_LAKE KHANKA TO THE COAST._
Difficulties in prospect.--Appearance of the
country.--Vegetation.--Garden produce.--Medicinal
plants.--Ginseng.--Country almost uninhabited.--A serious
loss.--Remarkable landscape.--Distribution of animals in
Siberia.--Little-Russian settlers.--Peasant affairs and
taxes.--Travelling by night.--Arrival at Rasdolnoi.--Clerical
functions in request.--War in the post-house.--Summary of tract
distribution.--Russia as a field for Christian effort.--The
Suifun.--Cheap travelling.--Baptizing children.--Arrival at
Vladivostock.
From Kamen Ruiboloff I had before me a drive of nearly 100 miles to
Rasdolnoi, on the river Suifun, and this comparatively short journey I
feared might present greater difficulties than any I had encountered
since leaving my interpreter. In towns, or on the steamer, some
one could be found with whom to exchange ideas in one of the three
principal languages of Europe; but now I was to go alone through a
district where even Russians are comparatively strangers, and where,
if my half-dozen words of Sclavonic failed, I expected to be quite
at a loss in communicating with the Manchu. Besides this I had heard
uncomfortable accounts of the Manzas, Coreans, and other congeners
of the Chinese, many of whose culprits had been expatriated to these
regions as to a Botany Bay, and were giving the authorities trouble,
not from political causes, but by forming themselves into banditti and
plundering Russians and Chinese alike. At Khabarofka Major Evfanoff
informed me that quite recently a number of these robbers had committed
depredations on the Russians, and that Cossacks were gone in search of
them. I also heard further on that they had entered an officer’s house,
murdered his wife, hung her up by the heels, and carried away her
child. Again, tigers were said to infest the district.[1]
I was so delighted, however, with the thought of reaching the coast,
and with the hope of getting from thence to Japan, that I hastened to
depart notwithstanding. A letter of introduction had been given me from
Nikolaefsk to Colonel Vinikoff, stationed at Kamen Ruiboloff, and the
prospect held out that he would perhaps show me the wonderful manœuvres
of his cavalry Cossacks; but, hearing that he was away, I contented
myself with sending to him by the captain of the steamer a letter, and
a box of books for his men, and by 8 o’clock I was ready to start. The
weather was charming, like that of a sunny English September--a morning
without clouds.
The district through which I was to travel, south of Lake Khanka, is
about 100 miles from north to south, and the Chinese frontier is a few
miles west of the post-road. Extensive plains constitute a prominent
feature of the country, which is sufficiently hilly, however, to
render the landscape pleasing. The soil, loamy and black, is covered
with rich vegetation. These Manchurian plains are like enormous
limitless meadows and heaths, from which the herbage has never been
cut, and where pasture is ready for cattle by thousands. The country
was fairly but not thickly wooded until I crossed the hills, south
of which flows the Suifun. Water in some places was scarce, and I
had to wait at one station at least an hour whilst a man fetched a
supply. The climate resembles that of the Ussuri. On the 5th and 6th
of September, at Khabarofka, I found it decidedly hot. The mean annual
temperature is 48°, which allows of the cultivation of the cereals of
Northern Europe, and of some of the hardier fruit-trees. Wild grapes
I saw in abundance, but none cultivated. On the coast the Governor
had recently planted some fruit-trees, and Madame one day, during my
visit, brought to table her fruit harvest, which consisted of less
than a dozen apples. Vegetables, however, thrive well. My host told me
that near Vladivostock, on his island, he had raised potatoes twice
from the same ground, between the middle of April and October.[2] He
had grown cart-loads of tomatoes, but, being unable to sell them to
his satisfaction, salted them for his cows. Carrots and parsnips grow
wild, and in the market at Vladivostock I observed, in addition to
what have been mentioned, pumpkins, celery, turnips, beetroot, the egg
plant, and Chinese onions and radishes. The missionary Huc mentions
three treasures of Manchuria. One is the sable, another a grass called
_oula_, the peculiar property of which is that, when put into the
boots, it communicates to the feet a soothing warmth even in the depth
of winter.[3] The third treasure is “Ginseng.” The Chinese call it
_Orhota_, that is, “the first of all plants.” They consider it the most
costly produce of the earth, diamonds excepted, and ascribe to it the
most wonderful healing properties. It is said to be a specific in all
kinds of bodily ailments, to cure consumption when half the lungs are
gone, and to restore to dotards the fire of youth. Huc says the Chinese
physicians think it too heating for the European temperament, already
in their opinion too hot.[4]
Other medicinal plants of the district are the yellow rhododendron
and marsh wild-rosemary, of which the natives use an infusion against
stomach-ache; also the root of the _tokose_ herb is used for diarrhœa,
produced by feeding on fish. The burnt heads of burdock are laid
on ulcers as in Peking, wounds are covered with agaric, the root of
“Solomon’s seal” is applied for pains in the throat, and that of the
hand-shaped bulb of an orchid for ulcers. The Goldi, however, as I have
said, often attempt another method of cure, by making a wooden model
of the part afflicted, which they carry about; but authorities do not
record the comparative values of the two modes of treatment. It is said
that the enlightened portion of the native community despise vegetable
medicine, and more frequently resort to the services of the shaman and
his brandy-drinking performances, which no doubt are popular with all
parties concerned.
[Illustration: CHINESE MERCHANTS IN THE PRIMORSK IN WINTER COSTUME.]
On leaving Kamen Ruiboloff the country was almost uninhabited. On the
first stage I met one vehicle and three men, but passed not a single
house. On the second stage two men only were seen.[5] On arriving
at the fourth station--Dubininskaya--I discovered that I had lost a
large pocket-book, or paper wallet, in which were my most valuable
documents, including the letter from the Minister of the Interior, my
podorojna, and other official papers. This alarmed me, for without
the podorojna I could not claim post-horses to go either backwards or
forwards; and the situation was the more serious because none of the
post-people could speak anything but Russian. I made them understand
by signs that I had lost my letter-case, and that I must go back with
the yemstchik to see if I had left it at the previous station. Giving
my heavy luggage in charge to the post-mistress at Dubininskaya, I
mounted the returning vehicle. It was now nine o’clock, and quite dark,
and I journeyed in anything but a pleasant mood. I remembered, too,
with appreciation, the luxury I had had further west, in Mr. Cattley’s
tarantass, for here I had nothing but a wretched post-tumbril, without
springs, seat, or hood. One of the horses went lame, which retarded
progress, and I lay on my bear-skin, with only a shawl to cover me,
for six hours of the night, gazing up into the heavens. The moon arose
in her beauty, and the number of stars visible might have delighted
the eye of an astronomer, but I could think of nothing but my loss. At
three o’clock in the morning we reached the station, where they knew
nothing of the pocket-book, and where the guest-room was occupied by a
Chinese packman and his assistant, with whom I did not at first relish
passing the remainder of the night. One, however, got off the bedstead
and offered it me, and the other wished to give me tea, which, to say
the least, was civil. So I spread my bearskin on the wooden couch, and
the candle was extinguished. In less than two minutes I had kicked
out the tester-board of the rickety bedstead, and it came down with a
clatter, causing my room-fellows to start. “_Ladna! ladna!_” said I,
thinking this was the Russian for “all right”; and then we recomposed
ourselves. On awaking, and after further search, I ascertained that
my difficulties were increased, for I now discovered, to my dismay,
that beside the important papers alluded to in the wallet, there were
also two volumes of manuscript notes, taken in coming across Siberia.
I was now in an agony; and if crying would have availed I could well
have done it, so distressed was I at the thought of losing information
that had cost so much. It occurred to me that I might have left the
wallet at the station still further back, and, seeing a Cossack saddle
in the post-house, I pointed at it, intimating that the yemstchik
should mount, and ride courier to inquire for the lost treasure. But
he did not welcome the task, though he intimated I might have the
saddle if I chose to go myself. Thinking to quicken the post-master
into further exertion I offered a reward of five roubles if the book
could be found. Meanwhile the two Chinamen evinced great kindness and
sympathy with me in my loss, and the more so when they discovered I
was an Englishman. At breakfast they offered me rice and onions, and I
returned the compliment by inviting them to partake of bread and jam.
They were travelling to Kamen Ruiboloff, and offered me a place for two
stages in their vehicle. I resolved at first to go back, but afterwards
determined to send a note by the Chinamen to Colonel Vinikoff, asking
him to make inquiries for the wallet, and then continue my way, and to
look very narrowly on the road for what I had lost. The yemstchik was
not a good specimen of his profession, being fonder, if I mistake not,
of drink than of work, and my slender knowledge of Russian led me to
suspect that he was congratulating himself on the extra money he was
exacting from me, which, in my suppliant condition, I was ready enough
to pay if only the books could be found. At last we started, and I was
scanning the road with the eyes of a lynx when about a mile from the
station we met a post-vehicle, in which was a lady traveller whom I
had seen the previous evening at Dubininskaya. We pulled up, and she
placed her hands at distances apart, showing the length and breadth of
something that had been found, and spoke to the yemstchik, from which
I was able to make out that my troubles were over. I clapped my hands,
and pushed forward with a light heart to the station, and there was my
wallet, well hauled over, but with nothing missing. The yemstchik had
told a peasant of my loss, and of the promised reward, and he had found
the article lying in the road. I then remembered that, in the cool of
the evening, I had put on my ulster, standing up in the conveyance,
without stopping the horses, and so had jerked the wallet out of my
pocket. Never did I pay ten shillings with greater pleasure than to the
finder, after which I set forward, truly grateful, and prepared with
reanimated spirits to enjoy the prospect before me.
Leaving Dubininskaya, the post-road lay over a range of low hills, the
top commanding a view such as I had never before seen. The distant
horizon was bounded by pointed hills, and between were enormous plains
of tall, brown, luxuriant pasture, waving like fields of corn--a land
of plenty, at all events, if not flowing with milk and honey. No cities
were visible, nor a human being, nor a habitation. There were just one
or two spots where the grass had been cut and piled in heaps, but the
abundance that remained seemed to mock such puny efforts. The hills
were wooded with oak, and the plains with aspens, elms, lime trees,
ashes, black and white birches, maples, and walnuts.[6] In young
forests of this district are vines, roses, and a great many lilies. In
the grass land there is much wormwood and pulse, the marsh ranunculus,
and field-pink-clover. This last I saw in such abundance as to remind
one of an English clover-field. There were also wild sun-flowers, and,
growing at the roadside, wild millet, and what looked like bastard
wheat or darnel.
Nor is this richness confined to the vegetable kingdom. To the 20,000
sable-skins sold annually at Khabarofka, Southern Manchuria contributes
its quota; but I heard more of its abundance of deer, the flesh of
which sells in Vladivostock in winter from 1½_d._ to 2_d._ per lb.[7]
Wild turkeys are found in the district. Ducks and water-fowl we caused
to fly up without number on the Ussuri, and pheasants, like those in
England, rose before me as I drove to the south. At the station I was
now approaching, woodcocks cost from 10_d._ to 1_s._ each, riabchiks
or black grouse 5_d._ each, and pheasants 6_d._ each. So plentiful
were pheasants in 1875, that they could be bought for 7½_d._ a brace,
and at Paseat for 2½_d._ each.[8] This was in strong contrast to what
the telegraph inspector told me of the prices of butchers’ meat at
Vladivostock. He had been asked nearly £3 for the half of a calf, and
beef, he said, cost 5_d._ per lb.
I now and then saw large herds of cows grazing, and learned that in
1878 there were imported to the Ussuri districts 80 horses, 600 sheep
and pigs, and 1,000 head of cattle.
On arriving at the next station, Nicolsk, there was a good-sized
village, with a church, barracks of the 3rd Ussuri battalion, and, what
was better to me, a telegraph station. It was now Friday afternoon, and
I was anxious, if possible, to reach Vladivostock on the following day,
so as to be ready for Sunday. I had heard that they had been building
there a Lutheran church, and it was suggested to me at Nikolaefsk that
I might open it, as there was no resident pastor. I knew also that
steamers served on the Suifun only for the mail service, and that
when travellers required a passage, a telegram had to be sent to the
Governor. I had heard that he was absent; but as his wife spoke English
I telegraphed from Nicolsk, and said that if I could reach Vladivostock
in time I should be happy to conduct a Sunday service. In the telegraph
office I met Captain Alexander Jdanoff, to whom I gave some reading
material for his soldiers, and then went to the post-house.
I noticed in several of the houses at Nicolsk that the chimneys were
built of lattice work like English hurdles, plastered with mud. These
erections told a tale to those who could read it, the builders being
emigrants from Little Russia. So long as serfdom continued, the Russian
peasantry were rooted to the soil, and often in great poverty;[9] but
when the serfs were liberated they came in some cases to the Government
in numbers, and said, “We are poor; please send us to colonize in
Siberia, or make us Cossacks.” And the Government, desiring to populate
the Ussuri, had sent them hither, freed from taxes, and with the usual
privileges granted to colonists.[10]
The telegraphist at Nicolsk strongly advised me to push on to the
Suifun without delay, so as that night to reach the steamer, which
was to leave Rasdolnoi early on the morrow. I therefore started after
tea for a drive of 14 miles, the first stage being to Baranofskaya,
or the “sheep” station. On arriving I thought more of wolves than of
sheep, and of tigers than either. The post-house was in the middle of a
wood, and near it were burning large fires to keep away the mosquitoes
and, as I supposed, beasts of prey. It was now night, and I certainly
should have preferred proceeding by day; but I remembered the advice
just received, and told the men to put to the horses. A sailor youth,
travelling to Vladivostock, apparently on foot, and speaking a few
words of English, made himself officious on my behalf, and then wanted
to be allowed to mount my vehicle. It was too dark for me to see
what he was like, but I consented, thinking that if we did have any
encounter with wild animals or robbers, it might be an assistance to
have some one who understood if only a word or two of my mother tongue.
I sincerely hoped that we should not meet a supperless tiger, though I
think I should have been really uneasy had I known what I learned on
the morrow--that several of these animals had been killed during the
summer at the very village to which I was going.[11]
It was nearly midnight when we reached Rasdolnoi. On the way my
fellow-traveller showed that he had been drinking, and his stock of
English words proved to be very small and by no means choice. I went
to the telegraph office and ascertained that the steamer, lying a few
miles off in the river, would leave at seven next morning; accordingly,
I took up my quarters at the post-house, and at midnight was writing
up my diary when, the news having spread that a clergyman had come, a
Finnish shopkeeper, named Rosenstrom, presented himself and asked if I
would baptize his little girl. The request came at an awkward moment,
for I had ordered the horses for five. At half-past three, however,
I sallied forth, arrayed in my cassock, with the Finn to conduct me,
lantern in hand. His house was not far, though approached by a rough
road; and, passing through the shop, I found a room nicely arranged
and brilliantly lighted, with some half-dozen persons present--the
telegraph officer and his wife or sister (who had communicated my
arrival), and a Finnish friend, besides the father and mother of the
child. After the service and breakfast, dawn appeared, and by five I
was ready to depart. Much to my chagrin, however, the smoke from the
funnel, among the distant trees, showed the vessel to be moving, and
I was left behind. I telegraphed to Vladivostock to this effect, and
received a reply that the steamer would return and bring me on Monday
morning.
I had abundance of time, therefore, to inspect the little station of
Rasdolnoi.[12] Had I not felt impatient at losing the boat, I might
have enjoyed the view from the post-house, for it was exceedingly
pleasing. The country was well wooded, and the curves of the Suifun
added much to the beauty of the picture. It was in this post-house, and
only here, that I had a desperate battle with thousands of cockroaches
or _tarakans_. By day they hid themselves, but at night they came out
on to the table, the couch, and everywhere, great grandfathers and
grandmothers with their offspring to the third and fourth generation.
To wage general warfare against them was hopeless; therefore I set my
wits to work to keep the table free. I recalled a visit paid to Messrs.
Huntley and Palmer’s Biscuit Manufactory at Reading, where, on the
floor, were thousands of little insects running about. Let no lover
of Huntley and Palmer’s biscuits, however, be dismayed, for none of
these creepers are allowed to mount the tables, the legs being made to
stand each in a little pan of water; and as the emmets will not take
to swimming, they have to be content with the crumbs on the floor.
This plan I adopted with modifications. My friends had strongly urged
me to take from Petersburg a box of Persian powder, supposed to be an
abomination to B flats and F sharps. I had not used it once, but now I
surrounded each leg of the table with an embankment of the said powder,
and great was my delight to see the enemy advance, evidently thinking
to scale the ramparts and mount as usual, but, instead, suddenly stop,
hold a council of war, wave feelers, and then beat a retreat!
I was enjoying my tea on Saturday afternoon from a clean table when
two officers, a wife, and child arrived from Vladivostock. Then was
cleared up the mystery of the boat having left so early; a telegram had
been sent that it should depart at five to meet these travellers, one
of whom was merely accompanying his friends for a few miles in Russian
fashion, and was to return next day. They spoke French and a little
English, and, having started in a hurry, they asked if I could sell
them some quinine, which I thought I might venture to do, seeing that
I had not once opened my store. Arnica had been needed for the sprain
of the interpreter’s foot, but as for myself I am not sure that I had
taken so much as a pill since leaving London, so that the counsel of my
medical adviser had proved to be sound; for when I proposed to take a
lot of medicines, he strongly urged me not to carry too much, “lest,”
he said, “you should be tempted to excess.”
Though Rasdolnoi was so small a place, yet, when it became known that I
had good books in possession, several came from I know not where to buy
them. I now had time to reckon up my “takings,” and found that sales
amounted in all to about £18--not a large sum truly, but a good deal to
make up in kopecks, of which 100 equal only 2_s._ My receipts covered,
I suppose, about a fourth of the cost of the transport of books and
tracts, and as these had been given me, with grants toward their
carriage, by the Bible and Tract Societies of London and Petersburg, I
subsequently divided among them the proceeds. From Nikolaefsk I sent
to the Governor of the Primorsk 1,000 New Testaments, 10,000 tracts,
and 200 copies of the “Life of Christ,” requesting that they might be
distributed from Vladivostock to Kamchatka, to the prisons, hospitals,
soldiers, Cossacks, schools, and the seamen of the Siberian fleet; and
it has gratified me to hear, during the present year, that this was
thoroughly and carefully done. Thus I distributed in all by proxy--that
is through the authorities--about 44,000 publications, and personally
about 12,000, the exact total being 55,812 of all kinds.[13]
On my return to England I wrote to the Director of the Central
Administration of Prisons, saying what I had done, and enclosing a list
of the persons to whom and for whom the books had been given. I also
stated my “strong conviction that a wider and better knowledge of the
Holy Scriptures would do much both to lessen crime and also to reform
the criminal. Hence I wished that a copy of the New Testament might
always remain within reach of every prisoner and hospital patient in
Siberia, and I cherished the hope that some who might perhaps take
up the book to while away time might read to profit and subsequent
reformation.” To this end I asked the administration to do anything
they could to forward the successful completion of my work; and this
letter I enclosed to the Minister of the Interior, when writing to
thank his Excellency for the great kindness and attention his letter
had secured for me.[14]
My “work” was now almost done, and I looked forward with hope, for
I regard the Russian people as presenting a promising field for the
diffusion of a more spiritual religion than they now possess. Many, it
is true, do not cease to speak of Russian bribery and untruthfulness,
gambling and dishonesty. But, however that may be, there seemed to
me to be a general willingness in Russia to learn better things.
The sceptics we met were few and far between. In Western Siberia a
Polish veterinary surgeon--a Romanist--argued as if he would like to
upset Christianity, but he ended by giving money for a New Testament,
and acknowledged that he envied the experience of his antagonist.
In Eastern Siberia I met a Protestant gentleman who said that most
educated people in Siberia were materialists; but I had afterwards
reason to suspect he was measuring by his own bushel, for so material
was his creed that, though holding a high position in the Government,
with a large salary, he was not above suspicion of asking a bribe. I
ought, however, to add that a Russian critic, by no means unfriendly,
lamented to me that, owing to the want of teaching power in the
priests, men of the educated classes in Russia are, as a rule,
perfectly _indifferent_ to religion, and therefore tolerant to all
and every creed, though jealous of the orthodox Church as a national
institution.
A good type of a religious gentleman--a devotee perhaps some would
say--was an officer I met, who goes to mass every morning at five; or,
again, a lady of high rank, who, whilst continuing strictly “orthodox,”
learns to look at the errors of her Church in their least objectionable
form, and to separate the good from the bad. Another educated man, an
advocate, was typical, I should judge, of many in his rank of life.
All are required to attend church on certain occasions, and beyond
this he acknowledged that he did so very little; but it was because he
got no teaching there. He went, he said, on the festivals, from six
to twelve times a year, and oftener whilst his children were young;
but he was ready to go every Sunday if something could be learned
thereby. As for the uneducated Russians, the distances they will go,
amounting to literally thousands of miles, for religious purposes,
manifests at least something intensely earnest about religious affairs.
Never--certainly, in any other country--have I met with such eagerness
to get Scriptures and good books. This extends to both clergy and
laity. When, on one occasion, my friend who edited the _Russian
Workman_ thought of giving it up, some of the priests sent their
subscriptions again, and implored that it might be continued; and some
of those interested in the religious societies at work in the empire
have told me that, in spite of the obstacles put in their way, they
have far more opportunities of usefulness than they can use. I agree,
therefore, with those who look upon Russia as a promising field for
Christian effort.
On Sunday afternoon the officer returned to Rasdolnoi, and I began
immediately to question him. There was no ship sailing to Japan, he
said, for a fortnight; and then, by way of preface to information
respecting Vladivostock, he asked my standing, and whether I was rich
or poor. Having classed myself with those who have neither poverty
nor riches, he said that, as for himself, he was a man of means, and
that he took the journeys to the Caucasus and Egypt (of which he had
told me) because he had money in pocket, and so on--tall talk which
sank down wonderfully when I searched him out at Vladivostock.[15]
He appeared well posted, however, in his professional studies, and
willing to give me information; so, as we were to start very early in
the morning, we boarded the steamer towards sunset. The Suifun is 120
yards wide. It varies in summer from 30 inches to 7 feet in depth,
and in winter rises 20 feet. Our vessel was named _Suifun_, after the
stream, and drew 2 feet of water, and could steam 8 or 10 miles an
hour. Vladivostock was only 50 miles distant, but the boat was not
suited for the sea, and therefore, on reaching the mouth of the river
at Richnoi, 30 miles distant, we were to be transhipped to a sea-going
steamer, the _Amur_, and so landed at Vladivostock. The _Suifun_ was
not a passenger vessel in the ordinary sense of the word, but belonged
to the Government. It was used for bringing the mails from Khabarofka,
and if there happened to be passengers accompanying them, they
travelled the 50 miles free. They were, moreover, so obliging, that, if
travellers arrived and telegraphed to the post as I had done, the two
ships were put in motion; and as if that were not enough, an allowance
was made to the officers to feed hungry passengers free of expense, so
that, on the whole, this was the cheapest 50 miles I travelled.
I did not know of these arrangements at first, and heard that there
were no provisions to be had on board, and no sleeping accommodation.
My fellow-passenger slept in the open air, on deck, and I thought
I should be compelled to do the same; but the captain gave me an
excellent cabin, with plenty of room, which the officer, however,
would not share. I had not been long on board when my clerical
services were asked for a second time. We were to pass a saw-mill
where lived a Protestant family, and the captain, knowing that the
children were unbaptized, thought my coming very opportune, and asked
whether, if he stopped the steamer, I would go ashore and officiate.
As we approached Richnoi we came in sight of the mill, built, as I
afterwards ascertained, by Captain de Vries, and subsequently sold to
the Government. There are three such mills near Vladivostock, employing
39 workmen, chiefly Chinese, who earn £4,500 a year. The manager was
a Swede, named Lovelius, his wife, if I mistake not, being one of the
whaling community who had come from Finland. The father spoke a little
English, calling me “parson”; and after I had christened his three
children he placed a fee in my hand. When I demurred to take it, he
said he wished to stand indebted to no man, and added that I had saved
him a “lot of trouble,” for otherwise he must have brought all the
children into Vladivostock, when there chanced to arrive a minister or
chaplain.[16]
The saw-mill was prettily situated, and the manager received good
remuneration, but he was not much in love with his position; for one
thing, the mosquitoes troubled him, as on the previous evening they
did me.[17] Fear of the Manza robbers, however, troubled the manager
more, and he pointed to a house across the river where they had lately
murdered an old man of seventy.
On reaching the mouth of the Suifun we met the _Amur_, and the two
vessels exchanged passengers, whereupon I discovered, to my surprise,
that some of our new officers were those I had travelled with on the
Shilka. I had breakfasted that morning, not very comfortably, in the
open air, and was, therefore, ready for dinner in the officers’ cabin,
after which it was I learned that I had eaten at the expense of the
Emperor; and then, steaming down the Amur Gulf, and rounding the
promontory into the Golden Horn, we dropped anchor before Vladivostock.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The merchant Plusnin had on one occasion been attacked in his
sledge by one of these animals; and Mr. Emery told me that, when
a tiger had been seen on the road, he had sometimes found it very
difficult to make the post-boys set out on a journey.
[2] When he left America he brought eight of a choice sort in his
portmanteau, and in three years had as many as he needed, and so fine
that they weighed 1 lb. each. The Chinese have since planted them, but
cultivate them so badly that their size has greatly diminished. On the
same land the captain sowed maize, and from one grain grew a stalk with
three heads and 900 grains. This he thought exceptional, but considered
500 grains for one an average return. He sowed in drills, and cleaned
the land with a cultivator drawn by an ox. This plan in the Western
States of America, he said, yielded six bushels an acre more than
ordinarily.
[3] This reminds me of what Mr. Emery said at Nikolaefsk, that if I
put hay into the soles of the Yakute boots I purchased, I should never
suffer from cold feet.
[4] Ginseng is found chiefly in the valleys of the Upper Ussuri, where
it is cultivated in beds, planted in rows. The earth must be a rich
black mould, and loose; and when the plant has attained the height of 4
or 5 inches, it is supported by a stick. The beds are carefully weeded
and watered, and protected from the sun by tents or sheds of wood. Wild
ginseng is said to be the best. From May to September, hundreds go out
to seek the plant; and when I asked for the Goldi natives at some of
the stations on the Ussuri, I learnt that many of them were gone to
seek for ginseng. The prices named by the French missionaries for this
root were almost fabulous, a single root being valued in Manchuria at
from £250 to £300. The plantations belong to Chinese merchants living
at a distance, and Venyukoff found the guards strictly forbidden to
sell it. He was able, however, by stealth to procure 12 roots for £4,
and his native interpreter subsequently procured 20 for 30_s._ I was
told on the river that ginseng sells for £30 per Russian lb., but that
in a bad year the Chinese count it as valuable as gold, and give up to
£40 per lb. If, therefore, these prices be paid to those who find it,
no doubt it is very expensive when sold in China, where no chemist’s
shop is without it. The root is straight, spindle-shaped, knotty, and
up to half an inch in diameter, and 8 inches in length. The leaves are
cut off, and the root is boiled in water, apparently to remove some
injurious quality; and when it has undergone fitting preparation its
colour is a transparent white, with sometimes a slight red or orange
tinge; its appearance then is that of a stalactite. It is carefully
dried, wrapped in unsized paper, and sent to market. On the Ussuri it
is used, boiled, for cold, fever, headache or stomach-ache.
[5] The first three stations--Mo, Vstrechni, and Utosni--were single
post-houses, with no other habitation in sight. The accommodation was
of the poorest; the couch at Vstrechni consisting of three boards, and
the table-cloth of linen tick. I gave the children some nuts, but not
one said “thank you,” and none could read.
[6] Mr. Ravenstein speaks of the walnut of the Ussuri as seldom bearing
fruit, and he suggests that the whole growing power may be absorbed by
the trunk and leaves; but I saw walnuts on the trees at Khabarofka,
and, when speaking of them to Baron Stackelberg, heard nothing of their
failure in fruit.
[7] The Chinese employ men in the interior to slaughter these animals,
simply for the sake of their antlers. These soft horns are exported
yearly to China in large quantities. Captain de Vries told me that on
one occasion he carried on his little schooner a load of them to the
value of £2,000, one extra good pair being worth £60. Erman states that
the jelly made of these horns is much esteemed by Chinese gourmands,
whilst Ravenstein quotes their medicinal use by the Chinese as a remedy
in female diseases. A Russian doctor, to whom I spoke upon the subject,
however, knew only of their general sedative properties, the jelly
being used, he thought, as a comforting medicine in weakness.
[8] How long this abundance of game will last is an interesting
problem, for it is a well-known fact, says M. Réclus, that the
distribution of animals over Siberia has been markedly affected by the
advent of Russian hunters. The region of the reindeer, for instance,
ought to impinge upon that of the camel; and the reindeer used to be
found on the mountains of Southern Siberia, but it now runs wild only
in the low forests and tundras of the north. The argali, or wild sheep,
is no longer found in the plains and mountains of Siberia, as it was in
the last century, but has fled southwards into Mongolia. The antelopes
and wild horses, driven from the steppes of the Gobi by cold and lack
of pasture, descend in troops in autumn towards the plains of Siberia,
followed by tigers and wolves, and hunted by men; and the slaughter
lasts till the spring allows their return to the solitudes of Mongolia.
Neither animals nor birds need a map to show them the frontier of the
two countries. It has been remarked that the same birds which permit
a stranger to approach them without fear in Mongolia, flee in terror
at the least noise on Siberian soil. Especially is this the case with
water-fowl, for the Mongols never allow birds to be shot upon the
sacred element, believing that, if the blood of a bird mixes with the
water, the flocks that drink it will speedily die.
[9] A lady in Petersburg told me that the peasantry near her country
house live for a large part of the year almost without bread, weave in
winter by the dim flame of a piece of lighted wood, and often go to bed
supperless. With a sufficiency of rye bread all the year round they
think themselves rich.
[10] I heard on the Kama in European Russia, from a Belgian, that
whereas he, as a foreigner, was free from taxation, having to pay only
1_s._ 3_d._ a year for his passport, some of the peasants have to
pay as much as 28_s._ Servants of the Crown, including priests, pay
no taxes, though their children begin to do so at the age of 21. In
Western Siberia no man (except convicts deprived of all their rights)
is free from direct taxation, the manner of collecting the tax being
similar to that followed in Russia. A census is taken every 20 years
or oftener, and a number of villages are classed together into a _mir_
(a world), from which a certain tax has to be raised. The _mir_ settle
among themselves in a kind of local parliament the proportion each
family shall pay, and then, whether the members of a family increase or
diminish, this fixed proportion goes on till the next census is taken.
This causes great inequalities. Thus a father with a large family will
be made liable for a large sum, which, so long as he has children at
home to work, he can pay; but should his sons be drawn for soldiers,
or be cut off by death, he is in a different position; though, on the
other hand, a man with a family of small children at the time of taking
the census is lightly taxed, whereas, when his children grow up and
work, he could well afford to pay more. In European Russia the census
is taken every seven or nine years, and the tax to be paid by each
family is revised oftener.
Each village receives land according to the number of its inhabitants,
but so that each “soul,” or able-bodied male or head of a family, gets
about 15 acres, a space which, properly cultivated, should suffice
for his support; but if not, land in the Primorsk government costs
only 2_s._ an acre; in fact, at Nikolaefsk, the government _gave_
land under certain restrictions for building, and up to 1875 charged
no property-tax, nor even for licences during the first ten years of
Russian occupation. When this land has been allotted to a man in Russia
with its accompanying tax, he cannot get quit of the bargain so far as
the tax is concerned. Should he find the land unprofitable he may give
up its cultivation, but he must continue to pay the tax, and hence it
often happens that a man leaves his commune and goes to a neighbouring
town for employment, but still pays taxes for the land in some remote
village he has left.
[11] In the early days of the Russian occupation tigers used to come
into the town of Vladivostock, and my host had a horse eaten by them.
His young boy once came home saying that he had seen “such a pretty
calf,” but that he could not hold in his pony, such haste did it make
to get away. Sixty-five tigers were said to have been killed in the
district the year before my arrival, and Captain de Vries told me that
on the road by which I travelled he was proceeding, early one morning,
with a farmer and his dog, when the royal beast appeared on the road a
few yards before them, at which they shouted, and the animal retired
into the forest. They went forward, the dog preceding them, whereupon
the tiger sprang out and seized the dog and bore it away. The farmer
began to mourn his loss, but the captain said, “Why, you donkey! if
the tiger had not taken the dog for his breakfast he might have taken
_you_!” I heard these things, however, _after_ my journey; and the only
tangible reminders of tigers I saw were some of their skins, offered at
Khabarofka and Vladivostock from £2, for that of a cub, to £5 for those
of full size. Prejevalsky speaks of the tiger of the district as being
equal to the royal tiger of Bengal, but, judging from the skins I saw,
it is not so handsomely marked.
[12] It being the furthest navigable point on the Suifun from
Vladivostock, the Russians in the early days of their occupation had
posted soldiers here and built barracks. They subsequently removed the
military to Nicolsk, and with them had migrated all the inhabitants
except Mr. Rosenstrom and the people at the telegraph-office and
post-house. There were plenty of log-houses still standing, to one
of which my attention was directed, and I was told that my informant
had purchased it for 10_s._--the cheapest house I had ever seen. Mr.
Rosenstrom and his friend, I discovered, were of the party of Finns
who had come to these parts to catch whales, so that he knew Captain
Stjerncreutz with whom I had travelled. I was puzzled to know how a
living could be made from a tiny shop near which there were but two
inhabited houses visible, but I found that a small trade was done with
travellers passing to and from Vladivostock, by hawking, and with
workmen building a shed at the river side.
[13] The governors of Tobolsk, Tomsk, Akmolinsk, and Semipolatinsk,
of Yeneseisk, Irkutsk, and Yakutsk, were requested to apportion
the Scriptures to prisons, hospitals, poor-houses, and similar
institutions, and to disperse the tracts in schools, as widely
as possible. The governors of the Za-Baikal, Amur, and Sea-coast
provinces, in addition to this, were asked also to distribute extra
supplies to the army, navy, and Cossacks.
[14] I would take this opportunity of expressing my thanks to the
Religious Tract Society of London and its colleagues in Russia for the
gracious way in which the Committee has always accepted my offers of
service, and for the kind manner in which I have been trusted to act
in concert with their local agents as seemed best on the occasion. Not
a little of my success (if it may be so called), especially in Russia,
has been traceable to this; and my holiday distribution of more than
100,000 of their publications, I hope, I shall always remember with
gratitude and pleasure. An extensive work is done in Russia by the
Religious Tract Society. About 1,000,000 tracts were sold from 1875 to
1878 which is an indirect testimony that we hold more truth in common
with the Russian Church than many are aware of. In Russia, as is well
known, every book, every pamphlet, every leaflet, before it can be
published and circulated, must receive the approval of the censor; and
if the doctrine of what is printed, whether political or religious, be
objectionable, its publication is forbidden. Further, it is pretty well
known what kind of doctrine, and what kind only, the Committee of the
Religious Tract Society approves. Hence, if these two things be put
together, and it be remembered that tens of thousands of tracts are
circulated in the empire which the Committee approves, and to which the
Synod does not object, then surely it is pretty clear that the Russians
and ourselves have in religious matters a great deal of common ground.
[15] My travels in Russia have led me to the conclusion that in the
interior of that country it is not always wise to be too modest about
divulging one’s income. An English officer in plain clothes, passing
lonely through Kiakhta, was asked by a merchant, who had shown him some
attention, what was his income; whereupon the officer told him that
of a captain of Royal Engineers in full pay on foreign service, which
greatly astonished the Siberiak. He said he would mention it to the
chief man of the town, who, he felt sure, would call upon him. And so
he did, and the captain received a marked increase of attention. Again,
before starting last year for the Caucasus, I was told of the potency
there of wearing arms and insignia of office, and of the difference it
makes at the post-stations in getting horses, whether the traveller
wears a plain hat, or one adorned with gold, or bearing the tchinovnik
cockade. Accordingly, I so far profited by this information as to put
on certain splendid array which I possess as I approached the stations,
and (I will not say _therefore_) I obtained my horses.
This is further illustrated by the treatment received by an able
correspondent of the _Times_, who has recently been in the Caucasus. On
arriving at a station, he was informed that he could not have horses
because they were detained for an English general, whose arrival was
expected every minute. Somewhat chafed, the correspondent took to
his legs, being anxious to secure a certain view before nightfall;
and it was not till he reached the next station, tired and enraged,
that his vexation was turned into mirth by discovering that the
horses had all the while been intended for himself. The préfet had
politely telegraphed to the post-masters to have horses ready for “a
distinguished” Englishman; and as the one idea of distinction in the
mind of a Russian peasant is the rank of a general, the post-master was
expecting an officer in uniform, and the correspondent in plain clothes
not coming up to this, he refused him the horses.
[16] I did not grasp the full meaning of this till some days after,
and then I learned that every child in Russia must have a certificate
of baptism, wanting which sundry civil difficulties may arise. It was
well, therefore, that I chanced to give certificates on these two
occasions, of which I sent notice, 6,000 miles off, to Moscow, to be
copied into the register of “the nearest parish church.” The Russian
certificate of baptism gives the sponsors’ names, and is signed over
a 15_d._ stamp by the officiating priest and deacon. The certificate
is then sent to the bishop’s registry for another stamp of like value,
in addition to which, to expedite the matter, it is customary to add a
rouble or two for the bishop’s clerk.
[17] I had been recommended sundry remedies against these insects,
and small vermin generally,--such as the burning of incense, a
mosquito mixture of _pyretum roseum_, and another, the essential oil
of cloves. I was prevailed upon to take some of the last-named, and
offered the bottle to the officer travelling with me to try the first
experiment. It made his hands and face tingle, but not in vain; and
I followed suit, to find that the little nuisances approached one’s
skin, evidently with malicious intent, and then changed their minds and
sailed away.