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 COnNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 3 1924 086 365 370 
 
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Group of the Siberian Native Tribe of Samoyedes 
 
THE LAST STAND 
 
 OF THE OLD 
 
 SIBERIA 
 
 By R. A. F. PENROSE, Jr. 
 
 Wm. F. fell CO., PUBLISHERS 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
Copyright, 1922, by 
 R. A. F. Penrose, Jr. 
 
 FBILADELPBIA 
 
 Printed in the 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
 BY WH. F. FELL CO. 
 
 7BILADELFBIA 
 
 ferc^ 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 List of Illustrations S 
 
 Introduction 9 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 Historical Sketch of the Conquest of Siberia by the 
 Russians 13 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 Physical Features of Siberia 23 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 The Great Siberian Railway 31 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 Moscow to Irkutsk 43 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 Irkutsk and Lake Baikal S7 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 Lake Baikal to the Head of the Amur River ... 65 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 From the Head of the Amur to Blagoveschensk . . 75 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 From Blagoveschensk to Vladivostok .... 85 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 Russian Civilization in Siberia 9S 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FACING 
 
 Group of the Siberian Native Tribe of Samoyedes '^°^ 
 
 Frontispiece 
 A Siberian Village .16 
 
 View on Amur River 26 
 
 Railway Station on Great Siberian Railroad ... .32 
 Monument Commemorating the Starting of the Great 
 
 Siberian Railroad 36 
 
 Cossack Village, Siberia 46 
 
 View Near Stretensk, Siberia 68 
 
 View on the Shilka River 70 
 
 River Boat on the Amur River . . . .76 
 
 Blagoveschensk from the Amur River .... 78 
 Manchurian Camp (Chinese) on the Manchurian Side of 
 
 THE Amur River 80 
 
 Habarovsk on THE Amur River 86 
 
 Vladivostok from a Hill on Outskirts of the Town . 88 
 Bay of the Golden Horn, Vladivostok, Showing Pacific 
 
 Squadron of Russia 90 
 
 Market Place, Vladivostok 96 
 
 View in Vladivostok Harbor 102 
 
 Emigrant Raft Passing DOWN the Amur River . . .110 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
THIS brief narrative of "The Last Stand 
 of the Old Siberia" is based on observa- 
 tions made during a geological and geograph- 
 ical reconnaissance by the author through 
 Siberia in 1901, just after the Boxer war in 
 China and adjoining parts of Siberia. The 
 reason that the narrative was not published 
 many years ago is that the region was still the 
 old-time Siberia, for the Great Siberian Rail- 
 way was only partly completed and had not 
 yet materially changed the people or their 
 conditions. This old-time Siberia had been 
 much described, much discussed, and more 
 often than not, much and unjustly abused ; 
 enough had been said about it for that time. 
 Soon, however, Siberia began to change un- 
 der the influence of the new life brought by the 
 railway. It began to shuflle off its mediaeval 
 aspects and to assume more modern meth- 
 ods and appearances. Whether or not this 
 was for the better is a matter for discussion, 
 
 [9] 
 
but it always seems sad to see nature tram- 
 meled by the blighting aggressiveness of man. 
 The following narrative relates to the last 
 stand of the grand old Siberia, just before it 
 was engulfed in the upstarting new Siberia ; 
 and this history may be of interest to some as 
 describing the conditions in the world's great- 
 est and most glorious wilderness as it met the 
 fanatical onrush of selfish and relentless hu- 
 manity advancing under the name of modern 
 civilization. 
 
 [lo] 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CON- 
 QUEST OF SIBERIA bj the RUSSIANS 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CON- 
 QUEST OF SIBERIA hy the RUSSIANS 
 
 WHEN, in 1580 to 1582-, the Cossack 
 adventurer, Yermak, led a party of 
 his countrymen, the Cossacks of the Don, 
 across the Ural Mountains and defeated the 
 Tartars, he little thought that he was taking 
 the first step toward the later conquest by 
 the Russians of the whole of northern Asia. 
 Much less, probably, did he realize when he 
 turned over the conquered regions to the Rus- 
 sian Tzar, Ivan the Terrible, that future gen- 
 erations of Russians would immortalize him 
 in their history and song as one of their great- 
 est heroes, and that his bronze statue would 
 to-day occupy one of the most conspicuous 
 positions in the Alexander Museum at St. 
 Petersburg (year 1901). 
 
 The Russian Empire in the time of Yermak 
 was struggling for existence, and had only a 
 few generations before emerged from two 
 [13] 
 
centuries of vassalage to the Mongols and 
 Tartars of the Golden Horde, the descendants 
 of the followers of Jenghiz Khan. They were 
 an isolated inland people, having as yet ac- 
 quired no outlet to the sea, "an eye through 
 which to look at Europe," such as Peter the 
 Great gave them over a hundred years later. 
 They were harassed on different sides by 
 Swedes, Poles, Mongols, and Turks, and even 
 amongthemselves local dissensionsmade their 
 government unstable. About 15 80 some of the 
 Cossacks of the Don, discontented with the 
 political conditions in their own country, fol- 
 lowed Yermak in an expedition across the 
 Urals into what is now West Siberia. Little 
 seems to have been known of Yermak up to 
 this time. It is said by some that he was an 
 outcast from justice, who had been condemned 
 to death for robbery; but this is contradicted 
 by others, who say that not he, but some of 
 his followers, were outcasts. However this 
 may have been, his subsequent bravery and 
 services have expiated, in the eyes of his 
 [14] 
 
countrymen, any crimes of which he or his 
 men may have been guilty. 
 
 The great Asiatic empire established by 
 Jenghiz Khan began to go to pieces in the 
 fifteenth century, and various more or less in- 
 dependent governments were established on 
 the site of the ancient realm. Dissensions 
 among these people caused some of them to 
 spread northward, and in the beginning of 
 the sixteenth century, before Yermak's ex- 
 pedition, the Tartars had occupied much of 
 the territory east of the Ural Mountains. 
 They had found it easy to overcome the scat- 
 tered inhabitants who had lived there previ- 
 ously, but they found more difficulty with the 
 Russians with whom they came in contact in 
 the Urals, so that in 1555 the Tartar Prince 
 Ediger agreed to pay a yearly tribute of 
 1,000 sable skins to the Tzar, though other- 
 wise still preserving a nominal independence. 
 His successor, however, the Khan Kutchum, 
 rebelled against this tribute shortly before 
 Yermak's arrival, and the Stroganoffs, a 
 [iSl 
 
powerful family in the Ural Mountains, en- 
 couraged Yermak to make his invasion. 
 
 When Yermak crossed the Urals he found 
 several well-established Tartar communities, 
 and he first carried on operations successfully 
 on the east slope of the mountains. He moved 
 then eastward and easily captured Isker, the 
 stronghold of Khan Kutchum, in the valley 
 of the River Tobol, near where the town of 
 Tobolsk now stands. He sent messengers to 
 the Tzar describing his victories, and an- 
 nouncing that he held the conquered regions 
 subject to his commands. The Tzar, Ivan IV, 
 surnamed the Terrible, greatly pleased with 
 the services of Yermak, raised him in royal 
 favor, and sent him a hundred rubles, a sil- 
 ver cup and two cuirasses, as well as a fur 
 robe which he had worn himself — a sign of 
 special favor. The Tartar legend relates that 
 a small black animal like a hound emerged 
 from the Tobol River, while a large white 
 shaggy wolf emerged from the Irtish. They 
 met on a sandy island near the confluences 
 [i6] 
 
of the two streams and fought, the smaller 
 animal finally killing the larger one ; thfen both 
 disappeared in the Irtish. The native sooth- 
 sayers interpreted this as meaning the over- 
 throw of the Tartars by the Russians. 
 
 Yermak continued his work of 'invasion, 
 but in 1584 was defeated by the Tartars, and 
 was drowned in. the River Irtish. After his 
 death, however, the Russians proniptly fol- 
 lowed up the conquests that he had beigun, 
 and rapidly occupied the vast regions to the 
 east. In 1587 the now flourishing city of To- 
 bolsk was founded near the site of the old 
 Tartar stronghold of Khan Kutchum. In 
 1604 the Russian advance had progressed so 
 far to the east that the town of Tomsk, al- 
 most 1,000 miles from the Urals, now one 
 of the most flourishing commercial centers 
 of northern Asia, was founded ; and in 1622 
 the town of Yakutsk, over twice that dis- 
 tance, was founded; while in 1647 the Cos- 
 sack Dezhneff crossed Bering Straits, over 
 4,000 mile^ east of the Urals. In 1643 ^^ 
 [17] 
 
explorer Poyarkoff discovered the Amur re- 
 gion in southeastern Siberia; and in 1649-52 
 the celebrated Khabaroff entered this same 
 vast region and defeated the natives and the 
 Chinese armies that defended it. It was, 
 however, subsequently returned to the Chi- 
 nese by the treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689, and 
 was not again recovered by the Russians 
 until 1858, when, by the skill and diplomacy 
 of Count Muravioff, it was ceded to them 
 by the treaty of Aigun without any fighting. 
 Shortly after the middle of the seventeenth 
 century the town of Irkutsk, west of Lake 
 Baikal, and the town of Nerchinsk, east of 
 Lake Baikal, were founded. 
 
 Thus within .less than a hundred years 
 after the campaigns of Yermak the Russians 
 had carried their explorations and conquests 
 across Asia to the farthest points on the Pa- 
 cific Coast ; and all the northern part of the 
 continent, from the Urals to the Pacific, and 
 from the Turko-Mongolian possessions and 
 the Chinese frontier on the soujth, to the 
 [18] 
 
Arctic Ocean on the north, was under Rus- 
 sian control. This immense area forms the 
 main part of what is now known as Siberia, 
 which, however, has been considerably en- 
 larged along its southern and southeastern 
 borders since the days of the early explorers 
 of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 
 In 1697 the peninsula of Kamchatka was 
 formally annexed to Russia, and in 1724 the 
 explorer Bering was sent to investigate it. In 
 1732 he was sent again to explore the same 
 region, together with the Okhotsk country 
 and other places on the northeast coast of 
 Asia and the adjoining parts of America, and 
 to take possession of such regions as were 
 not occupied by other powers. It was dur- 
 ing this expedition (173 2-1 741) that Alaska 
 was explored and occupied by the Russians, 
 who afterward sold it to the United States 
 in 1867. The Russian explorations of this 
 time extended as far south along the Ameri- 
 can coast as California. 
 
 [19] 
 
CHAPTER II 
 PHYSICAL FEATURES OF SIBERIA 
 
PHYSICAL FEATURES OF SIBERIA 
 
 THE total area of all Asiatic Russia is 
 over 6,500,000 square miles, of which 
 Siberia represents over 5,000,000 square miles 
 and covers over thirty degrees of latitude. 
 The great size of this region can be appreci- 
 ated when compared with that of the United 
 States, which, including Alaska but not other 
 outlying possessions, covers an area of a little 
 over 3,600,000 square miles. 
 
 In a country covering so wide a range of 
 latitude as Siberia, equal to that of from our 
 Great Lakes to southern Mexico, a great va- 
 riety of climates and products is necessarily 
 found. In some of the southern parts the 
 climate is not extreme, and in the province 
 of Ussuri,on the Pacific Coast, the vegetation 
 shows a strong approach to southern species, 
 while in the Chinese province of Manchuria, 
 to the south, cotton is cultivated. The winter 
 temperature, however, is colder even in the 
 [23] 
 
southern provinces than in corresponding 
 latitudes of America and Europe, as the high 
 mountains on the Chinese border cut off most 
 of the influence of warm winds from the south. 
 Toward the north the climate, of course, be- 
 comes still colder, and at Verkhoyansk, in 
 the Territory of Yakutsk, we find the coldest 
 known, place in Asia, the thermometer regis- 
 tering sometimes lower than 90° below zero 
 Fahrenheit, and the average winter tempera- 
 ture being about 53° below zero. Even in 
 this region, however, the summers, though 
 short, are very hot, the temperature often 
 rising to over 100° Fahrenheit. 
 
 in many parts of Siberia the ground is 
 frozen during the whole year, thawing only 
 for a short distance from the surface in the 
 summer; but crops of grain and vegetables 
 are often made to grow in this thin layer of 
 soil underlaid by a perpetually frozen sub- 
 soil. Though the summers are short, the long 
 days, while they last, give the grain every op- 
 portunity to mature before autumn sets in. 
 [24] 
 
In its western part Siberia consists of plains 
 or steppes not unlike the prairies of Kansas 
 and Nebraska, with a luxuriant growth of 
 grass and many fresh and saline lakes and 
 marshes. This is pre-eminently the agricul- 
 tural region of the country, though farming 
 is also carried on in other sections. The south- 
 ern border of Siberia is marked by rugged 
 mountain ranges separating it from Mon- 
 golia and Manchuria, and representing the 
 northern extension of the great central Asi- 
 atic plateau, as it breaks off in its northern 
 escarpments. Prominent among them are the 
 Altai, Sayan, and other ranges rising from 
 8,000 to 1 1,000 feet above sea-level. East of 
 the valley of the upper Obi these mountains 
 widen out in more or less parallel ranges, 
 covering most of the northeastern part of 
 Siberia. 
 
 The great forest belt of Siberia extends 
 north of the steppes from the Ural Moun- 
 tains to the Pacific Coast, a distance of over 
 4,000 miles; and in eastern Siberia it also 
 [ 25 ] 
 
reaches southward, covering a large part of 
 the mountain region of that section. These 
 forests are known as the "Taiga," and are 
 the favorite haunts of the fur hunters. To the 
 north of the forest belt is a low, marshy coun- 
 try, covered with moss and lichens, and areas 
 of stunted trees, known as the "tundra," 
 along the Arctic Coast. 
 
 Before the construction of the Great Si- 
 berian Railway traveling in Siberia was done 
 on rivers, postroads, caravan routes, and 
 trails ; and even yet, in regions not traversed 
 by the railway, these means of communica- 
 tion are still actively maintained. The great 
 river systems, however, with which the coun- 
 try is peculiarly favored, have always been 
 of especial importance as channels of traffic. 
 Numerous rivers rise in the mountains on 
 the southern border of Siberia and flow 
 north, finally combining in a few large streams 
 which continue thence to the Arctic Ocean. 
 This is true of all the region from the Urals 
 on the west to the Yablonoi and Stanovoi 
 [26] 
 
« 
 
Mountains near the Pacific Coast, beyond 
 which the rivers, notably the Amur, flow into 
 the Pacific. The principal rivers in this inte- 
 rior basin are the Obi, Yenisei, and Lena, with 
 their many large tributaries, while numerous 
 other similar but smaller river systems drain 
 independently into the Arctic. 
 
 Most of these streams are navigable for long 
 distances above their outlets in the north — 
 the larger ones for over 2,000 miles and the 
 Lena for about 3,000 miles; while their more 
 important tributaries afford useful means of 
 lateral communication from the main north 
 and south rivers. The waters of the River 
 Ket, a tributary of the Obi, at one point 
 come so close to the waters of the Kas, a trib- 
 utary of the Yenisei, that a canal has been 
 cut through the low divide that separates 
 them. In this way there is continuous navi- 
 gation in an east and west direction for al- 
 most as great distances as in a north and 
 south direction; and it is not only possible to 
 go from the Chinese frontier on the south to 
 [27] 
 
the Arctic Ocean on the north on these rivers, 
 but also from the Ural Mountains on the 
 west to the Altai Mountains and the moun- 
 tains of East Siberia on the south and east. 
 This ready means of communication between 
 far distant parts of the country is compara- 
 ble with that over an area equal to from New 
 York to the Rocky Mountains and from the 
 Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico, and 
 was one of the reasons why the Russians in 
 earlier days were able so readily to overrun 
 all Siberia. Even in the present day the 
 water systems are of the greatest importance 
 to the traffic of the interior towns. 
 
 [28] 
 
CHAPTER III 
 THE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY 
 
THE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY 
 
 MANY Russians once supposed that the 
 construction of the Great Siberian 
 Railway would ruin the traffic of the river 
 systems ; but it was found, on the contrary, 
 that with the coming of the railway the river 
 traffic was actually very greatly increased. 
 This was due partly to the great stimulus 
 given to business generally throughout Si- 
 beria, and also to the fact that these rivers, 
 excepting the Amur, are dangerous of access 
 by the cold sea route of the Arctic Ocean, 
 and until the railway came, had no ready out- 
 let for their traffic. Ocean steamers can read- 
 ily enter the mouth of the Amur, but very 
 few enter the great rivers which empty into 
 the Arctic, on account of the difficulty and 
 danger of navigating the Arctic Ocean north 
 of the continent of Europe and Asia. Occa- 
 sionally vessels from Russian ports and some 
 from English and other ports in Europe make 
 [31] 
 
the trip; but the service is not regular and 
 many of them are compelled to turn back, 
 while not a few are lost. Hence the railway 
 has been of peculiar benefit to the traffic of 
 these rivers by supplying a connection with 
 the outside world which could not be gotten 
 satisfactorily by sea. 
 
 Though the rivers and military postroads 
 offered ready means of local travel before the 
 railway was built, yet the distances in Siberia 
 are so great that these methods, even under 
 the most favorable circumstances, were slow 
 and tedious ; and, moreover, during a large 
 part of the year the rivers are frozen and 
 sleighs had to be used. The journey to dif- 
 ferent places took many months, and some- 
 times years, and was accompanied by great 
 hardships and dangers, not only from the in- 
 tense cold of the winter, but also from the 
 intense heat of the short summer, and from 
 hostile natives, brigands, wild beasts, and 
 famine. In early days the journeyfrom Mos- 
 cow to Irkutsk took about a year, while to 
 [32] 
 
■^ f->^ 
 
Kamchatka it took six months more. Later 
 on, however, the improvements on the mih- 
 tary pdstroads and in the service on them 
 made travel much more rapid, and a dis- 
 tance of 200 miles a day was not an unusual 
 rate. Nevertheless, it became yearly more 
 evident that more rapid communication was 
 necessary for the proper development and 
 protection of this vast region; and as far 
 back as about i860 the project of railways in 
 Siberia was much discussed. Many schemes to 
 connect different river systems by ^hort lines 
 of railway, thus facilitating transcontinental 
 traffic, were considered ; but it was finally de- 
 cided to build acontinuous line from European 
 Russia across Siberia to the Pacific; The' dis- 
 cussion" over the route ofthis line lasted for 
 over twenty-five years, until finally, in 1891, 
 the Tzar Alexander III chose the present one, 
 and in his announcement of his decision to his 
 son, the Tzarevitch, the future Tzar Nicholas 
 II, who was then returnirig to Vladivostpk af- 
 ter a journey to the far east, wrote as follows: 
 
 [33] 
 
"Your Imperial Highness : 
 
 "Having given the order to build a contin- 
 uous line of railway across Siberia, which is 
 to unite the rich Siberian provinces with the 
 railway system of the interior, I entrust to 
 you to declare My will upon your entering 
 the Russian dominions after your inspection 
 of the foreign countries of the east. At the 
 same time, I desire you to lay the first stone 
 at Vladivostok for the construction of the 
 Ussuri line, forming part of the Siberian rail- 
 way, which is to be carried out at the cost of 
 the State and under direction of the Govern- 
 ment. Your participation in the achievement 
 of this work will be a testimony to My ar- 
 dent desire to facilitate the communications 
 between Siberia and the other countries of 
 the Empire, and to manifest My extreme 
 anxiety to secure the peaceful prosperity of 
 this country. 
 
 "I remain your sincerely loving 
 
 "Alexander." 
 
 An elaborate monument at Vladivostok 
 commemorates the arrival of the Tzarevitch 
 at that place in 189 1, and his inauguration of 
 [34I 
 
the Great Siberian Railway. The road was to 
 be started from both ends and to be pushed 
 as rapidly as possible. In the meantime the 
 railway system of European Russia had al- 
 ready been continued east from Moscow to 
 the Urals, and in 1892 the extension to Tchel- 
 yabinsk on the Asiatic side of the Urals was 
 opened. This town was considered the start- 
 ing point of the Great Siberian Railway, and 
 from here the line was built eastward, passing 
 through the Government of Orenburg, along 
 the southern border of the Government of 
 Tobolsk and the northern border of the Kir- 
 giz Steppe ; thence through the Governments 
 of Tomsk, Yenisei, and Irkutsk to Lake Bai- 
 kal, reaching the town of Irkutsk in 1 898. The 
 passengers and freight are at present (year 
 1901)* transferred across the lake by boat, 
 
 * The reader is reminded that this manuscript was 
 written in 1901. Since then the railroad has been 
 built around the south end of Lake Baikal, and many 
 other changes have occurred in transportation and 
 other matters in Siberia. (The author.) 
 
 [35] 
 
though the railway is being constructed 
 around its south end. The road begins again 
 on the other side of the lake, and has been 
 completed eastward through Transbaikalia 
 to Stretensk, on the Shilka River, to which 
 point it was opened for travel in 1901. From 
 here it was originally the intention to build 
 down the Shilka to the Amur River, and 
 thence down the Amur to Khabarovsk. It is 
 doubtful, however, if it will be extended fur- 
 ther in this direction for some time to come, 
 as there is river communication between 
 Stretensk and Khabarovsk, and the latter 
 place has already been connected with Vladi- 
 vostok by the Ussuri division of the railway, 
 which was completed in 1897. Moreover, in 
 the meantime, the East-Chinese Railway, 
 built under Russian auspices through Man- 
 churia, has been completed. This line con- 
 nects the line in Transbaikalia with the Us- 
 suri Railway, thus establishing a through 
 route from St. Petersburg and Moscow to 
 the Pacific Coast port of Vladivostok. A 
 [36] 
 
Monument Commemorating the Starting of the Great 
 Siberian Railroad 
 
branch line also connects the East-Chinese 
 Railway with Port Arthur and the splendid 
 new Russian seaport of Dalny. 
 
 The distance from St. Petersburg to Vladi- 
 vostok via the Great Siberian Railway and 
 the Shilka and Amur Rivers is approximately 
 6,500 miles, though by the East-Chinese Rail- 
 way the distance is several hundred miles 
 shorter. On the lines in Siberia the rails are 
 about eighteen pounds to the foot, which on 
 our basis Would be called fifty-four-pound 
 rails ; that is, fifty-four pounds to the yard. 
 These are being replaced (year 1901) by heav- 
 ier rails in many places. The gauge of the 
 railway is five feet, similar to the standard 
 gauge throughout the Russian Empire. The 
 highest point reached by the railway is in the 
 Yablonoi Mountains in Transbaikalia, which 
 it crosses in a pass not quite 3,500 feet above 
 the sea. This is low compared with the passes 
 ranging from 7,000 to 12,000 feet, through 
 which some of the American railways tra- 
 verse the Rocky Mountains. Many bridges 
 [37] ■ 
 
are required to cross the numerous rivers of 
 Siberia, and some of them are fine substantial 
 structures of iron and steel. The station build- 
 ings are substantially built of stone or wood, 
 and many of them contain excellent dining- 
 rooms, lunch counters, and other conveni- 
 ences, where the traveller can find as good 
 meals as at any American eating stations, 
 with wine and other luxuries. 
 
 A daily train* starts from Moscow for the 
 Great Siberian journey, but twice a week 
 this train is faster than on the other days, 
 and is known as the "train de luxe." Its 
 average speed is about twenty miles an hour 
 from Moscow to Lake Baikal, and slower 
 from there to Stretensk. The time required is 
 about eight days from Moscow to Lake Baikal ; 
 three days from Baikal to Stretensk; from 
 ten to thirty days, according to the condi- 
 tion of the water, from Stretensk to Khaba- 
 rovsk by river; and thirty odd hours from 
 
 * This was in 1901, the date of this description. 
 [38] 
 
Khabarovsk to Vladivostok by rail. When the 
 road around the south end of Lake Baikal is 
 completed, and when the East-Chinese Rail- 
 way is open for general travel,* much more 
 rapid time from Europe to the Pacific can be 
 made ; while with the introduction of heavier 
 rails and with shorter stops at stations a much 
 faster rate of speed can be maintained. 
 
 * Shortly after this article was written the East- 
 Chinese Railway was opened to the public for travel. 
 
 [39] 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 MOSCOW TO IRKUTSK 
 
MOSCOW TO IRKUTSK 
 
 'Preparation 
 
 THE writer crossed Siberia in the sum- 
 mer and autumn of 1901, shortly after 
 the railway as far as Stretensk had been 
 opened for travel, having before leaving St. 
 Petersburg for Moscow secured much valu- 
 able information and assistance for the trip 
 through the kindness of our American Am- 
 bassador, Mr. Tower, and the Secretaries of 
 the Embassy, Mr. Pierce and Mr. Morgan. 
 He also secured much valuable advice about 
 traivellirlg in Siberia from Mr. Emery, an 
 American from the state of Maine, who for 
 many years had conducted trading posts 
 throughout Siberia and who was well and 
 favorably known from one end to the other 
 of that vast region. The name "Emery" over 
 a log cabin in the wilderness meant, as 
 the writer later discovered, that there the 
 Russians and the native tribes could trade 
 [43] 
 
peacefully with furs or other products of the 
 forest and get in return the products of civili- 
 zation. The writer met Mr. Emery in Mos- 
 cow and learned that he had crossed Siberia 
 seventeen times before the railway was built, 
 but that now he was anxious to return to his 
 native land. He looked and talked like one 
 of those hardy pioneers in the middle of the 
 last century in our far-west states. 
 
 The Siberian Train 
 
 The large station at Moscow was a crowded 
 place when the Siberian train was ready to 
 start, for even to Russians the journey is a 
 long one, arid the friends of many of the pas- 
 sengers were there in great numbers to see 
 them ofif. Finally the regulation three bells, 
 rung at intervals of several minutes, gave the 
 signal to start, and promptly on schedule 
 time, at 9.05 p. m., we pulled out of the an- 
 cient capital of the empire for its newer pos- 
 sessions in the far east. 
 
 The train was composed of first and second 
 [44] 
 
class passenger cars, with a dining car, 
 library, bath-room, barber shop, and appar- 
 atus for gymnastic exercises. This last feature 
 becomes important in so long an overland 
 journey as across Siberia, and it might well 
 be adopted by some of the American trans- 
 continental trains. The passenger cars were 
 divided into compartments with two or four 
 berths in each and an aisle on the side of the 
 car; while the whole train was lit by elec- 
 tricity. The cars were attended by Tartar 
 porters, who here, as in most hotels and pub- 
 lic places in Russia, are the usual servants. 
 They are said to be honest, trustworthy, and 
 fairly sober. The whole train was in charge of 
 a Russian official. Some of the trains carry a 
 church car in which services are held for 
 passengers, as well as for the people at the 
 stations at which the train stops long enough 
 for this purf)Ose. 
 
 We, had a separate compartment in one of 
 the cars, our neighbors on one side being a 
 priest of the Greek Church and his family, 
 [45] 
 
and on the other side, the family of a banker 
 in Siberia. Several Russian officers were also 
 on board, as well as several civilians bound 
 for the gold districts, another bound for the 
 far north on the Lena Valley, a Frenchman 
 who had butter dairies in the Obi Valley, and 
 many others. Very few were going all the 
 way across Siberia, most being bound for 
 intermediate points. 
 
 The train was much crowded, but all were 
 good humored and courteous as they filled 
 every available corner with their many bags 
 and bundles, including large baskets of sup- 
 plies, the inevitable tea-pots and boxes of 
 cigarettes, and a great deal of bedding with 
 mattresses, sheets, and pillows. This bedding 
 is not necessary on the train, as it can be 
 procured there by paying extra, and it is stip- 
 ulated by the railway authorities that they 
 will have the sheets and pillow-cases changed 
 once every three days of the journey; but 
 it is needed when the passenger leaves the 
 train and branches off on the river boats and 
 [46] 
 
c 
 
postroads. Bedding is also useful at many of 
 the hotels of Siberia, because very often when 
 a traveller rents a room he finds in it a bare 
 iron or wooden bedstead, as he is expected to 
 carry his own bedding. At many of the ho- 
 tels, however, these articles can be procured 
 from the proprietor at a fixed price for each 
 sheet, pillow, pillow-case, etc., so that a bill 
 for one night's lodging and fare often includes 
 a dozen or more items. 
 
 <iAcross the Ural t^ountains and the 
 Steppes 
 
 Our route led us first through the grain dis- 
 tricts of eastern European Russia, in the val- 
 ley of that great water highway, the Volga 
 River, past the agricultural metropolis of 
 Samara, and thence to the Ural Mountains. 
 The Urals are a picturesque, forest-clad range 
 not unlike parts of the Allegheny Mountains, 
 and they separate the plains of eastern Europe 
 from those of western Asia. Where the divid- 
 ing-line is crossed in the heart of the Urals, a 
 [47] 
 
large stone monument has been erected bear- 
 ing on one side the inscription "Europe" and 
 on the other side, "Asia." The most notice- 
 able feature as we descended the east slope 
 of the mountains into the plains of Asia was 
 the greater size, freshness, and succulence of 
 the vegetation, which here shows a wonder- 
 fully luxuriant growth, while on the western 
 slope it was dry and parched. This feature is 
 characteristic of the whole of Siberia, and 
 many of the shrubs and trees which are com- 
 mon to both regions grow to much greater 
 size there than in Europe. On both sides of 
 the mountains we passed numerous iron man- 
 ufacturing districts, for this part of the Urals 
 is the great iron region of Russia; and at 
 many of the stations some of the products of 
 the works, such as cutlery, daggers, and small 
 ornamental castings, were offered for sale. 
 
 We continued eastward over unbroken 
 steppes for over i,ooo miles in the Govern- 
 ments of Tobolsk and Tomsk and the Kirgiz 
 country, across the valleys of the Tobol, 
 [48] 
 
Ishim, Irtish, and Obi Rivers, whose courses 
 meandering toward the north are marked 
 by long lines of trees intersecting the plains. 
 As far as the eye can see are scattered fields 
 of grain, separated by grass-lands brilliant 
 with wild flowers, and dotted by droves 
 of cattle with their Kirgiz herdsmen ; while 
 occasionally caravans and emigrant wagons 
 pass slowly along the country roads. Whole 
 trainloadsof butter from the dairies of the 
 Obi Valley are shipped in cold storage cars 
 to Europe, Much of it goes to Riga and is 
 shipped thence by sea to England. Bee cul- 
 ture has also reached a very considerable 
 stage of development in the Tomsk Govern- 
 ment and throughout the regions to the east, 
 the bees seeming to prosper greatly, and im- 
 mense quantities of honey are produced. Of 
 such importance has this industry become 
 that the Russian Government has appointed 
 a special commissioner to look after bee cul- 
 ture and to study the best methods of pro- 
 moting it. 
 
 [49] 
 
The steppe regions contain numerous pros- 
 perous rural communities, and a number of 
 towns of considerable size, with populations 
 of from 10,000 to 60,000 people.* Along the 
 line of the railway Tchelyabinsk, Kurgan, 
 Petropavlovsk, Omsk, Tomsk, and other 
 places, are especially noteworthy. The town 
 of Kurgan is built on what are supposed to 
 be the ruins of an old Tartar fort, though the 
 native legend relates that this spot was the 
 tomb of the daughter of a powerful Tartar 
 chief, that robbers attacked it to obtain the 
 treasure buried with her, and that the prin- 
 cess in rage rose up and drove off in a chariot 
 drawn by two white horses. 
 
 Tomsk is connected with the main line by 
 a branch road, and is the chief town of the 
 government of the same name, as well as the 
 commercial centerof West Siberia. Like many 
 other Siberian towns, it was started as a fort 
 
 * These populations were the estimates at the time 
 of this narrative in 1901. Since then many of the 
 towns have greatly increased in population. 
 
 [SO] 
 
in the early days, but gradually expanded as 
 the commercial necessities of the region re- 
 quired, until now (year 1901) it contains over 
 60,000 people. It has fine buildings, telephones, 
 telegraph lines, electric lights, churches, thea- 
 ters, newspapers, hospitals, and all the equip- 
 ments of a modern city. It has many schools, 
 scientific societies, and one institution of 
 higher learning, the Tomsk Imperial Univer- 
 sity, with a library of over 100,000 volumes. 
 
 zAcross the "Valley of the Yenisei 
 
 To the east of Tomsk we approached the 
 mountain region and travelled for about i ,000 
 miles through a rugged country, occasionally 
 intersected by higher mountain ranges, with 
 many fertile valleys, across the Governments 
 of Yenisei and Irkutsk to Lake Baikal. This 
 country is abundantly watered by many 
 streams, the most important being the Yen- 
 isei and its tributary, the Angara, and in 
 many parts it is heavily covered with for- 
 ests. Hunting is a popular occupation here 
 [SI] 
 
among both Russians and natives, but it has 
 been carried on so actively during the three 
 hundred years or more in which Siberia has 
 been known to the Russians, that some of the 
 animals, especially the sable, which is the 
 most sought after of all the fur animals^ have 
 been almost exterminated. Laws have been 
 recently made, however, restricting hunting 
 to certain times of year, and also defining the 
 methods under which it shall be carried on, 
 thus giving the game a chance to escape com- 
 plete extermination. 
 
 The mining resources of this mountainous 
 region are rapidly becoming prominent, es- 
 pecially the gold mining, which is a newer 
 industry here than in the Urals. The gold oc- 
 curs both in placer deposits and in veins, most 
 of the production, however, coming from the 
 placers, as vein mining has been but little 
 developed; but even in placer mining only 
 the richest alluvium is worked. The Ural 
 Mountains and the Yakutsk and Amur Terri- . 
 tories are the chief gold-producing regions of 
 ' [52] 
 
Asiatic Russia, though the Governments of 
 Tomsk, Yenisei, and Irkutsk, and the Terri- 
 tory of Transbaikalia, produce considerable, 
 while the Territory of Ussuri and the region 
 of the Okhotsk Sea and Kamchatka produce 
 a little. The total production of all Russia in 
 1900, including Siberia and the Urals, was a 
 little over $20,000,000. Taking Siberia and 
 the rest of Asiatic Russia as a whole, its pos- 
 sibilities as a gold-producing region are simply 
 enormous. It is bounded on the south, west, 
 and east by gold-bearing mountains, and an 
 extraordinary number of the streams from 
 these ranges show signs of gold in their allu- 
 vium, while many of them are wonderfully 
 rich. 
 
 It would seem that at no very distant 
 time the gold mines, if properly exploited, 
 might easily produce, instead of $20,000,000 
 annually, many times this amount; and in 
 these great gold possibilities surely lies enor- 
 mous future wealth for the Government and 
 the people of Russia. 
 
 [ S3 ] 
 
Coal or lignite of various geological ages, 
 including Carboniferous, Jurassic, and Ter- 
 tiary, is very generally distributed through- 
 out the eastern part of Siberia, but wood is 
 so cheap that coal has not been much worked 
 except for the railway and on the coast for 
 ocean steamers. The beds are of considerable 
 size, and the quality is often that of a very 
 good bituminous coal, while elsewhere, espe- 
 cially in the Tertiary strata, it is in the form 
 of brown coal or lignite. Iron ores also occur 
 in a great many places in the Ural Mountains 
 and in the mountains of the eastern part of 
 Siberia. They are extensively smelted on both 
 slopes of the Urals, but further east they are 
 worked to only a limited extent in the Gov- 
 ernments of Yenisei and Irkutsk and the 
 Territory of Transbaikalia. The abundance, 
 however, of iron ore and fuel in Siberia offers 
 the basis of a great manufacturing industry, 
 though up to the present time (year 1901) 
 the limited markets have retarded its devel- 
 opment. 
 
 [54] 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 IRKUTSK AND LAKE BAIKAL 
 
IRKUTSK AND LAKE BAIKAL 
 
 THE largest town in the mountain region 
 of the upper Yenisei valley is Irkutsk, 
 in the Government of the same name, which 
 we reached after eight days' and nights' con- 
 tinuous travel from Moscow. It was founded 
 about the middle of the seventeenth century 
 as a fort and trading post, at which the trib- 
 ute of furs paid the government representa- 
 tives by the native Buriat tribes was collected.. 
 It has played an important part in Siberian 
 history, and by the census 6f 1897^ it had 
 52,000 people, though it has grown consider^ 
 ably since then. Like Tomsk, it has all the 
 conveniences of a modern city, and thp newer, 
 and finer stone buildings are in strange con- 
 trast with the older heavy one-ptoried log 
 cabins, surrounded by high fences of 'equally 
 heayy logs, and entered through rnysterious 
 looking small gates or doors, recalling the , 
 days when Siberian houses w^re built more 
 [S7l 
 
for security than for beauty. The activity of 
 the town by day and night, the saloons, res- 
 taurants, and hotels crowded with people, 
 together with the dance halls running full 
 blast, are the result of the sudden boom 
 given by the railway, which arrived there 
 in 1898. 
 
 Leaving the city of Irkutsk, we continued 
 up the Angara Valley for a few miles to the 
 station of Baikal on Lake Baikal. This lake is 
 the largest body of fresh water on the conti- 
 nent of Europe and Asia, and is second only 
 to the great lakes of America and Africa, be- 
 ing about 400 miles long and from seventeen 
 to fifty-five miles wide, with a depth said 
 sometimes to reach between 3,000 and 4,000 
 feet. It is fed by numerous streams, notably 
 the Selenga, flowing from Mongolia, and has 
 its outlet in the Angara River, a tributary 
 of the Yenisei. It is completely surrounded 
 by rugged mountains, and has many rocky 
 islands and precipitous capes, eroded by 
 the elements into fantastic forms which are 
 [58] 
 
believed by the natives to be the homes of 
 different deities ; hence the lake is known by 
 them as the "Holy Sea." It is noted for the 
 stormy weather usually prevailing, and the 
 normal coiidition of the waters during a large 
 part of the year seems to be one of turbulence. 
 In spite of this, however, the lake is an impor- 
 tant channel of communication, and a num- 
 ber of boats do a lucrative business on it. 
 The railway maintains (year 1901) powerful 
 steamers for the transportation of passen- 
 gers and freight, pending the time when the 
 road shall be completed around the south 
 shores. One of these boats, the * * Baikal," 
 is a very powerful ice-breaker, used in cross- 
 ing the lake in the winter, as the water freezes 
 to a depth of from four to seven feet. It is 
 also used in the summer as an ordinary 
 transport. 
 
 On arriving at the lake we found the steamer 
 "Baikal" waiting for the train. The weather 
 during the morning had been clear and per- 
 fect, and we began to think we might have a 
 [59] 
 
good passage;- but" before the boat started 
 a hea\^>§torm arose, and as we left the 
 shore the waters of this grand but inhospit- 
 able inland sea were a mass of billows and 
 spray. • 
 
 Dn the boat could be seen, better than on 
 
 ' ' t .■■■■.■■ 
 
 the railway, the different races and tribes 
 that circulate along this great interior high- 
 way. Russian soldiers and peasants from all 
 parts of ^ the empire, Chinese, Tartars, Tun- 
 gus, Ostiaks, Vogiils, Buriats, Samoyedes, 
 Yakuts, and various other tribes, each in 
 its own. native dress, all talking in different 
 languages at «the same time, crowd and 
 jostle one another in their rush to cross the 
 gang-plank and board the ship. Below, in 
 the cabin, t;he few first-class passengers eat, 
 drink, smoke cigarettes, and play cards and 
 •musical instruments. The steamer continues 
 through the fog and storm, the deck passen- 
 gers become colder and wetter, the cabin 
 passengers grumble at the slowness of the 
 voyage, arid finally, after about seven hours, 
 [60] 
 
the lights of the Mysovaya mole and the 
 shrill whistles of the transport announce the 
 arrival in port. The passengers are quickly 
 transferred to the new train and again the 
 land journey is resumed toward the east. 
 
 [6i] 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 LAKE BAIKAL TO THE HEAD OF THE 
 AMUR RIVER 
 
LAKE BAIKAL TO THE HEAD OF THE 
 AMUR RIVER 
 
 Transbaikalia 
 
 AFTER leaving Lake Baikal we entered 
 ^ the Transbaikal Territory, also known 
 as Transbaikalia, which, with the exception 
 of an area of steppe land in the southeast, in 
 the direction of the Desert of Gobi, is almost 
 entirely a high mountainous country, well 
 watered by many streams; and though the 
 climate is very severe, the subsoil over almost 
 the whole of the Territory being frozen both 
 summer and winter, yet many valleys are 
 successfully cultivated in places where the 
 upper soil thaws for a depth of a few inches 
 during the summer. The Amur Territory ad- 
 joins the Transbaikal Territory on the east, 
 and is, like it, essentially a mountainous coun- 
 try. It is separated from the Chinese prov- 
 ince of Manchuria by the Amur River, which 
 is the main artery of travel through the region. 
 [ 6s ] 
 
It was in Transbaikalia, on the Onon River, 
 that, according to the Mongol legend, their 
 great chief of the thirteenth century, Jenghiz 
 Khan, was born. In fact, the original home 
 of the Turko-Mongolian tribes, which over- 
 ran Asia and eastern Europe in the middle 
 ages, is supposed to have been in southern 
 Transbaikalia and the adjoining parts of 
 China. The Turks, of what is now the Turk- 
 ish Empire, probably came originally from 
 here, but they have become so much mixed 
 with Caucasians since they settled in Europe 
 and western Asia that they are a very dif- 
 ferent people from the original Turkish stock 
 which is seen in its less adulterated condition 
 in some of the Siberian tribes. 
 
 It may be stated here that the natives of 
 Siberia are mostly scattered nomadic tribes, 
 differing considerably in different parts, but, 
 with the exception of a few tribes of uncer- 
 tain ethnology, they are probably largely of 
 Mongolian origin; and many of them, at 
 least, are descendants of once much more 
 [66] 
 
numerous and powerful people, having been 
 driven by superior force, or by the over- 
 crowding of their original homes, to seek new 
 lands to the northward in the unoccupied or 
 sparsely inhabited regions of Siberia. Among 
 the most numerous are the Kirgiz tribes of 
 southwestern Siberia, the descendants of the 
 Turko-Mongolian hordes whose invasions in 
 the middle ages carried terror to the people 
 of Europe ; the Yakuts, who wandered many 
 ages ago from their more southerly homes to 
 the Arctic regions, and have now become so 
 thoroughly acclimatized that they not only 
 exist there, but are even among the few native 
 tribes of Siberia that are increasing in num- 
 ber; the Tongus, a Mongolian tribe, which 
 extends in greater or less numbers from the 
 Yenisei River to the Pacific Coast. Among 
 other more or less numerous tribes may be 
 mentioned the Ostiaks, Voguls, Samoyedes, 
 Buriats, Tartars, Giliaks, Aleuts, and others. 
 Transbaikalia occupies a unique position 
 among the provinces of Siberia, inasmuch as 
 
it has been for ages the great channel of entry 
 for Chinese products into Russia and for 
 Russian products into China. This is partly 
 because it is the shortest route to Europe 
 from eastern China, and partly because the 
 Selenga valley offers a much easier passage 
 across the frontier than any of the routes to 
 the west, where the rugged mountains make 
 the few passes that do exist more or less diffi- 
 cult. From the earliest days a large part of 
 the tea brought to Russia from China has 
 come over this route. The town of Kiakhta, 
 in the Selenga valley, near the frontier, was 
 and is still the great international market 
 where the Slav and Mongol meet and trade. 
 A novel industry in Transbaikalia is the 
 catching and domesticating the "maral," or 
 wild deer, for the sake of its horns, which are 
 considered a very valuable medicine by the 
 Chinese. The maral sheds its horns once a 
 year, and they are collected and sold at high 
 prices to the Chinese merchants, who ship 
 them south to China. In a similar manner 
 [68] 
 
the Siberian finds ready purchasers among 
 the Chinese for the bones, claws, and other 
 parts of the northern tiger, which abounds in 
 Ussuri on the Pacific Coast. These parts, 
 when ground up and administered to a pa- 
 tient, are supposed to have wonderful effects 
 and the Chinese are said to give this medicine 
 to their soldiers to keep up their courage. 
 
 Stretensk and the Shilka and tAmur 
 'fivers 
 
 We continued our journey eastward from 
 Lake Baikal through the mountain country, 
 across the Yablonoi Range, which, in Trans- 
 baikalia, forms the continental divide be- 
 tween the water of the Arctic and Pacific, 
 past the historic towns of Petrovsk, Tchita, 
 and Nerchinsk, to the terminus (year 1901) 
 of the railway at Stretensk on the Shilka 
 River, one of the headwaters of the Amur 
 River. 
 
 This town was only a short time ago a 
 quiet Cossack village, a line of log cabins 
 [69] 
 
strung along the river bank, but the arrival 
 of the railway has given it an unwonted ac- 
 tivity, for it is here that all the transconti- 
 nental traffic has to be changed from train to 
 boat, or vice versa. On our arrival, our first 
 effort was to secure passage on a steamer 
 down the Shilka and Amur Rivers. After ap- 
 plying at several boats along the shore and 
 finding that they were all full, we secured pas- 
 sage on a freight boat named the "Vladimir 
 Monamakh." This was a large, flat-bot- 
 tomed, stern-paddle steamer loading with salt 
 and general merchandise for the lower Amur; 
 and as even this boat was very much crowded, 
 we were fortunate in securing the right to 
 sleep on the seats in the dining saloon. 
 
 The loading of the boat was all done by 
 hand, no trucks were used, and everything 
 was carried on men's backs. Gaily attired 
 music girls played harps and violins along- 
 side the gang-plank to encourage the men, 
 and this, together with frequent drinks of 
 vodka, seemed to inspire them to great 
 [70] 
 
< 
 
activity. The more vodka they drank and the 
 more music the girls played, the harder the 
 men worked, until at last the boat was loaded. 
 Then some cattle and sheep were driven 
 aboard for the settlers on the lower Amur; 
 and finally, after waiting three days, the boat 
 was ready and we started down the Shilka, 
 crowded with freight and emigrants and car- 
 rjring a few cabin passengers, and with a 
 mixed crew of Russians, Manchurians, and 
 Koreans. 
 
 The Russian Government has done much 
 to improve navigation on the Shilka and the 
 main Amur, as they comprise a most impor- 
 tant channel of travel, not only because the 
 Amur is on the Manchurian frontier, but be- 
 cause it is the gateway through the moun- 
 tains to the Pacific provinces. Lighthouses 
 from point to point indicate the course of the 
 channel, and signal stations are established 
 at certain intervals, indicating by means of 
 graduated poles, visible at long distances, the 
 depth of the water from day to day, so that 
 [71] 
 
the steamboat captains have only to glance 
 at these indicators as they pass to learn the 
 condition of the water. Steam dredges are 
 also kept working at shallow places in the 
 channel. In fact, the methods for assisting 
 navigation are remarkably complete, and 
 rarely anywhere can be seen a more thor- 
 oughly efficient system for river navigation 
 than this one established by the Russian 
 Government in the remote interior of Asia. 
 The Shilka below Stretensk flows through 
 a high rolling country in the foothills of the 
 Yablonoi Mountains, until it reaches the 
 eastern limit of Transbaikalia, where the 
 Argun, flowing in a broad muddy stream 
 from northern China, joins it, and together 
 they form the Amur. To the eastward the 
 Amur River divides the Amur Territory of 
 Siberia from the Chinese Territory of Man- 
 churia on the south. 
 
 [72] 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 FROM THE HEAD OF THE AMUR TO 
 BLAGOVESCHENSK 
 
FROM THE HEAD OF THE AMUR TO 
 BLAGOVESCHENSK 
 
 'F^er Settlements 
 
 A SHORT distance below, where the 
 Shilka and Argun Rivers combine to 
 form the great Amur River, is the village of 
 Pokrovsk, a small Cossack settlement of a 
 few hundred inhabitants, which we reached 
 on the second evening from Stretensk. This 
 is one of a number of Cossack villages which 
 represent posts established along the left 
 bank of the Amur by Count MuraviofF, for 
 protection of the frontier, after the treaty of 
 Aigun with China in 1858. They are usually 
 built in clearances in forests on the bank of 
 the river, and consist of rows of log cabins, 
 above which rise the spires of the Greek 
 churches which they almost all posses^. The 
 people live, in times of peace, by farming, 
 hunting, fishing, and gold mining; while in 
 times of war they are soldiers. 
 [75] 
 
We arrived at Pokrovsk late in the even- 
 ing, and as at most of the Cossack villages, 
 as soon as our boats. touched shore, women 
 and children hurried to the river bank selling 
 milk, onions, and mushrooms to the passen- 
 gers, a large flat mushroom fried in fat hav- 
 ing a ready sale. A dense fog settled down oh 
 the river shortly afterward, so that we were 
 compelled to anchor until it cleared the next 
 morning. Some distance below, the river 
 flows through the Big Khingan Mountains, 
 which extend from the Great Wall of China 
 northward into Siberia. 
 
 The country is very wild and mountainous, 
 densely covered with forests, and with but 
 a few settlements. An occasional small vil- 
 lage, or the isolated log house of the guard- 
 ian of a river 'signal station or an emigrant's 
 raft floating slowly down stream, are all that 
 break the primeval grandeur of that region. 
 Large flocks of wild geese and ducks, migrat- 
 ing southward with the approach of winter, 
 flew lip from protected coves as our boat 
 ■ [76] 
 
Pi 
 
 O 
 
 « 
 
passed rapidly down the swift mountain cur- 
 rent. 
 
 The next night, some distance below the 
 Cossack village of Dzhalinda, we were again 
 compelled to anchor on account of fog, and 
 did not start until late in the morning. The 
 evening was spent taking wood on board for 
 fuel, an operation that had to be perfoirmed 
 every day. The wood-choppers, who have 
 camps along the river, build fires during the 
 night to attract the attention of the steamers 
 as they pass, and the captains of the boats 
 bargain for fuel. On this night the fog came 
 down thickly as the sun sankbehind the moun- 
 tains, and the dense forests were dimly lit up in 
 spots by the beacons of the Russian wood- 
 choppers, whose heavy forms in their long 
 coats could be dimly seen through the mist, 
 warming themselves by the fires; while the 
 tall, gaunt, half-naked forms of the Manchu- 
 rians and Koreans, belonging to the boat's 
 crew, moved up and down the steep banks 
 carrying their burden of wood. 
 [77\ 
 
'Blagoveschensk 
 
 Passing down the river we continued 
 through the mountains for three days more, 
 occasionally reaching open areas as some 
 large tributary emptied into the Amur. Each 
 night we were stopped by dense fogs, but 
 each morning it cleared off into a perfect 
 day, cold and bright. After six days we 
 finally reached Blagoveschensk, the capital 
 and commercial metropolis of the Amur Ter- 
 ritory, with a population (year 1901) of about 
 33,000 people. 
 
 We arrived on September 10, 1901, and the 
 next day the first news of the shooting of 
 President McKinley, on September 6th, 
 reached Blagoveschensk in a short tele- 
 gram to the Russo-Chinese Bank, stating 
 that the President had been shot, but that 
 the wound might not be fatal. It was grati- 
 fying for an American to observe the univer- 
 sal sympathy and regret shown by the people 
 of this remote Siberian town over the das- 
 tardly attack on the President, and their 
 [78] 
 

 oa 
 
universally expressed hope that summary- 
 justice would be dealt out to the would-be 
 assassin. 
 
 It was at Blagoveschensk in July, 1900, 
 during the Boxer troubles in China, that the 
 Manchu-Chinese threatened to massacre the 
 people of Blagoveschensk and of the small 
 Russian settlements along the river. It is 
 easy to imagine the feeling of the isolated 
 Russian communities in this vast region, 
 where, from Irkutsk to the Ussuri River, a 
 distance of over 2,000 miles, there is only one 
 town of any considerable size, and that is 
 Blagoveschensk ; while just to the south, sep- 
 arated from them only by the river, were 
 millions of Chinese and Manchurians whom 
 the Chinese Government had never been 
 able to hold much in check, waiting only for 
 a chance to massacre. Under such conditions 
 the civilized man must strike to kill in pro- 
 tection of his home and family, and that is 
 what the Russians did. Any other course 
 would have meant ruin for them. 
 [79] 
 
The story goes that the Chinese population 
 of Blagoveschensk, about S,ooo in number, 
 had planned, in connection with Chinese and 
 Manchurians from over the Amur, to mas- 
 sacre the people of the town on a certain day ; 
 but the Russians anticipated their plans and 
 attacked them, killing many and driving the 
 others into the river, where most of them 
 were drowned. The Chinese from the Man- 
 churian side of the river bombarded the town, . 
 but did little damage, and were finally driven 
 away. A story is told of two Russian soldiers, 
 each wounded in one arm, and being unable 
 to handle their guns alone, they stood to- 
 gether, one holding his gun with his unin- 
 jured arm, and the other pulling the trigger 
 with the one hand that remained to him. The 
 fight, once started, was continued until the 
 Chinese were driven far into the interior of 
 Manchuria and their river settlements aban- 
 doned and burned. Notable among thesewas 
 the town of Aigun, twenty-three miles below 
 Blagoveschensk, on the Chinese side of the 
 [80] 
 
river, an old and prosperous river port, 
 made familiar by the Russo-Chinese treaty 
 of 1858 and one of the most populous settle- 
 ments of this part of Manchuria. Not a 
 house is left standing, nothing remains ex- 
 cept innumerable brick chimneys rising up 
 from the ashes of the town, like blackened 
 tombstones in a graveyard. Near by, on 
 the river front, a small camp over which 
 the Russian flag floats (year 1901)' indi- 
 cates the dwelling of the guard left by the 
 victors. 
 
 Russia had not abandoned Manchuria 
 since she first invaded it at this time, and 
 it is well for that beautiful but ill-gov- 
 erned country, for the Russians are rapidly 
 restoring law and order where . formerly 
 there were riot and anarchy, and where 
 the country was overrun by brigands. 
 Moreover, the East-Chinese Railway, which 
 was being constructed through Manchuria 
 under Russian direction, and in accordance 
 with a definite agreement with China, did 
 [81] 
 
not receive protection from the Chinese 
 Government in the troubles of 1900, so 
 that the Russians were forced to guard 
 their own property. 
 
 [82] 
 
CHAPTER VIII ' 
 
 FROM BLAGOVESCHENSK TO 
 VLADIVOSTOK 
 
FROM BLAGOVESCHENSK TO 
 VLADIVOSTOK 
 
 The J^wer tAmut 
 
 WE LEFT the "Vladimir Monamakh" 
 at Blagoveschensk, and after a short 
 stay there secured passage on the mail steamer 
 "John Cockerill," a fine river boat bound for 
 Nikolaievsk, near the mouth of the Amur. 
 We had intended to stay longer in this region 
 but winter was coming on and we had to 
 reach the Pacific Coast before the river froze. 
 The "John Cockerill" was crowded with 
 freight and passengers, including many emi- 
 grants. The cabin passengers were more 
 numerous than on the "Monamakh," and 
 included many Russian officers going to dif- 
 ferent stations in the eastern part of Siberia. 
 On leaving Blagoveschensk the river wid- 
 ens out into a magnificent stream of from one 
 to three miles in width, bounded on both 
 sides by broad plains, though the mountains 
 [85] 
 
again closed in as we approached the Little 
 Khingan Range, and still further down the 
 Vanda and the Kendeh-a-lin Ranges. Three 
 days after leaving Blagoveschensk we reached 
 Khabarovsk, a town of about 15,000 people, 
 beautifully situated on the high bluffs of the 
 Amur, just below its confluence with the Us- 
 suri River. It is named after the famous 
 Cossack leader Khabaroflf, who invaded the 
 Amur region about the middle of the seven- 
 teenth century, and contains a fine monu- 
 ment to Count Muravioff, who finally ac- 
 quired this region for Russia two centuries 
 later. Here we heard the news that an opera- 
 tion had been performed on President Mc Kin- 
 ley and that he was expected to recover, a 
 hope in which we greatly rejoiced, but in 
 which we were to be sadly disappointed on 
 our arrival at Vladivostok a few days later. 
 We left the mail boat at Khabarovsk and 
 took the Ussuri branch of the railway to 
 Vladivostok, a distance of over 400 miles 
 south through Ussuri province. The country 
 [86] 
 
Pi 
 
 s 
 
 < 
 
became more and more cultivated as we pro- 
 ceeded south, and showed the ameliorating 
 effects of the proximity to the Pacific in a 
 climate much milder than that we had found 
 in the Amur Valley. Many small settlements 
 and villages were passed on the way, but 
 none of them was of any considerable size 
 except Nikolsk, with about 15,000 people, 
 which is the point of junction with the East- 
 Chinese Railway and is an important mili- 
 tary station. 
 
 Vladivostok 
 
 On our arrival at Vladivostok we were 
 heartily welcomed by our efficient American 
 Commercial Agent, Mr. Greener, who is 
 (year 1901) the only official representative of 
 the United States Government in all Siberia. 
 A large American flag floating from the top 
 of his house on a prominent hill in the city 
 was a most grateful sight to one who had not 
 seen this emblem for a long time ; but a sec- 
 ond glance showed it to be at half-mast, and 
 [87] 
 
with a shock we recognized this first sad 
 intimation we had received of the death of 
 President McKinley, three days before. The 
 Russian naval fleet then in the harbor showed 
 its sympathy with the loss of our nation by 
 firing salutes and making other naval demon- 
 strations ; and universal regret and indigna- 
 tion over the assassination were heard on all 
 sides. 
 
 Vladivostok is the great Pacific Coast port 
 of Siberia, and is situated on a narrow strip 
 of hilly land extending into Peter the Great 
 Bay at the head of the Japan Sea. The harbor 
 of Vladivostok is known as the Golden Horn, 
 and is one of the best on the coast of Asia. 
 Its depth is great enough for any ships navi- 
 gating the Pacific Ocean, while its mouth is 
 narrow and protected from the sea by pro- 
 truding tongues of land and islands. The 
 town is in latitude 43° 6' N., which is only a 
 very little north of the latitude of New York; 
 yet the climate, owing to the cold Arctic in- 
 fluences along the Siberian coast, is as severe 
 [88] 
 
as in many places much further north in 
 America. The harbor is frozen usually from 
 the middle of December until early in April, 
 but the channel is successfully kept open by 
 ice-breakers, and commerce is not inter- 
 rupted at any time of the year, 
 
 Vladivostok was founded by the Russians 
 as a military post in i860. At that time it was 
 of little commercial importance, but it grew 
 rapidly, and in about ten years it had re- 
 placed Nikolaievsk as the principal port of 
 the Siberian coast. In 1891 the Ussuri Rail- 
 way was started as the first division of the 
 Siberian Railway, and by its completion to 
 Khabarovsk in 1897, as well as by the com- 
 pletion of lines west of Stretensk, somewhat 
 later, Vladivostok was connected directly 
 with Europe by railway and river routes. 
 The town now has a population of some 
 60,000, about half being Russians, with a few 
 other Europeans and a few Americans, and 
 the rest Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. It 
 is one of the most substantially built towns 
 [89] 
 
in Siberia, most of the houses being of stone 
 and brick, and the government buildings and 
 banks being fine modern edifices. The docks, 
 which were formerly built of wood, are being 
 largely replaced by massive stone structures 
 that make the town look as if it was there 
 to stay. It contains a number of schools, 
 churches, charitable and scientific societies, 
 several periodicals, hotels, and a theater hall. 
 The Eastern Institute, situated here, is a 
 school where students are taught the Chi- 
 nese, Manchurian, Japanese, Mongolian, 
 Korean, and other Asiatic languages, to pre- 
 pare them for government service at Asiatic 
 stations. 
 
 In the streets everything is active and 
 noisy; carriages dash up and down, with the 
 horses galloping in a way that delights the 
 heart of the Russian cab driver; heavy trucks 
 loaded with merchandise move slowly back 
 and forth from the docks; occasionally a com- 
 pany of Russian troops passes through the 
 main streets — strong, healthy, powerfully 
 [90] 
 
built men who look well capable of filling 
 their task of guarding northern Asia. In the 
 marketplace, on the shore of the Golden 
 Horn, Chinese and Korean junks unload and 
 offer their goods for sale, while further along 
 the bay the large sea-going steamers are 
 loading and unloading, and the Korean dock 
 laborers, in their white clothes, together with 
 the Chinese, seem to work harder than any- 
 one in town. Back from the bay, on the 
 other side of the town, is the camp of the 
 garrison of Vladivostok, and near by is an 
 exile settlement made up of neat log cabins 
 with gardens, and beautifully situated on the 
 side of a hill. The exiles here are those that 
 have finished their terms of hard labor. They 
 look clean and well kept, and have a great 
 deal of freedom. Further down the hill, on 
 the shore of the bay, is a brewery surrounded 
 by an attractive grove of trees, where on hot 
 days Russians go to drink beer. 
 
 [91] 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 RUSSIAN CIVILIZATION IN SIBERIA 
 
RUSSIAN CIVILIZATION IN SIBERIA 
 
 %apidity of its Spread 
 
 THE rapidity with which the Russians 
 explored and subjugated Siberia has al- 
 ready been described, and it was all the more 
 remarkable when we consider that, while this 
 was going on, they were at different times in- 
 volved in wars with the Swedes, Germans, 
 Poles, Turks, and Mongols. Nevertheless, 
 they found time and means not only to de- 
 fend themselves successfully from their ene- 
 mies in Europe and southern Asia, but also 
 to conquer northern Asia. In this they were 
 much assisted by the great river systems of 
 Siberia, which offered a ready means for 
 travel in different directions, and by the fact 
 that the scattered native tribes offered but a 
 feeble resistance to the advance of the or- 
 ganized forces of the Russians, so that, with 
 the exception of the campaigns of Yermak in 
 West Siberia and of Khabaroff on the Amur, 
 [95] 
 
and a few other important conflicts by other 
 commanders, the invasion and occupation of 
 Siberia were accomplished with but little 
 bloodshed. 
 
 The fur hunters, moreover, were a potent 
 factor in Russia's rapid advance into Siberia. 
 They penetrated the most remote regions, 
 often making journeys, lasting several years, 
 in search of the sable and other fur animals, 
 and incidentally brought back information 
 about unknown sections. Which was of the 
 greatest use in later conquests. They were 
 the first explorers in new regions in Siberia, 
 just as in America the seekers for gold and 
 silver, as well as the fur hunters, from the 
 time of Cortez and Pizarro to recent times in 
 our western states, and even to the present 
 time in Alaska, have been the pioneers in un- 
 explored regions. The Russians, however, did 
 not take notice of mines in early days. They 
 were fur hunters and not miners, and the 
 gold-mining industry became important only 
 at a later date. 
 
 [96] 
 
?.nd :\ few other important conflicts by other 
 commanders, the invasion and occupation of 
 Siberia were accomplished with but little 
 bloodshed. 
 
 The fur hunters, moreover, were a potent 
 factor in Russia's rapid advance into Siberia. 
 They penetrated the most remote regions, 
 r)ften making journeys, lasting several yearii, 
 in search of the sable an;! other fur ainin=«'- 
 and incidentally brought back uiformsri 
 about unknown sectiofi'^. %i h wa«; -( J 
 greatest use in later iitnoncuH. f • *' fW's 
 the first explorers in new tf,gioos in >tberii» 
 just as in America the seekens ^or g< Id and 
 silver, as ; !] as the fur hunters, from th<t 
 time of Cortez and Pizarro to recent tin>c. in 
 our western hiates, and even to the present 
 time n Ala -ka, have been the pioneers in un- 
 explored re!.-fO!)>- The Russians, however, did 
 iVii: take nouce of mines in early days. They 
 were (xir hunters and not miners, and the 
 g(.ii- mining Industry became important only 
 At a later date. 
 
 [96] 
 
Though the fur hunters played an impor- 
 tant part in the early exploration of Siberia, 
 they did but little to>vard the permanent 
 colonization of the region. This fell to the lot 
 of the Cossacks, the exiles, and the. free set- 
 tlers, and these three classes of colonists rep- 
 resent the mass of the Russian population of 
 Siberia to-day '(year 1901). , - 
 
 The Qossacks 
 
 The Cossacks were the people who stoo4 
 the brunt of the hard work of early coloniza- 
 tion, and it was due to their wonderful en- 
 durance and spirit that the country was suc- 
 cessfully settled. In order to understand the 
 results accomplished by these remarkable 
 people it is necessary, to say a few Words 
 about their origin and development. They 
 are supposed to have been originally refj- 
 ugees from different tribes, who collected, 
 in the turbulent times following the period 
 of Mongol oppression, on the southern fron- 
 tier of European Russia. At first tlfey wiere 
 
 [97] 
 
distinguished as the Cossacks of the Don 
 and the Cossacks of the Dnieper, as they in- 
 habited parts of the valleys of those rivers. 
 They lived on the islands of the rivers or 
 in the surrounding marshes, and had strong- 
 ly fortified positions for their protection. 
 They were essentially independent demo- 
 cratic communities, ever jealous of their 
 liberty and freedom of action. They held 
 their property in common among themselves 
 and elected their own "Hetmans," or lead- 
 ers. They were a fierce, warlike, restless 
 people; and their neighbors, the Russians, 
 Poles, and Turks, were constantly seeking 
 their assistance in their wars with one 
 another. The Cossacks served with all of 
 them at different times, but gradually be- 
 came more and more identified with Russia^ 
 until finally they declared allegiance to 
 that country, and became completely "Rus- 
 sified." 
 
 The Cossacks of the Don were from very 
 early times more or less under Russian 
 [98] 
 
control, but the Cossacks of the Dnieper pre- 
 served greater freedom until, by the treaty 
 of Radzine in 1681, they put themselves un- 
 der Russian protection. They both, however, 
 retained more or less of their old organiza- 
 tion, and were allowed much more freedom 
 than other tribes of the empire; but their 
 restless spirit led them to frequent disturb- 
 ances and revolts against imperial authority, 
 and the general government was obliged to 
 restrict their privileges more and more, and 
 often to deport them to different parts of the 
 empire. Even now, however, they possess 
 special privileges which distinguish them 
 from other Russians. 
 
 In the various vicissitudes through which 
 the Cossacks have gone they have become, 
 both by voluntary migration and enforced 
 deportation, greatly scattered, so that now, 
 instead of simply the Cossacks of the Don 
 and of the Dnieper, as of old, we find the 
 Cossacks of the Danube, of the Black Sea, of 
 the Azoff, of the Caucasius, of Orenburg, of 
 [99] 
 
the Ural, of Astrakhan, of the Kirgiz Steppe, 
 of Transbaikalia, of the Amur, of the Ussuri, 
 and elsewhere. They are true frontiersmen, 
 , and though they have at times given the 
 Russian Government much trouble, they 
 have also been of great service as explorers, 
 settlers, and soldiers. Without them the set- 
 tlement of Siberia would probably have been 
 a much slower and more difficult task. 
 
 The Cossacks were almost invariably the 
 first people sent to occupy newly acquired 
 parts of Siberia, and at the present time they 
 are found from one end to the other of Asi- 
 atic Russia. Though manyof them have been 
 sent there as settlers and for the protection 
 of frontiers, yet. many have gone voluntarily, 
 and they all are loyal Russians, ever ready 
 and desirous of fighting for their country. In 
 consideration of the special privileges they 
 enjoy (year 1901) they are supposed to be at 
 the command of the Government whenever 
 they are needed, and they are generally used 
 for cavalry and artillery, though sometimes 
 [ 100 ] 
 
as infantry. They are usually stationed at 
 points on the frontier or other exposed places 
 where their services might be required. They 
 are settled in isolated communities, and in 
 times of peace they practise agriculture or 
 the cruder arts, while in times of war they 
 are soldiers. 
 
 Sxtles 
 
 The banishment of exiles to Siberia began 
 in the year 1593, shortly after Yermak's con- 
 quests, and since then it has continued, the 
 number varying greatly from time to time, 
 from a few thousand to 20,000 yearly, accord- 
 ing to circumstances and the various vicissi- 
 tudes through which the empire has passed. 
 At first banishment to Siberia was confined 
 almost entirely to people of rank, mostly 
 political and religious offenders, who were 
 exiled instead of being put to death, but later 
 all kinds of criminals were sent there, and the 
 region became the penal colony of Russia. 
 Capital punishment, except in special cases, 
 
 [lOl] 
 
was, nominally at least, abolished in Russia 
 in the middle of the eighteenth century, so 
 that many exiles were sent to Siberia instead 
 of being executed. 
 
 The free emigration to Siberia has increased 
 so rapidly in the last few years that the col- 
 onists of this class now far outnumber the 
 exiles ; and the latter are said to amount to 
 less than six per cent, of the total population 
 (year 1901) . Many of the exiles are educated 
 people, whose influence has proved valuable 
 in the new communities, yet many of them 
 are common criminals, and as the voluntary 
 settlers increased in number, their enforced 
 association with the criminal convicts nat- 
 urally resulted in a demoralizing influence. 
 These convicts were mostly people who were 
 not of a class that made good pioneers in a 
 new country, and they preferred to live by 
 their old lawless methods rather than to at- 
 tempt to earn a livelihood by legitimate 
 means. This condition of affairs for many 
 years resulted in numerous protests on the 
 [102] 
 
> 
 
 > 
 
part of the settlers, with the result that 
 finally an edict was promulgated by which 
 most offenses were to be punished by im- 
 prisonment, and the exile system of Siberia 
 was to be largely restricted except for certain 
 classes of common criminals, who were to be 
 sent mostly to the distant island of Sakhalin, 
 on the Pacific Coast. 
 
 It is not the intention of the writer to enter 
 into the discussion of the Russian exile sys- 
 tem, but in justice to the Russian Govern- 
 ment (year 1 901) it should be stated that the 
 latter has often been unjustly and too harshly 
 criticized for this system. Many of the people 
 sent to Siberia would have been put to death 
 in other countries, and whatever disadvan- 
 tages may have accompanied the exile sys- 
 tem, the intention of the Government was 
 humane and charitable. This is shown by the 
 very fact that, at a time when in other coun- 
 tries of Europe the death penalty was being 
 dealt out with an unsparing hand, the Slav 
 was quietly trying to abolish it as cruel, and 
 [103 ] 
 
was sending its criminals to a distant but 
 habitable land in hope of reforming and mak- 
 ing good settlers of them. The Russian Gov- 
 ernment has not intentionally abused its ex- 
 iles. Of course, in such a vast country as 
 Siberia, petty officials in remote districts, be- 
 yond the reach of ready supervision, may 
 often have overstepped their authority, but 
 when they have been found doing so, they 
 have been punished. The Government did 
 not want the exiles ill treated, not only for 
 reasons of humanity, but because it needed 
 them as settlers in a new country, and to 
 have ill treated them would have thwarted 
 this object. 
 
 Free Settlers in Siberia 
 
 Shortly after the first exiles were sent to 
 Siberia attempts were made to start colonies 
 of free settlers from European Russia. This 
 was difficult at first, as European Russia was 
 not sufficiently crowded to make people seek 
 more space in a new country, and there was 
 [104] 
 
no great inducement to go to Siberia, such as 
 there was in America to go west when gold 
 and silver were discovered there. In order to 
 hasten colonization, therefore, communities 
 of peasants in European Russia were deported 
 and sent to Siberia, but the result of this 
 method, though it did something toward es- 
 tablishing Russian civilization in northern 
 Asia, was not altogether satisfactory. The 
 very fact that a settler had been deported to a 
 new country indicated that he preferred to 
 stay at home, and therefore he was not so effi- 
 cient a colonist as the voluntary emigrant, 
 who went there under the influence of an en- 
 thusiasm for new conditions which made his 
 work felt. Hence the enforced settlers have 
 not been a large element in the development 
 of Siberia, and the system of such deportation 
 has not been much practised since the early 
 days, except with the Cossacks, 
 
 In later years, however, as Siberia became 
 better known and as European Russia de- 
 veloped its wonderfully rapid increase in 
 [105] 
 
population,voIuntary emigration has become 
 more general. In the beginning of the eigh- 
 teenth century there were onlyabout 150,000 
 settlers in Siberia, and in the beginning of 
 the nineteenth century they had increased 
 only to about 500,000 ; but the number grew 
 rapidly in the latter half of the nineteenth 
 century, so that shortly before the construc- 
 tion of the Great Siberian Railway was com- 
 menced, there were probably over 3,000,000 
 people in Siberia, which number has in- 
 creased (year 1901) to probably very close to 
 6,000,000. The emigration is now going on 
 faster than ever; all the trains and boats are 
 crowded, and along the rivers many emi- 
 grants are seen on rafts floating down to their 
 new homes, with their families, cattle, horses, 
 hogs, and household possessions. 
 
 The railway, of course, has been the great 
 stimulus to immigration in recent years, and 
 before long Siberia will doubtless have a very 
 much larger population than at present. It 
 has frequently been the experience with our 
 [106] 
 
western railways in America that wherever 
 they were built, no matter how barren or un- 
 prepossessing the country might seem, yet 
 people began to travel on them, and before 
 long settlements grew up and the region as- 
 sumed a prosperity that was totally unex- 
 pected. So it will doubtless be with Siberia. 
 The old impression that the region was a 
 bleak, frozen desert was a great drawback to 
 its colonization ; but now it is known to be a 
 rich country, full of resources for the farmer, 
 miner, and manufacturer, and with a climate 
 which, though severe, is in many places re- 
 markably healthy. In our own country of 
 America parts of our western prairie states a 
 generation ago were marked as "deserts" on 
 our maps, but now they are among the rich- 
 est agricultural regions ; and no one who trav- 
 els through Siberia and sees the rich steppes 
 covered with luxuriant grass, the mountains 
 with their fertile valleys, the rivers abound- 
 ing in fish, and the great forests, can doubt 
 that the same mistake was made in adjudging 
 [ 107] 
 
Siberia a desert as was made when that 
 verdict was passed on our domains. Of 
 course, in the far north Siberia is a cold, 
 bleak region, unfit for Russian colonization ; 
 but in the southern and eastern parts it is 
 in no way inferior to some of our northern 
 states or to the provinces of Canada along 
 the American boundary. 
 
 Some Industries of Siberia 
 
 The principal industries of Siberia are agri- 
 culture, cattle raising, gold mining, fishing, 
 hunting, and lumbering. Until now trade 
 has consisted largely of the exchange of raw 
 materials for the manufactured products of 
 Europe. There are but few manufacturing 
 industries, and those that do exist are mostly 
 on a small scale, supplying a purely local de- 
 mand. With the vast quantities of raw ma- 
 terial, however, that are capable of being 
 manufactured on the spot, with the abundant 
 coal fields, iron ores, and products of the 
 farm, there is every opportunity for Siberia, 
 [ io8 ] 
 
with cheap railway transportation, to be- 
 come an important manufacturing country. 
 The fisheries of Siberia are a most important 
 industry, as they supply food not only for 
 man, but for the dogs he uses in the north for 
 beasts of burden. All the great rivers abound 
 in fish, and on the Pacific Coast their num- 
 bers are almost incredible. They are largely 
 varieties of salmon, carp, sturgeon, pike, and 
 other species. The keta is one of the most 
 abundant, and is used as food for men, dogs, 
 and hogs ; while on the coast the natives use 
 the skin for clothing, boots, and for making 
 sails for their boats. In addition to the fish- 
 eries, the novel occupation of hunting masto- 
 don tusks for ivory gives employment to thou- 
 sands of natives on the Arctic Coast. The 
 remains and even the whole carcasses of these 
 now extinct animals are found in the lower 
 valleys of the rivers running into the Arctic, 
 where they have been frozen for ages, and 
 many tons of tusks are annually collected in 
 Yakutsk and other northern provinces. 
 [109 ] 
 
The emigrants to Siberia do not go alone 
 into a new region, as many American settlers 
 have done, but they move in bodies, and 
 sometimes a whole village in European Rus- 
 sia will move in a mass to Siberia. This is due 
 to the peculiar organization of Russian vil- 
 lages, which amounts to a commune, in which 
 the people own and cultivate their lands in 
 common. Hence throughout Siberia we find 
 numerous small agricultural settlements sep- 
 arated by almost totally uninhabited areas. 
 
 The settlers are probably better treated 
 and better cared for than any colonists that 
 ever entered a new country. In the first 
 place, if a certain community wishes to go to 
 Siberia, the Government allows them to send 
 a representative to travel through the coun- 
 try and pick out lands which he thinks are 
 desirable. In doing this he is offered by the 
 Government every opportunity to make his 
 investigations; and when he returns and 
 starts to Siberia with his people the Govern- 
 ment grants a certain amount of land for 
 [no] 
 
each male member of the community. Their 
 railway fare is very low, and at most of the 
 stations they can get supplies at almost nom- 
 inal prices, and sometimes for nothing; at 
 points where the emigrants leave the railway 
 and start off in various directions by rivers 
 or wagons, medical and feeding stations have 
 been established where those who are sick 
 can receive free treatment, and all can be fed. 
 At some of these stations there are sleeping 
 apartments and kitchens for the use of emi- 
 grants. When they arrive at their destination 
 they are often given assistance in the way of 
 lumber and agricultural implements, as well 
 as other paternal attentions ; while they often 
 find Cossacks in the vicinity to protect them 
 against danger. 
 
 [Ill] 
 
Ill