The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-12-26
SIBERIAN SHOWS!
i Russian Geologist Herr
Crosses Northern Asiaj
s sLEioHs DRAWN BY DOGS
>...,ns Cataract. in can9e.-rerrors
Of storms and Biting Cold
Eighty-Four Days but.
New York sui.


q Monday on his way hdme to GERMANY
-, the most remarkably trip of recent
~ In Northern Asia. He left st. Peters
- on March IS, 1888, under the direc-
- d the Russian government and the
1IIsct patronage of thd Grand Duke Nico-
i; Nichaeloyitch. president of the Eth.
&6lorical Society at the imperial capitaI.
~ until within few weeks has passed
~ liz subsequent time in studying the
Ia and fauna of Sibetia amid perils and
3andships of unusual severity. He has
pllected wealth of scientific information
"a rare specimens frotn European Rus
and upon his RETURN will lay both be-
4 the society and prince whom he rep
nents. In view of theS semi-official ma
1e Of his trip, Mr.. Herzi is unwilling to
= much of its details until he shall have
Side his formal report To the grand duke.
bpcerning the more popular features Of
r Trip and some of his many adventures
is more ready to talk.
NJ. Herr began his Journey of about
61p miles on the railway leading from ST.
(tersburg toward Irkttsk, in Southern
keria. and with the aid of fast post-
aghs, where the railway failed to reach.
q II Imperative imperial passports, he
1thi1br stage i'll /the unprecedented
ne0f twenty days. Ills route lay by way
Perm, where he crossed the Ural moun-
NM, the dividing line between European
q Asiatic Siberia. The Journey over the
contains was made by rail, ascending by
~ grades to a maximum elevation OF
Too feet above sea level, and it brought
Aim TO Tyamen, the hrst place of con-
derable size in the held of his Asiatic
hsestigations Thence he hurried by way
f0msk, Tomsk and Krasnoyarsk 10 Irk-
Ixk, the principal city of Southern ST.
MIA. From frkutsk he covered a long
nsteh OF almost 1000 miles. which term
6ated In Vitim, little town on the WITHIN
Ser, where he took another giant stride
the famous Sib-eakof gold mines. At
pdeibo, the principal mining town, he
NAMED two months collecting speci-
ms. examing the mines and prospecting,
"a complling the reports which will be
rbIished probably after having been sub
ued to the grand duke. The winter Mr..
sz passed in Yakutsk, the capital and
etropolis OF the province of the same
nme.
Yakutsk has 1900 inhabitants and
ptiety, Mr. Herr thinks, of which many
urh larger European towns might be
pud He hobnobbed with the military
% civilian arisgocracy. enjoyed their
nners and teas, and above ali, the hearty
ecome they al. had ready for him.
akutsk, he says, is the town of an ideal
ME life. There are few, If any. parties
dances, there is no club, and there are
lodges, SO the young husbands and
nds Of families pass all their evenings
home with a quite un-European
enlarity. In March, 1889, Mr.. Herr set
u on horseback, with Cossack escort,
Vilynisk, the population of which,
rording to the census taken on the
scedlng day, was Increased from just
to 400 by ms arrival. In the bed Of the
ayu and the rich surrounding country,
Herr made some of the most impor-
nt discoveries of his trip. Minerals of
eat rarity and value and precious stones
hlch had never before been found in the
xion turned up on all sides in large guam
Hes Opals of exceptional beauty were
20 found in the Immediate vicinity of the
yer. The explorations in the Vilyui
cntry were exceedingly laborious. Often
penetrable masses of underbrush and
ngled saplings completely blocked the
nv, so that halt had to be called while
company of natives hewed narrow
iof tue EtSt Ql Tue &uOSb vi
country thus examined had not been
odden by European since the explora-
ms there in 1864 of Baron Meitel, one of
Hers two predecessors in this region.
g The further up the river / went, the
pre- barren the country became and the
8 ger were the fruits of my geological and
sanical Investigations, said Mr.. Herr.
Monday. $50 turned about and be-
my retarn trip in canoe, a frail thing
the rapids of the great cataracts hat
Ak the river at short intervals: The
ives stuck fast to the canoes and took
4 the cataracts, although apparently
y eatened every minute with death in the
iriiilg waters. Shooting cataracts was
much for me, SO whenever we APP
pached one got out and traInped along
& shore, and the natives took me III again
e ow the falls
i the beginning of 1890 Mr.. Herr made
nom the Nilyui region, with his little
avan, 660 miles across country TO
hotsS, on the Sea of 0khotsk, and
lost on an east and west line with
yui and Yakutsk.
q February ., 1890. Mr.. Herr, with
p men, nse sleighs and eighty-six dogs
N long, hard journey up the coast TO
81 land entrance 10 kamtchatka, and
III southwark to Petropaulovski. a total
lance from Okhotsk of 900 miles. The
sly y remarkable division of the little con-
sent that made this perilous trip with
Herr, seems to have been the Siberian
3 Tor whose sagacity, endurance and
ny he cannot and praise enough. His
easily made an average distance of
|S N miles day. Some teams, however,
says, made 100 miles in a full day, and
3 team. that holds the record, covered
foad between Upper and Lower ko-
800 miles, in twenty-four hours.
BE beginning of the trip TO Petropaulov-
Vas not propitious. Snow began IL
% binding quantities before the party
twentv-four hours from 0khotsk
all their honest Juggling and pulling
togs could make but poor headway
INST the growing drifts. The cold was
h. and the discomfort of the party
it was aggravated by the slowneSs of
pfogress. In many spots the way had
me impossible, So that the driver had
roeeed ahead on snowshocs, tunnel a
age. and then return for his pasSen-
The Journey of 300 miles from
Aotsk 10 Yamsk under these difficulties
Cd eight days.
be next station. YamSk. was presided
by a chieitain named Chabaroff,
- Gus throughout the surrounding eoun-
lor his possession of 10000 reindeer.
naron and his people were very hos
pie, and threw open their tents and
pots 10 Mr.. Herr and his people. Mr..
IA tried in vain To induce them 10 sell
or give him some of their weapons.
told him, however. that whoever
aSespon or garment 10 stranger
marked for the destruction of the
'or, and so strong was the superstition
not rag or club could Mr.. Herr beg
W nom even the poorest in the village.
tween YamSk and Kischigd Mr., Herx
drove into the thicksst Of one OF the
pie snow storms for which this coun-
celebrated. In anticipation Of the
Mr.. Herr had increased his little
70 eleven men and lis dogs, with
~ sielghs. Twelve miles from Yamsk,
soruary =, the binding snow began
For nineteen days. with hardly an