head suddenly appeared over the taffrail, and the owner of it, quickly taking stock of us, of our guns, revolvers, and daggers, wished us, " ZdravstvueteJ" (Good morning !) Two days later he was arrested with another already referred to who was in hiding, for having murdered a youth who had gone out shooting, and with whom we had just parted. Outlawed and ekeing out a miserable existence on provisions saved from his prison rations, with the surrep- titious aid of confreres who were now settled, or by threatening lonely passers-by along the shore at nights, the murderer had come at length to the end of his tether. This was an opportunity of procuring a gun, which meant also a supply of food in the taiga. What hope of escape is there for such? Very little. Many trust that they will get as far north as Pogobi, where the straits narrow, and, evading the cordons of soldiers, the many dangers of detection, the meeting with trackers, there be able to procure a boat from the Gilyaks in which to cross over to the mainland. Few succeed in these later times, and, if they do, their case is only one stage less bad in the lonely taiga of the mainland or in the vicinity of the prison officials of the Amur. But often before Pogobi is reached the guns, axes, or clothes with which they had hoped to purchase a boat from the natives, »+a MAP OF NORTHERN SAKHALIN au^bor'sConoe) Routt i Unexblored Coast- I- 1,680,000. Eaf>t of Ortenuiih. '^S [To face p. 120. ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO 121 have gone in barter for food, and winter is upon them. There is then only one course open, for winter is more relentless than the trackers whom they have successfully evaded hitherto, and starvation and death from cold stare them in the face ; they must give themselves up, undergo the flogging, and be re-installed in prison with an additional sentence. Further along the shore we met a miserable wretch, a "free command," dragging a tree trunk through the sea. Up to his waist in the cold water, it was his task to haul this for ten miles from Arkovo to Alexandrovsk. When the steam-tug is not at liberty, five or six convicts are thus engaged in cold or warm weather for hours. It is no wonder, as my companion said, that many die ulti- mately from exposure. These " free-commands " are convicts who have gone through the first two stages of prison life in the "probationary," or "testing" and "re- formatory" gaols, and are now allowed to live out in barracks. If married, and his wife has followed him, the " free command " may live with her outside of the prison in a hut, on condition that he does his hard labour duty. If the latter is log-dragging, then he is respon- sible for taking 120 into Alexandrovsk during the year. Whether this one was undergoing further punishment, that he should be subjected to this hard, and, in cold weather, dangerous toil, I do not know, but for this my companion said the ill-famed Chief of the Alexandrovsk Prison was responsible. Turning inland at the Gilyak village, we passed through the Russian Arkovo, the first, for there are three hamlets of that name, where we had experienced the hospitality of the convict-farmer three days since. Our journey now took us beyond, by a road winding through a beautiful valley. If the little gardens, with their cabbages and potatoes, had astonished me before with their look of contentment, so did now the reverse side of the picture. 122 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST the miserably poor cereal crops standing in the little strips of clearings which fringed the road — crops that could not have yielded more than a two or threefold return on the sowings. Referring to the official records for the year 1898, I find that wheat and oats, which were the chief cereals sown in this village, yielded 37 and 4'4-fold harvests, against a 15 -fold average in England. Potatoes showed better results with 67-fold crop. In the village of Slavo, which we reached the following day, the record was terrible, the wheat yield for the same year being eleven grains for every ten sown ! And, as if to make more obvious the settlers' inability or culpable failure to grow enough corn to satisfy their needs, we overtook several telyegi (primitive springless carts), drawn by oxen and Siberian ponies, laden with sacks of Ameri- can flour from Portland, Oregon. A political exile, writing in the official Sakhalin Kalendar of 1896, lays most of the blame for the unsatisfactory state of the outlying settle- ments at the officials' doors. He claims that the system, under which the " exile-settlers " * are sent to found new villages in the foi-ests, is not given a fair trial, and adds that it is the worst men who are shipped off to these parts, because they ai'e as sores in the eyes of the officials. Furthermore, the "exile-settlers" are often despatched to places that no sane man would have chosen, thus making, what was at best a hard life, an impossible one. Colonel Garnak, in the eighties, sent out to scientifically explore the island, is said to have come to the conclusion that colonization was in a very bad state owing to the " faulty administration." On the other hand, the ex-convicts do not make the best of their circumstances. Small love have they for the island which is their prison-land, and, even if reconciled to it, the industry and perseverance needed in a struggle with * One whose sentence has expired, but who must remain on the island for six more years without legal rights. ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO 123 nature are not forthcoming from those who have sought in their days of freedom to live by avoiding honest work. Some weeks later I met a Caucasian Kazak, who was a striking exception to the ordinary run of Sakhalin criminals. Whatever his crime may have been, probably insurrection, he was very energetic, and most successful. Living at the village of Uskovo, in the interior, in the midst of forest which involved no little labour in clearing, and harboured many a destructive enemy of his cattle, he owned, he told us, no less than fifty cows, and sowed his 150 puds of corn. He claimed to get a twelve-fold crop, which, even if we make some allowance for exaggeration, was really no less extraordinary for Sakhalin than his unwonted energy. In speaking of agriculture on the island, he attributed the small crops usually obtained to the laziness of the " peasants " * and their carelessness in sowing the seed, " scattering here," as he said, " in excess, and there insufficiently." " Yes," he added, " I know of one who has sown wheat on the same patch of ground for seven years consecutively, and reaped a good harvest each year ; but the "peasants" don't love the land, they take from it, but gave her back nothing." A picture true enough of the majority, for whom life means the obtaining of just a bare existence. Conditions of soil, and natural drainage of course vary very widely, and the Caucasian was fortunate in the occupa- tion of a hilly and comparatively dry region, such as he was used to in his home-land ; but very different is it in the swamps, where bitter winds prevail, and the sowing is delayed, and the early frosts nip the ear while its contents are yet soft. Continuing our journey, and leaving behind the carts laden with flour and barrels of salted fish bound for the prisons, we saw an empty telyega approaching * A " peasant " is an ex-convict who has completed his six years of " exile-settlership," and now has the return of certain elementary civil rights, including those of the right to move from place to place. 124 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST from the opposite direction, on the side of which sat a man to whom my companion called my attention. It appeared that he was a Swede, and I inquired how it was that he came to be a convict on Sakhalin. My interpreter replied, "He was a lieutenant in the Finland Army, and his colonel, having made some insulting remark about his subaltern's j?««c/g, the lieutenant boxed his senior ofificer's ears on parade ; and was therefore sentenced to fifteen years' hard labour on Sakhalin." This means that he must spend six years in addition as " exile-settler " on Sakhalin, and six more as " peasant " (with freedom to move in Siberia), before he will be allowed to return to Europe. He may get away earlier to Siberia, if he can obtain sufficient money to travel and buy himself into a commune, or should an employer on the mainland send for him — always supposing that he can get the permission of the Chief of his district on the island. As a matter of fact, ninety-nine out of every hundred fail to get away. But the way, if one could forget the terrible social atmosphere, was wildly beautiful. The winding road reminded me of the last rickshaw ride in Japan down to pleasant little Mogi. Here, however, were no luscious green patches of growing paddy, picked out by dark clumps of cypresses,or hidden momentarilyfrom our view by an avenue of graceful bamboos. Nevertheless, the shades of green were almost as varied among the birches and pines, the aspen and spruce, the mountain-ash, the willows and the elms, which clothed the fine hill slopes. On the hedges the wild rose had done its work of garlanding, and had now given way to the wild raspberry, and the lavish prodigality of the red elderberry {Sambucus racemosa), which literally decked the route with scarlet. Butterflies flitted in the sunshine, fritillaries, peacocks and Camberwell beauties, and nothing told of coming autumn save a few falling leaves. At the first post-station, the village of Arkovo the third, we found the horses had been taken, but my companion's ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO 125 manner and a pourboire soon produced some — lent by the villagers. Unroping, unlading and relading one's baggage at each stage was a troublesome business, but it had to be done, and careful watch had to be kept lest the izvostchik, or a companion in league, might mistake some of it for his own. While the horses were being found, we discussed a midday meal, congratulating ourselves that we had not to spend the night here, for a room absolutely bare, save a table and bench, did not offer attractive accommodation. Khlyeb i chai — black bread and tea (in a tumbler) — were forthcoming, but anything further, including sugar, had to be supplied by ourselves. On starting again, the road crossed the stream which had cut its way up the valley. As we neared the wooden bridge, Mr. X. pointed it out as the scene of many tragedies. One of these had happened while he was doctor at Arkovo the first. Hither had come one day an "exile- settler" on his way to Alexandrovsk, for his time had expired and he had saved sufficient to enable him to realize his great longing to quit the prison island for ever. As he was resting on the bridge, there came along the road another villager, a " free command," who sat down beside him, and began chatting. Suddenly, without warning, the latter struck the exile a heavy blow on his head, stunning him, and then, finishing his terrible work, dropped the body into the stream. Having possessed himself of his victim's " book," or certificate, showing that his time of exileship had expired and entitling him to leave the island if he had sufficient means, he made his way to a village, where he thought he would be unknown, and asked for work. However, Fate pursued him, for it happened that the original owner of the certificate was known there, suspicion was aroused, and the murderer was clapped into prison pending the inquiries which duly brought his crime to light. Our izvostchik was also a convict, a "free command," and 126 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST we judged it wise to keep an eye upon him, lest he should be in concert with erstwhile companions in prison now at large in the forest ; yet I was glad that the Russian system on the island admitted of a man who was still undergoing his sentence of hard labour, being allowed to do pro- ductive work outside of the prison walls. Surely this is a chance, other things being favourable, for the man to rise to better things — only one has reluctantly to come to the conclusion, I fear, that other things are not favourable. Our road continued to rise until it reached a level of about 700 feet. The backbone of the island is crossed by practically only three passes, of which this is the chief. Another, used by the natives, leads from the river Tim to the west coast, north of Arkovo, and the third lies 200 miles to the south, between Kusunai and Manue. Rumour told of one in the extreme north, used by the native Gilyaks ; but I believe no white man has ever trodden it. Arriving at the top of the pass, our route led us across an undu- lating plateau for several miles, until finally it descended to the bed of the upper reaches of the river Tim. The next post-house at which we changed horses was Verkhniy Armudan. It was a poor-looking settlement, and when we called for the usual glass of tea, and for a spoon to stir our own sugar in it, a child had to be sent to borrow one in the village. Possibly sugar was a luxury here, or more probably they were accustomed to economize it in Siberian fashion, by holding the lump between the teeth, as the golden liquid was swallowed. Resuming again we made rapid progress, for our izvostchik of the previous stage had no doubt informed our present one that we " tipped " well, and we — well we had calculated on that. Speeding down from the plateau to the valley of the Tim, it was already dusk ere we reached the clearing in which the prison settlement of Derbensk stood ; and, thundering across the timber bridge, drew up on the grassy fringe of ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO 127 the road before a new log-built store. The question of night shelter was quickly settled, for we had been recom- mended by my landlady in Alexandrovsk to ask for her sister, whose husband, until lately an overseer and tracker of convicts, had recently set up a little store. We were welcomed ; and there was no difficulty made about putting us up, for was there not the full extent of the floor of the living room. What wall-paper could equal the fresh-smelling pine-logs, with alternating pattern of moss- filled crevices, and what bed the fresh, clean, plank-boarded floor ? A skin and a rug, and revolvers by our heads, and we were soon oblivious of its uncompromising levelness. But much had to be done before retiring. The problem of transport to the village of Slavo on the morrow was yet unsolved. So without further delay we started off to interview the Chief of the prison, who, though apparently rather bored, issued orders that we were to be allowed to post to Slavo. To the north of Derbensk such methods of progress were not usual, for the road only extended a few miles, and then became a track ; however, the influ- ence of the chief of the prison was sufficient for the occasion. But Mr. X. thought it desirable to go off and see the orders carried out, and found the telegraph chief lying flat on his back, drunk, in the garden in front of his office, regardless of the fact that he presented excellent booty for thieves. Apparently this was a favourite posture in Derbensk ; for it was reported here that the major- general, sent over that summer to organize the military forces and to hold a field-day, had been found in a similar position, but in his case he had scorned the privacy of his own retreat, and occupied a public position, as befitted his rank, in the middle of the road ! Our host and hostess proved a very worthy couple. Their new venture was by no means an easy or encouraging one. There was already the Crown store (an institution peculiar to Sakhalin) to compete with, and the "gentle 128 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST art" of shopkeeping was not without its dangers. The door of the shop had always to be kept locked, and a watch maintained from the windows fot the approach of customers. Truly a terrible life of suspicion and of acting continually on the defensive, terrible for parents and children alike. I played with the little son of the house- hold, and we pitted our Russian each against the other's. He was the apple of his mother's eye, and many an anxious hour she passed lest, as she said, he should stray out of the house into the road, " and then, you know, he might be done away with in a moment for the sake of his clothes." The next morning, with parting hints as to Gilyak etiquette — for our host had come a good deal into con- tact with the natives in the course of his former duties — and many an addition to our stock of provisions, we left Derbensk for a plunge into the wild interior of the island. A very primitive kibitka, even for Sakhalin, laden with the various sacks, and increased by recent additions to our larder, bore us away, guns in hand, towards the forest. Turning northwards at the prison, we left the dreary stockade on our right, and sped down the long village of convicts' and ex-convicts' huts, which line the wide grassy track. In front of the smithy a horse was being shod, strung up by the legs, topsy-turvy, quite helpless and harmless, and probably not over comfortable. Women were drawing water at wells, that reminded me of the skadoufs of Egypt, or lats of North- West India, which are like the letter T in shape, the crosspiece see-sawing in the act of drawing up and letting down the bucket. It was only one of the many touches in Russia that strike the observer as Eastern ; from the cleanly custom of washing in running water, poured from a can, to the less admired habit of equivocation in diplomacy. Leaving the village behind, the way passed through a mile or so of clearing before plunging into the forest. Here the open valley and hillsides were so many fields ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO 129 and slopes of giant stubble, for axe and fire had left the stumps of larch, birch, and spruce on the neutral-tinted slopes. A deserted saw- mill, built over a torrential stream, witnessed to the lumber work done in the past here by the convicts. It was close by this mill that the famous Barratasvili, the Robin Hood of Sakhalin, met his death. In a moment of weariness he forgot his usual precautions, and taken off his guard, met with the fate he had often meted out to others. Many a story is told over the supper- table of this daring leader ; and the reader will see from his portrait, reproduced here, that he was a striking excep- tion to the dull heavy type of Sakhalin criminal. I believe, but am not quite sure, that the crime for which he was despatched to Sakhalin was forgery. My landlord, Mr. M., who had been an overseer in the Alexandrovsk prison, said of him : " During the three and a half years of his incarceration he was well-behaved, and gave no trouble. There were many prisoners with whom I dared not walk a few yards, but with Barratasvili I did not hesitate. After he was let out of gaol as a ' free command ' he became a servant in a family, and was most kindly with the children." Sud- denly, and to the astonishment of the officials, he escaped and fled to the mainland. Warning, however, was given, and he was arrested at Nikolaevsk and sent back. No sooner was he on shore again, than, midway between the pristan and the town, on the road I was so often warned to keep a look-out on, he gave his guard the slip and escaped into the forest Hard pushed for food, he murdered a merchant who was proceeding from Due to Alexandrovsk with the proceeds of the sale of some horses to the military regiment upon him. Then, gathering around him three or four companions, he and his band struck terror into many a heart, yet their deeds were aimed against the rich, and he showed himself always willing to aid the poor who in their turned helped K 130 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST him. Another wayfarer on the road to Due was killed for his gun, and yet another near to my lodging in Alex- androvsk. News of his daring feats were common talk, and many an unsuccessful hunt was made by the authori- ties. The overseers, too, were on the alert, for such a daring organizer and skilful tactician was a rare prey. Meanwhile, Barratasvili continued to evade the net spread for him, and with consummate daring ventured into the enemy's territory. One evening my companion told me he was spending the time at Dr. P.'s, when a lieutenant, detained by official duties, arrived about ii p.m. Apologizing for the lateness of his arrival, he explained that the Governor had ordered him to take one hundred soldiers and search the houses in Alexandrovsk at 3 a.m. for Barratasvili. At the same time he begged of his host secrecy, since his in- structions were not to be divulged. The search was unavailing, yet my interpreter met Barratasvili, muffled up in a shuba (skin-lined coat), within two paces of the doctor's house, at 7 o'clock the next morning, four hours after the search had commenced ! On another occasion, with four companions partially disguised in their long shubi, under which they concealed their revolvers and rifles, he entered the stores kept by Mr. Borradin, which are up the hill towards the back of the town. Posting one of his men at the door to keep watch, he ordered the others to fire. This was merely intended to frighten Mr. Borradin and his assistants, who naturally fled. The robbers then helped themselves to the jewellery from a counter-case, and emptied the till and desk of all the cash, in all about 2000 rubles worth. Emerging into the street, they made good their retreat into the forest, firing a shot or two to warn off venturesome pursuers. Fortunately for them the scene of this escapade was not in the centre of the place, and the noise of shots, if theirs reached that distance, is not an uncommon occurrence in ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO 131 Alexandrovsk. There are frequent brawls, of which the officials take little notice, and revolvers discharged after an escaping convict, or to signal a fire to the man in the fire-tower. The temerity of this gang did not stop here, for they actually went into the town and had their photo- graphs taken — of course by an ex-convict. But the net was closing round Barratasvili. His escapades were notorious, and on all sides he was a marked man. It was winter-time when the end came. One day, overcome with fatigue, he ventured off the road into the forest close to the deserted saw-mill, and with his companions fell asleep. An overseer trudging along the road noticed the tracks of his skis, and they aroused his suspicions. Ordinary travellers do not leave the road to plunge into the deep snow of the dense forest. He too was tired, but he went back to Derbensk and got a posse of soldiers. Following up the track, step by step through the forest, they came upon the long-sought robbers, resting. The alarm was given. Firing began on both sides. The leader of the gang was hit in the left shoulder, but still continued to fire. The soldiers sought shelter behind tree-trunks ; but Barratasvili in taking aim exposed his head, and in so doing was shot in the forehead. Their leader killed, his companions threw down their arms, were taken and beaten by the soldiers with the butt-ends of their muskets. In encounters of this kind, the soldiers, furious at the loss of their comrades, treat their captives most brutally, and in some cases the latter have died from the injuries thus received. On the other hand, it is scarcely more than the convicts expect, nor more than they mete out to a comrade who has broken the rules of their artel* * Artels, or guilds, are formed with binding rules and regulations, and a foreman elected to negotiate with the authorities, as among all other crafts. In case of betrayal, the traitor may be sentenced to be " roofed," i.e, strangled under a khalat. 132 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST Three of the four companions of Barratasvili were hanged, two at the south-east corner, and one at the north-west corner of the yard of the " Testing " prison at Alexandrovsk. Such an event, local as it may seem, was one of great rarity in the Russian Empire. Jews may be murdered by the dozen, or peasants shot down in a strike, but murderers have the sacred right of not being executed. At the time a friend was in Alexandrovsk, and between the stockade poles of the testing prison, he saw the body of one of these poor wretches hanging. They were all really strangled, he said, not hanged. A rope, looped round the neck of the condemned, was led over a cross-piece supported by two upright poles ; a box was kicked away from the feet of the miserable wretch, and he took his chance of instantaneous death or of strangulation. This one was a minute and a half in the death-struggle. Russians are very proud of the fact that capital punish- ment, except for regicide — it amounts to this — does not exist in their country. Sakhalin is, however, under martial law, and while executions are very rare, the murderer of an official, the members of a long-defiant band, and one who has committed an exceptionally atrocious murder know that they may expect a hanging if caught. Leaving the mill we plunged into the thick forest. It was a beautiful sunny day, and though the ferns were growing golden, there was scarcely a sign of night frosts twelve inches above the ground. The birds appeared few in number, and could scarcely have been reduced by migrations southwards yet. The commonest were the white (Motacilla lugens) and the yellow wagtails (M. taivana). Occasionally a jay {Garrulus brandtit) flitted before us from tree to tree, a kingfisher {Alcedo bengalensis) busied himself by the stream, or a gravelly cliff was passed, riddled with the homes of sand-martins {Cotyle riparid). Overhead a hawk soared, or a crow cawed on ALEXANDROVSK TO SLAVO 133 his lonely way ; underfoot, or under wheel rather, the track became a swamp. For a quarter of a mile or so our way was a floating layer of pine-logs, over which we rattled and bumped and thumped. The forest was continuous and dense. The most con- spicuous trees were birch, larch, elm, and nut {Panax ricinifolid), while below was a thick undergrowth of spiraea {Betulmfolia ?), which refuses to grow beneath the needle- trees, but keeps company with the larch, wild raspberry, elder, the red whortleberry (Vaccinium vitis idcea), wild rose, and great horse-tails (Equisetum sylvaticum). Loudly rang out our drozhky bells through the taiga, announcing our presence to any lurking brodyagi; but in Sakhalin, where the post is almost entirely used by officials, warning them also of the heavy penalty attached to the attack on an official. Nevertheless, we had our loaded rifles upon our knees. A few miles on, two soldiers were passed, trudging gamely along, tracking escaped convicts, a miserable and dangerous business, though they were armed with bayonets. In the previous May and June, of the many brodyagi at large, according to the official report, five had been killed by soldiers in that district (Timovsk okrug), and thirteen during April, May, and June in the Korsakovsk okrug. Eighteen officially admitted to have been shot, during attempted capture, in less than three months, testified to the number at large. Our way became nothing but a grass track, and occasionally at the base of a valley a stream had to be crossed by a primitive bridge of loose pine- poles, laid on cross-pieces, which rattled and slipped under our horses' hoofs. As we neared a small village our izvostchik, a careless fellow, drove into the midst of five or six swine, and one of the horses kicked over the traces and fell, but we, leaping out, saved ourselves from an overthrow into the miUe of kicking and struggling steeds. The two soldiers, overtaking us, helped to extricate the 134 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST frightened animal, which was bleeding at the mouth. Annoying as it was, we strongly urged the driver to return, for the sake of the horse, but he refused, regarding it as a slight injury. Arrived at Slavo about midday, our further progress in this manner was barred, and other means had to be sought, if indeed any other were forthcoming, which seemed doubt- ful ; for it was not there, as in India with its trains, whereof the simple lama in " Kim " had heard in his Tibetan lama- serai, that " one but asks a question and pays money, and the appointed persons despatch all to the appointed place," CHAPTER VIII SLAVO TO ADO TIM A start is made on the 600-mile canoe journey — A settlement of ill- repute — So-called " civil marriage " — A terrible environment for children — Doubtful quarters. DUMPING our miscellaneous baggage at the house that did duty for a stantsiya, or post-house, we made our way on foot through the forest edge to the river. Here, coming upon an encampment of Gilyak natives for the first time, I was struck with their re- semblance to the North-American Indians ; their swarthy figures, high cheek-bones, raven hair and mocassined legs, the impression being heightened by their paddling a dug-out canoe. From the huts emerged one or two of their women-folk, short and stunted, and some black-haired, gipsy-looking children, who stared shyly at us. Accosting one of the three men who appeared to be the senior, we made known our wish to descend the river to its mouth (about 200 miles). Would he take us ? A Russian youth, who had guided us to the river, made himself under- stood partly in Russian and partly in the Gilyak tongue. A categorical " No ! " was the answer. It was spawning- time, and he must lay in provisions oi yukola (dried fish) against the winter. " Well, then, will you take us as far as Ado Tim, where, perhaps, we may find another Gilyak willing to paddle us further ? " Ado Tim was the next village, about twenty miles down the river. " No ; not for 1000 rubles ! " But after considerable 13s 136 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST haggling, his demands fell in a degree unparalleled except in the East ; for from looo rubles his fee dropped to three rubles " per nose " (6 r.), and finally he agreed to undertake the trip for four rubles (8s. 6d.), which we considered a handsome reduction on his first demand. Returning to the Russian village, we found a peasant's cart and an earless pony, wherewith to get our baggage down to the river. The poor pony had been robbed of its ears by a bear ; how the rest of it escaped I never heard. It was probably the same bear of which the villagers com- plained to us, Mishka, as they nicknamed him, was in the habit of paying nightly visits to their outhouses, and making free with their live-stock. They had lain in wait for him, but all their efforts had been unsuccessful. Bruin proving quite equal to his reputation for 'cuteness. The volume and weight of our baggage called forth some murmurings on the part of the Gilyaks. Indeed, they were not unreasonable in this, for their craft are slight and keel-less, and easily upset. However, by stow- ing all our chattels away in the middle, and ourselves likewise at the bottom of the canoe, towards the ends — for there are, of course, no seats — with the two Gilyaks at the extreme ends, we managed to satisfy our native " paddlers." At last our 6oo-mile canoe journey had really com- menced; at least, so we hoped, though we were as yet only sure of accomplishing twenty miles of it. However, one does not trouble one's head about possibilities in such circumstances, but just meets difificulties as they arise. It was a lovely afternoon as our primitive bark, paddled by strange pigtailed creatures, glided down the still reaches of the river into the unknown. Overhead was a glorious blue sky, to right and left a virgin forest, and over all a stillness unbroken save by the plash of salmon, or the quiet word of command in an unknown tongue. Occa- sionally a phalanx of wild geese flew silently across the SLAVO TO ADO TIM 137 blue, or a fleet of wild ducks rising from the water fled onward, skimming the surface, to a safe distance. Then silent enjoyment gave place to expectation, for word was passed to have our guns ready for the appearance of Bruin. Keeping close watch on the banks, and looking ahead to the bend of the river if haply we might spy him undisturbed, my camera was got ready for action at the same time as my gun ; but, as might be expected with all such preparations perfect, " Master Petz " did not put in an appearance. It was not until late in the evening that he was observed by our natives, who followed him up the next morning. Many a footprint of his kind we saw on the sandy edge, but he was 'cute enough to frequent the river for fishing and drinking at night, excepting occasionally when the desire for a snack or a drink overcame his prudence. Our light craft sped quickly onwards, and many a rapid was skilfully shot, and rattling pebbly shoal safely overpassed, for our Gilyak elder had lived on this part of the Tim all his life, and knew every bend and every rapid " as he did his five fingers," so he said. Before sunset we were nearing Ado Tim, the last Russian penal settlement of all in the northern interior. The native village of that name was situated on the banks lower down, but the settlement lay half a verst from the river. We had no wish to arrest our progress here, the settle- ment had a very bad reputation, and we would rather camp in the open, or among the natives, from what we had heard ; but the natives refused to take us further except at a prohibitive price, and we went ashore, hoping that time would settle our difference. This was not to be, however, and we once more found our way blocked. Having made preparations, and bought stores, etc., for three or four weeks' journey, at the end of the second day we were threatened with " no thoroughfare." It was unfortunate that our journey should coincide with the 138 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST spawning season, for it was a serious matter to the Gilyaks to forego their period of winter's provisioning. But for the nonce we had to find a resting-place for ourselves and baggage ; so pressing two soldiers, who had been bathing, into our service, and taking our natives, we formed a small cavalcade across the swampy track leading to the village. On either side of the broad grass track of the settlement was a row of higgledy-piggledy, miserably poor, out-of-repair log-huts, with tiny windows, some roofed with boards, others with loose pieces of bark. Pigs, a foal or two, and a few children, miserably clad, were indis- criminately scattered on the " road." Kita * hung curing in the smoke of a fire kindled beneath, and bunches of withering green leaves by the hutside in the sun betokened tobacco drying. Women wandered about barefooted, and they and the men were in the scantiest of clothing, the latter in a cotton shirt and trousers, and the former simply in a frock and an extra bodice. It was always a matter of wonder to me how in autumn mornings and late after- noons they could stand the cold so miserably clothed. Each village has its overseer, who is a soldier. In rank he may be compared to a sergeant, but his duties are as varied as those of a prefect in France, or even a deputy- commissioner in India. Police, military, the census, agri- culture, and " roads," all these and more come within his cares ; and for this he is paid the magnificent sum of thirty rubles (three guineas) a month. Tracking escaped convicts was not the least important of his functions at Ado Tim, and he was away down the river on this errand when we arrived. Entering his hut at the head of the village we found seven soldiers ; including the two we had passed in the morning, who had arrived, hot and dusty, by the road which effected a short cut over the river route. The question of our night quarters had first to be * The East Siberian name for Salmo lagocephalus. SLAVO TO ADO TIM 139 settled. The soldiers, somewhat impressed by my com- panion, who still wore on his chain the silver eagle of the Imperial cavalry regiment, to which he had in the old days belonged, offered us a share of their room. The prospect might not have troubled a Russian, but to sleep nine in a room of about 14 x 12 feet, with doors shut and windows shuttered, was not calculated to appeal to an Englishman. We were devouring some black bread and drinking a glass of tea while discussing the situation, when through a window we caught sight of the round, honest face of a woman, barefooted, driving a few cows into the village. Mr. X. called out in Russian fashion, " Maya tyotushka ! (My auntie !) will you give us some milk ? " When she had seen the cows home, she arrived with her hands full, carrying not only milk but butter. What did it matter that it was prolific of undissolved salt crystals, like a section of conglomerate clay with fragments of imbedded quartz ? For us it was a welcome luxury in our slender larder for days. While she was weighing out the salt crystal butter on primitive scales, consisting of a tiny thin rod of iron poised by a piece of string, the loop being shifted along the bar to determine the exact measure, I stood watching her jolly face, and it suddenly occurred to me that she might help us out of our difficulty of obtaining a night's lodging. I had just mentioned the matter to Mr. X., when our attention was called off to the natives, who were still lingering around the door of the hut demanding a prohibitive price for the journey to the sea. We resumed the discussion, but they would abate nothing, and evidently were not keen on going. Moving on as we talked to the middle of the village, a crowd gathered around us, a motley group of Gilyaks, men and children, pigtailed and unwashed, and of Russian convicts for the most part of a low, brutal type. We had been warned to be on the alert with these villagers, and as I stood an onlooker of the scene, while my interpreter 140 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST talked with them, I involuntarily found my attention drawn to two or three suspiciously cruel-looking loungers on the outskirts of the crowd, some of whom wore ugly- looking knives at their belts. It appeared from the talk that there was a flat-bottomed semi-boat, semi-punt, down at the river, which belonged to the Crown. His Imperial Majesty the Tsar is probably not aware of the fact, and whether he would have objected or not, the men of the village had no scruples in offering to take us in it. One black -haired, dark visaged individual, a Little Russian * obviously, with a pleasant expression, inviting yet at the same time repelling our confidence, a doubtful face, offered with four others to take us to the sea and back in an impossible time for a reasonable sum. It seemed a way out of our difficulty, but I had my doubts about the prudence of trusting our lives day and night to five strange convicts from this penal settlement of ill- repute. In our difficulties we turned to our newly adopted " aunt," in front of whose log-hut we were then standing. A long discussion ensued. She said "it is difficult to know what to do for the best. There are awful characters in the place, who will simply take the first opportunity of murdering you for your stores." She and her husband would long ago have been killed, for it was known that they had saved a little, had it not been for their fierce watch-dog. Anyhow, what she should say was this, " take two of them — you are two and well-armed, and would be a match for them — yes, take two of them, but don't let them go far with you — get Gilyaks as soon as you can — for these men (convicts) capsized Mr. K. (a Russian prospector) in the rapids. They don't know the river as do the natives." We thanked her, but asked did she know anything about this Little Russian, personally ? * Little Russia is that portion of south-western European Russia which lies around Kiev. \ -. \Kil \LIN Ml l;DI KE^ '/'.:.: /,;,> 14I. SLAVO TO ADO TIM 141 Well, she wasn't sure — of course she knew him — but she would ask her man, and would tell the other to come at 6 o'clock in the morning. More and more impressed with her jolly face, and not disappointed with her partner, who appeared to be quiet and respectable, we decided to ask the shelter of their roof. Sending word of our decision to the soldiers, they brought round our baggage, and also a message, delivered aside to Mr. X., that " it was hardly safe to trust ourselves where we were, for we might be robbed in the night." What had been the crimes of this woman and her man I do not know, but the law provides that any female criminal under forty, whose sentence is not less than two years, may be sent from Russia to Sakhalin. On arrival at Alexandrovsk they are placed altogether in the kamera at the south-east corner of the prison buildings. I have often seen them — those of them that had been retained by the officials, nominally for cleaning and sewing purposes, I say nominally, because the real purpose was openly known ; the others, chosen by " exile-settlers," who are allowed thus to take a helpmate, are released from con- finement within barracks, and live with their " men," though they are still obliged to do their hard-labour task. There is no marriage ceremony. The choice being made with the sanction of the nachalnik of the okrug, their names are written in a book, and henceforth the couple dwell together. A policy such as this, which violates our notions of the sacredness of the marriage tie, and directly encourages a criminal breed, must be regarded in the light of an attempt on the part of the Government to settle and colonize Sakhalin. A previous scheme had been tried, and failed. In 1862, and again in 1869, a few free colonists had been sent to the island, but they all ultimately left for a less lonely and arduous life. By settling the exiles down with partners in life and families, the Government also hoped to avoid theletting loose 142 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST of large numbers of ex-convicts of Sakhalin on the main- land. That might again have raised the expressed dislike of the Siberians, particularly the Russians of Western Siberia, to their land being over-run with the worst characters. The cry is one that we are familiar with in the history of our Australian Colonies. It became really importunate in Russia in the late eighties. Brodyagi — passportless vaga- bonds — had been despatched wholesale across the border into Siberia, and the country was over-run with escap- ing members of this fraternity. On this subject, A. Leroy-Beaulieu, quoting official figures, says, "... on January i, 1876, over 5i,0CX) persons were entered on the registers of the government of Tobolsk as penal colonists, and only 34,000 could be produced by the local adminis- tration. . . . These figures, together with the carelessness of the local authorities, bear witness to the inefficiency of the system. ... In the 'governments' of Tomsk and Yeniseisk, in 1883, there were, out of 20,000 exiles (all classes exiled, not merely ' exile-settlers ') registered in different communes, only 2600 actually residing in the places assigned them ; over 17,000 were fugitives." That this state of things has improved with the advancing settlement of the country is true, though let not the reader think for a moment that the brodyaga fraternity fails to number its thousands to-day. Irkutsk which competes with Tomsk for the title of premier city of Siberia, like London, attracts large numbers of that profession generally dubbed the "light-fingered." This is a misnomer for the Siberian members. Hard life in the taiga does not conduce to delicate fingering, and the murder of their victim is a sine qud non in the pursuit of the profession. It is said that two murders in the nucleus of the city, and fourteen in the outskirts, is the weekly average of Irkutsk. And daylight or publicity are not shunned either, for just previous to my visit two had taken place in the high street in the daytime. SLAVO TO ADO TIM 143 Security of life and property spell for the Exchequer greater potential receipts, and this was another reason why the importunities of the Siberians should be listened to. Hence it was that in 1888, Mr. Galkin Vrassky, afterwards head of the general prison administration, recommended that all brodyagi should be sent, not to the Siberian mainland, but to the island of Sakhalin, where, escaping from control, they could do little harm at large in the taiga, while the sea and ice would be effective prison walls. This was tantamount to a declaration that in future Siberia was to be first and foremost a colony, while the convicts must be more and more confined to restricted areas. This policy has culminated in the ukaz of 1900, which nominally abolished deportation from January i, 1902 (O.S.). The attempt to settle free colonists on Sakhalin having failed, what has been the result of the second method of " civil marriage " ? On the whole, even the officials, I think, would admit it to be a failure. That the couples remain is true, but it is because they cannot get away, and are practically forced exiles ; the majority, regarding the land as their prison-island, strive no more than is necessary to gain a bare existence. How those few bright exceptions to this crushed, energyless majority long to put an end to their exile, was brought home to me when, returning from Arkovo, where we had supped with the farmer who was "passing rich" as the owner of three cows, I remarked to my companion, " I suppose an exile-settler, such as he, who has been here fifteen years, has a wife and children, and is doing well, very well as Sakhalin standards are, is quite content to live here ? " " Why ! " he replied, " he only asked me just now, ' Did I think there was any hope of his getting away back home to Russia?'" With the second generation, it is possible, this may not be so. 144 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST There are other results that have to be taken into account, and which ought to give the Government pause. In the first place, the moral effect on the woman who is chosen as a mate, is, in the majority of cases, terrible ; and in the second place, the offspring of such a union is convict by heredity and demoralized by environment. On this subject, Mr. Zhook, quoting Mr. P. A. Salomon, who was Director-in-Chief of Russian Prisons from 1896 says, "The so-called concubines, i.e. the exiled women who are given to the settlers to help them, and for the mutual management of their households, consider them- selves as having the right freely to dispose of themselves ; and they leave their partners if the latter try to prevent them admitting outside visitors. Usually, however, this is not the case, as the co-habitants share all their earnings." Mr. Zhook adds, "Deprived of all civil rights, she loses by law the right to have a family; but it is impossible to deprive her of the right to feel disgust towards the forced co-habitation ; and once she forsakes her ' master ' there is no other way open to her but to settle down with another one. This, indeed, is that ' hard labour ' to which criminal women are subjected." At the same time, it should be pointed out, that the women being in the minority,* the power to leave their " men " has a restrain- ing effect, and in the event of their doing so they have a choice, miserable as that may be. There is even a sadder aspect of this matter. It is the effect upon the free population, the wives of convicts who have joined them, but more especially the free-born children. All around them are openly vicious practices * The numbers of men and women on the island who had been sent out as convicts were, on January i, 1898, respectively 19,770, and 3397, or in round numbers in the proportion of 8 to i. The ratio is reduced by the presence of 1308 women who followed their condemned husbands to the island. Only six men did this in the case of their wives being despatched to Sakhalin as criminals. SLAVO TO ADO TIM 145 and scenes of unblushing prostitution. The very " game " of concubinage is in vogue in the mixed schools. To say that fathers traded with their daughters is to say little. I had great difficulty, I am not sure that I succeeded, in convincing a highly educated prisoner of rank, familiar with English literature, that fathers did not stand in the streets of London offering their daughters for sale. His experience on Sakhalin only confirmed some garbled reports of London life retailed by Russian papers. It would be impossible — and probably incredible to the reader — for me to mention the many terrible things I heard, but I feel it only due to the children of Sakhalin, if any reform is to be brought about, to quote a statement which I should not have dared to make myself, but which comes from one of unquestioned authority. What more awful charge against the officials and the criminal population can be made than in these words, "There is not a girl over nine years of age on the island who is a virgin." The question of heredity in crime is still engaging the attention of criminologists, but there is a growing opinion in favour of the enforced celibacy of the worst criminals. Mr. Geo. Griffith, in his vivid narrative of a visit to the French penal settlement of New Caledonia, speaks with no uncertain voice on this subject. After describing the courtship and marriage of convicts there, he shows us pictures of contented couples with prosperous homes; but he will not spare the truth, and adds, "The administration claimed success for it on the ground that none of the children of such marriages have ever been convicted of an offence against the law. Nevertheless, the Government have most wisely put a stop to this revolting parody on the most sacred of human institutions, and now wife-murderers may no longer marry prisoners or infan- ticides, with full liberty to reproduce their species and have them educated by the State, to afterwards take their place as free citizens of the colony. . . ." And later, L 346 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST "When the boys (children of convicts) were lined up before us in the playground, I saw about seventy-six separate and distinct reasons for the abolition of convict marriages. On every face and form were stamped the unmistakable brands of criminality, imbecility, moral crookedness, and general degeneration, not all on each one, but there were none without some." The unwisdom of continuing the breed of criminals is, I believe, forcing itself on the minds of the Russian authorities, but in Russia reforms move slowly through the vast machinery of bureaucracy. The re-marriage, if so the civil contract can be called, of wives who have been deported to Sakhalin, depends on their husbands remaining in Russia ; but since there were only six on the island who had followed their wives, the chance, therefore, of a wife on Sakhalin ever being joined by her husband is extremely small, as is her return to Russia ; hence the " civil marriage " or concubinage. In very many cases the deported wife has herself destroyed the chance by murdering her husband, for which crime she finds herself on Sakhalin. For out of the number of murderers on January I, 1898, then engaged in hard labour (2836 and there were probably three or more times this number if we include ex-convicts), 634 were women, most of whom had murdered their husbands. Strictly speaking, the priests on Sakhalin refuse to give the sanc- tion of a religious ceremony to such unions, unless a formal dissolution has been taken out by the innocent spouse left behind in Russia. Madame Gregoriev, our hostess at Ado Tim, was a rare exception to her class, and with her "better half," known far and wide, I afterwards learned, as honest and thrifty. She was equally far removed from the slow, time- 3s-no-object Russian. Her day began at dawn, and included the tending of the cows and work in the fields, as well as her domestic duties. At dusk the shutters were duly SLAVO TO ADO TIM 147 barred for safety before attempting to light up. A rich feast of a platter of rice and milk was placed before my companion and myself, which we shared in primitive fashion. Conversation ranged from the news of the village and the last brodyaga shot by the trackers, to the country of my origin ; after which our hosts, with true politeness, offered us their only bed ; but, refusing to disturb them, we elected to sleep on the floor. Hay was brought, our rugs spread, and we lay down with revolvers under our extemporized pillows, trusting that if an enemy came it might not be one of " our own household." Strange it seemed when one's thoughts did wing home- wards to England to be lying here on the floor of a hut, in the depths of the taiga, with two convicts whose crime for all we knew was murder, stranger still when the flickering light of a tallow candle showed two reverently bowed figures repeating inaudible prayers before the ikoni Truly a picture for a Russian Millet ! CHAPTER IX ON THE RIVER TIM " Each facing our man with arms loaded " — A notorious thief and Ivan Dontremember — An ex-naval captain shot — A native's idea of measurement — A village possessing seven bears — Dug-outs in course of making. THE night passed without incident, and an early rise enabled us to interview our overnight acquaint- ance, the Little Russian, despatch breakfast, and make a start by 6.45 a.m. We finally arranged that our crew should consist of two men only, and that they were to paddle us down stream in the hope of our finding Gilyaks at one of their villages on the banks, who would be willing to take us to the coast. It was agreed that we should go a day's journey at least in the attempt, and if we failed by sunset — well — we left the future, a la Russe, to Providence. Our men were obliging, but they gave us to understand that they could only go a few hours down the river ; and made much of the many days the return journey would take them against stream. Once more we marched to the river bank, an imposing cavalcade including Madame Gregoriev herself, who in- sisted on carrying by no means the lightest of our many bundles. Here a curious phenomenon, which I have wit- nessed nowhere else, appeared. An arc of mist, rainbow- like but white, dense and broad, rose and fell in the river, with a chord, as well as I could judge, of about one to 148 ON THE RIVER TIM 149 one and a half miles. This was at 6.50 a.m., and in ten minutes it had disappeared before the sun's rays. I can only attribute the phenomenon to air currents, but how or why I am unable to explain. On the bank was our native crew of the previous day just setting off to track a bear up stream. A little lower down were some Russian villagers spearing salmon from the bank. A well-aimed thrust, followed by a moment or two of wriggling, while the thong-held hook gripped tight, and the great struggling, gleaming fish was on the bank. In less than five minutes another followed, and so on, for they were literally romping, splashing, swimming with dorsal fin above the surface, and cutting all sorts of mad capers in the river. Others ageing, as could be seen by their dirty colour, distorted jaws, and large hooked teeth, and exhausted by the long journey from the sea against the strong current, were pitifully gasping with gills above water, shortly to join their companions lying dead in numbers on the shoals. Bidding our hostess "Da svidaniya" (till we meet again), we took our seats, each facing our man with arms loaded. It was a nuisance to have to keep such a close watch on our oarsmen, but it was not unnatural that our arms and baggage should be a source of great temptation to them. The object of all those who escape from prison or from police surveillance is to get enough money or stores to enable them to escape from the island. Some successful attempts have been made to get away to Japan or America, but they are mostly matters of past history, and the priva- tions suffered have been almost greater than on their prison island. Mr. A. H. S. Landor mentions that the Ainus of Yezo told him of four Russians from Sakhalin, who escaped in an open boat and landed half-starved and unable to make ISO IN THE UTTERMOST EAST themselves understood on the coast near Cape Soya ; and, he adds, that the natives told him of many dead bodies, probably of unfortunate convicts, washed ashore there. Many years ago a party of fugitives were picked up in the Pacific and landed in America ; and Mr. D., a Scotch- man, and partner in a Russian firm exporting beche-de- mer, etc., from South Sakhalin, whom I met in Vladivostok, gave me an account of his meeting them there and recog- nizing some who had worked for him. More commonly efforts are made by a gang to cross the narrowest part of the Straits of Tartary to the main- land between Capes Pogobi and Lazarev. It seems a terrible risk, and not worth the escape from confinement, to run the gauntlet of being tracked down or shot, or to die of starvation, cold, or shipwreck ; but as a doctor on the island said to me, so great is their longing to be free, that many of the prisoners would willingly exchange their hard fare and confinement "for two or three days' freedom and the breath of fresh air with the risk of being shot." Those in the kandalnaya tjurma, or " chained prison," at Alexandrovsk, are kept in idleness, an idleness and ennui only relieved by surreptitious gambling. If they have no money or secret store of food, and there are extra- ordinary underground ways of possessing themselves of these, the Crown tools lent them to repair their boots will be staked, then their clothes, and finally their rations even to a month ahead. Should the gamester lose all these, he regards the last as a debt of honour, and he succeeds in paying it in a novel manner. In fact, it reflects a standard of honour that even Monte Carlo could not exceed. The loser is put into a cell, and with his own consent starved for every two days, and fed on the third, thus accumulating rations to his credit which are taken in payment of his debt. But even relieved by an occasional game of cards, the ON THE RIVER TIM 151 ennui of years of confinement in idleness is terrible. Is it surprising that the prisoner feels anything is better than that ? With the spring comes the longing, increasing with the lengthening days, to breathe the air of freedom, to go where he pleases, and to rest where he chooses. The taiga matushka — the dear mother taiga — is calling. Oh ! the passionate desire to stretch one's limbs full length on the sweet-smelling earth and listen to the rustling of the leaves, the music of the woods, the merry voice of stream and bird. Oh! to live and die in the arms of "Mother Forest," free as the bird that cleaves the air with joyous wing. And so the risk is lost to sight in the passionate longing to be once more free ; but this is not all, for there is yet another chance for the poor brodyaga even if he be cap- tured. Should he escape being shot by the trackers, or if he give himself up voluntarily, as many do on the approach of winter, he will be flogged and once more imprisoned, but he may possibly get off with a diminution of his original sentence. It happens in this way. If identified, he will have his sentence lengthened by an addition ; but if he professes to have forgotten his name and family, and whence he comes, and he cannot be identified, there is nothing to be done but to sentence him as a brodyaga to four years' hard labour. On Sakhalin it is not so easy to outwit the authorities as in the vast region of the mainland, but should he succeed, this "Mr. Ivan Dont- remember " scores considerably. This was the story of the Little Russian now sitting face to face with me. It was truly astonishing to me how these men expanded when away from the officials. My interpreter, himself a convict, they regarded as one of themselves. Our " captain," as we called him, was a bright, intelligent individual, with a good fund of stories ; and obviously he would have been the life of our party, until such time as he chose to compass the death of it. According 152 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST to his version, he was forty-seven years old, an "exile- settler," and his name was Marokin. Originally sentenced to twenty-two years' hard labour, he had succeeded in making his escape on the mainland. Captured at large, and recognized, five years were added to his sentence. Of this whole twenty-seven years he had done but one and a half before he again made a bid for freedom in Siberia. Yet again he was recaptured, but on this occasion he had forgotten his commune and his familiya (surname), and was therefore despatched to Sakhalin for four years. He could now chuckle over his success in outwitting the officials, having done but five and a half instead of twenty- seven years. All this and much more he told us ; and some days later we had his story corroborated by other convicts, old companions of his, whom we came upon — excepting in one particular. His name, they said, was not Marokin, but Grodiyanka, the famous thief of Kiev. The river, which was about one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet wide at Slavo, was broadening steadily as we descended. Shoals and rapids, however, still testified to its shallowness, and necessitated the use of paddles for yet two more days' journey. The pebbly bottomed rapids were shot safely, though not with the skill of the natives. Our boat, a cross between a boat and a punt, was a clumsier affair than the native dug-out canoe, and our men had only a nodding acquaintance with the river. It leaked out in the course of conversation that there was another reason why they were not anxious to take us far. They had no right to the Crown boat, and an official was expected who would require it. There had been a sad affair of hrodyaga shooting down the river, and in accordance with regulations the prison doctor from Derbensk had to make a post-mortem. He was expected in our wake, and his only means of progress was the Crown boat which we, unofficial persons, were using. The picture of this doctor, kicking his heels and perhaps ON THE RIVER TIM 153 portions of the anatomy of other people as well at Ado Tim, for a few days, did not harrow my feelings as much as might be expected, at least the kicking of his own person did not, since we had heard from the lips of the good wife of the ex-overseer at Derbensk the following story about him. It appears that the son of a comparatively well-to-do man, an ex-convict merchant, came to him to ask him to go to his father, who was very ill. The doctor refused point-blank. It was after 2 o'clock, and his official hours ceased then. The poor man offered him money, but to no purpose, and going home in despair found his father already dead. Our informant added that the doctor was certainly cruel, but that on this occasion, to do him justice, he was probably drunk. At any rate, one hopes that, long as are doctors' hours in this country, for the sake of us poor patients the medical profession will not form a trade union or join the early closing association. The story of the death of the brodyaga, which he was now on his way to investigate, or rather report on, for it was merely a formal proceeding, had been the chief topic of conversation at Ado Tim, the affair being recent, and the actors in the scene present. The story assumed different aspects with our various informants. According to the soldiers' tale, he had been caught beyond the mouth of the river on the north-east coast, and their overseer from Ado Tim had been despatched with two or three of their number to bring him back. It is several days' journey up the river, but they had scarcely gone two, when he made his escape, the soldiers having left him with the boatmen while they went off to shoot their dinner. The boatmen were themselves ex-convicts, in fact one was Grodiyanka (alias Marokin) himself, and they wouldn't put themselves in the way of an escape of a brodyaga, especially as he was a barin in their eyes ; for he had been a naval captain, so I learned later, and spoke French fluently. These men. 1 54 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST therefore, left the boat, and were of course overcome with surprise on their return to find the prisoner flown ! Taking with him the bag of biscuits, or rather roasted pulled black bread, he fled into the forest. The soldiers, coming back, were naturally wroth, but they could do nothing at once, for tracking in this virgin forest and swamp-land is difficult and dangerous. How well-nigh impossible it is to find one's way in this dense Siberian taiga one realizes in tracking a bear. A Gilyak village was therefore sought, and natives and their dogs brought to track down the unfortunate ex-captain. The soldiers' version of the sequel was that, coming up with him, one of their number fell upon him and tried to make him captive, but the brodyaga, attempting to wrest the soldier's gun from him, was shot in self-defence by his would-be captor. " Then," they added, " the Gilyak tracker fired the fatal shot." Grodiyanka, however, said the shots were in the back, and he believed that the soldiers merely picked off the fugitive when they sighted him so as to save further trouble, Se non h vera, h ben trovato. Gilyaks, whom we afterwards met, said that Grodiyanka and his fellow- oarsmen had not only indirectly assisted the ex-captain to escape, but had stolen forty military cartridges from the overseer to give the prisoner. They added that the latter had built himself a wooden shelter, roofed with grass, and when the soldiers came upon him, knowing they would probably shoot him, he rushed out and embraced the nearest soldier, so that it was with difficulty he could get his gun free and shoot. The natives affirmed that the prisoner wa!s shot in the breast. Four days later we passed the spot where the body lay and has since been interred, a lonely grave in the solitude of the primeval forest, one of so many hundreds of lone lost ones of whom few received this last act of fellow-man — a friendly covering of earth to protect them from the prowling beast or the eagles that hovered high A GII.VAk Tk.M Kl l; I /;./,„, /,,v<' 154- ON THE RIVER TIM 155 over the scene of their death struggle. Outlawed and degraded, driven to depths of cold unfeeling cruelty, did they remember in that hour their childhood's days and a mother's tender care ? Now no hand was there to smooth the aching brow or moisten the parched lips of the helpless one lost, alone in the vast forest — none save the taiga, matushka herself ! The banks of the river were low for the most part, broken by the rise of an occasional limestone cliff of about thirty feet in height Bending over from the tops of these, toppling headlong, halfway down or already lying prone in the water, were larches and birches ; while the stretches of low bank were thickly dotted with poplars and nut- trees ; and overhanging the river's edge were willows and alders, giving hiding-place to a fleet of ducks here and there. Though we had left behind the last Russian settlement at Ado Tim, three or four rude shelters were passed in the course of the morning, which were occupied during the spawning season by a few Russian " exile-settlers " for the catching and salting down of salmon against the winter's needs. At a bend of the river we came upon one of these shelters, and five men dragging a seine-net, about two hundred feet long, which contained one hundred or so of plunging and splashing kita. At another of these rude huts, which housed a solitary Russian and some barrels of salt and dried grass, we stopped to discuss our midday meal — a duck we had shot during the morning. Our men behaved very well, and though the keen edge of our dis- trust was wearing off, we did not look forward to spend- ing a night with them or to the prospect of night watches. Occasionally we came upon a Gilyak village, consisting of half a dozen huts or so, and at each one hailed any visible member of the community, inquiring if there were not men who would take us ; but they all with one accord made excuses. Either the able-bodied were away fishing. IS6 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST or the only person available was ill or had no safe canoe ; and so our hopes of a native crew, and even of the prosecu- tion of our journey, were growing ominously less, when about 4 o'clock we espied a native canoe paddled by a single Gilyak arrayed in all the glory of mocassins, pigtail, and Manchu hat. We hailed him, asking — "Will you take us to the mouth of the river and back?" "No." " We will give you twenty rubles." " No, I must catch fish for the winter stores." " Yes, but if we give you money you can buy stores." This shaft of logic winged its way, for it produced some slight hesitation on his part, and his canoe was edged a little nearer to ours. We were not brodyagi, or " exile- settlers," evidently by our quantities of baggage. But still — no — he was not at all keen for the business. There followed more eloquent persuasion on our part, and he relented so far as to offer to take us for thirty rubles, which after considerable haggling was reduced to twenty-five ; not an exorbitant sum for the eighteen days during which he and a companion were to be at our service, and on twelve of which they were to paddle, row, and punt us. This was the "market price," however, and though no perquisites had been part of the stipulation, the frequent request, " Will the ' princes ' give some gunpowder, brick- tea, sugar, or tobacco ? " was seldom refused. Our new acquaintance's name was Vanka,* and he must go down stream to the next village of Irr Kirr to fetch a companion, his cousin — how many times removed I am not in a position to state. The cousin's name was Armunka, that is as near to it as we could get in Russian. I am afraid we never really appreciated Armunka at his true social position — at least, not until we found him * This is really Russian nomenclature, Vanka being a diminutive of Ivan, as Bertie of Herbert. ON THE RIVER TIM 157 half-drunk, and then we learnt his aristocratic claims. But that comes later in the story. Lashing the canoe to ours, we proceeded to descend the river to Irr Kirr. Time passed, and still we did not sight the village, and so we asked how far off it was. " Six bends of the river ! " There are bends and bends, and the information lacked something of definiteness, as the countryman's mile in England, or the peasant's stunde in Germany ; but after we had been assured more than once that there was but one bend more, we tried a different tack, and asked, " How many versts is it ? " " One," came the answer, and a little later, " Two ! " This mode of progression was, to say the least of it, not satisfactory, and we harked back to the beginning of the book of weights and measures. " How many sazhen* are there in a verst ? " " Thirty ! " And then he added triumphantly, " A verst is not long, hut very narrow ! " And with this Euclidean definition we were fain to be content. It wanted yet an hour to sunset when we reached Irr Kirr. Here, with some relief, we dismissed our Rus- sians, who were undisguisedly delighted with a pay of twelve rubles, and picked up our fresh crew. Something has been already said of the Gilyaks as a race in Chapter VI. The illustrations will give the reader a better idea than any detailed description. I will, therefore, merely refer to a few points. The Gilyak is short of stature, about 5 feet 3 inches in height, spare of limb, and, though often wiry, scarcely robust. His women-folk scarcely exceed 4 feet 6 inches. His complexion is tawny, gipsy-like, but not yellow, and his hair, which he wears in a pigtail, is raven black. Altogether his features betoken a mixed race. Though he has the brachycephalic (round) head, the broad face, and high cheek-bones of the Mongol, * I sazhen = 7 feet, sew sazh. = i verst. 158 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST yet the slight brow ridges, big mouth, prominent lips, and flattened nasal bridge of the latter are considerably modified in his case. The majority of Gilyaks possess the hairless faces of the Mongol, and perhaps the exceptions who have bushy beards are descendants of Ainu and Gilyak ancestors. In summer they used to dress in fish-skins,* and in winter in seal- or dog-skins. Gradually Chinese cotton {ta-fu) has filtered in through Manchuria, and largely taken the place of fish-skins, though this material is still used for parts of the dress, especially of the Gilyak woman ; and when visiting a Gilyak headman I found a mat of salmon- skins, stitched together, spread in my honour. In winter the men wear coats of dog-skins, but the women favour seal-skin, the short bristly hair being less in the way iii their domestic occupations. The men add to their coat in winter a short petticoat of seal-skin. In summer they go bare-footed, except on journeys when, as in winter, they use mocassins of seal-skin, the hair on the outside of the leg portion only. For underclothing, a ta-pu shirt, "shorts," and long gaiters, or spatter-dashes, like the Chinese, are worn by the men ; and by the women long gaiters only, and a shirt or two of cotton or fish-skin. The outer tunic of the Gilyak woman, or rather frock, for it possesses sleeves, has Chinese cash coins strung round the border, which reaches just below the knees. The Gilyaks are veritable children of the forest, finding their home, food, and gods therein. Cultivation of the soil is unknown to them, and they live mainly on fish and the flesh of beasts that fall to their snares. By bartering the skins of such animals they obtain tobacco, brick-tea, etc. They have both summer and winter dwellings, * Salmon {Salnto lagocephalus and S. proteus, which are known in Eastern Siberia as kita and gorbusha respectively). GliA" \K \VI|. !■ \\|i M Ml i| \. \ I \- /.!..■ t"::^ 15^ ON THE RIVER TIM 159 constructed of timber and bark, a full description of which I will leave until later. Vanka having found his cousin, a man of rather bigger build than himself, and informed him of our proposed, they declared themselves ready within a few minutes. So natural is it for these people to be wandering, so much at home are they on river and in forest, that scarcely any prepara- tion was necessary for this journey of nearly three weeks. It reminded me of a story of a friend's experience in the far west of Canada. He was on a survey party, and in the forest they came one day upon a solitary Indian, who had evidently strayed far from his home. They said, " Why, you are lost ! " " No," he replied, " me no lost, wigwam lost." Their preparations did not include P. and O. overland trunks or hat-cases, familiarly labelled " Not Wanted," but simply a seal's stomach filled with oil, a scraggy bit of dried fish, a few leaves of tobacco, an old double-barrelled fowling-piece, in a home-made seal-skin cover, a fish-spear, and an outer garment each — this was the sum total of their baggage. Established as before in our new craft, each of us sitting at the bottom of the canoe, and facing our men with the baggage in the centre between us, we set ofT once more to advance our journey by a few more versts before twilight compelled us to camp. How different, however, was our progress, and with what buoyancy we rode the surface of the now silvering waters of the broad river. Our craft was about twenty- live feet long and two and a half broad, light, keel-less, and though easily capsized a racing craft in speed. More than once I came across one of these " dug-outs " in course of making. A suitable tree near the river edge is chosen, and cut down. This, and all the other work on it, is done by means of an axe, which the natives obtain either by bartering skins with the Russians, or, as at Pogobi, in part payment for a boat made over to a gang of brodyagi. On i6o IN THE UTTERMOST EAST the stump of the tree left is placed a tzakh — that is, a twig with whittled shavings adhering to the top such as the Ainus call an Inao. This, like the cross (jf) stuck in the ground beside a house in course of building by the Russians, is to keep away the evil spirits, the daimones, which here haunt the forest, and especially the swampy regions. The bark is chipped off, and very little hewing and trimming suffices on the outside, as will be seen from the illustration opposite p. 252. The hollowing process follows, and about one-third or one-fourth of the circumference of the log is cut into, the remaining two-thirds or three- quarters forming the outer surface of the boat. When duly hollowed to a thickness at the gunwale of about an inch, a cross-section will thus give about three-quarters of the circumference of a circle. The sides or lips of the boat leaning to each other are then stretched outwards, by means of sticks placed crosswise inside, so that the sides may become vertical, and the final form of a cross-section of the boat be that of the letter U. All the work is performed with a couple of hatchets, though I once saw among the Orochon tribe a primitive plane. A thin rim is affixed to the gunwale, and at the bow and stern, which are often exactly similar, are short flat projections used in punting. When dried and stretched, two or three rungs keep the sides rigid. The whole process takes, under favourable circumstances, one month, but in winter two. In the management of them, their makers were as skilful as in their manufacture. They would stand at bow and stern of our frail craft, punting up stream, and not disturb its equilibrium one iota ; albeit they were so careful, that if I leaned over in shooting a duck or firing at a seal, or shifted my position a trifle, to ease cramped limbs, Vanka's sharp eye would detect it, and I should be called back to the status quo. The low limestone cliffs of the morning now gave way ON THE RIVER TIM i6i to conglomerate resting on hardened argillaceous sand- stone, which, though not attractive for the practical purpose of a bed for weary limbs, offered an excellent illustration of simple geological action — the draining off of rain-water through a pervious bed at the line of junction with the impervious. From a ledge of the latter, midway in the low cliff, it was pouring as a miniature waterfall into the river below. So simple, so small a matter here, those who have moved among the victims of the famines know how terribly important a feature it is in India. What thousands, millions, of lives would have been spared were it not so. Unfortunately for famine-stricken Central India, this pervious stratum, in its case the famous "Dekkan trap," is in parts 6000 and possibly 10,000 feet thick. To bore is useless, for it is impossible to pump from that depth. Rivers cannot form, and therefore irrigation is impracticable. Tanks or lakes are a last resource, but enormously expensive and scarcely satisfactory. The yelping of sledge-dogs, and the smell from strings of fish drying in the sun, and just visible at the bend of the river, aroused us to the contemplation of another Gilyak village, if I may so dignify a collection of half a dozen huts with that name. Two unfinished canoes lay in their beds of fragrant chips ; and beyond, on the " floor " of the village, were women cleaning fish preparatory to stringing it Huts of larch or pine planks, rectangular in shape, with obliquely sloping bark roofs, and doors about three feet high, a few similarly shaped but quite small erections on piles, for storing the winter provisions of dried fish, and three bear cages made up the village of Ukavo. Nevertheless, Ukavo was at the time of my visit a rich, or at least a potentially rich, village. The basis of its affluence present, or to come, was even more assured than that of the new township in Australia which, possessing 400 inhabitants, a town hall, a telephone union, and a collection of galvanized-iron roofed cabins of unvarying M i62 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST pattern, promised soon to throw Ballarat into the shade ! No mines, gold or otherwise, entered into the Gilyaks' calculation, but they possessed a far more important asset in the shape of seven bears. Such a form of wealth, or rather capital, may require some explanation, even to an economist. The object of the capture and feeding of the bear is the holding of a great yearly semi-religious festival, in which the slaughter of the beast plays the chief part. It is more probable, that in the older times a full-grown bear was captured just previous to the fete, and that to-day the letter rather than the spirit of the sacrifice is kept up by seizing cubs and rearing them for three or four years. The feeding is a matter of no difficulty, as will be seen when we come to the preparation of the Gilyak's winter stores. To the owner or capturer of the bear, the feast turns out a very profitable investment, for visitors from neighbouring villages flock in, and while necessaries are provided by the owner, luxuries are on sale, and bring him in a handsome profit. The animals are kept in stout log cages, adorned with a pine-branch at each corner. Wishing to see, and if possible to photograph one of the occupants, I desired the villagers to bring one out, or at least unroof him. There were, however, too few men-folk at home, and the adult bears were very fierce, as indeed we gathered from their move- ments and remarks within ; so two of the five little cubs were partially unroofed. The poor little orphans snarled, and shrank frightened into a corner, tumbling over one another, and trying in their terror to hide each beneath the other. Ere the month of January, 1905, is passed, or perhaps before, their spirits will have been released to carry messages to the great Pal ni vookk. CHAPTER X TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM A departed spirit " — The big brown bear — Salmon for the spearing — Sun-dried fish — Eagle's wings to aid the flight of the soul of the murdered — We pass brodyagi encamped — I miss 5000 rubles — We join a bear in a seal hunt — A night in the swamps. RESUMING our journey again, we were still casting about for a low, level, sandy bed, and the twilight was fast gathering, when my attention was called from the terrestrial to the supernatural. From out of the now dark and gloomy forest came a half moan, half cry. It was uncanny beyond words. A cry from the un- known, a moan from the depths of undisturbed regions. Our Gilyaks ceased paddling, and we asked, " What is it ? It must be some animal. Perhaps it is in the claws of a bear." " Kaukray ! kaukray ! * No ! no ! It is no animal. It is the shade of a dead man wandering in the forest." For the Gilyaks not only believe in a future world, but their conceptions really connote immortality. The mem- bers of their race on the mainland, who live on the banks of the Amur, hold that the spirit of the departed one reaches after several days' journey a great village in the centre of the earth called Mligh-vo, where life is much the same as on earth, with this difference, that there the hunt- ing and fishing are unstinted. In fact, it is the familiar * A Gilyak word, meaning " no " or " nothing." 16 i64 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST "happy hunting ground" of the Indian. A distinction is made between those who die a natural and a violent death, for the spirits of the murdered and suicides fly to heaven {tld) direct, thus avoiding the long journey, and therefore not requiring food to be placed at their grave. How and in what Mligh-vo differs from tlo they cannot explain, but the differentiation marks their conception of the sacredness of the soul of the murdered or suicide. The Gilyaks of Sakhalin, being descendants of pioneers who long ago left the " Old country," are more free-think- ing than those of the elder clans on the Amur. Probably a closer intercourse and possibly intermarriages with the Ainus have also helped to modify their views. At any rate, one finds considerable divergence in practice from the old traditions, and many differences of custom and thought, not only between them and their Amur brethren, but be- tween the Tim and Tro * Gilyaks and their brethren on the west coast of the island. Vanka declared that the spirit of a good man went to the Great Spirit (to the East, where the sun rises), but that of a bad man into grass. Whether or not he was giving us the general conception of his tribe we could not make out. Some days later, in conversation with their Cham, or " medicine man," and some of the elders of the Tro Gilyaks, we were informed that " a good man's spirit goes into the ground into the middle of the earth (evidently to Mligh-vo) ; but a bad man's is disturbed, and drifts about like air round the huts of the village." The spirits of the deceased occasionally hold communi- cation with their earthly relations ; for, endowed with super- natural capacities, they can in moments of dulness pay visits to their kindred, give them useful counsel and warn them against unknown troubles. If they desire to show * The Tim Gilyaks are those living on the river Tim, while the Tro Gilyaks are settled at the mouth in the Bays of Ni, Nabil, and Chaivo. TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 165 themselves to any one they can ; but it is only given to man to see them in a state approaching death, i.e. in a dream. Talking on this subject to an old Gilyak, he said, " Spirits of the departed knock at the door sometimes. They come to warn us of some misfortune." " But," I asked, " how are you to know that it is the spirit of the deceased that knocks > " " Why, of course, you call, and if there is no answer you know that it is a departed spirit, and then you must throw out some food." " Have you ever seen such ? " "No." The Ainus of Yezo have a similar belief in the earthly visits of the departed ones. Among them, according to the Rev. J. Batchelor, the terrestrial and celestial in- habitants mutually appear as ghosts, but to their fellows as substantial. The word ghosts is even too material a conception, for their presence cannot be detected by mortal sense. Only the dogs are able to apprehend their approach, and you may at once know of their proximity by the animals howling. The reader will smile, but the Gilyak would say, let him only hear and he may be converted from his ignorant unbelief. My conversion took place at the village of Dagi, on the Okhotsk coast, where my interpreter and I lay awake one night in the hut of an Orotchon. Perhaps the fact that we were ill with ptomaine poisoning may have predisposed us to thoughts of Mligh-vo. Certain it is that at about 2 a.m. a low howl began, echoed and varied by thirty or forty other members of the canine race, a low peculiar cry of pain growing into a long drawn-out wail, rising and swelling until at last it ended in almost a scream. An unholy, ill-omened proceeding which surely nought earthly could account for ! But to return to the river and our Gilyak oarsmen, the 166 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST departed spirit on this occasion, with all due deference to their weighty traditions, was a snowy owl {Syrnium uralense). If spirits were already abroad it was high time for material bodies to retire, and another consideration in- duced us to choose our camp. Master Bruin regarded these sandy shoals as his particular preserves, which was clear from the number of his footprints we had already seen. It must be about the time of his rising, probably he was at his toilet at the moment preparatory to his night's fishing, and it behoved us if we wished to avoid legal disputes to take possession at once. Beaching our canoe at a pleasant, clean, sandy shoal, dry from the recent fall of the river, Vanka leapt out to take the omens, in other words, to note if there were signs of brodyagi in the near neighbourhood. Satisfied that there was nothing more than the foot- prints of Master Petz, who had been down to drink and fish during the previous night, we landed. The shoal was of considerable length, but narrowed to about twenty feet in depth by the willows, which formed here the van of the forest. Our natives ran into the taiga to cut down willow branches for our bed, and stakes for the tent and fire The tent, which consisted of supports with a piece of canvas thrown over, was quickly erected and the fire lighted with marvellous despatch, we meanwhile unloading the canoe and spreading the rugs. One end of the open tabernacle, where our heads were to lie, was barricaded with our baggage, as we preferred, if Bruin's curiosity overcame his prudence, that he should be introduced to our feet first. These operations were not concluded with- out alarms and an occasional run for our guns, but neither bear nor brodyagi followed up the signals. The brown bear {Ursus arctos), in whose habitat we found ourselves, attains to a great size in Sakhalin, in fact he gets bigger the further east one goes from European TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 167 Russia. In colour he varies from black to brown, but the latter is the more common form. Writers have differed as to the attitude he adopts towards man. Dr. Schrenck, writing of the Amur and Sakhalin bears, speaks of their " bos artiges Naturell ; " while Mr. Sternberg, who was a political exile on Sakhalin for many years, has declared that they are " wenig aggressiver Natur und es ist nichts Ungewohnliches, in nachster Nahe weidender Heerden oder im Walde Beeren suchender Weiber Meister Petz umher wandeln zu sehen, ohne dass er die Einen oder die Anderen behelligt oder auch nur in Schrecken setzt." The truth appears to me to lie between these two statements. Should you come suddenly unawares upon the she bear with her young, a fatal blow from her paw or a final embrace will be yours. Even Mr. Sternberg admits that through hunger he "sometimes attacks the natives, and not seldom one of the latter is killed in the attack." On the other hand, it is true, that should Master Petz see you passing at some distance, and he be not in evil case, and you do not molest him, he may merely pursue his own course as even a satisfied lion or tiger will do. The taiga yields him abundance of berries, and the river quan- tities of fish, while — stolen fruits being sweet, even to bears — ^he will occasionally add to these a sable or hare caught in the snares of the Gilyaks. The Caucasian farmer, whose agricultural success I have already chronicled, told us many a story of the adventures of himself and his neighbours with the bears which roamed in the primeval forest around his village of Uskovo. He had known no less than seven men attacked and mauled by bears, but, he added, " the bear is, after all, cowardly, for not one of the men was killed ! " The farmer and " dairyman " of Sakhalin still labours under difficulties from which his English representative has been for centuries immune. One of these seven men belonging to Uskovo was driving his cows to pasture, and 168 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST stopped on his way to make tea. Continuing again, he came suddenly upon his two cows lying dead, and stand- ing over one of them, which he had already half devoured, was a big bear, defiant and angry at being disturbed. The man was so taken aback, that he stood rooted to the spot, though a gun was in his hand ; but not so Bruin, who, leaving his prey with a growl of rage, fell upon the man, and before he could escape planted his great claws in his shoulder, making such holes that you could get several of your fingers into them. Among the Gilyaks the CKuff, as they call the bear on Sakhalin, plays the greatest rdle in the animal world. He is regarded with peculiar sentiments, and the beliefs and ceremonies which cluster around his sacrifice are unique and interesting. The natives are fully aware of the CKuff^s cunning, and regard him almost as a Gilyak, certainly as a competitor, and love to tell stories of his knowing ways. They describe how he will go a-fishing, by preference at night, but if by day, he will stand with his right paw held close to his breast lest the sun should cast a shadow on the water and frighten the fish; how he will get up on his hind-legs to fight, and parry a spear- thrust, or shield his heart from a shot, with his paw. After all, Bruin is very human in many of his ways, and the brotherly feeling of the Russian peasant towards him is expressed in the pet names they give him — Mishka and Master Petz. On the mainland one not infrequently comes across the cubs kept as pets. I have seen them housed in a kennel in a yard, and even tied up to the side of a shanty by the wayside, where the bystander might be seen trying to give a friendly pat before receiving a less amicable return. The Caucasian farmer of Uskovo once caught three cubs and put them in a big box in his yard. One day one of them succeeded in making his escape by gnawing through the wood. The alarm was immediately raised by the wife of the farmer. TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 169 but the men of the village were in the fields. The for- tunate cub, however, did not make off at once, but, seeing that his companions had not been able to follow him, went back to the box and literally "lent a hand just as a man would." Unfortunately number two was clumsy, or else too fat to squeeze through, and all his attempts were fruitless ; yet number one did not relax his efforts until the cries of the men, now fast nearing the court- yard, warned him to be off. Curiously enough, the little animal, on emerging from the yard, immediately made straight to the spot where he had been captured, and then disappeared into the taiga. As soon as our luxurious repast of boiled rice and cocoa was finished, the fire was allowed to die out, for, though a protection against prowling Master Bruin, it might prove an ally to more dangerous foes. By its light the brodyagi could have easily picked us off while remaining invisible themselves. The night passed without incident, and, awaking before sunrise, I found Vanka already abroad and in the act of throwing a burning faggot into the water, exclaiming, with childish delight as it smoked and steamed, "There goes a steamer." He had come into contact with Russians more than, perhaps, any other Gilyak that I met, with one exception, and had probably made a visit to the west coast, where he would have seen a steamer. His cousin was no such traveller, and knew only a dozen or so Russian words. As Vanka was preparing to put off alone in the canoe, I asked him, " Are you going to catch fish ? " There was no answer. I repeated my question. " Hush ! hush ! " he said, " it is as Tol ni voohh wishes. You must not say that, or I may catch none." Which reminded one of friends nearer home, who check one in the act of congratulating one's self on an escape from misfortune, with a full belief in the sinister effects conse- quent on such foolhardy boastfulness. 170 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST The performance of our morning ablutions was to them a source of considerable interest and astonishment. They never went through such an extraordinary perform- ance. What could be the object of such rites? What occult motive could induce the two white men to go through with such an unpleasant function at 5.30 a.m. on an autumn morning? Possibly the explanation was to be sought in ceremonial, or maybe we suffered from some foul disease ! Breakfast despatched, tent struck, and all the rolling up and stowing away of sacks, skins, etc., accomplished, an early start was made. The sun soon gained power, and a magnificently cloudless day smiled once more upon us. In vain we scanned the heavens for a cloud, and laughed in our sleeve in spite of Tol ni vookh, and statis- ticians or quoters of statistics, in far Europe, who should say that Sakhalin had only five days free from fog, cloud, or rain in the year. I had already seen five such days during the week I had spent on the island. How glorious to be floating ever onward into the unknown. Virgin forest to right and left, and ever a fresh vista with each bend of the river. Now it was low- lying banks bordered with sallow and willow backed by tall grass, that hid alike the distant, high-reaching hills and the low-stealing fox. Then it was a lovely quest- enticing creek, the home of the otter and the bear, spanned by many a fallen trunk and many a bridge of branches, the pathways of sables and martens. To creep and wade up these was a veritable Arabian Nights venture, for what habitants of the forest might one not meet, to say nothing of the glorious sky-pictures seen through the interlacing branches overhead ? At the next bend sandy cliffs hove in view, loftier now, for we were approaching the defile of the eastern spur of mountains, which ends southwards in Cape Patience. Birches and firs were overhanging th edge, or fallen TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 171 headlong with their topmost branches touching the water. Driftwood, caught by overhanging bushes or bowing trees, or arrested by a grassy island in mid-stream, lay piled up as if by some giant hand. Beside the tiny creeks a few tributaries were passed, but none of any importance. They bore names among the Gilyaks recording their value to the native hunter, e.g. Kuvi* many sables river ; Kuni, many fish and bears river ; Pilviskuri and Kondzhbung-gangi, etc. Buoyantly speeding over the bosom of the water under a glorious September sun, and wrapt as we were in con- templation of the scene, the needs of the flesh had to be remembered, especially with the fate of the previous party of the Russian prospector and his escort fresh in mind. It was most desirable to husband, if possible, our small stock of provisions against the return journey. Vanka, there- fore, got out his long fish-spear {marikh), and, balancing himself on the prow of the boat, skilfully lunged at passing salmon. His weapon, which is one of a kind used by many of the tribes of North-Eastern Siberia, was of a peculiar character. To the shaft, which was about four- teen feet long, a large iron hook was loosely fastened by a thong. Close to the end was also another thong, bound round three or four times, but just loosely enough to allow of the hook being temporarily slid into it, the " business " end free and pointing with the shaft. Ready now for action, the weapon was like a magnified letter b. On sighting the gleam in the limpid depths beneath, the skilful harpooner gives a rapid thrust, and the belly of the salmon is pierced. The action of piercing looses the hook from the threefold thong, and the struggles of the fish now only serve the hook, which is dangling from the first thong, to gain a firmer grip. The first lunge by Vanka proved unsuccessful, as a cry of " Kaukray " announced ; again a silvery gleam, and • z in the Gilyak tongue means river, as vo village. 172 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST a second attempt had happier results, for a kita of fifteen to twenty pounds was hauled in, splashing and somer- saulting. A blow on its head, and the fish lay dead ; whereupon our Gilyaks whipped out their knives, and, like the Red Queen in " Alice in Wonderland," " offed with its head," and with teeth and knife devoured their tasty morsel raw, leaving nothing but the jaws. The natives regard the head of a salmon as a great delicacy, especially the cartilaginous parts, and in this they can claim kinship with the bear, for during the spawning-season Master Petz will come down to the river's edge, and in one night spoil a score of kita, devouring the heads, and throwing away the bodies. We preferred to keep up some of the habits of the civilization we had left behind, and waited until midday should give us pause to camp, and cook our share of the catch. Meanwhile, another village, Auk-vun-wauk by name, hove in sight, and, paddling in, we stepped gingerly from our unstable craft. Vanka insisted on accompanying me because of the crowd of yelping dogs, although the most savage were tied up to a pole underneath a hut built on piles. These animals are fierce towards strangers, and especially white men, although I believe it is on the whole true the world over, that, if you show no sign of fear, dogs may yelp and growl, but will stop short of actual attack. My present position reminded me of an incident in Southern China — a sahib obliged to appeal to a piccaninny for protection from a buffalo, whose discri- mination between the white man and the yellow is well known. These dogs are used by natives in hunting bears and in tracking brodyagi. In winter, harnessed to the sledges, they are not fed until the end of the journey, and are then much more dangerous to encounter. A scarcely less unpleasant experience than unexpectedly meeting a team of these hungry, savage creatures in winter, befell a TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 173 traveller who, driving his own team, came upon a bear stirred by hunger to a premature sortie from his winter quarters. The dogs, spying him, and urged by instincts of the chase, swerved aside, and dashed between the trees after the beast. The luckless traveller clutched at the sides of the light sledge, hanging on as long as possible, instead of throwing himself off before he was tumbled out gunless in front of the bear. Striding through the crowd of yelping animals, we came upon an old Gilyak and his wife, who sat slicing and cleaning kita. With a long rakish knife, which is the men's hunting and "general-purposes" knife {dzhakho), the fish was split open, and with a short-bladed and curved edition of the former — the woman's fish and domestic knife {tmgu dzhakho) — the kita was cleaned. Two slices were then cut from each side, leaving for remainder the head and tail and backbone, with some flesh adhering. All these were then hung up to dry in the sun, this drying- ground being the "village green," or "market-place," of the Gilyaks. The slices were for human consumption, and woe betide the Gilyaks if August (o.S.), which is the chief season of fish-drying, prove a rainy month, for then only a small quantity of their staple food will be prepared against the winter, and stores will give out early, and many will die of starvation. Fortunately, sunny weather 174 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST had this year attended their efforts, and goodly quantities of sun-dried fish were hanging in rows upon rows, to be eventually consigned to those strange-looking coffin erec- tions, consisting of a short log hollowed out and perched on forked stakes. These stakes were, in "well-regulated establishments," encircled with pieces of bark, umbrella- shaped, to prevent the ravages of rats and other vermin. The roe is regarded as a great delicacy, and was being scraped into interesting looking wooden vessels resembling a butcher's tray, which also serve to receive the blood from the slain bear at the great festival. On feast-days, such as at the beginning of the sable and seal hunts, which inaugurate a New Year (the Gilyaks having two years to our one), the roe is mixed and pounded with whortle- berries, etc., and made into a much appreciated mess. The tail and head-pieces of the kita are intended for the dogs and the bear, and the former came in for a few bits of fresh fish as perquisites while the operations were going on before us, though for the most part they feed them- selves in summer. Some of them were at the moment engaged in catching fish at the river's edge, one or two less particular than the others seizing a dead fish cast up on the shoals. We did no bartering here, Vanka having landed to beg or borrow some seal-oil, for apparently his stock of that great Gilyak delicacy, and (to us) horrible-smelling impedi- mmtum, had run out. Our next stop was for the midday meal at a bank opposite a fine sandy cliff, crowned with larch-trees. Stepping out of the canoe, I espied some fresh footprints of Master Bruin, which our natives, with a discrimination remarkable to our untrained eyes, de- clared were those of a Ck'uff that we had disturbed fishing at the moment. Examining the tracks more closely, I was sorely tempted to spare one of my fast diminishing photograph films. The impression of the balls of the toes and the five claws in the sand was perfect, and to complete 4^: . ^ A." TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 175 all were the marks made by his claws as he slid involun- tarily into the water. Clambering up the bank, I found Vanka and Armunka had the slices of the salmon already grilling in front of a fire. Running into the forest, they had deftly cut and prepared two willow twigs, stripping off the leaves, and slitting them lengthwise. In each of these was inserted a slice of fish, extended by two cross-pieces, the slit- ends at the same time being bound up with the green rind. But it must be confessed that, though I admired their rapid methods in the culinary department, I had scarcely the same respect for our Gilyaks' other domestic ways. They occasionally assisted at washing up, but we thought it high time to reduce their share of it to the French interpretation of that word, when our spoons were " finished " off on their mocassins, on which they wiped their fishy and clayey hands. In the course of the afternoon we came to yet another Gilyak settlement, the last in fact before we reached the mouth of the river, some hundred miles distant. Here we were hailed in the Gilyak tongue. " Have the Lo-cha (Russians) any ' brick tea ' ? " " Yes. Have you any seal-skins ? " Stepping ashore, haggling began, and finally a seal-skin was obtained for a brick of tea,* some shot, and caps. These seal-skins were not from the fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus), but from the common hair seal (Phoca vitulind), and in some cases the banded seal {Histriophoca fusciatd). The fur seal has a thick, downy under-fur, which is what we are familiar with in caps and jackets after the longer and sparser hairs have been pulled out, a treatment more commonly known in connection with beaver skins. The hair seal has a bristly, silverish, straw-coloured skin, with dark-grey or black spots, and is commonly used on the * Weighing one kilogramme, and costing us at Alexandrovsk half a ruble, or, say, t^d. per lb. 176 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST Continent for children's satchels. The fur seal is now very rare on Sakhalin, though in earlier years large numbers used to be caught off Robben Island, now known by its Russian name of Ostrov Tyuleniy, or Seal Island, and lying a little to the south of Cape Patience. The hair seal is quite common, and we met several ascending the river after the salmon. The great hunting-season is, however, the spring, and this begins the new or summer year among the Gilyaks. Again continuing our route, it was interesting to ob- serve that the cliffs were recurring much more frequently on the right bank than on the left of this northerly flowing river, which adds one more to the illustrations of Ferrel's law of the more rapid erosion of the right banks of rivers in the northern hemisphere, due to the rotation of the earth. The effect of this deflexion of the water is, of course, greater in these high latitudes than in low. Wild swans occasionally flew across high overhead, and a woodpecker could be heard tap-tapping the trees. Our natives eagerly asked us to shoot the eagles which soared aloft or settled on the top of a high tree, only to fly away as we approached within gunshot. These were the white-tailed eagles {Halietus albicillus), prized by the natives for their tail-feathers, for which they declared the Chinese gave them three dollars (about 6j.). The Japanese (in Yezo) are said to use them to indicate the residence of a person of importance by placing them over his door ; in any case, the Gilyaks themselves value the feathers, which they use for arrow-heads. The wings are also prized by them, being placed at the grave of a Gilyak who has been murdered or has committed suicide, to aid his soul in its flight to heaven. Having left all habitations behind us, even the last of these " children of the forest," the sbenery grew ever wilder. The footprints of the bears increased ; already we had seen, since the morning, between thirty and forty. Once TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 177 or twice we passed a rude raft composed of a few pine- logs, roughly bound together, telling of brodyagi who were attempting to steal down the river by night; or a few ashes on a shoal indicating their temporary camping-place ; but that afternoon we were to come to still closer quarters with them. At about half-past five we were keeping a look-out for a likely halting-place, when a thin column of smoke, just appearing above the trees on our right bank, warned us to be on the alert. Word was passed in a whisper to have guns ready, and, our natives paddling silently but quickly, we shot by unobserved — at least, we trusted so. The brodyagi had built their fire behind some willows a few feet from the bank, which screened their merrily crackling fire, but not the smoke, from our view. That evening we camped lower down the river, sepa- rated from our unpleasant neighbours by about two miles ; but we spent by no means an undisturbed night The fire had been put out, and we had rolled ourselves up in rugs and placed our guns loaded by our sides, and re- volvers under our improvised pillows ; scarcely ten minutes had elapsed when the alarm was given by my interpreter. Sitting up, I listened ; but no sound was to be heard, and we lay down again. Once more I was roused, and this time I seized my gun and listened outside. Was it a bear ? No ; he thought he had heard the sound of a paddle above the bend there — probably the hrodyagivi\iom. we had passed. Our natives asked us to fire our revolvers. If it were bears they would be sufficiently scared, and if it were outlaws they would know we were on the qrci vive. This we did ; but I was impatient of continued alarms, and decided to go on watch for half the night. Slipping on a shuba, or rather dokha* I planted myself, gun in hand, outside the tent. If the reader has been in a similar * A long coat reaching to the feet, lined with fur inside and outside, and especially suitable for sledging. N 178 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST position, he will realize the eeriness of the situation. A pitch darkness enveloped everything, for it wanted but two or three days to the new moon, and the heavens were overcast with clouds which descended later in rain. Peering first in the direction of the forest, was that the sparkle of two glassy eyes I saw ? and, straining my ears towards the river, did I hear the light plash of an oar ? After an interval of reassuring silence, a strange sound would once more quicken my senses — the splash of a salmon or the far-off cry of a wild swan disturbed by some prowling beast. A light drizzle began and forced me to cover my rifle. At length the three hours (or was it three days ?) came to an end, and my companion relieved me. The dawn waked our natives, and the morning opened with sunshine after the night's showers. Our method of propulsion was altered this morning. We had got beyond the region of rapids, and were now on a full flowing river, A pair of native sculls, with a hole bored in the flat bulging part below the haft, were brought to light from the bottom of the boat. A minute or two sufficed to make rowlocks, from forked branches cut and trimmed and bound to the gunwale with seal thongs. Vanka used these sculls at the bow, rowing (not sculling) with them one after the other, while Armunka steered with a paddle in the stern. Bear footprints continued to be as common as on the previous day, our oarsmen delighting to point them out to me, at the same time making amusing attempts to mouth the English word " bear " — attempts which resulted in ha, b'a, baa, and finally bar. With their intimate knowledge of Bruin, they would tell us that this one, whose footprints we saw, was here yesterday, that early this morning, and that, again, we had just disturbed. To the wild geese, ducks, swans, crows, and snipe of the swamps and the river was added to-day another inhabitant — the seal. A log — a great snag — lay in midstream a TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 179 couple of hundred yards ahead, where the river swept round a sandy beach. Vanka began to load up, and I wondered what was now in progress. Drifting silently on, I could just make out a sleeping, almost shapeless, mass lying upon the log. At that distance it was impossible to distinguish the head from the tail. A loud report from Vanka's and my companion's rifles — for they had fired together — a plash, and their prey had escaped They had missed, which was not surprising considering the instability of the canoe. The meeting with yet another denizen of these parts that day has been a source of congratulation and com- miseration on the part of my friends ever since — congratu- lation that I was allowed to see it, and commiseration that I did not shoot it. We had arrived at a part of the river where the banks, rising about ten feet above the water, were covered, as was the adjoining land, with tall rushes and long grass about six feet in height. Gazing carelessly at the bank, I espied a head peeping out of the long grass, and called to my interpreter and the natives in a low voice, " Malenkiy medvyet!" (A little bear!). Seeing nothing, they smiled ; but on my reiterating and pointing, Vanka caught sight of it, and called to me, " Nyet stryelyay ! Gilyakskiy sdbaka " (Don't shoot ; it is a Gilyak dog). Now, occasionally we had seen a native dog sitting alone at a distance from a village, fishing or waiting for his master, and we therefore hesitated ; but before we had realized the mistake the animal had got up and trotted off, disappearing into the tall rushes and grass, giving us, however, one clear view of a beautiful coal-black fox with a white tip to his great brush. Even as he dis- appeared, Vanka was calling to us, " Nyet stryelyay ! Nyet stryelyay! Pal ni vookh budet serditiy" (Don't shoot! Don't shoot ! The god of the mountains will be angry), and much more as to the fate the lord of this region would have in store for us should we cross his will. I i8o IN THE UTTERMOST EAST went ashore, but it was hopeless to expect to come up with the animal. According to Vanka, if we had killed it, its brethren would have been informed, and when we set out for the winter's hunt they would have banded together to kill us. If Vanka was really sincere, I think it far more likely that he feared lest his winter's hunt should suffer, because, by killing thus in a haphazard fashion, it had not been inaugurated with the usual ceremonies. To seize of the provision of the great Pal ni vookh (he is lord of the forest and all therein) before acknowledging in due form his sovereignty and bounty, was to risk bringing down his wrath upon our heads. But yet I have strong doubts as to Vanka's sincerity. He was very faithful to us, yet the possibility of getting 200 rubles in the next few months was a consideration which few Gilyaks or Russians would have hesitated to risk by truth-telling. We taxed him afterwards with this, but he still stood to his guns. Many weeks later, when at Vladivostok, Mr. S., a partner in an English firm who have large dealings in furs, told me that the last skin of this description had sold for 5000 rubles (£$36). Several varieties of foxes, including the common species, the red, the silver-black, and the black, are found on the island. All are larger than their English brother, and possess very fine brushes. For some time we had been keeping a look-out in vain for a sandy reach whereon to camp. They had grown scarcer, the river being more constant here, and the banks being low and grassy. Our custom was to stop while there was light enough to plunge into the forest, cut our tent-stakes and fuel, and get our shelter up. But on this occasion the stars began to peep, the banks to grow dim and indistinct, and the trees to loom black and threatening before we sighted a big, curved, sandy beach. We hailed it with delight, for how infinitely preferable a bed it TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM i8i makes to a hummocky clearing in a forest. And in the morning, in tramping round, one appreciates the dry, hard sand instead of the wet grass and the weakly penetrating sun-rays obscured by interlacing thickets. But even as we were about to beach the boat an angry growling and snarling were heard. Had it been daytime, here had been our chance for a hunt, but even the natives do not attempt a night attack. We had camped before on Bruin's private preserves, but never when he was in actual possession. Quietly our natives paddled round the curving reach, the growling and snarling growing louder and louder. They suggested the high grassy bank on the right as an alterna- tive camping-ground, but I was too enamoured of a sandy bed to acquiesce, so they paddled on, the oars being dis- carded for the occasion. Then preparations were made for action. The double-barrelled gun was passed forward to Armunka, a redoubtable hunter, as we learnt afterwards. He loaded, and knelt in the boat, rifle in hand ; I did likewise, wondering "what was to do next," as my in- terpreter said, in copying us. The noises had now assumed a different note, a most weird mixture of growl and howl and wail, at times a half-human cry, quite unlike a bear's. The darkness thickened ; we could but dimly descry the nearer bank. Suddenly Armunka rose to full height in the prow, took aim into the darkness, I watching and wondering, for I could perceive nought Then arose a shriek, followed by a great plunge. I could dimly make out a rising column of water, and im- mediately we were swept along with a rush by the swift and rapid strokes of the two paddles, in hot pursuit of a pair of seals ! The snarling and growling had proceeded from the bear, who, in unconscious co-operation with us, was pursuing the seals as they emitted their strange amatory cries. As we neared the latter. Bruin had ceased to growl, though just before Armunka fired I had caught the cry of wild swans disturbed by the bear. i82 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST and his plash — splash — ^plash as he prowled along the left bank. Another camping-ground was found a mile or two further on, where we spent the night unmolested, though not without alarms. The clouds had been gathering since the previous night, and the following morning opened wet. Despite all our efforts to cover our baggage and ourselves, a couple of hours in an open canoe in pouring rain left us wet and sitting in water. If it had been delightful beyond words to float on the bosom of the broad river into the unknown, with a clear sky and brilliant sun, it was most miserable and wretched to sit stiff and wet in the bottom of a canoe with no hope of shelter but the forest, with its dank grass underfoot and tree-droppings overhead. How- ever, we held on our way until midday, when we disem- barked, and dragging our baggage up the bank, scattered it on the wet grass, for there was not a dry spot to be found. This done, our natives at length accomplished the apparently impossible, and coaxed a fire to light. While we were yet stamping around, cold and stiff, trying to rejoice in the potentialities of a fire, a slight noise was heard from the river. It was forty-eight hours since we had seen any human being, and, picking up our guns, we ran to the edge of the bank, to find a canoe, well-laden, and manned by two Gilyaks, shoot under the bank. This was followed by two more, containing some Kazaks, Mr. S., the Chief of the Timovsk District, and Mr. von Friken, the Inspector of Forests and Agriculture from Alexandrovsk. Explanations had to be made by my interpreter, as I was in the position of a brodyaga discovered by the nachalnik in his own okrug without a passport. We had heard from the natives of their journey, and it appeared that they had, for the first time in their long abode on the island, decided to descend the Tim to make per- sonal acquaintanceship with the district in their charge. TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 183 and to visit the engineers who were at the recently dis- covered petroleum lake. They were very polite, and shared with us a wild goose shot by one of the soldiers. Mr. von Friken was especially friendly, and, speaking in French, he gave me the benefit of his observations of the tribes of the island, having, in the course of his duties, parcouru over a large portion of South Sakhalin. Stationed for several years at Korsakovsk, he had moved recently to Alexandrovsk, where he politely invited me to call upon him, as did also the Chief, at his residence at Rikovsk. Mr. von F., I found educated, friendly, and courteous, and an exception among the Sakhalin officials ; in fact, his office was a special one, partaking rather of the nature of a scientific than an administrative one. With military despatch their retinue repacked, and our new acquaintances, with a " Da svidaniya" were gone. It was still raining steadily, but we now felt ready for a fresh start, and embarked without delay to continue the descent of the river. The Tim was getting broader, averaging now about 300 or 400 feet in width, the sandy reaches had disappeared, and the level of the land was growing lower and the forest more broken. With the diminution of timber, bears and their tracks began to disappear also. That evening we were compelled to camp in a thicket, a performance no less uncomfortable than our midday halt. On one advantage we congratulated ourselves, viz., our natives were more than usually tractable. Once or twice there had been slight friction, but an incident had occurred, unknown to me, which had settled all that. It appears that my nationality had puzzled them. They knew the Russians, but this stranger spoke another language. Possibly this racial difference accounted for my proclivity for washing ; but, anyhow, what was I .^ I travelled with much baggage and many stores. Was I a great prince among my own people ? " Yes ! " was the unblushing 1 84 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST answer of my interpreter. Henceforth all our difficulties were at an end, at least as far as Vanka was concerned. After that the request became quite familiar, " Would the princes give some gunpowder ? " The night was an uncomfortably wet one, and the next morning we looked forward to ending our river journey and reaching a native village in the bay, where we could get shelter from the elements and dry our now sodden baggage. Our natives reported that it was but half a day's journey to the mouth ; but they had reckoned without the wind. A storm swept up the river from the Okhotsk Sea, and it was madness to attempt to ride the bay when our canoe even shipped water in the river. Loth as we were to camp in this dreary, shelterless spot, it must be done. No forest was here — that had been left behind — nothing but low-lying swamp, the tundra of the north. Cold, wet, and hungry, we scrambled ashore, found a piece of firm ground — an island in the midst of marshes — stamped down the long wet grass, and proceeded to search for fuel. Some rotting driftwood rewarded our hunt, and, happily, a log left by a flood gave us a little shelter from the wind, which swept in from the sea. With the bears had gone also the wild ducks, and our larder had not been replenished for two days. Armunka was therefore sent over to the right bank to shoot, if possible, some form of flesh. It was of no use to fire at an occasional flock of wild geese, for our quarry was nearly certain to fall in un-get-at-able swamps. Fortu- nately, Armunka was more successful, and brought back a solitary wild duck, which, however, shrank remarkably in the roasting, at least in the opinion of two hungry men. In vain, before retiring, we tried to dry our sodden rugs, only succeeding, beyond our best hopes, in filling our eyes with smoke. The sun went down in a wild sky amid clouds of angry red ; the distant roar of the wild TO THE MOUTH OF THE TIM 185 breakers of the Okhotsk Sea boomed in our ears, bringing no sense of peace, nought but a feeling of cold and storm. Crouched under our open shelter, we slept between the intervals of trying to avoid the tricklings of rain through our canvas roof. CHAPTER XI IN THE BAY OF NI A curious coast-line — Gilyak huts and their origin — An interior — " Give something to the god " — The great bear fete — A unique band and artiste — The Cham's adjuration — The bear not a pious Gilyak — Signification of the festival. IT was yet dark, 3.30 a.m., when I heard noises pro- ceeding from Vanka. He declared that he was sing- ing. It was not an occasion on which to discuss the point, or to state the laws of harmony as understood in the West, so I kept silence ; and, feeling most un- comfortably wet from rain-drippings, lay still and watched his preparations for a fire. This done, he directed his superfluous energy upon us, urging the necessity of starting early, before the wind, awaking with the sun, roused the waves in the bay to action. So we "stood up," as my interpreter rather literally translated the Russian word, which, however, accurately described our morning toilet. A frugal breakfast by the light of a fire, a hurried packing of wet baggage, and we were slipping down the last league of our river journey. At the mouth is a delta, but our oarsmen knew the river " as their five fingers," and piloted us unerringly by the deep channel to the Bay of Ni, into which the river Tim empties. This bay and the whole coast-line for many miles are of such curious formation that a word or two of description will be necessary to render clear my further journeyings. Reference was casually made in Chapter VI., in dwelling 186 IN THE BAY OF NI 187 on the geological aspect of the island, to its gradual emergence in current geological time. This is the central fact which explains the formation of the lagoon-studded coast in the north-east and south-west of the island. On our left, as we entered the bay travelling north- ward, was a low-lying swampy shore — tundra, as it is called in Siberia ; and on our right stretched a sand dune, varying in width from a few yards to a verst or more, and keeping parallel with the coast-line. This formation ex- tended northwards for 100 miles or more, for no white man had penetrated beyond about 80 miles, and the natives could only retail hearsay concerning the " beyond." From the mouth of the Tim, the Bay of Ni extended for about 20 miles northward, then narrowed to a passage-way, which opened out into the Bay of Chaivo, beyond which no names had been given to the yet unexplored bays. This wall of protecting sand-dune was pierced by three narrow straits, giving access to the sea, in the course of the 80 miles. The coast-line on our left represented the prehistoric shore, and the terrace above it the original sea-level. The sand-dunes, due to deposition by the alluvium-laden waters of the Tim flowing north, checked by the Okhotsk cold current flowing south, had found their way above the surface of the water in the course of the gradual emergence of the island already referred to. From that time seeds carried by wind or bird had been deposited, and the growth of coarse grass, Swiss pine {Pintis cembra pumild), and even wild rose {Rosa rugosa) had helped to bind the sand and establish these long sandy islets. From the delta of the Tim we made across the bay in a north-easterly direction to a cluster of huts on the inner side of the dune. The wind was already making itself felt ; our light craft rocked, and the morning air struck cold on our damp clothes. The villages of Nivo i88 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST (the first, for there are two) and Kamavo, with their bear- cages adorned with pine branches, stood out prominently on the sandy level, and a crowd of dogs, barking and splashing, stopped their fishing to show resentment at the appearance of strangers. A verst or two beyond Kamavo our boat was beached, where stood a tent, and as we waded ashore we were accosted by two or three Kazaks, who led us into the presence of a Russian police officer. It was a strange, out-of-the-way place to be stationed at, and only exceptional circumstances accounted for his practical banishment to this far-away spot, Japanese schooners, of the adventuring junk class, from the island of Yezo, had been wont to come up here to the mouth of the Tim to barter rice, kettles and cauldrons, rifles, ear- rings, etc., for furs, and to fish and salt salmon during the spawning season. This had been going on here certainly since 1868, when a scramble was made by Japanese and Russians for unoccupied spots, and probably from long before that, but this year a Russian vessel or vessels had been expected to visit the bay, and for fear of any disturbance, or connivance with escaped convicts, this officer had been despatched hither in July, It was now September ; no Russian vessel had appeared, and he was preparing to end his exile and take his departure in a couple of days. Delighted to meet arrivals from the outer world, he overloaded us with hospitality, drew for us a rough chart of the bay, and eagerly devoured our news. From him we heard more details of the story of the ex-captain and brodyaga, whose untimely death the officer was sincerely sorry for. He had found him pleasant company when under his charge, and had allowed him his freedom on parole. He surmised that there had been bad blood between their captive and the soldiers. So far as I had observed, the treatment of the convicts by the soldiers IN THE BAY OF NI 189 on the way out to Sakhalin was friendly, but the desperate criminals and their general surroundings on the island naturally harden them against all and sundry. A man lagging behind in doing his hard-labour duty of dragging logs, through weakness or illness, will get the butt end of a rifle in his back ; and it is scarcely surprising, so far away from the central administration, and in view of the difficulty of distinguishing between shams and genuine cases of illness. The time was when matters were infinitely worse, when there was but one doctor on the island, and brutal soldiers had the opportunity to lord it over poor prisoners in their charge, to vent their spite on them, and to kill, under the guise of correction, and report under the head of accident. We were squatted within the narrow compass of the tent when the Japanese agent, who looked after the storing of the fish preparatory to its lading, appeared, and we were invited to visit the two schooners. Rowing out to one of them, we clambered over the taffrail, strode into the little low cabin, and, after due salutations of " hayo I " (Honourably early !), leaned our rifles against the side, and sank cross-legged on the matted floor. Over our glasses of tea d la Russe, we made the proposal that they should take us down south ; for the prospect of their early departure had opened to us the possibility of either visit- ing the Orochons and Gilyaks around Nabil Bay, a short day's sail south, where we hoped to find some means of ascending the Nabil river, and thence by native guidance to reach Derbensk ; or of sailing to the southern portion of the island, to the Bay of Patience, and visiting the Ainus. This was a sudden alteration in our plans, but, in regions where means of communication and transport are so un- certain, a by no means unusual occurrence. The Japanese captain, however, objected that he had his orders to return direct ; moreover, the weather was fickle, and he could not tell how many days might elapse before he could land us. 190 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST Eventually the uncertainty, and the possibility of my missing communication with the mainland later, added to the risk of being stranded on the Nabil river, without means of transport, and with insufficient food, determined us to give up the idea, and adhere to our first plan, and proceed northwards. For this journey it was necessary to have a larger canoe, and a crew who knew the coast -line and, if possible, were known to the natives, for the bays were occupied not only by the Gilyaks, but also by another tribe, called by the Russians Orochons. While preparations were going forward, we strolled to the nearest Gilyak village of Kamavo, How welcome was the sun now ! Warmed within by a good meal, and our clothes dried, it was new life to run or bask on the sand in the warm noonday sun. I made a dash across the quarter-mile of sand-dune to get a glimpse of the great breakers, which had not ceased their booming throughout the wild, drear night. They were still thundering in, but how gloriously now in the brilliant sunshine. These were the waters of the vast Pacific, though after sweeping through the slight crescent barrier of the Kurile islands one chose to call them the Okhotsk Sea. To the east, 500 miles distant, stretched down the peninsula of Kamchatka, that acme of cold to the English schoolboy. Turning back again to the bay, and reaching the village of Kamavo, I entered one of the Gilyak huts. The Gilyaks boast of two kinds of huts, destined the one for summer and called tolftuf, and the other for winter residence named torif. The extremes of climate, and contact with their neighbours h^ve led to the adoption of dual dwellings, but until recent times, probably as late as the beginning of the nineteenth century on the mainland, and later on the island, the winter hut was their only style of dwelling. Protection against the wind and cold being the chief requisites of a winter abode, a site is chosen in the forest. IN THE BAY OF NI 191 which has the added advantage of being handy for the winter's hunting. A quadrangular pit is dug to the depth of about three feet. At the corners of a smaller quad- rangle within this pit are erected four stout poles, which are united at the tops by four other poles. This forms the main framework of the hut. From the level ground, i.e. three feet above the floor of the hut, smaller poles, generally of larch, are rested against the framework all round, thus forming a tent-shaped erection with its conical top cut off. The whole of the structure is covered up with the earth dug out of the pit, saving only a hole in the top for chimney. A covered entrance or tunnel, likewise com- posed of timber supports covered in with earth, forms the approach to the dwelling. This is on the level ground, and the stranger having penetrated it, finds the end blocked, but slipping aside a sliding door, or, more accurately, a panel, a little earthen stairway is revealed, by which he descends to the floor of the hut. It will be seen from this that the winter huts, when covered with snow and lit up by a blazing fire inside, are very cosy. Dr. Schrenck and Mr. Sternberg have surmised from this pattern of hut, and from the survival of a custom in the bear festival indicating that their entrance and exit was originally only by the chimney, that the Gilyaks' ancestors came from the North. The words used for entering and leaving the hut, kusind and jigind, implying to sink and to emerge, also witness to the use of the chimney as entrance and exit. Such authorities are not lightly to be differed from, but it should be remembered that pit-dwellings of this kind have been used over wide areas by differing peoples, whose northern origin has not been attested, e.g. in Yezo, the Primorsk, and Manchuria, to mention only the surrounding regions ; and what is also important in this connexion, the early inhabitants of Manchuria, the Yih-len, are described in the Chinese annals of the After Han dynasty (a.d. 25-219) as 192 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST "Troglodytes living in caves, their rank marked by the depth of their dwellings, the most honourable having a descent of nine steps," and (later chronicles) the " entrance being at the summit." Whatever may have been the origin of the winter hut, it is fairly certain that the Gilyak summer dwelling is trace- able to Northern China through Manchuria. It is easy to see how it would have appealed to the Gilyak. The melting snow in spring renders his winter hut damp and wet, and the increasing heat of the sun makes it stuffy and hot. The possession of two houses for the different seasons is also found to be an advantage from the point of view of their occupations. In winter it is convenient to be in the forest to pursue the hunting of the bear, fox, etc., while in the summer fishing points to the river bank or sea-coast as the most handy. In shape the summer hut resembles a rudely constructed Swiss chalet. Some were built on piles, but these were few, and this was apparently a doomed fashion. The one which we now entered, in Kamavo, was not large — about i6 feet long and 13 feet wide; the side timbers rose to a height of about 4 feet 6 inches, and from these sprang the obliquely sloping roof of poles for rafters, and slips of bark for tiles. Stooping low, we advanced to the 3 feet doorway, cautiously assuming a half-erect position, and unsuccessfully attempting to avoid knocking our heads. Accustoming our eyes to the darkness, for there was but a hole in the roof for window and chimney, we made out in the centre a large earth and ash box, 4 feet long and 2j feet broad, on the smouldering logs of which was a kettle, and from a rafter above depended a cauldron. Around the two sides and further end of the hut ran a rude bench or dais {nakh), 15 inches from the ground and about 4 feet in width, leaving a narrow gangway between it and the fire {tur). On the nakh were seated several Gilyaks, a mother with a baby, a girl smoking, and three or four men. Above hung a meUe of articles, from IN THE BAY OF NI 193 a baby's cradle to a rude axe for hewing out canoes. The cradle, of wood, shaped like a scoop without the handle, was strung to a cross-pole by thongs of seal-hide. On the bench and hanging above were fishing-nets, birch-bark bowls for water or seal-oil (p. 203), dried fish-skins, dog- skins, winter clothes, seal -oil in seal's stomachs, etc. Perhaps the state of the atmosphere is best left to the reader's imagination. Having photographed the interior, though with but poor result, owing to the prevailing darkness, I turned my attention to two or three " works of art." Two small flat pieces of wood cut into the forms of a disc and a crescent hung from a beam. These represented the sun and the moon, and were used as charms. There were also two sticks, with shavings on, similar to the one I have described as protecting the canoe during its construction from evil spirits ; but these particular ones, I learnt, were for placing over a sick child, and would ensure its recovery. But no signs of worship were there, no graven images, for the great " Kiskh " is invisible to mortal eyes. Charms there are, though with the decline of the cham's influence and the contact with Russians these are losing their value in the eyes of the Gilyaks, and they laugh when questioned about them by the foreigner, yet not without a lurking sense of fear at the bottom of their hearts. Later on we shall see that the cham, or medicine-man, exorcises spirits which take up a temporary abode in charms made in the shape of a human being. Otherwise even this anthropoid kind was used as an amulet. A pair of these, carved from wood, which I have (p. 194), are intended to be worn on the limb or part of the body affected ; for a sore throat, for instance, the little figures would be tied round the neck. Only on one occasion did I hear of anything approach- ing what is vaguely termed " idol- worship." It was told me by the ex-overseer at Derbensk, whose duties in the previous years had taken him down the O 194 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST river Tim, On one of his journeyings a severe snowstorm drove him to seek refuge at a Gilyak village where he was a stranger. As he was sitting down in the headman's hut, and about to make a meal, the Gilyaks said, " Give some- thing to the god (lord)." The overseer therefore placed some little cakes in the birch basket hanging in a corner before a wooden figure, such as I have described, which had its hands crossed on its breast and wore a belt On the morrow the Russian observed that the basket was empty, the cakes had vanished. In the even- ing, therefore, he made offering of more, and lay down pretend- ing to sleep. Keeping careful but unsuspected watch, he saw a Gilyak come forward and take the cakes and eat them ; so he called out, "What are you doing? Let the god eat them ! " Where- upon the Gilyak, as may be imagined, was highly offended. As a rule, offerings were made in the open air, always on deserting our camp-fires, and left for the consumption of the deity. Not only were they the god's due, but the fulfilment of the rite brought good luck, and the omission ill-luck. All misfortunes are attributed to the anger of the god. If the Gilyak is unconscious of guilt, then it must have been some of his kindred who provoked the god to righteous anger ; perhaps it was his wife, who had failed to guard the honour due to the hearth by allowing somebody to spit upon it, or to leave the hut with his pipe lighted from the sacred fire, Dr, Laufer, a member of the recent Jesup Expedition, despatched from Washington, U.S.A., and the greatest IN THE BAY OF NI 195 authority on the art of the Amur tribes, has declared of the Gilyaks and Golds that their art is lacking in realistic representations. Their purely decorative work — and he excludes from this all wooden objects, animals, etc., carved as charms or toys — he alleges, is confined to copies of Chinese representations of animals which these natives have never seen, such, for instance, as the cock, the tor- toise, and the mythical phoenix. It is interesting in this connexion to note that in this particular hut in the village of Kamavo, I found several carvings on the timbers of the wall of the hut of bears, as well as other crude mural decorations of a chess-board pattern. Perhaps these may be regarded as the exception which proves the rule. Emerging from the hut into a crowd of yelping dogs, we were attracted by the bear-cage. In front hung a birch-bark basket, as seen in the illustration (opposite p. 196), containing fresh water for Bruin. His owner fetched a piece of dried fish, and holding it before a hole in the cage, the bear, who was of full size, thrust his great paw out to grasp the fish, the while I snapped him with my camera. This animal, having already attained his majority, was due to play the chief rdle at a festival in the following January. The bear fSte, which probably originated as a purely religious festival, has become a "Bank Holiday" in the Gilyak calendar, the great break in the monotony of the long winter. The proceedings are unique and interesting. 196 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST The animal having been captured young, and fed up until he attains the age of four, a f^te is decided upon for the following January. Invitations are then sent round to neighbouring villages, whose inhabitants, however, need no such announcement, for they are already well aware of the coming event. On the morning before the fete the village presents a busy scene as the guests arrive in great numbers, their sledges, drawn by teams of dogs, dashing up from all parts of the snow-mantled forest. Great preparations of food have been made for days past. The huts are crowded, and hospitality is freely dispensed. At the same time the owner of the bear and his neighbours will be gainers by the feast, for luxuries such as tobacco, rice, vodka, etc., are on sale, and will bring in a goodly profit. The staple article of the feast is of conrse yukola, or dried fish, but a variety of dishes is con- cocted by the Gilyak housewife, with this as a base. Dried and frozen hard, it is grated to fine powder and mixed with seal-oil and whortleberries ; and when you add to these three ingredients rice, salmon-roe, and roots, the possible combination of messes are many, and the results to the Gilyak highly palatable. The roots in most common use are pu-chi and/w {Heracleum barbatum and Laminaria escu- lenta). These are in demand for flavouring their stew of bear's, deer's or seal's flesh ; while a lily, which they name kashk, is eaten generally with fish-roe. At special feasts and near Russian settlements, the guests may be regaled with potatoes, in which case they are doled out sparingly, and not a particle of them or their skins must be wasted. The day before the feast a rehearsal is held. Several men of the village go with the owner to the cage and pro- ceed to lift off" one or two of the roofing logs. Inserting a thong in the form of a loop at the end of a stick, they skilfully slip this over the head of the bear, and then over a paw and shoulder to prevent strangling him when the strap is tightened. To this loop are attached other thongs, IN THE BAY OF NI 197 and the men can now proceed to unroof further and haul him out. In the case of the bigger bears the hauling is generally unnecessary, for he emerges too readily with a snarl and a growl ; and the one thing desirable now is to pull all the thongs taut, to prevent him attacking one or other of his captors. Methods differ slightly in different parts of the island ; but in this case the reader will see by the illustration that native-made ropes of grass were looped over his paws ; and to prevent his doing harm these ropes were carried under a pole placed between his fore- and hind-legs, and projecting on each side of him, on which several men stood. Held thus it was impossible for him to move his paws, and now the Gilyaks could proceed to muzzle him. Taking a piece of stick with a rope attached they teased him until he took it in his mouth, whereupon his muzzle was quickly and tightly bound to this "bit." To complete his toilet, in place of the leather band round his neck and shoulder, a seal-skin collar with two short lengths of chain was slipped over his neck. To the ends of the chains were attached thongs, which served for him to be led about by. The animal was then taken for a short walk to test his new "dress," and afterwards tied up and eventually put back again in the cage. Thus ended the rehearsal. It is quickly described, but the actual process takes a long time, the getting of the animal ready for evacuating the cage occupying half an hour. The following day the same performance was gone through, and the animal led to the hut of his owner and around it three times. Each time that he passed the door the master poked him with a tzakh, or twig adorned with shavings, and broke it with the force of the thrust. This circumambulation was done to the strains of a unique band. Three or four young women, keeping time, beat with sticks on a log supported on short uprights. This highly varied " musical " performance was accompanied by 198 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST dancing. Although the "artiste" in this case was the oldest woman of the village, the display was far more interesting than the ritualistic dancing which the traveller in the East meets with generally, such for instance as that of young girls in the sacred temple of Nara in Japan. First of all the old lady, dressed in seal-skins, stamped down the deep snow, and formed a little level square plat. Then taking two pieces of evergreens she threw herself into queer postures, using the branches as fans. Her movements were not rapid, but occasionally, and all un- wittingly, she overstepped the limit of the plat and fell floundering in the deep snow, to the amusement of band and spectators too ; but this in no way disconcerted her for she came up laughing to renew the performance. The bear was then paraded down an avenue of tzakhs stuck in the ground, to the place of execution. On the mainland there is much more merciless teasing of the animal than on Sakhalin. On the banks of the Amur the poor brute is dragged round for three days, and visits each hut in turn, where he is tied up and poked and teased, not always without danger to his tormentors. The smallness of the Sakhalin dwellings prevent such exhibi- tions on the part of the bear. While the poor animal was left tied up to ruminate over his position, the natives went off to feast ; but first they took of their luxuries, rice, whortleberries, etc., and fed their victim until he could eat no more. This is a characteristic trait of their attitude towards Bruin. They were about to kill him, yet they f^ted him. It was an attitude of apology. They realized that their conduct must appear ambiguous to him, and therefore, though he had to die at their hands, yet they would do all that they could to retain his good-will. There- fore they feast him loyally with all manner of dainties before he meets his fate at their hands. When the feasting, drinking, smoking, and talking were at an end, a start was made for the execution-ground. On t^d^ ■^wsr?: IN THE BAY OF NI 199 their way the company halted at the beginning of the avenue to allow a few of their number to shoot blunt, wooden- ended arrows towards the bear. There seemed no attempt on their part to hit the animal, or else they ignominiously failed, for the shots were lamentably short of or beyond the mark. This appears to be only another example of the weakening of traditional custom, for the shooting with blunted arrows at the poor bear was one of the greatest pieces of " fun " in olden times. Arrived at the ground the crowd grouped itself in front of the animal in a semicircle. I have already said that customs differ from coast to coast, and from village to village, and here is a point of divergence. In many cases I believe the cham, or medicine- man, is not called in to officiate, possibly because the influence of his office is on the wane, and as the Tro Gilyaks told me "we have no great cham now." The following, however, is the part played by this functionary at this juncture, as given me by an observer on the island. The cham, with a pine-twig in his hand, amid the deep silence of the spectators, goes close to the bear and whispers in its ear — " You have eaten many berries, " You have caught many fish, " You have frightened many people ; " Your ancestors and your comrades have ' broken ' many Gilyaks : " Therefore you must die for it. " But your ' host ' has fed you three whole years, not stinting the delicious yukola (dried fish), " He has given you the best water, " He has taken you for walks, " He has bathed you thrice a day * in the ' summer year,' " And three ' winter years ' you have lived in a nice warm lodging ; " He, your host, will not kill you : " Therefore you must not complain about him to the great lord of the mountains." * I am afraid this is imposing on the bear's memory. It is such a difficult business getting him out of his cage ; and those I saw were not taken out more frequently, it was then autumn, than once a fortnight for a constitutional. 200 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST At the end of this adjuration the cham moves a little to one side, still holding the pine-twig over the bear's head. At this point the accounts agree. An archer now came forward, and at a couple of yards or so from the bear fitted his iron-tipped arrow to the bow. The animal, however, would not expose his heart, and had to be teased until he turned round, when the archer let fly. Strangely enough poor Bruin emitted no sound, but simply tried to rub the arrow out with his paw, and failing to do so, sat looking round as if nothing had happened. The arrow had missed the heart, but pierced the lung, and the animal, still making no sign of pain, only coughed. Another arrow was shot, but this time merely hit the collar. The first was then pulled out, and the blood now finding vent, the poor beast sank down and died. When quite dead, the women came forward with sticks and lifted up the paws, and the carcase was dragged round the execution-ground three times. When the cham is present, he first cuts out the heart of the bear, and dividing it, gives the pieces to the most honoured members present. To these partakers of the heart of the sacrificed beast will be assured successful hunts during the whole of the season. The skin having been quickly stripped in this case, the carcase was cut up and the cauldrons were soon steaming with bear stew. All the delicacies of dried fish, rice, roots, roe, seal-oil, etc., were brought forth, and the feasting again began. The men sat in groups, the women waited upon them and then took part in the feast. The youths com- peted in archery, wrestling, and running, while primitive musical instruments were brought forth and songs were sung, telling of the exploits of heroes of the hunt. A favourite sport with them is a game of ball. The aim is to keep it bounding in the air without its touching the ground. Only the hands may be used. The ball is made from the fungus of a tree. IN THE BAY OF NI 201 The original signification of the whole ceremony of the feast is largely lost, but the religious motive in the minds of the Gilyaks of to-day seems to be the sending of a messenger to the great lord of the mountains, Pal ni vookh, to witness to their punctilious observances of the rites of offerings ; and, in order that their messenger may not miss his destination, it was usual, and is, I believe, still so among some villages to assist the spirit of the bear in finding his way to Pal ni vookh. Two aids were given him, one the planting of a stick on the execution-ground, pointing to the east where the great lord lived, and the other, the killing of two dogs, whose spirits were to hunt Bruin's spirit to Pal ni vookh. For it was explained that the bear, though he was a Gilyak was not a pious Gilyak He would eat of the provisions made for him and all dwellers in the taiga by Pal ni vookh and Tol ni vookh, the lords of the forest and water, but in nothing would he give thanks ; whereas a true Gilyak always made offerings after every meal, therefore it could not be expected that he should know where to find Pal ni vookh, or if knowing should be inclined to go to him. Even Vanka was always most punctilious in placing some fish or tobacco on the ashes of our camp-fire as offerings to Pal ni vookh, and on one occasion we owed, so he assured us, our preservation from a watery grave to this timely act of his. Probably the fact of the bear being the most difficult and dangerous animal to capture adds to the value of the offering, of which the bear's spirit would be a witness. There is another consideration which lurks, however un- consciously, behind this ceremony. Not only is the bear the most dangerous animal to capture, although now the custom has deteriorated to the seizure of cubs and the rearing of them ; but he is also the strongest rival of the Gilyaks. He lives, as they do, on the fish of the river, the berries of the forest ; and even robs the Gilyaks' snares of the small animals caught therein. Therefore on every 202 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST count he must die. It is useless to ask the Gilyaks of to-day the raison ditre of the custom, for they do not know ; and, in any case, they would not reveal to a stranger the hidden meaning of their rites. The following is how a Russian fared when he tried to find out the signification of the ceremony, and I met with no more success. Gilyak. It means the offering to Pal ni vookh. Russian. Why do you not recite about it during the killing of the bear ? Gilyak. I don't know. Russian. Do the Gilyaks punish the bear for his crimes ? Gilyak. No. Russian, Why does the cham recite these charges in the bear's ear ? Gilyak. The Gilyaks have done this from ancient timesi Ask the old men, perhaps they know something about it. The old men, however, on being asked, knew no more. There is one incident in the ceremonial which I have not mentioned, but which possesses some special sig- nificance. This is the saving of the bear's head, which is never on any account eaten. A skin offered to me, and the fells of the dogs which I bartered for were all minus the heads. It is noticeable that while the bear's head is not eaten, the heart is. The latter will bring success and courage to the hunters, but I gathered that the Gilyak believes the eating of the brain would render the consumer bear-like, and an enemy to his fellows. The skull is relegated at length to the Gilyak cemetery, and there, with skulls of dolphins, etc., placed on sticks. This is a habit common among the Ainus, who, however, place theirs near their huts and make offerings of sake (spirit), etc., to pacificate them and gain their protection ; whereas the Gilyaks' cemeteries are in the secret recesses of the woods, and are not frequented by them. What the idea that lies at the IN THE BAY OF NI 203 root of these golgothas, is, I do not know ; but it seems probable that they think the remains of the animals whose spirits have gone back to the great Pal ni vookh should rest near those of the Gilyak ; or that the spirits of these animals will come back to these spots and either guard the remains of the Gilyak or at least refrain from haunting the living. CHAPTER XII CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND An Orochon village — Strange surroundings — A monopolist — Prepara- tions for a great feast — The New Year's festival — Barter— Our host " the richest man in the world " — The value of a needle — Petroleum lakes — The tundra — An unwritten tragedy. LEAVING this Bruin at Kamavo, who was soon destined to be chief actor in a spectacle such as I have described, we returned to pick up a new crew, and continue our journey northwards. We were now bound for a spot lying three or four miles from the coast in the tundra, where two engineers were prospecting, about eighty miles distant, and we expected to take two or three days in getting to it. In reaching this locality we should have passed beyond the last known settlement of the Gilyaks and Orochons. Our crew consisted of a Gilyak elder and two youths. The old man's name was Yungkin, but we called him Captain, or Charon, indiscriminately, for I could not look at him without his calling to mind the famous ferryman of the river Styx. We made good progress, for our new crew were good oarsmen ; Yungkin was reputed to know every inch of the coast, and, indeed, he had need to. On our left lay the low, swampy shore, backed in the far distance by forests, and a long range of hills. On our right were the sand-dunes, bare or scantily covered with coarse rush-grass, and stunted Swiss pine. Sandbanks were numerous, and all the skill and knowledge of our "captain" were 204 CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 205 required to pilot us between them. Great flocks of gulls flew up at our approach, and sandpipers and snipe were wading and paddling in the ebbing sea. A couple of villages were passed, and, landing on a sandy islet, we shot a couple of snipe for our evening meal. By about 4 o'clock we were nearly opposite a narrow strait which gave entrance to the sea. Here the smooth surface of the bay was ruffled, and my interpreter, who, as a Russian, had had little experience of the sea, was seized with apprehension ; but the sensation was really novel and delightful. It is impossible to describe the sense of buoy- ancy in a keel-less canoe riding on the crests or dipping into the troughs of the waves, but it was the nearest to floating in the air I expect to experience. After an hour or so the coast suddenly swerved inland for a considerable distance, and our " captain " steered across this to the distant shore. Darkness fell, and even he seemed to be rather puzzled. Several more miles were made before, at about 8.30 p.m., our " Charon" announced a village, and, peering into the darkness, I made out dimly the silhouette of some huts. Firing my revolver twice, the customary signal in the absence of bells and knockers in this part of the world, the kindly Orochons hurried down to welcome us. They had received news of our approach, though how or when we did not know. The headman of Dagi, as this village was called, led us through the crowd of yelping dogs to his hut. Going on our hands and knees, we crept in, guns in hand, and, standing half erect, dodged the cross-poles, from which fish were hanging, until reaching the reindeer- skin politely spread in our honour, we sank hurriedly down on it. The reason of this hasty collapse was not far to seek. The smoke of the fire which filled the hut blinded us, and caused our eyes to stream. When I had mopped my organs of vision, and could look round, the oddness, the strangeness of the scene, impressed me ; and I asked 2o6 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST myself, Would my friends ever receive me into their clean homes again ? The atmosphere was not only smoky, but thick with the greasy smell of fish hanging above our heads in the various stages of curing. Around the fire, which occupied the middle of the floor, or ground, were squatted about a score of strange figures, curiously clad. Here, were grimy, brown-faced women, suckling children, or smoking in turns from a Japanese pipe— a novel form of labour co-operation ; there, were men in groups devouring morsels of scraggy dried fish from the same platter, and dipping them into a common bowl, or, rather, birch-bark basket of seal-oil. Close on my right was crouched an old woman, the grand- mother apparently, clothed in skins, her unkempt raven locks straggling unheeded over her face. Her sight had almost forsaken her — small wonder with the decades of smoke she had endured — and the long lashes of her closed eyes alone were visible as she thrust forward her pipe for a light It was promptly seized by a youngster of about four, who, snatching a burning faggot from the fire, lighted up, and gave three or four experimental puffs before passing it to the old lady. Babies were being rocked violently in cradles strung from the cross-poles, and tiny children were attempting to grope their way out of the recesses of the hut, where they were rolled up in a tent-covering, to peer at the strange arrivals. But of all our surroundings the most striking was that of the weird-looking faces, with unkempt hair, seen for one moment in the flickering blaze of the fire, and lost again in the gloom of the hut. The Orochon summer-hut, which we now occupied for the first time, was of different construction to that of the Gilyaks'. In shape it was not unlike a tent, or a boat turned keel uppermost. A simple scaffolding in the in- terior supported a horizontal pole, against which were leaned a great number of larch-poles from all sides, the ground-plan of the hut being oval in shape. Pieces of A.N ijRiii:iln\ M\\ (MMNIWD). [Ti'f.lit /a^'c 206. CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 207 poplar bark were used as tiles, and outside these were again placed a few more poles to keep them on. A low entrance or exit of two or three feet, covered up at night, was left at each end, and a displaced piece of bark in the roof allowed some of the smoke to escape. The Gilyak huts, with their crowd of inhabitants, their insect population, and thick atmosphere, were not ideal quarters for a fastidious person ; but to these disadvantages the Orochon added the odour of slices, heads, and tails of fish, rendered more powerful from a feebler attempt at ventilation. And yet as I lay on the skins, and gazed at the vaulted roof above me, I asked myself, Was there ever hall of panelled oak that spelled more clearly the family history, the story of its past dwellers. The poles and rich bark lining literally glowed like polished ebony, with more than the memory of many a thousand fish that had smoked over that cheery fire, and exuded the odour of generations of denizens of sea and river, which had fed and clothed the dwellers therein. However unpleasant to the stranger this smoke-curing of fish by the Orochons while it lasts may be, it is one of the few advantages that they can claim over the Gilyaks. The latter is entirely dependent on a sunny season for the drying of his catch, and if it should be rainy, then he will be in danger of starvation before winter is over, from an insufficient accumulation of stores ; for dried fish is bread and meat to these tribes during the long winter. The Orochon, on the other hand, after hanging his fish to drain, slices and cuts them up anci cures them in the shelter of his hut over his fire. This curing only goes on during a portion of the summer season, but the effect of the smokiness of their huts seemed to me patent in the semi-closed eyes of the Orochon, a feature which renders him much more strange- looking than the Gilyak, whom he really surpasses in intelligence. The latter is not a linguist, but the Orochon 2o8 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST is generally found to speak both tongues. Moreover, the latter is a more energetic hunter and better trader. In some of their journeys across the island the Orochons had come into contact with the Russian priests. The effect of their conversion to the Greek Orthodox Church was to be seen in the severing of their pigtails, the abandon- ment (in a few cases) of the keeping of bears, and last, but not least, the transfer of many sable-skins to the priests. The name of these people seems to be of Tungus origin. They are called by Dr. Schrenck, Oroken, but are known officially as Orochons. In fact, these people and the Orochis, or Oroktis (Dr. Schrenck calls them Orotschen) of the Primorsk coast, the Oltschas of the Amgun river, and the Orotschonen (Dr. S.) of the Upper Amur, are all of a Tungus race, and scarcely distinguishable otherwise from one another, than by the occupation of different territories. Among Tungus and Mongol peoples the letter "1" often takes the place of "r," so that Oltscha may be Orcha, Or'cha, or Orocha. Oronchun is the name by which they were known among the Manchus, and oron, or oro, is Tungus for a reindeer, hence what is meant is, that all these people are reindeer folk, or people who use reindeer. This is the main distinction between the habits of the Orochons and Gilyaks. The former use reindeer for sledge-drawing, and the latter dogs; The last are kept by the former for hunting only. The Gilyak name on Sakhalin for the Orochon is Or'nisk, and the latter calls himself Orumada. We shall probably be near the truth in regarding them as a branch of the great Tungus race, of which the Manchu is the most civilized, and the so-called Tungus of Eastern Siberia the wildest representative. The Orochon is only a little less wild than the Tungus, but he appears to have CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 209 come more into contact with surrounding tribes, e.g. the Golds, Gilyaks, Samogirs, Daurians, Ainus, etc., and to have been influenced to lead a rather less nomadic life than the original stock. In summer he is settled as I found him. In winter the hunt carries him and his rein- deer, and his portable skin tents, into the depths of the forest, and before spring arrives he is away with the spoils of the chase to the mainland to barter. Among these tribes there appeared to be no traditions of a great chief or king. The Gilyaks are, as we have seen, divided into tribes, viz. the Tim, Tro, and west coast people, besides the mainland or Amur Gilyaks. These tribes are sub-divided into khala, or clans. Each khal consists of a family circle. The limits are vague, but include grandfathers, uncles, etc. The eldest representative of the khal is the chief, and the members are to be found scattered in many villages. Each village has its council of elders, to whom the injured apply. In cases of mortal offence, both parties, the criminal and the eldest male of the injured man's family, march out against one another with bows and arrows ready strung, but the council sitting around urge them to end the matter peacefully, and ordinarily they succeed, the rivals embrace, talk peace, and the criminal pays a heavy fine. The Russian authorities wisely refrain from inter- ference, and look to the richest man in each village, whom they term the starosta, to keep order, etc. In earlier days prowess and skill in the hunt led to wealth and position in the village, but to-day, as with feudalism in Japan, these are giving way to trade as the stepping-stone. There is a Tungus known by the name of Maxim who is probably the richest native in the island, with all due deference to my friends, the brothers Fizik, whom we met afterwards. His gains are made by lending to other natives in the time of their need, and thus gaining a lien on the proceeds of their hunt. In this P 210 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST way he tries to obtain a monopoly, and preclude the sale of skins to any but himself. An amusing rencontre occurred between him and the prospectors. These had left on their hands, after the despatch of some of their convict workmen, some frieze khalati, and so they offered them in barter to the natives, who gladly accepted them. Maxim hearing of this, and, regarding it as poaching on his preserves, circulated stories of these two whites being brodyagi. The objects of his discrediting stories got wind of the fact, and when one day the monopolist arrived at their hut, he was allowed to enter, and was given a meal. They refused, however, to accept or purchase anything of him, and asked how it was he allowed himself to enter the hut of brodyagi f This dumfounded him, and he was taken ofif his guard. In vain he became profusely apologetic. "He had never thought them so. How could they think of such a thing ? " etc. But to return to the evening meal in the Orochon hut. The men had been served, and the women, having supplied their lords' wants, joined the children, and began their supper. Evidently this starosta (as the Russians, following their custom at home, chose to call the headman of the village) was a rich man, for rice was on the platter of the children, and one chubby little chap, of about three, was vainly endeavouring to convey his mess of fish and rice to his mouth by the aid of a cross between a chopstick and a spoon ; but was fain to bring the left hand to bear to bundle it in. Next to him was a mother who, having finished hers, was preparing the platter for her neighbour. This was accomplished by licking it all over, drying it Tvith a bunch of grass, and finally polishing it on her gaiters. After the meal the fire was banked up, and all prepared to retire. Men and women slipped off their gaiters, and rolled themselves in an extra tunic, and stretched themselves on the floor or ground of the hut. CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 211 Early morning saw the women astir, bringing fuel, and water from the river in their bark baskets, and making preparations for the meal of tea and yukola against the rousing of their lords. After this there was a great stir in the culinary department. As I lay on the reindeer-skin, I only slowly took in the importance of the proceedings. This was no less than the preparation of the Christmas plum-puddings, or what corresponded to it in the Orochon feastings. One woman was scraping off the scales from salmon-skins, and putting them in the cauldron, while another was busily pounding in a wooden trough, shaped like a butcher's tray, rice, fish, and whortleberries, and mixing with them seal-oil. This duly stirred and cooked was, I understood, to be partaken of with a dash of sea- water, to add, I suppose, the requisite delicate flavour. These operations were of a very serious nature, and the mixing and pounding lasted for hours. The importance of the feast lay in its inauguration of the sable hunt. Among the Gilyaks the hunt is preceded by an in- teresting ceremony. The sable (Mustela zibellina) and seal hunts commence each a new year in the Gilyak kalendar, and thus he has two years to our one. If only the Gilyak child kept " birthdays," he would be the envy of his western compeers. These two years which begin in October and April respectively, are called the winter year (tulf-an) and summer year (Jolf-an), and are opened by holiday festivals. The sable holiday goes by the name of Pal ni vookk chi-sonch, or " the prayer to the lord of the forest" It is a wintry scene. The snares are set on logs and branches spanning the narrow streams and forest creeks. The first snows have fallen, covering all the forest with a thin mantle of white. The cold north wind hurries across the land. The trees stand silent in the sombre depths, hanging their hoary, lichen-covered branches, and amidst the hush a shadow steals quietly across the scene. 212 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST It is a sable. He goes by accustomed paths. He does not care to swim the cold water, but seeks a fallen tree or log whereon to pass. All unsuspectingly he creeps along a trunk, only to find his way blocked by a tiny barrier of sticks, arranged in the shape of a fan ; nevertheless a way, one way, is left, and that through a loop in the centre. Rising on his hind-legs and pushing through, he struggles, and in so doing releases a peg hitched with a ratchet, and a bent twig at one end of the cord flies back, tightening the noose. Many trackers are out, but each brings his first catch to one place, where due honour is then paid to the great giver of them, the lord of the forest. It would savour of greediness, of meat without grace, to start off on the important hunt of the sables — creatures whose skins are so valuable that anything, even in later times " fire-drink," may be purchased with them — without due acknowledgment to the giver. A feast is made ; for what function can dispense with feasting? and pieces of roasted flesh, tobacco, etc., are dug into the ground as an offering to the god, just as in the seal festival, we shall see, bones are cast into the sea. At this point it is necessary, lest he be not observing or engaged else- where, to call the attention of Pal ni vookh to their offering, so they whisper, " Chookh, Chookh" i.e. " God, Thou God." They do this in an undertone, lest the pal-rusk {daimones) should hear ; for these evil spirits dwell in the swamps and the depths of the forest, and might make off with the offerings. For this reason, and because Pal ni vookh generally walks among the mountains, the Gilyaks take the precaution of making their offering on high ground. When the hunting season is advanced, another method for the capture of the sable is adopted. The native sets out with his dogs, who quickly find the tracks of the little animal, and drive it up a tree. The hunter then lets fly a blunted arrow, and, if skilful, stuns his prey. With fair success he may thus catch seven or eight sables CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 213 in a day. He is careful so to kill them as not to injure the skin, and in skinning he strips it ofif like a sock. Half of the flesh he gives to the dogs, and the other half he offers to Pal ni vookh. The Orochons, though more advanced than the Gilyaks, did not practise the art of washing, and, when I proceeded to perform a portion of my toilet outside the hut, there was considerable excitement. I refer, with apologies, to the operation of cleaning my teeth. It was sufficient to gather about ten of the tribe around me, one in particular taking a specially good coign of vant- age directly opposite me, and all talking volubly on the subject. Unfortunately, I did not understand their tongue, but I guessed that they had constituted themselves an informal committee of anthropologists to discuss the object, means, and probable origin of such an interesting ceremony. With strangers, both the Orochons and Gilyaks were sober, rather solemn, and reserved ; but on becoming familiar they expanded, and became at times jolly and full of fun. On this occasion a mistake of theirs occa- sioned much merriment, so much so that the incident, simple as it was, has now no doubt become part of the history handed down by tradition. Our baggage had not recovered from the eflFects of its soaking, and, producing from the depths thereof a cricketing shirt, still wet, I asked them, in Russian, with explanatory gesticulations, to dry it. Hastening off with it they immediately plunged it into water ; but when the mistake had been explained to them by our Gilyak " cap- tain," they saw in it an excellent joke, and burst into loud laughter. Their appreciation of it did not end here, for some days after, when we had returned to our river-crew, there was a good deal of merriment in the hut one evening, and, in answer to my inquiry, I learnt that the story of the shirt was being told again. 214 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST Before pushing on from this village, I brought out cloth, buttons, gunpowder, etc., in order to barter for utensils and native clothing. At the time the women were busy preparing fish-skins for dress material, and, indeed, they seemed always to be busily occupied, whereas the men, whose work was arduous at times, enjoyed long periods of rest and laziness. The latter, all save a youth or two who were hewing out a boat, and some who had gone to drive in the reindeer from the forest, were squatted smoking and chatting. The proposal to barter brought all together, and an old lady began proceedings by proudly displaying her ward- robe to me. On my side, in addition to the buttons, etc., coloured neck-kerchiefs, needles, brick-tea, tobacco, etc., were forthcoming. The bargaining was severe, for the headman of the hut was well-to-do, and stood out for good prices. With the aid of four languages, viz. English, Russian, Gilyak, and Orochon, bargains were arranged, and I found myself the happy possessor of some child's seal-hide shoes and the old lady's work-bag, such as one imagines will be taken to an Orochon " sewing meeting " when that point of civilization is reached ! I fear my lady friends would scarcely appreciate it, though it is a work of art. Composed entirely of fish-skins, it is rather smelly ; but considerable ingenuity and skill have been displayed in piecing together the skin of the lighter (the belly) and the darker parts (the back) of the fish into a pattern. In shape it is like an ordinary flap-purse (p. 215). Resuming our journey again, we found that the bay beyond Dagi gradually narrowed to a mere passage, and grew so shallow that we stuck several times on sandbanks, although our canoe drew but three or four inches of water. At last our natives were compelled to get out, and go on voyages of discovery for the less shallow channels through which to drag the canoe. We were CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 215 thus slowly proceeding through this wild and desolate region, with nought but sandhills and coarse rush grass to be seen, when suddenly at a turn we came upon three Russians. We were on the alert at once, but a suspicion of the truth dawned upon us when we saw their boat. They were convicts in the employ of the petroleum pro- spector, and, having been sent to bring along some casing left behind on account of the shallows, had got stuck here, and were waiting for the incoming tide. With our lighter craft we were more successful, and crept on until the passage opened out into Chaivo Bay.* Here great flocks of ducks and geese, gathering for migration south, warned us of the approaching close of the short Siberian autumn. As we emerged into the bay, our old "captain" steered in a westerly direction for the prehistoric shore, and after five or six hours of rowing, we expected to be nearing our haven, the Orochon village of Val. We were looking forward to great things here, for had not Yungkin, who * Chaivo is, in the first place, the name of a village. Chai or cha in Gilyak means bay, and -vo a village ; hence, the bay village. 2i6 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST is a Gilyak elder and an authority on all matters in the Tro Gilyak world, informed us that we should sleep that night in the home of the richest man in the world ? Such an experience in this part of the globe we had not expected — in fact, my dress-suit was ten or twelve days' journey off. Our curiosity was aroused. What would this Vanderbilt and his home be like.' Should we find a galaxy of electric light and a host of liveried servants ? The two-days-old moon had set, and no sign did we see of approaching magnificence. If we had marvelled on the previous night how our old native had found his way, it was even more astonishing on this occasion ; but there came a point when even he had to confess failure, and our chance of meeting with the great pluto- crat seemed fast diminishing. Where were we ? That was the question. A low cliff, visible until now, had disappeared in the darkness ; but we began to feel a slight current, and, surely, that on our left was the mouth of a river ? We tried and found it to be so. We could dimly descry trees and bushes silhouetted against the sky. The river had many arms, perhaps we were in a delta? If so, which was the main stream? We could not tell ; so chose as we might, and rowed on for about a verst. Peering into the darkness, not a sign of huts' could be made out. At last, in the hope of awakening some answering cry or the howl of their dogs, we hallooed, and then discharged our revolvers. Once — twice — thrice ; but no answer came borne on the night-breeze save the cry of some startled water-fowl. Cold, stiff, and hungry on a waste of waters, was it to end in our camping shelter- less in this swamp ? The situation was discussed, and we resolved to descend the river again to its mouth and grope along the coast in the darkness. Half an hour or more passed when, creeping along, we fired again ; and soon after, to our relief, the glimmer of a light was seen, CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 217 followed by the barking of dogs. Steering for the spot and firing our revolvers, dark figures were soon running down the banks to help beach the canoe and carry our impedi- menta up to the huts. What was the palace of this Vanderbilt, or rather Vanderbilts, for there were two brothers, like? It differed nothing in appearance from the other huts, saving only that it was a little larger, measuring perhaps 22 x 16 feet. Wherein, then, con- sisted their wealth? They possessed, we were assured, more than sufficient fish, roots, rice, tea, tobacco to last them through the winter, and many skins ; but, above all, they owned at least seventy reindeer between them, more than all the other Orochons together, so our Gilyak interpreter told us. To my inquiries did this wealthy family live any differently from others of the tribe, and how did they enjoy their wealth, the reply was, " They ate similar food because it was the ' law ' (custom), but they had more sledges, and went more frequently in winter to Nikolaevsk to dispose of their greater quantity of reindeer, furs, etc." I suspect that luxuries, including rice and gaudy material such as Chinese silk brocade, kept partly as an investment of capital and sometimes for the lying in state, were the indulgences their superior possessions allowed them. Then, too, the rich had the privilege of dispensing to the poor, and of being held in repute for their hospitality which brought not only satisfaction in this world and the next, but power over the recipients. We gave a lot of trouble here, as I thought, but our host — ^Vanderbilt, or, to give him his proper name, Fizik — and the various members of the family, were most obliging; and without the slightest objection the lower cross-poles were cleared of fish and wiped, at our request, so that our still sodden rugs might be hung up to dry. The interior presented a similar scene to that of the night before. As usual, there were the representatives of three 2i8 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST generations in the hut, including the old grandmother, her married sons, their wives and children, besides guests. By the glow of the fire one could see several men rending raw fishes' heads with their teeth, others at another course of dried fish and seal-oil, and yet others smoking sedately, criticizing at intervals the white strangers, or watching the children, to whom they seemed much attached. On our right was the wife of our host's brother, who was away in the forest minding the reindeer, and we had our atten- tion specially called to her as the prettiest woman in Sakhalin, and one with whom all the men fell in love! The privilege of gazing on her unrivalled beauty was, I am afraid, lost upon us, for we lamentably failed to appreciate her charms. Throwing myself on the reindeer-skin for the night, my last waking glance was at line upon line, row upon row of drying fish, as far as the eye could penetrate into the dim recesses of the roof. The next morning, having breakfasted upon black bread, the last of some week-old butter, and cocoa, we set out to inspect the vast possessions of our host, to wit, the herd of reindeer. Stepping into a canoe, we had the honour of being paddled for a mile or so by the " richest man in the world." In ascending the river, which wound among the lowlands, I was struck by the great contrast in the scenery. Instead of sandy wastes, dwarf and stunted Swiss pine, wild swamps or dense forests, we were now on a river that seemed to wind through meadows and parks. Sheltered from the rude blasts and the cold current of the Okhotsk Sea, the banks were rich in flowers and rushes. Willows and nut-trees bending over the water's edge made shady reaches, where, in the cool mysterious depths, fish hid ; and stately firs, graceful mountain-ash, or a dark group of Swiss pine stood in ornamental relief against the light green of the meadows. At a spot known to our guide we disembarked, and, guns in hand, strode through CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 219 low scrub until we came upon a knoll-covered clearing. From here we caught sight of the distant herd, feeding on the lichen-covered moorland. The more restless were tethered, others, including the young, were free. Members of a herd occasionally get astray, but they are marked, to distinguish them from wild game, which, however, does not always prevent their being shot, accidentally or otherwise. Large, powerfully built animals, of a grey-buff colour, and occasionally all white, one understands, on seeing them, their power to support a rider or draw a sledge. Creeping round to leeward of the herd we found our host's brother lodged in a little drill-tent. Our larder being low, we proposed to buy a couple of haunches of venison, but they refused to kill unless we took the whole carcase, and this at the exorbitant price of thirty rubles. In Nikolaevsk, in winter, when fresh meat is very scarce, and at the end of several hundred miles' journey, a reindeer is sold for twenty-five rubles. Moreover, as we learnt afterwards, they had disposed of one recently for eight rubles, and had only three days before killed another for their own use. Evidently they thought we were legiti- mate spoil ; but we were not to be done, and ultimately secured a haunch on our return at a reasonable price, the payment for which included, I remember, two reels of cotton. We induced one of the brothers to milk a doe, one of the herd, as I had always been curious to taste rein- deer's milk. I found it very thick, sweet, and exceedingly rich. Having photographed "the richest man in the world " we returned to the village. A little bartering was done before our departure, and one particularly finely worked piece of reindeer harness I was fortunate enough to secure. The maker of it, an old lady, was very loth to part with what had taken her, she avowed, three years to work — three years of very few spare moments I should opine. It is a wide strap of seal-skin embroidered with 220 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST white reindeer hair in the Gilyak fashion, with cockerel- like convolutions which are probably Gold, or rather, Chinese in origin. Hair from the reindeer's mane, fish-gut, and nettle-fibre are the sewing material of these tribes. How important a part sewing must have played in the domestic economy can be imagined, when clothing con- sisted of salmon-skins, a material which could not be ordered over the counter by the yard, but had to be dili- gently stitched together to form an adequate covering. In early times bone needles were used, but when, by acci- dent or by barter, a big ship's canvas-needle came into their hands, it was a priceless treasure. How eagerly CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 221 such was sought after and seldom obtained. The happy possessor handed it down as a family heirloom. In those days they tell us a needle was of such value that a wife could be bought with it ; whereas to-day a helpmeet may cost as much as a narta (sledge) and team of thirteen dogs. To keep the needle safe, bone cases {nookh-tses), curiously carved, were made ; and it is interesting to note that the principle on which they work is exactly the same as that of the little silk ones made to-day in Korea. The following shows the value they used to put upon the needle. A Russian came upon a Gilyak family crying and howling. " Why are you crying ? " he asked. " Is somebody dead ? " " No ! What is death ? It would have been better had somebody died. The needle is lost ! " The afternoon saw us once more pursuing a northerly course. On the opposite shores of Chaivo Bay, on the sandbanks, were Vurkovo and Chaivo, both Gilyak settle- ments, and New Val, an Orochon village. North of these there were none known, save only a solitary hut or two occupied occasionally merely for the fishing. These we could visit on our return, our present objec- tive was the hut of a prospector four miles inland from the coast. A couple of hours' rowing brought us within sight of another river, known as the Khagdasa. As we approached it two figures on the left bank were moving about and disappearing rather suspiciously, but as we neared land they showed themselves quite openly, and we saw that one of them was a soldier, though his uniform was 222 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST old, shabby, and much the worse for wear. Having landed our baggage with some difficulty, for the tide was still on the ebb, we found it impossible to carry all of it the six versts (four miles) to the hut, and therefore stowed all the heavier articles in a cave close by. Our " captain " would not desert his canoe, so we left him on guard while we distributed the baggage among our retinue. Our Gilyaks had showed extraordinary powers of en- durance in rowing, but they were ill-fitted to carry loads on shore. We therefore arranged our cavalcade accordingly, the soldier leading the way, followed by his companion, the exile who had been responsible for two murders, then Mr. X., my interpreter, and the two Gilyaks — I bringing up the rear. Our way lay through what had been dense forest a short while since, but was now denuded of its undergrowth. At first I blamed this wanton destruction, but, when I had made the acquaintance of the surviving mosquitoes, I sympathized with those who had fired their way through the forest. We passed over hill slopes, almost snow-clad in appearance, covered with the lichen which the reindeer loves, and among hoary-looking trees hung with a capillary lichen which he also favours. The slopes gave way at length to swamps temporarily bridged with larch- poles, along which it was necessary to walk Blondin-like. We were met and heartily welcomed by the prospector's son, and, strange as it may seem, by an English youth who by a series of curious chances found himself in this wild out-of-the-world spot. They had preceded us by about two months. Petroleum, known for a long time to the natives, and reported on by the Government expert, Mr. Bazevich, in 1894, had been discovered to the prospector, who had extended his search until he had found, not only exusions of it on this spot, but lakes Of it a few miles north near the Nutovo river. One of these, which had a diameter of about eighteen feet, was in a state of bubbling upheaval. CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 223 The others had a surface of bituminous mud, owing to the evaporation of the oil, which was soft, but at the same time offered sufficient resistance to allow of walking upon it In boring at a spot four miles north of the Boatassin river, eternally frozen ground had been found at a depth of ten and a half metres. This is very low, and accounts for the tundra hereabouts being less pronounced than on the north-west shores. On the west coast Dr. Poliakov reported it in midsummer, on July i, at half a metre's depth, in the valley of the Duika (Great Alexandrovka) river. A year after I reached this spot, a Russian petroleum expert, Mr. R. S. Platonov, despatched by the Baku Manufacturers Trust, visited and inspected the neighbour- hood. On the same trip he had already paid a visit to the Texas and Pennsylvanian oil-fields. According to the Russian newspaper, the Kavkaz (Caucasus) of June, 1903, he takes a very optimistic view of the wealth and extent of the Sakhalin fields. He is reported as saying that all he had seen in America was as nothing compared to that which he had found in Sakhalin. He is even made to assert that the fields situated on the banks of the river Nutovo exceed those of Baku in all respects. The oil is said to contain no benzine, and therefore to be capable of immediate use as fuel. Such a discovery may prove of use both to the Russian Fleet, the Manchurian and Ussuri railways ; and by refining to the vast hordes of consumers of lamp-oil in China, Korea, and Japan. It is to be hoped that Mr. Platonov's hopeful report may not be belied, and that the supplies may prove to be deep-lying ; for should they be actively worked, they will prove incidentally a god-send to the " exile settlers," who, from the absence of employment, drift in large numbers of cases into their old ways. In 1898, a discovery of gold was made, and a company was formed, which soon however gave up. It was rumoured that eternally frozen earth was struck, and proceedings 224 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST stopped. Frozen soil presents no insuperable difficulties, but probably the gravels were situated at a considerable depth (in the Vitim district * they are said to be frozen to a depth of 150 feet), and therefore were quite unprofitable to work. Owing to the frozen subsoil of the tundra, in summer the surface water cannot drain ofif, and the land presents a region of swamps and meres shrouded in a sun-lit mist, covered with coarse dank grass, gnarled and stunted bushes of larch and birch, and low clusters of berry- ladened brushwood ; and in winter a frozen waste, over which the Tungus course with their reindeer sledges. The two nights following were spent in the log-hut, which accommodated the prospectors and the convicts whom they employed. Through a long low room, with beaten earth for floor, occupied by the latter, we reached the living and sleeping quarters of the masters. Adjoining these was the store-room, containing kegs of salt beef, potatoes, flour, etc., for it was necessary to provision as for a siege. Externally this store-room resembled an earth- work, a form of erection common in Siberia, and designed to exclude the extreme cold and heat. It was a rude life and lonely, separated as they were by a journey of 300 miles by sea and river from even the nearest Russian penal settlement In sickness, acci- dent, or danger from brodyagi, they had themselves alone to rely upon. Their convicts behaved fairly well, and proved moderately faithful since they were treated well, and knew that they were ever so much better off than they would be in the hands of officials ; but in the event of any brodyagi coming along, the masters had to be prepared to find their men neutral ; but that is a story which comes later. Winter, which would have added to the dreariness of their situation, brought them release, for without proper * North-east of Lake Baikal. CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 225 buildings as protection against a cold of — 40° or — 50° (Fahr.), work could not be carried on. It was six or seven weeks later that they started to return to Derbensk. By punting, rowing, and towing, the convicts got the boat as far as the shallows which connect the Bays of Chaivo and Ni. Here they were brought to a standstill by ice, which for some distance they had already broken through. There was nothing for it but to return, which was more easily said than done, for the ice had meanwhile drifted, and was congealing between them and their point of embarkation. They, therefore, made land at a nearer point, the Orochon village of Old Val, and found their way overland to their hut. On their way they came across a Gilyak hut, in which reclined in various postures six skeletons. An inquiry was afterwards made as to the manner of their death, whether it was the work of brodyagi ; but it was generally concluded that they had died of eating bad fish. The position of the prospectors was now difficult, for the provisions would not last them and their men more than a few weeks, and means of transport there were none. Much against their wish, but rather than risk starvation, ten of the convicts were given as much stores as they could carry, and started ofT to make their way on foot. A Gilyak guided them by tracks known to him, and along the frozen river, until after many weary days they reached their destination. Their employers had meanwhile waited in the hope of finding Gilyaks who would take them on their sledges as soon as the bays and river would allow it. For some time the thermometer had registered below zero (Fahr.), and after considerable trouble Gilyaks were found who took them on sledges drawn by thirteen dogs round the bays and up the Tim to a village called Ishir, whence they made their way through the forest to Ado Tim, sleep- ing on the way in the open, with the thermometer register- ing 49° of frost (Fahr.). Sledging on the river, the guiding Q 226 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST poles occasionally penetrated the ice, and where the current was exceptionally fast was open water. It is a curious fact that in places the upper waters of the Tim, with a tem- perature of 40° to 50° below zero, do not freeze, and here comes the whiteheaded eagle (Hali'etus albicillus) to fish. In fact the Gilyaks call the' month of February Khant'long, or eagle month, as they name March Karr-long, or crow month. The day following our arrival at the petroleum well we essayed to continue northwards, to visit the oil-lakes on the Nutovo river. Retracing our steps to our canoe, we started with our crew to go round by the bay, intending to ascend the river. However, we had gone but five miles when "white horses," or as the Russians say, "white sheep," were descried ahead. We were loth to be baulked by a storm, and ignored the protestations of our crew until the waves, threatening to swamp the canoe, forced us to desist from our purpose, and reluctantly turn back from attempting to penetrate farther along the north- eastern coast than any white man had hitherto done. For seven miles our " bark " was driven before the storm, but our skilful " captain," with his paddle, kept us from drifting broadside. Wetted through to the skin we landed once more at the mouth of the Khagdasa. Here we were met by two or three Orochons, with a message of welcome from the headman of the village of New Val, across the bay. Pushing on once more to the hut, we spent that night with our hospitable hosts, and the next morning were accompanied by them on land and sea as far as the village of New Val. Time would not allow of my pressing on further to the north ; there were no natives to be met with, nor could we at this time of the year get our Gilyaks to consent to delay their return longer ; already we had overstayed our time, and we found on reaching the Bay of Ni, two days later, that our river crejv were on the point of departing without us. CHAIVO BAY AND BEYOND 227 On our way through the forest one of our hosts led me aside to seek the site of an unwritten tragedy. Searching for some time in different directions, and hallooing to one another, we at last hit upon it. What we saw is pictured in our illustration (p. 258) — a rude Russian cross made from three stakes. The story, though unrecorded in the pages of history, was clearly revealed on the' spot. A small band of brodyagi, pushed hard by soldiers, and perhaps attracted by the presence of the prospectors' stores, had found their way as far north as this. They had managed to exist on reindeer, and one of their number must have fallen ill, as was evidenced by their staying a long time, a dangerously long time in one place. For they had been here long enough to consume several reindeer, obviously, from the quantity of antlers and bones, and the little footpath worn in the forest. Their sick companion may possibly have been injured in an encounter with a bear, or more probably had fallen ill owing to exposure ; in either case he had lingered until dying they buried him in the taiga, neglect- ing not to raise the protecting ^ over the grave of their poor outcast brother. It was a story as melancholy and pessimistic as any from the pen of a Russian novelist, but here Providence and Nature had been the writers. CHAPTER XIII WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO An "inter-continental" boat-race — The Cham and the Shaman — Exorcising the evil spirit — Why the Gilyaks are without written characters — The journeys of a soul after death — Strange rites at the funeral pyre. AT the mouth of the Khagdasa river was a canoe from the Orochon village of New Val, and our hosts, the prospectors, getting into this with a native to steer, challenged us to a race. It was Gilyak versus European, and I doubt if the five versts across Chaivo Bay, from the mouth of the Khagdasa to the village of New Val, have ever been covered in faster time. The tide had turned, and it was with considerable diffi- culty that the less shallow channels were found and navigated ; but this accomplished, all put their backs into the work. There were no crowds of spectators watching the great struggle between Europe and Asia, none of the old familiar shouts from the tow-path, with all manner of musical (?) instruments, nor the well-known cries from the "coach," nor the hoarse, "One — two — three" of the cox. Europe had a smaller canoe, no baggage, and a cox only, beside her two oarsmen ; but she was handi- capped with two oars only. Asia had a longer canoe, two passengers with six or seven puds of baggage, beside her cox and two oarsmen ; but then she had two pairs of sculls going. Our Gilyak crew entered into the fun with great 228 WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 229 enthusiasm. We — that is, Asia — had got a start in clear- ing the network of channels, and managed to hold our own for half the race. Europe, however, came steadily on, hand over hand, until both were level. Then, taking advantage of their cox's knowledge of the approach to his village, they swept round and landed, while Asia's crew were still hesitating where to beach their boat. After all, this is but an allegory of the racial struggle for existence between the native and the white man. The Gilyak on Sakhalin has had a lead by two or three cen- turies, but he has already been far outnumbered, and will surely die out with the further inroad of the European. The chief causes of the dying out of the natives are disease, the narrowing limits of their hunting-ground, the decay of the spirit of the race, and their inability to adapt themselves to another mode of living which is gradually but surely being forced upon them. The Government's attitude towards them is a " correct " one. It recognizes them as Russian subjects, interferes as little as possible with their scant organization, and prohibits the sale of intoxicants to them. What is really required now, but hardly to be expected from officials whose function is the safeguarding of criminals, is a patriarchal government which shall interest itself in the race and its changing conditions. If there were more friends of the Gilyaks like Mr. Pilsudski, who was a political exile on the island, they indeed might yet be saved from extinction. He recog- nized that their means of livelihood, hunting and fishing, were beginning to fail them, and therefore endeavoured to induce those who dwelt near the Russian settlements to cultivate potatoes and to salt fish. To the natives utterly unused to it, the work was extraordinarily exhausting ; and one gave it up after two hours because "his back ached," while others eagerly sought permission to eat the seed potatoes ! I fear, unaided and not followed up. 230 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST his efforts have failed, though after a great amount of persuasion he got several puds sown. After being welcomed by the starosta of New Val, and introduced to the "belles" of the Orochons, whose rare beauty left much to be desired in our humble and un- educated opinion ; we were ushered into a hut where not only were fish-skins spread for us, but to our surprise two pieces of handsome Chinese silk brocade. To tread with our great dirty boots upon these was out of the question, so, turning up a corner, we sank on to the fish-skins beneath. I leave the reader to picture the oddness of the contrast between pale blue and gold brocade and smoked fish, greasy timbers, and dirt-encrusted forms around. The explanation of its presence here was a prospective Russian church, of which this was intended to be the altar-cloth. Very prospective, I should imagine. It was said that a Russian priest had visited Chaivo Bay four years previously, and had collected 489 rubles for the building of the church, but, so far, they had nothing but a handbell. I believe Sakhalin has been rid of the presence of this pope, whose true mission, by all accounts, appeared to have been to gather sable-skins. A priest comes once a year in winter during the hunting season, to a central spot of the island, generally Ado Tim (about 250 miles distant by river), and word is sent to the headmen of the Orochons. Of those who respond, some receive the Com- munion, or hear the Burial Service read for members of the family deceased during the previous year. The summons, however, is not liked, since, as is the custom in the Russian Church, the rites must be paid for, and the Orochons find themselves relieved of many sable-skins. Russians declared to me that the priest brought vodka and traded for skins. The accusation, I fear, was true ; and the excuse that he was poorly paid, a very lame one in extenuation of a crime punishable by law. Of course he was not alone in yielding to the temptation to use such WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 231 an unfailing key to riches as bartering vodka with the natives. That no interest should have been taken by the priests in the natives, other than for the sake of gain, is most regrettable ; but in judging them we must remember that they are not missionaries, nor even parish priests, but practically in the position of prison or military chaplains. It would be as reasonable to blame the chaplain of a regiment stationed, say, at Bombay, for not doing mission- ary work in India, as these priests in Sakhalin. As for their relation to their own flock, we shall see something of that when we come to my stay at Alexandrovsk. Leaving the Orochon village of New Val, we rowed over in a south-easterly direction to the Gilyak settlement of Chaivo, situated on the northern side of the strait which here gives entrance to the sea. This was a village of some size, for there were about thirty canoes drawn up on the beach, and the population was said to number about a hundred. Landing here, we were taken to see the bear in its cage, two captive foxes, which were being bred for their skins, and three large white-tailed eagles tethered to corners of a log structure. Magnificent birds they were, whose great powerful wings and formidable beaks looked as if they should have won them freedom ere this. They had been captured when young, and were the contents of a nest robbed after the mother bird had been shot. The natives were rearing them with a view to selling their tails to the Japanese. From the first meeting with the Gilyaks I had made inquiries as to where I could find a chain, or " medicine- man" of the tribe. I was anxious to do so, because I hoped to learn from him more than I could from the Gilyak " man-in-the-street," or rather, " man-in-the-canoe." All the replies had indicated the village of Chaivo as the residence of their cham. On reaching New Val, which was close by, I thought it prudent to make inquiries if 232 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST the great man were at home. The answer was in the affirmative. Arrived at Chaivo, however, I was informed he had gone to New Val. This would not do. I suspected evasion, and therefore put my foot down and insisted on our crew going to fetch him. This had the desired effect, and, shortly after, a man of about thirty or thirty- five, of less wild appearance than the others — in fact, a rather mild-looking individual — came hesitatingly towards us. I offered him a few tobacco-leaves, and to disarm his suspicions, for the natives are shy of talking about their religion, explained through the interpreters that I was a friend of the Gilyaks, and that I had come a great way from over the sea and would like to know about them and their forefathers. The traveller, in his wanderings, too soon loses the novelty and strangeness of his environment, and it is seldom after the first blush that he does not take things as they come, without surprise. It is a useful habit, and saves much trouble, but there are occasions when he is transported in thought to his home and friends, and awakens with a shock to his present surroundings. It was such a moment now, this meeting with the Giiyak cham, and perhaps in giving the scene as it appealed to me, I may succeed in transporting the reader for one moment to that far-away spot. It was evening, and we were squatted on the sand- dune dividing the bay before us from the Pacific, which was rolling in its great booming breakers hard by. A glorious sunset met our gaze westward, angry masses of black cloud were fired by reddening rays as they gathered behind the distant blue mountains, between which and us stretched vast forests. It was a Sunday evening, and calm as an English village scene, but yet how different. By what a gulf were we separated from the civilized world. Between us and England lay impenetrable forests, the home of the bear, and the escaped convict armed and WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 233 desperate with starvation. Only by days and days of punting up rapids could these forests be passed, followed by weeks before the mainland could be reached, and then there remained the whole of snow-bound Siberia to be crossed. Around us were squatted swarthy natives, pig- tailed and unwashed, women and children strangely clad adorned with hoops in their ears and fish-knives at their belts. Our supper of fish was spitted before the fire. The strange figures gathered closer round us, dogs as well, ac we talked of the Gilyak ancestors, the gods of their fathers, and the home of their departed ones ; they wondering the while why the white men from a strange land should want to know these things. Could we be ignorant of what was common knowledge, or were we laughing at them .' After preliminary politenesses, I began by asking the chant — " Has your father, or your father's father, ever told you anything about the place whence the earliest Gilyaks came ? " "No. They came from over there," pointing to the west, to the mainland, which we know by tradition to have been their home. But before he would answer my question, he had asked me — • " How is it the Russians have come here, and why do they live in big villages and not in the forest } " What a revelation of a totally different economic world was here ! Surely a question suitable for the new Economic Tripos at Cambridge. The complexity of our economic life, the interdepen- dence of country upon country — nay, hemisphere upon hemisphere — the vast network of communication in the civilized world upon which it was based, how could I, in a few words, make this member of a primitive tribe understand .■" These " children of the forest," who found their food, their clothing, their homes, even their gods provided 234 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST therein, how was it possible for them to conceive of any other conditions of existence? Tradition even claimed that the Orochons had sprung from a male a,nd female birch tree. " How could we live together in towns, and yet manage to catch enough fish in the neighbourhood for the winter's store; and shoot sufficient animals to provide the skins wherein to clothe ourselves ? " I leave the reader to fill up the picture, and imagine the respectable citizens of London, clad in skins, streaming forth to St. John's Wood, to hunt the bear and reindeer, or, deftly balanced on the prows of their dug-out canoes, spearing salmon and harpooning seals in the "pellucid waters " of the Thames at London Bridge. I put many questions to the cham, but they were scarcely answered satisfactorily^; either he was not as intelligent as we had hoped, or else, for fear of being laughed at, he was beating about the bush. The Gilyaks themselves declared, " We have no great cham now. We had one. He died last winter. He was great indeed ! If a man wanted to fish, and there was no wind to drive in the fish, he went to the cham and fell on his knees, and immediately his prayer was granted, and the wind began to blow." His successor, indeed, claimed the power of being able to locate a bear. " When the Gilyak wants to find one," he told us, " I hear a voice of the spirit, saying, ' There is a bear in the forest,' and I go into the forest, and there I discover a bear." The cham of the Gilyaks resembles, in many respects, the shaman of the Oroktis, the Golds, and the Tungus on the mainland. Both are addicted to superstitious practices ; but the primary function of the cham would appear to be the judicial executive, and for that purpose he is elected. He it is who pronounces sentence in the criminal "court" of elders, and afterwards carries it out. Legally these were the limits of his function ; but A TL'NGUJi " Ml \M \X. /;'_/;(.-.■/,;;■. J3 WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 235 actually his moral influence does not stop there, and the criminal's fate largely depends upon him. Probably he was chosen because the death of a murderer, though necessary in olden times, was much against the grain of the kindly, jolly Gilyaks ; and the cham, with his powers of exorcism, could clear himself of any sin which they involuntarily felt must attach to the killing of a human being. The penalty of death now no longer obtains, but is commuted in practice to a fine. The shaman, on the other hand, is not chosen, but wins his position by force of character and in face of no little ridicule. If he succeeds, he becomes the Oracle of the tribe. To him come those who want to know where a lost article is to be found, what the catch of fish will be next season, or how to avoid impending misfortune. But it is as a healer of sickness and exorciser of evil spirits that he is in most request. Mr. V. P. Margaritov, in a monograph on the Oroktis (translated by Mr. M. F. A. Fraser *), has given a vivid description of the performance of a shaman in the district of the Primorsk. He first proceeded to dress himself in the style of my illustra- tion. A petticoat was tied round his waist, and from this depended a remarkable collection of " mineral wealth," in the shape of metal bells, steels (flint and steel), metal discs, chains, portions of tin pots, and scraps of iron. The dress that I saw seemed to me to represent a collec- tion of curios, from the point of view of the Orokti, in the amassing of which civilized countries — chiefly England, and Birmingham for preference — had been ransacked for their domestic utensils. The head-dress consisted of the antler of a deer, and depending from it again bells, rings, and plates of metal and rags. In fact, I could not better describe the shaman, so arrayed, than as a peripatetic kitchen-midden. Having burnt grass in his hut until there was a stifling, blinding smoke, he took a reindeer-skin * Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, China Branch, 1894. 236 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST tambourine in his hand, and, going to the entrance, announced the shaman fit. Then he began howling, emitting mysterious noises, whirling wildly round the smoke-filled hut, beating the tambourine and himself, until, exhausted by this maniacal conduct, he hurled him- self on the couch. The awed onlookers then awaited with expectation the revelation on the following day. Being anxious to know what claims the cham had to healing power, I asked him whether he could cure illnesses. To which he replied, "If a child or person is ill, I, the cham, pray and make offerings of tobacco to the lord of fire and cast some rice or tea out of the door to the spirits (of the forest and water). There is one god — Nature," he added, " and we off'er to fire at one time and to water and the forest at others." But the whole cere- mony of a cure is well worth a description. If a Gilyak is so ill that all domestic resources fail, then the cham is sent for. He arrives, followed by one of the elder representatives of the hut, who has been told off" to show honour and courtesy to the healer. An inspection of the patient is generally sufficient for him to determine whether the sufferer will recover or no ; but before he decides upon his measures, the cham tries to find out from the relatives what the patient has been doing prior to his illness. Then he tells them that the evil spirit is angry with the sick man, and has sent this illness as a punishment ; but he will speak to the spirit about it, and ask him how his anger may be appeased. Nothing, however, can be done before the evening, for the element in which the spirit lives is the night. When the sun has set, the cham appears, and drives out of the hut all unnecessary persons, and proceeds to place upon his head a band of birch bark, with three little rustling rosettes of papery bark lining. These, it is said, are to aid him in the expulsion of the evil spirit from the sick one ; but are more probably to enhance the mystery WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 237 and authority of the exorcist. He then places in the corner of the hearth three little bowls, containing respec- tively fish, tobacco, and roots ; and close to these, two wooden images, ch'khnai, bound together back to back ; one having the face of a laughing man, and the other that of a weeping woman. The ch'khnai are there to provide something for the evil spirit to enter, when he leaves the body of the sick man. Note here how clever the cham is. He so places the ch'khnai that the image of the weeping woman faces the cups containing the food ; and the evil spirit, summoned from the body of the patient by exorcism and attracted by delicacies, naturally enters into the image so placed ; and, having taken this form, will be himself kind-hearted and weak as a weeping woman. The good spirit is then exorcised, and takes refuge in the other image ; where he becomes jolly and strong as a laughing man, especially when the cham draws nearer to him one of the bowls of food. The evil and good spirits finding themselves in close proximity, begin to fight ; but there is never any doubt of the result, for victory must be to the stronger — the good spirit. Then commence negotiations between the cliam and the evil spirit as to how much or what offering he will accept to keep away from the sick man. During all these exorcisms and negotiations the hut has been the scene of an awe-inspiring spectacle. While the sick man lay on the nakh, or bench, the cham has been whirling round the hut, beating the kos-cha, a fish- skin tambourine, uttering all manner of strange sounds, and quickening his wild gyrations in order to prevent the escape of the evil spirit from his reach. By the time of the dombat of the good and evil spirits, the wild dance has reached its climax ; and when negotiations commence the cham is in an ecstatic state. His exorcisms are begun in almost a whisper, and to the slow-measured strokes of the tambourine. He improvises his prayers, conforming 238 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST them to the circumstailces ; and by degrees working himself into an ecstasy, he babbles with hoarse voice, howls, and even shrieks. From the great strain his voice sometimes cracks ; but he draws off attention, and with amazing dexterity whirls around in the semi-darkness, his feet appearing to leave the ground as his wild circlings in the air increase and the flames leap in answering flickerings to his wild springings. Black shadows fitfully race over the walls of the hut, and quicker and quicker grow the wild howls and the thuds of the tambourine. The hearts of the spectators sink with fright, and even the most sceptical of the Gilyaks is involuntarily bewitched. The eyes of the chain are like flames ; he foams at the mouth, and sings the orders of the evil spirit — /' Take two great dogs, One black, The other white ; Kill these two offerings There, Where is kept the bear ; That will make the sick man well." The first syllable in each line is articulated quickly, and the last vowels in the line slowly, merging into a howl.* If the cham is angry with the sick man, or has any spite against him or his relatives, he may ruin the whole family by his interpretation of the spirit's demands, forcing them to bring all their dogs and everything that they value most. It is even said that in olden times human offerings were demanded. On the following day, the head of the hut takes the offerings, and goes as quickly as possible to the village appointed where the bear is, even if it be a hundred miles away. There he kills the dogs near the cage of the bear, takes out the heart and liver and casts them in the forest to the east, and sings, "Make so that the sick man may * Each line in the Gilyak original is made to end in a — aa. WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 239 be quite well." The offering is made near the bear because the evil spirit is a great friend of the bear, and therefore is to be found near at hand. The cham having been liberally rewarded for his pains, the matter is ended. One old Gilyak in reply to my question as to what happened if the patient died, said, with stoical submissive- ness, "We make offerings, and if the child recovers, it is well ; but if the spirit does not restore it, it is well also." The Gilyaks explain the visitation of disease in this way. The sick man must have offended the good spirit kiskh, who thereupon deserts him and leaves him in the power of the evil spirit. The offering made to the latter is a bribe, whereby the sufferer coaxes the evil spirit to quit him. The Gilyak makes no offering to kiskh, the creator, the great spirit, the god of the moral world, for he does not know where he is ; in fact, so vague is his notion of him that it can only be said to exist in his mind as a nebulous conception. With regard to the position of the cham, the evil spirit cannot but be angry at the trick he has been played, and the want of respect paid to him ; but we need not be anxious for the healer, since he is secure in his knowledge of many exorcisms. His moral influence among his tribe is certainly losing ground, as the Gilyaks come more into contact with the Russians. One of them said to a Russian, " A cJiam tells very many lies." " Then why do you call him in ? " " He is needed. If he got angry it would be bad for us," was the answer. It is true that it may result badly for the Gilyak, not because the cham can cause the divine anger to fall upon his head ; but when the Gilyak has a misunderstanding, or is accused of crime, the cham may remember his 240 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST omission or insult, and as he has the last word, he can make the punishment very severe. Among the group of strange folk squatted on the beach by the fading light of the day, was a particularly intelligent elder, who had evidently seen more of the Russians than any of the others. He had overheard the first question which I had put to the cham about the home of his fore- fathers, and in an impressive way he exclaimed, "How can I tell ? Neither my father nor my father's father could write, and therefore they have left me no writing to tell, and even if they had, I cannot read ; hence how can you expect me to know ? " The Gilyaks have no written language, but they have a legend to account for the want of it. I learnt it from one of their number, Imdin by name, the only Sakhalin Gilyak known to have been brought up and educated by the Russians. He is an intelligent youth, and had been sent to a school at Vladivostok, where I met him in the charge of a political exile, to whom he owed nearly everything. " The legend current among my tribe," he said, with a smile, " tells how a Gilyak and a Chinaman were talking together one day on the shore. The former was showing his books and letters (characters) to the latter, when most unfortunately a great wind arose, and blew away all the letters save five ; and to complete this great catastrophe, when the Gilyak's back was turned the Chinaman meanly made off with the small remnant." The Ainus have a not dissimilar legend, in which, according to one version, their letters and records were stolen by their guest from Japan, while they were yet recovering from after-dinner effects. Dr. Laufer * gives the Gilyak legend in another form. He says, " The first living man and his wife had forty-seveH sons and forty- seven daughters. The forty-seven sons married their • American Anthropologist, April to June, 1900. WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 241 sisters. The legend runs that they once received some white paper from the god Taighan,* and so were able to write. One day when they returned home from hunting, they could not understand one another, and talked in forty-seven different languages. Seven of the brothers remained in the country ; the other forty built canoes and sailed out beyond the sea, carrying along the papers con- taining their records. On the way they were separated, and twenty of them encountered a heavy rain-storm, in which their papers got wet. After a long trip these twenty reached the shore. They prepared a meal, and spread the papers out on the beach to dry, but suddenly it began to thunder and lighten, and sad to relate their annals were utterly destroyed. The Gilyaks and Tungusian tribes are the descendants of those brothers who lost their papers and forgot the art of writing. The other twenty brothers, favoured by good weather, brought their written treasures safely into a new country, and became the ancestors of the Chinese and Japanese, who are still able to write." "This tradition," adds Dr. Laufer, "points to the fact that the Gilyaks regard themselves as closely re- lated to the Tungusians, and also the Chinese and Japanese." Our talk then drifted on to the passing of mortals into the next world, and the elder made a rather remarkable statement ; but I was not sure then, nor am I now, as to how much of the form of it was due to the interpreter, who in this case was unfortunately not Mr. X., on whose accuracy and appreciation of the points raised, I could always depend. He said, " When a man dies, he does not change. He has ears, eyes, nose, hands, and heart just as before, and only his spirit is missing. If this were to come back the man would be alive. Therefore, I believe the spirit lives, * Perhaps by this is meant the god of the taiga, i.e. Palnivookh. R 242 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST if not here then elsewhere, I expect to see my father, but where I cannot say." Our "captain" Yungkin de- clared that when his father died his grandfather came in the fire and took him, and Yungkin waited in expec- tation of his father coming for him in the same way. A pretty touch, and a belief with no small power of consolation. In talking of their departed, they never called them by their name. That would be uick, i.e. unlucky, ill-omened. Filial piety as among the Chinese is a cardinal virtue, and the elder before us was no exception to the rule. He had killed no less than ten dogs at his father's funeral pyre, his father being a well-to-do man, and therefore it was neces- sary for his spirit to travel with an honourable cortege in the next world. If a Gilyak dies in the winter, it is usual to wrap the body in bark and keep it, which is an easy matter in this frost-bound world, until the breaking up of winter, when the ceremonies may more easily be carried out. Let me describe, first, the rites observed on the death of a woman, premising that with this, as with many other of the more curious customs I describe, there is a difference in detail among tribes (of Gilyaks), and even between one khal (clan) and another. Where the khal has been much influenced by Russian contact there is considerable modi- fication. With some of the latter, such is the influence of example that the natives are giving up cremation for burial. Four garments — short-skirted frocks — are placed upon the corpse of the woman. Only the best may be selected, and in case of a "wealthy" Gilyak the rare Chinese brocade, I have mentioned, will be used. Over all the corpse is robed in a shuha. The reason of the four gar- ments is this. The spirit of the dead woman must appear before each of the gods or lords in turn, Tol ni vookh, the WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 243 lord of the water (sea and rivers) ; Pal ni vookh, the lord of the forest ; Tiir ni vookh, the lord of fire ; and Kiskh, the judge of good and evil ; and as her duty on earth vi^as to keep the hearth, i.e. look after the fire, so Tur ni vookh is her most intimate deity. Since she must appear before each one, and the road is long and difficult, four dresses are necessary, as one only suffices for a journey, and she must not appear before the god in torn garments. Of course, if the family of the deceased is poor, the god will overlook that little want of delicacy ; but woe to the light- minded members of a rich family, if they omit to place four garments on their dead. She and her kindred will indeed have a bad time ; her life in the next world will be poverty-stricken even as she has shown herself in miserable condition, and her kindred will suffer many misfortunes from the hands of those gods whose majesty has been insulted. For four days the corpse of the dead woman lies on the nakh of the hut, and during this time her soul pays visits to the four gods, renders an account of her earthly life, and receives instructions for the life after death. All her kindred must come together and not leave the hut during this period, and with all their powers they strive to call to mind and loudly recite all the virtues of their deceased kinswoman. This is done in order to prompt her spirit, lest her etherealized self should omit some of them in its viv& voce. The lord of fire, as the junior god, serves in this case as messenger, and is therefore strictly kept going in all his force. Crying and loud talking fill the hut. The mourners loose their hair from the pigtails, and all vie with each other in showing their abandonment of pleasure. Luxuries are eschewed, pipes are broken in pieces, and the tobacco is allowed to fall out. If the deceased be a man, similar ceremonies are gone through, but as he is not the maintainer of the hearth, he 244 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST has to give an account of his doings to three gods only ; and therefore his body requires only three garments, and lies in the hut but three days. As with the woman, over the other garments is worn a shuba ; for their spirits have not yet gained that supernatural capacity which defies the elements, and warm raiment is necessary on their long journeys. At the end of the lying-in-state, i.e. on the fifth day for the woman and on the fourth for the man, the corpse is taken out of the hut and laid on a narta, a. sledge drawn by a team of dogs. The skuda is taken off, for although the soul has not yet its divine faculties, the journeys have been made, and it is no longer needed. These are now to be gained by purification. At this juncture some of the followers leave the crowd and run quickly to the cemetery, which every village possesses in the secluded depths of the forest, in a spot quite impossible for a stranger to find. There on a site chosen by the family, a funeraj pyre is built of cleanly stripped sticks of the height of a man. It is of diamond shape, with the ends of the sticks projecting, and eight layers in height. On the top are more dried sticks, moss, twigs, and larch chips. At a few feet from the pyre these friends of the family hastily construct with planks of wood a little hut-like building called a raj^, about two and a half feet long, broad and high, with a sloping roof. This little structure has a hole in the side, or a little door, which looks towards the pyre. Great haste has to be made, for they are anxious to finish their work before the procession arrives, and therefore they use material which has been prepared by the friends of the dead beforehand. To erect the raff for the reception of the soul of the deceased before the divine sanction has been given would be an insult to the gods ; therefore the followers wait until the cortige is about to start. The journeys to the gods WITH THE "CHAM" AT CHAIVO 245 have been duly made, and the soul is now ready, and only awaits the purification by fire, which shall assure to it divine capacities. The cortkge is followed by a crowd of kindred and acquaintances, with dishevelled hair, loudly crying and weeping tears of sincerity or convention. They vie with each other in enumerating the virtues of their dead comrade, hoping thereby to gain his protection. The corpse is placed on the pyre ready for cremation, and all is now ready save the fire, which must be procured in a special manner. In memory of the earliest traditional methods of obtaining it, flint and steel may not be used, nor of course the Russian, or rather Japanese, matches. A pointed stick is inserted in a hole made in a piece of plank placed on the ground. Four men take each an end of a thong attached to and twisted round the stick, and pull it. This rotates, generates friction, and ignites the dried tinder placed in close proximity. The top of the stick is steadied by pressing on it a flat piece of wood, or if need be a Gilyak applies his chest. Torches are lighted, and fire is applied to the pyre, first by the widow, if the deceased leave one. As the flames lick up the pyre, the soul takes refuge in the raff through the hole or opened door, thence to emerge later and begin its long journey to that other world village of Mligk-vo, which the Amur Gilyaks say is in the centre of the earth, but the Sakhalin Tro and Tim Gilyaks say is " There " — pointing to the east — " where the sun rises." Since it is necessary that the spirit of the deceased shall travel as he was accustomed on earth, the spirits of the dogs, the sledge, etc., must all be released. The dogs, in number according to the wealth of the departed, are all killed, being strangled or beaten to death. The sledge is broken, and so are also his spear (kakh), his bow (punch), and his arrows {ku), and quiver {klivi), or if the deceased 246 IN THE UTTERMOST EAST be a woman, then her ear-rings (meskk), rings (koi-ba), and her fish-knife {ungu-dzhakhd). All these articles will be needed by the deceased in the future life ; but they must be broken in order to finish their earthly existence, and to give release to their spirits. Every object has its soul, which resembles it. This is set free in the case of inanimate objects only on being broken, and is then used by the soul of the