Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-09-24
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THE LAND OF THE EXILE.

the bottom lands Of the Lena, the bluffs
which usually run along the river banks be-
ing here about six miles distant. The hous-
es are log built, with the exception of two
a school and a warehouse-Which are con-
structed of brick. Those of the Well-to-do
merchants are quite modern in appearance.
There are six picturesque, Well-built brick
churches, besides two old, unused chapels.
Near the center of the town is an old log
fortress, built by the conquering Cossacks
300 years ago. The inhabitants are for the
greater part Yaukuti, who, as a rule, prefer
the yourta Of their ancestors to the more
comfortable and healthful Russian log house.
Around each house is usually a large open
space resembling a barnyard, in which
horses and cattle are kept and stOrehouses
and merchandise are located. There are two
schools supported by the Government
for boys and the other for girs-besides
one maintained by the city, and a fourth
for orphans, supported by private sub
scriptions. A hospital is also provided,
and attached to it is small house for
the insane. The mail arrives from the
South once week, except during the Spring
breakup and in the fall Of the year when
the Lena freezes. Thence the mail is sent
once month to Vechoyansk and Kolymsk,
and once year by way of Okhotzk, to
Petropaulousky, in Kamschatka.
The garrison consists Of 200 soldiers, who
are principally occupied in guarding the
prison. The pay of the Russian soldier in
Yakutsk is ninety copecks (about forty-five
cents per quarter. His ration money, three
and half cents a day, is turned into the
company fund for purchasing provisions.
For uniform he receives one coat, one pair
of trousers and one pair Of boots annually,
and an overcoat every two years. He is
permitted to do outside work, his earnings
being divided so that he receives one-half,
while one quarter goes to the company fund
and the other to the comrade who performs
his military duties while he is absent.
The Cossacks, descendants of the conquer
ors of the Yakuti, about two hundred in
number, are variously employed as or.
derlies to the Governor, police master and
other officials, as escorts to the political eX-
lies on the way north to Verchoyansk,
Kolymsk and other outlying settlements,
and in carrying the mails where no regular
! posts are established. The Cossack's term
of service is twenty-five years. They are
usually industrious and we'll to do, as land
is given them which they have the oppor-
tunity to cultivate while they are not on
duty.
The lands in the vicinity and south OF
Yakutsk, especially the bottom lands of the
large rivers, are very productive, yielding
in the short summers sometimes as much as
fifty bushels of wheat to the acre and other
cerials in proportion. Besides the uncul-
tivated lands, consisting largely of number
| less islands in the Lena, in the immediate
neighborhood of the Yakutsk, yield rich
harvest of hay in the month of August.
They are generally assigned to the Cossacks,
and as their wealth depends upon the num-
ber of horses and cattle they own, this is a
matter of considerable importance.
The Yakuti are beginning to cultivate the
soil, but the principal and most industrious
farmers in the district are the Scopci or eu-
nuchs, members of peculiar religious sect
exiled from Russia. Of these there were
in. 1883 about 1000 in the Yakutsk gov
ernment. About six miles from Yakutsk
there is as village built by the Scopci
and called Marcia. Upon the inhabitants
of this village, and upon exiles belonging
to sect known as the "old believers" who
live near by, the Russian residents depend
| for the neceSsarieS OF life.
Both o. these classes of eXiles are indus
trious, thrifty and scrupulously clean peo-
pie, who have built themselves neat houses
and mills driven by horsepower. A large
proportion of them are carpenters, brick
| layers, iron workers, ETC., and as they are,
as class, honest people, employment is
given to them in preference to all others in
Yakutsk.
The Yakuti, who form the principal part
of the population are called in their own
language the tribe of Sacha. Their COM
pleXion is dark yellow, and in their al
mond shaped eyes, as well as the language,
they give incontrovertible evidence of their
Mongol descent. Their language belongs
to the same family as that Of the Turk and
Tartar. In fact, the Tartars, of which
there are great many living in Yakutsk
as exiles, very quickly learn to speak
the Yakuti tongue in consequence of this
intimate relation of the languages. The
Yakuti are engaged principally in raising
horses and cattle, but in villages and towns
they are tradesmen, and as such are no
toriously tricky, grasping and unreliable.