YENISEISK—_continued_.
The hospital—Siberian houses—Their comfort—The streets of the
city.
[Illustration: STREET SCENE, YENISEISK.]
A few days after, I received an invitation to visit the hospital, and, as
I heard it was a very interesting sight, I eagerly availed myself of it.
The house doctor, an amiable old gentleman, who spoke German fluently,
showed me over the place, and evidently took a great pride in it,
although he informed me it was very old and was to be shortly replaced by
a new building. The Yeniseisk sick-list was, unfortunately, very large at
the time of my visit.
On entering the principal ward, every bed of which was occupied, I was
much struck with the curious effect before me; it looked as if the place
had been prematurely decorated for Christmas. Everywhere pine saplings
were placed—between the beds and along the walls—reaching from the ground
to the ceiling. On asking the reason, I was informed that it was to
purify the air. It certainly wanted it, for the atmosphere was simply
stifling. An English doctor would have stood aghast at the temperature.
There was no attempt whatever at ventilation, and the triple windows were
all hermetically sealed. Only a Russian could have lived in it, and all
the patients seemed comfortable enough.
[Illustration: A WATER-CARRIER.]
The fire brigade at Yeniseisk, as is usual in all Siberian towns—where
the danger is so great in consequence of the many wooden houses—is
remarkably well organized. In case of need, the numerous water-carriers
of the town are bound to give their services and provide horses and
water-carts; while in the tower over the fire-station is always a
watchman, whose sole duty is to look out for the enemy, and to give
warning of any outbreak by means of a big alarm-bell fixed on the upper
platform.
[Illustration: GETTING WATER FROM THE FROZEN RIVER YENESEI.
[_To face p. 118._]
[Illustration: THE HIGH STREET, YENISEISK.
[_To face p. 118._]
[Illustration: A SWELL.]
What, I fancy, astonishes an Englishman most in Siberia for the first
time, is the wonderful temperature he finds inside all the houses, from
the richest to the poorest—a temperature so equable as to permit of the
rarest tropical plants being cultivated with the greatest success. I may
say, in fact, that many of the houses of the rich mine-owners present
the appearance of conservatories, so crowded are they with exotics of
all sorts, from climbing plants trained to grow round the doors to
huge palms or plantains, and all in the most perfect condition. An
Englishman’s surprise is, therefore, comprehensible. He has heard of
the frightful cold of the Siberian winter, so arrives in the country
duly armed against it according to English ideas. To his astonishment he
finds that, when the thermometer in the street registers 40 deg. of frost
(Réaumur) the temperature of his room is still as genial as though it
were spring, although there is no stove visible. His thick flannel shirts
are naturally very much too warm; he only requires one thin blanket on
his bed; and, when he goes out into the open air, his _dacha_ is amply
sufficient to keep out the cold. That most complete device for heating
a house that was ever imagined, the Russian stove, robs, therefore,
the Siberian winter of many of its terrors, and makes a visit to this
interesting and little-known country pleasant even during the coldest
period of the year.
The High Street of Yeniseisk is not unpicturesque; and the importance of
many of the buildings is enough to upset all the previously conceived
ideas of Siberian towns. It would astonish most Europeans if they could
see the stately mansions owned by some of the millionaire mine-owners
and rich exiles; these houses look as if they had been transplanted from
the Champs Elysées or the Bois de Boulogne, and in the interior are to
be found luxuries with which Paris, rather than Siberia, is generally
associated. In my sketch I have, unfortunately, been unable to give any
of these palatial residences, as I wanted to show the general effect
of the town, with the schools, fire-towers, one of the many churches,
and the inevitable telegraph-poles. The two Collegiate schools—one for
boys, the other for girls—were founded by one of the merchant princes of
the town—Mr. Kitmanoff. They are built in a style which would mark them
as striking-looking buildings in any town in the world. They contain a
fine laboratory of physical science, well supplied with apparatus, and a
drawing-class room, provided with plaster casts and geometrical models;
the walls of the rooms and corridors are hung with maps, drawings, and
diagrams useful for teaching, and the seats and desks are of the most
approved design for schools. There are several European professors
of competent attainments in this excellent educational institution.
Yeniseisk, though only a place of ten or twelve thousand inhabitants, is
quite a model abode of civilization.
[Illustration: THE TWO COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS, YENISEISK.
[_To face p. 120._]
[Illustration: LIFE IN SIBERIA: AN AFTERNOON DRIVE, YENISEISK.
[_To face p. 121._]
It is worth while to see the ladies of fashionable society going out for
an afternoon drive at Yeniseisk. When the temperature is not too low,
say, 15 deg. below zero (Réaumur), one sees many smart sledges about.
Four o’clock in the afternoon is the favourite time for driving, and one
can then see horses as fine as those of any private carriages in London.
The fair occupants of the sledges are, as a rule, too much wrapped up in
furs to be seen to advantage, and, as the “grand chic” is to tear along
at top speed, but a fleeting vision of beauty is all that is generally
obtained, and before you have time almost to recognize who is in the
sledge it is already far away.
The city of Yeniseisk at this moment is, of course, of great interest to
Englishmen, on account of the scheme for sea traffic between England and
the Yenisei—which, if it prove successful, will probably go a long way
towards making the fortune of the smart little town—and, if the canal is
ever finished which the Government is constructing to connect Yeniseisk
with Tomsk, there will exist, by means of the Volga, Obi, Yenisei,
Irtish, Angara, and Amoor Rivers, one of the longest water highways of
the world, and Chinese and Central Asian goods will be brought direct
to the railroad at Tiumen, and thus to the gates of Europe, without
transhipment.