, 1888-06-21
a SIBERIAN CONVICT BARGE.
Prisoner Going Aboard at Tiumen -Crimi
mails Bound for the Mines

Prisoner Going Aboard at Tiumen -Crimi-
mails Bound for the Mines.
The barge lay at a floating landing
stage of the type with which we had be-
come familiar on the rivers Volga and
Kama, and access to it was gained by
mean of n zigzag wooden bridge sloping
down to it from the high bank of the
river. The exiles, although uniformly
clad In gray, presented, from an
chronological point Of view, an extraor-
binary diversity of types, having evil
IDENTIFY been collected from all parts of the
vast empire. There were fierce, wild
looking mountainous from Daghestan
and Circassia, condemned to penal servi-
tude for murders of blood revenge; there
were Tartars from the lower Volga,
who had been sunburned until they were
almost as black as negroes; Turks from
the Crimea, whose scarlet fezes con-
trasted strangely with their gray convict
overcoats; crafty looking Jews from Po-
dolia, going into exile for smuggling; and
finally, common peasants In great mum
bers from all parts Of European Russia.
The faces of the prisoners generally were
not as hard, vicious and depraved as the
faces of criminals In America Many of
them were pleasant and good humored,
some were fairly intelligent, and even
the worst seemed to me stupid and
british rather than savage OF malignant.
At last all were on board; the sliding
doors Of the network cages were closed
and secured with heavy padlocks, and q
regular Russian bazar opened on the
landing stage. Male and female peddlers
to the number of forty or fifty were al
lowed to come down to the side of the
barge to sell provisions to the prisoners,
most Of whom seemed to be In possession
Of money. In n place might be seen a
half grown girl passing hard boiled eggs
one by one through the interstices of the
network; In another a gray haired old
woman was pouring milk through q tin
tube into a teapot held by a convict on
the inside Of the cage; and all along the
barge men were buying and bargaining
for loaves Of black rye bread, sailed GU
cumbers, pretzels and fish turn overs.
The peddlers seemed to have perfect trust
in the convicts. and often fpassed food
to them before they had received pay
for 1t. The soldiers of the guard,
who were good looking, fresh faced
young fellows, facilitated the buying and
selling as far as possible by handing in
the provisions and handing out the
money, or by opening the sliding doors
for admission of bulky articles as loaves
Of bread, which could not be passed
through the net work.
While we stood looking at this scene
Of busy traffic, u long haired Russian
priest In a black gown and a broad
brimmed felt hat crossed the landing
stage and entered one of the deck houses,
followed by an acolyte bearing his robes
and prayer book. In a few moments,
having donned his ecclesiastical vest
ments, he entered the women's cage,
with a smoking censor in one hand Int
an open book in the other, and began a
~"moleben," or service Of prayer. The
women all joined devoutly in the suppl
cations, bowling, crossing themselves,
kneeling, and even. pressing their fore
heads to the deck. The priests hurried
through the service, however, in a per-
functory name swung the censer back
and forth a few times so as to fill the
compartment with fragrant smoke, and
then went into the mems cage. There
much less interest seemed to be taken in
the services. The convicts and soldiers
removed their caps, but only a few
joined in the prayer, and buying and
selling went On without interruption all
along the side of the barge.
With few exceptions, the latter seemed
cheerful and happy, and In all parts of
the cage we could hear laughter, joking,
and animated conversation. Mr.. Frost
finally began making sketches in his note
book Of some of the more striking of the
convict types on the other side of the net
work. This coon attracted the attention
of the prisoners, and amidst great laugh
ter and merriment they began dragging
forward and arranging, In what they re-
garded as artistic poses, the c~onvicta
whom they thought most worthy of an
artists pencil Having selected a sub
ject, they would place him In all sorts OF
s~tudiously careless and negligent atti-
tudes, comb and arrange the long hair on
the unshaven side of his head, try the
effect of a red fez or an embroidered
Tartar cap, and then shout suggestions
and directions to the artist This arrang-
ing of figures and groups for Mr.. Frost to
draw seemed to afford them great amuse-
ment, and was accompanied with as
much joking and laughter as If they were
school boys off for a picnic, instead of
criminals bound for the mines.
At last, just after sunset, a steamer
made fast to tho barge, the order was
given to cast off the lines, the exiles all
crowded against the network to take a
parting look at Tiumen, and the great
black and yellow floating prison moved
slowly out into the stream and began its
long voyage to Tomsk.-George Kennan
in The Century.