The morning call., 1895-03-03

roads of our own civilized land. The air
was sitting and ill-smelling, and the fifty
odd people whom we in had the car seemed
on the whole, to be rancid, and | was glad
when the guard gave me rude jerk and
told me to get up for Nikolsk.
Nikolsh is one of the biggest towns of in
terror Siberia. 1t is a great military center
and it has vast areas of rich land sur
rounding it. The soil is as black as your
boots, and it makes me think of what
Senator ingalls, said about the fertility of
Kansas, which is, according to him, so
rich that you can poke your arm down
into the ground up to the shoulder and
pull out earth in your fist which is as rich
as guano. A great deal of wheat is raised
about this point, and the Russians have
established great steam mills for the
grinding of food for the soldiers. | visited
these mills during my stay. Their ma
chlnery had been imported from Russia,
and it was of the latest modern make. We
passed many barracks, and we saw soldiers
on guard everywhere. There were,
Judge, about ten or fifteen acres of build
ings connected with the mills, and the
workmen seemed to be Cinnamon. The
land about Nikolsk is being settled like
Russia. There are villages which own q
great deal of land in common, and they
sell their grain to the Government. The
town itself has a number of stores and
aud they made me think of our Western
frontier towns. We stopped at the hotel,
which was run by a Chinaman. 1t was
Just daybreak when we arrived and we
asked for a room. He said he had none
vacant, and pointing into the billiard-room
L saw four Russians with their boots on
sleeping on the tables. | asked for break
last and after time was given some fried
eggs, smoked salmon and d cup of tea.
The tea was served in glass, and we had
big brass samovar or Russian tea urn on
the table. After breakfast we took ride
through the city. The roads were as
muddy as those of swamp, and the streets
were about 200 feet wide. On the edge of
the city there were a numbe of dugouts,
which were inhabited by Cinnamon, and
we found the Chinese everywhere.
This city of Nikolsk is not far from the
Manchurian border and it was once great
Tartar capital. There is now an immense
wall lncloslng space at one end of the
town and this was the wall of the great
Tartar city of the past. The probability is
that Russia will gradually move her
boundary line further south. AS the boys
say IN playing marbles she is always inch
ing" on her neighbors, and I heard queer
story of how the Russians got a big
shce OF Chinese territory few years ago.
There was dispute about the boundary
line and the Russians had moved the line
down. so that it included vast amount OF
good Chinese soil. A war was imminent
and the Chinese as usual wanted to settle
matters by compromise. The Russians
consented, and they drew line on the map
showing the territory they wanted. The
Chinese threw up their hands in horror,
and said they could not possibly allow
them so much as that. ''A1l right" said
the Russians, 1--WE will take less" and they
then showed them another map, which was
m la on, a 10 hI,t ioI 4 +ha
amount of territory taken was the same.
The Chinese looked at it and did not per-
ceive the cheat. They made treaty agree
ing to this boundary, and that is the
boundary between China and Siberia to-
day. The way the Russians work is to
colonize the country close to the line of
China and gradually move southwark.
They undoubtedly have their eyes upon
Korea, and while they will not probably
take the country, they will exercise such
an influence over it that they will be able
to get what they want.
a great part of the work on this eastern
section of the trans-Siberian road has been
done by means of convicts, but this has
been changed within the past year. The
convicts have been shipped off to Saghalin,
and the men are now all paid workmen,
including large number of soldiers. saw
them at work, and it looked like slice
out OF Russia and reminded me of the
work l had seen on the Volga during
the great Russian famine. On the way
back TO Vladivostock | had a much
better chance to see something of the
country and the railroad. The station
at Nikolsk is a long, one story build
ing made of red brick faced with stone.
The engine of our train burned wood,
and about the stations there were
great woodpiles, while the wood was