The morning times., 1896-04-10
THE COLDEST PLACE.
Verkhoyansk, In Siberia, Said TO He
the Most FriQid Spot

The coolest inha Dited place In the world
Is Verkhoyansk, In Northern Siberia, with
| a mean temperature of less than 8 degrees
above zero. Fahrenheit, ana Il winter of
| 80 degrees below.
Verkhoyansk is In North latitude 81
degrees, on the great Arctic plain, scarcely
| more than 150 feet above the level of the
| sea. Probably there would be no town
| there II 1t were not necessary TO Russian
| governmental purposes TO have an admins
| trative center for the region where many
| thrifty Yakuts, the fur-trading Jews of
| Siberia carry on their operations
! All its iIha bitants save Il few officials
and other Russians are Yakuts. This does
not prevent its being place OF some i'm
portance, for the fakuts are the most
progressive people in Northern Siberia,
excelling the Russians themselves In enter
prise and adaptability 10 Siberian condi-
tiOns and existence.
The average tcmpera ture OF the winter
in Verkhoyansk is 53 degrees below zero
Fahrenheit The rivers freeze TO the hot
tom, and the small trees have been known
to snap and split with the mere force of
the frost.
Yet, with all this, Vershoyansk is not
n disagreeabie place Of residence, and
is preferred by the Russian Officials 10
many more southern and warmer posts
says a writer in the Youths Companion.
and for the little time that the sun is
above the horizon its beams are unob-
structed. The air Is still, too, no bliZ-
Yards or drifting snowstorms make life
burden to the habitants.
The Siberian dress completes the COM
forts of the citizens of the Artic city.
1t consists of two suits OF fur, an outer
and an inner suit. The latter suit is
worn fur side inward, the outer fur side
outward. With his hood down, and Just
enough space left to see out OF and
breathe through, the Verkhoyansker is
vastly more comfortable in 4 tempera-
ture of eighty below than the Rostonan,
ln his cloth overcoat, in temperature of
five above zero.
The winter, indeed, is more ENJOYABLE
than the summer, which is hotter than
might be expected. The average tempera-
ture in July in Verkhoyansk is fifty-nine
above zero, and very hot days are not
uncommon. The earth becomes green and
vegetation thrives immensely, though only
the surface OF the ground is thawed. At
Yakutsk, which is further south than Yer
khoyansk, but not much warmer in winter,
the mercury rises in July to 100 degrees
Ii is no wonder that the people welcome
the return OF winter, for their ways of
life are better adapted to that sea son.
Besides, the Siberian winter has positive
charms OF its own.
''The sum- said u traveller, rises and
sets unsoftened by haze, and such is the
strength OF its rays that the snow melts
on the housetop exposed to its glare, while
in the shade the temperature is so degrees
below the freezing point.
AT night, when the frmament is not
aglow with the many-tinted lights and
coruscations of the aurora borealis, the
ZodiadSl light and the stars still shine
with intense brightness.
Man dares 10 face these tremendous
frosts, while animals seek shelter in their
lairs. The raven alone risks the open air,
with feeble and slow flight, its wake
marked by q slender, hazy streak. But
the people, warmly clad, have naught to
fear, for few climates are more healthy
than that OF East Siberia, with its per-
fectly dry, still and pure atmosphere. No
case Of consumption has ever appeared in
regions where the mercury remains frozen
in the thermometer for weeks together