Evening star., 1901-12-26
THE REAL SIBERIA
A Breezy and Buoyant Account Of
Trans-Siberian Travel.
KALEIDOSCOPE VLADIVOSFOCK
Famous Statue of Muravieff on
khabaroosk Heights.
SCENES ON THE AMUR RIVER
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
Siberia is a name to conjure with At
its mention melodramatic horrors rise in
rapid succession. We recall frowning ice
bergs, forbidding forests, polar bears,
wolves, convicts, police and Michael Stro-
goff, linger fondly on the horrid fascination
of mythical scenes and then lie down to
restless slumber.
How different the real Siberiai
In the spring of 1899 the chamber of
commerce of San Francisco, of which 1 am
a member, learning of my intended journey
around the world, asked that I deviate
from the beaten track, cross Siberia and
report on the Transsiberian railroad and
the Russian-Asatic trade. Appointed hon
orary commissioner of foreign commerce
by the chamber, equipped with credentials
from Count Cassini, the Russian annbassa-
dor; from Secretary Hay, from Senator
Perkins of California, and bearing letters
to Russo-Chinese bank officials. and ac-
companied by Mrs. Bunker, I looked into
the commercial conditions of China and
Japan, and in May left Nagasaki on a
Russian transport for Vladivostock.
Challenging Fate.
Going across Siberia! And over the
your wife! Wei!!-' And long pause
as if the folly of such a trip could only be
told in eloquent silence. Friends were
painfully solicitous acquaintances were
sarcastically skeptical and fiendshly hui
morous and such is the tenacity of ira
dition that most people familiar with my
plans spoke of Siberia as a pleasing ad
mixture of ironed eXiles bowling wolves
and biting blasts, marveled at my temer-
ity and to the verge of discourtesy doubted
my sanity. The bright young men in the
State Department at Washington took
pains to tell Senator Perkins l was flying
in the face of danger and should be re-
strained. No foreign women had ever
crossed the Russian empire from east to
west from Nladivostock to Cronstadt 6,GoO
miles, and in attempting the journey with
my wife in the existing conditions 1 was
challenging fate.
We Gaze Siberia, the Inviting.
On the morning of May a we caught the
green slope of bold promontory, off what
the Nladivostockians fancifully term the
Straits of BosphoruS. AS we neared the
shore other and equally green elevations
came into view, and on Siberia the inviting,
instead of Siberia the forbidding, We feast
ed our eyes. The transport moved slowly
through the fortified straits. AS the fog
and mist rose we saw in the outer harbor,
first steamers, red brick buildings, more
steamers, more brick buildings, and then
the town, a miniature San Francisco In
hilly outline with brick buildings of the
official and office type in evidence, and
wooden buildings struggling along and
across narrow valleys and up steep hill
sides. As we neared our floating pier Chinese
in the familiar blue and Coreans in dirty
white came out in sampans and shouted
greetings. Once ashore the low Russian
carriages caught our attention. Carriages
offer the sole means of public travel. The
horses were Baikal ponies with heavy
ma
ground and abundant action. One horse
was in the shafts and trotting. A seeond
animal, harnessed free, with head held
down and out, galloped beside the shaft
horse. At times both horses We're on the
run. The drivers wore velvet petticoats
and waists in bright colors, bright red
sashes and low beaver hats. The dress was
grotesquely feminine from some points of
view. The drivers We're heavy, rough men,
suspiciously red of face, quick to wrath and
profanity. The velvet petticoat was their
one ladylike feature. AS we rode through
the streets in a pelting rain we saw big
Manchurians, wholly different from our
Cantonese coolies; effeminate CoreanS.
whom the Chinese kicked and cuffed at
Will, and miscellaneous orlentals. Win
officers and soldiers in uniform, private and
public carriages, Chinese, Tartars, Cos
sacks, Coreans and Japanese in their dis
tinctiVe garbS, hunters and fishermen from
the arctic, peasants from all parts of the
empire and people in European dress,
Nladiyostock was a novel and bewildering
kaleidoscope. Each corner had it's group of
Chinese and Corean flower vendors, who
for ten kopecks five cents) sold big bunch
of lilies of the valley, the common wild
flower of this part of Siberia. In a later
walk over the hills we found wild hello
trope, syringa and jasmine, richly colored
and fragrant; and violets and hyacinths.
Trees and bushes were in full foliage. And
this was May "a. Arctic plants and ami
mails are seen in lower latitudes in Siberia
than in any other country in the world.
1I- TNlo fa
perate and even the tropical zone are found
in southern Siberia. The tiger grows larger
in Siberia and has richer fur than his IA
nous mate in India.
How the Government Keeps Watch
and Ward.
AS Siberia gains population she will draw
more and more on the outside world for
machinery, manufactured articles and food
stuffs. A good country for the rowing
American? Not by any means. The for
eigner who succeeds in Siberia must have
rare tact. good financial backing and the
faculty of minding his own business. You
enter the country on passport, live In the
country by permission of the government,
and the police authorities permit you to
leave You cannot enter Vladivostock I'M
til the chief of police has seen your pass
port, and no agent will sell you ticket for
an outgoing ship or steamer until the chief
of police has said You may leave. You
cannot live at hotel without registering
your name, occupation, etc, on a police
certificate, and you may be sure the land
lord will promptly poke the paper under
your nose and ask your signature. THESE
precautions serve one good purpose in that
they safeguard the stranger. At all times
some official Is responsible for the traveller
and must be able to produce him on in
Quiry or demand.
The Real Ruler OF VladfvostOck.
Foreigners have to learn how to do busi-
ness in Siberia. First of all you respect
Russian customs. You take off your hat
on entering a store and remove overcoat
and overshoes before entering a house or
office. Religion and loyalty are synony-
nous terms with the Russian. If above
| the common grade he Is a stickler for for
mality. Society and government are both
| bureaucratic. No matter what hour of the
| day you make official call or call on a
| high official you must wear your dress suit