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will be to give a sketch of my journey from the Urals to the Pacific, dwelling most on those parts which to English readers are new.

The summer traveller to Siberia may now proceed almost thither by steam. The usual overland route lies through St. Petersburgh and Moscow to Nijin Novgorod by rail, and thence by steamer on the Volga to Kama and Perm. A railway over the Urals has been recently opened from Perm to Ekaterineburg, on reaching which the English traveller has finished a journey of 2670 miles by rail and 975 by steamer. A drive of 200 miles then suffices to bring him to Tiumen, the first town of Western Siberia.

The mention of Siberia calls to mind a country the dimensions of which it is hard to realize. It measures about 4000 miles long by 2600 wide. It contains a million square miles more than the whole of Europe, is twice as big as Australia, and nearly a hundred times as large as England. The country is intersected by three of the great rivers of the world, the Obi, the Yenesei, and the Lena, not one of which is less than 2000 miles long, and all of which run into the Northern Ocean. A fourth ocean river, the Amur, forming a part of the southern boundary of the country, rises in the eastern branches of the Altai chain, and runs a course also of 2000 miles. It takes an easterly direction, and empties itself in the Gulf of Tartary.

The line forming the western boundary of Siberia descends from the Northdern Ocean to the sixty-second parallel of north latitude; then, leaving mountains a little to the left, it comes down in a tolerably straight line to a point midway between the Sea of Aral and Lake Balkash; thence it turns eastward to and along the northern shore of the lake, and going further east, joins the Altai Mountains. All Russia lying to the west and south of this line is in Europe or in Central Asia, all lying to east east of it is Siberia. The river Yenesei divides the country into east and west; the surface of the western portion being generally flat, while the eastern portion, more especially toward the Pacific, is mountainous.

The political divisions of the country are first into two viceroyalties, called respectively Eastern and Western

Siberia, the western being divided into four and the eastern into six provinces. Again, each province is subdivided into districts, or uryests; over each uryest presides an ispravnik, over each province a governor, and over each viceroyalty a general governor. The four provinces of Western Siberia are Tobolsk, Tomsk, Akmolinsk, and Semipalostinsk, each of which has its capital, or government town. Each uryest likewise has its principal town. Smaller collections of houses are called silloi, or villages (in each of which there is a church); and, still smaller, derevni, or hamlets. The six provinces of Eastern Siberia are Yeneseisk, Irkutsk, the Trans-Baikal, the Amoor, and that of the sea-coast.

The means of locomotion and communication are much more ample than a foreigner might suppose. There are no railways, but there are many steamboats on the rivers, and there are post-roads throughout the entire breadth of the country, the great high road to China being the most important. Along the principal roads there is both postal and telegraphic communication. An ethnographical map of Asiatic Russia shows it to be inhabited by no less than thirty nations or tribes, and also reveals the fact that a very small portion of the country is inhabited by Russians—in fact, only a narrow strip of land on either side of the principal land and water highways; and as the aborigines do not generally follow agriculture, it will be seen that that narrow strip represents the greater part of the country under cultivation. The same facts will indicate that, while the language of the towns and highways is Russian, a knowledge of other tongues is needful for extensive intercourse with the natives. Thus much for Siberia in general. From Tiumen steamers ply in summer on the Tura, Tobol, Irtish, Obi, and Tom to Tomsk, a distance of nearly 2000 miles. I

posted by horses from Tiumen to Tobolsk, and embarked on the steamer Beljetshenko on June 3d, the navigation having recently been opened, and spring weather being nearly established.

I had left England on April 30th, and on reaching St. Petersburg, saw the last of the ice floating down the Neva. Spring advanced so rapidly that, on May 20th, on the banks of the Kama, we saw

strawberry blossoms and violets, but as we descended the eastern slopes of the Urals the weather changed, and there came occasionally snowstorms. From Tobolsk our course lay northward on the Irtish, as far as the sixty-second parallel, where we returned to leafless trees and comparative winter. Alternate snow and sunshine succeeded. On the Obi my minimum thermometer on June 8th fell during the night to 35° Fahr., but by 9 o'clock next morning it had risen to 75°. After reaching Tomsk fine weather set in, and continued all across Asia. The heat was rarely oppressive, and when sleeping in the carriage at night with an overcoat it was not inconveniently cold.

On the Obi we passed through the territory of the Samoyedes and Ostjaks. In driving from Tiumen to Tobolsk we had passed through a country inhabited by Siberian Tartars, to the north-west of which lies a district which coincides pretty closely with the ridge of the Northern Úrals, inhabited by the Voguls, who were estimated in 1876 at 5000 in number. Their country makes them hillmen and foresters, for they live within the northern limit of the fir and birch, in the country of the wolf, the bear, the sable, the glutton, the marten, the beaver, and the elk; all which they hunt, for they have no plains for the breeding of cattle, and no climate for agriculture. Their villages are scattered and small, consisting of from four to eight cabins. They usually dress like the Russians, live by hunting, and are said to use no salt. Obdorsk is their trading town. To this town, on the Arctic Circle, at the mouth of the Obi, come also the Samoyedes and Ostjaks. These latter, too, are both nomads, and live in tents. The Samoyedes inhabit a large tract of country between the Obi and the Yenesei, stretching along the shore of the Frozen Ocean from the north-east corner of Europe all across the Tobolsk Government to the Yenesei, descending to the region of the Ostjaks, and on some parts of their southern border to Tomsk. Their riches consist of herds of reindeer, which they pasture on the mosses of the vast bogs, or tundras, from which the animals in winter scrape the snow with their feet, and thus find their own sustenance. To the

Samoyede the reindeer is everything. When alive the animal draws his sledge, and when dead the skin is used for tent and clothing. When at Archangel in 1878 I bought a Samoyede sovik or tunic and a wonderful pair of boots, and as their manner of dressing resembles in its main features that of other northern aborigines in Siberia, I may as well describe it particularly. In winter, then, to be in the (Samoyede) fashion, one should proceed to dress himself (or herself) as follows: first, a pair of short trousers made of softened reindeer skin, fitting tight and down to the knee; then stockings of pishki, the skin of young fawns, with the hair next the wearer's body; next come the boots, called pouméleepte, which means boots-stockings, perhaps, because mine are lined, reaching almost to the thighs, the sole being made of old and hard reindeer hide, the hair pointing forward to diminish the possibility of slipping on the ice or snow. Common boots have the hair only on the outside. Mine are a gay "lady's pair, lined inside with the softest fur, and made of white reindeer skin without, sewn with stripes of darker skin, and ornamented in front with a few pieces of colored cloth. The clothing of the lower limbs being completed, one has to work one's way from the bottom to the top of the sovik, which has an opening to put the head through, and is furnished with sleeves. The one I have has a high straight collar, but in some brought by Mr. Seebëhm from the Yenesei this collar rises behind above the top of the head. The costume is completed by a cap of reindeer hide, with strings on either side ornamented with pieces of cloth. The hair of the sovik is worn outside in fine weather, and inside when it rains; but when prolonged exposure to cold is apprehended, a second garment, called a "goose,' is worn with the hair outside, and a close-fitting hood, leaving exposed only a small portion of the face. The Ostjaks are said to have at the end of the sleeve a glove or mitten made of the hardest hide of the reindeer and suitable for heavy work, and also a slit under the wrist to allow of the fingers being used for finer work. A girdle is worn round the loins, over which the sovik laps a little, and thus forms a pocket for small articles. The only

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route to which, be it remembered, is via the transverse slit through the wrist. We heard some pleasant accounts of the honesty and docility of the Samoyedes and Ostjaks. Their honesty may be exemplified. The merchants of Tobolsk, when they go north in the suminer to purchase fish, take with them flour and salt, place it in their summer stations, and on their return leave unprotected what remains of it for the following year. Should a Samoyede pass by and require it he does not scruple to take what he wants; but he leaves in its place an IO U, in the form of a duplicate stick duly notched to signify that he is a debtor, and then in the fishing season he comes to his creditor, compares the duplicate stick he has kept with the one he left behind, and then discharges his obligation.

The difficulties of educating and Christianizing these tribes are very great, and the more so by their migratory habits. Dr. Latham mentions eleven dialects in the Samoyede language, and refers to the work of Professor Castren, who, about thirty years ago, studied closely the languages of the Finnish nations, and to whose labors we owe a dictionary of some of these languages, which was published after his death. In 1824 a commencement was made to translate into Samoyede the Gospel of St. Matthew, but it was not continued after 1826. The same Gospel was translated some years ago into the language of the Ostjaks by the protohierea, or chief priest, at Obdorsk, and was forwarded to the Russian Bible Society, but not published, and up to the present time neither that nor any other part of the New Testament exists, as far as I know, for the Samoyedes, Ostjaks, or Voguls. It is said, however, that in European Russia a priest is sent yearly to a town in the far north of the Archangel province, to baptize the children, and marry such among the Samoyedes as are professedly Christian. Also in 1877 the Russians opened a school at Obdorsk for the native Samoyedes and Ostjaks. We may hope, therefore, that for them better days are coming, both by reason of what the Russians are doing, and also possibly and indirectly by the efforts which certain Englishmen are making to invade the lands of these

aborigines for the purposes of com

merce.

The Ostjaks dress to some extent in garments of reindeer skin, and also subsist for the most part on what they capture in hunting and fishing. In the use of the bow their skill is so great that for shooting squirrels they use a blunt arrow, and take care to hit the animal on the head, that the skin may not be damaged. They do not generally cultivate the soil, nor have they towns or villages of their own. The Ostjaks, for the most part, especially those on the Obi, have fewer deer, and, being brought into contact with the Russians, are fast giving up their native dress and customs. The religion of both Samoyedes and Ostjaks is Shamanism, of which I shall have occasion to speak hereafter; but many of the Ostjaks have been baptized into the Russian Church, and a school has been opened for the two peoples on the Lower Obi at Obdorsk. One of the most noteworthy things on the Obi was the extraordinary price of provisions. The Ostjaks came to our steamer offering live ducks for five farthings each. Large fish, called yass, cost 1d. a pair, and great pike a farthing each. Milk was more expensive, and cost 24d. a bottle; but we heard that in some of the distant villages a young calf could be bought for 6d. These prices should be borne in mind in connection with the attempt that is now being made to open up commerce from Siberia by the rivers Obi and Yenesei, and through the Kara Sea, to England. In the summer of 1874 Captain Wiggins, of Sunderland, who had long contemplated the project, sailed through the Kara Sea, which had hitherto been supposed to be blocked by ice, and, reaching the mouth of the Obi, demonstrated to the world that the passage could be made between England and Siberia, with no unusual risks, in about three weeks. In the next year Professor Nordenskjold followed in the wake of our countryman, and reached the Yenesei.

Now, these two rivers, the Obi and the Yenesei, rise in the empire of China, and drain an extent of country nearly as large as the whole of Europe. The country through which they flow may be divided into four regions. Furthest south are the mountains of the Altai

range, which are rich in silver, copper, iron, and gold. Further north is a belt 600 miles wide of rich black earth, to which it is never thought of putting manure, and the scratching of the surface of which yields an abundant cereal crop. This land, which is comparable to that of an English garden, in the neighborhood of Barnaul may be hired. for 3d. an acre. The chief things wanted in this district are capital and labor. The next belt northward is a forest region of numberless square miles, where a hard larch tree, big enough for a ship's mast, may be had for a sovereign, and in which region are abundance of wild animals bearing fur, such as the squirrel, the sable, the Arctic fox, the beaver and the bear, the wolf, elk, deer, etc. There are also abundance of game and extensive pastures for cattle. A merchant told me that in Tiumen he sold ten thousand brace of grouse and capercailzie for the St. Petersburg market at 9d. a brace all round, and that in 1877 he bought up meat at Tobolsk for less than d. per English pound.

The most northerly region is that of the tundras, intersected by rivers that are so full of fish that the natives try to avoid taking a heavy haul, so frequently are their nets broken by the abundance of the draught. Large quantities of choice fish are caught in summer, and kept alive in ponds till the approach of winter, when they are taken out and frozen, and forwarded a distance of more than 2000 miles to St. Petersburg. The express carriage from Tiumen costs 18s. a cwt., notwithstanding which, if the sturgeon sells for 245. a cwt., and the sterlet and certain kinds of salmon for 30s., there remains an ample margin of profit for all parties concerned. Beside the "fresh" fish thus sent to St. Petersburg, large numbers are dried, and sent to the great fair at Nijni Novgorod. It may very well be then that a profitable trade at no distant date shall be opened up in Siberian products brought by steamer to the English market.

On the 10th of June, after a voyage of seven days, I reached Tomsk, which is a few miles eastward of the meridian of Calcutta, and 5200 miles from London, the journey having been accomplished in twenty-six travelling days. From Tomsk I made a détour of 600

miles to Barnaul, and in so doing passed through a country singularly rich and productive. Here are to be seen the white-barked birch, the cedar nut tree, the Scotch fir, flowering acacia, the alder, pine, willow, and white flowering cheromeka-the last presenting a pretty object when in blossom, and yielding for fruit a small bird cherry. Among the shrubs we noticed wild currants, which, with the bird cherries, are eaten by the Siberians. There were likewise raspberry and strawberry plants. Among the spring flowers we missed, or perhaps overlooked, the pale primrose ; but there were violets and a whole parterre of other flowers, both old and new. fields were blue with forget-me-nots, and we noticed what was to me a new flower something like a buttercup, but much larger. Also east of Tomsk there was a large red lily, made much of in English gardens, but which here was growing wild. There was likewise a large red flower growing in abundance, very much like the peony.

The

After visiting, at Barnaul, the emperor's usine for the smelting of gold and silver, we returned to Tomsk, and then prepared for a posting journey by horses of 1040 miles to Irkutsk, which was reached on the 6th of July. I need not dwell on this part of the journey, because several have described the great high road to China. After leaving Irkutsk and crossing Lake Baikal we made a second détour to the Chinese frontier at Kiakhta, and then prepared to cross the hilly steppes of the trans- Baikal province to the Amur. The road lay through the town of Werchne Udinsk, and over the Appletree Mountains to Chita, both towns being famous in Russian history as abodes formerly of Decembrists, or certain political prisoners who were concerned in the insurrection at the opening of the reign of the Emperor Nicholas.

Farther on was reached Nertchinsk, near to which are the mines said by some to be of quicksilver, and in the fumes of which it is commonly reported prisoners are killed by inches, being obliged to work therein without coming to the surface. As my tour through Siberia was of a philanthropic character, and I had every facility accorded me for the visitation of prisons and public institutions, I made a point of inquiring

into the condition of these prisoners, one result of which has been that I can get no satisfactory evidence that there is such a thing as a quicksilver mine in Siberia at all. There are, however, silver mines, which exist in the Altai Mountains, and others in the Borshchovochny range, near the town of Nertchinsk, just mentioned. Of those in the Altai range nothing need be said, because they are worked by free laborers. The mines at Nertchinsk are well known as penal establishments, and there can be no doubt that the accounts of severities practised there in former years have Icaused the ears of many to tingle. I have heard from independent sources that convicts of twenty years' standing at Nertchinsk tell of one Rasguildieff, a cruel director, who used to go about with four Cossacks behind him, armed with the knout, to thrash those who did not work. But this man has long since been removed. For the greater part of my information respecting the mines of Nertchinsk I am indebted to a political exile, who was sent there with several Russian and Polish aristocracy. This account relates to the condition of things as they were in 1866 and 1867, since which date most of the mines have passed out of Government into private hands. The principal centre of the mining district is called Nertchinsky Zavod, and round about were formerly various mines, works, hospitals, and prisons, such as Kadaya, Akatuya, Klitchka, Alexandreffsky, Stretinsk, Sivakoff, and perhaps some others. Kadaya was only two or three versts from the Chinese frontier. Alexandreffsky was about six versts from the frontier, and thirty-five versts from headquarters. At most of these places prisons were built-at Alexandreffsky of stone, at Kadaya of wood, and at Akatuya partly of wood and partly of stone. At Nertchinsky Zavod the prison was very old, and empty. The commandant living there, he preferred to house the convicts at a convenient distance. At Alexandreffsky there were not less than 700 prisoners in three buildings; also at Akatuya there were 110 prisoners who had been priests, and 22 others sent to join them for extra punishment; Akatuya, by reason of its isolation and loneliness, being regarded as the worst of them all. At this place a NEW SERIES.-VOL. XXXIII., No. 1

priest had, for punishment, a chain put upon his wrists so heavy that he could not sleep, and they had to take it off. Also, formerly, but not in the time of my informant, there was a man chained to the wall. But these were exceptional cases, and such things were not done to the political prisoners, many of whom had friends who could bring influence to bear in their favor. There were sometimes cases in which criminal prisoners burst out into fits of ferocity, and were guilty of insubordination that called for special punishment. At Sivakoff men were sometimes suspended for a time, he said by the armpits, but none were chained to barrows or tools, as is sometimes the case. My informant himself, who had insulted the general governor, and also joined others in a league to refuse to work on Sunday (the cruel and unjust ukase to this effect was issued in 1866) was first put on half provisions, then deprived of meat, then of milk, then of tobacco, and then was not allowed to lounge in the yard, but had to go straight from work to his ward. The priests had joined in this resistance to Sunday labor, and there were both Protestants and Romanists among the league. Some of the priests, however, were the first to give in, and all at length followed; so that they had afterward only a very few days for holidays in the course of the year.

I asked as to the formation of the mines, and found that some of them had shafts and galleries. In one case, the shaft, on account of its construction, was dangerous to descend. In some cases I gathered that the granite was got, as it were, from the side of a hill, and that the work of the prisoners consisted largely of boring holes for blasting, which, when ready, were charged with powder by Cossacks or laborers, and in the absence of the prisoners were fired. From an engineering point of view, the mines, so far as I could understand, were worked badly enough. This agreed with what I heard in Siberia elsewhere. They had no steam or horse power, and the mines subserved the purpose of providing hard labor for malefactors rather than that of bringing gain to the Emperor.

I inquired carefully about the duration of labor, and found it was thirteen hours a day, which agrees with the hours I

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