Beyond the mountains the cold increased, the country was slightly
covered with snow, and the lakes were frozen over. In the mountain
region there is a forest of pines and birches, but farther along much
of the country is flat and destitute of timber. Where the road was
good our tarantass rolled along very well, and the cold, though
considerable, was not uncomfortable. I found the chief inconvenience
was, that the moisture in my breath congealed on my beard and the fur
clothing near it. Two or three times beard and fur were frozen
together, and it was not always easy to separate them.
From the Yablonoi mountains to Verkne Udinsk there are very few houses
between the villages that form the posting stations. The principal
inhabitants are Bouriats, a people of Mongol descent who were
conquered by Genghis Khan in the thirteenth century and made a
respectable fight against the Russians in the seventeenth. Since their
subjugation they have led a peaceful life and appear to have forgotten
all warlike propensities. Their features are essentially Mongolian,
and their manners and customs no less so.
Some of them live in houses after the Russian manner, but the yourt is
the favorite habitation. The Bouriats cling to the manners of their
race, and even when settled in villages are unwilling to live in
houses. At the first of their villages after we passed the mountains I
took opportunity to visit a yourt. It was a tent with a light frame of
trellis work covered with thick felt, and I estimated its diameter at
fifteen or eighteen feet. In the center the frame work has no
covering, in order to give the smoke free passage. A fire, sometimes
of wood and sometimes of dried cow-dung, burns in the middle of the
yourt during the day and is covered up at night. I think the tent was
not more than five and a half feet high. There was no place inside
where I could stand erect. The door is of several thicknesses of
stitched and quilted felt, and hangs like a curtain over the entrance.
[Illustration: BOURIAT YOURTS.]
The eyes of the Bouriats were nearly always red, a circumstance
explainable by the smoke that fills their habitations and in which
they appear to enjoy themselves. In sleeping they spread mats and
skins on the ground and pack very closely. Two or three times at the
stations in the middle of the night I approached their dwellings and
listened to the nasal chorus within. Tho people are early risers, if I
may judge by the hours when I used to find them out of floors.
As to furniture, they have mats and skins to sit upon by day and
convert into beds at night. There are few or no tables, and little
crockery or other household comforts. They have pots for boiling meat
and heating water, and a few jugs, bottles, and basins for holding
milk and other liquids. A wooden box contains the valuable clothing of
the family, and there are two or three bags for miscellaneous use. In
the first yourt I entered I found an altar that was doubtless hollow
and utilized as a place of storage. A few small cups containing grain,
oil, and other offerings were placed on this altar, and I was careful
not to disturb them.
Their religion is Bhudistic, and they have their lamas, who possess a
certain amount of sanctity from the Grand Lama of Thibet. The lamas
are numerous and their sacred character does not relieve or deprive
them of terrestrial labor and trouble. Many of the lamas engage in the
same pursuits as their followers, and are only relieved from toil to
exercise the duties of their positions. They perform the functions of
priest, physician, detective officer, and judge, and are supposed to
have control over souls and bodies, to direct the one and heal the
other. Man, woman, child, or animal falling sick the lama is summoned.
Thanks to the fears and superstitions of native thieves he can
generally find and restore stolen articles, and has the power to
inflict punishment.
The Russian priests have made very few converts among the Bouriats,
though laboring zealously ever since the conquest of Siberia. In 1680
a monastery was founded at Troitsk for the especial purpose of
converting the natives. The number who have been baptized is very
small, and most of them are still pagans at heart. Two English
missionaries lived a long time at Selenginsk, but though earnest and
hard working I am told they never obtained a single proselyte.
It is a curious fact in the history of the Bouriats that Shamanism was
almost universal among them two hundred years ago; practically it
differed little from that of the natives on the Amoor. Toward the end
of the seventeenth century a mission went from Siberia to Thibet, and
its members returned as lamas and bringing the paraphernalia of the
new religion which they at once declared to their people. The
Bhudistic faith was thus founded and spread over the country until
Shamanism was gradually superseded. Traces of the old superstition are
still visible in certain parts of the lama worship.
Most of their religious property, such as robes, idols, cups, bells,
and other necessaries for the Bhudhist service come from Thibet. A
Russian gentleman gave me a bell decorated with holy inscriptions and
possessing a remarkably fine tone. Its handle was the bust and crown
of a Bhudhist idol, and the bell was designed for use in religious
services; it was to be touched only by a disciple of the true faith,
and its possession prophesied good fortune. Since my return to America
it occupied a temporary place on the dining-table of a New England
clergyman.
[Illustration: A MONGOL BELL.]
The Bouriats manufacture very few articles for their own use; they
sell their sheep to the Russians, and buy whatever they desire. Their
dress is partly Mongol and partly Russian, the inconvenient portions
of the Chinese costume being generally rejected. Their caps were
mostly conical in shape, made of quilted cloth and ornamented with a
silken tassel attached to the apex. Their trowsers had a Chinese
appearance, but their coats were generally of sheepskin, after the
Russian model. Their waist-belts were decorated with bits of steel or
brass. They shave the head and wear the hair in a queue like the
Chinese, but are not careful to keep it closely trimmed. A few are
half Mongol and half Russian, caused no doubt by their owners being
born and reared under Muscovite protection. I saw many pleasing and
intelligent countenances, but few that were pretty according to
Western notions. There is a famous Bouriat beauty of whose charms I
heard much and was anxious to gaze upon. Unfortunately it was two
o’clock in the morning when we reached the station where she lived.
The unfashionable hour and a big dog combined to prevent my visiting
her abode.
[Illustration: A MONGOL BELLE.]
From the mountains to Verkne Udinsk most of our drivers were Bouriats.
They were quite as skillful and daring as the Russian yemshicks, and
took us at excellent speed where the road was good. The
station-masters were Russian, but frequently all their employees were
of Mongol blood. Some part of the carriage gave way on the road, and
it was necessary to repair it at a station. A Bouriat man-of-all-work
undertook the job and performed it very well. While waiting for the
repairs I saw some good specimens of iron work from the hands of
native blacksmiths. The Bouriats engage in very little agriculture.
Properly they are herdsmen, and keep large droves of cattle, horses,
and sheep, the latter being most numerous. I saw many of their flocks
near the road we traveled or feeding on distant parts of the plain.
The country was open and slightly rolling, timber being scarce and the
soil more or less stony. Each flock of sheep was tended by one or more
herdsmen armed with poles like rake-handles, and attached to each pole
was a short rope with a noose at the end. This implement is used in
catching sheep, and the Bouriats are very skillful in handling it. I
saw one select a sheep which became separated from the flock before he
secured it. The animal while pursued attempted to double on his track.
As he turned the man swung his pole and caught the head of the sheep
in his noose. It reminded me of lasso throwing in Mexico and
California.
[Illustration: CATCHING SHEEP.]
In looking at these flocks I remembered a conundrum containing the
inquiry, “Why do white sheep eat more hay than black ones?” The answer
was, “Because there are more of them.” In Siberia the question and its
reply would be incorrect, as the white sheep are in the minority. In
this the sheep of Siberia differ materially from those I ever saw in
any other country. The flocks presented a great variety of colors, or
rather, many combinations of white and black. Their appearance to an
American eye was a very peculiar and novel one.
At one station a beggar crouched on the ground near the door asked
alms as we passed him. I threw him a small coin, which he acknowledged
by thrice bowing his head and touching the earth. I trust this mode of
acknowledging courtesy will never be introduced in my own country.
We frequently met or passed small trains of two-wheeled carts, some
laden with merchandise and others carrying Bouriat or Russian
families. Most of these carts were drawn by bullocks harnessed like
horses between shafts. Occasionally I saw bullocks saddled and ridden
as we ride horses, though not quite as rapidly. A few carts had roofs
of birch bark to shield their occupants from the rain; from
appearances I judged these carts belonged to emigrants on their way to
the Amoor.
At the crossing of a small river we found the water full of floating
ice that drifted in large cakes. There was much fixed ice at both
edges and we waited an hour to have it cut away. When the smotretal
announced that all was ready we proceeded to the river and found it
anything but inviting. The Bouriat yemshick pronounced it safe, and as
he was a responsible party we deferred to his judgment. While we
waited a girl rode a horse through the stream without hesitation.
[Illustration: A COLD BATH.]
We had four horses harnessed abreast and guided by the yemshick. Two
others were temporarily attached ahead under control of a Bouriat. As
we drove into the river the horses shrank from the cold water and ice
that came against their sides. One slipped and fell, but was soon up
again. The current drifted us with it and I thought for a moment we
were badly caught. The drivers whipped and shouted so effectively that
we reached the other side without accident.
On the second evening we had a drunken yemshick who lost the road
several times and once drove us into a clump of bushes. As a partial
excuse the night was so dark that one could not see ten feet ahead.
About two o’clock in the morning we reached the station nearest to
Verkne Udinsk. Here was a dilemma. Captain Molostoff had business at
Verkne Udinsk which he could not transact before nine or ten in the
morning. There was no decent hotel, and if we pushed forward we should
arrive long before the Russian hour for rising. We debated the
question over a steaming samovar and decided to remain at the station
till morning. By starting after daylight we might hope to find the
town awake.
The travelers’ room at the station was clean and well furnished, but
heated to a high temperature. The captain made his bed on a sofa, but
I preferred the tarantass where the air was cool and pure. I arranged
my furs, fastened the boot and hood of the carriage, and slept
comfortably in a keen wind. At daylight the yemshicks attached horses
and called the captain from the house. He complained that he slept
little owing to the heat. Boika was in bad humor and opened the day by
tearing the coat of one man and being kicked by another.
The ground was rougher and better wooded as we came near the junction
of the Ouda and Selenga, and I could see evidences of a denser
population. On reaching the town we drove to the house of Mr.
Pantoukin, a brother of an officer I met at Chetah. The gentleman was
not at home and we were received by his friend Captain Sideroff. After
talking a moment in Russian with Captain Molostoff, our new
acquaintance addressed me in excellent English and inquired after
several persons at San Francisco. He had been there four times with
the Russian fleet, and appeared to know the city very well.
Verkne Udinsk is at the junction of the Ouda and Selenga rivers, three
hundred versts from Irkutsk and four hundred and fifty from Chetah. It
presents a pretty appearance when approached from the east, when its
largest and best buildings first catch the eye. It has a church nearly
two hundred years old, built with immensely thick walls to resist
occasional earthquakes. A large crack was visible in the wall of a
newer church, and repairs were in progress.
In its earlier days the town had an important commerce, which has been
taken away by Irkutsk and Kiachta. It has a few wealthy merchants, who
have built fine houses on the principal street. I walked through the
_gastinni-dvor_ but found nothing I desired to purchase. There were
many little articles of household use but none of great value. Coats
of deerskin were abundant, and the market seemed freshly supplied with
them. My costume was an object of curiosity to the hucksters and their
customers, especially in the item of boots. The Russian boots are
round-toed and narrow. I wore a pair in the American fashion of the
previous year and quite different from the Muscovite style. There were
frequent touches of elbows and deflections of eyes attracting
attention to my feet.
A large building overlooking the town was designated as the jail, and
said to be rapidly filling for winter. “There are many vagabonds in
this part of the country,” said my informant. “In summer they live by
begging and stealing. At the approach of winter they come to the
prisons to be housed and fed during the cold season. They are
generally compelled to work, and this fact causes them to leave as
early as possible in the spring. Had your journey been in midsummer
you would have seen many of these fellows along the road.”
While speaking of this subject my friend told me there was then in
prison at Verkne Udinsk a man charged with robbery. When taken he made
desperate resistance, and for a long time afterward was sullen and
obstinate. Recently he confessed some of his crimes. He was a robber
by profession and acknowledged to seventeen murders during the last
three years! Once he killed four persons in a single family, leaving
only a child too young to testify against him. The people he attacked
were generally merchants with money in their possession. Robberies are
not frequent in Siberia, though a traveler hears many stories designed
to alarm the timorous. I was told of a party of three persons attacked
in a lonely place at night. They were carrying gold from the mines to
the smelting works, and though well armed were so set upon that the
three were killed without injury to the robbers.
I was not solicitous about my safety as officers were seldom molested,
and as I traveled with a member of the governor’s staff I was pretty
well guarded. Officers rarely carry more than enough money for their
traveling expenses, and they are better skilled than merchants in
handling fire arms and defending themselves. Besides, their
molestation would be more certainly detected and punished than that of
a merchant or chance traveler.
My tarantass had not been materially injured in the journey, but
several screws were loose and there was an air of general debility
about it. Like the deacon’s one-horse shay in its eightieth year, the
vehicle was not broken but had traces of age about it. As there was
considerable rough road before me I thought it advisable to put
everything in order, and therefore committed the carriage to a
blacksmith. He labored all day and most of the night putting in bolts,
nuts, screws, and bits of iron in different localities, and astonished
me by demanding less than half I expected to pay, and still more by
his guilty manner, as if ashamed at charging double.
The iron used in repairing my carriage came from Petrovsky Zavod,
about a hundred miles southeast of Verkne Udinsk. The iron works were
established during the reign of Peter the Great, and until quite
recently were mostly worked by convicts. There is plenty of mineral
coal in the vicinity, but wood is so cheap and abundant that charcoal
is principally used in smelting. I saw a specimen of the Petrovsky
ore, which appeared very good. The machine shops of these works are
quite extensive and well supplied. The engines for the early steamers
on the Amoor were built there by Russian workmen.
There are several private mining enterprises in the region around
Yerkne Udinsk. Most of them have gold as their object, and I heard of
two or three lead mines.
During the night of my stay at this town Captain Sideroff insisted so
earnestly upon giving up his bed that politeness compelled me to
accept it. My blankets and furs on the floor would have been better
suited to my traveling life especially as the captain’s bed was
shorter than his guest. I think travelers will agree with me in
denouncing the use of beds and warm rooms while a journey is in
progress. They weaken the system and unfit it for the roughness of the
road. While halting at night the floor or a hard sofa is preferable to
a soft bed. The journey ended, the reign of luxuries can begin.
[Illustration: TAIL PIECE]