Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-04-20

S1edging Over the SteppesEROugh but
Cheap TFansit-The Route of JuleS
Verne's HerO-The SWamps Of the Ba-

month, having rested there two days after his
long journey across the Ovenburg steppes.
LIFE IN A SIBERIAN TOWN.
He says In Omsk there is theater where
Ru ssian dramas are performed twice week; a
cir Gus, always fayorite place of entertainment
for the Russians, and many private and public
concerts. These amusements serve to make
life comparatively pleasant to the inhabitants
of Omsk. though am afraid stranger would
soon become dreadfully weary of the place, its
everlasting cold and snow In winter, its heat
and dust in the summer. Foreigners there, es-
pecially the Danish telegraph clerks, tell me
that the first year of their Siberian life is gen.
orally one of intense depression to them. They
feel themselves removed entirely out of the
world of life and beauty; they are attacked by
dreadful lingering melancholy, and many who
cannot save money to get away are driven to
desperation and suicide. The bitter Icy winds
seem ar last to strike to the heart, and summer
time brings no Joy to 1t. Vast, wearying, wood
less plains extend for a thousand versts around
and nature herself becomes terrible and cruel.
Yet 1t Is not natures fault. Man has been the
great cause of this mOnotony; he has felled the
grand forests that once covered the country.
stood on the bridge over the Irtysch at Omsk
for few minutes one day and could see for
twenty miles beyond the oasis Of the city limits,
and far as the eve could reach there was moth
ing but the vast, level monOtonOus stcppe, in
winter looking like great white frozen ocean.
THE ROAD OF VERNES HERO.
You may remember the rather exciting ac-
count given by the celebrated French author OF
the adventures Of Michal Stroghof while he was
crossing the marshes of the Baraba. The re-
dOubtable courier left Omsk on the 29th of July
therefore in the heat of summer-and on the
following day he passed through the post sta
ton Of Touroumof and entered the swampy
district of Baraba- There" says Jules Verne,
''fOr a distance of three hundred versts the nat
ural obstacles would be very great.
These vast marshes Of the Baraba fOrm'the res
ervoir to all the rainwater which finds no other
outlet toward the Obi or toward the lrtysch.
The soil Of this vast depression is entirely argyll
laceOus and therefore impermeable, so that the
waters remain there and make Of 1t a region
very difficult to cross during the hot season.
There. however. lies the way to Irkutsk, and it
is In the midst Of ponds, pools. lakes and
swamps from which the sun draws poisonous
exhalations, that the road winds and entails
upon the traveller the greatest fatigue and dam
ger. However fast he travelled, the
horse and hOrseman were unable to escape the
sting of the twO-winged insects which infest
this marshy country. Travellers who are obliged
to cross the Baraba during the summer take
care to provide themselves with masks Of horse
hair, to which Is attached a coat of mail of very
fine wire, which covers their shoulders. Not
withstanding these precautions there are very
few who come out of these marshes without
with red spots. The atmosphere there seems to
bristle with fine needles. and one would almost
say that Knights armor would not protect
him against the darts Of these dipterals. 1t is a
dreary region, which man dearly disputes with
tipulac, gnats. mosquitoes. horseflies and mill
ions Of microscopic insects visiblo to the nake ed
eye"
sLEDafNG ACROSS THE BARABA.
In winter the traveller passes over this vast
unhealthy region, unscathed by fever or mos
quito. The snow and the frost have made out
OF the Baraba vast white monotony. differing
little from the endless steppes that we have been
traversing 80 long The only difference was in the
goodness Of the road, on which we made nearly
$50 miles during the first "a hOurs-a rate we
could not keep up when We took to the regular
roads again. when endless tea caravans caused
continual distractions, and the hOllOws and
abysses in the road give excruciating pain
These tea caravans are enough to drive the
traveller crazy. They reach from horizon to
horizon, hundred after hundred of sledges
loaded with five or six chests Of tea driven by
rascals who sleep at night time and allow the
horses to wander on at their own sweet will, or
when awake, leave their horses to take care OF
themselves, while they assemble in groups on
the sledgs to gossip. From Omsk to TOmsk we
met not less than six or seven thousand of these
tea sledges, which in about months time will
arrive on the frontier.
My expenses for posting from Omsk to Tomsk.
over six hundred miles, have been only sixty
rubles for an average of five horses. This is
cheap enough. and is, Of course. only possible
where horse feed costs next to nothing and a
man can live on ten cents day.
ExCRUCIATING TRAVEL.
At last you approach Tomsk The forest ap-
pears; wooded hills and broad and apparently rich
soiled valleys take the place OF the unendine
steppes. You are driven along the broad valley
rf hn md of lou< 1o1o-
which extends for miles along the water. YOU
see the spires Of the Greek churches Of TOmsk,
and know that you can have q nights rest in
one Of the warm If intolerably uncleanly places
yclept hotels. And needed rest Pleasant as
was the scenery on the last 200 versts before
reaching Tomsk. sleep had been out Of the ques-
ton. The roads We're execrable, the hOllOws
into which the sledge plunged every moment
seemed little pitfalls. aud existence had become
almost unbearable. There were miles and miles
and miles of roads on which the sledge plunged
and rocked and creaked. while every moment
you imagined that your horses would be unable
to draw you out of the abysses.
FROM ToNsK TO KRAsNOYARsK
The journey from Tomsk to- Krasnoyarsk
proved to be the worst stretch on the entire
journey, although the scenery on the last. half
OF the road was in many places lovely even in
its winter dress. For distance Of over two
hundred miles the great wide road passes
through one vast forest Of frs. spruces larch
and birch, which in summer must be perfectly
lovely. Only at nights. after the sun went
down, did the cold make itself felt and then
most piercingiy. But it was great surprise to
me to strike such charming days Of sunshine in
Siberia The grand fOrested mountains over
which we had passed seemed to have kept all
the snow from the great plain extending along
the passes around krasnOyarsk. and it needed
at last eight strong horses to drag our sledye
over the frozen ground into the CITY, Once or
twice we stuck fast, but after placing pieces of
wood under the runners for short distance we
soon got over the difficulties. This has been
the greatest surprise of all the Siberian Jour-
ney thus far. to find patch Of fifty miles of
snowless roads after the long sledge journey of
two thousand miles. Arriving at krasnOyarsk
l received a telegram from Lieut.. DanenhOwer.
who is still in Irkutsk, and therefore leave
again Immediately for the Eastern Siberian
capital.
Sarah Wasn,t There.
From the Detroit Free Press.
Charley Shaw, of the Detroit Opera House,
was gsinning at the window of the box Office