From Paris to Pekin over Siberian Snows ... Edited from the French by W. Conn. With supplementary notes, ... a map and ... illustrations, etc

Front matter

FROM PARIS TO PEKIN OVER SIBERIAN SNOWS. THE MONASTERY OF TROITSA. \lr,ontisphcc. A FROM PARIS TO PEKIN OVER SIBERIAN SNOWS. NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY BY SLEDGE OVER THE SNOWS OF EUROPEAN RUSSIA AND SIBERIA, BY CARAVAN THROUGH MONGOLIA, ACROSS THE GOBI DESERT AND THE GREAT WALL. AND BY MULE PALANQUIN THROUGH CHINA TO PEKIN. VICTOR MEIGNAN, fc — EDITED FROM THE FRENCH BY WILLIAM CONN. With supplementary notes not contained in the original edition. Wills A MAP AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS FROM SKETCHES BY THE AUTHOR AND OTHERS. LONDON . W. SWAN SONNENSCHEIN AND CO., PATERNOSTER SQUARE. 1885. Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Limited, London and Ayiesbury.

Preface

TO THE ENGLISH EDITION. Embarrassed readers, who delight in books of travel, whether for the recreation or the useful information they afford, are not relieved of their difficulty when the title of the work, instead of indicating the nature of the subject, only presents an enigma for them to solve. How, for instance, is the reader to gauge the nature of the contents of " Voyage en Zigzag? " It might mean the itinerary of some crooked course among the Alps, or, perhaps, the log-book of a yacht chopping about the Channel, or the record of anything but a straightforward journey. Again, " By Land and Sea" plight simply be the diary of a holiday trip from London to Paris, or a rechauffe of impressions of a " globe-trotter," who went to see what everybody talked about that he also might talk about what he had seen. Then there are a host of others,

PREFACE.

. VI such as "Travels West," "The Land of the North Wind" — which one has to discover vaguely by ascertaining first where it does not blow, — " Loin de Paris," " Dans les Nuages," "On Blue Water;" all of which might be strictly applicable to the metropolitan area if the water were only just a little bluer. But " Voyage Autour de ma Femme " is still less intelligible. Is it a book of travel at all, or only a romance, or a comedie-vaudeville . It may not be a. fantaisie like " Voyage Autour de ma Chambre," nor even the record of a journey necessarily performed within four walls, for— though I have not looked at the book — it may be the narrative of an unsentimental journey, in which the tourist had taken a holiday trip all around picturesque Europe and his wife, leaving her at home ; or it may be a sen timental journey as touching as Sterne's — a kind of circular tour en petit, circumscribed by the ordinary length of the apron-string ; in which event, a very subjective turn of the impressions de voyage would be evident ; and consequently would not suit readers who decidedly prefer to regard what is presented from the objective side.

PREFACE.

. VII The reader will naturally discover from the title of this book the traveller's course, but he will at the same time, no doubt, desire to know something of the character of the book. It may gratify him to be told that essentially it is a personal narrative, that cannot fail to interest those who like in a book of travel a tale of life full of incident and adventure : it is one in which his sympathies will be awakened and sustained in following the traveller in his movements from day to day and from place to place, his imagination being vividly stirred by the illusion that the participator is, as it were, in the changing scenes and events passing before his eyes like the tableaux of a diorama. And yet it must not be supposed, because the writer's chief object has been to give an interesting personal narrative, that it is deficient in useful information : far from it ; but, instead of overcharging his book with minute details, he has seized the more salient features of men and things.

These are presented from his own point of view as the result of intelligent observation or discriminating hearsay. The traveller, who is evidently a most genial

PREFACE.

. VIII companion, passes lightly and rapidly over the well-known route from Paris to St. Peters burg and Moscow in the short space of thirty pages. After taking a glance at the wonders of the Kremlin and the monastery of Troitsa, probably the richest religious community in the world, with its heaps of precious pearls and various gems, he passes on to the famous mart of Nijni-Novgorod, along the frozen Oka and the Volga, through the country of the Votiaks, and across the Ural Mountains into Siberia. Posting at full gallop over the snowy way, sleeping, living altogether in fact, in his sledge (for the luxury of beds is unknown in Siberian hotels), he falls in with a series of adventures, sometimes amusing and sometimes even tragic, in his progress over that vast territory that presents so many strange races, and, in winter, so many remarkable scenes.

At one time he is in imminent peril of being lost in a snow storm on the steppe of Omsk, and at another on the frozen surface of the Baikal. He makes an excursion on the way amid the wild Kirghiz, gets a peep at the life of the Polish exiles, and at the gold miners and the people of Irkutsk in their amusements and occupations.

PREFACE.

. IX The grand scenes of nature, particularly at this season, are all duly depicted with the emotion of one alive to the beautiful and sublime : the wonderful atmospheric effects of light at a very low temperature, the novel and changing aspects of the steppes ; the startling spectacle of the frozen Angara and Lake Baikal, the grotesque aspect of the snow capped forests, and then, later, the picturesque, verdant valleys of China. In the course of his journey through Mongolia, he enables us to get a glimpse at those strange people the Mongols, their tent life, their city of tents, their incessant prayer-turning as a chief occupation, and the fearful character of some of their ceremonies. Then, after a caravan journey of eighteen days across the trackless Desert of Gobi, he arrives at the great Wall of China, and finally at Pekin, where he con templates its curiosities, its works of art, its people; their institutions and their daily life.

Having thus given an outline of the book and its contents for the reader's guidance, I will proceed to explain why I have thought it advisable to depart from a close imitation throughout of the original, and to present, in

PREFACE.

. X fact, a modified version rather than a strict translation. The style of the original, though simple and unadorned, is frequently slipshod ; and the author — contrary to many French travellers, who often make, and perhaps still oftener attempt to make, the subject of their narrative a vehicle for epigram and sparkling and spirited diction — has evidently thought more of conveying a truthful picture to the reader, than of the mode of expression by which this could be most effectively done. In many novel and interesting descriptions, for example, the effect they are capable of producing is almost wholly lost through the want of a more just co-ordination of parts and subordination of minor details, and, occasionally, through the want of sufficient expansion, lest the reader should not have time to contemplate and realize a quick succession of fleeting images.

These, consequently, are some of the chief points I have attempted to correct ; though in making the attempt, I hope I may not have exposed myself to an unpleasant suspicion, in the first place, of having assumed too much assurance in undertaking uninvited to revise

PREFACE.

. XI the writing of another, and, in the next place, in certain tableaux, which would be unattractive if obscure or colourless, of having indulged in a taste for fine writing, when the sole object has been to place the matter before the reader as lucidly and vividly as possible. But it will probably more concern the reader to be assured that the truthfulness of these descriptions, such as represented by the tra veller, has not been distorted in this manner of treating them. On this point he may readily satisfy himself on taking the trouble to compare some of them with those in the original edition. He will find, I hope, that my work has not been in vain, and that I have contributed something towards rendering more attractive this interesting narrative, chiefly relating to that land over which Madame Cottin, Xavier de Maistre, and other writers have thrown a glow of romance. WILLIAM CONN. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. From Paris To St

PETERSBURG. PAGE En route by rail — Berlin — Annoyances at the Russian Custom House — -First aspect of European Russia — An evening on the banks of the Neva - - - i

Chapter II. St

PETERSBURG TO MOSCOW. Letters of recommendation for Siberia — M. Pfaffius, frontier commissary at Kiachta — Russian music — Arrival at Moscow 19

Chapter III. Moscow

— NIJNI-NOVGOROD. The Kremlin — Equipage and visits of the Virgin of Inverski — Origin of Christianity in Russia — A few words CONTENTS. PAGE about Troitsa — A travelling companion — Purchase of furs — Passage of the Oka in a sledge — Feeling of terror on first travelling in a sledge over a frozen river 30

Chapter IV. From Nijni-novgorod To Kazan

The Volga in winter — Varieties of podarojnaia — What is necessary for a long sledge journey — Departure from Nijni — Posting relays — A momentary thaw — The snow — Arrival at Kazan 51

Chapter V. Kazan Journey To Perm

The Virgin of Kazan — Russian manner of expressing disapproval — Dining with a grandee — His description of the enfranchisement of the serfs — The Tartars — Journey in a sledge — Caravan of exiles — The Votiaks — Aspect of European Russia ----- 73

Chapter VI. Perm The Road To Catherineburg

Hotel accommodation in Siberia — A councillor — Opinions and examples of Russian administration — National music — The passion for aggrandizement of territory — Entry into Asia ... - Q8 CONTENTS. XV

Chapter VII. Our Party On The Road To Tumen

PAGE Trade and manufactures at Catherineburg — Carolling cherubs — Christmas at Kamechlof — Grand gala at a posting stage — Tumen — Its situation — Its gipsies — Fruit preserved in ice - 113

Chapter VIII

A PERILOUS NIGHT ADVENTURE ON THE STEPPE OF OMSK. An ostentatious Siberian custom — The steppe — The cemeteries — Omsk — Its situation — Its society — The emancipation of the serfs related by a citizen — M. Kroupinikof — Visit to an encampment of Kirghiz — Masquerade at Omsk 128

Chapter IX. The Cold On The Way To Tomsk

The intense cold — Its inconveniences — The fine effects of light at a very low temperature — The baptismal fete of Christ on the Obi — Tomsk — Its commerce— An evening on the banks of the Tom LS6

Chapter X. The Government Of Yenisseisk And Krasnoiarsk

Wretched aspect of the villages of this province — The CONTENTS. XVI PAGE country at last becomes hilly — The night watchers at Krasnoiarsk — M. Lovatine' s three collections — A Polish exile's ball 171

Chapter XI. Krasnoiarsk To Irkutsk

Social position and education of the country people and citizens — Uselessness of Siberian forests — Journey to Irkutsk — A pack of wolves — Cleanliness of the villages — Congelation of the Angara — The government of Irkutsk — The college — The prison — The fire brigade -- 184

Chapter XII. Irkutsk

The gold miners — Their luxury ; their wealth ; their wives — A few words about the clergy, and the code of religion — The Polish exiles — Travelling maniacs — A dinner en famille ------- 202

Chapter XIII. Attempt At Escape By

A POLISH EXILE. Why the Polish exiles cannot escape — Narrative of an attempt by M. Bohdanovitch — Encounter with a bear — Sanitary arrangements in Siberia — Wolf hunts — A blue fox — Different values of furs — A few words on the passion for displaying riches - CONTENTS. XVII PAGE 244 266 285

Chapter XVII. Maimatchin To Urga

First Stage in Mongolia — The Mongols — Their tents ; CONTENTS. XVIII PAGE 362 their life — How they steer their way in the desert — The Caravan — A Sacrilege — The Russian Consul at Urga— The Koutoukta 304

Chapter XVIII. Urga And The Entry Into The Desert Of Gobi

Urga — Mongol religion — Praying wheels — Burial ceremonies — The Holy Mountain — My travelling companions in the desert — Departure from Urga — First halt — A Mongolian repast — Easter Eve - - - 321

Chapter XIX. Caravan Across The Desert Of Gobi

A Mongolian Prince and his Court — Prayer turning — Our life in the desert — The sandy plain — Want of water — Lunar mirage — Three executions — A traveller astray in the desert — Arrival at Kalkann and the Great Wall of China --------- 341

Chapter XX. From The Great Wall To Tchah Tao

First view of China proper — Last Russian hospitality — The Palankeen — The streets of Kalkann — Travelling along the Great Wall — The Secret Societies — Chinese art — How order is maintained —Origin of the tress — How the titles of Chinese nobility become extinct CONTENTS. XIX PAGE 379

Chapter XXI. Tchah-tao To Pekin

An exciting incident — The Pass of Nang-kao — Picturesqueness of the gorge — A young married couple — The levy of taxes — Toun-cheh-ouh — The last solitude — Entry into Pekin — Arrival at the Legation

Chapter XXII. Pekin Departure

The Marble Bridge— The Tartar City— Objects of Art- Japanese lacquering — Interments — The Observatory — The Imperial Palace — The Temples — The four harvests — Kinds of tea — Departure from Pekin — Tien-tsin — The sea at last 395 Notes London i W. Swim Sonn.'iiscbein & C?. I FROM PARIS TO PEKIN.

Chapter I. From Paris To St

PETERSBURG. En route by rail — Berlin — Annoyances at the Russian Custom House — First aspect of European Russia — An evening on the banks of the Neva. When I had quite made up my mind to pass my winter in Siberia and to proceed in the following spring to Pekin by Mongolia and the Desert of Gobi, my friends, hearing of my project, were incredulous of the stead fastness of my resolution ; they shrugged their shoulders, quivering, perhaps at the prospect of frost-nipped limbs, and wondered what could induce me to quit the comfortably warmed salons at this season merely to brave the boreal blasts of so rigorous a climate. So far as it concerned me, however, this anticipatory cold was not at all catching, for, FRO Al PARIS TO PEKIN. 2 indeed, my resolution was then too firmly set to be shaken by a quivering void of sympathetic influence, or to yield to the allurements of the most inviting Parisian cercle or boudoir.

Having therefore already well considered my project, I had decided on attempting to accomplish it for this reason : I had seen Syria and Nubia, lands of the Sun, in their full-blown summer radiance and glory, and I now longed to gaze on Siberia, the region of snow and ice, in its wondrous winter garb. When I am in the humour for a tour, I like to visit countries in their typical season, just as one likes to see a man in the exercise of his proper vocation. There is, undoubtedly, a feeling of satisfaction in contemplating the animate or inanimate world merely in its habitual phases, in so far as these are the normal and appropriate expression of a condition of established law and order — the harmonies of nature as well as the moral fitness of things. Siberia, as it is pictured to our imagination, is vividly associated with the stirring incidents of a rigorous arctic winter; it is in this, its most characteristic aspect, that we delight to regard it and muse FRO Al PARIS TO ST. PETERSBURG. 3 over it ; moreover, in winter only is it so remarkably dissimilar from the nature we are accustomed to see in milder and more genial climates, and in this season alone, with its mighty ice-bound rivers and boundless snow capped forests, does it present to the wonder ing eye of the stranger the interest and attractiveness of a striking novelty.

I was in excellent spirits from the exhilarating anticipation of so much adventure, as the reader may imagine, and, busy with final preparations, my friends seeing me thus occupied, amused me with their diverse ques tions and suggestions. Every one puts questions in his own way according to his habitual ideas or occupation. The doctor with a grave look asks, " Are you sure your constitution is robust enough to bear so much cold ? " the druggist, whether you have a good supply of quinine or chilblain ointment, or somebody's magic pills — some comprehen sive remedy for all human weaknesses, cor poreal and mental, excepting, of course, the incurable one of belief in its efficacy ; then ladies suggest a good supply of warm worsted stockings and knitted comforters ; then others FROM PARIS TO PEKIN. 4 inquire whether you have a passport duly vise, a six-shot revolver, maps, a telescope, letters of credit, a belt for gold, and I really don't know with what they would not con siderately provide me.

Some perhaps might have gone so far as to suggest a warming pan ; and for my part, I think that a warming pan would not have been the least useful article suggested, inasmuch as it might serve as a stewing pan, and then I should be assured of a hot supper and a warm bed ; then in inns its sonorous capacity might supply the want of bells, and on a journey serve to scare away the wolves, and finally, having no further use for this accommodating vade mecum, I might sell it in Mongolia, a land of honey, for a purpose to which, I have heard, it is some times applied in England, that is for swarming bees with its deep musical note, and this failing, at all events, dispose of it in China, on taking out the handle, as the latest novelty in gongs in articles de Paris. But not one of my friends, not even the druggist, who sells mort aux mouches and other insect killers, thought of the chasses one is occasionally, though not so often now, obliged FROM PARIS TO ST. PETERSBURG. 5 to devote himself to in foreign inns ; probably they were not lovers of the chase, at least of such small game ; but when one has once been bien mange!, the figures leave their marks on the memory when they have been long effaced else where, and not knowing what sport I might fall in with, I took care to secure the completeness of my grdement de chasse, and having at last made all my arrangements, I was ready to start.

Accordingly on the 25th of October, 1873, at eight in the morning, I left the Gare du Nord, and no sooner had I taken my seat than inquiries recommenced in another form by a talkative traveller. This traveller was a Belgian, and Belgians are generally loquacious and free in making acquaintances. " Where are you going, monsieur?" said he. "As for me, I am going as far as Cologne ; it is a very long journey, you know, and I like to have some one to talk to, to pass away these twelve long hours in a carriage." "And so am I going to Cologne," I replied. " Oh ! you are going to Cologne, are you ? Is it to buy horses ? That is what I am going there for," he explained. " I am accustomed to buy my horses in Prussia." " No," I said, " I am not going to Cologne for that." " What for, then?" "Well, it is to start again from there, for I go to Berlin."

"Oh! you are going to Berlin ? Why then are you going to Berlin ? Nobody goes there, neither tourists nor men of business." " I go there to start again, for I go from there to St. Petersburg." These questions succeeded one another in this way from stage to stage, till the moment we had finished the tour of the world. His simple Flemish countenance then took a curious expression of droll astonishment. He could say no more till after the lapse of some moments, and then it was to exclaim, opening his large mouth as wide as possible and vigorously thumping the cushion with his heavy fist, " Oh ! Ah ! Then you are really going round the world. Dear me ! round the world! " "Yes, almost," I replied, smiling, " and therefore when I want horses I must buy them elsewhere than in Cologne." As soon as Cologne and the Rhine are passed, a little favoured spot of this dull country — at least, as it appears to the traveller en route — you traverse an endless plain, neither picturesque nor interesting.

Berlin FR0A1 PARIS TO ST. PETERSBURG. 7 redeems with no artistic beauty its sterile situation. But a Parisian could not be ex pected to find much attraction in Berlin, and accordingly I found it very dull. Its streets are badly paved ; enormous gutters, separat ing the roadway from the pavement, expose carriages to danger and exhale noxious odours, filled as they are with filthy water and refuse of every kind. What strikes one in this city is a general aspect of gloominess. They have tried in all the public buildings to imitate the Grecian Doric, and have only too well succeeded in it. I do not understand at all why the Prussians have adopted this cold style, more sepulchral even than the Egyptian, under a sky so dull, and almost as foggy as that of Old England. In the places of amusement, in the interior of the Opera for instance, they have replaced the Doric style with the Corinthian, that is to say, mourning with half-mourning.

The national colours, white and black, profusely distributed everywhere, complete its funereal character. The finest avenue, Unter den Linden, leads from the Museum to the exterior promenades, but the colour of the houses bordering this boulevard spoils the effect ; it suggested a mixture of iron and saffron or something like the sickly hue of jaundice. The general impression is anything but cheerful. One is almost disposed to say to every one he meets : " Frere, il faut mourir!" but I said to myself, "II faut partir," and, after a short halt, I accordingly took my departure. The following day the express train, without any incident worthy of note, took me to the Russian frontier. Though there are custom houses at the frontiers of every civilized state, their character and methods of proceeding have not, in spite of the levelling tendencies of railways, yet arrived at much approach to uniformity ; and since these characteristics differ widely from China to Peru, they frequently give some sign of the political and social status of the people into whose country one enters.

At the custom house of this colossal empire of Russia, with a national budget so over charged, the treasury is especially solicitous of filling the imperial coffers. Money is sorely needed. The stranger there must first prove his identity by producing his passport duly vise at the consulates of all the places he has passed. The passport is returned to him, bearing a word written on the back. This word leaves every uninitiated traveller in complete ignor ance of its meaning or object ; it is written in Russian characters, and, moreover, badly written in a language which, in conformity with good taste, one is expected not to know. When I received my passport marked with the mystic word, my embarrassment was pain ful. I walked up and down the waiting room, showing the word to every one I met.

They all looked at me with astonishment, and kept clear of me without offering any explanation. I, at last, heard some one speaking French near me ; it was a gentleman whose moustaches of immoderate length and dark whiskers white at the tips, something like the fur of the blue fox, indicated him to be of Northern nationality. I hastened to be enlightened, and at once learnt that this important word was the name of the officer appointed to examine my baggage. After some difficulty, I found the functionary, who, fortunately, spoke French. "Monsieur," he said, "qu'avez-vous a. declarer?" " Rien," I promptly replied, with all the freedom of innocence; "what I bring with me is for my personal use, and if some of the packages appear to you very bulky, it is because I am on a very long, a very distant journey."

" Be good enough to open them." I accordingly began, feeling assured that everything would go on well and soon end. "It is my personal clothing," I explained ; " there is nothing but clothes in this trunk. Here is a pair of trousers that seems new ; I have had it these three years. It looks, however, new ; that is to my credit ; you see, I do not wear out my clothes much," I remarked merrily. " But," he rejoined, "it seems too new ; we will weigh it ; this will be paid for." My mortification was about to begin. He commenced putting into the scales all the clothing which he considered had not been worn. "What are these?" "They are memorandum books." " Is there anything written in them? " "Nothing yet," and then they also go into the scales. But he was not disposed to end there ; far from it ; I was obliged to open the chest I had got packed in Paris with the greatest care, containing my sporting equipment and many things for use only in Siberia.

Perceiving that he was inexorable in his determination to turn out everything, I entreated him to put the case, just as it was, into the scales, preferring to pay more to having the contents turned upside down in the greatest disorder after they had been so artistically arranged. But I was much deceived, for this gentleman was too much of a Cossack to forego the pleasure of examining Parisian objects. Everything was turned out, and, if possible, inside out, and put into the scales. I was enraged. In the midst of this intolerable annoyance, there was for me a gleam of malicious satis faction. I had brought with me an enormous box of vermin-killer in powder, which was considered to be invaluable for my long journey through Asia. The box could not easily be opened ; far from it. The officer tried in vain for some time, but at last, the cover yielding suddenly to his efforts, the powder was violently flung into his face, penetrating into his eyes, his nostrils, and mouth, and completelycovering his coat.

"What is this?" he demanded. " A very violent poison," I replied, with an affectation of terror, to add to his discomfiture, which had due effect. He turned pale, and, at once, fixed the duty on my effects at the highest possible rate. But I had some unex pected sport with large game, and, my revenge having afforded me full satisfaction, I drew from my pocket my louis d'or. But, alas! Russia, the country that produces at present so much gold, is the one where it has the least currency. I was obliged to go and change my twenty-franc pieces for paper roubles ; and thus I paid at this custom house more than a hundred francs, merely to pass my old clothes — this sum being as much as they were worth — and my memorandum books, which I could not make up my mind to abandon, because they were my only com panions to be entrusted with my impressions de voyage.

Before getting into the train, I observed a newsvendor on the platform. "Have you the Figaro}" I asked. "Yes, sir." "How much?" "Thirty kopecks" (one shilling). " Then give me a newspaper of your own country printed in French." " Here is one, FRO Al PARIS TO ST. PETERSBURG. 13 sir, the Journal de St. Petersbourg." " How much?" "Fifteen kopecks." "But why is it so dear, printed in Russia?" "It is, sir, because here there are enormous duties on the manufacture of paper." This kind of tax, in my opinion, is, for one thing, to be fully appreciated. The Russians should thus be guarded against a propensity for scribbling, which, alas ! is so rampant in France. And then again, when universal suffrage is to appear in Russia, who knows whether the exorbitant price of paper will not hinder the candidates from distributing the voting papers, and the electors from procuring them at their own expense ?

The exercise of this new power will then be the cause of a fresh charge and become consequently an obstacle. Such a state of things perhaps will cause universal suffrage to succumb and disappear — an institution apparently just and attractive in theory, but amusingly droll in practice to those who have witnessed its working, es pecially in the country districts. This first experience reconciled me with the administration of this vast country, almost even with its custom house, and I climbed up into my carriage, where two stoves, though it had not yet commenced to freeze, kept up a tropical heat. There I installed myself in one of the immense easy seats with which it was fur nished, and which was transformed at night, with the aid of a mechanical arrangement, into a kind of bed, where one may be tolerably comfortable, and there I waited the signal of departure, prepared to observe the aspect of the country through which I was about to pass.

The part of Russia between Wilna and St. Petersburg is simply melancholy. When I passed over it, the absence of snow, of sun, and leaves on the trees, rendered this charac ter, which is proper to it, still more striking. Unlimited forests, that are no longer copse and not yet arrived at full growth, and as impenetrable as a jungle, especially in autumn, from the swampy nature of the soil ; a long undulating range of land, of an outline the ocean would assume in the monstrous swell of a tempest, sending back the horizon to an enormous distance ; the appearance of a few habitations, at long intervals, and whose presence at all in such a spot suggests utter desolation more than absolute solitude : — this is what is presented to the traveller on entering Russia, immensity, impenetrability, and silent gloom.