THE CZAR'S GREATER DOMAIN
No other parts of the globe have been subject to so many kaleidoscopic
changes by migrations during the past eight centuries as northern Asia
and eastern Europe. In comparison both India and China have remained
stable for many centuries.
Before the Christian era, Mongol tribes of northeastern Asia began their
westward march, tarrying a few centuries along the way in the most
fertile places and gathering force by multiplication until the
thirteenth century. Then like a mighty flood they poured into eastern
Europe, carrying everywhere in their pathway subjugation, devastation,
and slaughter. During the early part of these migrations, the great
Roman Empire trembled as she beheld the irresistible moving hosts, and
her downfall was hastened by the ponderous blows dealt her by these
barbarians.
In the early part of the thirteenth century, after the Mongol ruler
Genghis Khan had overrun southern Russia, he turned northward and
captured the cities of Moscow, Vladimir, and Ryazan, putting to death
many of the inhabitants by the most fiendish methods of torture.
Thousands were slaughtered merely to wreak vengeance for the strong
resistance offered by the besieged before surrendering. Hundreds of
thousands of the Russians both high and low were made slaves. Wives of
the nobles who had been richly clad and adorned with jewels became
servants of their conquerors.
[Illustration: Fishing for sturgeon through the ice of the Ural River.
Catching the material for caviare]
In 1272 most of the Tartars became Muhammadans and henceforth became
more intolerant of the Christians, thousands of whom they burned alive
or tortured. This oppressive yoke was borne for nearly three hundred
years. Then Ivan III succeeded in breaking the Tartar rule forever.
Mongol tribes, however, remained a disturbing element on the border for
two hundred years thereafter.
In the early part of the fourteenth century Othman, a Mongol, founded
the Ottoman empire, which then consisted of only the western part of
Asia Minor. His son and successor conquered Gallipoli in 1354, thereby
gaining a foothold in Europe, and during the next two centuries
successive Turkish rulers made large additions to the empire until it
embraced vast areas in Europe, Asia, and Africa. For a time, indeed, it
threatened to absorb all Christendom. Adrianople was conquered in 1361
and made the capital of the Turkish Empire. Then, in 1453, after a
memorable siege, Constantinople was captured by the Muhammadans, and
made the capital of the empire.
Orkhan was the first to exact as tribute the strongest and healthiest
male children of all Christian peoples whom he conquered. These youths,
reared as Muhammadans and trained under strict military discipline,
became that efficient body of troops called the Janizaries. For a long
time they were the bulwark of the empire, but at length they became so
dictatorial and powerful that the sultan began to fear them more than he
feared his foreign enemies. In 1825, when the army was reorganized on
the European plan, the Janizaries broke out in open revolt. Then the
reigning sultan unfurled the flag of the Prophet and called upon the
faithful to suppress the rebellious corps. In the contest that ensued it
is estimated that twenty-five thousand of the rebels were put to death,
twenty thousand were banished, and the others disbanded. This was the
end of an epoch of blood-shedding and the beginning of an era of
commerce.
The Russians have always been noted for their love of furs; as a result
a small, fur-bearing animal, the sable, led to the conquest of that vast
realm now known as Siberia.
About the middle of the sixteenth century a rich Russian merchant named
Strogonoff, residing at Kazan, established salt works on the banks of
the Kama, a tributary of the Volga River, and began trading with the
natives. One day, having noticed some strangely dressed travellers and
learning that they came from a country beyond the Ural Mountains, called
Sibir, he despatched some of his agents into that land. On returning,
the employees brought with them the finest sable skins that the
merchant had ever seen. They had been secured for a trifling sum.
Strogonoff began at once to extend the area of his trafficking, and
informed the government of the lucrative commerce that he had opened up.
Valuable concessions were then granted him. A few years afterward a
Cossack officer named Yermak, who had been declared an outlaw by Ivan
the Terrible, gathered together a force of less than one thousand men.
The band was composed of adventurers, freebooters, and criminals, and
the expedition was armed and provisioned by Strogonoff, who expected to
profit by opening up the new region. Permission having been obtained
from the government, in 1579 Yermak set forth with his followers for the
unknown country.
So great were the impediments which the pathless swamps and forest
offered, together with the severity of the climate and hostility of the
natives, that his force was reduced by death, sickness, and desertion to
the number of five hundred when he lined up his men before the large
army of the powerful Kutchum Khan. Like Cortez and Pizarro, Yermak had
unbounded confidence in his ability to cope with his enemies, who were
rudely armed with bows and arrows, regardless of their numbers; for his
own men were supplied with matchlocks, and with these--in the language
of the natives--they could manufacture thunder and lightning.
A terrible battle ensued, and for some time success seemed evenly
balanced. At length the fierce attacks of the Cossacks forced the
barbarous hordes to give way and the retreat became a stampede. Kutchum
Khan's camp and all its treasures fell into the hands of the conquerors.
Yermak at once sent part of his force to occupy the Tartar capital,
which was found to be evacuated, so great was the terror inspired by the
Russians.
The success achieved by the handful of Cossacks led several neighboring
tribes to offer voluntarily an annual tribute of sable skins. When
Yermak had collected several thousand of these skins, he sent a special
envoy to Moscow to present them along with the conquered country to the
czar. So greatly pleased was Ivan with the offerings that he forgave
Yermak for his past ill deeds and made him governor and
commander-in-chief of all the countries which he might conquer. Then,
knowing that it would be difficult for the Cossacks to hold the
conquered territory very long with their diminished numbers, the czar
forthwith sent reinforcements.
Soon after the arrival of the additional troops, Yermak audaciously
started out to make further conquests. One dark and rainy night he
encamped with his force on a small island in the Irtish River. Relying
on the terror which his name had inspired, and the stormy weather, he
deemed it unnecessary to post sentinels. Wearied with their long march,
soon all of the Russians were buried in slumber.
But Kutchum, smarting under his humiliating defeat, had spies constantly
watching his foes, intending, if possible, to take them by surprise.
When the spies reported to him the lack of vigilance on the part of the
enemy, he stealthily crossed to the island with his force and fell upon
the sleeping camp. All the Russians but two were killed, and these,
escaping, reported the disaster at Sibir. When Yermak saw the
annihilation of his troops, he cut his way through the Tartars and
attempted to swim the stream, but was dragged to the bottom by his heavy
armor and drowned.
When news of the crushing disaster reached Sibir the Russians, losing
heart at the death of their leader, evacuated the place and returned
home. The czar, nevertheless, had no idea of permitting a land so
promising to slip from his grasp. It was not long before he sent a
larger army across the Ural Mountains, which not only reconquered the
lost territory but also the rest of western Siberia.
[Illustration: Gathering salt at the mouth of the Ural River]
Gradually the Cossacks moved eastward, conquering tribe after tribe. As
they advanced they built strong wooden forts by which to hold their
vantage ground. Tomsk was founded in 1604; by 1630 the tide of conquest
had reached the banks of the Lena; and within eighty years from their
first conquest the Russians had reached the Pacific.
Years afterward a suitable monument was erected to Yermak in the city of
Tobolsk, which was built on the battle-field where he gained his first
decisive victory over the Tartar ruler. His real monument is all
Siberia, whose conquest he inaugurated.
In 1847 the Amur River section was annexed by Russia regardless of the
protests of the Chinese Government. Quarrels ensued over the boundaries
and, finding resistance hopeless, the Chinese ceded to Russia all the
land on the left bank of the Amur as far as the mouth of the Ussuri and
on both its banks below that river.
The sable gradually led the Russian hunters to Kamtchatka, while the
more valuable sea-otter beckoned them across the sea to the Aleutian
Islands and that part of the American continent now Alaska Territory.
The chief incentive in all of these conquests was the securing of
valuable furs. The sable is even yet found along the streams in both
open and forested sections from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific; but
so relentless has been the pursuit of this valuable fur-bearing animal
that it is now nearly exterminated. Besides the sable and the sea-otter,
there are found in Siberia the ermine, bear, arctic fox, common fox,
deer, wolf, antelope, elk, hare, and squirrel.
To avoid entering into conflict with the more powerful people at the
south, the Russians chose to advance eastward along higher latitudes
toward the Pacific. But within a few years after the Muscovite empire
had acquired central and northern Siberia, there were loud complaints
that the tribes on the south were making raids on them, robbing them of
their property and carrying their people into slavery. So, from time to
time, Cossack forces were sent to chastise the offenders; and in many
instances they were punished and their territories were annexed to
Siberia.
In these raids the Turkomans were the most active. During the forty
years previous to 1878 it is estimated that eighty thousand Russian
subjects and two hundred thousand Persians were made captives and sold
into slavery. In 1873 the Russians captured Khiva and liberated thirty
thousand Persian slaves.
Notwithstanding these lessons, some of the Turkoman tribes still went on
marauding expeditions, robbing, killing, and enslaving their neighbors.
So, in 1878, another strong force of the Cossacks was sent against the
pillaging tribes, who were made to release all slaves and abolish
slavery. Little by little all Turkistan became Russian territory.
Bokhara and Khiva alone keep their old forms of government, but they are
practically Russian states and pay Russia annually a stipulated tribute.
It is thought that once upon a time Siberia had a much larger population
than it has now and the peoples who lived there dwelt farther north. The
first colonists lived in the stone age and were contemporaneous with the
mammoth, whose remains are found scattered all over the northern part of
Siberia and the adjacent islands.
In the interior these remains are found imbedded in thick strata of pure
blue ice, which is covered by the river gravels of streams that do not
now exist. So thick are these layers of ice that they may be likened to
the rocks found in lower latitudes. Several of these animals have been
found imbedded in the ice in an almost perfect state of preservation,
and quantities of their tusks are obtained annually along the northern
rivers where the spring freshets have worn away the banks of the
streams.
Whenever the ivory-tusk hunter sees the end of a tusk sticking out of
the river bank, he is soon able to remove it from its resting place with
pick and shovel. Great quantities of this fossil ivory are also obtained
from the islands to the north of the mainland.
As in arctic America, the ground of northern Siberia is frozen solid to
the depth of many feet, and even during the hottest summer it thaws down
only a few inches. The climate is continental in character, being marked
by fierce winds and great extremes both in temperature and moisture. In
midsummer the temperature may reach one hundred and ten degrees, while
in midwinter it has been known to reach ninety degrees below zero.
Roughly speaking, Siberia may be divided into three longitudinal belts:
first, the tundra, which borders the Arctic Ocean and extends several
hundred miles south of it; second, the forest belt, several hundred
miles wide, which extends across the continent; third, the southern
part, consisting of desert steppes, swamps, grassy plains, and a few
broken forests.
The tundra is a vast lowland plain which in winter is a desolate, frozen
waste, and in summer a vast swamp of lichens and arctic moss. Here
nature is embalmed in eternal frost, and life is a terror-inspiring
struggle with cold and hunger.
In spring, when the snow is gone and the ground begins to thaw,
thousands of geese, ducks, swans, and other feathered creatures appear,
enlivening the monotonous scene for a few months; then, when the sharp
September frosts announce the approach of winter, with their
tundra-reared progeny they wing their way southward, leaving the icy
plains to the wandering fox and the arctic owl.
One writer speaks of the tundra as the very grave of nature, the
sepulchre of the primeval world, because it is the tomb of so many
animals whose remains have been protected from putrefaction for
thousands of years. How interesting would it be could these animals be
brought to life and be endowed with sufficient intelligence to relate
the history of their age and generation!
The reindeer in the valley of the Lena spend the winter near the
forests, but as the spring advances they migrate to the thousands of
islands in the delta to escape the heat and mosquitoes farther south. To
reach their destination they are obliged to swim across broad channels
of water. The animals have special places for crossing, and on their
return south the natives station themselves at these places and
slaughter them in large numbers.
All the swamps and marshes throughout Siberia are the breeding places
of innumerable mosquitoes, which in summer fly over the country in such
dense clouds as to render life in certain sections almost unbearable.
Just north of Mongolia where the Yenisei River enters Russian territory
is the wonderfully interesting fertile prairie region of Minusinsk.
Being well watered and sheltered on all sides by mountains, it is one of
the most fertile spots in all Siberia. Here the disintegration of
gold-bearing rocks has formed large mining fields which are profitably
worked. In the vicinity are also valuable iron mines, which were opened
early in the prehistoric period, and which are still worked.
[Illustration: Driving over the tundra in winter]
Because of its delightful climate and special attractions for the
archaeologist, this charming section is called the "Italy of Siberia."
There have been obtained from the mounds found in this section many
thousand relics relating to prehistoric man which exemplify his progress
from the stone age through the bronze to the iron age. This fine
collection of upward of sixty thousand different articles is housed in
an imposing and substantial museum erected in the town of Minusinsk.
This building contains the richest collection of implements representing
the bronze age in the world.
The forest belt is so immense that the wooded plains of the Amazon
shrink into comparative insignificance. For the most part these great
forests are composed of evergreen trees, the fir, pine, larch, and
pitch-pine predominating. In many localities there are hundreds of
square miles of perfectly straight pine trees of great height, where
neither man nor beast could find the way out. Even experienced trappers
dare not enter these forests without blazing trees along their pathway,
so that they may be able to extricate themselves by retracing their
steps. In these huge evergreen solitudes there is an inexhaustible
supply of the finest timber in the world. In every sense of the word
they are solitudes; for one may travel scores of miles without meeting
or hearing either bird or beast.
At the conclusion of the war between Japan and Russia it was stipulated
that Russia should cede to Japan the southern part of Sakhalin Island.
The cession was made in 1905. During the following two years a large
number of Russians and Japanese were employed in marking the boundary,
by cutting through the forest from east to west a strip one hundred
miles long and twelve miles wide. The fir forests of the Japanese
portion, covering more than three million acres, are alone estimated to
be worth forty-five million dollars, to say nothing about the extensive
coal deposits and the large areas of land available for tillage.
Of the native peoples of northern Siberia the Yakuts are the most
numerous. They resemble both the Eskimos and the Lapps. They occupy
several valleys, including that of the Lena River and a strip along the
Arctic Ocean to the west. So inured to cold are these people, that where
the temperature ranges from ninety degrees below zero to ninety-three
degrees above, the adults wear light clothing in the depth of winter and
the children sport naked in the snow.
The desert zone includes a vast region east of the Caspian Sea and
extends to the Tian Shan Mountains, which separate it from the desert of
Gobi. Here, as in the Mohave Desert, are found the leafless, thickly
spined forms of the cactus family.
A product peculiar to Siberia and highly appreciated by the inhabitants
on account of its edible qualities is the cedar nut found in all of the
northern forest region. So great is the demand for these nuts that in
Tomsk alone thousands of tons are sold each year. They resemble pine
nuts. A gum called larch-tree sulphur, chewed by both natives and
settlers, is also obtained from these forests. Bee-keeping, especially
in eastern Siberia, is an important industry which has been followed
from remotest ages. The annual yield of honey is estimated to be upward
of three million pounds.
The camel is usually associated with the hot desert regions of the
Sahara and Arabia, yet in Siberia immense numbers of camels are used. It
is not an uncommon sight to see them in midwinter hauling sledges along
frozen roads and ice-covered rivers.
The richest gold fields are in the swamp and forest sections of central
Siberia and in the Ural and Altai Mountains, although the metal is
widely scattered all the way from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific. The
word Altai means gold. The world's supply of platinum virtually comes
from the gold-mines of Siberia as a by-product. In many parts of the
mining region, as in Alaska, the frozen ground must be thawed by fires
before it can be worked.
The building of the Trans-Siberian Railroad has wrought a wonderful
transformation in Siberia by giving a great impetus to agriculture and
other kinds of business. This great achievement, begun in 1891, was
practically completed in eleven years, at a cost of one hundred and
seventy-five million dollars. Subsequent work, together with equipment,
double tracking, and the building of additional lines, has doubled the
first cost.
The eastern terminus of the main line is Vladivostock; a branch line
across Manchuria reaches Port Arthur and Dalny, or Tairen, as it is now
called. The continuous railway route from St. Petersburg to Port Arthur
is five thousand six hundred and twenty miles, four thousand five
hundred miles of which is in Siberia. The first rails used, proving too
light for the tremendous traffic, were replaced with heavier ones, and
the road-bed itself has been widened and strengthened.
The fare on the road is very reasonable. For long distances it ranges
from about a cent per mile to less than half that rate, accordingly as
one travels first, second, third, or fourth class. Riding first class
one can secure sleeping accommodations equal to the best that one finds
on the roads of the United States, and in addition one may have the
luxury of a bath.
Since the completion of the road the government has done everything
possible to attract Russian emigration from Europe in order to settle
and develop the country. The consumer in Russia becomes a producer in
Siberia. The number of Russian emigrants who have settled along the line
during the past five years will average one hundred and fifty thousand
annually.
To start the Russian farmers in these new regions the government gives
each man of family a certain amount of money or an equivalent in stock
and tools; and in addition loans him small amounts at a low rate of
interest, to be repaid in five years, with a proviso that if there be
bad crops the time will be extended. For the year 1908, nine million
five hundred thousand dollars was set aside to assist the peasant
farmers.
Following in the wake of the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railroad,
additional steamers have been placed on all the large rivers to meet the
growing demands of commerce. Hundreds of steamers ply upon the rivers
during the open season, but no vessels attempt the route by way of the
Arctic Ocean on account of the long distance and frequent ice
obstructions.
[Illustration: Train on the steppes of Russia]
Dairying, now a most important industry of Siberia, was unknown before
the advent of the great railway. To promote this industry, the
government has already expended more than a million dollars. At all the
principal places schools have been established in which the best methods
of dairy-farming are taught. Fortunately, cattle diseases are
practically unknown.
The fine quality of the grasses, together with the improved methods of
manufacturing brought about by the creameries, causes Siberian butter
to rank with the best products found in the European markets. The dairy
products are shipped by rail to various parts of Europe, large
quantities going to England and to Denmark, the home of dairying.
Sometimes three hundred tons of butter per week are shipped to
Copenhagen and one thousand tons to London. Upward of eighty million
pounds are annually exported, and it is said that by a little exertion
fifteen times the amount could be easily produced. The industry is still
only in its infancy.
In the Tobol and Ishim plains of western Siberia are the fertile
black-earth regions covering twenty-five million acres. As yet, they are
sparsely settled, but they are capable of supporting half the population
of Russia. Two-thirds of the inhabitants of Siberia are Russians, and in
timbered regions probably one-half live in log houses, for these are
capable of being made the most comfortable dwellings in the world.
Many exaggerated statements have appeared, both in England and America,
concerning the exile system. This, happily, is now abolished, as also
have been the cruelties practised by those in charge. That there have
been great abuses no one denies, but the conditions of the prisons can
be paralleled both in England and the United States. No more common
criminals are sent to Siberia.
Transportation is now limited chiefly to escaped convicts and to
political and religious criminals, most of whom are sent to the island
of Sakhalin. Capital punishment, except in cases of attacks on the royal
family and condemnation by courts-martial, was abolished many years ago.
Lake Baikal is one of the most remarkable lakes in the world. It is four
hundred miles long and from twenty to sixty miles wide. The lake is very
deep, and, although situated in the temperate zone, is the home of a
species of arctic seal and tropical coral. This species of seal is
found nowhere in Asian waters outside of the Arctic Ocean, except in
this lake and the Caspian Sea. Immense quantities of salmon of different
species abound in the lake, and give rise to important fishing
industries.
In winter the lake is covered with ice seven feet thick. Crossing is
made by huge ice-breaking ferryboats capable of carrying thirty cars and
one thousand men, yet only during a part of the winter is the boat able
to navigate, so persistent is the extreme cold. The railway now extends
around the southern part of the lake, and crossing by ferryboats is not
attempted when the ice is thick.
Asiatic Russia includes Transcaucasia, which was permanently annexed to
the Russian Empire in 1801. This great Asiatic domain contains more than
six million square miles, or about twice the size of the United States,
including Alaska.
Notwithstanding the millions of square miles of arid deserts,
irredeemable swamps, frozen tundra, and impenetrable forests, the
agricultural and mineral resources of Siberia are almost beyond
computation.