Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1880-11-24
From the Contemporary Review, London
THROUGH SIBERIA.
By a0ay Of the An,ur and The Ussur,

TIOuI Tile DcNlcW,
THROUGH SIBERIA.
By aCay Of the Anaur and the Ussuri
1t was my good fortune last sum
mer to make the tour of the world
through Siberia. / traversed this
enormous country, moreover, by a new
way. Two English travellers, Cap
tain Cochrane and Mr.. Hill, have re
corded their journeys across northern
Asia, but they crossed the Barabinsky
Steppe, and from Irkuts.. followed the
| course of the Lena, and, turning east
wards, reached the Pacific at the Ses
of Okhotsk. / avoided the Barabin
sky Steppe by travelling on the Irtist
and Obi from Tobolsk to Tomsk, anC
then from Irkutsk | crossed Lake Bal
kal and descended the Amur, first tc
it's mo,2th at Nikolaefsk, and then, re
turning, ascended the Ussuri to the
Vladivostock.
The object, therefore, of this paper
will be to give 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. Petersburg and Moscow to Mini
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 jour.
ney of twenty-six hundred and seven
ty miles by rail and nine hundred and
seventy-fve by steamer. A drive OF
two hundred miles then sullices to
bring him to Tiumen, the first town OF
western Siberia
The mention of Siberia calls to mind
country the dimensions of which it is
hard to realize. 1t measures about
four thousand miles long by twenty
six hundred wide. 1t contains a mil
lion square miles more than the whole
Of Europe, is twice as big as Australia,
and nearly 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
two thousand miles long, and all OF
which run into the Northern Ocean. A
fourth ocean river, the Amur. forming
part vt the southern boundary of the
country, rises in the eastern branches
of the Altai chain, and runs a course
also oil two thousand miles 1t takes
an casterly direction, and emptles itsell
in the Gulf of Tartary.
The line forming the western boun.
Diary of Siberia decends from the North
ern Ocean to the sixty second parallel
of north latitude; then, leaving noun
tains little to the left, it comes down
in tolerably straight line to point
midway between the Sea of Aral and
Lake Balkash; thence it turns east
ward 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 tbis line
is in Europe or in central Asia, all ly-
ing to the east of it is Siberia. The
river YeDesei divides the country into
east and west; the surface Of the west
ern portion being generally flat, whilst
the eastern portion, more especially
towards the Pacific, is mountainous.
The political divisions Of the coun-
try are first into two viceroyalties,
called respectfully eastern and western
Siberia, the western being divided into
four and the eastern into six provinces.
Again, each province is subdivided in-
TO districts, or uryests over each ur-
yest presides an aspraUntk, over each
province a governor, and over each
viceroyalty general governor. The
four provinces Of western Siberia are
Tobolsk, Tomsk, Akmolinsk, and Sem
ipalostinsk, each Of which has its capi-
tai, or government town Each uryest
likewise has its principal town. Small
Ter collections Of houses are called siilOi
or villages Gin each Of which there is a
churcb); and, still smaller, dereURi, or
-hamlets. The six provinces of eastern
Siberia are Yeneselsk, Irkutsk, the
Trans Baikal, the Amoor, and that OF
the seacoast.
The means Of locomotion and com
municatiou are much more ample than
foreigner might suppose. There are
no railways, but there are many steam
boats on the rivers, and there are post
roads throughout the entire breadth Of
the country, the great hlgh-road to
China being the most important.
Along the principal roads there is both
postal and telegraphic communication.
An ethnographical map Of Asiatic Rus
sia shows it to be inhabited by no less
than thirty nations or tribes, and also
reveals the fact that very small por-
tion Of the country is inhabited by
Russians-in fact, only narrow strip
of land on either side Of the principa
land and water highways and as the
aborigines do not generally follow agri-
culture, it will be seen that that mar
row strip represents the greater part
of the country under civilization. The
same facts will Indicate that, while the
language OF the towns and highways is
+ Russian, knowledge Of other tongues
is needful for siveintercourse with
the natives. Thus much for Siberia in
general. From Tiumen steamers ply
in summer on the Tura, Tobol, Irish,
Obi. and Tom to Tomsk, distance of
nearly two thousand miles. | posted
by horses from Tiumen to Tobolsk, and
! embarked on the steamer "Bejetshen-
ko" on June 3, the navigation having