The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-06-27
The Climate Of Siberia.

FROM george hennan'9 account OF the
"Plains and Prisons of Western Siberia
in the Century we quote the following:
''It is hardly necessary to say that q
country which has an area of five and q
half million square miles, and which ex-
tends in latitude as far as from the
southern extremity of Greenland to the
island of Cuba, must present great diver
stiles of climate, topography, and vegeta-
tion, and cannot be everywhere barren
arctic waste. A mere glance at map is
sufficient to show that q considerable
part of western Siberia lies further south
than Nice, Venice, or Milan, and that
the southern boundary of the Siberian,
province of Semirechinsk is nearer the
equator than Naples. In country
which thus stretches from the lltitude'
of Italy to the latitude of central Green
land one would naturally expect to find,
and as matter of fact one does find,
many varieties of climate and scenery.
In some parts of the province of Yakutsk
the mean temperature Of the month Of
January is more than so degrees below
zero, Fahr., while in the province of
Semlpalatinsk themean temperatureof the
month of July is 72 degrees above; and
such maximum temperatures as 95 and 100
degrees in the shade are comparatively
common. On the Taimyr peninsula, east
of the Gulf of Oh, the permanently
frozen ground thaws out in summer to a
depth Of only few inches, and supports
but scanty vegetation of berry bushes
and moss, while in the southern part of
western Siberia watermelons and canta,
loupes are a profitable crop, tobacco is
grown upon thousands of plantations,
and the peasants harvest annually more
than 50,000,O 900 bushels of grain. The
fact which desire especially to impress
upon the mind of the reader is that Sibe'
ria is not everywhere uniform and homo
generous. The northern part of the
country differs from the southern part
quite as much as the Hudson Bay Terri
tory differs from Kentucky; and it is as
great mistake to attribute the cold and
barrenness of the Lena delta to the whole
of Siberia as it would be to attribute
the cold and barrenness of King
William Land to the whole of North
America. .. s.- ....
"To the traveller who crosses the
Urals for the first time in June nothing
is more surprising than the fervent heat
of Siberian sunshine and the extra.
ordinary beauty and profusion of
Siberian flowers. Although we had
been partly prepared, by our voyage up
the Kama, for the experience which
awaited US on the other side of the
mountains, we were fairly astonished
upon the threshold of western Siberia
by the scenery, the weather, and the
fora. In the fertile, blooming country
presented to US as we rode swiftly east
ward into the province of Tobolsk, there
was absolutely nothing even remotely to
suggest an arctic region. 1fw had
been blindfolded and transported to it
suddenly in the middle of a sunny after
noon, we could never have guessed to
what part of the world we had been
taken. The sky was as clear and blue
and the air as soft as the sky and Dir of
California; the trees were all in full leaf
birds were singing over the fowery
meadows and in the clumps of birches
by the roadside; there were drowsy
hum of bees and a faint fagrance of
flowers and verdure in the air; and the
sunshine was as warm and bright as that
of June afternoon in the most favored
part of the globe"