Daily Kennebec journal., 1900-12-08
THE SIZE OF SIBERIA.
Features of the Country Which Have q
Present Interest.


The British Commercial agent III
Russia in 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 that
| it is not too much to say that the COM
pletion of this gigantic thoroughfarc,
which is to bring Paris into direct
overland communication with Nladivo-
stock, will, commercially and other
wise, be one of the greatest events of
the opening years Of the new century.
Proceeding to describe Siberia. he
states that. broadly speaking. under
| the name of Siberia is usually included
all the territories of Russia beyond the
Trails all Asiatic Russia, except the
Trans Caucasus. Caspian and Turkc-
stan regions. or. in other words. the
cXpansc of territory stretching from
the Polar Ocean to the Chinese
frontiers, ana from the Trals to the
Pacific. II embraces TWO vast govern
mcnts of the Obi Basin. Tubolsk. and
T0msk known as Western Siberia.
two belonging u the basin uf the
Nenisci those Of Gcnescisk and IT.
kutch as well as the Yakutch territory.
washed by the Lena. Yena, Indigirka.
ana KOlim rivers. all forming the 50
called Eastern Siberia ami from an
administrative point Of view The gov
crnor gcncralShip of Irkutch two "ub-
lasts" or regions. those of AkmOinsk
ami Semipalatinsk. the northwestern
parts Of the Central Asian strpprs.
AND. administra1ively the governor
generalship of the steppes and. lastly.
the Amur Primorskaia bordcrland. or
governor g5neralship Of the Amur.
consisting Of the extreme northeastern
frontier zones along the Bering Sea.
Sea nf Okhots, and Kamtchatka. with
the island Of Sakhalin. The total area
covered within the boundaries cnumcr-
ated is over 12000,00 square vcrSts. or
in other words, is an cXpanse Of terri
tory one ana a half times the size Of
Europe.
The population according to the
census of January 1897. was 1.091.2ii
as against 8, i30 $50 in 1888. The in
creasng number of immigrants has
probablw now brought the total popu-
lation up to over S,0o0,000. The denscst
parts. comparatively speaking, are the
governments of Tomsk and Tobolsk.
The average distribution is o.5S per
square verst. Males predominate as
regards numbers. the proportion of
women varying according to the prov
nce from 81 to 102 per 100 of the
stronger sex. Among the larger towns.
two of which exceed $1,000
inhabitants are Tomsk and Ir-
kutch. with 52.43o and 51.434. re-
spectively. followed by Omsk with over
10000 Barnoul. Blasoviestchcnsk. and
Tiumen with 10000 each. Erasnoyarsk
with a6.s0o. and Pctropavlosk and To-
bolsk with about 20,oo0 each. The in
habitants of the towns form but per
cent of the general population. a small
proportion, speaking little for the in
dustrial activity of Siberia generally.
Dealing with a vast expanse OF terri
tory exceeding in area the whole of
Europe and some forty times the size
of the British Isles. it would require II
bulky volume to give any adequate
idea Of the diversities of the country
and climate. its peoples and customs.
it's old and new land routes and i'm
measurable waterways or in general to
describe the resources and possibilities
included in the term Siberia. What il
is, and at the same time what it might
ot. EVEN w iltl duit llS IN
tensive polar wastes. is seen from the
fact that the total population Of this
Greater Russia has but lately begun
to exceed that of London.
II 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 coloni-
ing the whole country 4 vast transit
route between East and West open it
out 10 the whole world. London Globe
Inquiries made in Polynesian
Islands, in New Guinea and West
Africa indicate that typhoid fever does