Overland through Asia. Pictures of Siberian, Chinese, and Tartar life

Front matter

Book -ffy </ __

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OVERLAND

Preface

Fourteen years ago Major Perry McD. Collins traversed Northern Asia, and wrote an account of his journey, entitled "A Voyage Down the Amoor." "With the exception of that volume no other work on this little known region has appeared from the pen of an American writer. In view of this fact, the author of "Overland Through Asia" indulges the hope that his book will not be considered a superfluous addition to the literature of his country.

The journey herein recorded was undertaken partly as a pleasure trip, partly as a journalistic enterprise, and partly in the interest of the company that attempted to carry out the plans of Major Collins to make an electric connection between Europe and the United States by way of Asia and Bering's Straits. In the service of the Russo- American Telegraph Company, it may not be improper to state that the author's official duties were so few, and his pleasures so numerous, as to leave the kindest recollections of the many persons connected with the enterprise.

Portions of this book have appeared in Harper's, Putnam's, The Atlantic, The Galaxy, and the Overland Monthlies, and in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. They have been received with such favor as to encourage their reproduction wherever they could be introduced in the narrative of the journey. The largest part of the book has been written from a carefully recorded journal, and is now in print for the first time. The illustrations have been made from photographs and pencil sketches, and in all cases great care has been exercised to represent correctly the costumes of the country. To

VI PREFACE.

Frederick Whymper, Esq., artist of the Telegraph Expedition, and to August Hoffman, (Photographer,) of Irkutsk, Eastern Siberia, the author is specially indebted.

The orthography of geographical names is after the Russian model. The author hopes it will not be difficult to convince his countrymen that the shortest form of spelling is the best, especially when it represents the pronunciation more accurately than does the old method. A frontier justice once remarked, when a lawyer ridiculed his way of writing ordinary words, that a man was not properly educated who could spell a word in only one way. On the same broad principle I will not quarrel with those who insist upon retaining an extra letter in Bering and Ohotsk and two superfluous letters in Kamchatka.

Among those not mentioned in the volume, thanks are due to Frederick Macrellish, Esq., of San Francisco, Hon. F. F. Low of Sacramento, Alfred "Whymper, Esq., of London, and the many gentlemen coimected with the Telegraph Expedition. There are dozens and hundreds of individuals in Siberia and elsewhere, of all grades and conditions in life, who have placed me under numberless obligations. Wherever I traveled the most uniform courtesy was shown me, and though conscious that few of those dozens and hundreds will ever read these lines, I should consider myself ungrateful did I fail to acknowledge their kindness to a wandering American.

T. W. K.

PAGE

Frontispiece, The Author in Siberian Costume, —

Character Developed, 20

Aspinwall to Panama, 23

Slightly Monotonous, 24

Montgomery Street in Holiday Dress, 25

San Francisco, 1848, 26

Chinese Dinner, 27

Over Six Feet, 31

Steamship Wright in a Storm, (Full Page,) pace page, 32

A Sea Sick Booby,. 33

Wreck op the Ship Canton, 34

Aleutians Catching Whales, 37

Breach op Etiquette, 43

Unexpected Honors, 45

Russian Marriage, 47

Russian Pope at Home, 50

A Scaly Bridge, 52

Russian Tea Service, 54

Change for a Dollar, 56

Cow and Bear, 58

A Kamchatka Team, 60

Repulse op the Assailants, 63

View op Sitka, (Full Page,) face page, 68

Plenty op Time, 76

Russian Officers at Mess > 77

Ascending the Bay, 80

Taking the Census, '. 82

Light-House at Ghijiga, 83

Towed by Dogs, (Full Page,) face page, 84

Koriak Yourt, 87

Discharging a Deck Load 90

Reindeer Ride, 91

Tall Piece, Reindeer, 94

Vlll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

34. Wagon Ride with Dogs 98

35. Yearly Mail, 100

36. Dogs Fishing, 101

37. Teachings of Experience, , 107

33 BoaT Load op Salmon, 115

39 An Effective Protest, 116

40 Nothing but Bones, 120

41. Tail Piece— Native Woman, 123

42. Seeing Off, 125

43. Life on the Amoor, (Full Page,) face page, 129

44. A Gilyak Village, 131

45. About Full, 133

46. Tail Piece— A Turn Out, 134

47. On the Amoor, 137

48- Cash Account 139

49 Wooding Up , 140

50. Bear in Procession, 144

51 Practice of Medicine, 146

52. Manjour Merchant, 149

63. Gilyak Man 151

54. Gilyak Woman, 152

65. Peasants by Moonlight, (Full Page,) face page, 153

56. Tail Piece— The Net, » 157

57. Ten Miles an Hour 160

58. Goldee House at Night, (Full Page,) face page, 162

59. The IIypocondriac, 163

61. Tail Piece — Scene on the River, '. 169

62. Reception at Petrovsky, 172

63. Armed and Equipped, 176

64. General Activity, 182

65. Tail Piece— Flask, 1S3

66. Manjour Boat, 1SS

67. A Private Temple 196

68. Fishing Implements, 199

69. Chinese Family Picture, 205

70. Manjour Traveling Carrlmje, , 211

71. Tail Piece— Towards the Sun, 216

72. The Ammunition Wagon, 218

73. Finishing Touch 223

74. Emigrants on the Amoor, 229

75. Sa-Ga-Yan Cliff, _ 233

76. Rifle Shooting, 236

77. Tail Piece— Game 239

7S. Preparing for Winter, 247

80. Stratensk, Eastern Siberia, 252

51. A Siberian Tarantass, 258

83. Favorite Bed, 269

84. Concentrated Energies 273

85. Prisoners at Chetah, 276

86. On the Hills near Chetah, 279

87. Bouriat Yourts, 286

88. A Mongol Bell, 288

89. A Mongol Belle, 289

90 Catching Sheep, , 290

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. IX

PA3E

91. A Cold Bath 291

93. Our Ferry Boat, 297

94. Equal Rights, , 300

95. Amateur Concert in Siberia, 304

96. Chinese Mandarin, 307

97. Interior op Chinese Temple, (Full Page,) face page, 310

9S. Through Ordinary Eyes, 314

99. Through Chinese Eyes, 314

100. Legal Tender, 319

101. Russian Pets, 321

102. Pony Express, 322

103. A Disagreeable Appendage, 323

104. Suspended Freedom, 323

105. Punishment for Burglary, 324

106. Chopstick, Fork, and Saucer, 325

107. Chinese Theatre, 326

10S. Chinese Tiger 327

109. Chinese Punishment, (Full Page,) face page, 332

110. Provision Dealer, 337

111. Chinese Mendicants, 339

112. The Favorite, 341

113 Female Feet and Shoe, 342

114. A Lottery Prize, 343

115. A Pekin Cab, 345

116. A Chinese Palanquin 345

117. Priest in Temple of Confucius 346

IIS Comforts and Conveniences, 349

119. Filial Attention, 349

120. Tail Piece— Opium Pipe 350

121. A Musical Stop,... 352

122. Nankow Pass, (Full Page,) face page 354

123. Racing at the Kalgan Fair, • 357

124. Streets in Kalgan, 358

125. In Good Condition, 359

126. Lost in the Desert of Gobi, 363

127. Mongol Dinner Table, 366

128. Crossing the Tolla. (Full Page,) face page, 367

129. The Schoolmaster. 370

131. Wild Boar Hunt , 375

132. A Wife at Irkutsk, 376

133. No Wife at Irkutsk, 376

135. After the Earthquake 380

136. Lake Baikal in Winter, (Full Page,) face page 381

137. A Specimen, 384

138. Tail Piece— The World, 385

139. Gov. General Korsackoff, 387

140. View— Irkutsk, 390

141. A Cold Attachment, 394

142. Queen of Greece, 397

143. Emperor of Russia, 400

144. Tail Piece— Twin Bottles, 405

145. Home of two Exiles— Real, Imaginary, 409

146. Tail Piece — Quarters, 418

147 Tartar Cavalry, 422 x ' LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

148. Siberian Exiles, (Full Page,) face page, „ c 430

151. A Kibitka, 440

152. Farewell to Irkutsk, 443

153. Our Conductor, 454

154. Jumping Cradle Holes, , 456

155. Valley of the Yenesei, 462

156. Wolf Hunt, (Full Page,) face page, 466

157. Hydraulic Mining, 472

159. Down Hill, 4S3

160. Dogs Among Ice, 489

161. Jumping the Fissures, 492

164. In the mine, 516

165. Strange Coincidence, 518

167. The Elopement, 527

168. The Fight, 52S

169. The Catastrophe, 529

171. The Polkedovate, 535

172. Making Explanation, 536

173 After the Bath, 533

175. The Driver's Toilet 544

176. Women Spinning , 545

177. Flogging with Sticks, 547

179. Lost in a Snow Storm, 553

180. Fatal Result 559

182. Excuse my Familiarity, 563

183. Frosted Horses, 564

184. View of Ekaterineburg, (Full Page,) face page, 568

185. Europe and Asia, 574

186 A Russian Beggar, 575

187. Beggars in Kazan, 594

188. The Immersion, 595

189. Russian Priest, 598

191. Great Bell of Moscow, 605

192. View on the Nevski Prospect, St. Petersburg, (Full Page,) to face, 607

193. Tail Piecb— SIbbiing ah Old Friend, 60S

Chapter I. Page

Off from New York — Around the world by steam — Value of a letter of credit — A cure for sea sickness— Doing the Isthmus — An exciting porpoise race — Glimpse of San Francisco — Trip to the Yo Semite Valley — From the Golden Gate into the Pacific 19

Chapter II

A strange company — Difficulties of sea life — A tall man and a short room — How the dog went to sleep — A soapy cabin — Catching a booby — Two Sundays together — A long lost wreck — Incidents at sea — Manner of catching whales in Alaska — A four footed pilot — Dog stories — How to take an observation — Coast of Asia — Entering Avatcha bay — An economical light keeper 30

Chapter III

In a Russian port — Hail Columbia — Petropavlovsk — Volcanoes and earthquakes — Directions for making a Russian town — A Kamchadale wedding — Standing up with the Dride — A hot ceremony — A much married pope — Russian religious practices — Drinking with the priest and what came of it 41

Chapter IV

Vegetation in Kamchatka — Catching salmon — A scaly bridge — An evening on shore — Samovars and tea drinking — The fur trade — Bear hunting — What a cow brought home one day — Siberian dogs — A musical town — The adventures of Norcum — Training a team — Sledges and how to manage them — A voyage under the Polish flag — Monument to Captain Clerke — The allied attack — The battle of Petropavlovsk 51

Chapter V

Bering's voyages — Discovery of Alaska — Shipwreck and death of Bering — The Russian-American Company — The first governor of Alaska — Promushleniks — Russian settlement in California — Account of Russian explorations — Character of the country — Its extent and resources — Advantages and disadvantages of the Alaska purchase 64

Chapter VI

Leaving Kamchatka — Farewell to the ladies — A new kind of telegraph — Entering the Ohotsk sea — From steam to sail — Sleeping among chronometers — Talking by signs — A burial at sea — A Russian funeral — Land in sight — Ghijiga bay 71

Xll CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VII. page.

Baggage for shore travel — Much wine and little bread — A perplexing dilemma — How to take the census — Siberian beds — Towed by dogs — Encounter with a beast — Coaxing a team with clubs — The Koriaks — Their manners and customs — Comical cap for a native — A four footed currency — Yourts and Balagans — Curious marriage ceremony — Lightening a boat in a storm — Very strong whisky — Riding on a reindeer — An intoxicating mushroom — An electric devil — a Siberian snow storm — How a party was lost 79

Chapter VIII

How a pointer became a bull dog — Coral in high latitudes — Sending Champagne to Neptune — Arrival at Ohotsk — Three kinds of natives — A lunch with the ladies — A native entertainment — A mail once a year — A lover's misfortune — An astonished American — Hunting a bear and being hunted — An unfortunate ride. . .' 95

Chapter IX

At sea again — Beauties of a Northern sky — Warlike news and preparing for war — The coast of Japan — An exciting moment — A fo£ bell of sea lions — Ready for fight — De Castries' bay — A bewildered fleet — Good-bye to the Variag — In the straits of Tartary — A difficult sleeping place — A Siberian mirage — Entering the Amoor river 102

Chapter X

On shore at Nicolayevsk — An American Consul — Visiting the Governor — Machine shops on the Amoor with American managers — The servant girl question — A Gilyak boat full of salmon — An unfortunate water carrier — The Amoor Company — Foreign and native merchants — Raising sheep among tigers — Rats eating window glass — Riding in a cart... 110

CHAPTER XL

Up the Amoor — Seeing off a friend — A Siberian steamboat — How the steamboats are managed — Packages by post — Curiosities of the Russian mail service — An unhappy bride — Haj' barges — Gilyak villages — Visiting a village — Bad for the nose — Native dogs — Interviewing a Gilyak lady — A rapid descent 124

Chapter XII

The monastery of Eternal Repose — Curious religious customs — Features of the scenery — Passengers on our boat — An adventurous merchant — Captured by the Chinese — A pretty girl and her fellow passenger — Wooding up — An Amoor town — The telegraph — How it is built and operated — A native school — Fighting the tiger — Religious practices of the Gilyaks — Mistaken kindness 135

Chapter XIII

Stepanoff and his career — A Manjour boat — Catching salmon — A sturgeon pen — The islands of the Amoor — A night scene at a wooding station — A natural cathedral — The birds of the Amoor — The natives of the country — Interviewing a native Mandarin 148

Chapter XIV

Entering a Goldee house — Native politeness — What to do with a tame eagle — An intelligent dog team — An exciting race — A Mongol belle — Visiting a Goldee house at night — A reception in a shirt — Fish skin overcoats — Curious medical custom — Draw poker on the Amoor river — Curiosity — Habarofka— " No turkey for me " — A visit on shore — Experience with fleas 158

CONTENTS. xiii

CHAPTER XV. page.

First view of China — A beautiful region — Petrovsky — Women in the water — An impolite reception— A scanty population — Visiting a military post — Division of labor for a hunting excursion — The Songaree — A Chinese military station — Resources of the Songaree — Experience of a traveler — Hunting a tiger — A perilous adventure 170

Chapter XVI

Ekaterin — Nikolskoi — The Province of the Amoor — Character of the Cossack — The Buryea Mountains — A man overboard — Passing a mountain chain — Manjour boats — Bringing pigs to market — Women in the open air — A new tribe of natives — Rest for a bath — Russian cavair — How it is made — Feeding with a native — A heavy drink — A fleet of fishing boats 184

Chapter XVII

Scenery on the middle Amoor — A military colony — Among the Manjours — 'A Manjour temple — A Chinese naval station — A crew of women — Strange ways of catching fish — The city of Igoon — Houses plastered with mud — Visiting a harem — Talking pigeon-Chinese — Visiting the prison 194

Chapter XVIII

The mouth of the Zeya — Blagoveshchensk — Kind reception by the governor — Attending a funeral — A polyglot doctor and his family — Intercourse with the Chinese — A visit to Sakhalin-Oula — A government office — A Chinese traveling carriage — Visiting a Manjour governor — A polite official — A Russian Mongol reception — Curiosities of the Chinese police system — Advice to the Emperor of China 206

Chapter XIX

A deer-hunting pic-nic — Russian ploughing — Nursing a deer gazelle — A shot and what came of it — The return and overturn — The Siberian gazelle — A Russian steam bath — How to take it — On a new steamer — The cabin of the Korsackoff — A horse opera — An intoxicated priest — Private stock of provisions — The dove a sacred bird — Emigrant rafts — A Celestial guard house 217

Chapter XX

The upper Amoor — Sagayan cliff — Hunting for gold — Rich gold mines in the Amoor valley — The Tungusians — A goose for a cigar — An awkward rifle — Albazin — The people in Sunday dress — The siege of Albazin — Visiting the old fort 232

Chapter XXI

A sudden change — Beef preserved with laurel leaves — A Russian settler — New York pictures in a Russian house — The Flowery Kingdom — Early explorations — The conquest of the Amoor — A rapid expedition — The Shilka and the Argoon — An old settled country — A lady in the case — Hotels for the exiles — Stratensk — A large crowd — End of a long steamboat ride 240

Chapter XXII

A hotel at Stratensk — A romantic courtship — Starting overland — A difficult ferry — A Russian posting carriage — Good substitute for a trunk — "Road Agent" in Siberia — Rights of travelers — Kissing goes by favor — Captain John Franklin's equipage — Value of a ball — Stuck in the mud — The valley of the Nertcha — Reaching Nerchinsk 256

• XIV CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE XXIII. page.

An extensive house — A Russian gold miner — Stories of the exiles — Polish exiles — " The unfortunates " — The treatment of prisoners — Attempts to escape — Buying a tarantass — Light marching order — A bad road — Sleeping on a stove — The valley of the Ingodah — Two hours in a mud hole — Recklessness of drivers — Arrival at Chetah 262

Chapter XXIV

Location of Chetah — Prisoners in chains — Ingenuity of the exiles — Learning Hail Columbia in two hours — A governor's mansion — A hunting party — Siberian rabbits — Difficulties of matrimony — Religion in Siberia — An artillery review — Champagne and farewells — Crossing a frozen stream — Inconvenience of traveling with a dog — Crossing the Yablonoi Mountains — Approaching the Arctic Ocean 275

Chapter XXV

A cold night — Traveling among the Mongols — The Bouriats and their dwellings — An unpleasant fire — The Bhuddist religion — Conversions among the natives — An easy way of catching sheep — A Mongol bell — A Mongol belle — A late hour and a big dog — Bullocks under saddle — An enterprising girl— Sleeping in a carriage — Arrival at Verkne Udinsk — Walking in the market place — Stories of Siberian robbers — An enterprising murderer — Gold and iron mines on the Selenga 285

Chapter XXVI

Crossing a river on the ice — A dangerous situation — Dining on soup and caviar — Caravans of tea — The rights of the road — How the drivers treat each other — Selenginsk — An old exile — Troubled by the nose — Lodged by the police — A housekeeper in undress — An amateur concert — Troitskosavsk and Kiachta — Crossing the frontier — Visiting the Chinese governor 296

Chapter XXVII

In the Chinese empire — A city without a woman — A Chinese court of justice — Five interpretations — Chinese and Russian methods of tea making — A Chinese temple — Sculpture in sand stone — The gods and the Celestials — The Chinese idea of beauty — The houses in Maimaichin — Chinese dogs — Bartering with the merchants— The Chinese ideas of honesty — How they entertained us — The Abacus 306

CHAPTER XXVni.

Russian feast days — A curious dinner custom — Novel separation of the sexes — The wealth of Kiachta — The extent of the tea trade — Dodging the custom house — Foreign residents of Kiachta — Fifteen dogs in one family — The devil and the telegraph — Russian gambling — Dinner with the Chinese governor — Chinese punishments — Ingredients of a Chinese dinner — Going to the theatre in midday — Two dinners in one day — Farewell to Kiachta 316

Chapter XXIX

Trade between America and China — The first ship for a Chinese port — Chinese river system — The first steamboat on a Chinese river — The Celestials astonished — A nation of shop-keepers — Chinese insurance and banking systems — The first letters of credit — Railways in the empire — The telegraph in China — Pigeon-English — The Chinese treaty. . 329

CONTENTS. XV

Chapter XXX. Page

The great cities of China — Pekin and its interesting features — The Chinese city and the Tartar one — Rat peddlers, jugglers, beggars, and other liberal professionals — The rat question in China — Tricks of the jugglers — Mendicants and dwarfs — " The house of the hen's feathers " — How small feet became fashionable — Fashion in America and China — Gambling in Pekin — An interesting lottery prize — Executions by lot — Punishing robbers — Opposition to dancing — The temple of Confucius — Temples of Heaven and Earth — The famous Summer Palace — Chinese cemeteries — Coffins as household ornaments — Calmness at death . . 336

Chapter XXXI

A journey through Mongolia — Chinese dislike to foreign travel — Leaving Pekin — How to stop a mule's music — The Nankow Pass — A fort captured because of a woman — The great wall of China — Loading the pack mules — Kalgan — Mosques and Pagodas — A Mongol horse fair — How a transaction is managed — A camel journey on the desert — How to arrange his load — A Mongolian cart — A brisk trade in wood for coffins 351

Chapter XXXII

Entering the desert of Gobi — Instincts of the natives — An antelope hunt — Lost on the desert — Discovered and rescued — Character of the Mongols — Boiled mutton, and how to eat it — Fording the Tolla river — An exciting passage — Arrival at Urga — A Mongol Lamissary — The victory of Genghis Khan — Chinese couriers — Sheep raising in Mongolia — Holy men in abundance — Inconvenience of being a lama — A praying machine — Arrival at Kiachta 361

CHAPTER XXXin.

Departure from Kiachta — An agreeable companion — Making ourselves comfortable — A sacred village — -Hunting a wild boar — A Russian monastery — Approaching Lake Baikal — Hunting for letters — " Doing " Posolsky — A pile of merchandise — A crowded house — Rifle and pistol practice — A Russian soudna — A historic building — A lake steamer in Siberia — Exiles on shore — A curious lake — Wonderful journey over the ice — The Holy Sea — A curious group — The first custom house — Along the banks of the Angara — A strange fish — Arrival at Irkutsk. . 372

Chapter XXXIV

Turned over to the police — Visiting the Governor General — An agreeahle officer in a fine house — Paying official visits — German in pantomime — The passport system — Cold weather — Streets, stores, and houses at Irkutsk — Description of the city — The Angara river — A novel regulation — A swinging ferry boat — Cossack policeman — An alarm of fire — " Running with the machine " in Russia — Markets at Irkutsk — Effects of kissing with a low thermometer 386

Chapter XXXV

Society in Irkutsk — Social customs — Lingual powers of the Russians — Effect of speaking two languages to an infant — Intercourse of the Siberians with Polish exiles — A hospitable people — A ceremonious dinner — Russian precision — A long speech and a short translation — The Amoorski Gastinitza — Playing billiards at a disadvantage — Muscovite superstition — Open house and pleasant tea-parties — A wealthy gold miner. . . 396

XVI CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXXVI. page.

The exiles of 1 825 — The Emperor Paul and his eccentricities — Alexander I. — The revolution of 1825 -Its result — Severity of Nicholas — Hard labor for life — Conditions of banishment — A pardon after thirtj 1- years — Where the Decembrists live — The Polish question — Both sides of it — Banishments since 1863 — The government policy — Difference between political and criminal exiles — Colonists — Drafted into the army — Pension from friends — Attempts to escape — Restrictions and social comforts — How the prisoners travel — The object of deportation — Rules for exiling serfs 406

CHAPTER XXXVn.

Serfdom and exile — Peter I. and Alexander II. — Example of Siberia to old Russia — Prisoners in the mines — A revolt— The trial of the insurgents — Sentence and execution — A remarkable escape — Piotrowski's narrative — Free after four years 419

CHAPTER XXXVIIL

Preparing to leave Irkutsk — Change from wheels to runners — Buying a suit of fur — Negotiations for a sleigh — A great many drinks — Peculiarities of Russian merchants — Similarities of Russians and Chinese — Several kinds of sleighs — A Siberian saint — A farewell dinner — Packing a sleigh — A companion with heavy baggage — Farewell courtesies — Several parting drinks — Traveling through a frost cloud — Effect of fog in a cold night — A monotonous snow scape — Meals at the stations — A jolly party — An honest population — Diplomacy with the drivers 436

CHAPTER XXXIX.

A Siberian beverage — The wine of the country — An unhappy pig — Tea caravans for Moscow — Intelligence of a horse — Champagne frappe — Meeting the post — How the mail is carried — A lively shaking up — Board of survey on a dead horse — Sleeping rooms in peasant houses — Kansk — A road with no snow — Putting our sleighs on wheels — A deceived Englishman — Crossing the Yenesei — Krasnoyarsk — Washing clothes in winter — A Siberian banking house — The telegraph system — No dead-heads — Fish from the Yenesei — A Siberian Neptune — Going on a wolf hunt — How a hunt is managed — An exciting chase and a narrow escape 451

CHAPTER XL.

Beggars at Krasnoyarsk — A wealthy city — Gold mining on the Yenesei — \ Its extent and the value of the mines — How the mining is conducted — Explorations, surveys, and the preparation of the ground— Wages and treatment -of laborers — Machines for gold washing — Regulations to prevent thefts — Mining in frozen earth — Antiquity of the mines — The native population — An Eastern legend — The adventures of " Swan's Wing" — Visit to lower regions — Moral of the story 467

CHAPTER XLI.

A philosophic companion — Traveling with the remains of a mammoth- Talking against time — Sleighs on wheels — The advantages of " cheek" — A moonlight transfer — Keeping the feast days — Getting drunk as a religious duty — A slight smash up — A cold night — An abominable road — Hunting a mammoth — Journey to the Arctic Circle — Natives on the coast — A mammoth's hide and hair — Ivory hunting in the frozen North — A perilous adventure — Cast away in the Arctic ocean — Fight with a polar bear — A dangerous situation — Frozen to the ice — Reaching the shore 478

CONTENTS. XV11

CHAPTER XLII. pagb.

A runaway horse — Discussion with a driver — A modest breakfast — A convoy of exiles — Hotels for the exiles — Charity to the unfortunate — Their rate of travel — An encounter at night — No whips in the land of horses — Russian drivers and their horses — Niagara in Siberia — Eggs by the dizaine — Caught in a storm — A beautiful night — Arrival at Tomsk — An obliging landlord — A crammed sleigh — Visiting the governor — Description of Tomsk — A steamboat line to Tumen — Schools in Siberia 495

CHAPTER XLIIL A frozen river — On the road to Barnaool — An unpleasant night — Posts at the road side — Very high wind — A Russian bouran — A poor hotel — Greeted with American music — The gold mines of the Altai mountains — Survey of the mining district — General management of the business X — The museum at Barnaool — The imperial zavod — Reducing the ores — Government tax on mines — A strange coincidence 509

CHAPTER XLIV.

Society at Barnaool — A native coachman — An Asiatic eagle — The Kirghese — The original Tartars — Russian diplomacy among the natives — Advance of civilization — Railway building in Central Asia — Product of the Kirghese country — Fairs in Siberia — Caravans from Bokhara — An adventure among the natives — Capture of a native prince — A love story and an elopement — A pursuit, fight, and tragic end of the journey. . . . 520

CHAPTER XLV.

Interview with a Persian officer — A slow conversation — Seven years of captivity — A scientific explorer — Relics of past ages — An Asiatic dinner — Cossack dances — Tossed up as a mark of honor — Trotting horses in Siberia — Washing a paper collar — On the Baraba steppe — A long ride — A walking ice statue — Traveling by private teams — Excitement of a race — How to secure honesty in a public solicitor — Prescription for rheumatism 531

CHAPTER XLVL A monotonous country — Advantages of winter travel — Fertility of the steppe — Rules for the haying season — Breakfasting on nothing — A Siberian apple — Delays in changing horses — Universal tea drinking — Tartars on the steppe — Siberian villages — Mode of spinning in Russia — An unsuccessful conspiracy — How a revolt was organized — A con- ^ spirator flogged to death — The city of Tobolsk — The story of Elizabeth — The conquest of Siberia — Yermak and his career 541