_BARNAUL._
Situation of town.--Cemetery.--Burial of the dead.--The Emperor’s
usine.--Visit to Mr. Clark.--Visits to hospital and prison.--A
recently-enacted tragedy.--Crime of the district.--Smelting of
silver and gold.--Price of land and provisions.--Return to Tomsk.
We reached Barnaul very early on Sunday morning, having traversed,
after leaving the flooded river Obi, a miniature _Sahara_, or desert
of sand. Barnaul, like Tobolsk and Tomsk, lies at the foot of a hill.
It has 13,000 inhabitants. On the top of the hill is a cemetery, which
was the first we had met with; but it did not convey a favourable
impression of Siberian burying-places. Indeed, I have not been greatly
struck by Russian cemeteries, whether in Europe or in Asia, though
on the graves of their emperors the Russians place monuments of
considerable taste, which deserve to be placed in the same category
with memorials of the departed such as those of Frederick William
III. and his Queen at Charlottenburg, or the tomb of Napoleon in the
Hotel des Invalides. But it is otherwise, as I have said, with average
Russian tombs.[1]
From the cemetery at Barnaul are seen its half-dozen churches and a
large building known as the Emperor’s _usine_, or gold and silver
smelting works. Most of the business of the town is connected with
mining; and many surveyors and engineers live in the adjacent mountains
in summer, and in Barnaul in winter. The discovery of the precious
metals in the Altai regions was made by one of the Demidoffs, who is
said to have been sent there by Peter the Great. His monument in brass
stands in the public square at Barnaul. We had an introduction to the
manager of the usine, Mr. Clark, who is the son of an Englishman, and
who reads but does not speak his father’s language. We found in his
spacious house a good collection of English books, together with copies
of the _Nineteenth Century_, the _Graphic_, _All the Year Round_, and
the weekly edition of the _Times_. On the Sunday afternoon our host
took us to visit the poor-house and the hospital. In this latter were
14 rooms, which had the advantage of being very lofty and airy, though
they struck me as not particularly tidy.
In the 9 rooms of the prison were 120 criminals, one of whom, a day
or two previously, had within the prison walls enacted a tragedy,
the circumstances of which would furnish material for a sensational
novel. The rooms of the prison are ranged on either side of a wide
corridor, and in one of them was a number of women, one of whom had
murdered her husband and was condemned to Eastern Siberia, to which
she was on her way, though for some reason detained at Barnaul. In one
of the male wards was a young man, formerly under-manager of a shop in
the town, who had been suspected of stealing, and was imprisoned for
three months. He had served out this time within a week; but during
his stay in the prison he made the acquaintance of, and became more
or less attached to, the murderess, holding conversation with her
from the corridor during the time allowed for exercise. Another male
prisoner was by these two taken into council, and the three determined
to attempt an escape, by means of wooden keys which the men were to
make. The plot, however, was discovered, and the woman, finding that
she must proceed to her destination and leave her lover, tried to kill
herself. But she was prevented. She therefore adopted another plan of
ridding herself of life. In the door of the women’s chamber was an
inspection-hole, unusually large. This she cut a little larger, thrust
her head through into the corridor where the man was walking, and
begged him, if he loved her, to take her life; upon which he took a
knife, cut her throat, and so effectually killed her. We saw the stains
of the blood still on the door, for the deed had been done only a day
or two before our visit. Close at hand was the prisoner, placed in a
separate and rather dark cell, and chained hand and foot--the only man
I saw so chained in Siberia. As he walked out of his cell, I walked in,
and found on the floor a quantity of cigarettes and a book of songs.
Upon my pointing to the cigarettes, the officer said that the prisoners
managed to smuggle them in; and then came out the old story, that this
prisoner had managed also to smuggle in drink, under the influence of
which he had committed this horrid murder. On asking what punishment
he would be likely to receive, we were told that he would probably
be condemned to hard labour for about 16 years; and we were further
informed that in the small district of Barnaul, consisting of less than
half the population of Liverpool, there are usually about 10 murders
a year. As we went from room to room, the police-master introduced me
to the prisoners as an Englishman travelling through Siberia who had
brought them books, which usually elicited an expression of thanks. We
left them a New Testament and papers for each room, doing the like also
for the hospital and poor-house, and sending a supply for the prison at
Biisk.
[Illustration: CONVICT SUMMER CLOTHING AND CHAINS.]
On Monday we went with Mr. Clark to see the Emperor’s usine, to which
is brought mineral from Smirnagorsk, 200 miles distant, as well as from
other parts of the Altai mountains, where are mines, the ore from which
contains for the more part copper and silver. They find there but very
little lead. Nor is the quantity of iron worked at all large--chiefly,
I believe, for lack of capital and energy. In 1879 only 507 tons of
iron were cast, and 238 tons wrought in the government of Tomsk. Many
thousand _poods_ of copper are obtained annually in the district, but
not smelted at Barnaul. These mines are called the private mines of the
Emperor, and the revenues belong to the Crown. In them are employed
from 1,500 to 2,000 men (not, in this case, convicts), and the ore from
the Altai regions is brought to be smelted to four different works for
silver, and one for copper.
The smelting of silver is carried on at Barnaul all the year round.
They burn charcoal, which costs 10_s._ a ton. The ore as brought from
the mine is called _mineral_, and 4,000 tons of mineral yield 2 tons of
silver--that is, 2,000 parts of ore yield one part of pure metal.[2]
We went from the usine to the museum, which could not fail to be
interesting to a mining engineer or a geologist. There was a large and
well-assorted collection of minerals; models of the principal Altai
silver-mines, showing the shafts, adits, and galleries, with their
machinery; models of gold-washing machines, of quartz mills, and of
furnaces and works in various parts of Siberia. Among the natural
curiosities of the museum were the stock of a tree, with branches that
represented pretty accurately a man in a sitting posture; and a piece
of wood, which, when split, had been found to contain a cross inside.
In the ethnological department were some good costumes of the Kirghese
and of a Tunguse _shaman_, or priest and priestess. They had also in
another room an eagle’s nest, and several specimens of the Altai eagle;
but in the zoological department the most remarkable specimen was the
stuffed skin of a tiger killed in the southern part of the district,
where this animal is usually unknown.
The price of land and provisions at Barnaul was such as might make many
a man sigh to live there. The price for the hire of cleared black soil
was 3½_d._ an English acre. We saw them scratching the surface of it
(for their instrument was so shallow that it was a mockery to call it
ploughing), and yet such farming yields there an abundant crop. They
take just a little of their stable manure for cucumber beds, but burn
the rest to get rid of it, never thinking of putting it on the land;
but when they have used a field for a few years, and it is becoming
exhausted, they take fresh ground. The cost of provisions in this
fertile district is on a level with the prices quoted on the Obi. Black
rye flour costs half-a-farthing per English pound; undressed wheat
flour, such as we use for brown bread, costs 2_s._ per cwt.; whilst
white wheaten flour costs up to 16_s._ for a sack of 180 pounds. The
price of meat is similar. In the summer, when it will not keep and is
dear, beef costs 1¼_d._ per lb.; but in winter, when it can be kept in
a frozen condition, it sells for less than ½_d._ per English pound.
Veal is more expensive, and costs 1½_d._; whilst aristocratic persons,
who live on grouse, have to pay as much as from 2_d._ to 2½_d._ per
brace. In this part of Siberia it is rare to find a peasant without
a stock of horses and cows, and a man with a family to help him can
make an excellent living. When I wrote, in April 1880, some letters to
the _Times_ on Siberian prisons, one gentleman said he thought there
would be a _rush_ thither, because I made things look so comfortable.
In case, therefore, the quotation of these prices should tempt any of
my readers to emigrate, I think it right to point out that in this
district carriage is dear and labour is scarce, a workman earning 1_s._
3_d._ a day, or, if provided with food, 6_s._ a month.
We should have liked well to have stayed longer in this part of the
country, and to have made our way among the hordes south and west,
in the provinces of Akmolinsk and Semipolatinsk, which contain a
population of 10,000 and 9,000 respectively.[3] Our time, however,
did not permit of our so doing; and therefore, after a very pleasant
stay at Barnaul, and a final lunch with Mr. Clark, we bade our host
adieu, and on Wednesday, June 18th, we re-entered Tomsk, where we found
our luggage arrived, and for the carriage of which, by steamer, Mr.
Ignatoff--to his liberality be it said--would make no charge. When I
added this concession to the reduced rate we had paid on the Obi for
our tarantass, our berths, and excess luggage--to say nothing of the
personal attention shown on board to “Mr. Missionary,”--and all this
without my having breathed a word as to charges, I thought it very
handsome, and I gladly record this good deed spontaneously emanating
from beneath the double-breasted coat of a Russian merchant.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] In the Russian Church there are five offices for the burial of the
dead, namely, two for the laity, and one each for monks, priests, and
children. The priest is sent for immediately after death, and performs
a service. The rich usually have relays of priests to continue praying
so long as the corpse remains in the house. Burials always take place
in the morning. The corpse is taken into the church with the face
uncovered, looking eastward, and before removal is kissed by the priest
and relatives. At the grave the priest casts earth upon it. Further
(though this is not ecclesiastically prescribed), the Russians have
services for the dead at the grave, or at the church, on the third, the
ninth, and the fortieth day, also on the anniversaries of the departed
one’s death and birthday, the last two being continued for some persons
for many years. They do not, however, believe in purgatory.
[2] The processes of smelting are three. The mineral is first powdered,
and a handful taken to the assaying house. Here we saw a man making
small crucibles of clay, at the rate of 1,000 a day. In two cups, one
having bone in its composition, is put an ascertained quantity of the
mineral: both are placed in the furnace, and the result shows what
proportion of pure metal the mineral will yield. The powdered mineral
is then taken to furnace No. 1, which is like an iron furnace, and from
20 to 30 feet high. Into this the mineral is put with charcoal, and,
after remaining there about 12 hours, there comes out of the furnace
a black compound of lead and silver called _ruststein_. The ruststein
is then placed in furnace No. 2 with lead, and, after remaining there
for a short time (three tons, for instance, for an hour), the silver
is extracted by the lead, and the compound which comes out is called
_werchblei_. This is put into furnace No. 3, where 16 tons would remain
three days, with the result that the lead oxydizes into _glot_, and
is run off, whilst the silver remains and sinks to the bottom of the
furnace. It is then taken out in round cakes from 12 to 15 inches in
diameter, and sent to Petersburg. The cakes we saw had a dull hue, very
much resembling lumps of newly molten lead, and were valued at £3 6_s._
8_d._ per pound.
A simpler process is the smelting of gold, carried on in a room about
20 feet square, having a tall furnace in the centre, in which are fires
not much larger than those in a laundry copper. The gold is brought
to the usine in dust and small nuggets, tied up in leather bags, and
begins to arrive from the mines at the end of June. The smelting goes
on to the end of October. Some of the leathern bags were shown to us,
duly sealed, and with particulars written thereon. One, about the size
of a hen’s egg, was worth £36; and another, the size of a blackbird’s
egg, was marked £5. When opened, the gold, just as it comes from the
washings, with borax as a flux, is put into an earthenware pot, and
then placed in the fire, after which it fuses, and is poured out into
an iron mould in the shape of a flat bar. A bar we saw weighed 15
pounds.
In the season they sometimes have in the strong-room 250 poods--say
from four to five tons--of gold, which the previous summer had been
worth £2,000 a pood, making a total value of £500,000 for gold alone.
At the end of the season the silver and gold are sent to the capital,
under charge of a military escort.
[3] Dr. Finsch, who travelled with an exploring party up the Irtish
in 1876, has put on record much information of a scientific character
about this part of Siberia. Mr. Atkinson, an English artist, with his
wife, also spent seven years in Central Asia and the Kirghese steppes.
He gives fuller information than I have met elsewhere of the Kirghese,
who number nearly 1,500,000 souls. They live either in tents or in
caverns resembling rabbit burrows, both of which are filthy beyond
measure. The appearance of the Kirghese, judging by those I saw in the
prisons, is anything but prepossessing--the nose sinks into the face,
and the cheeks are large and bloated. They eat chiefly mutton and
horse-flesh, and drink tea and mare’s milk. The last, when fermented,
is called _koumis_, and is kept in the tent in a large leathern sack,
said to be never washed out. The Kirghese are splendid horsemen; and
their usual occupation is tending sheep, goats, horses, and camels,
of which they possess immense herds. Indeed, I was told that, in the
_aoul_ or encampment of a rich Kirghese chief, one can see in the
present day the principal objects that were witnessed 4,000 years ago,
when the patriarch Abraham was a dweller in tents, and pastured cattle.