, 1900-12-13
SIZE OF SIBERIA.
RUSSIA'S GREAT LONE LAND is
BEING OPENED UP.
Completion of tho .rans- siberian Rail-
way Will he One Of the Greatest
Events of the New Century-Arsa
Greater Than Europe.

The British Commercial Agent In
Russia in a report just issued by the
foreign office, gives an account OF the
physical feature Of the country
through which the Trans-Siberian
railway Is to pass. He declares hat
1t is not too much to say that the
completion Of this gigantic thorough
fare, which is to bring Paris into di-
rect overland communication with
Vladivostock. will. commercially and
otherwise. be mt of the greatest
events OF the opening years OF the new
century. Proceeding to describe ST.
IBERIA, he states that. broadly speaking,
under the name OF Siberia is usually
included all the territories OF Russia
beyond the Urals, all Asiatic Russia.
except the Traus-Caucasus. Caspian,
and Turkestan regions, or In other
words. the expanse OF territory stretch
Ing from the Polar ocean to the Chi
nese frontiers, and from the Urals to
the Pacific. 1t embraces two vast gov
ernments of the Obi Basin. Tobolsk.
and Tomsk. known as Western ST.
IBERIA: two belonging to the basin OF
the Yenisei. those Of Yeneseisk and
1rkutch. as well as the Yakutch ter
ritory, washed by the Lena. Yena, In
digirka, and kolim. Rivers, all form
Ing the so-called Eastern Siberia, and
from an administrative point of view
the Governor Generalship Of Irkutch;
two "oblasts," or regions, those Of
Akmolinsk and Semipalatinsk. the
northwestern parts OF the Central
Asian steppes, and. Enthusiastically.
the Governor Generalship of the step
pes. and. lastly, the Amur-Jrimorskaia
borderland, or Govern Generalship Of
the Amur, consisting of the extreme
northeastern frontier zones along the
Boring Sea, Sea of Okhots, and KAN
tchatka. with the Island OF Sakhalin.
The total area covered within the
boundaries enumerated is over u, 0oO.-
900 square versts, or, in other words,
is an expanse Of territory one and a
half times the size of Europe. The
population, according to the census
Of January. 1897. was 1901 Pa, az
against 3,430, $50 in 1858. The increas-
ing number of immigrants has prob
ably now brought the total popula-
ton up to over 5000, 900. The densest
parts. comparatively speaking are the
governments Of Tomsk and Tobolsk.
The average distribution Is O.5S per
square verst. Males predominant as
regards numbers, the proportion of
women varying according to the prov
ince from 81 to 102 per 100 men, COM
ing to a total average Of SO per 100
Of the stronger sex. Among the larg-
er towns, two of which exceed $1,000
Inhabitants. are Tomsk and Irkutch.
with 52.4SO and 51.434, respectively.
followed by Omsk with yer 40, 900.
Barnoul, BlaEoviestchensk and Thu
men with 10000 each, Krasnoyarsk
with $500, and Petropavlosk and To-
bolsk with about 10000 each. The
Inhabitants Of the towns form but
per cent Of the general population. a
small proportion, speaking little for
the Industrial activity Of Siberia gen.
orally. Dealing with a vast expanse
Of territory exceeding in area the
whole Of Europe and some forty times
the size of the British Isles. it would
require a bulky volume to give any
adequate idea of the diversities Of the
country and climate. Its peoples and
customs. Its old and new land routes
anu Unreasonable waterways, or in
general to describe the and
possibilities included in the term ST.
beria. What 1t is, and at the same
time what it might be, even when duly
considering Its extensive polar wastes,
Is seen from the fact that the total
population Of this Greater Russia has
but lately begun to exceed that Of Lon
don. 1t will be to Russia's increasing
millions what British dependencies
have been to the United Kingdom. The
railroad now approaching completion
will give the desired impetus to col
onization and development, and by
making the whole country a vast
tranist route between east and west
open it out to the whole world.