OMSK TO OCHANSK.
On the 11th November, we bade adieu to Omsk at an early hour in
the evening. At the end of the second stage, forty-four versts
from Omsk, we came to the river Irtish. At the station we found
an officer travelling with a courier's _padaroshna_, who had
failed in an attempt to cross the river in the dark. This was a
sufficient hint that _we_ had no chance, so we quietly lay by
till morning, spending the night in the station in the company
of the officer aforesaid. He was bound to the town of Tara, some
distance north of the place we met him. His mission was to convey
recruits thence to St. Petersburg. They are marched at the rate
of thirty versts a day, which was slow enough to make us feel
grateful for the moderate progress we had ourselves been making.
Recruiting was going on very extensively in Siberia at this time.
In Russia proper, and in the territories subject to it, recruiting
is carried out on similar principles. The empire is divided into
two zones, southern and northern. In each zone recruits are levied
every alternate five years. They are chosen from among the free
peasants and agriculturists, and when levies are made, every
proprietor tries to get rid of a bad subject. The usual levy is one
in every thousand of the men; but the government always takes into
consideration circumstances that may entitle certain provinces or
districts to partial exemption,--such as a bad harvest, or other
similar misfortunes, to which agriculture and cattle-breeding are
liable. When these circumstances occur, the suffering districts
frequently have the term of the levy postponed a certain number
of years, and in many cases they are wholly exempted. All that is
applicable to times of peace. In war time, the frequency, as well as
the per-centage of the levies, depends entirely on the exigencies
of the government. For instance, during the Crimean War, recruiting
in Eastern Siberia occurred twice in one year, and beginning at one
man in a thousand, it increased gradually to seven in a thousand.
The peasants on the rivers Lena and Yenisei are exempted from
furnishing recruits on certain conditions, such as providing horses
for travellers, and conveying the post, for which services they are
of course paid besides. The peasants on the Angara enjoy similar
exemption in consideration of their providing pilots for that very
dangerous river.
Next morning we crossed the Irtish on the ice, without difficulty,
and re-entered a frozen marsh, exactly similar to that part of the
steppe which lies east of Omsk, windmills and all. Late in the
evening, we passed through the town of Tukalinsk. At daylight on the
15th, passed Ishim. It snowed steadily all that day, and we soon had
practicable sledge-roads, which enabled us to travel 160 miles a
day. Early on the 16th, we passed through Yalootorofsk, and the same
evening arrived at Tumen.
Finding at Tumen a very comfortable covered sledge for sale at the
post-station, we immediately purchased it, as well as a smaller one
for the accommodation of Mr. Schwartz and the baggage. The posting
from Tumen westward is better organised than in Eastern Siberia.
It is managed, not by government, but by a private company. No
scarcity of horses is ever complained of in the company's line; for
government takes care that the work is well done. But not the least
of the improvements we experienced was, that we no longer required
to pay the fare at every station. At Tumen we paid our _progon_
through to Ekaterineburg, and had no more trouble about it. In
consideration of these facilities, double the government rate of
fare is charged by the company from Tumen to Perm. Eastward the rate
is about three-farthings per mile per horse. Westward from Tumen it
is three-halfpence per horse.
[Illustration: VIEW OF EKATERINBURG. SIBERIA.
From a photograph. (Page 307.)]
We are now fairly through the great marshy steppe. The country from
Tumen is undulating, and thick pine forests reappear.
We were in thorough condition to enjoy the soft luxury of
travelling in a warm sledge, gliding so smoothly over the snow
that at times we could not tell whether it was in motion; and
it is not very surprising that we slept the greater part of the
way to Ekaterineburg. Hunger even could not seduce us out of our
snug retreat. The distance from Tumen to Ekaterineburg is 240
miles,--time occupied thirty-five hours. This is far from being a
quick rate for sledge travelling, but the roads had not yet been
properly formed, and in many places even the ground was quite bare
of snow, the little that had fallen having been blown away by the
wind.
Ekaterineburg is first sighted at some miles' distance through the
vista formed by the road. A few scattered streets of small log
houses form the outskirts of the town, and give one a poor opinion
of the place. On emerging from the forest the town itself bursts on
the view, and produces an impression of elegance, comfort, and even
grandeur. It is spread over a large surface, and is divided into two
parts by the river Irchet, which, though a small stream, widens out
here to the dimensions of a lake. The situation of the town shows it
off to better advantage than the other towns we had passed through
as more of it can be seen at once. The proportion of brick-built
houses to wooden ones is much larger, and the array of handsome
churches and public buildings is more imposing. The bridge which
connects the two portions of the town enhances considerably the
beautiful effect of the whole. Although an improvement on the rest,
especially in the matter of stone houses, Ekaterineburg presents a
strong family likeness to the other large towns in Siberia, and is a
fair specimen of the general type. The population is about 19,000.
The government mint is the most important building in Ekaterineburg.
The principal coinage is copper, and I think I am right in stating
that all the copper currency of Russia and Siberia is coined there.
The Ural (pronounced by Russians _Oo-rál_) range, at the foot of
which stands the town, is rich in precious stones, the cutting
and setting of which is a standing occupation for a great number
of people. The government lapidary establishment was formerly
celebrated, but through neglect or mismanagement it has sadly
fallen off of late, and very little of interest is now to be seen
there. Strangers in Ekaterineburg are beset by little boys of most
agreeable address, regular walking polyglots, who bring for sale
amethysts, topazes, and other stones, with heaps of malachite, which
latter is the most abundant in the neighbourhood.
There are several large iron-foundries in this place, the best
one belonging to an Englishman who has been many years resident
in Siberia. The mention of this gentleman recalls pleasing
recollections of the kindness we received from him and his family
on the day we rested there. It is refreshing to meet a countryman
in such a far-off region, and this circumstance greatly enhances
one's appreciation of true hospitality. There is a fair sprinkling
of Englishmen scattered over Siberia, and there is considerable
scope for their enterprise, both in private undertakings and as
government servants. One gentleman who preceded us a few days in the
homeward journey had lived some years at Stretnoi, the head of the
Amoor navigation, in charge of the government machine-shop there.
His salary is 3000 roubles silver (_i.e._ paper) per annum, with the
perquisites of a house, fire, and light. He was so well satisfied
with his post that he was then travelling to England to return with
his family to Stretnoi, some 2000 versts beyond the Baikal lake.
This instance out of many shows first that the English skill in
machinery is prized by the Russian government, and also that even
the most remote districts of Siberia are not very disagreeable as
places of residence.
But to return to Ekaterineburg. The iron mines now being worked
are at the convenient distance of 100 miles from the town, and
the cost of transit of the pig-iron is comparatively small. This
town is therefore advantageously situated for iron-work, and a
large quantity is turned out every year. Most of the iron-work for
Siberia goes from this place. The boilers and engines for the Baikal
steamers are made in Ekaterineburg, and transported nearly 2400
miles to their destination. The workmen in the English foundries
are chiefly Germans and Russians, with English foremen. Experience
has proved the remarkable fact that English workmen deteriorate in
Siberia. The native Russians are excellent workmen under skilful
superintendence. Some few of them have intellect enough to be
trusted with the more responsible departments of their business,
but such cases are quite exceptional. They are in general mere
imitators, exhibiting no power to think for themselves.
A large fish-curing trade is carried on here. The fish is brought
from the great rivers, chiefly the Ob, near its mouth. About 50,000
poods, equal to 1,800,000 lbs. avoirdupois, are salted annually in
this town.
Recruiting was going on actively here also. Having occasion to
call on the master of police on a little matter of business, we
drove up in a sledge to his office, but found the doorway and the
portion of the street immediately adjoining it, so crowded with
rough-looking moujiks wildly vociferating, that we could neither
get in, nor even make our presence known, for some time. These
were recruits who were being registered, passing one by one into
the bureau, and coming out again by the same crowded doorway. It
seemed to be quite an understood thing that each recruit should drop
kopeks into the hands of the _gendarmes_ who acted as door-keepers.
By dint of hard pushing we succeeded in insinuating ourselves
into the passage, but only to find a yet more impenetrable crowd
inside. Sickened by the exhalations of so many unclean animals in
sheep-skins, half suffocated in the frowsy atmosphere within, and
crushed in the living mass till we had to fight for breath like a
person in a nightmare, we were glad to escape into the fresh air,
and abandon the purpose of our visit. The moujiks were followed to
the rendezvous by their wives, who made confusion worse confounded
by their frantic yelling and pushing, each one eager to get her own
_protégé_ into a good place. There were many hundreds of them, and
one day would not suffice to register them all at the rate they were
then progressing.
The temperature was ominously high on the 18th of November,--only
one degree of frost. Some days previously it had been down to
-15° Réaumur (-2° Fahrenheit). We were fairly committed to sledge
travelling, and there was so little snow on the ground that a few
hours' thaw would have melted away our charming sledge road. The
frost set in about the usual time at Ekaterineburg, October 1/13,
but the snow there as elsewhere was late.
The hills and forests in the neighbourhood are well stocked with
game. Black-cock, white partridges, _ryabchik_, reindeer, elk, and
hares, are more or less abundant. Wolves are also common, but there
are no wild boar. Game is plentiful in most parts of Siberia, but
the Russians are no great sportsmen, except those who make a living
by hunting. The nomad tribes are, however, expert in the use of the
rifle.
Ekaterineburg is the most westerly town in Siberia, lying at the
foot of the Ural mountains which separate Europe from Asia. I had
formed great conceptions of this mountain chain, but the illusion
was dispelled when, on inquiring for the Urals, I was pointed to
densely wooded undulating hills, in appearance not more imposing
than the Lammermoor range in Scotland. I know not why they are
so darkly shaded on most of our maps, and made to look like a
formidable barrier between the two continents. They certainly
cover a broad expanse of country, but in elevation they are really
insignificant, and rendered still more so in appearance by their
very gradual rise from the level country. The elevation in the
latitude of Ekaterineburg is little more than 2000 feet above the
sea, and the plain on the Siberian side being between 800 and 1000
feet in elevation, the gentle slope of the mountains makes them look
diminutive.
While settling about our horses at the post-station of
Ekaterineburg, we fell in with an elderly German lady, who was going
to start the same day for St. Petersburg. As she spoke very little
Russian, it occurred to her friends that it would be a good thing
for her to travel with us. There was plenty of room for her in our
sledge, and we willingly consented to take her in. This was arranged
accordingly. But old ladies (and young ones too) like to have their
own way, and she discovered that she had too much luggage to go
comfortably with ours in one sledge, besides little baskets of sweet
cakes and knick-knacks, of which she had laid in a store for the
journey, and which were likely to come to harm lying under our feet.
She therefore determined to travel in her own sledge, where she
could munch cakes at pleasure, but keeping company with us for the
sake of the collateral protection our escort afforded.
At six in the evening of the 19th we left Ekaterineburg with our
convoy, and about ten at night we reached the highest point of
the road on the ridge of the Ural. In a heavy fall of snow we
turned out to see the obelisk which has been erected there, as the
boundary stone between Europe and Asia. It is a plain stone with
no other inscription than the word "Europe" on one side and "Asia"
on the other. It is said to have been erected in honour of Yermak,
the Cossack robber-chief, who atoned for his other offences by
discovering, and partly conquering, Siberia for the Russians in the
end of the sixteenth century.
It is quite unaccountable that the vast country of Siberia should
have been left to be discovered by Yermak at such a late period.
It was well known to the Tartars, for the dynasty of Genghis had
extended their conquests there, and yet the Russians, during their
communications with the Mongols of the Golden Horde which subsisted
for two hundred years, had never learned what was beyond the Ural
mountains.
Yermak compelled by some accident to "leave his country," _i.e._,
being outlawed, found his way, with some two hundred adventurers,
across the Ural. After pillaging the Tartars for some time, his
handful of troops, _i.e._, robbers, became so wasted with constant
fighting that he could no longer maintain himself among his numerous
enemies. It then occurred to Yermak to return to Moscow, announce
his discovery, and make his peace with the Tsar. The robber was
promoted to the rank of a hero, and was appointed to command an
expedition for the conquest of Siberia. Yermak first crossed the
Ural in 1580, and in 1660 nearly all the Siberian tribes were
subjugated by Russia.
After a night's travelling we were still among the outlying spurs
of the Ural range, well wooded with pine and birch, the former in
greater variety than on the eastern side of the chain. On the road
to Perm we passed through many cleared spaces, with villages and
farms at short intervals.
On the 21st we reached Perm, a very flourishing manufacturing and
commercial town on the left bank of the river Kama. Perm is the
first (or last) town in Europe, and a little earlier in the season
it would have been our last stage of road travelling. But we were
too late and too early all the way through. The river Kama was not
frozen, but so much floating ice was coming down, that the steamers
which run between Perm and Nijni-novgorod had been taken off and
sent down the Volga to Astrachan for the winter. Only a few small
craft were left for repairs to their machinery. We met some more
English workers in iron in Perm, and they seemed to have a good
winter's work before them. A few weeks earlier, we should have
embarked on one of the passenger steamers at Perm, steamed down
the Kama as far as Kazan, where it joins the Volga, then up the
latter from Kazan to Nijni-novgorod. This voyage would have been
accomplished in five days, the whole of which time would have been
available for sleep, but no luck fell in our way. Not only must
we continue our journey by land, but it was very doubtful whether
we could even cross the Kama at all, owing to the velocity of the
current and the weight of ice that was borne downwards. The ferry is
not at Perm, but at a point fifty versts lower down.
The navigation of the Russian and Siberian rivers is making
astonishing progress. There are now no less than 370 tugs on the
Kama and Volga, and new steamers are being added every year. One
company runs steamers from Nijni to Perm, and two from Nijni down
the Volga to Astrachan. The Volga Steam Navigation Company is
managed by an Englishman at Nijni-novgorod, and in his hands has
proved a very remunerative undertaking. Under Russian direction it
had been quite the reverse. Nearly all the steamers are of foreign
construction. Many come from the German ports, and many from
England. They are usually sent to Russia in pieces, but several have
steamed across the North Sea, and have made their own way into the
very heart of the country by means of the canals in communication
with the rivers.
The facilities enjoyed by Russia and Siberia for inland navigation
are so vast, as to afford almost unlimited scope for capital and
enterprise in introducing steam. It is, of course, a serious
disadvantage that vessels have to be built in foreign countries, but
there is no good reason why this should continue. If the authorities
had encouraged the working of their own iron and coal mines with
half the zeal they have misapplied to the gold-diggings, the country
would have been further advanced in real wealth than it is. The
Russian statesmen must sooner or later learn that mere gold no
more constitutes wealth than tallow or any other article that has
a mercantile value. The capital and labour consumed in procuring a
given quantity of the precious metals would have probably produced
a higher marketable equivalent, if coal and iron had been the
object. At any rate, iron would have proved a surer basis for the
propagation of wealth than gold. When steamers, for example, are
built in Siberia, the manufacturing profits will, in the first
instance, be disseminated in the country, and the gold that would,
as now, be sent abroad for their purchase, may lie in the bowels
of the earth, and no one be a loser by it. A good deal has already
been done on the Siberian rivers, and the heavy traffic between
Irkutsk and the west is conveyed for the most part in barges, which
on the Om and Irtish are towed by steamers. The mere navigation of
rivers in the Russian dominions is not new, but in former times the
barges were incapable of ascending the rapid streams. They were
constructed merely for the one trip down stream, and on reaching
their destination and discharging their cargoes, they were broken up
for fire-wood. The water communication between Eastern Siberia and
Western Russia is necessarily very circuitous from the circumstance
that the great rivers in Siberia run from south to north, and fall
into the Frozen Ocean. For example, the distance by water from Omsk
to Tumen is 3000 versts, and by land only 632. The Amoor and its
tributaries form an exception, flowing eastward and falling into the
Sea of Ochotsk. To begin at the extreme east; the grand water-route
now used for goods is from the Pacific up the Amoor as far as the
Shilka. Thence to the Baikal land carriage is at present used, but
the Shilka itself is capable of navigation much higher up. The
London and China Telegraph, August 15, 1864, reports that a steamer
has lately ascended this river and its tributary the Ingoda as far
as Chita, the government town of Trans-Baikal. From the Baikal the
communication is by water down the Angara to Irkutsk, and 1400 miles
beyond that town, to the junction of the Angara with the Yenisei, in
the north of the province of Irkutsk. The water-route on the Angara
below the town of Irkutsk is only used for traffic to the north.
Goods in transit for Europe go by land from Irkutsk to Tomsk.
From the west, the Siberian water-route begins at Tumen, proceeding
down the Irtish from Tobolsk, then up the Ob and the Tom as far
as Tomsk. Then, if for the northern part of Eastern Siberia, land
carriage from Tomsk to Krasnoyarsk; from the latter town down the
Yenisei to the towns of Yeniseisk and Turukhansk, beyond which the
country is inhabited only by wandering Tunguses and Ostiaks. There
are other important water-routes in Siberia, such as that from Tumen
by the Ob and Irtish to Semipalatinsk on the Kirghis steppe; and
from Irkutsk down the Lena to Yakutsk, but the lines of greatest
traffic are those running east and west. The ice interposes a
serious difficulty in the navigation of these rivers, especially in
the more northern parts, where the summer is very short, and frost
sets in early. Goods are frequently caught in the ice, and in some
parts of the rivers, they may be frozen up for six, or even eight
months together. This risk would, of course, be greatly diminished
were steam in more general use. The duration of a voyage could
then be calculated with tolerable certainty, and a convenient port
reached after the premonitory indications of freezing-up had shown
themselves. Steam would also afford the means of expediting goods
so much quicker, that the heavy part of the year's traffic might be
conveyed by the rivers during the open season.
A project for improving the water communication in Siberia was set
on foot by an enterprising Russian in 1859. The scheme was revived
in 1862, and the projector was supported by a Hamburg banker, and
assisted by a Russian colonel of engineers. Their intention was
to form a complete water route from Tumen to Kiachta, first by
the rivers Ob, Tom, Tchulim and Ket. From the last-named, a canal
thirty to thirty-five miles in length would have to be cut into the
river Yenisei. From the Yenisei, the Angara would be used to its
source in the Baikal lake. From the lake the route would be up the
Selenga to a point about eighteen miles from Kiachta. Thus, by one
cutting, of, at the most, thirty-five miles, clear and uninterrupted
water conveyance would be established from near the Ural mountains
to the frontier of China. But the difficulties in the way of this
enterprise are very serious. The river Angara is, in its present
state, not navigable except down stream. In a distance of 800
miles below Irkutsk, there are no less than seventy-eight rapids
and dangerous passes, some of which it would be impossible even
for a steamer to ascend. Native craft shoot the rapids when the
water is high, and effect a passage down the river, but of course
never return. To render that part of the river fit for navigation,
rocks would have to be blasted and cleared away. Above Irkutsk
also, there are one or two places on the Angara that would have
to be cleared before the steamers could ply with safety on the
river. But supposing all that accomplished, to carry out the water
communication with efficiency, steamers of various classes suited
to the depth of water, and the nature of the different rivers,
would be necessary, thereby adding greatly to the expense. On the
whole, the cost of clearing out the channel of the Angara, and other
minor items of expense, would be so enormous that it is highly
improbable the scheme will ever be carried out; certainly not for
some generations to come. All that can now be done is to improve the
water communication at present in use in so far as steam traffic is
practicable. Before the Angara is cleared of rocks, railways will
probably traverse Siberia. Not that I consider the construction
of railways in that region nearer than a remote possibility. For,
although Siberia would be no exception to the general rule that
railways make traffic for themselves, yet the cost must bear some
proportion to the return. The length of railway necessary to connect
the traffic of the various distant parts would be enormous, and as
these matters are managed in Russia, would probably cost three times
the amount that would be required in any other country. There is no
capital in Russia available for such a purpose, and foreign capital
will find many more attractive investments than Siberian railways.
From Perm we were driven by "Tatárs," who are capital coachmen. We
first met these Western Tatárs at Ekaterineburg, where they live
in peace and good will with the Russians. They have no apparent
affinity with the Mongol races, but yet they betray, in their
manner of life, their descent from nomad tribes. Many of them are
engaged in trade, but they prefer hawking to settling in a shop;
and even when they have opened shops they like to sally forth with a
"pack" on their shoulders and roam about the great towns with their
merchandise.
The general and sweeping misapplication of the name of Tartar, or
Tatar, to the various wandering tribes of Asia, has led some persons
to doubt whether there ever was any one tribe properly entitled to
the appellation. The name has been too widespread--say from China to
Russia--not to have had a foundation in fact, and there is not much
doubt that an insignificant tribe of the Mongol family was known to
its neighbours, and called its people by the name of Tatars. But
the dominant tribes, even of the Mongols, have always repudiated
the appellative; and although the Russian-speaking "Tatars" of the
west acknowledge the name as applied to them, it is much in the
same sense as an English-speaking Chinese calls himself a Chinaman
(_Chee_naman) to accommodate himself to western phraseology,
although the term has no equivalent in his own language.
It is indeed curious to trace old names of countries and races to
merely accidental circumstances. The name of China in use among the
Mongols and Russians, is still _Kitai_, which is the _Kathay_ of
Marco Polo, and the name of the northern part of China during the
reign of the Mongol dynasty. The name originated with a northern
tribe, also called the _Liau_, who pushed the frontiers of their
empire into North China, and held sway there from the tenth to the
thirteenth centuries, and who, defeated by the Niu-ché, retired into
the desert, and at a later period founded the formidable empire of
Khara Khitan, or the Black Khitan, near the source of the river Obi.
But the name of Tartar has been liberally bestowed on all those
Asiatic tribes who led a roving life, and of whose history little
or nothing was known. The Chinese, for reasons somewhat similar,
term all "outer" nations "barbarians," just as the Jews grouped all
who were beyond their own pale under the comprehensive title of
"gentiles;" and the ancients gave the name of Scythians to all the
barbarians of Asia, of whom they could not give any more definite
account.
Arriving at the last station before crossing the Kama, late at
night, we were compelled to wait till morning, as no inducement
would prevail on the men to attempt the ferry at that hour, although
there was a bright moon. The truth was the men were all so hard
worked during the day as to be unfit for anything at night. In the
morning, however, we got across with our sledges, and proceeded to
Ochansk, a small town three versts from the right bank of the river,
where we breakfasted.
During the 22nd the frost disappeared for a few hours, and to our
confusion the snow vanished so rapidly during the short time as to
leave us in many places bare ground to drive our sledges over. The
sight was really appalling, for all our hopes of ease and comfort
for the journey rested on the snow. It was absolutely essential
to us, seeing we were committed to sledges, and when we saw the
black patches appearing here and there, we could sympathise in the
despair which a fish must feel when abandoned by its native element
and left panting on dry land. A westerly wind got up, and increased
to a gale in the afternoon, coming round to north in the evening.
This brought cold weather back again, and that night was one of the
most severe we encountered in the whole journey. With the extreme
cold the wind fell, and a dead calm ensued, which lasted a night
and a day. The hard frost converted the soft, melting snow into a
magnificent sledge-road, so far as it went; but all the way to Kazan
we were plagued with bare places where the wind or sun had been most
powerful.