The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-20

rivers. passes tiny. rough viIlaRes of ill- tie frame houses, put up xudzen3xs 5ike
 musnrooms after rain, that ckAracfax~ izo this country where human effaft ia
 new and nature Is antique. A terkfhse mixture Of races is here cr0wdinRsif1 r111a
 strife for bitter livelihood. 90 n,zu1 thousand miles from civilization. The trans Siberian journey over z xfsn 2 isteppes of Russia is like sea voyara
 As far as omsk. which Is severai daya
 from Moscow. the ordinary trains ar6
 niled. but little by little the passenesrs
 have aiighted. until those who arc ieft
 are not too many to form a small as,x intimate circle. They become acos1nf1t~ cd. visit each other'e coaches. gather nf evening for cards and music rossln with | and about each other at the frenurr< stops: People who are forced into each I other's company. in this manner. espsc- ially where nature is 60 forbidainrs sa l ungracious. find themselves Tar Tr',ars, conversant with the lives Of thoae fhev
 meet, who are apt to De entirely differenk from themselves. than do those who Ygvx in the same houses in less isolated placxs
 Tn Asiatic Rmssia.
 After the station at Tomsk few passen<
 gers remained in the train but those who
 were going to Irkoutek or vladIvoakok.
 Before we arrived at omsk. however, fh4
 hunger for news was most evident in tho
 avfdity with which every one dewoured
 stray newspapers But little by llffIe a we penetrate the heart of ARintfc RllsSfA the interest in the civilized world Yfza ss-
 pears, and in the Siberian villa&ea befif- icai exiles are plunged in the sil2nce bf ignorance in gloomy apathy Our little
 band of travellers. wen acquainted bv now. advanced slowly on the reufs gn this immense white solitude Of cfeax nights over the infinite waves Of nnfp. Tn the biuish moonlight the ntmrs arc x6 near, 90 large. that one seems zo feel
 their life paipitating near to ones own.
 and one is seized with strange anxi6k& cd. q -
 In the evenings music was perg1rmNxsJ bringing together instruments and msssf- clans from the whole train in af, flnnrss vised concert of baIa-laika Sons p1sV&6 the national accordion with rs6lIafk{k I skiIl.a There was young student ffdm
 AAtsle Russia who composed strange Affs l upon 6 bizarre and pervsrne kaffnaniHa l and the train rolled always siaFotSwh fss]s ests without end, crossing rivers fiIak seemed as seass and finally arrived nf Tomsk. The city wore a IuRubfious aas | poet, with it's muddy streets. where fba
 snow had not yet covered debris of ail
 sorts. and sense of shame ana orr,sn forced itself on the travellers. The driver l of the caD himself was a liberafeH 1nns vict. who in a it of srunkennesa hnn killed his wife and child.
 He spoke of these thtnEa without fe. morse, as without bravado. simply ns if ! another had done the deed and ia Nas but the spectator. Though ussdeF noises surveillance since his liberty had 6eSn
 gEantad, he was free in the city as nrs all the other rogues who hava nefvBAa their terms and many follow srossss' sss. dustfy. All the towns Of esharla. con ntEacted hastily along the glinn Of fl,aI Erans- Siberian road ara oxtfr1fs slikls | the ifroth ofaa popnlat of thieves &sssS for-nothing and drunkards. And iifeIs 1 hy little wine shops are aded to wine shopss for they drink more here than even In Russia, and rogues are added to f robbera; the town grows and grows and Becomes a city. and little by little in its midst is formed s nucleus composed 6f \ fp4litlKa rffeS M l EoiAe ok these exiles ars received sh Islqcaf society and are men Who lttk 1 henqrable lives and endure calmly the
 misfortune of fate. 5
 They sleep under their wagons if they | do not own tents. Among them are those who arc bent upon the there 6f
 platinum which is more lucrative than the wretched forty kopeks Provided with little hand machine, they make Q hole in the earth, wash the saiid& ana
 extract the precious metal M On leaving Tofnsk the further apart the
 stations become. the more desertad- En-
 tire days pass without the traveller sec
 ing anything but the majestic forest--tke
 sombre Taiga, with It's enormous rcd pines. On each side of the railroad are great tree trunks split or upro1fed hw the tempest ends and strmps nf Ars
 whose several generations are piled in
 every stage of decay. Giant corpaea of
 the forest are dying or standing dead on
 the route.
 A temperature which elsewhere would
 seem the eliminating point of winter is
 in these quarters considered as the breath of spring. Unkind nature ceases its
 rigors with regret, yet. motwithsfandinK
 this. the Taiga is always full Of men who
 live without shelter. without bread like beasts. tracked. who tramp during months in the hope of seeing their native coun-
 try and live only in fear of pursuit ana
 capture. which usually happens, for even
 the dogs of the land can recognizA an escaped subject. The road advances
 during this journey parallel to the
 Chinese frontier. but nowhere as at Irh-
 utsk do the traces of the penetration Of the yellow race exist
 A little further is Lake BaIIEal the loveliest lake imaginable, swith It's sharp shores and its colossal rocky walls. fali- ing straight to the glacial virgin waters. E It is necessary to cross the AnRorn to reach IrkutsiI. and in the spring the i'm
 mepse foes of ice make the crosaing dangerous. The rush of this floating
 mass may last for ten days Certain travellers prefer to wait here until the spring ioosening of the frozen waters is overs but Q few are willing to risk the crossing Now they climb over huge glaciers. and now they jump into some
 tiny boat, guided by a Chinese. as ferry over the shifting water. At this perioG
 of the year there are frequent and terri
 ble inundations but the native of thla
 country is a fatalist and he mounts
 stoically to his roof to wait for the waters to subside without trying to direct
 their blind force s5i 1fkutsk is a living kaleidoscope Of all
 the races-Kirghezes. Ostiaks. Cougour-
 zes, Bouriaks. Chinese, Japanese--all us- ing a jargon on the wooden sidewalks of the wide street. where the siberian of hard look passes in bold manner of effrontery. The panorama of 1rkutek
 is marvellous, enclosed in the embrace Of
 the divine Angora River. which tt en-
 circles amorously before losing itself ln
 the blue mountains of Mongolia. that
 bar the horizon with a beautiful nowinG
 line.
 v .a.- w.,. n.. |.