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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78829 ***
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: FRANCIS E. CLARK]
+
+
+
+
+ THE GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY
+
+ WHAT I SAW ON MY JOURNEY
+
+ BY DR. F. E. CLARK
+
+ WITH SIXTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS
+ FROM PHOTOGRAPHS AND A MAP
+
+ =London=
+ S. W. PARTRIDGE AND CO.
+ 8 & 9, PATERNOSTER ROW
+ 1904
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+ CHAPTER                                   PAGE
+
+    I. FROM NEW YORK TO VLADIVOSTOCK          1
+
+   II. THE METROPOLIS OF THE NORTHEAST       13
+
+  III. RIDING ON THE RAIL IN SIBERIA         25
+
+   IV. FROM VLADIVOSTOCK TO KHABAROFFSK      39
+
+    V. THE _BARON KORFF_                     50
+
+   VI. THE LORDLY AMOUR                      61
+
+  VII. BETWEEN TWO GREAT NATIONS             74
+
+ VIII. A SIBERIAN CAPITAL                    86
+
+   IX. AGROUND IN THE AMOUR                 101
+
+    X. ON THE SHILKA                        114
+
+   XI. THE TRANS-BAIKAL                     129
+
+  XII. THE HOLY SEA                         144
+
+ XIII. A SIBERIAN CITY OF CHURCHES          156
+
+  XIV. A SIBERIAN _TRAIN DE LUXE_           166
+
+   XV. OUT OF ASIA INTO EUROPE              180
+
+       SOME FACTS AND FIGURES               194
+
+       ENGLISH-RUSSIAN GLOSSARY             201
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+ FRANCIS E. CLARK                                         _Frontispiece_
+
+ CATHEDRAL AT VLADIVOSTOCK                                 _Facing p._ 4
+
+ DRY-DOCK AT VLADIVOSTOCK                                        ”     6
+
+ HARBOR OF VLADIVOSTOCK                                          ”    10
+
+ GROUP OF KOREAN WORKMEN, VLADIVOSTOCK                           ”    12
+
+ GENERAL TCHITCHAGOFF                                            ”    18
+
+ GENERAL VIEW OF VLADIVOSTOCK                                    ”    22
+
+ STATION OF KORFOVSKIA, EASTERN SIBERIA, SHOWING AMERICAN
+    LOCOMOTIVE                                                   ”    26
+
+ “WHO’LL BUY MY FLOWERS?”                                        ”    30
+
+ VILLAGE OF VIAZEMSKOI, EASTERN SIBERIA                          ”    32
+
+ THROUGH THE FOREST IN EASTERN SIBERIA                           ”    34
+
+ CITY OF KHABAROFFSK, ON THE AMOUR RIVER                         ”    38
+
+ FATHER ALEXANDER AND STATION-MASTER AT NIKOLSKOIE               ”    42
+
+ A PATHETIC SIBERIAN VILLAGE GRAVEYARD                           ”    46
+
+ THE OLD WAY BY THE “SHIP OF THE DESERT”                         ”    48
+
+ THE _BARON KORFF_                                               ”    50
+
+ EMBARKING ON AN AMOUR RIVER STEAMER                             ”    54
+
+ ON THE SHORE OF THE AMOUR                                       ”    58
+
+ A PRISON BARGE                                                  ”    62
+
+ A SIBERIAN RIVER TOWN IN WINTER                                 ”    66
+
+ A THUNDER-STORM BY NIGHT ON THE AMOUR                           ”    70
+
+ ON THE BANKS OF THE AMOUR                                       ”    74
+
+ SOME OF OUR FELLOW-TRAVELLERS. SIBERIAN EMIGRANTS ON THE
+     AMOUR                                                       ”    78
+
+ SOME OTHER FELLOW-PASSENGERS. RUSSIAN OFFICERS AND THEIR
+     FAMILIES                                                    ”    80
+
+ A TRIUMPHAL ARCH IN HONOR OF THE CZAREWITCH’S JOURNEY
+     THROUGH SIBERIA                                             ”    82
+
+ A MODEST TRIUMPHAL ARCH AT A LITTLE SIBERIAN VILLAGE            ”    84
+
+ “EACH WOMAN HUGGING TWO OR THREE BOTTLES OF MILK”               ”    86
+
+ THE LEADING HOTEL, BLAGAVESTCHENSK                              ”    90
+
+ THE CEMETERY AT BLAGAVESTCHENSK                                 ”    92
+
+ ONE OF BLAGAVESTCHENSK’S BEAUTIFUL CHURCHES                     ”    94
+
+ A GREAT DEPARTMENT STORE IN BLAGAVESTCHENSK, WITH
+     MARKET-PLACE IN FRONT                                       ”    96
+
+ AN UPPER AMOUR RIVER STEAMER                                    ”    98
+
+ ON THE UPPER AMOUR                                              ”   100
+
+ TUMBLING ASHORE FROM THE _ADMIRAL CHICACHOFF_                   ”   102
+
+ CHILDREN OF EMIGRANTS PICKING WILD FLOWERS ON THE BANKS
+     OF THE AMOUR                                                ”   106
+
+ AN EMIGRANT HOUSE ON THE UPPER AMOUR                            ”   108
+
+ THE MEN BEHIND THE BARS ON THE PRISON BARGE                     ”   110
+
+ THE HILL-SIDES WERE CARPETED WITH FLOWERS                       ”   114
+
+ A TYPICAL WATER-TOWER ON THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY             ”   116
+
+ THE LIGNITE CLIFFS ON THE AMOUR                                 ”   118
+
+ THE EVER-PRESENT SAMOVAR                                        ”   122
+
+ SOME FIFTH-CLASS PEOPLE                                         ”   124
+
+ A RAFT ON THE SHILKA                                            ”   126
+
+ SIBERIAN RECRUITS BOUND FOR CHINA                               ”   130
+
+ FOR THIRTY-SIX MORTAL HOURS WE WAITED                           ”   132
+
+ A TRANS-BAIKAL TRAIN. PRISONERS CARRYING WATER                  ”   134
+
+ BOUND FOR FAR SIBERIA                                           ”   138
+
+ FIFTEEN MINUTES AT EVERY STATION                                ”   140
+
+ PRISON CAR IN SIBERIA. FAMILIES OF PRISONERS AT THE WINDOWS     ”   142
+
+ THE ELEPHANT’S NOSE, LAKE BAIKAL                                ”   146
+
+ THE ICE-BREAKER ON LAKE BAIKAL                                  ”   150
+
+ THE SHORES OF LAKE BAIKAL                                       ”   154
+
+ BURIATS FROM LAKE BAIKAL, WITH SEAL FROM THE LAKE               ”   158
+
+ AN IRKUTSK DROSKY                                               ”   160
+
+ GENERAL VIEW OF IRKUTSK                                         ”   162
+
+ ONE OF THE BEAUTIFUL CHURCHES OF IRKUTSK                        ”   166
+
+ A PART OF OUR _TRAIN DE LUXE_                                   ”   170
+
+ A VIEW ON THE ANGARA, NEAR IRKUTSK                              ”   174
+
+ A TRAINMAN WHO HAS TAKEN THE VEIL                               ”   176
+
+ SIBERIAN RAILWAY NEAR THE ASIATIC BORDER                        ”   178
+
+ ZLATOOST, A BORDER TOWN BETWEEN EUROPE AND ASIA                 ”   182
+
+ IN THE URAL MOUNTAINS                                           ”   186
+
+ THE KREMLIN IN WINTER                                           ”   190
+
+ A SHRINE AT A RAILWAY STATION                                   ”   194
+
+ RUSSIAN TYPES                                                   ”   196
+
+ MAP SHOWING THE AUTHOR’S ROUTE FROM VLADIVOSTOCK ACROSS
+     SIBERIA TO ST. PETERSBURG                                   ”   200
+
+
+
+
+BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
+
+
+This volume describes the last six weeks of a long journey undertaken
+in the interests of the Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor.
+
+Mrs. Clark and myself having been invited to attend various conventions
+of the society in Japan and China, we started for the far East,
+accompanied by our little son Harold, a boy of twelve years, in the
+early days of January, 1900.
+
+The conventions were, beyond our expectations, large in numbers,
+enthusiastic in interest, and important in their results; but they
+cannot be described in this volume.
+
+Knowing that a new all-steam route around the world was to be opened by
+the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway to the head of navigation
+on the Shilka River, and having important engagements at the World’s
+Christian Endeavor Convention, which was to meet in London in July, we
+determined not to follow the beaten tracks around the world which we
+had before taken, but to attempt this new route, which binds Asia and
+Europe, the Pacific with the Atlantic.
+
+The last meetings of the series we had gone to the far East to attend
+were held in north China, in Tientsin, Peking, Tungchow, and Poatingfu,
+only a few days before the terrible uprising which bids fair to make
+such momentous changes in the map of the world.
+
+The meetings being over and our object in visiting China being
+accomplished, we left Taku, as it proved, by the last steamer that
+sailed for Corea before the bombardment of the forts of Taku and the
+siege of Tientsin.
+
+For nearly two weeks we coasted around the peninsula of Corea, stopping
+at Chemulpo, Mokpo, Fusan, and Wonsan, or Gensan, as the last-named
+port is indifferently called.
+
+At Fusan, at the southern extremity of Corea, we spent four days
+waiting for a steamer to take us up the coast, and here, in soil
+already prepared, the first Christian Endeavor Society of Corea was
+planted in a church of the Australian Presbyterian Mission.
+
+At length we reached Vladivostock, and our long journey across the
+Siberian plains by rail and river began.
+
+At Taku our party had been pleasantly enlarged by the addition of
+Miss Anna Northend Benjamin, of New York, a well-known lecturer and
+newspaper correspondent, on her way home from the Philippines.
+
+At Wonsan, in Corea, Mr. J. M. Jordan, British Consul-General to Corea,
+and Mr. Burn Murdock, a mining expert, became our fellow-passengers.
+
+At Khabaroffsk Mr. J. C. Smith, a leading merchant of Nagasaki, who
+was accompanied by Mrs. Smith, took the same steamer; also Baron
+Hartogensis, of Germany, and Herr Ritter, Swiss Consul-General to
+Japan, all of whom, with one or two other foreigners (non-Russians),
+afterwards formed themselves into the “Never Again Society,” to whom
+this book is dedicated.
+
+Interest is perhaps added to this journey from the fact that we were
+the first Americans, and in all probability the first foreigners, to go
+around the world by the new route. The trans-Siberian all-steam route
+had been opened but a few days when we took passage at Vladivostock,
+as I have explained in an early chapter, and none of the few who had
+preceded us across Siberia by this route had completed the circuit of
+the globe.
+
+If this fact is borne in mind, it will explain some of the difficulties
+inevitably incidental to a new and untried route.
+
+I wish gratefully to acknowledge the courtesy of their Excellencies the
+Russian Ministers Plenipotentiary to Japan and China, and to General
+Tchitchagoff, the Governor of Vladivostock and the Primorskaia, for
+their kind assistance in a journey which, were it not for their aid,
+would have been far more difficult and tedious.
+
+It is also fair to add that already, in the minds of some at least
+of the “Never Again Society,” the discomforts and delays of the
+journey have faded into the unremembered Past, which so kindly and so
+quickly touches our little woes with the finger of oblivion, while its
+novelties and pleasures stand out in ever-bolder and happier relief.
+If the above-mentioned society were canvassed to-day, it would not be
+at all surprising if its members should unanimously resolve themselves
+into a
+
+  “_Some Time Again Society_.”
+
+BOSTON, _February 2, 1901_.
+
+
+
+
+A NEW WAY AROUND AN OLD WORLD
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+FROM NEW YORK TO VLADIVOSTOCK
+
+
+The completion of a new way around this old world is a matter of no
+little interest and moment. Such a new way has just been opened, and
+it was my fortune to be one of the first five passengers who took this
+journey.
+
+On the 28th of December, 1899, the last rail was laid on the
+trans-Baikal section of the Siberian Railway, which for the present
+will stop at Stretinsk, and there connect with the steamers on the
+Shilka, a branch of the Amour River, for Khabaroffsk, where again
+railway communication is resumed for a further journey of five
+hundred miles to Vladivostock, on the Sea of Japan. Thus across all of
+Russia’s vast domain in Europe and Asia it is possible to go by steam,
+a distance of considerably more than six thousand miles, as the route
+is now traversed by river and by rail. My own route was in the other
+direction, from east to west--from Vladivostock to St. Petersburg.
+
+Though, as I have said, the last rail of the trans-Baikal section of
+the road was laid on December 28, 1899, the Amour and its tributaries
+were then frozen, and no steam communication could be had until spring
+unloosed the icy fetters. The rivers did not open this year until the
+middle of May, and on the 31st day of May I reached Vladivostock, and
+on the 1st day of June took passage at Khabaroffsk, on the Amour River
+steamer _Baron Korff_, for the long journey across the Russias.
+
+I mention this fact because the newness of the route will account for
+some of the crude and primitive accommodations that will be alluded to
+further on in this story.
+
+To be sure, many other travellers had crossed Siberia from Vladivostock
+to St. Petersburg, but the journey could not, before May of 1900, be
+done by uninterrupted steam travel, and thus one more way of going
+around the world by the aid of the all-compelling steam-engine has been
+added to the two that already existed.
+
+For many years it has been possible to steam around the Cape of Good
+Hope and stormy Cape Horn from New York back to New York again. For a
+generation it has been possible to take the shorter cut by rail across
+the American continent and by steamer through the Suez Canal. Now a
+third steam route has been opened which reduces the ocean journey to a
+minimum, and, for the first time in history, makes the portion of the
+journey by land considerably longer than the portion by sea.
+
+This is surely good news for bad sailors.
+
+Roughly speaking, this way around the world involves about thirteen
+thousand miles of railroad or river travel, and nine thousand miles of
+sea travel. Approximately, these distances may be divided as follows:
+
+                                                      MILES.
+  By rail from New York to San Francisco               3000
+  By ocean from San Francisco to Yokohama              5000
+  By rail from Yokohama to Nagasaki                     800
+  By ocean from Nagasaki to Vladivostock               1000
+  By rail (and river) from Vladivostock to Liverpool   9000
+  By ocean from Liverpool to New York                  3000
+
+I need dwell but briefly on our journey from New York to Vladivostock,
+for, so far as Nagasaki at least, it is getting to be as commonplace
+as a trip across the Atlantic steam ferry. As a matter of fact, it
+occupied us more than four months, owing to various detours in Japan
+and China for the sake of attending Christian Endeavor conventions
+which had called me to the far East. This part of the journey, however,
+might have been easily accomplished in twenty-five days--five days
+across the American continent, eighteen days from San Francisco to
+Yokohama, and two days from Yokohama to Nagasaki.
+
+[Illustration: CATHEDRAL AT VLADIVOSTOCK]
+
+Here the novel part of the journey begins. We at once get out of the
+beaten path of the globe-trotter. He halts on the southern edge of
+Japan, or, perhaps, more often keeps on eastward across the choppy
+Yellow Sea to Shanghai, and thence, if he is really a _globe_-trotter,
+on to Hong Kong, the Straits, Colombo, and Suez.
+
+In the future, however, the stream of world-encirclers is likely to
+divide at Nagasaki, one part of the stream flowing east and south over
+the old channel, the other flowing east and north over the new route
+which, less than three weeks ago as I write these words, was opened up
+around “this goodly frame the earth.”
+
+By this latter route, which I am about to describe, the traveller
+sails from one glorious harbor to another--from Nagasaki to Fusan,
+Corea; to Wonsan, Corea; to Vladivostock, Russia. In all of them “the
+navies of the world might ride,” according to the old platitude, and
+on this coast, without much doubt, will be the naval battle-field of
+the future, when the Titans get ready to measure their sea-power one
+against another in the struggle for Corea or China.
+
+We took passage on a little Japanese steamer, the _Ise Maru_, which
+runs between Kobe and Vladivostock, and which belongs to the Nippon
+Yushen Kaisha, the largest steamship company in the world, with
+steamers plying to America and Europe and Shanghai and Hong Kong,
+besides to the innumerable ports up and down the coast of Japan.
+
+Many of the steamers are large and fine, but the _Ise Maru_ is not one
+of these. She is, however, clean and fairly comfortable, and we will
+not complain, as the journey is a short one of less than a thousand
+miles.
+
+[Illustration: DRY-DOCK AT VLADIVOSTOCK]
+
+A prejudice against Japanese captains and chief officers exists among
+many foreigners, who will not sail, if they can help it, except on
+ships manned by European officers. I must say that I do not share
+this prejudice. I have sailed with more than one Japanese captain and
+crew, and I have invariably found them polite and exceedingly attentive
+to the comfort of their passengers, and, so far as I could judge,
+excellent seamen, leaning always to the side of caution in navigating
+the treacherous rock-bound coasts. As a matter of fact, the steamers
+that have been lost in these eastern seas have usually been officered
+by Europeans, and not by Japanese.
+
+Half of the steamers of the Nippon Yushen Kaisha are officered by
+Japanese, and half by Europeans, and the latter have been by far the
+most unfortunate.
+
+So, casting prejudice and fear to the winds, and trusting in Providence
+for a safe voyage, we set sail, and, twenty-four hours out of Nagasaki,
+approached the bold shores of Corea, no longer the hermit nation, but
+open now at a dozen doors to the commerce of the world.
+
+Fusan, at the southwestern corner of the peninsula, is one of these
+open doors, a door, in fact, which has long been open, for the Japanese
+for three hundred years have here kept at least a foot in the doorway
+for their own ingress and egress.
+
+Fusan is in every sense a Japanese port. The Japanese have been here so
+long that they have even trained the great pine-trees along the streets
+and on the temple hill to grow in picturesque Japanese fashion, and
+their shops, their banners, their Shinto shrines, their good roads,
+all proclaim their long occupation. The only Americans in Fusan are
+found in a small colony of faithful missionaries, whose homes, on a
+picturesque hill between the Japanese and Corean cities of Fusan, are
+conspicuous for miles around. The next day after her arrival the _Ise
+Maru_ weighed anchor again and, shaping her course due north, made
+for the port of Wonsan, on the Corean coast, midway between Fusan and
+Vladivostock, and about three hundred miles from either port.
+
+Wonsan, like Fusan, possesses a magnificent harbor, entirely landlocked
+and surrounded by imposing hills. No wonder that Russia, as well as
+Japan, has cast covetous eyes upon this splendid port, but to all
+appearances Japan has the inside track, for here, as in Fusan, she has
+securely seated herself, has built her houses and shops and wharves and
+temples, and owns more of the shipping that visits the harbor than all
+other nations combined.
+
+A few hours only were given to Wonsan, and again the whistle of the
+_Ise_ shrieked, the anchor was hoisted to the bows, and the little ship
+ploughed her way once more up the bold Corean coast, to make the last
+loop in her frequently interrupted voyage. One of these days Corea, I
+believe, will be a favorite haunt of pleasure-seekers and tourists. The
+coastline is magnificently indented with bays and gulfs, the interior
+is one series of grand mountains and lovely valleys, the west coast
+is lined with charming islands that form almost a continuous break
+to the winds and waves, while the east coast, though without many
+islands, furnishes equally fine scenery and unrivalled delights for
+the mountaineer on the shore and the yachtsman on the sea. The people
+are poor, primitive, and, it must be confessed, dirty, but are kind,
+courteous, and even courtly, and, in their white linen clothes and
+queer horse-hair hats, are most picturesque and interesting--far more
+so than their neighbors in China, _me judice_.
+
+[Illustration: HARBOR OF VLADIVOSTOCK]
+
+But we are bound for Siberia, and must not in this chapter linger in
+Corea. Early on the morning of May 29th, five days out from Nagasaki,
+the passengers of the _Ise Maru_ awoke to find themselves in still
+another magnificent landlocked harbor. One glance at the shore where
+stands Vladivostock, the “Magic City,” showed them that they had left
+Mongolia and Mongolians behind them, and, though still in Asia, and on
+the extreme eastern verge of Asia, were in an Asia owned and dominated
+by Europeans. Large blocks of brick and stone crown the hills on
+which the town is situated. A great white house flying the admiral’s
+flag occupies the most commanding site. A beautiful Greek church,
+with trim minarets, stands near by. The Russian tricolor is flying
+everywhere. We had left behind, as completely as though we had sailed
+to another planet, the mud huts of Corea, the slight one-story wooden
+houses of Japan, and the stone hovels and filthy streets of China, and
+suddenly found ourselves in a city of substantial brick and stone, wide
+paved streets, electric lights and telegraph wires, and railway trains
+snorting and puffing down to the very wharves. We could almost imagine
+that either Tacoma or Seattle had bodily taken passage across the
+Pacific and had planted itself on the eastern shore of Asia instead of
+the western shore of America. Only the droskies and tarantasses flying
+through the streets, with one horse under the huge Russian collar while
+another ran free to keep up with his trotting-mate, recalled us to the
+fact that we were about to step ashore in monarchical Russia instead of
+republican America.
+
+A score of sampans, each manned by a long-cued Chinaman, were clamoring
+to take us ashore, and we were scarcely less anxious to accept their
+invitation, that we might plant our feet on _terra firma_, and realize
+that our long ocean voyage was over and our longer land journey over an
+unbeaten track was about to begin.
+
+[Illustration: GROUP OF KOREAN WORKMEN, VLADIVOSTOCK]
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE METROPOLIS OF THE NORTHEAST
+
+
+Vladivostock, on nearer approach, unlike many towns, carries out its
+more distant promise. It is not a trim and finished town, but it is
+one of strong outlines, and evidently built for a great future. Its
+chief buildings are substantial. The town looks as though it had come
+to stay. To be sure, the new outlet which Russia has obtained through
+eastern China to the sea at Port Arthur will rob Vladivostock of its
+unique importance as Russia’s only open door on the Pacific, but her
+glory as the great natural port of Siberia, with a limitless country
+of vast resources behind her, can never be taken away. The huge
+ice-breaker which crunches up the harbor ice in winter with its sharp
+iron beak is a complete success, and it is no longer an ice-bound port
+for even three months of the year. The winter, though long, is not
+unusually severe, and the mercury, I am told, seldom or never sinks so
+low as it does in Boston or New York.
+
+No sooner had we stepped on shore than we were treated to our first
+disillusionment concerning Russia and the Russians. We had heard much
+about the terrors of the Russian custom-house. We expected to have our
+baggage overhauled from turret to foundation-stone, and the feminine
+member of our party had pictured to herself a swarthy Cossack with
+sword and cutlass making hay of her feminine belongings, while he
+searched for dutiable goods. But our Chinese sampan-man landed us at
+the pier, and no customs officer appeared upon the scene. We waited,
+but he did not come. We inquired in two or three different languages
+for the custom-house, but no one knew what we meant. We wandered
+up and down the pier looking for some building that resembled the
+familiar office where duties are collected, but could find none. At
+length, having fully satisfied our consciences, we boldly loaded our
+_impedimenta_ into a drosky, and told the driver to take it to the
+Hôtel du Pacifique. This he successfully accomplished, and no officer
+of the law appeared to disturb our peace of mind, or to look into the
+innocent recesses of our trunks.
+
+So far as I know we were subjected to no surveillance of any sort. We
+came and went as we pleased. We minded our own business, and every one
+else minded his. There seemed to be no such inspection of newly arrived
+strangers as one is often conscious of in Germany. And yet, here we
+were in autocratic Russia, and, more than that, in Siberia, the land of
+the exile and the prisoner--the land around whose name has clustered
+every synonym for oppression and cruelty.
+
+I am inclined to think that what I have been told by an acute
+observer is very true, and that Russia is much more autocratic and
+inquisitorial on paper than in reality. Her laws are severe and may
+be enforced if needs must, but their iron hand is seldom felt by
+the well-disposed. There is much theoretical restriction, and much
+practical liberty.
+
+The hotels of Vladivostock are not to be indiscriminately commended.
+When Baedeker writes his inevitable guide-book about Siberia he will
+not mark them with his familiar *, unless they greatly improve upon
+their present condition. It should be said, however, that the best one
+was recently destroyed by fire, and the chief one that still remains is
+probably suffering from lack of competition. The table was very good,
+and the chief fault was that the rooms and halls were dark and dirty,
+and clean linen was a scarce and precious article. One sheet for each
+bed seemed to be the full allowance, and one small towel for three
+people was apparently thought to be an ample supply. When one of our
+party righteously complained that her towel had evidently done duty
+before, the Japanese chambermaid, who did the English for the hotel,
+replied that it was _impossible_ to get another; it was not to be had.
+There was not a clean towel in the hotel. After much importunity,
+however, she was induced to loan a long, clean scarf from her own
+bureau to serve as a towel.
+
+However, this was a minor matter. We reminded ourselves that we were
+in Siberia, and on the eastern edge of Siberia at that. Who could
+expect all the amenities of civilization? We were no sooner established
+in our hotel for the day than I sallied out to seek the governor of
+Vladivostock and of this whole eastern province, to whom I fortunately
+had a letter from the Russian minister of Japan.
+
+Well was it that I found the governor armed with these credentials, as
+the sequel will show in another chapter. Governor Tchitchagoff received
+me with the utmost courtesy. The letter from the minister to Japan
+acted like an open sesame to his kindly attentions, and he at once
+despatched a secretary to secure berths on the train which left the
+next day for Khabaroffsk, and sent another to telegraph to Khabaroffsk
+to hold a state-room on the Amour River steamer for Blagovestchensk, as
+he knew the berths were in great demand. At the same time he gave me
+a letter to the chief of police in Khabaroffsk. While waiting for the
+preparation of this letter by his secretary he showed me a map of the
+vast province of Primorskaia, of which he is governor, a province which
+extends for two thousand miles up the shores of the Pacific, clear away
+to the North Pole, embracing Kamchatka and the famous Saghalien Island
+north of Japan, to which are banished the worst of Russian convicts.
+
+[Illustration: GENERAL TCHITCHAGOFF
+
+Governor of Vladivostock and Primorskaia]
+
+Governor Tchitchagoff is a man of commanding presence, but most
+urbane and gentlemanly, a trait which he shares with most Russians
+of the better class, so far as my observation goes. There is a
+certain courtly simplicity about them, free from all arrogance
+and brusqueness, which is the very essence of high breeding. The
+governor speaks fluently French and German, and English with a little
+hesitation. This, again, is a type of the educated Russian of the
+better class, who is usually a famous linguist.
+
+Moreover, the governor is a Cossack, a name which, in my ignorance, I
+had hitherto associated largely with frontier troopers of the Buffalo
+Bill order. I confess my stupid misconception with contrition of
+spirit. Thus again came a happy disillusion concerning Russia and the
+Russians. This interview with the governor set my mind at rest in
+regard to any danger of losing the steamer on the first stage of our
+long river journey, for I knew that the word of General Tchitchagoff
+was as the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. He is the
+virtual czar of all this Eastern land. It was exceedingly necessary
+that we should incur no long delays, as a most important engagement
+awaited me in London within forty-four days. I had already cabled
+“London screaming,” which meant, according to the cable code, that I
+would be in London on the Fourth of July (a most appropriate cable word
+for the date in question), and there were very few days to spare over
+the shortest time on record. Mail steamers on the Amour River start on
+their various stages only once in five days, and it would not do to
+miss connections at the outset.
+
+But now, with easy minds, we set out to “do” the town. It does not
+take long to exhaust its glories, for it is a new town, in the raw,
+half-baked stage of its existence, with most of its glories in the
+future. But these are evident enough to make up for any present
+deficiencies. Vladivostock is credited, in the latest published
+statistics, with about 29,000 inhabitants, but it is now said to have
+40,000, chiefly Russians, Chinese, and Coreans, with a sprinkling
+of Japanese, Germans, French, Italians, English, and a very few
+Americans. It is a remarkably cosmopolitan little city to be found on
+the banks of an almost arctic sea, and it exhibits all the life and
+picturesqueness of a little cosmopolis. Russian droskies go flying
+about the streets in every direction, as though their occupants were
+pressed for the last second of time, and would be eternally too
+late unless they arrived somewhere within less than five minutes.
+Most harum-scarum, reckless drivers apparently are the drosky men.
+Their horses are given a loose rein, and they go flying down-hill
+at breakneck speed, over the rough roads, and galloping up the next
+incline with never a check on their mad career. The appearance of
+reckless haste is further increased by the fact that always one horse
+and often two horses are hitched to the vehicle outside the shafts, by
+loose ropes or leather thongs. These horses often pull away from the
+wheel-horse within the shafts so far as the harness will let them, and
+they dance and prance and gallop while he trots at full speed, and the
+drosky goes rattlety-bang over the stones and into the holes and over
+the “thank-ye-marms” in a way that the Russians seem to like, but which
+tires the patience and, let us hope, improves the liver of the foreign
+passengers.
+
+Besides the drosky, the streets are full of another peculiarly Russian
+vehicle, the isvodschik, which resembles a small boat set on long
+poles, somewhat after the fashion of the body of a buckboard. This is
+used to carry luggage, and, in many parts of the country, passengers
+as well, who pile into it until it looks like a peasant’s cart in
+Naples or a Chinese wheelbarrow in Shanghai. The Chinese wheelbarrow
+is not wanting in Vladivostock either, and its familiar squeak is
+heard on every hand. Vladivostock, indeed, must be the paradise of the
+Celestial, for here he gets a wage of a rouble and a half a day, which
+is something like ten times the pay he would receive in his native
+land. Moreover, there seems to be unlimited work for him in grading
+and paving the streets, carrying brick and mortar, rowing the sampans,
+building the railways, and doing the other drudgery of a new colony.
+The Corean, in his dirty white garments and padded pillow-cushion
+shoes, is not far behind him in numbers, and competes for the manual
+work of this new country with his Chinese cousin on the same terms.
+
+[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF VLADIVOSTOCK]
+
+Vladivostock consists of one chief street, running up-hill and
+down-dale, with various branches climbing the hills on every side.
+The chief sights are easily done, as I have said, for they consist
+of a few fine stores and public buildings, a beautiful Greek church
+with its graceful domes, and a triumphal arch in honor of the visit of
+the czarewitch, a few years ago, when the first spadeful of earth, in
+breaking the eastern end of the new Siberian railway, was turned by the
+royal visitor.
+
+But Vladivostock’s chief glories do not lie in her public or private
+buildings, or in the great fortresses which command the city and
+harbor, but in the magnificent scenery that greets the eye on every
+hand. Few cities in all the world are more beautiful for situation. The
+Amour Bay, on one side, and the Bay of Ussuri, on the other, clasp the
+city in their kind embrace, and constantly lave its feet with gentle
+ripples. Noble hills stretch off landwards, and from the main hill-tops
+within the city limits one gets glimpses of sea and shore and mountain
+and valley of surpassing loveliness. In view of the long journey to
+which we were looking forward, the railway station, prosaic as it is,
+was the most interesting building in all Vladivostock. Over its doorway
+is printed, in old Russian characters, a legend which may well stir the
+blood as we think of all that it means. It reads as follows:
+
+                       VLADIVOSTOCK TO PETERSBURG
+                              9877 VERSTS.
+
+We were to begin to measure off these versts on the morrow.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+RIDING ON THE RAIL IN SIBERIA
+
+
+Our first introduction to a Siberian railway train was made under
+unusually pleasant circumstances. Hurrying to the station in ample
+season to secure what accommodations we could, and expecting to have a
+severe struggle with our tickets and our baggage in a strange language
+of which we knew scarcely a single word, what was our surprise to have
+a decorated official, in a handsome white uniform bound with gold
+lace, accost us by name and assure us that, at the governor’s orders,
+a first-class compartment had been reserved for us, and all we had to
+do was to buy our tickets and take our seats. As the train was very
+much crowded, and our lack of knowledge of the language made us almost
+as helpless as infants in looking out for our comfort and advantage,
+this was a favor which we most thoroughly appreciated. Before the train
+started we were favored with a call in our little state-room from the
+enterprising and energetic United States Consul, Richard T. Greener,
+and also from Mrs. Frederick Pray, a little American lady, who, a few
+years ago, transferred her home half around the world, from Berwick,
+Maine, to Vladivostock, Russia. Her husband is connected with a large
+American firm doing business in Vladivostock, that is introducing many
+products of American soil and a thousand Yankee conveniences to the
+Siberian public. Mrs. Pray had kindly prepared for us a list of common
+Russian phrases, with the English pronunciation, which proved to be
+exceedingly useful in calling for tea and bread-and-butter, and a
+carriage, and a room at a hotel, or any one of the necessities of life
+to the wanderer in Siberia, where French is scarce, and German scarcer,
+and English almost nil.
+
+[Illustration: STATION OF KORFOVSKIA, EASTERN SIBERIA, SHOWING AMERICAN
+LOCOMOTIVE]
+
+The Russian language is formidable enough even when one has time and
+opportunity to make a study of it; to the passing traveller it is
+absolutely appalling. It has thirty-six letters instead of twenty-six,
+and several of them seem absolutely superfluous, for they cannot be and
+never are pronounced. The Greek scholar at first hails the alphabet
+with delight, and tackles it with enthusiasm, for he recognizes several
+old friends. There is delta and lambda and phi and chi and theta and
+several other letters that he struggled with in his school-days. But,
+alas! his enthusiasm is soon quenched, for he finds that there are so
+many other letters that are neither Greek nor Roman that he is more
+confused than helped by the presence of his old friends in such strange
+company.
+
+Moreover, several of the letters are exactly like Roman characters, but
+have a very different sound, which is very confusing. For instance,
+B is not B at all, but is V, as in vein, while the Russian B is an
+entirely different character. H is not our familiar aspirate, which
+Cockneys so sorely abuse, but is our N. P is equivalent to double
+R in hu_rr_y, while the Russian P is made like the Greek pi. C is
+always S, and there is no hard C in Russian. Y looks very familiar,
+certainly, but is really oo, as in m_oo_n, and a letter that looks like
+R wrong side before, Я, is the vowel ya, as in _ya_rd. Then there are
+certain italicized letters which still further bewilder the puzzled
+student, for u = i and n = p and m = t when written in italics, but not
+otherwise. Thus it will be seen that Russian, “as she is spoke” or as
+she is wrote, is not by any means a holiday affair, and the usefulness
+of Mrs. Pray’s extemporized phrase-book can be fully appreciated.
+
+But the time has come for the start, of which we have been made fully
+aware by numerous bells and gongs and whistles. There is no excuse for
+any one to get left at a Siberian railway station. Five minutes before
+the train starts a large station bell is rung. Four minutes more the
+passengers stroll up and down the platform or visit the buffet. Then
+the bell is rung once more, the conductor blows his whistle, the engine
+shrieks a warning blast, and at last we are off, with St. Petersburg
+9877 versts (more than 6250 miles) away.
+
+The scenery for a few miles out of Vladivostock is superb. The railway
+skirts one of the great bays between which the city lies, high up
+above the water, while off in the distance, beyond the blue ripples,
+lie the blue mountains, only partially obscured by the morning haze.
+Chinese junks, loaded with firewood for the locomotives, are dancing
+on the waves, or unloading their cargo by throwing the pieces into the
+sea for the waves to wash ashore, since the shallow water prevents the
+junks from coming close to the bank. Occasionally the railway diverges
+from the shore and runs through a copse of birch or beech, fresh and
+bright in their new spring livery, and then returns once more to give
+us a glimpse of the bright blue sea. The day was charming. Our most
+delicious spring weather in America is no more delightful than this
+first day of June in frozen Siberia. Had James Russell Lowell lived in
+Siberia, he would have written with equal rapture his oft-quoted lines:
+
+    “What is so rare as a day in June?
+    Then, if ever, come perfect days.”
+
+On one of these “perfect days” it was our good fortune to journey from
+Vladivostock. The spring seemed just about as far advanced as it would
+be in northern New England on the same date. The meadows were lush and
+rank in their growth, and the cattle waded knee-deep in their delicious
+fodder, and were, of course, as sleek and fat as cattle could be. The
+trees were nearly in full leaf, though some of the later varieties had
+not as yet donned their full suit of green. Great dandelions, almost as
+large as peonies, starred the fields with yellow, and bluebells and
+tiger-lilies made the roadway gay.
+
+[Illustration: “WHO’LL BUY MY FLOWERS?”
+
+Lilies-of-the-valley at the railway station]
+
+At the stations little girls with bare feet offered great bunches of
+lilies of the valley for sale, and I noticed that they were not unlike
+the rest of the world in taking advantage of the unsophisticated
+traveller, for, while I paid fifteen kopeks for a bunch, a Russian by
+my side, who knew how to dicker and bargain in the vernacular, paid but
+three kopeks for his lilies. But every traveller in a strange land must
+pay dear for his experience as well as for his lilies. Let me say, once
+for all, that one hundred kopeks make a rouble, and that a rouble, at
+the present rate of exchange, is worth a little more than fifty cents.
+Russian money is on the gold basis, and is in gold, silver, paper, and
+copper. National bills up to the value of five hundred roubles are good
+in any part of the empire, and are in denominations of three, five,
+ten, twenty-five, fifty, one hundred, and five hundred roubles. Gold is
+in common use in pieces of five, seven and one-half, ten, and fifteen
+roubles, and silver in roubles, half-roubles, and twenty-five, twenty,
+fifteen, ten, and five kopek pieces, while copper coins are of one,
+two, three, and five kopeks in value. In my opinion, there are too many
+coins of different values, and one and five kopek pieces in copper, and
+ten, twenty-five, and fifty kopek pieces in silver, and five and ten
+rouble pieces in gold would answer quite as well the purposes of trade
+as the larger variety now in use. As it is, the fifteen, twenty, and
+twenty-five kopeks are so nearly of the same size as to be confusing,
+especially as different issues of the same value are not always of
+exactly the same size. The older silver coins seem to be of debased
+metal, with a large admixture of copper, but the newer coins that bear
+the image and superscription of the present czar are of much better
+metal.
+
+[Illustration: VILLAGE OF VIAZEMSKOI, EASTERN SIBERIA]
+
+After the edge of the novelty of our first ride on a Siberian railway
+wore off we had time to examine the railway equipment and the
+carriages in which we were riding. The train was drawn by a sturdy
+Baldwin locomotive, fitted with a big bulbous smoke-stack for burning
+wood, and consisted of about a dozen cars of the first, second, and
+third classes, in which the third-class largely predominated. The
+third-class were painted green, the second-class yellow, and the
+first-class a dark shade of blue. Sometimes a single car was divided
+into two classes, first and second, one-half being painted blue and
+the other yellow, with very little difference between the two classes
+except the color of the paint and the price of the tickets. The
+second-class cars were, perhaps, upholstered a shade less luxuriously
+than the first, and were somewhat more crowded, though there was little
+to choose in this respect. The first-class fare was seventeen roubles
+(about eight dollars and a half), and the second-class about one-half
+that sum. We were told in advance that the trains were built on the
+“American plan,” but it is really a combination of the American and
+English, somewhat in vogue on the continent of Europe. All the first
+and second class cars are divided into compartments, but down their
+side runs a narrow corridor wide enough for only one person to squeeze
+through at a time. The compartments open on this corridor, and through
+it the conductor passes to collect his fares; passengers walk back
+and forth, babies escaped from their nurses toddle down, and it is
+the general thoroughfare for a heavy-laden train. Being exceedingly
+narrow, it is always “congested,” and a fat man finds it his “misery,”
+indeed. In order to get through at all he must turn sideways and go
+crab fashion. There seems to be a great social democracy in this
+aristocratic country, and passengers from the different classes visit
+back and forth with the utmost freedom, and occupy compartments of a
+higher class than their own for half a day at a time.
+
+[Illustration: THROUGH THE FOREST IN EASTERN SIBERIA]
+
+As a rule, the Russians are exceedingly polite and considerate of
+other people, and, for the most part, the rude and selfish people
+whom we have met on this journey have belonged to other nationalities.
+The third-class cars frequently have an aisle down the middle, with
+seats on either side. As all the coaches are meant for night travel,
+all provide what is called “lying-down room”--_i.e._, room is provided
+for each passenger to stretch out at full length either in the upper
+or lower berth. The first and second class cars are luxuriously
+upholstered, and, by a curious contrivance, the upper bed turns over
+and becomes, not “a chest of drawers,” but the back of the seat by
+day. The only real lack of a Siberian railway is suitable lavatory
+accommodations. The little toilet-room is often a wretched, filthy
+closet, with a single wash-basin and a very limited supply of water,
+and it answers for all, men and women alike. This fault is shared by
+all Siberian hotels and steamboats that I have seen. The one cramped
+and dirty spot is the wash-room (for many hotels have a common
+lavatory, and no water is brought to the rooms), and the one scarce
+article is fresh, cold water. Beer, wine, vodka, tea, especially tea,
+flows freely, but to order a glass of water to drink, or a basin of
+water, much more a tub of water for a bath, creates a commotion, and
+the water desired is often unattainable, except after strenuous effort.
+A Siberian writer remarks, naïvely, that “Englishmen have the bad
+habit of washing themselves all over every day. _As a consequence of
+this habit_, their bodies emit an unpleasant odor.” It must be said
+in all fairness, however, that hotels, cars, and steamers in Siberia
+are, outside of the wash-rooms, clean and wholesome for the most part.
+To one who has just come from China or Corea, and who has tasted the
+rare discomforts of travel in those countries, they seem to be beyond
+criticism.
+
+Besides the cars already mentioned, a baggage-car and a dining-car
+completed our train equipment. The latter, at least three times a day,
+is a place of much interest, and deserves a few words of description.
+
+Pullman would scarcely own the diner as an offspring of his invention.
+A long table down the middle, at which perhaps twenty people can sit at
+one time, and a bar at the end, at which all kinds of light and strong
+drinks are served, and toothsome delicacies dear to the Russian heart,
+like caviare, sardines, and other little fishes “biled in ile,” are
+eaten. At the long table _table d’hôte_ meals are served, consisting
+of three or four courses, and one can also order what he chooses,
+at a fixed price. The meals are usually one rouble each, and though
+not luxurious, from the American dining-car point of view, they are
+quite sufficient for the average traveller, and worth the price asked
+for them. To be sure, one must get used to the greasy Siberian soup
+and to the chunks of tough stewed meat, which may be beef, mutton,
+or pork, one is never certain which. But travellers who choose to go
+across Siberia should not be squeamish, and to think of eating in
+a dining-car, however primitive, while whirling across the plains a
+little south of Kamchatka, is enough to kill the spirit of criticism in
+the most confirmed growler who ever went around the world.
+
+It only remains to be said that the road-bed of the Eastern Siberian
+railway is well made, but seems to lack permanent stone ballast, the
+bridges are substantial iron structures, the piers and culverts are
+thoroughly built of cut stone, the embankments are smooth and well
+sodded, but the rails are light, and, it would seem, must be replaced
+by heavier ones before any high rate of speed can be attained.
+
+[Illustration: CITY OF KHABAROFFSK, ON THE AMOUR RIVER]
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+FROM VLADIVOSTOCK TO KHABAROFFSK
+
+
+The distance from Vladivostock to Khabaroffsk is a little less than
+five hundred miles, and it requires fully twenty-nine hours to cover
+it, so it will be seen that the trains are not run on the “Empire
+express” plan. However, before we had been many days in Siberia such
+a rate of progress had come to seem speed itself. The stations on the
+eastern end of the Siberian railway are not many, for the villages are
+few and far between, but we make up for the fewness of the stops by
+spending a long time at each station. Still we can occupy the waiting
+time very pleasantly by getting many, though fleeting, glimpses of
+Siberian life. The stations themselves are usually wooden buildings,
+neat and attractive and prettily painted. A picturesque water-tower
+is always a feature of the grounds, and usually an underground
+store-house, sodded over, that looks like an Oklahoma cyclone cellar.
+In this, doubtless, provisions are kept from freezing during the long
+Siberian winter. All the principal stations have buffets, where thirsty
+Russians refresh themselves with vodka, kvass, and other national
+drinks.
+
+The villages usually consist of a few log-houses, with an occasional
+more pretentious frame house, but they are neat and attractive, and
+compare very favorably with the villages on our own Western frontier.
+The most interesting object at all these stations was the line of
+country men, women, and children who had brought the products of
+their farms to sell to the hungry travellers. Every station had its
+hucksters, not noisy or obtrusive, but waiting patiently in an orderly
+line for customers. Bottles of milk for ten kopeks, hard-boiled eggs
+for ten kopeks a dozen, huge loaves of black, sour bread in which the
+Siberian rejoices, chunks of fried meat and fried fish, huge pickled
+cucumbers, bottles of home-brewed kvass, a kind of innocent pop beer,
+were among the comestibles offered for sale. The hucksters were all
+hearty, healthy specimens of humanity, not refined or elegant in
+feature or dress--this could scarcely be expected in this new land--but
+wholesome, honest-faced settlers, capable, evidently, of laying deep
+and strong the foundations of an empire. I am told that many of them
+are dissenters from the Greek Church, and that they live godly and
+simple lives, and are much respected by their neighbors, and in this
+part of the country at least are unmolested by the government, unless
+they try to proselyte among adherents of the national faith. Most
+of them, too, are vegetarians. Every village has its church, often
+embowered in a little park of green, and the towers of blue and green,
+colors which the Siberians greatly affect for their churches, and
+bright copper domes, shining in the brilliant sun, always gave a touch
+of pleasing color to the scene, and showed that the people were not
+wholly given to buying and selling and getting gain in these little raw
+railway settlements.
+
+The costumes of the people who flocked to the railway stations were
+most picturesque and interesting. Red was decidedly the favorite color
+with the women, and red of every shade and hue. Dull red and bright
+red, Turkey red and blood red, crimson, magenta, scarlet, and crushed
+strawberry. Often several, if not all, of these colors were combined in
+the same costume in a way which, I suppose, would have set the teeth of
+our fashion-plate ladies on edge, but which, after all, was undeniably
+picturesque.
+
+[Illustration: FATHER ALEXANDER AND STATION-MASTER AT NIKOLSKOIE]
+
+The men were usually clad in a loose blouse, belted around the waist,
+and loose trousers tucked invariably into huge top-boots that reached
+nearly to the knee. Many times these boots looked to be by far the
+most expensive feature of the costume. As a Mexican peasant will often
+wear a sombrero, it is said, worth as much as his coat and trousers
+and boots, mule and saddle--in fact, the whole outfit combined--so the
+Siberian peasant clothes the other end of his anatomy with equal care,
+and even if he must go in rags, will bankrupt himself on his boots.
+
+At all these stations the military were strongly in evidence, as is
+not unnatural, since this is a military road and the large places are
+all military headquarters. Everywhere, in the cars and out, officers
+and soldiers were to be seen. At least every other man you met seemed
+to be in uniform. But they, too, were invariably polite and showed
+nothing of the haughty arrogance and devil-may-care air often exhibited
+by the soldiery of Germany and other army-ridden countries. In fact,
+I was struck on this railway ride, and on all my other journeys in
+Siberia, by a certain quiet, dignified, self-contained air that the
+people displayed. The hucksters are not insistent on your buying
+their wares. The cabmen are not vociferous. The few beggars are not
+obtrusive. It is as though the vast, lonely stretches of their homeland
+had somehow impressed themselves upon the character of the people. The
+broad reach of upland and prairie, the noble hills, the wide stretch
+of blue heavens above them, the long, serious winter, the strenuous
+conditions of their life in this virgin land, have developed a national
+character, which seems never to have acquired the noise and bustle and
+artificial “hustle” of city-dwellers. On the whole, it is a pleasing,
+restful, and, I should think, likable type of character to which these
+surface indications point. I felt that I was back in the early days of
+New England, among the Pilgrim fathers and mothers of a new empire, as
+I looked into these earnest, frank, and serious faces, and as I looked
+I had large hope for the empire they are founding.
+
+The parish priest is also a picturesque and interesting factor of
+village life. He often came to the station to take part in the one
+excitement of the day, the arrival of the daily passenger train. He was
+usually clad in flowing robes of black, with a close-fitting purple
+cap, while a huge gold or silver crucifix dangled from his neck. His
+hair is always long and curly. Whether the Greek priests were chosen
+for their curly hair or indulged in the use of curling-irons when
+preparing their morning toilet was a question which interested the
+ladies in our party. They seemed to mingle with their people on terms
+of benevolent equality, and their kindly and gracious presence shed a
+benediction even upon the railway platform. They were not averse to
+having their pictures taken, and the camera enthusiasts “snapped” the
+holy fathers with the greatest freedom.
+
+The kodak is not unknown in Siberia, but it is evidently much more of a
+novelty than in the west, and always attracted crowds of staid peasants
+who wanted to look into the “finder” and see the resultant picture.
+Some were quite disappointed that the completed picture could not
+immediately be taken out of the camera and shown to them. One gorgeous
+railway official, much be-braided and be-spangled with gilt, insisted
+on having his black-bearded face transferred to the sensitive film.
+He posed with his most radiant expression, without any exhortation to
+“look pleasant.” He followed our party about, and apparently expressed
+every good wish for our successful journey, though our knowledge of
+Russian was not equal to his voluble good wishes, and, finally, just
+as the train pulled out of his station, he handed us a paper on which
+he had written a request that we telegraph him of our safe arrival at
+Blagavestchensk, a city on the Amour River, a thousand miles further
+west. A kindly fellow-feeling that, to be provoked while the train
+stopped “ten minutes for refreshments.”
+
+[Illustration: A PATHETIC SIBERIAN VILLAGE GRAVEYARD]
+
+Fifty miles after leaving Vladivostock the railway climbs to a
+considerable plateau, and the trees disappear, while open prairie
+land takes the place of the forests that crown and gird the hill-sides.
+For a couple of hundred miles, at a rough guess, the open prairie land
+continues. The soil mostly seemed to be a rich black loam, and one
+would think it was capable of supporting millions of people where it
+now supports hundreds.
+
+On the second morning of our journey, twenty hours after leaving
+Vladivostock, we woke up in a heavily wooded, hilly region, and I had
+to rub my eyes to make sure that I was not dreaming and had really
+awaked in Siberia and not in northern Maine. Here was the Moosehead
+Lake region duplicated, apparently, in every stump and white birch-tree
+and corduroy road. Here were the same tree-clad hills and rocky
+ravines, with glimpses of other and higher hills peering above the
+tree-tops. Here were the same clear running brooks, babbling over their
+rocky beds, the same patches of charred timber burned to clear the
+land, the same flora down to the dandelions, blue-bells, butter-cups,
+and cowslips. To be sure, there was not such a predominance of
+spruce-trees as in northern Maine, but their places were taken by the
+larch and cedar and other evergreens, and white and yellow birch,
+beech, and poplar, which predominated, made me feel very much at home.
+
+For hours these familiar forests lined the railway, and then the
+train emerged into the fertile plains that border the Amour. Here the
+snow fences, piled up in their summer quarters, reminded one of the
+prairies of our own Northwest, and showed that in the Siberian winter
+the railway has the same great enemy to fight. The telegraph poles,
+often braced by two supports until they look like so many tripods, also
+testify to the strength of Siberian winds. At length, at noon of the
+second day, twenty-nine hours after leaving Vladivostock, the spires
+and chimneys of Khabaroffsk appear across the prairie, and we realize
+that the first stage, and a very pleasant one, of our trans-Siberian
+journey was nearly finished.
+
+[Illustration: THE OLD WAY BY THE “SHIP OF THE DESERT”]
+
+Scarcely had the train pulled into the station of Khabaroffsk, and
+before I could get to the door of the car, when a police official in
+gorgeous raiment crowded in and inquired anxiously for “Pastor Clark
+from America.” When I confessed to being, in all probability, the
+individual that he sought, the official seemed much relieved, and at
+once took charge of me and mine, bag and baggage, and summoned a small
+squad of soldiers, or sub-police, to assist him. Evidently the kindly
+telegram of Governor Tchitchagoff was doing its beneficent work, and,
+like expectant American politicians, we were “in the hands of our
+friends.”
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+THE _BARON KORFF_
+
+
+Our friend in need proved a friend indeed, for it would have been no
+easy thing, knowing scarcely a word of the language, to disentangle our
+baggage, secure a cart to carry it, and droskies to carry ourselves,
+and make our way through the city of Khabaroffsk to the steamboat
+landing two miles away in season to catch the mail steamer, which,
+with steam up and whistle shrieking, was waiting to start on her long
+journey up the mighty Amour. But our official accomplished it all for
+us with celerity and despatch. He picked out our baggage, hired our
+droskies, took another himself, and drove to the steamer, saw our
+baggage safely bestowed in a state-room which had been secured for us
+at the governor’s orders, and did not leave us until we were fairly
+established in our comfortable and commodious quarters on the _Baron
+Korff_. We appreciated this courtesy the more fully when we learned
+that the steamer was exceedingly crowded, that it went only once in
+five days, and that some people had already been waiting fifteen days
+for the coveted passage. Our rapid flight through Khabaroffsk was made
+in a cloud of dust which would have done honor to Peking itself, the
+dustiest city in the world. Through the dust, however, we were able
+to catch glimpses of a frontier American-like town, with some good
+business blocks of brick and a fine cathedral church. We afterwards
+learned that Khabaroffsk contains about fifteen thousand inhabitants,
+and its importance is derived from the fact that it is the highest seat
+of government for all this vast section of the Amour River. Sitting
+on a high bluff at the juncture of the Amour and the Ussuri, a great
+stream which here joins its forces with its greater rival, the town
+occupies a commanding position and is regally situated to dominate the
+traffic of both rivers. In any other land the Ussuri itself would be a
+notable river, but in this country of great rivers, though it is nearly
+a mile wide at its juncture with the Amour, it is only a branch of
+eastern Siberia’s greater waterway.
+
+[Illustration: THE _BARON KORFF_]
+
+Since the _Baron Korff_ was to be our home for the next week, and, in
+a literal as well as figurative sense, we were to be “all in the same
+boat” with the rest of her passengers, we were naturally anxious to
+know something of them and of her, if it is proper to speak of a baron
+as belonging to the feminine sex. A hasty inspection showed us that the
+_Baron Korff_ was a stately side-wheeler, such as might have done duty
+on the Mississippi before the railroads robbed her of her commercial
+glory. The first-class accommodations were well forward, and consisted
+of roomy and comfortably furnished staterooms for about twenty people
+on the upper deck, each room having berths for two people, a long
+dining-saloon, into which the state-rooms opened, and a pleasant
+saloon in front, handsomely furnished and provided with a good German
+piano. This saloon made a delightful sitting-room for the passengers,
+for its abundant glass furnished a splendid view of the river and the
+banks on either side, between which the _Baron_ made her devious way.
+Behind the first-class cabins was a large open space, sheltered from
+the wind, and suitable for a promenade. Here was a restaurant and bar,
+frequently patronized by some of our thirsty fellow-passengers, while
+behind it were the second-class cabins, which looked to me nearly as
+comfortable as those at the other end of the ship. Down below were
+huddled together a miscellaneous crowd of peasants--men, women, and
+children--with their scant piles of bedding and all their worldly
+possessions; sturdy men in top-boots and figured gowns belted at the
+waist, often with a sleeveless vest worn outside; women in gay calicoes
+and hobnailed shoes; children clad in little more than nature’s
+original raiment--all were here. On the hard iron floor they spread out
+their quilts, piled their household goods about them, and prepared to
+make the best of their six days in the bowels of the _Baron Korff_.
+
+Their accommodations were not luxurious, certainly, but when we
+remember that they paid but three roubles and six kopeks for the entire
+918 versts, more than six hundred miles, to Blagavestchensk, or only
+about one dollar and a half, we cannot think that the accommodations
+were disproportionate to the price.
+
+The chief rival of our friends in the steerage was the great pile of
+wood, for which the _Baron Korff_ had an insatiate maw, and which, when
+first put on board, occupied fully one-half the space of the steerage,
+but which, every hour, sensibly diminished until we came to a station,
+where a new supply was taken on board.
+
+[Illustration: EMBARKING ON AN AMOUR RIVER STEAMER]
+
+The second-class fare was four times the third-class, or thirteen
+roubles and ninety-seven kopeks, and the first-class more than seven
+times the third, or twenty-two roubles and ninety-six kopeks. I am
+constrained to admit, however, that the first-class accommodations are
+fully seven times as good as the third, though I do not think they are
+twice as good as the second.
+
+For the meals on the Amour steamers one pays separately, at the rate of
+two roubles a day, not an extravagant sum, indeed; but they were not
+extravagant meals, and they cost all they were worth.
+
+In the morning, about eight, tea was served, with the inevitable
+samovar occupying the place of honor in the centre. Slices of lemon and
+sugar were provided, according to the Russian style, but no milk. Soft
+bread and zweiback, without butter, completed the first meal of the day.
+
+The second, and principal, meal was served promptly at noon, and
+consisted of a thick, greasy soup, a course of meat with no potatoes,
+and very scanty vegetables of any kind, and a pudding. On rare
+occasions ice-cream took the place of the pudding. Tea was served
+again at four o’clock, and supper, which consisted of one meat course
+without vegetables, and more tea, completed the menus for the day. If
+one wished to supplement these meals with orders from the restaurant of
+caviare or smoked fish or boiled eggs, of course he was at liberty to
+do so.
+
+The first meal served on the _Baron Korff_ on our voyage was supper.
+Fifteen foreigners and five Russians sat down to the table together.
+None of the foreigners, at least, knew what to expect from the culinary
+department. The meat was served, and was sparingly partaken of, on
+the supposition that, after the fashion of other steamers, four or
+five other courses would follow. Then came a long wait. The plates
+were removed, and still we waited. The minutes lengthened into a full
+quarter of an hour, and at length the one overworked waiter appeared,
+bearing, not the expected fish or vegetables or salad or dessert, but
+_the brass samovar_, and we knew a tumbler of tea was all that was to
+be expected. The craning of necks as the long-delayed waiter entered
+the room, and the expressions of disappointment when his sole burden
+was discovered, were amusing. But though some went hungry to bed the
+first night, Experience, the mother of wisdom, taught a needed lesson
+for all travellers on the Amour River--to lay in a sufficient store
+from the first platter, and not trust to the “hereafter.” After that no
+one omitted the first course.
+
+I dwell somewhat at length on these details, because, so far as my
+experience of Siberian river-steamers goes--and this experience became
+somewhat large and varied before we reached Stretinsk, twenty days
+later--they are characteristic of all river travel in Siberia.
+
+The steward, to whom I have already alluded, was a sadly overworked
+individual. He was waiter, cook, bell-boy, chambermaid, boots, and
+man-of-all-work for all the twenty first-class passengers, and, as can
+be imagined, no grass was allowed to grow under his feet. To be sure,
+his duties as chambermaid were merely nominal, for every one took care
+of his own room, furnished his own bedding, and made his own bed, and
+all had to wash in a common lavatory and furnish their own towel, soap,
+and, of course, all toilet articles. This common washroom arrangement
+was the most unpleasant feature of the _Baron Korff_, and we had
+occasionally to remind ourselves that we were in the extreme boundaries
+of Siberia. Who, then, had a right to look for all the luxuries of the
+latest civilization?
+
+[Illustration: ON THE SHORE OF THE AMOUR]
+
+At length we were embarked on the long river journey to which we had so
+long been looking forward, and about which we had heard such various
+and contradictory reports. For months we had made it a point to inquire
+of every one likely to know concerning the trans-Siberian route. No
+two people agreed concerning it, or came within sight of agreement.
+“It can’t be done,” “You can do it easily,” “It will take two months,”
+“You can go through in twenty-two days,” “You will get stuck on the
+sand-bars for weeks,” “You will have no difficulty whatsoever,” “The
+steamers run only occasionally, and do not begin until the 11th of
+June,” “They run every day, and the river is open early in May,” “You
+will need heavy clothes, and all your winter furs,” “You will find
+delightful summer weather,” “You will have to ride in cattle-cars when
+you get to the end of your boat journey,” “You will have the most
+luxurious railway accommodations in the world.”
+
+Such were the varied and miscellaneous bits of misinformation which
+we had been able to pick up in America, Japan, China, and even in
+Vladivostock itself. But now the journey on the great waterway of
+Siberia had begun. The paddle-wheels of the _Baron Korff_ had begun
+to revolve, we were to be among the first few score of people who
+had crossed the Russias by steam, and we should soon know which of
+these conflicting stories were correct, or whether they were all alike
+untrustworthy.
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE LORDLY AMOUR
+
+
+Fair as was the scene that first bright June day on the Amour, we could
+not altogether forget that we were in Siberia, for, as the lines of the
+_Baron Korff_ were cast off, another steamer of like pattern anchored
+just beyond moved out of our way, and we saw that she was towing a
+convict barge, and the faces of the poor fellows bound for dismal exile
+could be seen, pressing close up to the bars of their floating cage.
+These prisoners were bound for Saghalien Island, a thousand miles away,
+at the mouth of the Amour.
+
+No sooner had the _Baron Korff_ gotten clear of the pier than we found
+that she, too, towed a convict barge, and henceforth, for days and
+days, for hundreds of miles, one of these grewsome ships followed
+in our wake, tugged by the same steam-power that carried us along.
+But what a difference! We were journeying in comparative luxury, with
+pleasant company, and all the freedom that a roomy steamer can furnish,
+to friends in Europe, and then to our home in the home land.
+
+They, shut up in a white, floating cage, in narrow quarters, were
+facing exile and misery, and perhaps death, far from their homes and
+kindred. Every revolution of the paddle-wheels was carrying us nearer
+home, and them farther away. What a mockery the bright sunshine and
+green, tree-clad banks, and boundless, free prairies, stretching
+beyond, must have seemed to these cabined, cribbed, confined, hemmed-in
+voyagers!
+
+[Illustration: A PRISON BARGE]
+
+It must be confessed that these particular convict barges from a
+distance did not look either filthy or overcrowded, and closer
+inspection afterwards convinced me that if prisoners must be exiled,
+they could scarcely have expected more comfortable conveyance. Still
+the thought of those fellow-travellers, so near and yet so far from
+the view-point of freedom, hope, and good cheer, cast a shadow on the
+journey whenever we looked at their white prison trailing on behind.
+
+The Amour at Khabaroffsk, though we were more than five hundred miles
+from its mouth, was fully a mile and a half wide, and flowed in a
+strong, full current, which fact we realized for many a day thereafter,
+as we made our slow and toilsome way against it. The Amour is one
+of the few greatest rivers of the world. In length it is equalled
+by no river in Europe, and surpassed only by the Yang-tse-Kiang and
+Yenisei, in Asia, by the Nile and Congo, in Africa, and by the Amazon
+and Mackenzie, in America, though, if we reckon the Mississippi and
+Missouri as one river, it is longer than any of them except the Nile.
+
+The basin drained by the Amour contains over 500,000 square miles. It
+is a singular fact that so many of the great rivers of the world are
+of nearly the same length. The Amour, Yenisei, Mekong, Obi, Hoangho,
+and Lena, in Asia, are all within two or three hundred miles of the
+same length, and all surpass 2500 miles.
+
+The Congo, according to the geographers, is only about a hundred miles
+longer than the Amour, while the Niger is two hundred miles shorter.
+The Amazon is three hundred miles longer than the Amour, the Mackenzie
+a hundred miles longer, while the St. Lawrence falls short of it by six
+hundred miles.
+
+But, in a general way, it may be said that a dozen of the great rivers
+of the world are practically of the same length. Of them all, few are
+more majestic and imperious in their flow, or drain a fairer country
+than the Amour.
+
+Its water is somewhat muddy at Vladivostock, but nothing like the
+consistency of the Mississippi at St. Louis. It cannot not be said to
+be “both food and drink.” As we ascend its swift current it constantly
+grows clearer, until, a thousand miles farther up, it is about the
+color of white wine, and is sweet and wholesome to the taste.
+
+The Amour is unique in the fact that it flows through a fertile country
+which is almost uninhabited, and yet is capable of supporting millions.
+No great cities line its banks, and not many towns that rank larger
+than hamlets. Even these are few and far between, and one journeys
+for half a day at a time without seeing even one little hut among the
+bushes. Its shores are still in their virgin greenery. For hundreds
+of miles at a time one sees not a cultivated field, though doubtless
+some such tilled land lies back from the river and out of sight. Great
+wood-piles for the use of the frequent river-steamers are the most
+common objects that show the hand of man, but even these are often in
+desperately lonely spots, so that one can scarcely believe that they
+were ever visited by human beings. And yet all this immense river basin
+of half a million square miles is apparently fertile and habitable,
+and, when we saw it, was glowing in rich and brilliant verdure. Surely
+the world is not yet over-peopled while such a lordly domain is waiting
+for the plough and the reaper.
+
+To be sure, we saw the Amour Valley in early June, when everything in
+nature is at its freshest and best, and our judgment might have been
+modified had we seen it in December. Still, every country, like every
+man, should be judged at its best and not at its worst.
+
+Promptly at four o’clock the _Baron Korff_ started on her long journey,
+and went zigzagging across the lordly river in order to stem the swift
+current as best she might. On the left-hand side was Chinese Manchuria,
+on the right Russian Siberia. But the Bear has her huge paw on all this
+country, and only by sufferance has she for many years allowed the Sick
+Man of Asia to nominally rule the left bank of the river.
+
+[Illustration: A SIBERIAN RIVER TOWN IN WINTER]
+
+It is a suggestive journey that we are taking on the broad ribbon of
+water that divides two of the greatest nations of the world--the one
+hoary and decrepit, with the weakness of her centuries heavy upon her,
+the other lusty and stout in comparative youth, like a strong young man
+lately come to the consciousness of virile powers.
+
+Two hundred years ago and more China and Russia tried conclusions on
+these same plains of the Amour, and then China came off best. Russian
+garrisons were captured and carried off to Peking, and a treaty was
+concluded ceding all this land back to China. But during these two
+centuries China has daily been growing weaker and more corrupt in her
+senility. Russia has become mightier with each succeeding year.
+
+In 1868, by the treaty of Aigun, so called because of the Chinese town
+on the banks of the Amour, where the treaty was signed, China ceded
+all the country north of the river to the Great Bear, who afterwards
+obtained concession after concession, until she was paramount in all
+Asia north of and including Peking. Then came the last uprising of
+China, which began the very month this journey was made, and which
+again threatened Russia’s domination, at least for a time. Thus the
+shuttlecock of dominion over northern Asia has been thrown back and
+forth between the battledore of Russia and China, and the end is not
+yet.
+
+It will be seen that if this country through which we are making our
+zig-zag route is lonely, it is not devoid of historic interest. It has
+been and is a battle-ground for armies and diplomats, and is likely to
+play a still larger part on the world’s checker-board in the future.
+
+All through the first afternoon and through the long twilight which,
+in these northern latitudes, leaves but a few hours to the night, the
+_Baron Korff_ ploughed her way along the mighty river which seemed to
+be vexed by no other paddles. But so great is its extent that, although
+there are hundreds of steamboats on the river, to meet one is still an
+event.
+
+During the first part of the voyage the Manchurian shore presents the
+most striking scenery. Many bold and picturesque hills come down to the
+water’s edge, clothed from top to toe in living green, the graceful
+boles of the white birch, the most abundant tree, gleaming like pillars
+of silver against the dark background. On the Siberian shore the banks
+are less bold, but seem to present an endless stretch of rich bottom
+lands, where the cattle of the world might graze.
+
+One important and interesting feature on all Amour River boats is the
+constant heaving of the lead, to tell of the treacherous shoals which,
+all up and down the length of the river, lie in wait for every passing
+steamer. Constantly, day and night, week in and week out, stands a man
+near the bow with a stick about ten feet long, loaded at the lower end.
+To the upper end of this pole a cord is attached, which is tied to the
+leadsman’s wrist, and this pole he constantly casts, once a minute on
+the average, to ascertain the depth of the water. The pole is divided
+into foot lengths, each painted a different color, so that he can tell
+at a glance how much water there is when the leaded end strikes bottom.
+When the water is deeper than his pole, he gives no warning cry, but
+when it comes down to nine, eight, seven, six feet, he calls out the
+depth with every cast, to the man at the wheel, and throughout half the
+day and half the night we hear his monotonous sing-song: “shest” (six),
+“shest polovina” (six and one-half), “pyat” (five), “pyat polovina”
+(five and one-half). When the leadsman calls out “pyat,” O helmsman,
+look out, for there is only five feet of water below your water-line,
+and when he calls out “chiteery polovina,” ring “half-speed” down to
+the engine-room, for there is only four feet and a half of water, and
+the _Baron Korff_, flat bottomed as she is, draws four feet.
+
+[Illustration: A THUNDER-STORM BY NIGHT ON THE AMOUR]
+
+These frequent shoals add a spice of excitement to the voyage, for one
+never knows when he may hear the bottom grating on the gravel, and find
+the steamer laid up for an hour or a day or a week on a sand-bar.
+The Amour River, like certain men, spreads itself out too thin, and
+gains breadth at the expense of depth.
+
+The cry of the leadsman reminds one of Mark Twain’s days on the
+Mississippi, only they “mark dva,” and “tree,” and “chiteery,” and
+“pyat,” instead of “mark twain,” and “mark three,” and four, and five.
+When will the genius of the Amour come to the front? And when he comes
+will he call himself “Dva” or “Pyat”?
+
+The second and third days on the _Baron Korff_ were much like the
+first--bright, beautiful, rare days in early June. The breath of
+the flowers came sweet and fresh from either shore, as the steamer
+swept from one side of the river to the other. No grand scenery
+marked these early days of the voyage, but much that was exceedingly
+beautiful, with a quiet loveliness all its own. The whole country has
+a peculiarly finished and cultivated appearance for such a wild and
+almost uninhabited land. Though there are few settlements and fewer
+farms visible from the steamer, there is little of the tangled wildwood
+of our American forests. Much of the country is open and treeless, and,
+where trees abound, they grow in stately ranks, with little undergrowth
+and no impenetrable thickets.
+
+At night the helmsman steers by lights set along the shore at
+advantageous points and at a distance of a few hundred yards from
+each other. These lights are like kerosene street lamps, set on posts
+fifteen or twenty feet high. Some of the lamps are white and others
+red, and, though their light is feeble, they afford points to steer by,
+and boats are able to steam day and night, except when stuck upon a
+sand-bar.
+
+A familiar sight towards evening is the lonely lamplighter in his
+little Rob Roy canoe, the paddles flashing alternately on either side
+in the evening sun. Often he is the only inhabitant along the shore for
+miles and miles, and he must make his solitary rounds alone day after
+day to fill and light his lamps, and is often obliged to scale almost
+inaccessible precipices to get at them, for, wherever it is possible,
+the lamps are placed upon a bluff or headland.
+
+The voyager on the Amour has reason, indeed, to bless the lonely
+lamplighter, and to say to himself, as the steamer ploughs along
+through the darkness, guided by the minute points of light in the
+distance: “How far the little candle throws its beams!”
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+BETWEEN TWO GREAT NATIONS
+
+
+For three days longer we continued to steam on the _Baron Korff_
+between China and Russia. On the third day out from Khabaroffsk the
+scenery grows more charming with every mile. The Amour here passes
+through a cleft in a spur of the Khingan Mountains, which close in on
+her on both the Manchurian and Siberian sides. The hills here are not
+very high, perhaps not more than five hundred feet, but their sides are
+often precipitous and present a sheer wall of rock to the view, through
+which it forces its way with many a swirl and eddy and with tremendous
+force of current, against which our good ship could make but slow
+headway.
+
+[Illustration: ON THE BANKS OF THE AMOUR]
+
+We here remarked again the peculiar open, park-like effect of the
+forests, especially on the Manchurian side. I could scarcely believe
+that these trees in these far Eastern wilds had not been planted
+by man, and that they did not indicate some great baronial estate,
+whose castle, to be sure, was hidden behind the hills. Some beautiful
+hill slopes were covered with stately white birches, without a sign
+of underbrush, but with green grass forming a soft carpet beneath.
+In other places trees with black boles took the place of the white
+birch, but they were at such a distance that I could not determine
+the species, though they looked like oaks. For miles and miles these
+natural parks continued, and even where the park-like effect was not
+so pronounced and beautiful, the lovely open character of the forest
+continued, for nearly the whole of our fifteen hundred miles on the
+Amour. The cause of this beautiful effect I do not know. Perhaps in
+the severe Siberian winters only the fittest survive. The small wood,
+vines, and parasites of all kinds are killed off by the cold, and
+only the hardier and stronger trees remain. Whatever the cause, the
+resultant parks make the banks of the Amour singularly attractive
+during the brief summer.
+
+The approach to a village was a matter of much interest, both to those
+on ship and those on shore. When within a quarter of a mile the captain
+would blow a tremendous blast on the whistle to summon every man,
+woman, and child to the banks. They would all respond with promptness
+and despatch, and come streaming down the bluff to the shore, each
+woman hugging two or three bottles of milk or carrying a pail of butter
+or a basket of eggs or a bowl of sour cream or a great loaf of black
+bread, with a hole in the middle like a huge doughnut. Sometimes a
+woman would appear holding a large goose in her arms as tenderly as
+though it were a baby, the body of the goose being concealed in the
+blouse that covered her ample bosom, while its long neck craned out,
+exhibiting as much interest in the passing show as any one on the
+shore.
+
+The passengers on the ship would all congregate on the upper deck,
+many of them with empty bottles in their hands, to exchange, with ten
+kopeks added, for the full bottles on the shore. There are, of course,
+no docks or piers at these villages along the Amour, and to make fast
+to the shore in this swift and shallow water is a work of time and
+patience. First the anchor is thrown out about a hundred yards from
+the shore, and cable enough is paid out to allow the boat to drift
+within twenty feet of the bank. Then a bowline is carried ashore in the
+ship’s boat and made fast to a tree or a post. A stern line is treated
+in the same way, and by this time the steamer is near enough for the
+long gangplanks to be pulled ashore. A wooden horse is put underneath
+to steady them, and then the eager passengers stream ashore, and there
+is, for a time, a lively barter in milk and eggs and curd cheese and
+black bread, until the market is exhausted or the passengers’ wants
+satisfied.
+
+The villages on the Amour all have a striking family resemblance, and
+usually consist of one or two streets of log-houses, often chinked with
+moss, one or two stores of general merchandise, and, if the village
+is of any size, a handsome Greek church, and a triumphal arch to
+indicate that the czarewitch, in his famous journey to the far East,
+stopped there. Sometimes the arch is anything but majestic in its
+proportions, a mere pitiful little affair of unpainted wood, ten feet
+high, but it indicates the loyalty of the Siberians and their love for
+their “Little Father” just as well as though it was a magnificent and
+imposing work of art. The larger towns, like Vladivostock, Khabaroffsk,
+and Blagavestchensk, all have lofty and imposing arches, blazing with
+colors or shining with burnished copper, as becomes the larger and
+wealthier municipalities.
+
+[Illustration: SOME OF OUR FELLOW-TRAVELLERS. SIBERIAN EMIGRANTS ON THE
+AMOUR]
+
+Just at nightfall on the third day out we passed a Chinese village
+on the Manchurian shore, called into being by some rich gold-mines in
+the vicinity. It is only placer-mining that has yet been attempted,
+and the quartz awaits the enterprise and the machinery of the Western
+nations.
+
+On the fourth day we passed the Chinese town of Aigun, a city of forty
+thousand inhabitants, and noted, as I have before said, as the place
+where the treaty was signed in 1868 which gave all eastern Siberia to
+Russia.
+
+These places, even from the steamer’s deck, mellowed and sweetened
+as they were by distance, looked dirty and wretched and squalid, and
+showed none of the thrift, neatness, and prosperity of the towns on the
+Russian side. These were the only Chinese towns that border the Amour
+for a thousand miles from Khabaroffsk. Besides them we scarcely saw
+a hut or a wood-pile in Manchuria. Here are vast stretches of virgin
+soil, rich and productive, millions of acres of noble forest, great
+park-like estates, laid out by nature, without a single inhabitant. Yet
+there are uncounted millions of Celestials huddled together in hundreds
+of cities and thousands of reeking villages in China, who need this
+sweet air and the wide freedom of these Manchurian fields, which for
+centuries have belonged to the “Middle Kingdom.” That the Chinaman has
+not occupied his own domain is the more remarkable, for he is in a way
+an enterprising individual and often leaves home to seek “fresh fields
+and pastures new.” He finds his home in America and Australia, in the
+Sandwich Islands and Manila, in the Straits Settlement and Colombo, in
+Japan and Corea--even across the Amour into Russian territory he has
+wandered in large numbers, while much of his own country is still a
+wilderness. I suppose the fact is that the Chinaman knows a good thing
+in the way of a stable and just government when he sees it, as well
+as the rest of mankind, and that he does not propose to develop a
+country where he will be robbed and pillaged under the form of law, and
+the fruits of his toil taken away from him as soon as they are ripe.
+
+[Illustration: SOME OTHER FELLOW-PASSENGERS. RUSSIAN OFFICERS AND THEIR
+FAMILIES]
+
+Almost every day our steamer had to take on a fresh supply of wood,
+for she had a vast appetite for birch and pine. Fortunately there was
+enough to satisfy the most voracious of furnaces. When wooding-up time
+came at night, it was a most picturesque sight. Two great flares would
+be built of large logs on either side of the gangplank, a cord of the
+best wood being piled on at one time to light up the scene. Then the
+roustabouts from the steamer would tumble ashore, each with a long,
+stout pole and a strap to go over his shoulders. Two roustabouts,
+working in partnership, would then lay down their poles and pile the
+heavy sticks upon them till they had as much as they could carry.
+Then, hitching the straps over their shoulders, they would hoist their
+load hip high and rush it on board. The banks down which they had to
+carry the wood were often steep and slippery, and the gangplank was
+long and unsteady, and there was many a slip and a spill between the
+wood-pile and the steamer’s hold. But these minor accidents made the
+scene all the more interesting from the passengers’ point of view. How
+the roustabouts looked at the matter I cannot tell. At any rate, they
+good-naturedly made the best of it, without any profanity that English
+ears could understand, picked up themselves and their wood, and started
+on again.
+
+The fourth and fifth days on the Amour were cold and rainy, but we
+comforted ourselves for the discomfort of the weather by remembering
+that the rain would raise the river, which was exceptionally low, and
+perhaps enable the _Baron Korff_ to reach Blagavestchensk.
+
+[Illustration: A TRIUMPHAL ARCH IN HONOR OF THE CZAREWITCH’S JOURNEY
+THROUGH SIBERIA]
+
+On the afternoon of the fourth day we reached a little village, which
+consisted mostly of wood-pile, and here the wait continued hour after
+hour. No one knew the cause of the delay, and the Russian of none
+of the foreign passengers was equal to the strain of finding out.
+At last it was rumored that the _Baron Korff_ could go no farther,
+and that we must wait for a boat of lighter draught to take us up to
+Blagavestchensk. After several hours, two other steamers came sweeping
+down the river, and brought up with a graceful curve and flourish, like
+a stage-coach in the olden times, at our anchorage. They were little
+boats, cramped and dirty as compared with the _Baron Korff_, and many
+were the groans of the passengers that the change must be made. But low
+water is no respecter of persons, and we were told that at four o’clock
+in the morning we must make the transfer. At midnight, however, the
+captain changed his mind and concluded to scrape through if he could,
+so, getting up steam, at two o’clock he started. The critical shallows
+were reached. The _Baron_ scraped and grated on the sandy bottom. A
+half inch less of water and she would have been stranded, perhaps for
+a day. But the captain whistled down the speaking-tube for full speed
+ahead, the engineer opened the throttle-valve, the engine responded,
+and, with a mighty shove and jerk, our great leviathan pushed herself
+over the shallows and into the deeper water beyond. It was a “close
+call,” but on the Amour, as elsewhere, an inch is as good as an ell.
+
+About eight o’clock in the evening, precisely five days after
+leaving Khabaroffsk, the beautiful spires of the great churches of
+Blagavestchensk appeared in sight above the tree-tops, and, sweeping
+around a bend in the river and heading due north, we were soon
+alongside the bustling wharf of the metropolis of eastern Siberia. In
+these five days from Khabaroffsk we had journeyed nine hundred and
+eighteen versts, or about six hundred miles, having made an average of
+less than five miles an hour, which is about the average rate of speed
+on the Amour River when there are no extraordinary delays. Here ended
+the first stage of our river journey, for now we must wait two days
+and then change to a smaller steamer that can more easily scrape over
+the shallows that are before us on the upper reaches of the river.
+
+[Illustration: A MODEST TRIUMPHAL ARCH AT A LITTLE SIBERIAN VILLAGE]
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+A SIBERIAN CAPITAL
+
+
+Blagavestchensk, a mouthful of a name for any one but a Russian, is a
+surprising city to be found in the heart of the wild woods of eastern
+Siberia.
+
+Almost immediately after our departure it was besieged by the Chinese
+and became well known the world around as one of the storm-centres of
+the Yellow Tempest. But I must confess that my knowledge of geography
+was so defective that I had scarcely heard the name of this city three
+weeks before I saw it.
+
+[Illustration: “EACH WOMAN HUGGING TWO OR THREE BOTTLES OF MILK”]
+
+Had I been particularly conceited on this point, my geographical pride
+would have received a severe blow, for here is the natural metropolis
+of a vast section, as large as all New England, with New York,
+Pennsylvania, and New Jersey thrown in. Here is a city of nearly 40,000
+inhabitants, with wide streets, as fine blocks for its leading banks
+and stores as Portland, Maine, or Portland, Oregon, could show, or any
+of the smaller cities of the Union; very comfortable hotels, and at
+least five really fine churches.
+
+The glories of Blagavestchensk, moreover, are not in the past by any
+means, but largely in the future, as is evidenced by the amount of
+new building going on. Piles of brick, masons and hod-carriers, and
+carpenters and stone-cutters, are seen everywhere, busy at their
+trades, and it is evident that Blagavestchensk is preparing for the
+time when the Siberian Railway will be completed from Stretinsk to
+Khabaroffsk, and still further add to her importance as the chief
+city on the Amour--indeed, the chief city between Lake Baikal and the
+Pacific.
+
+We did not have time, however, to make these observations on the
+evening of our arrival, for before the _Baron Korff_ was made
+fast it was half-past nine o’clock, and nearly dark. Having heard
+of the Central Hotel, and knowing not whether it was good, bad, or
+indifferent, we directed the drosky man to drive thither, which he did,
+and soon set us down in front of a large brick building of imposing
+dimensions. But here our troubles began. No office could be discovered.
+No one seemed to be in charge. The register which hung in the front
+hall--a large blackboard with the numbers of the rooms written in
+chalk--indicated that every room, with one exception, was full. At
+last a peasant, in Russian blouse and top-boots, appeared who seemed
+to belong to the establishment; but, alas! he spoke a word of naught
+but Russian. To polyglot inquiries: “Do you speak English?” “Sprechen
+Sie Deutsch?” “Parlez-vous français?” he responded with a “nyet,” and a
+helpless shake of the head. At length his instinct, or our bad Russian,
+enabled him to understand that we wished lodgings for the night, and
+he showed us to a large room with a single narrow bed, a sofa, and some
+chairs.
+
+But there were four in this particular party that sought the shelter
+of the Central Hotel--two ladies, a small boy, and a man. It was
+evident that all could not be accommodated in these limited quarters.
+What could be done about it? All the other hotels were crowded. It
+was ten o’clock at night, and we were on the sidewalk outside of this
+thoroughly Russian hotel, with our baggage unloaded from the tarantass.
+At this opportune moment our good genius came to our rescue in the
+shape of a young Russian lieutenant who spoke French, and who insisted
+on my sharing his room with him, so that the ladies and the small boy
+might have the only vacant room. Moreover, he acted as translator,
+asked for another bed, arranged prices, and in every possible way
+became our guide, interpreter, and friend. I shared his room for two
+days, and when I tried to pay for my part of it he absolutely refused,
+saying, with the utmost delicacy, but with firm insistence: “I could
+not think of it. You are my guest.”
+
+Would such graceful and delicate hospitality be found in New York,
+or Chicago, or London? I very much doubt it, or whether the average
+American, or even the exceptional American, would have taken a
+foreigner into his room, and, for a couple of days, concerned himself
+for the welfare of a party of absolute strangers.
+
+Our good angel in military clothes had recently graduated at the
+Russian West Point, and had been stationed at Nikolskoie, on the
+Siberian frontier. He was on his way to visit his mother at St.
+Petersburg, and thence to the Paris Exposition. As I expected to travel
+farther with him, I neglected to learn his name. But he was detained at
+the last moment, and I shall not be able to send him my acknowledgment
+of his kindness by post, and I can scarcely hope that he will read
+them in this account of our travels. What I think will please him
+most, however, could he but see it in print, I will record here, that
+such kindness and delicate consideration I believe to be characteristic
+of the great people of whom he is such a worthy representative.
+
+[Illustration: THE LEADING HOTEL, BLAGAVESTCHENSK]
+
+While we are still at the hotel, it may give some idea of Siberian
+hostelries of the better class if I say that the rooms at the Central
+were large and comfortably furnished, but there were some peculiarities
+which strike a traveller as odd. A bed with a mattress upon it is
+provided, but no blankets, sheets, or pillows. A common wash-room, not
+over tidy, served all the guests, and such a thing as a bath-tub or
+a bath-room seemed unknown. Every guest is expected to bring his own
+bedding, towels, and soap. Not knowing this, we naturally asked for
+sheets and blankets and pillows and towels, which, after some delay,
+were brought, though only one sheet, blanket, and pillow apparently
+could be raised.
+
+What was my surprise to have a lengthy bill brought when I came to
+leave, for I was conscious of having had but few “extras.” When I
+inquired for a translation of the items, the waiter pointed to the
+different articles ordered the night before, and then to the cabalistic
+words upon the bill, and I learned that the charge was: Blanket, 25
+kopeks; sheet, 20 kopeks; pillow, 30 kopeks; towel, 15 kopeks. No
+wonder the bill was a long, if not a large, one. The room itself
+was only two roubles and a half, or one dollar and a quarter, for a
+large double room, and the _table d’hôte_ meals, which consisted of
+soup, meat, dessert, and tea, cost 80 kopeks (40 cents). Breakfast
+was served in our rooms, and normally consisted of tea made on the
+spot in a porcelain teapot, with water boiling hot from the samovar,
+very nice and refreshing, with lemon as a substitute for milk, and
+bread-and-butter. We did not attempt the coffee, which is not the
+national drink, and does not compare with the tea. On tea and
+bread-and-butter the Russian would be sure to break his fast, though
+eggs might be had by the Outlander, if he should insist upon it.
+
+[Illustration: THE CEMETERY AT BLAGAVESTCHENSK]
+
+It so happened that the day after our arrival at Blagavestchensk was
+the emperor’s birthday, and all the city was in holiday mood. But it
+seemed to take its pleasure seriously, if not sadly, as the English
+are said to do. A few flags were flying, the churches were open, and
+the stores were closed, and a general air of solemnity pervaded the
+town. The great German store of Kunst & Albers was religiously closed
+in front and the curtains drawn, but I was told that it had a back
+door, like the saloons in Maine. As my conscience did not compel me to
+observe the emperor’s birthday sacredly, I sought the side entrance,
+where I made some necessary purchases.
+
+I may mention for the benefit of future travellers that many of the
+necessaries of life cost about the same in eastern Siberia as in
+New York--linen collars two dollars a dozen, cuffs twice that sum,
+shirts, underclothing, and other dry goods in like proportion. Two
+of the stores in Blagavestchensk, Kunst & Albers and a Russian store
+nearly opposite, are really palatial in proportions and equipment. The
+department store has blossomed out in full proportions in Siberia, and
+it is far more surprising to find such a store as I have mentioned in
+Blagavestchensk than to find Wanamaker’s, in Philadelphia, or Jordan &
+Marsh, in Boston.
+
+Here you find books and bric-à-brac, pipes and pickles, flowers and
+flat-irons, oil and oysters, waistcoats and watches, indigo and
+icons. Here were attentive clerks and cash-boys (Chinese cash-boys,
+by-the-way), cashier girls in their little elevated desks, receiving
+the money, and all the conveniences and appliances of the great modern
+establishments.
+
+[Illustration: ONE OF BLAGAVESTCHENSK’S BEAUTIFUL CHURCHES]
+
+But the chief interest in Blagavestchensk centred in the churches on
+the day of our visit, especially in the blue and green military church.
+Here a high mass was held in honor of the emperor. The church was
+crowded with soldiers and peasants, and all were most devout and
+earnest. Old peasants would come in, and, though there was scarcely
+standing room, would spread down their bandannas, and, kneeling on
+them, would touch their grizzled forelocks to the floor, and then
+rise and join heartily in the service. This was conducted chiefly
+by a priest in beautiful robes of cloth of gold, whose magnificent
+bass voice chanted the service as I never heard it rendered before.
+A sweet-voiced choir of boys answered the priest, and the whole
+congregation joined reverentially, but in stentorian tones, in part
+of the service. Behind the altar and facing the officiating priest,
+whose back was to the audience, stood a figure clad, apparently, in
+pure gold, and with a golden mitre upon its head. Whether man or image
+I could not at first make out. But it stood so immovable, and was
+apparently so solidly built of gold, that I concluded it was an image,
+a huge icon, which did duty in the soldiers’ church. I thought that I
+detected the image solemnly winking, but the moment after I concluded
+that I was the victim of an optical illusion. Nothing so stately,
+solemn, and immovable could wink. It was almost sacrilegious to think
+of such a thing. But when I had fully made up my mind to the icon
+theory, the golden image stepped from behind the altar, and, coming to
+the front, an attendant took off his heavy mitre, and in a deep, rich
+voice, he intoned the part of the service that fell to his share.
+
+Bowing to the cross, his golden garments wrinkled and bent like the
+scales of a fish, or like the chain-armor of an ancient knight whose
+corselet was of pure gold. Never have I seen in any church or temple,
+in Christendom or pagandom, such gorgeous vestments or a more stately
+service. I only hope that it was as intelligently devout as it was
+gorgeous and impressive.
+
+[Illustration: A GREAT DEPARTMENT STORE IN BLAGAVESTCHENSK, WITH
+MARKET-PLACE IN FRONT]
+
+Some of the Greek priests, whose writings I have read, like Father
+John, of Kronstadt, are as deeply imbued with the Spirit of God as
+Thomas à Kempis or John Tauler of old, or as Andrew Murray and F. B.
+Meyer of the present day. A fine, sweet, mystical vein runs through
+their writings, which shows that they have seen the Invisible and heard
+the Inaudible, and their writings are as refreshing as a draught of
+clear spring water in this thirsty commercial age.
+
+So may it have been with the holy fathers of Blagavestchensk! I could
+not judge, for all their service was to me in an unknown tongue. I will
+give them the full benefit of the doubt.
+
+The streets of Blagavestchensk on this holiday were full of soldiers,
+who marched in orderly file from their barracks to the church and
+back again. They were fine, stalwart, manly fellows, marching in
+perfect alignment, and with an easy swing which did one’s eyes good to
+see, after beholding for a few weeks the slouchy straggle of Chinese
+soldiers. They were an orderly, well-behaved lot, too, and I saw no
+rioting or drunkenness. The log-cabin which served as a soldiers’
+guard-house seemed to have few occupants. The soldiers did not know
+how soon their holiday manners would be changed into grim and deadly
+warfare with the yellow men on the opposite bank of the Amour.
+
+Blagavestchensk, though it has a few large and imposing buildings, is
+largely a log-built city. Nine-tenths of the houses are of hewn logs,
+but most of them are prettily painted and are not without appropriate
+ornamentation. I never had believed that a log-house city could be so
+picturesque and substantial in appearance.
+
+Upon the churches the people have lavished their chief wealth. At least
+three of them are costly and beautiful buildings that would do honor
+to any European capital, and a fourth that is building will, when
+completed, surpass them all. It is really a building of remarkable
+stateliness and beauty.
+
+[Illustration: AN UPPER AMOUR RIVER STEAMER
+
+Buriats’ hut in foreground]
+
+In the cathedral I saw for the first time the Black Christ and the
+Black Virgin, which are often seen in Greek churches. The pictures in
+all the churches impressed me as a much higher grade of art than one
+sees in the ordinary church on the continent of Europe.
+
+When we were in Blagavestchensk we had little thought that this
+obscure capital was so soon to figure in the world’s telegrams, or
+that it could be besieged and bombarded by the Chinese. But history
+in the far East was making itself rapidly about that time, and we
+had scarcely left Blagavestchensk a week behind, when the apparently
+peaceful Celestials, inspired from Peking, attacked and for a long time
+bombarded this inoffensive city.
+
+As I write, the outcome of the immediate conflict is still in the
+balance, but it can scarcely be doubted that in the long run the Giant
+of the North will win his way through Siberia and Manchuria into the
+heart of China, and that the siege of Blagavestchensk will really
+hasten the awakening of China from her sleep of the ages.
+
+On the evening of the second day, we were glad to take passage once
+more for the upper reaches of the Amour, the most difficult, uncertain,
+and tedious part of our journey.
+
+“_If you have tears, prepare to shed them now_” might have been our
+motto as we went aboard the crowded little steamer and realized that
+Stretinsk, the terminus of our river journey, was 1197¼ versts away,
+and that, much of the way, less than four feet of water separated our
+keel from the sandy bottom of the Amour. But how we scraped over the
+sand-banks from Blagavestchensk to Stretinsk must be reserved for
+“another story.”
+
+[Illustration: ON THE UPPER AMOUR]
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+AGROUND IN THE AMOUR
+
+
+Two Mississippi River captains were once conversing as to the merits of
+their respective steamers as light-draught boats. One claimed that his
+steamer could run in a good heavy dew. The other, not to be outdone,
+claimed that that was nothing, for his boat could run on the sweat
+of an ice-pitcher. It is this latter kind of boat that is needed on
+the upper reaches of the Amour River, as we began to think before we
+were many miles from Blagavestchensk. We had scarcely gone five miles
+before we heard that peculiar crunching, scraping, gritty sound which
+we came to know so well. The paddle-wheels revolved fruitlessly for
+a few minutes, but it was no use, and we knew that we were hard and
+fast aground in less than three feet of water. For hours the boatmen
+worked with might and main, and at last we could feel that there was
+water under our keel and that we were making slow progress against the
+current once more. But we had scarcely been moving another hour when
+c-r-u-n-c-h, s-c-r-a-p-e, s-t-o-p, and there we were stuck on another
+sand-bank. The captain seemed to tear his hair in despair, and well he
+might, for Stretinsk was 1187 versts away, and we had scarcely come
+ten versts in ten hours from Blagavestchensk. If it requires ten hours
+to do ten versts, how long will it take to reach Stretinsk, was an
+appalling problem in mental arithmetic.
+
+However, we made somewhat better progress after getting off the second
+time, and the hope that springs eternal in the human breast kept us
+from despair of reaching in time the important engagement at our
+journey’s end.
+
+[Illustration: TUMBLING ASHORE FROM THE _ADMIRAL CHICACHOFF_]
+
+The _Ivan Vishnegradskie_ was a much smaller steamer than the _Baron
+Korff_, and consequently much more crowded. Especially were the
+third-class passengers much in evidence, for there were no steerage
+accommodations, and they were obliged to lie about anywhere as best
+they could, in the passages, on the companion-way, huddled on the
+boiler deck, lying out on the wood-pile or anchor chains; every
+available foot of deck room had its two human feet to occupy it.
+
+It is said that the birth-rate of Siberia is higher than any other
+country in the world, amounting to fifty-six in the thousand. I could
+well believe it as I saw the uncounted, tow-headed babies tucked into
+every nook and cranny of the _Ivan Vishnegradskie_. Head to heel and
+heel to head, they lay, with their fathers and mothers and older
+brothers and sisters lying about them four square, building, as it
+were, a sort of living rampart around the family compound. It was
+pathetic to see a mother lay her three little children out in a row,
+with the croupy baby in the middle, while she herself sat in the
+draughty doorway all night long to shield them from the wind.
+
+    “She bared her bosom to the storm,
+    And smiled to think her babe was warm.”
+
+For two days we sailed on this crowded little craft. The river turns
+almost due north after leaving Blagavestchensk. A very tortuous stream
+is the Amour from here on, turning and twisting and doubling on itself
+like a huge serpent writhing in agony. Following its twistings we made
+very little progress, even when we could steam all day long, which the
+treacherous shoals did not often allow us to do. The shores on either
+side were often picturesque and beautiful, and sometimes grand and
+striking, with bare cliffs of rock rising sheer from the water’s edge
+to a height of four or five hundred feet.
+
+The park-like effect of the clean, open woods continued, and made it
+difficult to believe that the country had not been thickly inhabited
+for a thousand years, except that the utter absence of habitations
+dispelled the illusion.
+
+On the second day out from Blagavestchensk we were obliged to change
+steamers and take up our abode in the _Admiral Chicachoff_, the
+regular steamer of this line, which had not been able to get so far
+down the river as the above-named city. The _Admiral_ was a somewhat
+larger boat than the _Ivan_, and had much better accommodations for
+the steerage passengers, who no longer had to sleep in doorways and
+draughty passages, but had the after upper deck roofed over for their
+accommodation. The steamers of the line on which we were embarked
+carried the government mail, and were supposed to be more sure of
+reaching their destination than the other river-steamers, of which
+there are many lines on the Amour.
+
+Frequently we passed other steamers going down with the current at a
+famous rate of speed compared with our slow and toilsome ascent of the
+river. More often we passed great rafts of timber, with little bark
+huts built upon them, in which families lived and moved and had their
+being for weeks and perhaps months at a time, as they let the force
+of the current carry them down the stream, and tied up to the bank
+at night to avoid the passing steamers. Sometimes the rafts would be
+loaded with horses that seemed to enjoy their floating quarters, and
+who lived off the country, for it was only necessary to tie the raft to
+the shore and drive its living freight into the rich pasturage, which
+in many places could be obtained free, gratis, for nothing.
+
+[Illustration: CHILDREN OF EMIGRANTS PICKING WILD FLOWERS ON THE BANKS
+OF THE AMOUR]
+
+The monotony of the voyage was varied by a stop once or twice every
+twenty-four hours to take on wood, or at some little log village on
+the river’s margin. On the occasion of these stops the passengers
+would tumble ashore almost before the gangplank made connections, and
+would spend the time as the fancy seized them, in the woods or on the
+pebbly margin of the river. The youngsters would scale the bluffs,
+which usually abounded near the wood-piles, or would come back from
+the meadows laden with great armfuls of beautiful wild flowers. Lilies
+of the valley seemed to abound everywhere, violets, blue and white
+forget-me-nots, lady slippers, and another beautiful orchid somewhat
+similar, which I have never seen elsewhere. In other places, blue
+honeysuckles were found, and yellow lilies, and Solomon’s seal, and the
+yellowest of buttercups. Indeed, the flora of the country seemed to be
+exceedingly extensive, embracing most of the spring flowers with which
+I am familiar in New England, except the arbutus, and many flowers that
+I had never seen before. The trees were mostly white and yellow birch,
+poplar, white oak, soft maple, larch, and pine. The wood-piles, cut
+for the use of the river steamers, were interminable, and consisted of
+beautiful, straight, knotless sticks of birch and pine that it seemed a
+pity to sacrifice in the rapacious maw of our never-satisfied boilers,
+to go up in smoke and sparks.
+
+While the smaller fry were racing on the shore or gathering wild
+flowers, their more sedate elders among the steerage passengers would
+kindle a little fire of driftwood on the shore and cook a savory
+pot of stew to vary the crude monotony of their daily fare. Or the
+forethoughtful mothers would improve the opportunity to scrub their
+offspring or wash their clothes, pounding the latter upon the stones.
+Sometimes we would get a delicious bath in the clear, cold water which,
+less than a month ago, was bound with icy fetters, for the weather,
+much of the time, was extremely warm. The summers of Siberia are short
+and fiercely hot. Vegetation has to be forced to maturity by Dame
+Nature in six weeks, instead of taking six months, as she would do in
+more leisurely climes.
+
+Many patches of snow and ice still lingered upon the banks, and it
+could have been comparatively but few days since all the country
+was snow-bound. Yet every tree seemed to be in full leaf, and ferns
+and grasses in many places were knee-high and were growing with the
+lustiness and vigor of a tropical summer.
+
+[Illustration: AN EMIGRANT HOUSE ON THE UPPER AMOUR]
+
+Our new steamer was no more exempt from the prosaic perils of the
+sand-bar than the one we had just left, for, before we had finished the
+first day we had run hard aground in a place where the current was very
+swift, and where it was very difficult to get off. For seventeen hours
+our officers and crew worked with a will, but to no effect. First huge
+poles, like iron-shod battering-rams, as big as telegraph poles, which
+could barely be lifted by six men, were hitched to the windlass by a
+wire rope, and, with this, every effort was made to pry us off. But
+all utterly failed. Then two telegraph poles were rigged, and finally
+three, but all in vain. In the useless effort, three or four of these
+huge pries were broken off short, and yet the little steamer did not
+budge. Then, to lighten ship, the convict barge, which all these days
+had been following in our wake, was towed alongside, and all the
+passengers were requested to go on board of her.
+
+This gave us an opportunity to visit our fellow-passengers behind the
+bars, if I may so call those who were propelled by the same steam and
+were hitched to us by a single cable. It must be confessed that they
+were not bad-looking fellows as men average, and the impartial visitor,
+had he been asked to pick out the convicts by their looks, would, very
+likely, have chosen the hardened criminals from among the free men on
+top of the barge, instead of from among those whom the law had put
+into the cage below. Possibly even some of the first-class passengers
+who had paid thirty roubles for their voyage would have been chosen,
+instead of those who had fare and board paid by the government. My
+idea of the severity with which Russia treats her Siberian exiles
+was also modified when I saw the clean and comparatively comfortable
+quarters of the prisoners, which compared most favorably with the
+steerage accommodations on our own steamer. There were not many
+prisoners in the cage, and they were going from the crowded prisons of
+Vladivostock or Khabaroffsk to other prisons in the interior. One poor
+fellow was landed at a little river town, and in his heavy felt boots
+and overcoat, though it was a broiling day, was marched between two
+soldiers to a new prison, or, perhaps, handed over to some man who had
+bought his labor for a time.
+
+[Illustration: THE MEN BEHIND THE BARS ON THE PRISON BARGE]
+
+But we had gone aboard the convict barge to lighten our ship, and not
+to inspect the prisoners. It was all of no avail, however, and some new
+method must be tried. So an anchor was carried out into mid-stream,
+two hundred yards away, perhaps; the steam windlass was again brought
+into play and, little by little, inch by inch, we were coaxed off the
+sand-bar, the flat bottom creaking and groaning as the steamer scraped
+along, as though unwilling to leave her comfortable bed. Seventeen
+hours had been wasted, and not a third of our voyage had been
+accomplished.
+
+After this experience our captain was very cautious, and when he came
+to shallow places would anchor, and often spent several hours in a
+small boat in ascertaining the channel and marking it with sticks
+driven into the sand. Then the _Admiral_ would start up slowly and
+warily. Two men, one on either side of the bow, with sounding-poles,
+would constantly take the water and report to the first officer of
+the deck above, who shouted it back to the man at the wheel. “Vosem”
+(eight), “sem” (seven), “shest” (six), he would call, and no one would
+feel anxious, for the _Admiral_ only draws two feet and a half; but
+when it came to “pyat polovina” (five and one-half), to “pyat” (five),
+or to “chiteery” (four), we began to be interested.
+
+When, in stentorian tones, the leadsman would call “trees polovina”
+(three and one-half), and his mate on the other side would call
+“trees,” and the first officer would shout to the wheel, “trees,” we
+would positively hold our breath, and sit more lightly in our chairs
+to ease the ship, until again the leadsman would reassuringly cry
+“chiteery,” “pyat,” “shest,” “sem,” and we would feel that we were
+safely over one more bar.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+ON THE SHILKA
+
+
+Our progress up the Amour was slow but not sure. Time after time the
+experience described in the last chapter would be repeated. We would
+touch bottom, scrape on the sand, the engines would make desperate
+efforts to pull us off into deep water, but would finally give up in
+despair, slow down, stop altogether, and for one hour, or ten, or
+twenty, we must possess our souls in patience, until, with infinite
+pains, our craft was floated once more.
+
+[Illustration: THE HILL-SIDES WERE CARPETED WITH FLOWERS]
+
+We were told before starting that the journey from Blagavestchensk
+to Stretinsk would not take more than seven days, or seven days and
+one-half; but seven times twenty-four hours passed and Stretinsk was
+still four hundred miles away, and not half the distance had been
+traversed. The alarming tale was circulated that the water was falling
+at the rate of two inches a day. The usual story about this being an
+extraordinary season was current--“not for thirteen years had the water
+been so low,” etc. I am inclined to think that every year on the Amour
+is “extraordinary,” and that, especially in the month of June, those
+who essay this journey must count on spending as much time on the
+sand-banks as in deep water.
+
+Still, for those who are in no haste to reach their journey’s end,
+who can put up with very indifferent food, and who can good-naturedly
+accept the inevitable, there are many and delightful compensations in
+this new way around an old world. The scenery throughout the whole
+journey is pleasing, and, much of the way, it is extremely beautiful.
+A hundred miles beyond Blagavestchensk we passed some remarkable high
+bluffs, seamed with coal or lignite in narrow, diagonal veins. In many
+places this coal had caught fire, and for years had been burning with
+an unquenchable flame. The scene, as we passed, was one of striking
+beauty. The sun was just setting behind the western hills, lighting up
+the evening clouds with golden and crimson glory. The broad river swept
+in a grand and graceful curve around a pine-clad mountain that towered
+a thousand feet above its placid waters, while, as the light of the
+dying day waned, glowing jewels appeared in the mountainside, where the
+burning coal was afire, or little bursts of flame, as from a hundred
+gas-jets, lit up the gaunt and seamy cliff.
+
+[Illustration: A TYPICAL WATER-TOWER ON THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY]
+
+Two days later, and a hundred miles farther on, the same scene was
+repeated with a still lovelier variation. Again it was just at the hour
+of setting sun, the most delicious of all the day, for the boiling heat
+of the day was over, and the cool breezes of evening had begun to blow.
+On the Chinese shore of the great river high cliffs like the Palisades
+of the Hudson stretched westward for miles, with tops as even and
+flat as Table Mountain at Cape Town. Here and there, throughout their
+whole length, these cliffs, too, were seamed and veined with fire.
+Oftentimes green shrubs overhung the seams of coal, or pine-trees grew
+below them, their upper branches athwart the narrow line of fire, so
+that again the Scripture miracle seemed to be repeated, and the burning
+bush was not consumed. Imagine the Palisades on a wilder and grander
+scale, illuminated by their own internal fires, and you have an idea of
+this night scene on the Amour.
+
+Seven days out from Blagavestchensk, the day we should have completed
+our river journey, we again stuck fast on a sand-bar for nearly twenty
+hours. This delay was all the more uncomfortable on account of the
+extreme heat, unalleviated by the breeze caused by the boat’s motion,
+and the discomfort was aggravated by innumerable huge green-headed
+flies, larger than the biggest horse-fly I ever saw in America. These
+flies showed all the idiosyncrasy of the average house-fly in returning
+time after time, with the utmost persistence, to the same unguarded
+spot on ear, or nostril, or back of neck, and, being about ten times as
+large, their attentions were fully ten times as unpleasant as those of
+the house-fly.
+
+At length we rubbed our way, inch by inch, over the shallows and into
+deeper water, and an hour later found ourselves at Albazin, a small
+and decayed village four hundred miles from Blagavestchensk. Albazin
+has no glories in the present, but it is famous as the place where,
+two hundred years ago, a Russian garrison was defeated by the Chinese,
+and four hundred prisoners carried off to Peking. As a result of this
+victory a treaty of peace was concluded, and the north bank of the
+Amour again became Chinese territory. The Great Bear of the North is
+sometimes defeated and retreats to her den, but it is only to nurse her
+wounds and to come out again, stronger than ever, to win, either by
+arms or diplomacy, perhaps two hundred years later, a new victory which
+will wipe out old scores.
+
+[Illustration: THE LIGNITE CLIFFS ON THE AMOUR]
+
+Two hundred years have elapsed since the Russian garrison was carried
+off to Peking, but Albazin is again in Russian territory, which
+stretches fifteen hundred miles beyond to the very shores of the
+Pacific, while Manchuria itself and China, almost to the very gates of
+Peking, seem likely soon to become Russian provinces.
+
+“That, too, is our country,” said a Russian judge, one of our
+travelling companions, as he pointed with a sweep of the hand to the
+Manchurian shore. “That, too, is our country.” And his was no empty
+boast, even if a little premature.
+
+It is an interesting fact that the descendants of the Russian garrison
+carried from Albazin to Peking still live in the Chinese capital. They
+married Chinese wives, but organized a distinct community of their own,
+in which the Greek Church has flourished ever since.
+
+Ten miles from Albazin we stopped at the larger and more flourishing
+town of Renova, that owes its prosperity to some large placer
+gold-mines, which, like all Russian gold-mines, are a government
+monopoly. All gold discovered and dug must be sold to the government
+at a price fixed by it below the market price. Of course, much is
+smuggled out of the country, and such a law is death to genuine private
+enterprise; but the laws are strict, and no foreigner is allowed to
+filch the gold from the czar’s private purse, _i.e._, the bowels of the
+earth.
+
+The next day we reached the final limit of travel on the _Admiral
+Chicachoff_. She could go no farther, and we were transferred to a
+great barge, not unlike the prisoners’ cage which we had been towing
+all this distance. This barge, which for another week was to be our
+abiding-place, drew only one foot and a half of water, and was towed
+by a tug which also drew but eighteen inches. On this craft we were to
+enter the Shilka and stem the current for three hundred miles farther
+to Stretinsk.
+
+Each change we had made was a descent. We had gone from luxury on the
+_Baron Korff_ through different grades of discomfort, until we had come
+to the superlative degree of discomfort on the barge _Diana_.
+
+The men among the first-class passengers were all herded together in
+one cabin, and the women in another, and the decks and passageways
+were so littered with third-class passengers and their belongings,
+that it was with great difficulty that we could pick our way over
+stout, extended legs, and tender baby toes, and peasant women suckling
+still smaller babies, who filled every nook and crevice. Clad in great
+sheepskin garments,
+
+    “With the skinny side out and the woolly side in,”
+
+and with huge top-boots, worn often by the women as well as the men,
+the Moujiks defied the cold night air and the intensely hot mid-day
+sun, always sprawled out, day and night, at full length, except when
+they went ashore at landing-places to cook their scanty meals over a
+brushwood fire.
+
+Of course, exercise under these circumstances was out of the question
+on shipboard, and, as can be imagined, we all made the most of our
+stops at the wood-piles for a little run on shore.
+
+Travel on Siberian rivers, like poverty and politics, makes strange
+bedfellows, and in the men’s cabin were a polyglot company, consisting
+of a German baron, a Swiss consul, a Dane, two French “bounders,” two
+Russians, two Scotchmen, a North of Ireland man, and two Americans. All
+made the best of the situation except the Frenchmen, who sputtered and
+growled at everything, and made themselves generally disagreeable. Like
+Mrs. Gummidge, they seemed to say of all the discomforts: “I feels it
+more than others.” Especially did the food, which indeed was atrocious,
+come in for their objurgations. At last the climax was reached when
+one of these irascible Gauls found that sugar had been put in his
+cabbage. His gastronomic canons were all outraged, and, throwing the
+cabbage, dish and all, out of the window into the river, he flung a
+full bottle of beer at the waiter, narrowly missing a lady’s head, and
+only then felt that his outraged culinary taste had been fully avenged.
+
+[Illustration: THE EVER-PRESENT SAMOVAR]
+
+But for the most the company on the _Diana_ was a happy family, and
+though a “Never Again Society” was proposed (never again to cross
+Siberia by this route), we often consoled ourselves with the reflection
+that things “might be worse.”
+
+On the second day after boarding the barge the Amour, so far as we
+were concerned, came to an end, or, rather, we came to its abrupt
+beginning, for, at a junction point of entrancing scenery, the Argun
+and the Shilka, two great rivers, come together to form the Amour,
+after having pursued their separate and devious ways for hundreds
+of miles. The Argun flows sharply from south to north, the Shilka
+pursues a northeasterly course. To be sure, the Shilka is really the
+Amour, and ought to bear the same name to its source, but for boundary
+purposes the Russians choose to call it another river, and to bound
+their possessions by the left branch of the Amour, called the Argun.
+We turned into the Shilka and were soon steaming against its swiftly
+flowing current.
+
+Now, at length, after coasting along the Manchurian shore for over a
+thousand miles, we leave China and plunge into the heart of Siberian
+Russia. On either side the mountains close in on the Shilka, dipping
+their feet in its rapid, crystal stream, and narrowing it down to
+less than a quarter of a mile in width. Wild and picturesque is the
+scenery for almost the whole distance to Stretinsk. The fertile arable
+land and vast open parks of the Amour give way to rough and rugged
+hill-sides, clad with a growth of small trees, but affording scant
+encouragement for the agriculturist. The villages are fewer and farther
+between, and the scanty houses are of a distinctly poorer type. In
+fact, the whole country is given up to placer gold-mining and to
+cutting wood for the frequent steamers, and almost no cultivation is
+attempted.
+
+[Illustration: SOME FIFTH-CLASS PEOPLE]
+
+It even became difficult, and at last impossible, to secure milk and
+eggs on shore, and some of the scanty fare provided by the steamer’s
+steward might have been called “rotten” by the college boy without
+indulging in slang.
+
+But the natural scenery grew more charming as the evidence of man’s
+handiwork disappeared. The hill-sides were carpeted with flowers;
+lilies of the valley, azaleas, and a half-dozen kinds of rare and
+beautiful orchids abounded everywhere, and the air was fragrant with
+the new-made leaves of birch and pine. Cuckoos struck all hours of the
+day from the deeper forest, and a sylvan beauty that I have rarely
+seen surpassed constantly greeted our eyes.
+
+Frequently during these days on the Shilka we passed great rafts,
+floating down stream with the current, loaded with emigrant families,
+men, women, and children, horses, cattle, and dogs, and all the little
+store of household goods that the poor Moujiks possessed. Sometimes
+a small bateau would contain a family of seven or eight people and
+all their belongings. Occasionally great barges towed by a tug-boat
+would pass us, and these were invariably crowded with such a mass of
+humanity that one wondered how all could stand by day, much less lie
+down by night. These crowded rafts and barges headed eastward were most
+suggestive of Russia’s policy. Hers is a peaceful conquest of the far
+East. First she must fill up the waste places of Siberia, and then she
+can stretch out her hand over all Manchuria and northern China, and
+even in spite of temporary Mongolian uprisings she can hold her own,
+with no fear of a repetition of the disaster of Albazin, and another
+exclusion for centuries from Manchuria.
+
+[Illustration: A RAFT ON THE SHILKA]
+
+With one barge company alone the government has made a contract to
+transport thirty thousand peasants within three months to the lower
+waters of the Amour. Thousands of others will find their way by other
+methods of conveyance. Liberal land laws and government aid while they
+are getting established will result in a few years in tens of thousands
+of log-house homes that in time will make this wilderness to blossom
+like the rose.
+
+As we approached Stretinsk signs of civilization became more numerous.
+Cultivated fields appeared. Winter wheat already seemed to be ripening,
+forced to maturity by a few weeks of the almost continuous sunlight
+of this northern clime. The interesting village of Oost Kara, about
+seventy miles from Stretinsk, lies on the right bank of the Shilka,
+and is supported by extensive gold-mines, which are worked by
+convicts--criminals, not political prisoners, I am told.
+
+At length, on the 21st day of June, thirteen days after leaving
+Blagavestchensk, and twenty-one days after embarking on the Amour at
+Khabaroffsk, we were glad enough to bid good-bye to the _Diana_, its
+crowded decks, and its wretched fare, and still more glad to feel that
+our long river voyage, which had stretched itself out from the twelve
+days which we had expected to twenty-one, was at length at an end, and
+that the rest of the journey would be behind the iron horse on land,
+instead of his aquatic cousin, the puffing steamboat.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+THE TRANS-BAIKAL
+
+
+We had supposed, as has already been remarked, that if we had tears
+to shed, we should need to indulge them on the last part of our river
+journey. But we soon found that we should have saved them all for the
+journey on the Trans-Baikal Railway between Stretinsk and Irkutsk, as
+the sequel will show.
+
+Stretinsk is a raw, shabby, straggling frontier town, whose only excuse
+for being so uninteresting is that it is very new and never thought of
+being a place of any importance until it suddenly found itself, on the
+28th of December, 1899, the terminus of the Trans-Baikal Railway, and
+an important forwarding point for freight and passengers between the
+Atlantic and Pacific. The large railway shops and engine-houses are
+situated across the river from the town, which is connected with them
+by a ferry, ingeniously worked by the swift current of the Shilka, like
+the picturesque ferry at Bonn, on the Rhine. The hotels of Stretinsk
+are wretched inns, and there are absolutely no attractions within the
+town to persuade the traveller to remain. But, in justice even to the
+squalid raggedness of Stretinsk, it must be admitted that fine hills
+encircle it and a noble river washes its feet, for the Shilka, in spite
+of shoals and shallows, is still a mighty stream, and runs even here
+with a large, impetuous flow.
+
+We were glad enough to find that we must remain in Stretinsk only
+thirty-six hours, and that the train which was to carry us to Lake
+Baikal was to start the following night. We were still more rejoiced to
+find that the good governor of Vladivostock, General Tchitchagoff, had
+not forgotten us, but had wired for a special car for our use. The
+car was very small, and held but five people, and, as can be imagined,
+it was not built on the latest Pullman plan, but, as compared with the
+cars assigned to our three hundred fellow-passengers, it was a _car de
+luxe_, indeed.
+
+[Illustration: SIBERIAN RECRUITS BOUND FOR CHINA]
+
+This road is not yet officially opened for traffic, and we were taken
+on sufferance, as it were. At least, most of those who take it have to
+suffer severely. Nor can they complain overmuch, for the government
+does not invite them to go or advertise any attractions. The best cars
+that are yet run, with the exception of the little _car de luxe_, of
+which I have just spoken, are marked “fourth class,” and are no better
+than they pretend to be. They have wooden seats of the hardest possible
+variety, and three wooden shelves, one above another, afford cramped
+opportunity for a man not more than five feet long to stretch himself
+out. Each of these cars, with three tiers of shelves, is supposed to
+afford accommodations for forty-three people. But these are the best,
+as I have said. Others, which might be termed fifth class, if the
+nomenclature of railway trains descended so far, are simply box-cars,
+with no seats, and marked on the outside, “to carry twelve horses
+or forty-three men.” Into these cars there crowded, helter-skelter,
+pell-mell, higgledy-piggledy, Russians and Siberians, Moujiks and
+Chinamen, Tartars, Buriats and Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, and
+Americans.
+
+If there were fifth-class cars, there were plenty of sixth and seventh
+class people--some in rags, and many in tags, but few in velvet gowns.
+Old Moujiks, with half a dozen half-naked children, filthy with a grime
+that has accumulated since their birth, and alive with unmentionable
+parasites, crowded every car, or, rather, human pigpen, as each car
+soon becomes. Odors indescribably offensive made the air thick and
+almost murky. The stench, the dirt, the vermin grew worse the longer
+the car was inhabited, and one simply resigned himself to the
+inevitable and lived through each wearisome hour as best he could.
+
+[Illustration: FOR THIRTY-SIX MORTAL HOURS WE WAITED]
+
+Our non-Russian fellow-passengers, when they found the true state of
+affairs, made a desperate resistance to their fate, and after repeated
+remonstrances, objurgations, and even threats, which nearly came to
+blows, induced the station-master to put on another little car, which
+they could have for themselves.
+
+We fondly hoped that the governor’s kindness had spared us the heaviest
+affliction of the journey; but alas! even the best-hearted governor
+cannot insure all the bridges on the line, and we had not been
+travelling a half-dozen hours when we learned that a bridge had burned
+down twenty miles ahead, owing to the carelessness of a fireman who
+drew the fire on the wooden sleepers, and there we were stranded as
+fast as though on a sand-bar on the Shilka.
+
+For thirty-six mortal hours we waited at that wretched railway town,
+which consisted principally of a round-house and a water-tower, then
+were pulled to the burned bridge, twenty miles away, and, with much
+difficulty and long delay, were transferred to the train on the other
+side. Here our good fortune deserted us. Our comparatively fine car
+could not, of course, cross the bridge, the governor could do nothing
+more for us, and in the general scramble we found ourselves in one of
+those dreadful fourth-class cars I have already described, with the
+Moujiks, the filth, and the vermin destined to be our companions for
+four weary days and nights.
+
+[Illustration: A TRANS-BAIKAL TRAIN. PRISONERS CARRYING WATER]
+
+After passing the burned bridge our train met with no serious delay,
+though our rate of progress was exceedingly moderate. The whole
+distance to Irkutsk is about seven hundred miles, and we managed to
+consume three days and a half of actual travel in covering it. It would
+seem impossible to the uninitiated in Siberian travel that a railway
+train that could go at all could go so slowly. Two hundred miles a
+day, or about eight miles an hour, is scarcely more than post-horses
+would make. This is accounted for by reason of the interminable,
+unreasonable length of the stops at the stations. Our train would
+draw up at a wood-pile and a log-house. The peasants would scramble
+out of the train, build their fires, cook their soup, boil their
+tea, and still the train would wait. There was usually no baggage to
+be taken on or put off, no passengers to join us, no passing train
+to wait for. Water would soon be taken, and still we would wait, a
+half-hour, three-quarters, a full hour. At last, for no particular
+reason, apparently, the station-master would ring a big dinner-bell.
+Five minutes later he would ring another. Then, soon after, the guard
+would blow his whistle, the engineer would respond with the engine
+whistle, the guard would blow again, the engineer would answer him once
+more, and, after this exchange of compliments, the train would move
+leisurely along, only to repeat the process two hours later at the
+next station.
+
+The stops ranged from half an hour to two hours in length, and the
+speed attained about fifteen miles an hour while running. Fortunately
+the stations are few and far between, averaging nearly thirty miles
+apart.
+
+The only towns of any importance on this line are Chita and
+Verkneydinsk, the former about two hundred and the latter about five
+hundred and fifty miles from Stretinsk. Verkneydinsk is a centre of the
+old caravan tea trade, and retains its life in spite of the new railway.
+
+The Trans-Baikal province, which this railway traverses from end
+to end, is the smallest of the six provinces into which Siberia is
+divided, and has about six hundred thousand inhabitants, of whom
+two hundred thousand belong to the aboriginal tribes. Much of it
+seems exceedingly fertile, and vast savannas, stretching away from
+the railway track as far as the eye can reach on either side, are
+frequently seen during the early part of the journey. Thousands of
+cattle and horses roam on these great flat prairies, which, often, are
+as level as a house floor for miles. In other parts of this journey the
+scenery is beautiful and picturesque, but never grand, the mountain
+range which is crossed being not a lofty one. For many miles the
+railway follows the winding of the Shilka River, usually high above its
+banks. Then it crosses the plains, and afterwards, some four hundred
+miles from the starting point, plunges among the pine-clad hills which
+hem it in on both sides with their resinous heights.
+
+In other parts of the hill beautiful birches stand like white sentries
+in a green livery. The flowers that carpet the fields everywhere
+are lovely; marigolds and marguerites, roses and blue honeysuckles,
+buttercups galore, bold tiger-lilies, modest lilies of the valley, and
+white and yellow poppies make the trackside gay.
+
+After traversing about half the distance, the streams, which had been
+flowing east into the Pacific, give way to others that flow west to
+Lake Baikal. The roof of the world, or, at least, of this part of the
+world, has been reached, and now we will follow the raindrops towards
+the distant Atlantic.
+
+The Selenga, which we reach on the last day of this journey, is a
+great and strong flowing river, as large as the St. Lawrence above the
+Ottawa. It is crossed by a splendid iron bridge, resting on magnificent
+piers of cut stone, a bridge which would be an honor to any railway in
+the world.
+
+It is the custom of the few travellers who have crossed this line, or
+any part of it, to poke fun at the Trans-Baikal Railway. And, indeed,
+it is not hard to do so. With its crawling trains, its inordinately
+long stops, its primitive rolling-stock, it does not inspire much
+respect. It reminds one of the railway in the United States called a
+“tri-weekly road,” which was explained by its president to mean that
+a train went up one week, and tried to come down the next.
+
+[Illustration: BOUND FOR FAR SIBERIA
+
+A passing glimpse of an emigrant train]
+
+All the ancient and hoary railway jokes, like the one about the boy
+who started on a half-fare ticket and was so old before he reached the
+end of his journey that he had to pay full fare for the last part, are
+cracked and appreciated by the passengers on this line. Yet it must be
+remembered that the last spike in this road was driven less than six
+months before I passed over it; that it was not even then accepted by
+the government, or formally open for traffic; that it is largely built
+for military exigencies, and that no one is asked to travel over it,
+but rather discouraged by Russian officials; then the jokes lose their
+best points.
+
+Still it must be confessed that the road seems to tithe the mint,
+anise, and cumin, and omit the weightier matters of railway
+construction. For instance, the water-towers are beautiful, stately
+structures, and the stations are very creditable even for an old
+railway, but the rails are light and constantly breaking and giving way
+and delaying traffic for days at a time. “Two streaks of rust across
+Siberia,” is the exaggeration of a friend, which has an element of
+truth in it.
+
+Many parts of the embankment have been carefully sodded, the sods
+being pegged down with great care, but the road is very imperfectly
+ballasted, and is rough almost beyond belief. The culverts and small
+bridges are buttressed with cut stone, carefully dressed; the cars, as
+I have said, are exceedingly poor and filthy.
+
+Still the road is evidently built for the future, and all these defects
+will, in time, be remedied, and the Trans-Baikal section will take its
+place as an important link in the greatest railway of the world.
+
+[Illustration: FIFTEEN MINUTES AT EVERY STATION]
+
+During these long and weary days we were obliged to get what diversion
+we could from our fellow-passengers. We watched the mother who
+combed her offspring’s head with a carving-knife, with which she made
+vigorous onslaught on the numerous inhabitants that had taken shelter
+there, while we shuddered as we thought of the coming night in close
+proximity. We were interested in the other mother who did her daily
+washing in a pint cup and hung it out to dry on the upper bunk. We were
+fascinated by the soldiers who performed their morning ablutions by
+taking a large mouthful of water from a teapot, then, squirting it on
+their hands, vigorously washed their faces.
+
+We never get away from the prisoners in Siberia, and two cars,
+immediately in front of ours, were filled with these poor wretches.
+Before these cars, at every station, marched four soldiers with set
+bayonets. The heads of the prisoners, shaved on one side only, would
+have betrayed them even had they escaped for a little.
+
+At the stations women and girls with milk and eggs were eagerly
+patronized by us all, for we were desperately thirsty, and water that
+we dared to drink was scarce. At some stations we saw the aborigines of
+the country, the Buriats, of whom two hundred thousand remain in the
+province. They are a Mongol race, and their black hair and slant eyes
+contrast with the blue eyes and tow heads of the Siberians, bleached as
+they were still further by the sun.
+
+Some of the Buriats are won to Christianity, but most of them are rank
+heathen still. They are a nomadic race, and do not take kindly even to
+the limited civilization of Siberia.
+
+[Illustration: PRISON CAR IN SIBERIA. FAMILIES OF PRISONERS AT THE
+WINDOWS]
+
+I must record that, in the midst of the filth and discomfort and
+unutterable odors of this hard journey, we met with many courtesies and
+kindnesses from the most unpromising of our fellow-travellers. Some of
+the peasants were ladies and gentlemen at heart, who would incommode
+themselves to promote our comfort, and were never too preoccupied to
+lend a helping hand, or to supplement our exceedingly limited Russian.
+We discovered a “fourth-class guardian angel,” who took us under his
+special protection, and was never weary of offering little kindnesses.
+He even wished to share with us his black bread and some curds, which
+we found it difficult to refuse without hurting his feelings.
+
+None of the occupants of our car were intemperate or noisy, and,
+in genuine politeness of heart, these Russian serfs of a few years
+back could have given many points to the two selfish, unmannerly,
+foul-mouthed Frenchmen of the party, who represent the nation
+erroneously supposed to have a superfluous supply of politeness and
+good manners.
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+THE HOLY SEA
+
+
+On the fifth day after leaving Stretinsk we were aroused at two o’clock
+in the morning, just as the faint dawn began to streak the east, by a
+guard going through the train and crying out: “Misovaia, all change.”
+Eagerly we rubbed our sleepy eyes open, for now we had reached Lake
+Baikal, and we fondly hoped that the most trying part of our journey
+was over. But again we were doomed to disappointment, for we waited
+and waited and waited, and still there was no sign of departure to the
+other side of the lake. The sun rose, ascended high in the heavens,
+reached the zenith, and began to decline, and still we sat about
+miserably upon our baggage, not daring to go far lest at any moment the
+“ice-breaker” from the other side of the lake might come to transfer
+us across.
+
+The station-master was eagerly importuned, but knew nothing. No
+official had the slightest information. Our Russian fellow-travellers
+only shrugged their shoulders when asked when we should start. At
+length patience ceased to be a virtue, and a telegram was prepared
+for the governor of Irkutsk, asking why a trainload of inoffensive
+passengers of all nationalities were kept in anxious suspense for so
+many hours at a miserable little station which had been eaten bare of
+provisions long ago.
+
+Just as this telegram was about to go came word that the “ice-breaker”
+on the other side was waiting for the minister of justice, and that
+when he got ready to start the boat would come. This proved to be the
+case, and at last, fourteen hours after we had reached Misovaia, the
+great steamer which should carry us across was seen approaching. Then
+it took hours more to unload and reload her, and finally, in the
+middle of the night, twenty-two hours after we should have started, we
+got under way for the other side of the lake.
+
+I dwell for a moment on this irritating experience, for it represents
+one phase of Russian life which is very foreign to life in free,
+constitutional countries. For twenty-two hours three hundred people
+were made to wait upon the convenience of one official. Hungry
+passengers were allowed to half starve; sick and crying babies, who
+had with difficulty survived a week of hard journeying amid unnamable
+privations; weary mothers, trying to comfort the babies; business
+and professional men with important engagements to keep, and whose
+connections with other roads were seriously imperilled by this delay,
+all must wait and suffer while this one official finished his morning
+nap, or ate an elaborate dinner, or otherwise made himself ready to
+start for the other side of Lake Baikal.
+
+[Illustration: THE ELEPHANT’S NOSE, LAKE BAIKAL]
+
+Had this happened in any free country, such a howl would have arisen
+as would have insured the decapitation of this minister of justice
+(minister of justice indeed! minister of injustice rather) at the first
+possible election.
+
+How the _New York Tribune_ or the _London Times_ would have blazed with
+indignant protests had such an affair taken place in America or Great
+Britain! But in Siberia such an event is quite a matter of course. We
+were still more surprised by the utter indifference and nonchalance of
+our Russian fellow-passengers. There was nothing to be said and nothing
+to be done. “Whatever is, is right,” especially if it is done by one
+high in authority, seemed to be their motto.
+
+The contrast between the foreign passengers and the Russians during
+this exasperating delay was marked and amusing. The former champed
+at the bit, and fretted and fumed and (it is feared) swore in their
+different tongues. They would gather together in little groups and
+discuss the situation. They haunted the telegraph office. They
+interviewed every promising official. They tried to get another
+steamer. They exhausted every possibility of progress.
+
+The Russians placidly sipped their tumblers of tea, gathered about the
+steaming samovar, quietly curled up on their luggage, and went to sleep
+as though they had not an irritating care in the world. Why should they
+fret? The official had all power. They had no appeal. No protest was
+open to them. No _Times_ would thunder in St. Petersburg. No _Tribune_
+would voice their complaints in Moscow. “Let it go; life is too short
+to wear it out with such worries,” seemed to be their mental attitude.
+
+The irritations of those hours of waiting, however, could not destroy
+the beauty of the placid lake, the Holy Sea (Bai-Kal), on whose shores
+we were waiting.
+
+Baikal is one of the great lakes of the world. It covers thirteen
+thousand five hundred square miles of surface. Only Lakes Superior,
+Michigan, and Huron, of our own great lakes, surpass it in size. It is
+half as large again as Lake Erie, and twice as large as Lake Ontario,
+and being long and narrow, and surrounded by high, precipitous hills,
+is more picturesque than any of them. Its waters are crystal clear,
+and, at a depth of forty feet, every pebble upon the bottom can be
+seen. Drop a stone into its clear waters from the steamer’s deck, and
+you can see it fluttering and zigzagging its way down as a feather
+falls through the air. The water is as cold, too, as it is clear, as a
+delicious bath that I took testified. Even on the last days of June the
+water cannot be far above the freezing point.
+
+The peasants who live on the shores of the lake regard it with almost
+superstitious reverence and love. There is in their estimation no lake
+in all the world like the Baikal. Its rock-bound shores, its wooded
+steeps, green with larch, and fir, and pine, and birch; its limestone
+and marbles glistening in the sun; its shores strewn with bright
+pebbles, washed smooth and round by countless centuries of the lapping
+waves, all combine to make the Baikal worthy of the love and reverence
+with which the true Siberian regards it.
+
+We found it in a peaceful mood, but it is not always so by any means.
+“No man has ever said his prayers until he has ventured on Lake
+Baikal,” is a common saying of the peasants on the shore. Lying,
+as it does, in a comparatively narrow valley, between the mountain
+ranges, the terrible gales which have their homes between the mountain
+peaks are often let loose with but scant warning. Then woe betide the
+little fisherman’s craft that is caught far from shore, and even the
+passengers on the stout steamer may well tremble.
+
+To unite the two shores with a strong, substantial ferry-boat which can
+run throughout the winter months, the railway has had constructed in
+England and brought out piecemeal the huge “ice-breaker,” so called.
+Several of the parts of this great craft were lost, strayed, or stolen
+on the way, and infinite difficulty was experienced in putting it
+together again when it reached the lake. Even now some tell me that it
+is no great success as an ice-breaker.
+
+[Illustration: THE ICE-BREAKER ON LAKE BAIKAL]
+
+On a fine day, with a smooth sea, nothing could be more delightful than
+a little journey on the great ships. Into the hold of the steamer runs
+the whole train without unloading; or, rather, that is to be the way
+when the railway is in running order. Three parallel tracks throughout
+the entire length of the boat afford ample room for the longest trains.
+Above are elegant accommodations for first-class passengers, while the
+steerage people dispose of themselves in the hold as best they can.
+
+Four great stacks belch out smoke and cinders, and the engines are of
+the most powerful pattern. A half acre of deck room over all gives the
+passenger unrivalled opportunities of viewing the magnificent lake,
+whose southern end he is about to traverse.
+
+A fine breakwater of wooden piles, nearly half a mile long, provides
+a safe little harbor on the eastern side of the lake, while another,
+not quite so large, affords a refuge from the winds on the other side.
+Between these harbors the ice-breaker plies back and forth, making the
+distance of about fifty miles in four hours.
+
+As we approach the western shore, the scenery grows more lovely than
+on the eastern side. The crystal lake, fifty feet deep at the shore,
+dashes in places against precipitous cliffs; the banks are clad in
+freshest grass, dotted with poppies and lilies and blue honeysuckles,
+while a little village nestles in a cove beneath a frowning cliff.
+Rarely have I seen in all my travels a scene more lovely than is
+presented as the ice-breaker makes her way cautiously into the little
+artificial harbor of Listvinitschnoie, at the southwestern end of the
+Holy Sea.
+
+In the early morning we could see, as we thought, the seals disporting
+themselves in the icy waters, for it is a singular fact that in Lake
+Baikal alone, of all the fresh-water lakes in the world, are seals
+found. It is thought by some that in prehistoric times they made their
+way up the River Yenisei, that flows from the lake into the Arctic
+Ocean, two thousand miles away. At any rate, they have made themselves
+very much at home in the Baikal, and have increased and multiplied and
+replenished the lake.
+
+The determination of the Russian government to have through steam
+communication between the oceans is shown by the fact that while such
+sums have been spent for an ice-breaker and for harbors to make the
+link across the Baikal possible, the railway is also being pushed
+around the southern end of the lake, only a short distance away.
+Both of these routes will be needed, I understand, to facilitate the
+mobilization of her armies--the supreme object which Russia has in
+mind in the construction of this great iron road.
+
+At the village of Listvinitschnoie, on the western side of the lake,
+we had another exasperating delay of eight hours, while passengers and
+baggage were being transferred to the other train, a transfer which
+would have been made in America in half an hour. For half a day we sat
+about on our baggage in the broiling sun, surrounded by filthy Moujiks,
+while the leisurely engines puffed back and forth, and the still more
+leisurely porters loaded the train. At length all was ready, and we
+steamed in a leisurely fashion to Irkutsk, the great city of Central
+Siberia.
+
+Here we arrived after being six days, within a few hours, on the road
+since leaving Stretinsk. In those six days we had travelled less
+than eight hundred miles, and less than six miles an hour, including
+the stops. We had endured many discomforts, some of them entirely
+unnecessary had a little system and forethought been used. Even in the
+present incomplete state of the equipment of the road the journey
+ought to be made in two days, and decent cars might be provided for
+decent people.
+
+[Illustration: THE SHORES OF LAKE BAIKAL]
+
+I must say that this experience somewhat weakened my faith in the
+boasted energy and enterprise of Russian railway construction. How a
+road that is so slow and halting in peace can be great in war, I do not
+see. How a line that cannot carry a few hundred passengers and their
+luggage without interminable delays can be used to mobilize a hundred
+thousand soldiers at short notice is difficult to comprehend. It is
+fortunate for Russia that she has a slow, stupid opponent on the other
+side of the world to contend with, an opponent that not only has no
+slow railroads, but no railroads at all, of her own.
+
+As it is, the Trans-Baikal railway, poor as it is, will undoubtedly
+prove a very important instrument in forcing beneficent Russian fetters
+upon poor, decrepit, worn-out China.
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+A SIBERIAN CITY OF CHURCHES
+
+
+As the feeble and halting train that brought us from Lake Baikal,
+following the meanderings of the swift Angara River, drew near to
+Irkutsk, the capital of Central Siberia, we received the impression
+of a small city dominated by a score of great churches. And this
+impression was not dissipated when we crossed the Angara on the bridge
+of boats that links the city with the railway on the other side and
+found ourselves within the city precincts.
+
+You cannot look up without seeing a beautiful dome or spire. In the
+waters of the Angara the great cathedral is reflected, flanked by two
+other churches which in any other city of its size would be considered
+marvels. The principal street of the city seems to lead up to and
+terminate in another lofty and imposing church, while every section
+of the town has its own ecclesiastical buildings of lesser magnitude.
+Brooklyn must look out for its laurels as the City of Churches when it
+comes in competition with Irkutsk.
+
+The interior of the churches is quite equal to their exterior, and they
+blaze with sacred pictures and icons, framed and matted in gold, so
+that the chief impression one gets is of walls of solid gold, chased
+and fretted and highly ornamented, with the face of Christ or the
+Virgin or some Oriental saint peering out between the shining plates.
+
+The Russians are evidently an extremely devout and religious
+people. This is evidenced by their churches, which are always, both
+metaphorically and literally, higher than the chimneys of their
+factories. In the small towns along the line of the railway the church
+is always the one conspicuous object. The village may be, it probably
+is, built entirely of logs, without a single frame or brick house
+within its border. But the church, with its glittering dome and blue
+and green towers, always lifts its Greek cross skyward, and reminds
+the poor Moujiks that there is another world above the flat plains of
+Siberia.
+
+The unabashed devoutness of the peasants tells the same story as
+their churches. Our fellow-travellers in the fourth-class cars from
+Stretinsk never omitted their morning devotions, their ablutions being
+an entirely secondary matter. The poorest boatman would always cross
+himself and bless his crust of black bread before he ate it. The
+soldiers with whom we journeyed for hundreds of versts, undismayed
+by the presence of their comrades, would every morning face the
+rising sun, and though they could secure no possible privacy, would,
+with genuine devoutness, pray for ten minutes at a time, standing
+bare-headed and reverential in the crowded railway car in which
+they were travelling. Such genuine devotion speaks well for the church
+which fosters it, and for the country that is peopled and defended by
+faithful devotees, for no nation without a religion which took strong
+hold of the hearts of the common people ever greatly influenced the
+destinies of the world.
+
+[Illustration: BURIATS FROM LAKE BAIKAL, WITH SEAL FROM THE LAKE]
+
+Distance lends considerable enchantment to Irkutsk, and nearer approach
+does not bear out the remoter promise of its beautiful churches. The
+streets are poorly paved and extremely dusty, and the wooden sidewalks
+are frequently man-traps for the unwary passenger. Still it is no mean
+city to be found in the heart of Siberia, three thousand five hundred
+miles from the nearest European capital.
+
+Irkutsk has had time enough to grow, for it was founded thirty years
+after the _Mayflower_ sailed into Plymouth harbor, and is about ready
+to celebrate its quarter millennial. Founded originally as a military
+post to withstand the attacks of wandering Tartars, its naturally
+advantageous situation has made it the metropolis of Siberia. It is now
+the seat of government of the province of Eastern Siberia, and contains
+something over fifty thousand inhabitants. It contains twenty-five
+Greek churches, substantial Catholic and Lutheran churches, and two
+synagogues. There are no less than forty schools, among which are
+seminaries for girls, military and technical schools of various kinds,
+so that the young idea of Irkutsk has no excuse for not learning how to
+shoot.
+
+The city has lost something of its ancient importance since the region
+of the Amour has been erected into a separate province, independent of
+Irkutsk, and since the rise of Vladivostock as a point of departure
+on the Pacific for Odessa and America. Nevertheless, it will always
+be an important centre, owing to its situation near the head-waters
+of the Angara, which starts from Lake Baikal, forty miles away, and
+continues its majestic and ever-widening way for three thousand
+miles until, as the Yenisei, the fourth greatest river in the world, it
+empties into the Arctic Ocean. It is a centre for the shipment of gold,
+and in a single year no less than twenty-one thousand pounds weight
+avoirdupois of the precious metal passed through Irkutsk on its way to
+St. Petersburg.
+
+[Illustration: AN IRKUTSK DROSKY]
+
+It may make the geography of Siberia a little more plain if I here
+explain that Siberia, for governmental purposes, is divided into six
+provinces: First, starting from the Ural Mountains, Western Siberia,
+that borders on Europe, and in a rough way embraces the basin of the
+Obi. Next, Eastern Siberia, which stretches a thousand miles farther
+east and embraces the basin of the Yenisei and its tributaries. In this
+province Irkutsk is situated. Then comes the Trans-Baikal, the province
+that lies east of the beautiful lake of that name, and through which we
+made our slow and toilsome way as described in the last chapter. Then,
+east of that, the great province of the Amour, embracing the basin of
+the Amour and Ussuri. Last of all, bordering on the Pacific Ocean, and
+including the convict island of Saghalien, is the province called in
+Russian Primorskaia. The province of the Steppes lies south of Western
+Siberia, but with that our new way around the old world has nothing
+to do, for the railway barely grazes its edge, and does not fairly
+enter its territory. During the twenty-nine days of rail and river
+travel which I have already described, we had traversed in succession
+Primorskaia, Amourskaia, and Zabaikalskaia and had reached the eastern
+edge of Eastern Siberia.
+
+During these twenty-nine days we had travelled nearly twenty-seven
+hundred miles, and, between us and Moscow, there still lay more than
+thirty-three hundred miles to be traversed. But the peculiar hardships
+of the journey were nearly over, for a _train de luxe_ starts from
+Irkutsk for Moscow every Friday afternoon, and we were just in season
+to get our tickets, and secure our berths, and replenish our seedy
+wardrobes, and take passage on the most famous train in all the world,
+which, without a single change of cars, runs a distance considerably
+greater than from Boston to San Francisco.
+
+[Illustration: GENERAL VIEW OF IRKUTSK]
+
+We were happy enough to board this train, as can be imagined, after
+the bare boards and filth of the uncertain train which had carried us
+from Stretinsk, and were in a fit frame of mind to enjoy its luxuries
+and to overlook its defects. Nor were we sorry to leave Irkutsk, for
+though it is a remarkable place to be found so far from the confines of
+civilization, yet it has few attractions to long beguile the traveller;
+and the stifling dust of the streets, which never seem to be watered,
+obscure the attractions it does possess.
+
+Shortly before our arrival news had come of the serious disturbances
+in China, and troops were being enrolled and equipped and hurried to
+the eastern coast in feverish haste. The whole square in front of
+the Hôtel de Russie was filled with peasants in their red blouses and
+top-boots, each with his tea-kettle and little bag of poor belongings.
+These peasants were to be shipped off that day as food for Chinese
+powder, if so be the Celestials have any powder left by the time these
+Moujiks reach Blagavestchensk or, later, Port Arthur. The whole city
+was full of rumors of war, and, though we could not read the Russian
+papers, or know the extent of the trouble, the air seemed vibrant with
+battle.
+
+We were told that the train we had taken over the Trans-Baikal road
+would be the last passenger train that would be allowed to go through
+for six weeks. How we blessed our fortunate stars that we were not
+stranded in Stretinsk for six times seven days! We were told also that
+between Omsk and Irkutsk were twelve trains loaded with soldiers, bound
+for Manchuria, and that no private telegram to Vladivostock could
+be delivered within a week, so hot were the wires with government
+despatches.
+
+Some of these reports were true and some were exaggerated, but
+evidently China’s last days had come, we thought, as we boarded the
+_train de luxe_, and Russia intends to be in at the death.
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+A SIBERIAN _TRAIN DE LUXE_
+
+
+The Paris Exposition has made famous the Siberian _train de luxe_,
+with its moving panorama, its terminal stations at St. Petersburg
+and Peking, and its dinners at seven francs per head. The newspaper
+correspondent, too, who has seen it only in his mind’s eye, as he sat
+at his own cosey fireside rehashing second-hand descriptions of its
+magnificence, has done his share to advertise it, until the wondering
+world has an idea that it is a veritable Waldorf-Astoria on wheels,
+before which all Empire State expresses on the American continent must
+hide their diminished heads. We read of library-cars and bath-cars,
+gymnasium-cars where one can make a century run on a stationary
+bicycle, elegant dinners, barber-shops where passengers receive a
+free shave every morning, pianos, and other luxuries too numerous to
+mention.
+
+[Illustration: ONE OF THE BEAUTIFUL CHURCHES OF IRKUTSK]
+
+As a matter of fact, the Siberian _train de luxe_, at least as it
+started from Irkutsk on the 29th day of June, in the year of our
+Lord 1900, was a rather shabby vestibuled train of three sleepers, a
+diner, and a baggage-car. It was luxurious, indeed, compared with the
+fourth-class emigrant train on which we had been journeying, but it
+is still many degrees behind the best American trains. It should be
+remarked, however, that the best cars had been sent to Paris for the
+Exposition, and it is doubtless true that the train we took is somewhat
+below the average of the Siberian _trains de luxe_. It is well worth
+describing, however, as an important link in the great chain that
+connects the Atlantic and the Pacific in this new way around the world.
+
+First, and very naturally, comes the engine of Russian make, with
+a great flaring smoke-stack for burning wood. Next to it is the
+baggage-car with one end fitted with a bath-tub, where dusty travellers
+can enjoy a refreshing bath on payment of a rouble and a half
+(seventy-five cents), a very high price to be sure compared with the
+rate charged for transportation; but then the scarcest and dearest
+thing throughout Siberia we found to be cold water, either for drinking
+or bathing purposes.
+
+Following the baggage-car was the dining-car, which was also divided
+into two sections, half being occupied with small tables that seat
+two and four each, and the other half fitted with easy-chairs for
+the smokers and provided with ample windows for observation. In the
+smoking-room was a small library of, perhaps, fifty books in the
+Russian, French, and German languages, but nothing in English, except
+two or three discarded fifth-rate novels in paper covers, evidently
+contributed by previous travellers.
+
+In the dining-car, two _table d’hôte_ meals were provided: a lunch
+of two courses at one o’clock, which cost one rouble, and a dinner at
+six of four courses, for a rouble and a quarter. At other times of day
+passengers could order what they pleased _à la carte_ from a limited
+bill of fare.
+
+Behind the dining-car came a second-class sleeping-car, then a
+first-class sleeper, and, last of all, another second-class sleeper.
+
+These cars are all divided into compartments, or little staterooms,
+holding two or four people each, with a window, a table, and a wide and
+very comfortable berth for each person. The cars are all handsomely
+carpeted and upholstered in blue plush, covered, for the sake of
+protection, with red-striped denim. In each stateroom were convenient
+racks and hooks for the disposal of clothes and baggage, and in every
+way one could make himself as comfortable and have almost as much room
+as in an ocean steamer’s cabin.
+
+For two friends travelling together, or for a small family of three,
+as in my own case, this arrangement is far superior to America’s more
+promiscuous and public Pullman sleeping-car. For individuals travelling
+alone, the Pullman plan has some decided advantages, if one does not
+care to be cooped up in narrow quarters for eight or nine days with
+any chance stranger who may be assigned to the same stateroom. The
+Pullman cars, too, economize space, for while from forty to forty-eight
+people can sleep in a Pullman car when crowded, only eighteen can find
+“lying-down room,” in a Siberian sleeper.
+
+One curiosity of this particular _train de luxe_ was that the first and
+second class cars were precisely alike in every particular. In amount
+of room, fittings, upholstery, and comforts of every description, there
+was not the slightest difference between the three sleeping-cars that
+composed our train, while the difference of price was nearly forty
+roubles in favor of the second-class. One would think that, these
+being the facts, the second-class cars would be overcrowded and the
+first-class would be empty. Such was not the case on this train at
+least, for I found every cabin in the first-class taken, and was able
+to get a large four-berth stateroom in one of the second-class cars for
+little more than I would pay for two berths in the first-class car.
+
+[Illustration: A PART OF OUR _TRAIN DE LUXE_]
+
+At the most, the fares in Siberia are remarkably cheap. For the whole
+stateroom I paid less than one hundred and twenty dollars from Irkutsk
+to Moscow, a distance of three thousand three hundred and fifty miles;
+this included four fares and the supplementary price of the _train de
+luxe_. For the same accommodations in a Pullman car across the American
+continent (a shorter distance) I should have paid at least five hundred
+dollars. The full first-class fare in the _train de luxe_ is about
+fifty dollars, while the second-class fares are less than thirty
+dollars. By the ordinary trains a considerable saving is effected over
+these very cheap rates.
+
+Each car has its porter, who can usually speak German or French in
+addition to Russian, but the specimens that we saw were very lazy and
+inefficient fellows compared with the deft and obliging “George” who
+attends to one’s wants in a Pullman car. Our porters on the _train de
+luxe_ never thought of sweeping or dusting the staterooms, and seemed
+to think it an imposition to be asked to thoroughly make up the berths
+for day travel, preferring to leave the beds made up by day that they
+might have less trouble at night. All day long the lazy porters would
+loll about on their seats in the middle of the car, doing as little
+as possible, and apparently begrudging that little. Twice a week the
+bed linen is changed. Ample washrooms, with a single roller towel, for
+all guests who do not furnish their own, complete the equipment of the
+Siberian sleeper.
+
+My excuse for this somewhat minute description of these accommodations
+is that it will be welcomed by future travellers who have to spend at
+least eight and one-half days in their little room on wheels.
+
+It must not be thought that for all its name and fame the “Siberian
+Special” is a lightning express. In speed it would be outstripped,
+during all the early part of the journey, by any “huckleberry train” in
+America. Fourteen miles an hour, including stops, was all it pretended
+to make during the first five days from Irkutsk. The road-bed is new,
+the rails are light, and as a consequence the train plods along at a
+pace which an able-bodied cowboy on his bronco would outstrip. In fact
+I saw, one evening, a race between our famous train and a Siberian
+“cow-puncher,” in which, for two miles or more, the horseman more than
+held his own. Then he pulled up with a careless wave of his hat, as
+though he did not consider it worth while to race any longer with so
+slow a rival.
+
+The stops at the stations, too, seem most unnecessarily protracted for
+such a train, which might be supposed to have the right of way. Never
+less than ten minutes, and more often fifteen or twenty, our patient
+locomotive would stand panting at every little platform in the wilds
+before the station-master would ring his welcome bell, to tell it that
+it might shriek its farewell and proceed on its way.
+
+For a number of miles after leaving Irkutsk, the railway follows the
+windings of the swift-flowing Angara, and then, leaving the river,
+strikes off across the interminable wooded prairies that line so much
+of the track to Moscow. The weather was exceedingly hot during the
+first four or five days of the journey, the thermometers in the cars
+frequently registering over ninety degrees Fahrenheit. If one takes
+the Siberian route to avoid the heat of the Red Sea in summer, he will
+not gain much, though, to be sure, the cool nights make the Siberian
+journey more tolerable. Moreover, the heat, much of the time, was of
+the damp, “muggy” variety so trying to bear.
+
+[Illustration: A VIEW ON THE ANGARA, NEAR IRKUTSK]
+
+A plague of flies, which would have made even Pharaoh quail, added
+much to the minor discomforts of the trip, though they did not afflict
+the passengers within the cars as sorely as when they ventured out
+upon the platform. Here they were, indeed, intolerable, and set every
+pair of hands revolving about a tormented head like a windmill in a
+gale. The most obnoxious insect was a little black gnat, much like
+the midge of the Adirondacks, which in clouds filled the air, and
+filled as well eyes, and nose, and ears of any venturesome traveller
+that left the comparative refuge of his car. The natives have learned
+to protect themselves against these pests by wearing veils of black
+mosquito netting day and night. For fully fifteen hundred miles almost
+every man, woman, and child we met was thus protected, and it gave a
+peculiarly solemn and lugubrious aspect to the little villages and
+stations to see every one peering at you through a mask of black
+netting. In this funereal attire every Siberian looked as though
+he had lost every friend in the world, or was about to attend his
+own obsequies. Trainmen working on the track, flagmen signalling
+the engineer, women with bottles of milk and loaves of bread,
+station-masters in bright official uniforms, little tow-headed children
+with bare feet, all had gone into mourning because of the midges.
+
+At every station were country hucksters at a little stand, ready to
+sell the few products of the farms to the hungry travellers. They did
+not do much business, naturally, with the passengers of the _train de
+luxe_, who had their own dining-car, but with the regular trains or
+the frequent special emigrant or military trains they had a rushing
+trade. As we approached the European frontier, prices of these country
+comestibles fell, and boiled eggs were to be bought for half a cent
+each, and a very considerable loaf of bread for two cents and a half,
+while milk, fried fish, chunks of roast meat, and kvass, or Russian
+pop-beer, were proportionately cheap.
+
+[Illustration: A TRAINMAN WHO HAS TAKEN THE VEIL]
+
+At almost every siding we passed a long train laden with emigrants or
+soldiers on their way to China, for the Siberian reserves had been
+called out. The latter were stalwart, rough, honest-looking fellows,
+who evidently had left their little farms at a moment’s notice to
+serve their country. They seemed to possess no uniforms or equipments,
+though, to be sure, these may have been stored in the close box-cars
+that accompanied each train. They wore their peasants’ red blouses
+and loose breeches. Many of them were barefooted, and some of them
+were hatless and ragged, but, before they meet the Chinese, these raw
+recruits will doubtless be licked into shape by the drill-masters,
+uniformed and armed, and made into very presentable soldiers. They
+certainly have the requisite brawn, if not the brain. I was surprised
+to see that there seemed to be few young men among them, scarcely any
+under thirty, while most looked to be over forty.
+
+The emigrants were weighted with more _impedimenta_ than the soldiers,
+but even their household belongings were pitifully scant. Every day
+we passed half a dozen long trainloads of men, women, and children
+on their way to the new Eldorado on the banks of the Amour. Most of
+them were too poor to afford even the hard comfort of a third or
+fourth class car, and they were pigged in together in ordinary box
+freight-cars, which were marked on the outside to carry “twelve horses
+or twenty-four men.” Still they did not seem discontented, much less
+hopeless, but at every little station jumped from their stifling boxes
+and raced for the hot-water tank, which a paternal government always
+kept steaming, free of charge. Here they filled their tin pails and
+made their inevitable “chi” (tea), on which, supplemented by liberal
+portions of black bread, they chiefly subsist.
+
+Sometimes we indulged in the luxury of giving the little emigrating
+urchins, bound for a far-off land, a few kopeks, when the gratitude of
+the parents was touching to see. Rushing from the car, they would
+sometimes seize our hands and kiss them in the courtly old Russian
+style, as though we had bestowed a king’s ransom on their offspring,
+and then as the trains parted, going east and west, would tumble back
+into their fifth-class boxes, while we would return to our compartments
+feeling as we reached them that he would be a thankless man indeed who,
+with such contrasts in view, should ever grumble again at the minor
+discomforts of a _train de luxe_.
+
+[Illustration: SIBERIAN RAILWAY NEAR THE ASIATIC BORDER]
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+OUT OF ASIA INTO EUROPE
+
+
+The long journey in the _train de luxe_ from Irkutsk to St. Petersburg,
+especially the Siberian part of the journey, does not afford a great
+variety of scenery or incident. But, if somewhat monotonous, it is a
+pleasing and gentle monotony. There is not a mile of desert land in all
+the five thousand versts between Lake Baikal and the Atlantic, or, for
+that matter, between the Pacific and the Atlantic, by the way we have
+travelled.
+
+There are no long stretches of sagebrush plain, such as Wyoming, Utah,
+and Nevada afford; no “bad lands,” such as are found in the Dakotas;
+no interminable stretches of wearisome, treeless prairies, such as
+the Canadian Pacific traverses in Manitoba and Assiniboia. There are
+occasional wide reaches of prairie or meadow land, but trees are always
+in sight, and for the most part the road passes through a heavily
+wooded country. Birches abound everywhere, with their graceful white
+boles, and there are many forests of pine and poplar. The trees in the
+vicinity of the railway are not large, the “monarchs of the forest,” if
+there ever were any, having been cut off at the advent of the railway.
+
+The piles of cut wood by the railroad track impress the traveller
+with the boundlessness of the forests. Millions of cords of clean cut
+birch and pine, with scarcely a knot or a blemish, stand in neat piles
+waiting the insatiable engine.
+
+Everywhere the land seems fertile, and, though but an infinitesimal
+part of it is cultivated, it would all reward the husbandman. Great
+flocks of sleek cattle roam over these natural pastures, but there is
+room for a hundred flocks where one roams to-day. And all this vast
+domain has been waiting for settlers at Europe’s back door during all
+the centuries. Only now is the door fairly open, and the new settlers
+are pouring through. America, meanwhile, has been discovered, opened,
+and occupied; Australia has been discovered and great cities built upon
+its seaboard; the tropics and the poles have been explored; and all
+the time a great fertile domain, vaster than all Europe, and separated
+from Europe’s swarming, overcrowded millions by no barrier of sea, and
+but a low mountain range, has been waiting, almost tenantless, for a
+people. But now Siberia has been discovered--discovered by the settler
+and the home-maker, as well as by the politician and the autocrat who
+desires a Botany Bay for his convicts--and a new and virgin empire that
+can afford asylum for the surplus population of two continents has been
+added to the world’s productive domains. Undoubtedly this enormous and
+almost untrodden empire gives Russia a great advantage among the
+nations of the world. Here is a vast new continent contiguous and near
+to ancient Russia, a domain which cannot be seriously threatened by
+any enemy, a domain which in the decrepit state of China requires no
+fleets or armies to protect. At length Russia has awakened to a sense
+of its value, and is pouring into it by the ten thousand every month
+the peaceful settlers who will make her possession secure.
+
+[Illustration: ZLATOOST, A BORDER TOWN BETWEEN EUROPE AND ASIA]
+
+Between Irkutsk and Moscow the railway passes through a few large towns
+of considerable importance. Chief of these are Crasnoiarsk, about
+seven hundred miles from Irkutsk; Taiga, some three hundred miles
+still nearer Europe; Omsk, about five hundred miles further west; and
+Tschelabinsk, which lies near the edge of Europe, two thousand miles
+from our starting point at Irkutsk.
+
+These places will be but names to most of my readers, and they will
+not be much the wiser if I tell them such facts as that Omsk has forty
+thousand inhabitants and Tschelabinsk has fifteen thousand. All these
+towns, and many smaller ones that I might mention, are places of no
+little importance in the districts of which they are the centres, but
+they do not as yet cut much of a figure on the world’s maps. They
+all have the characteristics of frontier towns, are built largely of
+logs, but boast from one to twenty beautiful churches, which always
+strike the eye and give them a character and a beauty which they would
+sadly lack without the shining domes and brilliant crosses pointing
+heavenward.
+
+Omsk is the most important place on the line of the railway between
+Irkutsk and Moscow, and is the residence of the governor-general of the
+province of the Steppes, and of a Greek Church archbishop.
+
+Tomsk is a larger and more important place still, but is not directly
+on the Trans-Siberian route, being connected by a branch line at Taiga.
+
+The road crosses many large rivers during these two thousand miles
+before it reaches the European frontier, and the cost of the great iron
+bridges which span them must have been enormous. They seem to be built
+in the most substantial manner, with piers and buttresses of massive
+cut stone. These rivers belong to the great systems of the Yenisei and
+the Obi, which in their upper reaches branch off into many streams,
+each of which, in any other continent, would be a notable and famous
+stream. But Siberia is so rich in great rivers that even the names
+of these mighty tributaries are not of great interest to the reading
+public. When Siberia shall come to her own and take her place among the
+great populous nations of the earth, these rivers will add enormously
+to her wealth and commerce.
+
+On the evening of the fifth day from Irkutsk we went to bed in Asia,
+and woke up on the morning of the sixth day in Europe, and in the
+beautifully situated town of Zlatoost. We found ourselves also in the
+heart of the Urals, and the contrast with the flat plains of Siberia
+was most refreshing.
+
+Lovely spruce-clad mountains towered above us on every side; a rushing
+river, which the track follows for many miles, seemed to beckon us on
+with its smiling ripples that glinted and glowed in the morning sun.
+Great, open, park-like valleys and uplands lay between the mountains,
+dotted with trees and covered with the greenest of grass, studded with
+beautiful flowers of every hue. Altogether, for many miles, the scene
+was one of rare loveliness, and was worth travelling a thousand weary
+versts to see.
+
+The Russians call this region of the Urals the “Switzerland of Russia,”
+and though it lacks the grandeur of the snow-clad Alps, it has a beauty
+of its own which is exceedingly charming.
+
+All day long our road wound through these charming scenes, up hill and
+down dale, usually keeping a rushing, sparkling river in view, until,
+towards the close of the long day, the great town of Oofa, with
+its beautiful churches and fine railway station, came in view. We had
+passed the barrier of the Urals, and the day of loveliest scenery in
+all the long journey had come to an end.
+
+[Illustration: IN THE URAL MOUNTAINS]
+
+Our deliberate train mended its pace very considerably after getting
+into Europe, and, on the last three days of the journey, did almost
+as many versts as during the first five. The engineer actually seemed
+able to get by some small and insignificant stations without stopping,
+and where we did stop it was often for less than a full half-hour. We
+averaged fully twenty miles an hour after crossing the Urals, which
+seemed like lightning speed after our slow and toilsome way in Siberia.
+
+On the seventh day of our journey from Irkutsk, the Urals had faded
+into the distance, and the flat plains of European Russia were
+substituted for the flat plains of Asiatic Russia. The country on both
+sides of the mountains looks much the same, except that the European
+plains are better cultivated and less wooded. They have evidently
+known the plowshare for many a hundred years, and in early July were
+smiling with luxuriant crops of wheat, and barley, and rye. Greater
+Russia plainly is in no danger this year of a wide-spread famine.
+
+In some places hay-making had begun, and the great unfenced fields
+containing hundreds of acres were alive with haymakers in gay attire.
+The Russian farmers live together in villages, instead of in isolated
+farmhouses, as do our husbandmen, and the business of cutting and
+making a great communal hayfield was evidently an important matter
+that brought together all the men, women, and children of the village.
+Often forty hay-wagons, each with a span of horses and five times as
+many people, were assembled at the edge of a field. The mowers, in long
+rows, would then start for the other side of the great field, nearly a
+mile away, cutting a wide swath as they went, while fifty Russian Maud
+Mullers, in red and blue bodices, raked the meadows sweet with hay,
+which yesterday had been cut. They seemed merry and light-hearted about
+their task, and we could hear snatches of song and bursts of laughter,
+and many a bright bandanna was waved at the flying train.
+
+The small villages did not strike me, as I saw them from the train, as
+being superior to the Siberian towns. They are built largely of logs,
+or of mud and wattle, and have low-browed thatch roofs, often much out
+of repair. But every village, however small and shabby, has a beautiful
+church, which contrasts strangely with the one-story thatch-roof huts
+that gather around it, as if a brood of very diminutive chickens were
+clustering around a big brooding mother hen.
+
+The large towns which we passed, as we drew near to Moscow, were
+distinctly better built than in Siberia. Large blocks of brick and
+stone, wide streets, and a general air of thrift and prosperity seemed
+to pervade them. Samara is a city nobly situated on the banks of the
+Volga, and has really a regal appearance on her crown of hills, with
+her great cathedral and noble churches dominating all.
+
+The railway crosses the Volga, a few miles after leaving Samara, by a
+splendid iron bridge, nearly a mile long. Even here, so far from its
+source, this greatest river of Europe is a majestic, swift-flowing
+stream, bearing upon its ample bosom great rafts from the pine forests
+near its source, and many great steamers, which carry passengers to the
+famous fair at Nijni-Novgorod, and other towns along its banks. Most,
+if not all of these steamers, use petroleum for fuel, brought from the
+great wells of Batoum, and huge tanks for the storage of oil begin to
+form conspicuous features of the landscape near every large town.
+
+[Illustration: THE KREMLIN IN WINTER]
+
+Indeed, our own locomotive, instead of gorging itself with birchwood,
+as its predecessors which drew the _train de luxe_ had done, took long
+deep draughts of crude kerosene oil, which, it must be said, did not
+improve its breath. Some of the engines I noticed at this end of the
+line were Baldwin locomotives, a make which I had not seen since we had
+left Khabaroffsk, on the further side of far Siberia.
+
+On the eighth and last day of our journey on the “Siberian Special,” as
+our train was called in railroad nomenclature, we passed through the
+large and commanding town of Toula, a great railroad centre, and also
+famous for the splendor of its churches. The stations we passed on this
+day were finer than any we had yet seen, and were often embowered in
+trees until they looked like châteaus in lovely green parks. Peasant
+women stood on every platform with heaps of little wild strawberries,
+which they sold at a ridiculously cheap price, about two cents a quart.
+Others had the first red cherries of the season, and others yellow
+apples that had been kept in water for nearly a year, and that tasted
+as if baked. Other vendors of delicious, sparkling koumyss, milk,
+Russian kvass, and other more harmful beverages, also appeared upon
+the scene at many stations.
+
+The devout character of the Russians was shown by the fact that every
+third-class waiting-room had its shrine, with beautifully framed
+pictures of Christ and the Madonna and some of the Eastern saints.
+Before these icons often burned ceremonial candles, and smaller
+candles were to be had by devotees for two or three kopeks apiece.
+Rapt travellers, with uplifted eyes, were often to be seen crossing
+themselves before these icons.
+
+We still passed frequent trains of Siberian settlers, and others
+of brawny soldiers, “bearded like the pard,” and packed into their
+fifth and sixth-class cars like the proverbial sardines in their
+boxes. Occasionally a train of prisoners looked out through their
+iron gratings at us, seeming to cast a murky shadow on the pleasant
+landscape, as we thought of the dreary years of exile before them.
+We saw no political prisoners, however, and even the criminals are
+allowed to take their wives and children with them. These latter often
+clung to the iron bars with their faces close against them, like so
+many infant Charlotte Cordays. It must be said that these prisoners,
+like others whom we had seen, fared a good deal better in their railway
+accommodations than the emigrants or the soldiers.
+
+More and more cultivated and attractive the beautiful country appeared
+as we approached Moscow, giving evidence in every smooth and fertile
+field of five hundred years of tillage, until at last, promptly on
+schedule time, 197 hours after leaving Irkutsk, the Siberian Special
+rolled into the beautiful station of sacred Moscow, and our long
+journey across all the Russias was practically finished. It is a matter
+of thirteen hours further to St. Petersburg, and two days more by the
+fastest train to London. Thence six or seven days more by one of the
+Atlantic liners to New York, and our journey by this new way around an
+old world was completed.
+
+
+
+
+SOME FACTS AND FIGURES
+
+
+As a multitude of friends and other correspondents have asked me to
+give full particulars concerning the time and cost of this journey, I
+will add a few lines to answer these natural inquiries.
+
+I was told by the most sanguine, before starting, that the journey from
+Vladivostock to Moscow could be made in twenty-two days. I do not think
+that it ever was, or can be, made in that length of time, until the
+Trans-Baikal Railway is greatly improved, and the Amour and Shilka have
+a channel dredged through their shallows; and that will be many a long
+day yet.
+
+[Illustration: A SHRINE AT A RAILWAY STATION]
+
+As a matter of fact, the journey took us thirty-eight days, and,
+allowing for probable detentions by rail and river, it cannot often be
+made in less time. If it had not been for the kind personal interest
+of the governor of Vladivostock, we should have been much longer
+on the way than we were. I can well imagine that the trip might take
+three or four months instead of as many weeks. The exact time of the
+different divisions of our journey was as follows:
+
+                                            Days
+  Vladivostock to Khabaroffsk (rail)          1¼
+  Khabaroffsk to Blagavestchensk (boat)       5½
+  Waited for steamer at Blagavestchensk       2
+  Blagavestchensk to Stretinsk (boat)        12½
+  Waited for train at Stretinsk               1½
+  Stretinsk to Irkutsk (rail)                 6
+  Waited for train at Irkutsk                 1
+  Irkutsk to Moscow (rail)                    8½
+                                            ----
+                                Total        38¼
+
+If we had found high water in the Amour, we might have saved three days
+on the river journey, and if the bridge on the Trans-Baikal road had
+not burned down so inopportunely, we might have saved two days more,
+but it is difficult to see how more than five or six days could have
+been saved by the most favoring combination of circumstances.
+
+I also heard many absurd rumors of the cheapness of the journey across
+Siberia. One Russian official of note told me that the whole cost from
+Vladivostock to Moscow, first-class, meals included, would be one
+hundred and twenty roubles. I will give the fares as they actually were
+paid, leaving out the odd kopeks:
+
+                                     Roubles
+  Vladivostock to Khabaroffsk            17
+  Khabaroffsk to Blagavestchensk         23
+  Blagavestchensk to Stretinsk           29
+  Stretinsk to Irkutsk                   18
+  Irkutsk to Moscow                      98
+                                     -------
+      Total for fares (first-class)     183
+
+To this must be added at least three roubles a day for living expenses
+along the road, even by those economically inclined who drink no
+strong liquors, which will add to the expense of a thirty-eight days’
+journey one hundred and fourteen roubles, making the journey cost
+two hundred and ninety-six roubles, or, in round numbers, about one
+hundred and fifty dollars in gold--not expensive, to be sure, for a
+six-thousand-mile trip, but not so cheap as is usually thought.
+
+[Illustration: RUSSIAN TYPES]
+
+Those who are willing to travel in second-class cars and steamer
+accommodations can save nearly one hundred roubles, or about fifty
+dollars, on the whole journey. The second-class cars are entirely
+comfortable, and very little poorer than the first-class, but the
+second cabin on the steamers is not to be recommended.
+
+I have very often been asked whether I would advise others to take
+the journey. That all depends upon their circumstances and travel
+proclivities.
+
+For good sailors who do not mind a long ocean voyage, the trip
+through the Suez Canal is certainly easier and more restful. For bad
+sailors and those who fear the sea for any reason--and their name is
+legion--the Trans-Siberian route offers many compensations. Moreover,
+if one can command his own time, and is in no great haste to reach his
+journey’s end at a fixed date, the Siberian journey will prove far more
+attractive than to those who are pressed with engagements and must
+make schedule time, for it is impossible to calculate exactly, or even
+within a fortnight, the time that may be taken. A pressing engagement
+in London, which I almost missed owing to the unexpected delays,
+detracted not a little from the comfort of the journey so far as I was
+concerned.
+
+Nevertheless, in spite of the discomforts and delays, I am exceedingly
+glad to have taken the journey. It was an experience never to be
+forgotten, and furnished memory-pictures that will never fade. I should
+advise any one with plenty of time on his hands, who enjoys rail and
+river travel, and who is not afraid of the inevitable hardships of a
+new frontier country, to go and do likewise.
+
+The journey I have described was made at a most fortunate time,
+immediately before the Chinese outbreak, which may change the face of
+the world, especially of the far Siberian world. A week later, or a
+fortnight later at the most, the journey would have been impossible
+for many months. But doubtless before my readers wish to take this new
+way round the old world the “Yellow Peril” will be overpassed, and the
+Trans-Siberian route will be once more open to the travelling public.
+
+In these annals I have purposely omitted any extended reference to the
+commercial and political importance of the Trans-Siberian Railway, for
+the reading public has been flooded with speculations and facts, more
+or less accurate, on this subject. There seems, then, to be little need
+for their further exploitation. Moreover, history, during the next
+decade, will determine these matters much more accurately than the
+wisest prophet can forecast them to-day.
+
+When the Eastern Chinese Railway, connecting with the Trans-Siberian
+road, is opened--if the Mongolians, who are showing such unexpected
+ferocity, ever allow it to be opened--it will be possible, perhaps,
+to go from Paris to Peking in two weeks, or, in time, even in eleven
+days, as Mr. A. R. Colquhoun, in his excellent book, _Overland to
+China_, points out.
+
+Even then, there will be many who will desire to take the journey I
+have described through the lordly domain of Siberia, by rail and river
+from the Pacific to the Atlantic, which for vastness of extent along
+the same east and west parallels, for variety of primeval scenery, and
+for wideness of view over “this goodly frame, the earth,” will never be
+surpassed.
+
+[Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE AUTHOR’S ROUTE FROM VLADIOSTOCK ACROSS
+SIBERIA TO ST. PETERSBURG]
+
+
+
+
+Synopsis of the Russian Alphabet
+
+
+  ======================================================
+   Form. | Proper sound.                 | Name.
+  =======+=================+=============+==============
+    А а  | a _in_ f+a+ther               | ah
+    Б б  | b _in_ +b+utter               | bey
+    В в  | v _in_ +v+ein                 | vey
+    Г г  | g _in_ +g+one                 | ghey
+    Д д  | d _in_ +d+one                 | dey
+    Е е  | ye _in_ +y+et                 | yey
+    Ж ж  | z _in_ a+z+ure                | zhey
+    З з  | z _in_ +z+one                 | zey
+    И и  | i _in_ s+i+ck                 | ee
+    І і  | i _in_ +i+ota                 | ee
+    Й й  | i _in_ o+i+l                  | ee s’krátkoy
+    К к  | k _in_ k+i+n                  | kah
+    Л л  | ll _in_ do+ll+ar              | ell
+    М м  | m _in_ +m+an                  | emm
+    Н н  | n _in_ +n+ote                 | enn
+    О о  | o _in_ n+o+t                  | oh
+    П п  | p _in_ +p+it                  | pey
+    Р р  | rr _in_ hu+rr+y               | airr
+    С с  | s _in_ +s+afe                 | ess
+    Т т  | t _in_ +t+urn                 | tey
+    У у  | oo _in_ m+oo+n                | oo
+    Ф ф  | f _in_ f+i+ne                 | eff
+    Х х  | =ch= _in_ =Da+ch+=            | khah
+    Ц ц  | ts _in_ wi+ts+                | tsey
+    Ч ч  | ch _in_ +ch+arm               | chey
+    Ш ш  | sh _in_ +sh+ut                | shah
+    Щ щ  | shtch _in_ sma+sht-ch+ina     | shtchah
+    Ъ ъ  | _mute_                        | _hard sign_
+    Ы ы  | _approximately_ y _in_ pit+y+ | yairrwee
+    Ь ь  | _half mute_                   | _soft sign_
+    Ѣ ѣ  | ye _in_ y+e+t                 | yaht
+    Э э  | e _in_ m+e+t                  | a
+    Ю ю  | u _in_ +u+niform              | you
+    Я я  | ya _in_ +y+ard                | yah
+    Ѳ ѳ  | f _in_ +f+ine                 | feetah
+    Ѵ ѵ  | i _in_ s+i+ck                 | eezhitsa
+
+
+
+
+SOME NECESSARY RUSSIAN WORDS
+
+
+The following list of words, of course, does not pretend to be an
+English-Russian vocabulary, but simply the smallest possible number of
+words which a traveller would need in crossing Siberia. It would be
+well, of course, to know many more. But it would be possible for the
+traveller to make this journey with the limited means of communication
+with his fellow-travellers, restaurant-keepers, hotel-proprietors,
+train-men and steam-boat officials that are here put at his disposal.
+As it is impossible, of course, in a volume of this character to give
+anything like a complete vocabulary, I have thought that a very small
+fraction of a loaf was better than no bread, and that this was not one
+of the cases when a little knowledge (of Russian) was a dangerous thing.
+
+
+Cardinal Numbers
+
+  одинъ, one.
+  два, two.
+  три, three.
+  четыре, four.
+  пять, five.
+  шесть, six.
+  семь, seven.
+  восемь, eight.
+  девять, nine.
+  десять, ten.
+
+
+English-Russian Vocabulary
+
+  Able (to be), быть въ состояніи.
+  accident, несчастніе.
+  act (to), дѣйствовать.
+  address (direction), адресъ, надпись.
+  adieu, прощай, прощайте.
+  air, воздухъ.
+  all, весь, вся, все.
+  America, Америка.
+  animal, животный.
+  apartment, комната, квартира.
+  apple, яблоко.
+  April, апрѣль.
+  as, какъ, такъ, такъ какъ.
+  ask (to), спрашивать.
+  August, августъ.
+
+  Bag, кошелекъ.
+  baggage, багажъ.
+  barber, цирюльникъ.
+  bath, ванна.
+  bed (bedstead), постель, кровать.
+  bedroom, спальня.
+  beefsteak, бифштексъ.
+  bill (account), счетъ.
+  boat, лодка.
+  book, книга.
+  bookseller, книгопродавецъ.
+  boot, сапогъ, ботинка.
+  box (coffer), сундукъ.
+  bread, хлѣбъ.
+  breakfast, завтракъ.
+  business, дѣло.
+  butter, масло (коровье).
+  button, пуговиця.
+  buy (to), покупать, купить.
+
+  Cab, дрожки.
+  cabman, извощикъ.
+  can (I), я могу.
+  carriage, карета, телѣга.
+  carry (to), носить, нести.
+  chair, стулъ.
+  chamber, комната.
+  China, Китай.
+  church, церковь.
+  city, городъ.
+  class, классъ, разрядъ.
+  clean (to), чистить.
+  clock (what o’--is it?), который часъ?
+  clothing, одежда, платье.
+  coachman, кучеръ.
+  coffee, кофей.
+  coffee-house, кофейня.
+  copeck, копейка, (копѣйка).
+  cost (to), стоить.
+  cure (to), лѣчить.
+
+  Day, день.
+  December, Декабрь.
+  dentist, зубной врачъ.
+  dinner, обѣдъ.
+  dirty, грязний.
+  dish, блюдо, кушаніе.
+  do (to), дѣлать.
+  doctor, врачъ, лѣкарь, докторъ.
+  dress, пгатье.
+
+  Eat (to), ѣсть, кушать.
+  egg, яйцо.
+  engage (to), уговаривать.
+  enough, долвольно.
+  Europe, Европа.
+  express-train, курьерскій поѣздъ.
+
+  Face, лицо.
+  fact, дѣло.
+  family, семейство.
+  farmer, фермеръ.
+  February, февраль.
+  first (at), сперва.
+  fish, рыба.
+  flour, мука.
+  flower, цвѣтъ, цвѣтокъ.
+  foreign, иностранный.
+  fork, вилка.
+  fowl, курица.
+  French, французскій.
+  Friday, пятница,
+  friend, пріятель, другъ.
+  fur, шуба, мѣхъ.
+
+  Girl, дѣвочка.
+  give(to), давать, дать.
+  glass (drinking), стаканъ.
+  glove, перчатка.
+  gold, золото.
+  good, добрый.
+
+  Half, половина, полу ...
+  handkerchiefs, (носовой) платокъ.
+  hat, шлапа, шапка.
+  have (to), имѣть.
+  here, здѣсь.
+  hill, холмъ.
+  horse, конь, лошадь.
+  hot, жаркій, горячій.
+  hotel, гостинница.
+  hour, часъ.
+  house, домъ, жилище.
+  how much, сколько.
+  hungry (to be--), быть голоднымъ.
+
+  Ice, ледъ.
+  ill (sick), больной.
+  important, важный.
+  impossible, невозможный.
+  inhabitant, житель, обитатель.
+  ink, чернила.
+  inn, гостинница.
+  instantly, немедленно.
+
+  January, январь.
+  journal, журналъ.
+  July, Іюль.
+  June, Іюнь.
+
+  Key, ключъ.
+  knife, ножъ, ножикъ.
+
+  Lady, госпожа.
+  lamp, лампа, лампада.
+  landlord, хозяинъ.
+  language, языкъ.
+  lantern, фонарь.
+  large, большой, широкій.
+  letter, письмо.
+  light, свѣтъ, сіяніе.
+  linen, бѣлье.
+  little (a), мало.
+  lock, замокъ.
+  lodging, квартира.
+  lunch, закуска.
+
+  Mail, почта.
+  man, человѣкъ; men, люди.
+  many, многіе.
+  map, карта.
+  March, Мартъ.
+  matter (no), бсе равно.
+  May, Май.
+  meat, мясо.
+  mend (to), исправлять.
+  mile, миля.
+  milk, молоко.
+  minute, минута.
+  Monday, понедѣльникъ.
+  money, деньги, монета.
+  morning, утро.
+  morrow (to), завтра.
+  Moscow, Москва.
+  mother, мать.
+
+  Name, имя.
+  needle, иголка.
+  never, никогда.
+  news, новость, извѣстіе.
+  newspaper, вѣдомость, газета.
+  night, ночь.
+  no, нѣетъ.
+  noon, полдень.
+  north, сѣверъ.
+  November, ноябрь.
+
+  October, октябрь.
+  overcoat, пальто.
+
+  Petersburg (Saint), (Санктъ) Петербургъ.
+  pillow, подушка.
+  plate, тарелка.
+  please (if you--), пожалуйста.
+  post-office, почтамтъ, почта.
+  potato, картофель.
+  promise (to), обѣщать.
+  pronounce (to), произносить.
+  province (Russ.), губернія.
+  purse, кошелекъ.
+  put (to), класть.
+
+  Quarter, четверть.
+  quickly, скоро.
+
+  Railroad, railway, желѣзная дорога.
+  railway-station, вокзалъ.
+  rain, дождь.
+  read (to), читать.
+  refreshment, освѣженіе.
+  registered (letter), заказное.
+  repair (to), поправлять.
+  rest (repose), отдыхъ.
+  river, рѣка.
+  road, дорога, путь.
+  room, комната.
+  Russia, Россія.
+  Russian, Россіянинъ, русскій.
+
+  Salt, соль.
+  Saturday, суббота.
+  say (to), сказать, говорить.
+  sea, море.
+  September, сентябрь.
+  sheet (bedlinen), простыня.
+  Siberia, Сибирь.
+  silver, серебро.
+  soap, мыло.
+  soup, супъ, похлебка.
+  speak (to), говорить.
+  spoon, ложка.
+  stay (to), оставаться.
+  steamboat, steamer, пароходъ.
+  stocking, чулокъ, носокъ.
+  stove, печь, печка.
+  street, улица.
+  sufficient, достаточный.
+  sugar, сахаръ.
+  Sunday, воскресенье.
+  supper, ужинъ.
+  sweep (to), мести.
+
+  Table, столъ.
+  table-cloth, скатерть.
+  talk (to), разговаривать.
+  tea, чай.
+  thank (to), благодарить.
+  there is, вотъ.
+  thirsty, жаждущій.
+  Thursday, четвергъ.
+  ticket, билетъ.
+  towel, полотенце.
+  trunk (coffer), сундукъ.
+  Tuesday, вторникъ.
+
+  Vegetables, овощи.
+
+  Wagon, вагонъ, телѣга.
+  wait (to), ждать, пожидать.
+  waiter, служитель, человѣкъ.
+  waiting-room, (станціонная) зала.
+  waken (to), разбудить.
+  walk (to), гулять, ходить.
+  want (to), нуждаться, желать.
+  wash (to), мыть, обмывать.
+  washerwoman, прачка.
+  washstand, рукомойникъ.
+  water, вода.
+  way, путь, дорога.
+  Wednesday, среда.
+  what, что; какой; то что.
+  when, когда.
+  wish (to), желать.
+  woman, жена, женщина.
+  wood (fuel), дрова.
+  word, слово.
+  work (to), работать.
+  write (to), писать.
+
+  Yes, да.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+ S. W. PARTRIDGE & CO.’S
+
+ CATALOGUE
+ . . OF . .
+ POPULAR ILLUSTRATED BOOKS.
+
+ Classified according to Price.
+
+ 8 & 9, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E. C.
+
+
+6s. each.
+
+_Large Crown 8vo. Cloth Boards, gilt top._
+
+  A Strong Man’s Love. By David Lyall. 344 pages. Twelve Illustrations.
+
+  Old Readymoney’s Daughter. By L. T. Meade. 332 pages. Twelve
+  Illustrations.
+
+  The Letter Killeth. By A. C. Inchbold. 310 pages.
+
+  Ruth Gwynnett, Schoolmistress. By Morice Gerard. 332 pages. Twelve
+  Illustrations.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Japan: From the Old to the New. By R. G. Webster, LL.B., J.P. With 16
+  Illustrations on art paper. Demy 8vo.
+
+
+5s. each.
+
+
+BY GEO. MANVILLE FENN.
+
+_Large Crown 8vo. Fully Illustrated. Cloth Boards, gilt edges._
+
+  Dead Man’s Land; or, The Adventures of Certain and Uncertain Whites
+  and Blacks at Zimbambangwe, the Ancient Home of Gold.
+
+  Trapper Dan: A Story of the Backwoods.
+
+  To Win or to Die.
+
+  In the Mahdi’s Grasp.
+
+  In Honour’s Cause: A Tale of the Days of George the First.
+
+  Steve Young; or, The Voyage of the “Hvalross” to the Icy Seas.
+
+
+BY ROBERT LEIGHTON.
+
+  Cap’n Nat’s Treasure: A Tale of Old Liverpool. Eight Illustrations.
+  Large Crown 8vo. Cloth.
+
+
+BY G. A. HENTY.
+
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+
+
+BY E. F. POLLARD.
+
+  The Scarlet Judges. Illustrated. Large Crown 8vo. Cloth boards, gilt
+  edges.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  The Two Babylons; or, The Papal Worship proved to be the Worship of
+  Nimrod and his Wife. With 61 Illustrations from Nineveh, Babylon,
+  Egypt, Pompeii, etc. By the late Alexander Hislop. Demy 8vo. Cloth
+  extra.
+
+
+New 5/- Library.
+
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+  Cuthbert Hartington: A Tale of Two Sieges. By Geo. A. Henry.
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+  True Unto Death: A Story of Russian Life. By E. F. Pollard.
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+
+3s. 6d. each.
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+
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+“_Girls’ Imperial Library._”
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+printed in photo brown. Handsomely bound in Cloth Boards._
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+  Uncle Joshua’s Heiress; or, Which shall it be? By Lillias Campbell
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+
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+_Popular Works by Miss Charlotte Murray._
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+  From School to Castle. By Charlotte Murray. Illustrated. Large Crown
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+
+  Through Grey to Gold. Crown 8vo. 280 pages. Six Illustrations. Cloth
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+
+  Love Conquereth; or, The Mysterious Trespasser. (_See under Home
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+
+  Wardlaugh; or, Workers Together. (_See under Home Library. 2s._)
+
+
+_Ferrar Fenton’s Translations of the Holy Scriptures in Modern
+English._ 2s. 6d. each _net_.
+
+  Vol.   I.--The Five Books of Moses.
+  Vol.  II.--The History of Israel.
+  Vol. III.--The Books of the Prophets.
+  Vol.  IV.--The Psalms, Solomon, and Sacred Writers.
+  Vol.   V.--The New Testament.
+  The Complete Bible in Modern English. Incorporating the
+    above five volumes. Cloth extra, gilt top. 10s. net.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  James Flanagan: The Story of a Remarkable Career. By Dennis Crane.
+  Crown 8vo. Fully Illustrated. Cloth boards. 2s. 6d. net.
+
+  The Earnest Life. By Silas K. Hocking. Crown 8vo. 192 pages. With
+  portrait and autograph. Handsomely bound in cloth boards.
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+  A Young Man’s Mind. By J. A. Hammerton. Crown 8vo. Cloth extra, gilt
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+
+  The Romance of the Bible. The Marvellous History of the British and
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+  Chaplains at the Front. By One of Them. Incidents in the Life of a
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+
+  Following Jesus: A Bible Picture Book for the Young. Size, 13½ by
+  10 inches. Contains 12 beautifully coloured Old and New Testament
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+
+  Brought to Jesus: A Bible Picture Book for Little Readers. Containing
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+  Handsome coloured boards.
+
+  Bible Pictures and Stories: Old and New Testament. In one Volume.
+  Bound in handsome cloth, with 89 full-page Illustrations by Eminent
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+  Light for Little Footsteps; or, Bible Stories Illustrated. With
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+
+  The Story of Jesus. For Little Children. By Mrs. G. E. Morton. _New
+  Edition._ Large 8vo. 340 pages. Eight pictures in best style of
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+
+  Victoria: Her Life and Reign. By Alfred E. Knight. Crown 8vo. 384
+  pages. Cloth extra, 2s. 6d.; fancy cloth, gilt edges, 3s. 6d.
+
+
+2s. each.
+
+
+_The Home Library._
+
+_Crown 8vo. 320 pages. Handsome Cloth Covers. Fully Illustrated._
+
+  By Bitter Experience: A Story of the Evils of Gambling. By Scott
+  Graham.
+
+  Love Conquereth; or, The Mysterious Trespasser. By Charlotte Murray.
+
+  White Ivory and Black, and other Stories of Adventure by Sea and
+  Land. By Tom Bevan, E. Harcourt Burrage, and John Higginson.
+
+  The Adventures of Don Lavington; or, In the Days of the Press Gang.
+  By G. Manville Fenn.
+
+  Roger the Ranger: A Story of Border Life among the Indians. By E. F.
+  Pollard.
+
+  Brave Brothers; or, Young Sons of Providence. By E. M. Stooke.
+
+  The Moat House; or, Celia’s Deceptions. By Eleanora H. Stooke.
+
+  The White Dove of Amritzir: A Romance of Anglo-Indian Life. By E. F.
+  Pollard.
+
+  In Battle and Breeze: Sea Stories by G. A. Henty, G. Manville Fenn,
+  and J. Higginson.
+
+  Crag Island; or The Mystery of Val Stanlock. By W. Murray Graydon.
+
+  Wild Bryonie. By Jennie Chappell.
+
+  Edwin, the Boy Outlaw; or, The Dawn of Freedom in England. A Story of
+  the Days of Robin Hood. By J. Frederick Hodgetts.
+
+  Manco, the Peruvian Chief. By W. H. G. Kingston. Illustrated by
+  Lancelot Speed.
+
+  Neta Lyall. By Flora E. Berry, Author of “In Small Corners,” etc. Six
+  Illustrations.
+
+  Robert Aske: A Story of the Reformation. By E. F. Pollard. Eight
+  Illustrations.
+
+  John Burleigh’s Sacrifice. By Mrs. Charles Garnett. Nineteen
+  Illustrations.
+
+  The Lion City of Africa. By Willis Boyd Allen. Sixteen Illustrations.
+
+  Aveline’s inheritance. By Jennie Chappell.
+
+  Ben-Hur. By L. Wallis.
+
+  The Better Part. By Annie S. Swan.
+
+  Cousin Mary. By Mrs. Oliphant.
+
+  Dorothy’s Training; or, Wild-flower or Weed? By Jennie Chappell.
+
+  Grace Ashleigh; or, His Ways are Best. By Mary D. R. Boyd.
+
+  Honor: A Nineteenth-Century Heroine. By E. M. Alford.
+
+  Her Saddest Blessing. By Jennie Chappell.
+
+  The Inca’s Ransom: A Story of the Conquest of Peru. By Albert Lee.
+
+  John: A Tale of the Messiah. By K. Pearson Woods.
+
+  Jacques Hamon; or, Sir Philip’s Private Messenger. By Mary E. Ropes.
+
+  Leaders into Unknown Lands: Being Chapters of recent Travel. By A.
+  Montefiore-Brice, F.G.S., F.R.G.S.
+
+  Lights and Shadows of Forster Square. By Rev. E. H. Sugden, M.A.
+
+  The Last Earl Grahame. By Rev. J. M. Dryerre, LL.B., F.R.G.S.
+
+  The Martyr of Kolin; A Story of the Bohemian Persecution. By H. O.
+  Ward.
+
+  Morning Dew-Drops: A Temperance Text Book. By Clara Lucas Balfour.
+
+  Mark Desborough’s Vow. By Annie S. Swan.
+
+  Norman’s Nugget. By J. Macdonald Oxley, B.A.
+
+  A Puritan Wooing: A Tale of the Great Awakening in New England. By
+  Frank Samuel Child.
+
+  Petrel Darcy; or, In Honour Bound. By T. Corrie.
+
+  A Polar Eden; or, The Goal of the “Dauntless.” By Charles R. Kenyon.
+
+  The Strait Gate. By Annie S. Swan.
+
+  The Spanish Maiden: A Story of Brazil. By Emma E. Hornibrook.
+
+  Wardlaugh; or, Workers Together. By Charlotte Murray.
+
+  The Wreck of the “Providence.” By Eliza F. Pollard.
+
+  Alfred the Great: The Father of the English. By Jesse Page.
+
+
+_Library of Standard Works by Famous Authors._
+
+_Crown 8vo. Bound in handsome Cloth Boards. Well illustrated._
+
+  The Old Lieutenant and His Son. By Norman McLeod.
+
+  Coral Island. By R. M. Ballantyne.
+
+  Nettie’s Mission. Stories Illustrative of the Lord’s Prayer. By Alice
+  Gray.
+
+  Home Influence: A Tale for Mothers. By Grace Aguilar.
+
+  The Gorilla Hunters. By R. M. Ballantyne.
+
+  What Katy Did. By Susan Coolidge.
+
+  Peter the Whaler. By W. H. G. Kingston. 300 pages. Six Illustrations.
+
+  Melbourne House. By Susan Warner. 452 pages. Six Illustrations.
+
+  The Lamplighter. By Miss Cummins. 444 pages. Six Illustrations.
+
+  Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Carefully chosen from the Tales collected by the
+  Brothers Grimm. Twelve Illustrations.
+
+  The Swiss Family Robinson: Adventures on a Desert Island. Twelve
+  Illustrations.
+
+  Tom Brown’s School-Days. By an Old Boy. 344 pages. Twelve
+  Illustrations.
+
+  Little Women and Good Wives. By Louisa M. Alcot. 450 pages. Six
+  Illustrations.
+
+  The Wide, Wide World. By Susan Warner. 478 pages. Six Illustrations.
+
+  Danesbury House. By Mrs. Henry Wood. 332 pages. Six Illustrations.
+
+  Stepping Heavenward. By E. Prentiss. 332 pages. Six Illustrations.
+
+  John Halifax, Gentleman. By Mrs. Craik. 540 pages.
+
+  Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. By Daniel Defoe.
+
+  Naomi; or, The Last Days of Jerusalem. By Mrs. Webb.
+
+  The Pilgrim’s Progress. By John Bunyan. 416 pages.
+
+  Uncle Tom’s Cabin. By Harriet Beecher Stowe.
+
+  Westward Ho! By Chas. Kingsley.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Bunyan’s Folk of To-day; or, The Modern Pilgrim’s Progress. By Rev.
+  J. Reid Howatt. Twenty Illustrations. Crown 8vo. Cloth extra.
+
+  Sunday Afternoons with My Scholars. By J. Attenborough. With
+  portrait. Crown 8vo. 290 pages. Cloth gilt.
+
+  Bible Light for Little Pilgrims. A Coloured Scripture Picture Roll.
+  Contains 12 beautifully coloured Old and New Testament Scenes, with
+  appropriate texts. Varnished cover printed in 10 colours. Mounted on
+  Roller for hanging.
+
+  Kwang Tung; or, Five Years in South China. By Rev. J. A. Turner.
+  Eight Illustrations. Map. Imperial 8vo. 176 pages. Cloth gilt. 2s.
+  net.
+
+  Platform, Pulpit and Desk; or, Tools for Workers. Being 148 Outline
+  Addresses on all Phases of the Temperance Movement for all Ages and
+  Classes. By W. N. Edwards, F.C.S. With an Introduction by Canon
+  Barker. Crown 8vo. 300 pages.
+
+  Pleasant Half Hours; or, Thoughts for Men. By Rev. E. H. Sugden, M.A.
+  Crown 8vo. 224 pages.
+
+  Bible Picture Roll. Containing a large Engraving of a Scripture
+  Subject, with letterpress, for each day in the month. Mounted on
+  Roller for hanging.
+
+  Love, Courtship, and Marriage. By Rev. F. B. Meyer, B.A. Crown 8vo.
+  152 pages. Embellished cloth cover. 2s. net. Full gilt edges, 2s. 6d.
+  net.
+
+
+1s. 6d. each.
+
+
+_Partridge’s Eighteenpenny Series_
+
+OF CHARMING STORIES FOR HOLIDAY AND FIRESIDE READING.
+
+_Crown 8vo. 160 pages. Well Illustrated and Attractively Bound._
+
+  A String of Pearls. By E. F. Pollard.
+
+  Elsie Macgregor; or, Margaret’s Little Lass. By Ramsay Guthrie.
+
+  The Lady of the Chine. By M. S. Haycraft.
+
+  Carola’s Secret. By Ethel F. Heddle.
+
+  The Home of His Fathers. By Lillias Campbell Davidson.
+
+  A Great Patience. By L. Moberley.
+
+  In the Bonds of Silence. By J. L. Hornibrook.
+
+  A Late Repentance. By Hannah B. Mackenzie.
+
+  Shepherds and Sheep. By E. Stuart-Langford.
+
+  The Golden Doors. By M. S. Haycraft.
+
+  A Noble Champion. By David Hobbs.
+
+
+_The Up-to-date Library._
+
+_Of Thick Crown 8vo. Volumes. 320 pages. Many Illustrations. Cloth
+Boards._
+
+  Without a Thought; or, Dora’s Discipline. By Jennie Chappell.
+
+  Edith Oswald; or, Living for Others. By Jane M. Kippen.
+
+  A Bunch of Cherries. By J. W. Kirton.
+
+  A Village Story. By Mrs. G. E. Morton.
+
+  The Eagle Cliff. By R. M. Ballantyne.
+
+  More Precious than Gold. By Jennie Chappell.
+
+  The Slave Raiders of Zanzibar. By E. Harcourt Burrage.
+
+  Ester Ried. By Pansy.
+
+  Avice: a Story of Imperial Rome. By E. F. Pollard.
+
+  The King’s Daughter. By Pansy.
+
+  The Foster Brothers; or, Foreshadowed. By Mrs. Morton.
+
+  The Household Angel. By Madeline Leslie.
+
+  The Green Mountain Boys: a Story of the American War of Independence.
+  By E. F. Pollard.
+
+  A Way in the Wilderness. By Maggie Swan.
+
+  Miss Elizabeth’s Niece. By M. S. Haycraft.
+
+  The Man of the House. By “Pansy.”
+
+  Olive Chauncey’s Trust: a Story of Life’s Turning Points. By Mrs. E.
+  R. Pitman.
+
+  Whither Bound? a Story of Two Lost Boys. By Owen Landor.
+
+  Three People. By “Pansy.”
+
+  Chrissy’s Endeavour. By “Pansy.”
+
+  The Young Moose Hunters. By C. A. Stephens.
+
+  Eaglehurst Towers. By Emma Marshall.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Chilgoopie the Glad: a Story of Korea and her Children. By Jean
+  Perry. With eight Illustrations on art paper, and bound in cloth
+  boards.
+
+  The Man in Grey; or, More about Korea. By Jean Perry. Crown 8vo.
+  Illustrated. Cloth boards.
+
+  More Nails for Busy Workers. By C. Edwards, Author of “A Box of Nails
+  for Busy Christian Workers,” etc. Crown 8vo. 196 pages. Cloth boards.
+
+  Queen Alexandra: the Nation’s Pride. By Mrs. C. N. Williamson. Crown
+  8vo. Tastefully bound, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+  King and Emperor: the Life-History of Edward VII. By Arthur Mee.
+  Crown 8vo. Cloth boards. 1s. 6d. net.
+
+  William McKinley: Private and President. By Thos. Cox Meech. Crown
+  8vo. 160 pages, with Portrait, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+  Studies of the Man Christ Jesus. His Character, His Spirit, Himself.
+  By R. E. Speer. Cloth, gilt top. 1s. 6d. net.
+
+  Studies of the Man Paul. By Robert E. Speer. Long 8vo. 304 pages.
+  Cloth gilt. 1s. 6d. net.
+
+  The Angel and the Demon; and other Stories. By E. Thorneycroft
+  Fowler. Cloth gilt. Eight Illustrations.
+
+  A Measuring Eye. By E. Stuart-Langford. Illustrated. Cloth boards.
+
+  Wellington: the Record of a Great Military Career. By A. E. Knight.
+  Crown 8vo. Cloth gilt, with Portrait, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+  Hector Macdonald; or, The Private who became a General. By T. F. G.
+  Coates. Crown 8vo. Cloth gilt, with Portrait. 1s. 6d. net.
+
+  Baden-Powell: The Hero of Mafeking. By W. Francis Aitken. Crown 8vo.
+  Cloth gilt, with Portrait. 1s. 6d. net.
+
+  Every-day Life in South Africa. By E. E. K. Lowndes. Crown 8vo.
+  Illustrated. Cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+  The Royal Life. By Rev. J. C. Carlile. Crown 8vo. 128 pages. Cloth
+  gilt.
+
+  Insects: Foes and Friends. By W. Egmont Kirby, M.D., F.L.S. 32 pages
+  of Coloured Illustrations. Cloth boards.
+
+
+_The British Boys’ Library._
+
+_Fully Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 168 pages. Cloth extra._
+
+  The Adventures of Ji. By G. E. Farrow, Author of “The Wallypug of
+  Why.”
+
+  Missionary Heroes: Stories of Heroism on the Missionary Field. By C.
+  D. Michael.
+
+  Andrew Bennett’s Harvest; or, The Shadow of God’s Providence. By
+  Lydia Phillips.
+
+  Brown Al; or, A Stolen Holiday. By E. M. Stooke.
+
+  The Pigeons’ Cave: A Story of Great Orme’s Head in 1806. By J. S.
+  Fletcher.
+
+  Robin the Rebel. By H. Louisa Bedford.
+
+  Runaway Rollo. By E. M. Stooke.
+
+  Success: Chats about Boys who have Won it. By C. D. Michael.
+
+  Well Done! Stories of Brave Endeavour. Edited by C. D. Michael.
+
+  The Wonder Seekers. By Henry J. Barker, M.A.
+
+  Little Soldiers. By Kate L. Mackley.
+
+  Will; or, That Boy from the Union. By Lydia Phillips.
+
+  Heroes All! A Book of Brave Deeds for British Boys. Edited by C. D.
+  Michael.
+
+  Noble Deeds: Stories of Peril and Heroism. Edited by C. D. Michael.
+
+  Armour Bright: The Story of a Boy’s Battles. By Lucy Taylor.
+
+  Ben: A Story of Life’s Byways. By Lydia Phillips.
+
+  Major Brown; or, Whether White or Black, a Man. By Edith S. Davis.
+
+  Jack. A Story of a Scapegrace. By E. M. Bryant.
+
+  Hubert Ellerdale: A Tale of the Days of Wicliffe. By W. Oak Rhind.
+
+
+_The British Girls’ Library._
+
+_Fully Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 160 pages. Cloth extra._
+
+  The Mystery Baby; or, Patsy at Fellside. By Alice M. Page.
+
+  Zillah, the Little Dancing Girl. By Mrs. Hugh St. Leger.
+
+  Patsie’s Bricks. By L. S. Mead.
+
+  Salome’s Burden; or, The Shadow on the Homes. By Eleanora H. Stooke.
+
+  Heroines: True Tales of Brave Women. By C. D. Michael.
+
+  Granny’s Girls. By M. B. Manwell.
+
+  Mousey; or, Cousin Robert’s Treasure. By Eleanora H. Stooke.
+
+  Marigold’s Fancies. By L. E. Tiddeman.
+
+  “Our Phyllis.” By M. S. Haycraft.
+
+  The Lady of Greyham; or, Low in a Low Place. By Emma E. Hornibrook.
+
+  The Gipsy Queen. By Emma Leslie.
+
+  Kathleen; or, A Maiden’s Influence. By Julia Hack.
+
+  The Rajah’s Daughter; or, The Half-Moon Girl. By Bessie Marchant.
+
+  In Self-Defence. By Julia Hack.
+
+  Regia; or, Her Little Kingdom. By E. M. Waterworth and Jennie
+  Chappell.
+
+  Una’s Marriage. By Mrs. Haycraft.
+
+  Tephi: An Armenian Romance. By Cecilia M. Blake.
+
+  Christabel’s Influence. By J. Goldsmith Cooper.
+
+  Queen of the Isles. By Jessie M. E. Saxby.
+
+
+_Picture Books._
+
+
+_Size 9 by 7 inches. Coloured and numerous other Illustrations.
+Handsome Coloured Cover, Paper Boards with Cloth Back._
+
+  Happy and Gay: Pictures and Stories for Every Day. By D. J. D.
+
+  Pleasures and Joys for Girls and Boys. By D. J. D.
+
+  Anecdotes of Animals and Birds. By Uncle John.
+
+  Stories of Animal Sagacity. By D. J. D.
+
+
+_“The World’s Wonders” Series._
+
+_Crown 8vo. 160 pages. Copiously Illustrated. Handsome Cloth Covers._
+
+  The Conquest of the Air: The Romance of Aerial Navigation. By John
+  Alexander.
+
+  Surgeons and their Wonderful Discoveries. By F. M. Holmes.
+
+  The Life-Boat: Its History and Heroes. By F. M. Holmes.
+
+  Firemen and their Exploits. With an Account of Fire Brigades and
+  Appliances. By F. M. Holmes.
+
+  The Romance of the Savings Banks. By Archibald G. Bowie.
+
+  The Romance of Glass Making. A Sketch of the History of Ornamental
+  Glass. By W. Gandy.
+
+  The Romance of the Post-Office: its Inception and Wondrous
+  Development. By Archibald G. Bowie.
+
+  Marvels of Metals. By F. M. Holmes.
+
+  Triumphs of the Printing Press. By Walter Jerrold.
+
+  Electricians and their Marvels. By Walter Jerrold.
+
+  Musicians and their Compositions. By J. R. Griffiths.
+
+  Naturalists and their Investigations. By George Day, F.R.M.S.
+
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+_Devotional Classics._
+
+_A New Series of Devotional Books by Standard Authors. Well printed on
+good paper. Size 6¼ by 4¼ inches. Beautifully bound in Cloth Boards.
+1s. 6d. each_, NET. (_Not illustrated._)
+
+  The Imitation of Christ. By Thomas à Kempis.
+
+  The Holy War. By John Bunyan.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Letters on the Simple Life. By the Queen of Roumania, Marie Corelli,
+  Madame Sarah Grand, “John Oliver Hobbes,” Sir A. Conan Doyle, The
+  Bishop of London, Canon Hensley Henson, Sir J. Crichton Browne. Rev.
+  S. Baring-Gould, Dr. Robertson Nicoll, etc. Crown 8vo. 160 pages.
+  With Autographs of contributors in fac-simile. Imitation Linen, 1s,
+  net. Cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net. (Not illustrated.)
+
+
+_Popular Missionary Biographies._
+
+_Crown 8vo. 160 pages. Cloth extra. Fully Illustrated._
+
+  The Christianity of the Continent: a Retrospect and a Review. By
+  Jesse Page, F.R.G.S.
+
+  Missionaries I have met, and the work they have done. By Jesse Page.
+  F.R.G.S.
+
+  James Chalmers, Missionary and Explorer of Rarotonga and New Guinea.
+  By William Robson.
+
+  Griffith John, Founder of the Hankow Mission, Central China. By
+  William Robson.
+
+  Robert Morrison: The Pioneer of Chinese Missions. By William J.
+  Townsend.
+
+  Amid Greenland Snows; or, The Early History of Arctic Missions. By
+  Jesse Page. F.R.G.S.
+
+  Bishop Patteson: The Martyr of Melanesia. By same Author.
+
+  Captain Allen Gardiner: Sailor and Saint. By same Author.
+
+  The Congo for Christ: The Story of the Congo Mission. By Rev. J. B.
+  Myers. _New Edition_, brought up to date.
+
+  David Brainerd, the Apostle to the North-American Indians. By Jesse
+  Page. F.R.G.S.
+
+  David Livingstone: His Labours and his Legacy. By Arthur
+  Montefiore-Brice.
+
+  From Kafir Kraal to Pulpit: The Story of Tiyo Soga, First Ordained
+  Preacher of the Kafir Race. By Rev. H. T. Cousins.
+
+  Japan: and its People. By Jesse Page, F.R.G.S.
+
+  John Williams: The Martyr Missionary of Polynesia. By Rev. James
+  Ellis.
+
+  James Calvert; or, From Dark to Dawn in Fiji. By R. Vernon.
+
+  Lady Missionaries in Foreign Lands. By Mrs. E. R. Pitman.
+
+  Missionary Heroines in Eastern Lands. By Mrs. E. R. Pitman.
+
+  Reginald Heber: Bishop of Calcutta, Author of “From Greenland’s Icy
+  Mountains.” By A. Montefiore-Brice. F.R.G.S.
+
+  Robert Moffat: The Missionary Hero of Kuruman. By David J. Deane.
+
+  Samuel Crowther: The Slave Boy who became Bishop of the Niger. By
+  Jesse Page, F.R.G.S.
+
+  Thomas J. Comber: Missionary Pioneer to the Congo. By Rev. J. B.
+  Myers.
+
+  William Carey: The Shoemaker who became the Father and Founder of
+  Modern Missions. By Rev. J. B. Myers.
+
+  Henry Martyn. By Jesse Page, F.R.G.S.
+
+
+_Popular Biographies._
+
+_Crown 8vo. Cloth Boards. Fully Illustrated._
+
+  Life-Story of Ira D. Sankey, The Singing Evangelist. By David
+  Williamson.
+
+  Great Evangelists, and the Way God has Used Them. By Jesse Page.
+  Crown 8vo. 160 pages, with Portraits and Illustrations.
+
+  Women who have Worked and Won. The Life Story of Mrs. Spurgeon, Mrs.
+  Booth-Tucker, F. R. Havergal, and Ramabai. By Jennie Chappell.
+
+  John Bright: Apostle of Free Trade. By Jesse Page, F.R.G.S.
+
+  The Two Stephensons. By John Alexander.
+
+  J. Passmore Edwards: Philanthropist. By E. Harcourt Burrage.
+
+  Dwight L. Moody: The Life-work of a Modern Evangelist. By Rev. J. H.
+  Batt.
+
+  Noble Work by Noble Women: Sketches of the Lives of the Baroness
+  Burdett-Coutts, Lady Henry Somerset, Miss Sarah Robinson, Mrs.
+  Fawcett, and Mrs. Gladstone. By Jennie Chappell.
+
+  Four Noble Women and their Work: Sketches of the Life and Work of
+  Frances Willard, Agnes Weston, Sister Dora, and Catherine Booth. By
+  Jennie Chappell.
+
+  The Canal Boy who became President. By Frederic T. Gammon.
+
+  Florence Nightingale: The Wounded Soldiers’ Friend. By Eliza F.
+  Pollard.
+
+  Four Heroes of India: Clive, Warren Hastings, Havelock, Lawrence. By
+  F. M. Holmes.
+
+  General Gordon: The Christian Soldier and Hero. By G. Barnett Smith.
+
+  W. E. Gladstone: England’s Great Commoner. By Walter Jerrold. With
+  Portrait and 38 other Illustrations.
+
+  Heroes and Heroines of the Scottish Covenanters. By J. Meldrum
+  Dryerre, LL.B., F.R.G.S.
+
+  John Knox and the Scottish Reformation. By G. Barnett Smith.
+
+  Philip Melancthon: The Wittemberg Professor and Theologian of the
+  Reformation. By David J. Deane.
+
+  Sir John Franklin and the Romance of the North-West Passage. By G.
+  Barnett Smith.
+
+  The Slave and his Champions: Sketches of Granville Sharp, Thomas
+  Clarkson, William Wilberforce, and Sir T. F. Buxton. By C. D. Michael.
+
+  C. H. Spurgeon: His Life and Ministry. By Jesse Page, F.R.G.S.
+
+  Two Noble Lives: John Wicliffe, the Morning Star of the Reformation;
+  and Martin Luther, the Reformer. By David J. Deane. 208 pages.
+
+  William Tyndale: The Translator of the English Bible. By G. Barnett
+  Smith.
+
+  The Marquess of Salisbury: His Inherited Characteristics, Political
+  Principles, and Personality. By W. F. Aitken.
+
+  Joseph Parker, D.D.: His Life and Ministry. By Albert Dawson.
+
+  Hugh Price Hughes. By Rev. J. Gregory Mantle.
+
+  R. J. Campbell, M.A.; Minister of the City Temple, London. By Charles
+  T. Bateman.
+
+  Dr. Barnardo: “The Foster-Father of Nobody’s Children.” By Rev. J. H.
+  Batt.
+
+  W. Robertson Nicoll, LL.D.; Editor and Preacher. By Jane Stoddart.
+
+  F. B. Meyer: His Life and Work. By Jennie Street.
+
+  John Clifford, M.A., B.Sc., LL.D., D.D. By Chas. T. Bateman.
+
+  Thirty Years in the East End: A Marvellous Story of Mission Work. By
+  W. Francis Aitken.
+
+  Alexander Maclaren, D.D.: The Man and His Message. By Rev. John C.
+  Carlile.
+
+  Lord Milner. By W. B. Luke.
+
+  Lord Rosebery, Imperialist. By J. A. Hammerton.
+
+  Joseph Chamberlain: A Romance of Modern Politics. By Arthur Mee.
+
+  General Booth: The Man and His Work. By Jesse Page, F.R.G.S.
+
+  Torrey and Alexander: The Story of their Lives. By J. Kennedy
+  Maclean. Crown 8vo. Illustrated. Imitation cloth, 1s. net. Cloth
+  boards, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+
+_Illustrated Reward Books._
+
+_Crown 8vo. 160 pages. Cloth extra. Fully Illustrated._
+
+  Bethesda Chapel. A Story of the Good Old Times. By Rev. C. Leach, D.D.
+
+  Philip’s Inheritance; or, Into a Far Country. By F. Spenser.
+
+  Donald’s Victory. By Lydia Phillips.
+
+  A Red Brick Cottage. By Lady Hope.
+
+  Marchester Stories. By Rev. C. Herbert.
+
+  Sister Royal. By Mrs. Haycraft.
+
+
+_“Onward” Temperance Library._
+
+_Crown 8vo. Illustrated. Cloth extra._
+
+  Dick’s Chum. By Miss M. A. Paull.
+
+    “This book is well written and illustrated. It is just the book for
+    boys.”
+
+  We Girls. By Miss M. A. Paull.
+
+    “A capital book for girls--written by one who thoroughly
+    understands them.”
+
+  Manor House Mystery. By Mrs. C. L. Balfour.
+
+    “It is written in excellent style, with a well-constructed plot,
+    sparkling dialogue and a faultless moral.”
+
+  The Bird Angel. By Miss M. A. Paull.
+
+    “One of Miss Paull’s most delightful stories.”
+
+  Lyndon the Outcast. By Mrs. Clara Lucas Balfour.
+
+  Ronald Clayton’s Mistake. By Miss M. A. Paull.
+
+    “It is a capital book to place in the hands of working lads.”
+
+  Nearly Lost, but Dearly Won. By Rev. T. P. Wilson, M.A., Author of
+  “Frank Oldfield,” etc.
+
+  Hoyle’s Popular Ballads and Recitations. By William Hoyle, Author of
+  “Hymns and Songs,” etc.
+
+    “A capital book for Sunday School, Temperance, and general
+    Recitations.”
+
+
+1s. each.
+
+_One Shilling Reward Books._
+
+_Fully Illustrated. Crown 8vo. Cloth extra._
+
+  True Stories of Brave Deeds; or, What Boys and Girls can Do. By Mabel
+  Bowler.
+
+  The Mystery of Marnie. By Jennie Chappell.
+
+  Gipsy Kit; or, The Man with the Tattooed Face. By Robert Leighton.
+
+  Dick’s Desertion; A Boy’s Adventures in Canadian Forests. By Marjorie
+  L. C. Pickthall.
+
+  The Wild Swans; or, The Adventure of Rowland Cleeve. By Mary C.
+  Rowsell.
+
+  George & Co.; or, The Choristers of St. Anselm’s. By Spencer T. Gibb.
+
+  Fern Dacre: A Minster Yard Story. By Ethel Ruth Boddy.
+
+  Caravan Cruises: Five Children in a Caravan--not to mention Old
+  Dobbin. By Phil Ludlow.
+
+  Other Pets and their Wild Cousins. By Rev. J. Isabell, F.E.S. Many
+  Illustrations.
+
+  Little Chris the Castaway. By F. Spenser.
+
+  The Children of the Priory. By J. L. Hornibrook.
+
+  Through Sorrow and Joy; or, The Story of an English Bible in
+  Reformation Times. By M. A. R.
+
+  Tom and the Enemy. By Clive R. Fenn.
+
+  Ruth’s Roses; or, What Some Girls Did. By Laura A. Barter-Snow.
+
+  In Paths of Peril: A Boy’s Adventures in Nova Scotia. By J. Macdonald
+  Oxley.
+
+  Pets and their Wild Cousins: New and True Stories of Animals. By Rev.
+  J. Isabell, F.E.S.
+
+  A Brother’s Need. By L. S. Mead. Crown 8vo. 128 pages.
+
+  Sunshine and Snow. By Harold Bindloss.
+
+  Donalblane of Darien. By J. Macdonald Oxley.
+
+  Crown Jewels. By Heather Grey.
+
+  At the Bend of the Creek. By E. Gertrude and Annie A. Hart.
+
+  All Play and No Work. By Harold Avery.
+
+  Bernard or Ben? By Jennie Chappell.
+
+  Always Happy; or, The Story of Helen Keller. By Jennie Chappell.
+
+  Birdie and her Dog, and other Stories of Canine Sagacity. By Miss
+  Phillips (Mrs. H. B. Looker).
+
+  Bessie Drew; or, The Odd Little Girl. By Amy Manifold.
+
+  Cola Monti; or, The Story of a Genius. By Mrs. Craik, Author of “John
+  Halifax, Gentleman.”
+
+  The Children of Cherryholme. By M. S. Haycraft.
+
+  The Fatal Nugget. By E. Harcourt Burrage.
+
+  Frank Burleigh; or, Chosen to be a Soldier. By Lydia Phillips.
+
+  Harold; or, Two Died for Me. By Laura A. Barter.
+
+  Indian Life in the Great North-West. By Egerton R. Young, Missionary
+  to the North American Indian Tribes.
+
+  Jack the Conqueror; or Difficulties Overcome. By the Author of “Dick
+  and his Donkey.”
+
+  Little Bunch’s Charge; or, True to Trust. By Nellie Cornwall.
+
+  Lost in the Backwoods. By Edith C. Kenyon.
+
+  The Little Woodman and his Dog Cæsar. By Mrs. Sherwood.
+
+  Our Den. By E. M. Waterworth.
+
+  Paul the Courageous. By Mabel Quiller-Couch.
+
+  Roy’s Sister; or, His Way and Hers. By M. B. Manwell.
+
+  Raymond’s Rival; or, Which will Win? By Jennie Chappell.
+
+  Sweet Nancy. By L. T. Meade.
+
+  Who was the Culprit? By Jennie Chappell.
+
+
+1s. each net.
+
+(_Not Illustrated._)
+
+  Partridge’s Popular Reciter. Old Favourites and New. 208 pages. Crown
+  8vo. Imitation Cloth, 1s. net; Cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+  Partridge’s Humorous Reciter (uniform with Partridge’s Popular
+  Reciter). Imitation Cloth, 1s. net; Cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.
+
+
+_Cheap Reprints of Popular Books for the Young._
+
+_Crown 8vo. 160 pages. Illustrated. Cloth Boards, 1s. each._
+
+  Deeds of Daring; or, Stories of Heroism in Everyday Life. By C. D.
+  Michael.
+
+  Everybody’s Friend; or, Hilda Danver’s Influence. By Evelyn Everett
+  Green.
+
+  The Bell Buoy; or, The Story of a Mysterious Key. By F. M. Holmes.
+
+  Saph’s Foster-Bairn. By Rev. A. Colbeck.
+
+  Vic: A Book of Animal Stories. By Alfred C. Fryer, Ph.D., F.S.A.
+
+  In Friendship’s Name. By Lydia Phillips.
+
+  Nella; or, Not my Own. By Jessie Goldsmith Cooper.
+
+  Blossom and Blight. By M. A. Paull.
+
+  Aileen. By Laura A. Barter-Snow.
+
+  Satisfied. By Catherine Trowbridge.
+
+  Ted’s Trust; or, Aunt Elmerley’s Umbrella. By Jennie Chappell.
+
+  A Candle Lighted by the Lord. By Mrs. E. Ross.
+
+  Alice Western’s Blessing. By Ruth Lamb.
+
+  Tamsin Rosewarne and Her Burdens: A Tale of Cornish Life. By Nellie
+  Cornwall.
+
+  Raymond and Bertha: A Story of True Nobility. By Lydia Phillips.
+
+  Gerald’s Dilemma. By Emma Leslie.
+
+  Fine Gold; or, Ravenswood Courtney. By Emma Marshall.
+
+  Marigold. By Mrs. L. T. Meade.
+
+  Jack’s Heroism. A Story of Schoolboy Life. By Edith C. Kenyon.
+
+  The Lads of Kingston. A Tale of a Seaport Town. By James Capes Story.
+
+  Her Two Sons: A Story for Young Men and Maidens. By Mrs. Charles
+  Garnett.
+
+  Rag and Tag: A Plea for the Waifs and Strays of Old England. By Mrs.
+  E. J. Whittaker.
+
+  Through Life’s Shadows. By Eliza F. Pollard.
+
+  The Little Princess of Tower Hill. By L. T. Meade, Author of “The
+  Lady of the Forest.”
+
+  Clovie and Madge. By Mrs. G. S. Reaney.
+
+  Ellerslie House: A Book for Boys. By Emma Leslie.
+
+  Like a Little Candle; or Bertrand’s Influence. By Mrs. Haycraft.
+
+  Louie’s Married Life. By Sarah Doudney.
+
+  Martin Redfern’s Vow. By Ethel F. Heddle.
+
+  The Dairyman’s Daughter. By Legh Richmond.
+
+  Bible Wonders. By Rev. Dr. Newton.
+
+  The Pilgrim’s Progress. By John Bunyan. 416 pages. Eight coloured and
+  46 other Illustrations.
+
+  Our Duty to Animals. By Mrs. C. Bray, Author of “Physiology for
+  Schools,” etc. Intended to teach the young kindness to Animals.
+
+
+_“Onward” Temperance Library._
+
+_Crown 8vo. Illustrated. Cloth extra. 1s. each._
+
+  A Western Waif. By Old Cornish.
+
+  Addy’s Two Lives. By Mrs. Ruth B. Yates.
+
+  John Dudley’s Secret; or, The Gambler’s Daughter. By Edward Armytage.
+
+  Suspected; or, Under a Cloud. By A. J. Glasspool.
+
+  Whispers to those who wish to Enjoy a Happy Life. By Rev. Benj. Smith.
+
+  Snatched from Death. By Alfred J. Glasspool.
+
+
+_Everyone’s Library._
+
+  _A re-issue of Standard Works in a cheap form, containing from 320
+  to 500 pages, printed in the best style; with Illustrations on art
+  paper, and tastefully bound in Cloth Boards. 1s. each._
+
+  Tom Brown’s Schooldays. By an Old Boy.
+
+  The Wide, Wide World. By Susan Warner.
+
+  Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. By Daniel Defoe.
+
+  Uncle Tom’s Cabin. By H. B. Stowe.
+
+  The Old Lieutenant and His Son. By Norman McLeod.
+
+
+_Books for Christian Workers._
+
+_Large Crown 16mo. 128 pages. Chastely bound in Cloth Boards. 1s. each._
+
+  The Master’s Messages to Women. By Charlotte Skinner.
+
+  Royal and Loyal: Thoughts on the Twofold Aspects of the Christian
+  Life. By Rev. W. H. Griffith-Thomas.
+
+  Thoroughness: Talks to Young Men. By Thain Davidson D.D.
+
+  Some Secrets of Christian Living. By Rev. F. B. Meyer.
+
+  The Overcoming Life. By Rev. E. W. Moore.
+
+  Marks of the Master. By Charlotte Skinner.
+
+  Some Deeper Things. By Rev. F. B. Meyer.
+
+  Steps to the Blessed Life. By Rev. F. B. Meyer.
+
+  Daybreak in the Soul. By Rev. E. W. Moore.
+
+  The Temptation of Christ. By C. Arnold Healing, M.A.
+
+  Keynotes to the Happy Life. By Charlotte Skinner.
+
+  For Love’s Sake. By Charlotte Skinner.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Our Bands of Love and what we do there: Hints and Helps in providing
+  occupation for Children’s Classes. Compiled by Mildred Duff. Full of
+  illustrations. Cloth boards. 1s.
+
+  Ingatherings: A Dainty Book of Beautiful Thoughts. Compiled by E.
+  Agar. Cloth boards, 1s. (Paper covers, 6d. _net_.)
+
+  Golden Words for Every Day. By M. Jennie Street. A prettily
+  illustrated Text Book for the Young.
+
+  The Armour of Life. A Little Book of Friendly Counsel. Edited by J.
+  A. Hammerton. Foolscap 8vo. Ninety-six pages. Cloth.
+
+  The New Cookery of Unproprietary Foods. By Eustace Miles, M.A. 192
+  pages, 1s. _net_.
+
+  The Child’s Book of Health. A Series of Illustrated and Easy Lessons
+  for Children and Parents on taking care of ourselves. By Walter N.
+  Edwards. F.C.S. 1s. _net_.
+
+  Hiram Golfs Religion. By George H. Hepworth, D.D., Author of “The
+  Life Beyond,” etc. 128 pages. Cloth gilt.
+
+  Eon the Good; and other Verses. By Charlotte Murray. Crown 8vo.
+
+  Uncrowned Queens. By Charlotte Skinner. Small 8vo. 112 pages. Cloth.
+
+  Victoria: the Well-Beloved. (1819-1901.) By W. Francis Aitken. Eight
+  Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 152 pages. Cloth boards.
+
+
+_New Series of One Shilling Picture Books._
+
+  _Size 10½ by 8 inches. 96 pages. Coloured Frontispiece and numerous
+  other illustrations. Handsomely bound in Paper Boards, covers printed
+  in 10 colours and varnished._
+
+  A Trip to Storyland. By R. V.
+
+  Holiday Hours in Animal Land. By Uncle Harry.
+
+  Bible Treasures. A Book of Old Testament Pictures in colours. With
+  suitable letterpress.
+
+  Animal Antics! By the Author of “In Animal Land with Louis Wain.”
+
+  Happy Days. By R. V.
+
+  Old Testament Heroes. By Mildred Duff.
+
+  Feed My Lambs. Fifty-two Bible Stories and Pictures. By the Author of
+  “The Friends of Jesus.”
+
+  Jesus the Good Shepherd. A Book of Bible Pictures in colours, with
+  suitable letterpress.
+
+  Tell Me a Tale! A Picture Story Book for Little Children. By J. D.
+
+  Little Snow-Shoes’ Picture Book. By R. V.
+
+  In Animal Land with Louis Wain. Coloured Frontispiece and many other
+  of Louis Wain’s striking animal pictures for the young.
+
+  Two Little Bears at School. By J. D.
+
+  Merry and Free. Pictures and Stories for our Little Ones. By R. V.
+
+  Bible Pictures and Stories: Old Testament. By D. J. D.
+
+  Bible Pictures and Stories: New Testament. By James Weston and D. J.
+  D.
+
+  Pussies and Puppies. By Louis Wain.
+
+  The Life of Jesus. By Mildred Duff, 112 pages.
+
+  Gentle Jesus: A Book of Bible Pictures in colour. Size, 11 by 8
+  inches.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Commendations from all parts of the world have reached Messrs. S. W.
+  Partridge and Co. upon the excellence of their Picture Books. The
+  reading matter is high-toned, helpful, and amusing, exactly adapted
+  to the requirements of young folks; while the Illustrations are by
+  first-class artists, and the paper is thick and durable. Bound in
+  attractive coloured covers, they form a unique series.
+
+
+9d. each.
+
+_Ninepenny Series of Illustrated Books._
+
+_96 pages. Small Crown 8vo. Illustrated. Handsome Cloth Covers._
+
+  Kibbie & Co. By Jennie Chappell.
+
+  Brave Bertie. By Edith C. Kenyon.
+
+  The Little Slave Girl. By Eileen Douglas.
+
+  Marjorie’s Enemy: A Story of the Civil War of 1644. By Mrs. Adams.
+
+  Lady Betty’s Twins. By E. M. Waterworth.
+
+  A Venturesome Voyage. By F. Scarlett Potter.
+
+  Out of the Straight; or, The Boy who Failed and the Boy who
+  Succeeded. By Noel Hope.
+
+  Bob and Bob’s Baby. By Mary E. Lester.
+
+  Robin’s Golden Deed. By Ruby Lynn.
+
+  The Little Captain: A Temperance Tale. By Lynde Palmer.
+
+  The Runaway Twins; or, The Terrible Guardian. By Irene Clifton.
+
+  Grandmother’s Child. By Annie S. Swan.
+
+  Dorothy’s Trust. By Adela Frances Mount.
+
+  Grannie’s Treasures; and how they helped her. By L. E. Tiddeman.
+
+  His Majesty’s Beggars. By Mary E. Ropes.
+
+  Love’s Golden Key. By Mary E. Lester.
+
+  Faithful Friends. By C. A. Mercer.
+
+  Only Roy. By E. M. Waterworth and Jennie Chappell.
+
+  Aunt Armstrong’s Money. By Jennie Chappell.
+
+  The Babes in the Basket; or, Daph and Her Charge.
+
+  Bel’s Baby. By Mary E. Ropes.
+
+  Birdie’s Benefits; or, A Little Child Shall Lead Them. By Edith Ruth
+  Boddy.
+
+  Carol’s Gift; or, “What Time I am Afraid I will Trust in Thee.” By
+  Jennie Chappell.
+
+  Cripple George; or, God has a Plan for Every Man. A Temperance Story.
+  By John W. Kneeshaw.
+
+  Cared For; or, The Orphan Wanderers. By Mrs. C. E. Bowen.
+
+  A Flight with the Swallows. By Emma Marshall.
+
+  The Five Cousins. By Emma Leslie.
+
+  Foolish Chrissy; or, Discontent and its Consequences. By Meta.
+
+  For Lucy’s Sake, By Annie S. Swan.
+
+  Giddie Garland; or, The Three Mirrors. By Jennie Chappell.
+
+  How a Farthing made a Fortune; or, Honesty is the Best Policy. By
+  Mrs. C. E. Bowen.
+
+  How Paul’s Penny became a Pound. By Mrs. Bowen.
+
+  How Peter’s Pound became a Penny. By the same Author.
+
+  John Blessington’s Enemy: A Story of Life in South Africa. By E.
+  Harcourt Burrage.
+
+  John Oriel’s Start in Life. By Mary Howitt.
+
+  The Man of the Family. By Jennie Chappell.
+
+  Mattie’s Home; or, The Little Match-girl and her Friends.
+
+  Nan; or, The Power of Love. By Eliza F. Pollard.
+
+  Phil’s Frolic. By F. Scarlett Potter.
+
+  Paul: A Little Mediator. By Maude M. Butler.
+
+  Rob and I; or, By Courage and Faith. By C. A. Mercer.
+
+  A Sailor’s Lass. By Emma Leslie.
+
+  Una Bruce’s Troubles. By Alice Price.
+
+  Won from the Sea. By E. C. Phillips (Mrs. H. B. Looker).
+
+
+6d. each.
+
+_The Marigold Series._
+
+  _An unequalled series of Standard Stories, printed on good laid
+  paper. Imperial 8vo. 128 pages. Illustrated covers with vignetted
+  design printed in eight colours. Price 6d. each net._
+
+  PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. By Jane Austen.
+
+  FROM JEST TO EARNEST. By E. P. Roe.
+
+  THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD. By Susan Warner.
+
+
+_New Series of Sixpenny Picture Books._
+
+  _Crown 4to. With Coloured Frontispiece and many other Illustrations.
+  Handsomely Bound in Paper Boards, with cover printed in ten colours._
+
+  Off to Toyland! By Uncle Jack.
+
+  Going A-Sailing! By J. D.
+
+  Follow the Flag. By J. D.
+
+  Dollie Dimple. By J. D.
+
+  Old Mother Bunnie! A Picture Story Book for Laddies and Lassies. By
+  J. D.
+
+  Off We Go! Pictures and Stories for Boys and Girls. By R. V.
+
+  Sweet Stories Re-Told: A Bible Picture Book for Young Folks.
+
+  Little Snowdrop’s Bible Picture Book.
+
+  March Away! Pictures and Stories for Every Day.
+
+  After the Ball: Pictures and Stories for One and All.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Mother’s Sunday A B C: A Little Book of Bible Pictures, which can be
+  coloured by hand.
+
+
+_The “Red Dave” Series._
+
+_New and Enlarged Edition. Handsomely bound in Cloth Boards. Well
+Illustrated._
+
+  “ROAST POTATOES!” A Temperance Story. By Rev. S. N. Sedgwick, M.A.
+
+  HIS CAPTAIN. By Constancia Sergeant.
+
+  “IN A MINUTE!” By Keith Marlow.
+
+  UNCLE JO’S OLD COAT. By Eleanora H. Stooke.
+
+  THE COST OF A PROMISE. By M. I. Hurrell.
+
+  FARTHING DIPS; or, What can I do? BY J. S. Woodhouse.
+
+  ROY CARPENTER’S LESSON. By Keith Marlow.
+
+  GERALD’S GUARDIAN. By Charles Herbert.
+
+  WHERE A QUEEN ONCE DWELT. BY Jetta Vogel.
+
+  WILFUL JACK. By M. I. Hurrell.
+
+  WILLIE THE WAIF. By Minie Herbert.
+
+  A LITTLE TOWN MOUSE.
+
+  THE LITTLE GOVERNESS.
+
+  PUPPY-DOG TALES.
+
+  MOTHER’S BOY.
+
+  A GREAT MISTAKE.
+
+  FROM HAND TO HAND.
+
+  THAT BOY BOB.
+
+  BUY YOUR OWN CHERRIES.
+
+  LEFT IN CHARGE, and other Stories.
+
+  A THREEFOLD PROMISE.
+
+  THE FOUR YOUNG MUSICIANS.
+
+  TWO LITTLE GIRLS AND WHAT THEY DID.
+
+  A SUNDAY TRIP AND WHAT CAME OF IT. By E. J. Romanes.
+
+  LITTLE TIM AND HIS PICTURE. By Beatrice Way.
+
+  MIDGE. By L. E. Tiddeman.
+
+  THE CONJURER’S WAND. By Henrietta S. Streatfeild.
+
+  BENJAMIN’S NEW BOY.
+
+  ENEMIES: a Tale for Little Lads and Lassies.
+
+  CHERRY TREE PLACE.
+
+  A TALE OF FOUR FOXES.
+
+  JOE AND SALLY: or, A Good Deed and its Fruits.
+
+  THE ISLAND HOME.
+
+  CHRISSY’S TREASURE.
+
+  LOST IN THE SNOW.
+
+  OWEN’S FORTUNE.
+
+  RED DAVE; or, What Wilt Thou have Me to Do?
+
+  DICK AND HIS DONKEY.
+
+  JESSIE DYSON.
+
+  COME HOME, MOTHER.
+
+
+4d. each.
+
+
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+    cloth, +2s.+; gilt edges, +2s. 6d.+
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+  Recreations, beautiful Pictures, Puzzles, Prize Competitions, etc.
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+    edges, +2s. 6d.+
+
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+  bright pictures and pleasant reading to delight the little ones.
+                                                            1d. Monthly.
+
+    The Yearly Volume, coloured paper boards, with cloth back and
+    beautifully coloured frontispiece, +1s. 6d.+; cloth, +2s.+; gilt
+    edges, +2s. 6d.+
+
+  The Band of Hope Review. The Leading Temperance Periodical for the
+  Young, containing Serial and Short Stories, Concerted Recitations,
+  Prize Competitions. Should be in the hands of all Members of Bands of
+  Hope.                                                     ½d. Monthly.
+
+    The Yearly Volume coloured paper boards, +1s.+; cloth boards, +1s.
+    6d.+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber’s Notes
+
+
+ - Italics represented with surrounding _underscores_.
+
+ - Bold text represented with surrounding plus signs+.
+
+ - Blackletter represented with surrounding =equal signs=.
+
+ - Small Caps converted to ALL CAPS.
+
+ - Illustrations moved to nearby paragraph breaks.
+
+ - Obvious typographic errors silently corrected.
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78829 ***
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+      The Great Siberian Railway | Project Gutenberg
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+</head>
+
+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78829 ***</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp49" id="cover" style="max-width: 122.0625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Book Cover">
+</figure>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ii">[ii]</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp45" id="frontispiece" style="max-width: 76.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/frontispiece.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    FRANCIS E. CLARK
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iii">[iii]</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<h1>
+ <span class='fs80'>THE</span><br>
+ GREAT SIBERIAN RAILWAY
+</h1>
+
+<p class="center fs110">WHAT I SAW ON MY JOURNEY</p>
+
+<p class="center mt4 fs80">BY</p>
+
+<p class='center mth fs110'>DR. F. E. CLARK</p>
+
+<p class="center mt4 fs80">WITH SIXTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS<br>
+FROM PHOTOGRAPHS AND A MAP</p>
+
+<p class="center blackletter fs110 mt4">London</p>
+<p class='center fs110'>S. W. PARTRIDGE AND CO.</p>
+<p class='center'><span class="smcap">8 &amp; 9, Paternoster Row</span></p>
+<p class='center'>1904</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iv"></a><a id="Page_v"></a>[v]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">
+    CONTENTS
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+<table class="autotable">
+<tr>
+<th class="tdl" colspan='2'>
+<span class='allsmcap'>CHAPTER</span>
+</th>
+<th class="tdr">
+<span class='allsmcap'>PAGE</span>
+</th>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">
+I.
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#I'><span class="smcap">From New York to Vladivostock</span></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">
+II.
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#II'><span class="smcap">The Metropolis of the Northeast</span></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+13
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">
+III.
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#III'><span class="smcap">Riding on the Rail in Siberia</span></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+25
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">
+IV.
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#IV'><span class="smcap">From Vladivostock to Khabaroffsk</span></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+39
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">
+V.
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#V'><span class="smcap">The <i>Baron Korff</i></span></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+50
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">
+VI.
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#VI'><span class="smcap">The Lordly Amour</span></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+61
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">
+VII.
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#VII'><span class="smcap">Between Two Great Nations</span></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+74
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">
+VIII.
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#VIII'><span class="smcap">A Siberian Capital</span></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+86
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">
+IX.
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#IX'><span class="smcap">Aground in the Amour</span></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+101
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">
+X.
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#X'><span class="smcap">On the Shilka</span></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+114
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">
+XI.
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#XI'><span class="smcap">The Trans-Baikal</span></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+129
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">
+XII.
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#XII'><span class="smcap">The Holy Sea</span></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+144
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">
+XIII.
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#XIII'><span class="smcap">A Siberian City of Churches</span></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+156
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">
+XIV.
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#XIV'><span class="smcap">A Siberian <i>Train de Luxe</i></span></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+166
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">
+XV.
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#XV'><span class="smcap">Out of Asia into Europe</span></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+180
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href="#SOME_FACTS_AND_FIGURES"><span class="smcap">Some Facts and Figures</span></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+194
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">
+</td>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href="#Synopsis_of_the_Russian_Alphabet"><span class="smcap">English-Russian Glossary</span></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+201
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vi"></a><a id="Page_vii"></a>[vii]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="ILLUSTRATIONS">
+    ILLUSTRATIONS
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+<table class="autotable illustrations">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#frontispiece'>FRANCIS E. CLARK</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr" colspan='2'>
+<i>Frontispiece</i>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0041_ill'>CATHEDRAL AT VLADIVOSTOCK</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+<i>Facing&nbsp;p.</i>
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+4
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0061_ill'>DRY-DOCK AT VLADIVOSTOCK</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+6
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0101_ill'>HARBOR OF VLADIVOSTOCK</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+10
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0121_ill'>GROUP OF KOREAN WORKMEN, VLADIVOSTOCK</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+12
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0181_ill'>GENERAL TCHITCHAGOFF</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+18
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0221_ill'>GENERAL VIEW OF VLADIVOSTOCK</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+22
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0261_ill'>STATION OF KORFOVSKIA, EASTERN SIBERIA, SHOWING AMERICAN
+LOCOMOTIVE</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+26
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0301_ill'>“WHO’LL BUY MY FLOWERS?”</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+30
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0321_ill'>VILLAGE OF VIAZEMSKOI, EASTERN SIBERIA</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+32
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0341_ill'>THROUGH THE FOREST IN EASTERN SIBERIA</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+34
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0381_ill'>CITY OF KHABAROFFSK, ON THE AMOUR RIVER</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+38
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0421_ill'>FATHER ALEXANDER AND STATION-MASTER AT NIKOLSKOIE</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+42
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0461_ill'>A PATHETIC SIBERIAN VILLAGE GRAVEYARD</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+46
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[viii]</span>
+<a href='#p0481_ill'>THE OLD WAY BY THE “SHIP OF THE DESERT”</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+48
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0501_ill'>THE <i>BARON KORFF</i></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+50
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0541_ill'>EMBARKING ON AN AMOUR RIVER STEAMER</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+54
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0581_ill'>ON THE SHORE OF THE AMOUR</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+58
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0621_ill'>A PRISON BARGE</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+62
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0661_ill'>A SIBERIAN RIVER TOWN IN WINTER</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+66
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0701_ill'>A THUNDER-STORM BY NIGHT ON THE AMOUR</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+70
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0741_ill'>ON THE BANKS OF THE AMOUR</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+74
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0781_ill'>SOME OF OUR FELLOW-TRAVELLERS. SIBERIAN EMIGRANTS ON THE
+AMOUR</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+78
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0801_ill'>SOME OTHER FELLOW-PASSENGERS. RUSSIAN OFFICERS AND THEIR
+FAMILIES</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+80
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0821_ill'>A TRIUMPHAL ARCH IN HONOR OF THE CZAREWITCH’S JOURNEY
+THROUGH SIBERIA</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+82
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0841_ill'>A MODEST TRIUMPHAL ARCH AT A LITTLE SIBERIAN VILLAGE</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+84
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0861_ill'>“EACH WOMAN HUGGING TWO OR THREE BOTTLES OF MILK”</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+86
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0901_ill'>THE LEADING HOTEL, BLAGAVESTCHENSK</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+90
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0921_ill'>THE CEMETERY AT BLAGAVESTCHENSK</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+92
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0941_ill'>ONE OF BLAGAVESTCHENSK’S BEAUTIFUL CHURCHES</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+94
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0961_ill'>A GREAT DEPARTMENT STORE IN BLAGAVESTCHENSK, WITH
+MARKET-PLACE IN FRONT</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+96
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p0981_ill'>AN UPPER AMOUR RIVER STEAMER</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+98
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[ix]</span>
+<a href='#p1001_ill'>ON THE UPPER AMOUR</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+100
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1021_ill'>TUMBLING ASHORE FROM THE <i>ADMIRAL CHICACHOFF</i></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+102
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1061_ill'>CHILDREN OF EMIGRANTS PICKING WILD FLOWERS ON THE BANKS
+OF THE AMOUR</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+106
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1081_ill'>AN EMIGRANT HOUSE ON THE UPPER AMOUR</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+108
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1101_ill'>THE MEN BEHIND THE BARS ON THE PRISON BARGE</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+110
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1141_ill'>THE HILL-SIDES WERE CARPETED WITH FLOWERS</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+114
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1161_ill'>A TYPICAL WATER-TOWER ON THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+116
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1181_ill'>THE LIGNITE CLIFFS ON THE AMOUR</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+118
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1221_ill'>THE EVER-PRESENT SAMOVAR</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+122
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1241_ill'>SOME FIFTH-CLASS PEOPLE</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+124
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1261_ill'>A RAFT ON THE SHILKA</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+126
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1301_ill'>SIBERIAN RECRUITS BOUND FOR CHINA</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+130
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1321_ill'>FOR THIRTY-SIX MORTAL HOURS WE WAITED</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+132
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1341_ill'>A TRANS-BAIKAL TRAIN. PRISONERS CARRYING WATER</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+134
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1381_ill'>BOUND FOR FAR SIBERIA</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+138
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1401_ill'>FIFTEEN MINUTES AT EVERY STATION</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+140
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1421_ill'>PRISON CAR IN SIBERIA. FAMILIES OF PRISONERS AT THE WINDOWS</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+142
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1461_ill'>THE ELEPHANT’S NOSE, LAKE BAIKAL</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+146
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1501_ill'>THE ICE-BREAKER ON LAKE BAIKAL</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+150
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[x]</span>
+<a href='#p1541_ill'>THE SHORES OF LAKE BAIKAL</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+154
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1581_ill'>BURIATS FROM LAKE BAIKAL, WITH SEAL FROM THE LAKE</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+158
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1601_ill'>AN IRKUTSK DROSKY</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+160
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1621_ill'>GENERAL VIEW OF IRKUTSK</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+162
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1661_ill'>ONE OF THE BEAUTIFUL CHURCHES OF IRKUTSK</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+166
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1701_ill'>A PART OF OUR <i>TRAIN DE LUXE</i></a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+170
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1741_ill'>A VIEW ON THE ANGARA, NEAR IRKUTSK</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+174
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1761_ill'>A TRAINMAN WHO HAS TAKEN THE VEIL</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+176
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1781_ill'>SIBERIAN RAILWAY NEAR THE ASIATIC BORDER</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+178
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1821_ill'>ZLATOOST, A BORDER TOWN BETWEEN EUROPE AND ASIA</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+182
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1861_ill'>IN THE URAL MOUNTAINS</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+186
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1901_ill'>THE KREMLIN IN WINTER</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+190
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1941_ill'>A SHRINE AT A RAILWAY STATION</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+194
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#p1961_ill'>RUSSIAN TYPES</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+196
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+<a href='#map'>MAP SHOWING THE AUTHOR’S ROUTE FROM VLADIVOSTOCK ACROSS
+SIBERIA TO ST. PETERSBURG</a>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+200
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">[xi]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak x-ebookmaker-important" id="BY_WAY_OF_INTRODUCTION">
+    BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>This volume describes the last six weeks
+of a long journey undertaken in the interests
+of the Young People’s Society of Christian
+Endeavor.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Clark and myself having been invited
+to attend various conventions of the
+society in Japan and China, we started for
+the far East, accompanied by our little son
+Harold, a boy of twelve years, in the early
+days of January, 1900.</p>
+
+<p>The conventions were, beyond our expectations,
+large in numbers, enthusiastic
+in interest, and important in their results;
+but they cannot be described in this volume.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing that a new all-steam route
+around the world was to be opened by the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">[xii]</span>
+completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway
+to the head of navigation on the
+Shilka River, and having important engagements
+at the World’s Christian Endeavor
+Convention, which was to meet in
+London in July, we determined not to follow
+the beaten tracks around the world
+which we had before taken, but to attempt
+this new route, which binds Asia and Europe,
+the Pacific with the Atlantic.</p>
+
+<p>The last meetings of the series we had
+gone to the far East to attend were held in
+north China, in Tientsin, Peking, Tungchow,
+and Poatingfu, only a few days before
+the terrible uprising which bids fair
+to make such momentous changes in the
+map of the world.</p>
+
+<p>The meetings being over and our object
+in visiting China being accomplished, we
+left Taku, as it proved, by the last steamer
+that sailed for Corea before the bombardment
+of the forts of Taku and the siege of
+Tientsin.</p>
+
+<p>For nearly two weeks we coasted around
+the peninsula of Corea, stopping at Chemulpo,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</span>
+Mokpo, Fusan, and Wonsan, or
+Gensan, as the last-named port is indifferently
+called.</p>
+
+<p>At Fusan, at the southern extremity of
+Corea, we spent four days waiting for a
+steamer to take us up the coast, and here,
+in soil already prepared, the first Christian
+Endeavor Society of Corea was planted in
+a church of the Australian Presbyterian
+Mission.</p>
+
+<p>At length we reached Vladivostock, and
+our long journey across the Siberian plains
+by rail and river began.</p>
+
+<p>At Taku our party had been pleasantly
+enlarged by the addition of Miss Anna
+Northend Benjamin, of New York, a well-known
+lecturer and newspaper correspondent,
+on her way home from the Philippines.</p>
+
+<p>At Wonsan, in Corea, Mr. J. M. Jordan,
+British Consul-General to Corea, and Mr.
+Burn Murdock, a mining expert, became
+our fellow-passengers.</p>
+
+<p>At Khabaroffsk Mr. J. C. Smith, a leading
+merchant of Nagasaki, who was accompanied
+by Mrs. Smith, took the same
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiv">[xiv]</span>
+steamer; also Baron Hartogensis, of Germany,
+and Herr Ritter, Swiss Consul-General
+to Japan, all of whom, with one or
+two other foreigners (non-Russians), afterwards
+formed themselves into the “Never
+Again Society,” to whom this book is dedicated.</p>
+
+<p>Interest is perhaps added to this journey
+from the fact that we were the first
+Americans, and in all probability the first
+foreigners, to go around the world by the
+new route. The trans-Siberian all-steam
+route had been opened but a few days when
+we took passage at Vladivostock, as I have
+explained in an early chapter, and none of
+the few who had preceded us across Siberia
+by this route had completed the circuit of
+the globe.</p>
+
+<p>If this fact is borne in mind, it will explain
+some of the difficulties inevitably incidental
+to a new and untried route.</p>
+
+<p>I wish gratefully to acknowledge the
+courtesy of their Excellencies the Russian
+Ministers Plenipotentiary to Japan and
+China, and to General Tchitchagoff, the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xv">[xv]</span>
+Governor of Vladivostock and the Primorskaia,
+for their kind assistance in a journey
+which, were it not for their aid, would have
+been far more difficult and tedious.</p>
+
+<p>It is also fair to add that already, in the
+minds of some at least of the “Never Again
+Society,” the discomforts and delays of the
+journey have faded into the unremembered
+Past, which so kindly and so quickly
+touches our little woes with the finger of
+oblivion, while its novelties and pleasures
+stand out in ever-bolder and happier relief.
+If the above-mentioned society were canvassed
+to-day, it would not be at all surprising
+if its members should unanimously
+resolve themselves into a</p>
+
+<p class='center fs110'>
+  “<i>Some Time Again Society</i>.”
+</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Boston</span>, <span class='fs80'><i>February 2, 1901</i>.</span></p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xvi"></a><a id="Page_1"></a>[1]</span></p>
+
+  <p class="nobreak center fs150 bold mt2" id="A_NEW_WAY">
+    A NEW WAY<br>
+    AROUND AN OLD WORLD
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='r15'>
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak mt2" id="I">
+    I
+    <br>
+    <span class='allsmcap'>FROM NEW YORK TO VLADIVOSTOCK</span>
+  </h2>
+
+
+<p>The completion of a new way around
+this old world is a matter of no little
+interest and moment. Such a new
+way has just been opened, and it was my
+fortune to be one of the first five passengers
+who took this journey.</p>
+
+<p>On the 28th of December, 1899, the last
+rail was laid on the trans-Baikal section
+of the Siberian Railway, which for the
+present will stop at Stretinsk, and there
+connect with the steamers on the Shilka,
+a branch of the Amour River, for Khabaroffsk,
+where again railway communication
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span>
+is resumed for a further journey of
+five hundred miles to Vladivostock, on the
+Sea of Japan. Thus across all of Russia’s
+vast domain in Europe and Asia it is possible
+to go by steam, a distance of considerably
+more than six thousand miles, as
+the route is now traversed by river and by
+rail. My own route was in the other direction,
+from east to west—from Vladivostock
+to St. Petersburg.</p>
+
+<p>Though, as I have said, the last rail of
+the trans-Baikal section of the road was
+laid on December 28, 1899, the Amour and
+its tributaries were then frozen, and no
+steam communication could be had until
+spring unloosed the icy fetters. The
+rivers did not open this year until the
+middle of May, and on the 31st day of
+May I reached Vladivostock, and on the
+1st day of June took passage at Khabaroffsk,
+on the Amour River steamer <i>Baron
+Korff</i>, for the long journey across the
+Russias.</p>
+
+<p>I mention this fact because the newness
+of the route will account for some of the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span>
+crude and primitive accommodations that
+will be alluded to further on in this story.</p>
+
+<p>To be sure, many other travellers had
+crossed Siberia from Vladivostock to St.
+Petersburg, but the journey could not,
+before May of 1900, be done by uninterrupted
+steam travel, and thus one more
+way of going around the world by the aid
+of the all-compelling steam-engine has
+been added to the two that already existed.</p>
+
+<p>For many years it has been possible to
+steam around the Cape of Good Hope and
+stormy Cape Horn from New York back
+to New York again. For a generation it
+has been possible to take the shorter cut
+by rail across the American continent and
+by steamer through the Suez Canal. Now
+a third steam route has been opened which
+reduces the ocean journey to a minimum,
+and, for the first time in history, makes
+the portion of the journey by land considerably
+longer than the portion by sea.</p>
+
+<p>This is surely good news for bad sailors.</p>
+
+<p>Roughly speaking, this way around the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span>
+world involves about thirteen thousand
+miles of railroad or river travel, and nine
+thousand miles of sea travel. Approximately,
+these distances may be divided as
+follows:</p>
+
+<table class='miles'>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+
+</td>
+<th class="tdr">
+<span class='allsmcap'>MILES.</span>
+</th>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+By rail from New York to San Francisco
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+3000
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+By ocean from San Francisco to Yokohama
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+5000
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+By rail from Yokohama to Nagasaki
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+800
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+By ocean from Nagasaki to Vladivostock
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1000
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+By rail (and river) from Vladivostock to Liverpool
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+9000
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+By ocean from Liverpool to New York
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+3000
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>I need dwell but briefly on our journey
+from New York to Vladivostock, for, so
+far as Nagasaki at least, it is getting to
+be as commonplace as a trip across the
+Atlantic steam ferry. As a matter of
+fact, it occupied us more than four months,
+owing to various detours in Japan and
+China for the sake of attending Christian
+Endeavor conventions which had called
+me to the far East. This part of the
+journey, however, might have been easily
+accomplished in twenty-five days—five
+days across the American continent, eighteen
+days from San Francisco to Yokohama,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span>
+and two days from Yokohama to
+Nagasaki.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp45" id="p0041_ill" style="max-width: 75.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0041_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    CATHEDRAL AT VLADIVOSTOCK
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Here the novel part of the journey begins.
+We at once get out of the beaten
+path of the globe-trotter. He halts on
+the southern edge of Japan, or, perhaps,
+more often keeps on eastward across the
+choppy Yellow Sea to Shanghai, and
+thence, if he is really a <em>globe</em>-trotter, on
+to Hong Kong, the Straits, Colombo, and
+Suez.</p>
+
+<p>In the future, however, the stream of
+world-encirclers is likely to divide at Nagasaki,
+one part of the stream flowing
+east and south over the old channel, the
+other flowing east and north over the new
+route which, less than three weeks ago as
+I write these words, was opened up around
+“this goodly frame the earth.”</p>
+
+<p>By this latter route, which I am about
+to describe, the traveller sails from one
+glorious harbor to another—from Nagasaki
+to Fusan, Corea; to Wonsan, Corea;
+to Vladivostock, Russia. In all of them
+“the navies of the world might ride,” according
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span>
+to the old platitude, and on this
+coast, without much doubt, will be the
+naval battle-field of the future, when the
+Titans get ready to measure their sea-power
+one against another in the struggle
+for Corea or China.</p>
+
+<p>We took passage on a little Japanese
+steamer, the <i>Ise Maru</i>, which runs between
+Kobe and Vladivostock, and which
+belongs to the Nippon Yushen Kaisha,
+the largest steamship company in the
+world, with steamers plying to America
+and Europe and Shanghai and Hong
+Kong, besides to the innumerable ports
+up and down the coast of Japan.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the steamers are large and
+fine, but the <i>Ise Maru</i> is not one of these.
+She is, however, clean and fairly comfortable,
+and we will not complain, as the
+journey is a short one of less than a thousand
+miles.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0061_ill" style="max-width: 125.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0061_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    DRY-DOCK AT VLADIVOSTOCK
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>A prejudice against Japanese captains
+and chief officers exists among many foreigners,
+who will not sail, if they can help
+it, except on ships manned by European
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span>
+officers. I must say that I do not share
+this prejudice. I have sailed with more
+than one Japanese captain and crew, and
+I have invariably found them polite and
+exceedingly attentive to the comfort of
+their passengers, and, so far as I could
+judge, excellent seamen, leaning always
+to the side of caution in navigating the
+treacherous rock-bound coasts. As a
+matter of fact, the steamers that have
+been lost in these eastern seas have usually
+been officered by Europeans, and not
+by Japanese.</p>
+
+<p>Half of the steamers of the Nippon Yushen
+Kaisha are officered by Japanese,
+and half by Europeans, and the latter
+have been by far the most unfortunate.</p>
+
+<p>So, casting prejudice and fear to the
+winds, and trusting in Providence for a
+safe voyage, we set sail, and, twenty-four
+hours out of Nagasaki, approached the
+bold shores of Corea, no longer the hermit
+nation, but open now at a dozen doors
+to the commerce of the world.</p>
+
+<p>Fusan, at the southwestern corner of
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span>
+the peninsula, is one of these open doors,
+a door, in fact, which has long been open,
+for the Japanese for three hundred years
+have here kept at least a foot in the doorway
+for their own ingress and egress.</p>
+
+<p>Fusan is in every sense a Japanese
+port. The Japanese have been here so
+long that they have even trained the great
+pine-trees along the streets and on the
+temple hill to grow in picturesque Japanese
+fashion, and their shops, their banners,
+their Shinto shrines, their good roads,
+all proclaim their long occupation. The
+only Americans in Fusan are found in
+a small colony of faithful missionaries,
+whose homes, on a picturesque hill between
+the Japanese and Corean cities of
+Fusan, are conspicuous for miles around.
+The next day after her arrival the <i>Ise
+Maru</i> weighed anchor again and, shaping
+her course due north, made for the
+port of Wonsan, on the Corean coast, midway
+between Fusan and Vladivostock, and
+about three hundred miles from either
+port.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span></p>
+
+<p>Wonsan, like Fusan, possesses a magnificent
+harbor, entirely landlocked and
+surrounded by imposing hills. No wonder
+that Russia, as well as Japan, has cast
+covetous eyes upon this splendid port, but
+to all appearances Japan has the inside
+track, for here, as in Fusan, she has securely
+seated herself, has built her houses
+and shops and wharves and temples, and
+owns more of the shipping that visits the
+harbor than all other nations combined.</p>
+
+<p>A few hours only were given to Wonsan,
+and again the whistle of the <i>Ise</i>
+shrieked, the anchor was hoisted to the
+bows, and the little ship ploughed her way
+once more up the bold Corean coast, to
+make the last loop in her frequently interrupted
+voyage. One of these days Corea,
+I believe, will be a favorite haunt of
+pleasure-seekers and tourists. The coastline
+is magnificently indented with bays
+and gulfs, the interior is one series of
+grand mountains and lovely valleys, the
+west coast is lined with charming islands
+that form almost a continuous break to
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span>
+the winds and waves, while the east coast,
+though without many islands, furnishes
+equally fine scenery and unrivalled delights
+for the mountaineer on the shore
+and the yachtsman on the sea. The people
+are poor, primitive, and, it must be
+confessed, dirty, but are kind, courteous,
+and even courtly, and, in their white linen
+clothes and queer horse-hair hats, are
+most picturesque and interesting—far
+more so than their neighbors in China,
+<i lang="la">me judice</i>.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0101_ill" style="max-width: 125.5625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0101_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    HARBOR OF VLADIVOSTOCK
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>But we are bound for Siberia, and must
+not in this chapter linger in Corea. Early
+on the morning of May 29th, five days out
+from Nagasaki, the passengers of the
+<i>Ise Maru</i> awoke to find themselves in still
+another magnificent landlocked harbor.
+One glance at the shore where stands
+Vladivostock, the “Magic City,” showed
+them that they had left Mongolia and
+Mongolians behind them, and, though
+still in Asia, and on the extreme eastern
+verge of Asia, were in an Asia owned and
+dominated by Europeans. Large blocks
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span>
+of brick and stone crown the hills on which
+the town is situated. A great white house
+flying the admiral’s flag occupies the most
+commanding site. A beautiful Greek
+church, with trim minarets, stands near
+by. The Russian tricolor is flying everywhere.
+We had left behind, as completely
+as though we had sailed to another planet,
+the mud huts of Corea, the slight one-story
+wooden houses of Japan, and the
+stone hovels and filthy streets of China,
+and suddenly found ourselves in a city of
+substantial brick and stone, wide paved
+streets, electric lights and telegraph wires,
+and railway trains snorting and puffing
+down to the very wharves. We could
+almost imagine that either Tacoma or
+Seattle had bodily taken passage across
+the Pacific and had planted itself on the
+eastern shore of Asia instead of the western
+shore of America. Only the droskies
+and tarantasses flying through the
+streets, with one horse under the huge
+Russian collar while another ran free to
+keep up with his trotting-mate, recalled
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span>
+us to the fact that we were about to step
+ashore in monarchical Russia instead of
+republican America.</p>
+
+<p>A score of sampans, each manned by
+a long-cued Chinaman, were clamoring
+to take us ashore, and we were scarcely
+less anxious to accept their invitation, that
+we might plant our feet on <i lang="la">terra firma</i>, and
+realize that our long ocean voyage was
+over and our longer land journey over an
+unbeaten track was about to begin.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0121_ill" style="max-width: 125.875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0121_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    GROUP OF KOREAN WORKMEN, VLADIVOSTOCK
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="II">
+    II
+    <br>
+    <span class='allsmcap'>THE METROPOLIS OF THE NORTHEAST</span>
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Vladivostock, on nearer approach,
+unlike many towns, carries
+out its more distant promise. It
+is not a trim and finished town, but it
+is one of strong outlines, and evidently
+built for a great future. Its chief buildings
+are substantial. The town looks as
+though it had come to stay. To be sure,
+the new outlet which Russia has obtained
+through eastern China to the sea at Port
+Arthur will rob Vladivostock of its unique
+importance as Russia’s only open door on
+the Pacific, but her glory as the great
+natural port of Siberia, with a limitless
+country of vast resources behind her, can
+never be taken away. The huge ice-breaker
+which crunches up the harbor
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span>
+ice in winter with its sharp iron beak
+is a complete success, and it is no longer
+an ice-bound port for even three months
+of the year. The winter, though long, is
+not unusually severe, and the mercury, I
+am told, seldom or never sinks so low as
+it does in Boston or New York.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had we stepped on shore than
+we were treated to our first disillusionment
+concerning Russia and the Russians. We
+had heard much about the terrors of the
+Russian custom-house. We expected to
+have our baggage overhauled from turret
+to foundation-stone, and the feminine member
+of our party had pictured to herself a
+swarthy Cossack with sword and cutlass
+making hay of her feminine belongings,
+while he searched for dutiable goods.
+But our Chinese sampan-man landed us
+at the pier, and no customs officer appeared
+upon the scene. We waited, but
+he did not come. We inquired in two or
+three different languages for the custom-house,
+but no one knew what we meant.
+We wandered up and down the pier looking
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span>
+for some building that resembled the
+familiar office where duties are collected,
+but could find none. At length, having
+fully satisfied our consciences, we boldly
+loaded our <i lang="la">impedimenta</i> into a drosky,
+and told the driver to take it to the Hôtel
+du Pacifique. This he successfully accomplished,
+and no officer of the law appeared
+to disturb our peace of mind, or to
+look into the innocent recesses of our
+trunks.</p>
+
+<p>So far as I know we were subjected to
+no surveillance of any sort. We came
+and went as we pleased. We minded our
+own business, and every one else minded
+his. There seemed to be no such inspection
+of newly arrived strangers as one is
+often conscious of in Germany. And yet,
+here we were in autocratic Russia, and,
+more than that, in Siberia, the land of the
+exile and the prisoner—the land around
+whose name has clustered every synonym
+for oppression and cruelty.</p>
+
+<p>I am inclined to think that what I have
+been told by an acute observer is very
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span>
+true, and that Russia is much more autocratic
+and inquisitorial on paper than in
+reality. Her laws are severe and may be
+enforced if needs must, but their iron hand
+is seldom felt by the well-disposed. There
+is much theoretical restriction, and much
+practical liberty.</p>
+
+<p>The hotels of Vladivostock are not to
+be indiscriminately commended. When
+Baedeker writes his inevitable guide-book
+about Siberia he will not mark them with
+his familiar *, unless they greatly improve
+upon their present condition. It should
+be said, however, that the best one was
+recently destroyed by fire, and the chief
+one that still remains is probably suffering
+from lack of competition. The table
+was very good, and the chief fault was
+that the rooms and halls were dark and
+dirty, and clean linen was a scarce and
+precious article. One sheet for each bed
+seemed to be the full allowance, and one
+small towel for three people was apparently
+thought to be an ample supply. When
+one of our party righteously complained
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span>
+that her towel had evidently done duty before,
+the Japanese chambermaid, who did
+the English for the hotel, replied that it
+was <em>impossible</em> to get another; it was not
+to be had. There was not a clean towel
+in the hotel. After much importunity, however,
+she was induced to loan a long, clean
+scarf from her own bureau to serve as a
+towel.</p>
+
+<p>However, this was a minor matter. We
+reminded ourselves that we were in Siberia,
+and on the eastern edge of Siberia
+at that. Who could expect all the amenities
+of civilization? We were no sooner
+established in our hotel for the day than
+I sallied out to seek the governor of Vladivostock
+and of this whole eastern province,
+to whom I fortunately had a letter from
+the Russian minister of Japan.</p>
+
+<p>Well was it that I found the governor
+armed with these credentials, as the sequel
+will show in another chapter. Governor
+Tchitchagoff received me with the
+utmost courtesy. The letter from the
+minister to Japan acted like an open sesame
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span>
+to his kindly attentions, and he at
+once despatched a secretary to secure
+berths on the train which left the next
+day for Khabaroffsk, and sent another
+to telegraph to Khabaroffsk to hold a
+state-room on the Amour River steamer
+for Blagovestchensk, as he knew the
+berths were in great demand. At the
+same time he gave me a letter to the chief
+of police in Khabaroffsk. While waiting
+for the preparation of this letter by his
+secretary he showed me a map of the vast
+province of Primorskaia, of which he is
+governor, a province which extends for
+two thousand miles up the shores of the
+Pacific, clear away to the North Pole, embracing
+Kamchatka and the famous Saghalien
+Island north of Japan, to which
+are banished the worst of Russian convicts.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp45" id="p0181_ill" style="max-width: 76.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0181_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    <p>GENERAL TCHITCHAGOFF</p>
+
+    <p>Governor of Vladivostock and Primorskaia</p>
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Governor Tchitchagoff is a man of commanding
+presence, but most urbane and
+gentlemanly, a trait which he shares with
+most Russians of the better class, so far
+as my observation goes. There is a certain
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span>
+courtly simplicity about them, free
+from all arrogance and brusqueness,
+which is the very essence of high breeding.
+The governor speaks fluently French
+and German, and English with a little
+hesitation. This, again, is a type of the
+educated Russian of the better class, who
+is usually a famous linguist.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, the governor is a Cossack,
+a name which, in my ignorance, I had
+hitherto associated largely with frontier
+troopers of the Buffalo Bill order. I confess
+my stupid misconception with contrition
+of spirit. Thus again came a happy
+disillusion concerning Russia and the
+Russians. This interview with the governor
+set my mind at rest in regard to any
+danger of losing the steamer on the first
+stage of our long river journey, for I knew
+that the word of General Tchitchagoff was
+as the law of the Medes and Persians,
+which altereth not. He is the virtual czar
+of all this Eastern land. It was exceedingly
+necessary that we should incur no long
+delays, as a most important engagement
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span>
+awaited me in London within forty-four
+days. I had already cabled “London
+screaming,” which meant, according to
+the cable code, that I would be in London
+on the Fourth of July (a most appropriate
+cable word for the date in question), and
+there were very few days to spare over
+the shortest time on record. Mail steamers
+on the Amour River start on their various
+stages only once in five days, and it
+would not do to miss connections at the
+outset.</p>
+
+<p>But now, with easy minds, we set out
+to “do” the town. It does not take long
+to exhaust its glories, for it is a new town,
+in the raw, half-baked stage of its existence,
+with most of its glories in the future.
+But these are evident enough to
+make up for any present deficiencies.
+Vladivostock is credited, in the latest published
+statistics, with about 29,000 inhabitants,
+but it is now said to have 40,000,
+chiefly Russians, Chinese, and Coreans,
+with a sprinkling of Japanese, Germans,
+French, Italians, English, and a very few
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span>
+Americans. It is a remarkably cosmopolitan
+little city to be found on the
+banks of an almost arctic sea, and it
+exhibits all the life and picturesqueness
+of a little cosmopolis. Russian droskies
+go flying about the streets in every
+direction, as though their occupants
+were pressed for the last second of time,
+and would be eternally too late unless
+they arrived somewhere within less than
+five minutes. Most harum-scarum, reckless
+drivers apparently are the drosky
+men. Their horses are given a loose
+rein, and they go flying down-hill at
+breakneck speed, over the rough roads,
+and galloping up the next incline with
+never a check on their mad career. The
+appearance of reckless haste is further
+increased by the fact that always one
+horse and often two horses are hitched
+to the vehicle outside the shafts, by loose
+ropes or leather thongs. These horses
+often pull away from the wheel-horse
+within the shafts so far as the harness
+will let them, and they dance and prance
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span>
+and gallop while he trots at full speed,
+and the drosky goes rattlety-bang over
+the stones and into the holes and over the
+“thank-ye-marms” in a way that the
+Russians seem to like, but which tires the
+patience and, let us hope, improves the
+liver of the foreign passengers.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the drosky, the streets are full
+of another peculiarly Russian vehicle,
+the isvodschik, which resembles a small
+boat set on long poles, somewhat after the
+fashion of the body of a buckboard. This
+is used to carry luggage, and, in many
+parts of the country, passengers as well,
+who pile into it until it looks like a peasant’s
+cart in Naples or a Chinese wheelbarrow
+in Shanghai. The Chinese wheelbarrow
+is not wanting in Vladivostock
+either, and its familiar squeak is heard on
+every hand. Vladivostock, indeed, must
+be the paradise of the Celestial, for here
+he gets a wage of a rouble and a half a
+day, which is something like ten times
+the pay he would receive in his native
+land. Moreover, there seems to be unlimited
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span>
+work for him in grading and paving the
+streets, carrying brick and mortar, rowing
+the sampans, building the railways,
+and doing the other drudgery of a new colony.
+The Corean, in his dirty white garments
+and padded pillow-cushion shoes,
+is not far behind him in numbers, and
+competes for the manual work of this new
+country with his Chinese cousin on the
+same terms.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0221_ill" style="max-width: 126.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0221_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    GENERAL VIEW OF VLADIVOSTOCK
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Vladivostock consists of one chief street,
+running up-hill and down-dale, with various
+branches climbing the hills on every
+side. The chief sights are easily done, as
+I have said, for they consist of a few fine
+stores and public buildings, a beautiful
+Greek church with its graceful domes, and
+a triumphal arch in honor of the visit of
+the czarewitch, a few years ago, when the
+first spadeful of earth, in breaking the
+eastern end of the new Siberian railway,
+was turned by the royal visitor.</p>
+
+<p>But Vladivostock’s chief glories do not
+lie in her public or private buildings, or in
+the great fortresses which command the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span>
+city and harbor, but in the magnificent
+scenery that greets the eye on every hand.
+Few cities in all the world are more beautiful
+for situation. The Amour Bay, on
+one side, and the Bay of Ussuri, on the
+other, clasp the city in their kind embrace,
+and constantly lave its feet with gentle
+ripples. Noble hills stretch off landwards,
+and from the main hill-tops within the city
+limits one gets glimpses of sea and shore
+and mountain and valley of surpassing
+loveliness. In view of the long journey to
+which we were looking forward, the railway
+station, prosaic as it is, was the most
+interesting building in all Vladivostock.
+Over its doorway is printed, in old Russian
+characters, a legend which may well stir
+the blood as we think of all that it means.
+It reads as follows:</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+  VLADIVOSTOCK TO PETERSBURG<br>
+  9877 VERSTS.
+</p>
+
+<p>We were to begin to measure off these
+versts on the morrow.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="III">
+    III
+    <br>
+    <span class='allsmcap'>RIDING ON THE RAIL IN SIBERIA</span>
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Our first introduction to a Siberian
+railway train was made under
+unusually pleasant circumstances.
+Hurrying to the station in ample season
+to secure what accommodations we could,
+and expecting to have a severe struggle
+with our tickets and our baggage in a
+strange language of which we knew
+scarcely a single word, what was our surprise
+to have a decorated official, in a
+handsome white uniform bound with gold
+lace, accost us by name and assure us
+that, at the governor’s orders, a first-class
+compartment had been reserved for us,
+and all we had to do was to buy our
+tickets and take our seats. As the train
+was very much crowded, and our lack of
+knowledge of the language made us almost
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span>
+as helpless as infants in looking out
+for our comfort and advantage, this was
+a favor which we most thoroughly appreciated.
+Before the train started we were
+favored with a call in our little state-room
+from the enterprising and energetic United
+States Consul, Richard T. Greener, and
+also from Mrs. Frederick Pray, a little
+American lady, who, a few years ago,
+transferred her home half around the
+world, from Berwick, Maine, to Vladivostock,
+Russia. Her husband is connected
+with a large American firm doing business
+in Vladivostock, that is introducing many
+products of American soil and a thousand
+Yankee conveniences to the Siberian public.
+Mrs. Pray had kindly prepared for
+us a list of common Russian phrases, with
+the English pronunciation, which proved
+to be exceedingly useful in calling for tea
+and bread-and-butter, and a carriage, and
+a room at a hotel, or any one of the necessities
+of life to the wanderer in Siberia,
+where French is scarce, and German
+scarcer, and English almost nil.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0261_ill" style="max-width: 125.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0261_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    STATION OF KORFOVSKIA, EASTERN SIBERIA, SHOWING AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span></p>
+
+<p>The Russian language is formidable
+enough even when one has time and opportunity
+to make a study of it; to the
+passing traveller it is absolutely appalling.
+It has thirty-six letters instead of
+twenty-six, and several of them seem absolutely
+superfluous, for they cannot be
+and never are pronounced. The Greek
+scholar at first hails the alphabet with
+delight, and tackles it with enthusiasm,
+for he recognizes several old friends.
+There is delta and lambda and phi and
+chi and theta and several other letters
+that he struggled with in his school-days.
+But, alas! his enthusiasm is soon quenched,
+for he finds that there are so many
+other letters that are neither Greek nor
+Roman that he is more confused than
+helped by the presence of his old friends
+in such strange company.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, several of the letters are exactly
+like Roman characters, but have a
+very different sound, which is very confusing.
+For instance, B is not B at all,
+but is V, as in vein, while the Russian B
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span>
+is an entirely different character. H is
+not our familiar aspirate, which Cockneys
+so sorely abuse, but is our N. P is equivalent
+to double R in hu<i>rr</i>y, while the Russian
+P is made like the Greek pi. C is
+always S, and there is no hard C in Russian.
+Y looks very familiar, certainly,
+but is really oo, as in m<i>oo</i>n, and a letter
+that looks like R wrong side before, Я, is
+the vowel ya, as in <i>ya</i>rd. Then there are
+certain italicized letters which still further
+bewilder the puzzled student, for u = i
+and n = p and m = t when written in
+italics, but not otherwise. Thus it will
+be seen that Russian, “as she is spoke”
+or as she is wrote, is not by any means a
+holiday affair, and the usefulness of Mrs.
+Pray’s extemporized phrase-book can be
+fully appreciated.</p>
+
+<p>But the time has come for the start, of
+which we have been made fully aware by
+numerous bells and gongs and whistles.
+There is no excuse for any one to get left
+at a Siberian railway station. Five minutes
+before the train starts a large station
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span>
+bell is rung. Four minutes more the passengers
+stroll up and down the platform
+or visit the buffet. Then the bell is rung
+once more, the conductor blows his whistle,
+the engine shrieks a warning blast,
+and at last we are off, with St. Petersburg
+9877 versts (more than 6250 miles) away.</p>
+
+<p>The scenery for a few miles out of Vladivostock
+is superb. The railway skirts
+one of the great bays between which the
+city lies, high up above the water, while
+off in the distance, beyond the blue ripples,
+lie the blue mountains, only partially
+obscured by the morning haze.
+Chinese junks, loaded with firewood for
+the locomotives, are dancing on the waves,
+or unloading their cargo by throwing
+the pieces into the sea for the waves to
+wash ashore, since the shallow water
+prevents the junks from coming close to
+the bank. Occasionally the railway diverges
+from the shore and runs through
+a copse of birch or beech, fresh and
+bright in their new spring livery, and
+then returns once more to give us a
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span>
+glimpse of the bright blue sea. The
+day was charming. Our most delicious
+spring weather in America is no more
+delightful than this first day of June
+in frozen Siberia. Had James Russell
+Lowell lived in Siberia, he would have
+written with equal rapture his oft-quoted
+lines:</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <div class="verse indent0">“What is so rare as a day in June?</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">Then, if ever, come perfect days.”</div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>On one of these “perfect days” it was
+our good fortune to journey from Vladivostock.
+The spring seemed just about
+as far advanced as it would be in northern
+New England on the same date.
+The meadows were lush and rank in
+their growth, and the cattle waded knee-deep
+in their delicious fodder, and were,
+of course, as sleek and fat as cattle could
+be. The trees were nearly in full leaf,
+though some of the later varieties had not
+as yet donned their full suit of green.
+Great dandelions, almost as large as peonies,
+starred the fields with yellow, and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span>
+bluebells and tiger-lilies made the roadway
+gay.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp53" id="p0301_ill" style="max-width: 75.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0301_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    <p>“WHO’LL BUY MY FLOWERS?”</p>
+    <p>Lilies-of-the-valley at the railway station</p>
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>At the stations little girls with bare feet
+offered great bunches of lilies of the valley
+for sale, and I noticed that they were
+not unlike the rest of the world in taking
+advantage of the unsophisticated traveller,
+for, while I paid fifteen kopeks for a
+bunch, a Russian by my side, who knew
+how to dicker and bargain in the vernacular,
+paid but three kopeks for his lilies.
+But every traveller in a strange land
+must pay dear for his experience as well
+as for his lilies. Let me say, once for all,
+that one hundred kopeks make a rouble,
+and that a rouble, at the present rate of
+exchange, is worth a little more than fifty
+cents. Russian money is on the gold
+basis, and is in gold, silver, paper, and
+copper. National bills up to the value of
+five hundred roubles are good in any part
+of the empire, and are in denominations
+of three, five, ten, twenty-five, fifty,
+one hundred, and five hundred roubles.
+Gold is in common use in pieces of five,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span>
+seven and one-half, ten, and fifteen roubles,
+and silver in roubles, half-roubles,
+and twenty-five, twenty, fifteen, ten, and
+five kopek pieces, while copper coins are of
+one, two, three, and five kopeks in value.
+In my opinion, there are too many coins
+of different values, and one and five kopek
+pieces in copper, and ten, twenty-five,
+and fifty kopek pieces in silver, and five
+and ten rouble pieces in gold would
+answer quite as well the purposes of
+trade as the larger variety now in use.
+As it is, the fifteen, twenty, and twenty-five
+kopeks are so nearly of the same
+size as to be confusing, especially as different
+issues of the same value are not
+always of exactly the same size. The
+older silver coins seem to be of debased
+metal, with a large admixture of copper,
+but the newer coins that bear the image
+and superscription of the present czar
+are of much better metal.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0321_ill" style="max-width: 125.6875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0321_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    VILLAGE OF VIAZEMSKOI, EASTERN SIBERIA
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>After the edge of the novelty of our first
+ride on a Siberian railway wore off we
+had time to examine the railway equipment
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span>
+and the carriages in which we were
+riding. The train was drawn by a sturdy
+Baldwin locomotive, fitted with a big bulbous
+smoke-stack for burning wood, and
+consisted of about a dozen cars of the first,
+second, and third classes, in which the
+third-class largely predominated. The
+third-class were painted green, the second-class
+yellow, and the first-class a dark
+shade of blue. Sometimes a single car
+was divided into two classes, first and
+second, one-half being painted blue and
+the other yellow, with very little difference
+between the two classes except the color
+of the paint and the price of the tickets.
+The second-class cars were, perhaps, upholstered
+a shade less luxuriously than
+the first, and were somewhat more crowded,
+though there was little to choose in this
+respect. The first-class fare was seventeen
+roubles (about eight dollars and a
+half), and the second-class about one-half
+that sum. We were told in advance that
+the trains were built on the “American
+plan,” but it is really a combination of
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span>
+the American and English, somewhat in
+vogue on the continent of Europe. All
+the first and second class cars are divided
+into compartments, but down their side
+runs a narrow corridor wide enough for
+only one person to squeeze through at a
+time. The compartments open on this
+corridor, and through it the conductor
+passes to collect his fares; passengers
+walk back and forth, babies escaped from
+their nurses toddle down, and it is the
+general thoroughfare for a heavy-laden
+train. Being exceedingly narrow, it is
+always “congested,” and a fat man finds
+it his “misery,” indeed. In order to get
+through at all he must turn sideways and
+go crab fashion. There seems to be a
+great social democracy in this aristocratic
+country, and passengers from the
+different classes visit back and forth with
+the utmost freedom, and occupy compartments
+of a higher class than their own for
+half a day at a time.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0341_ill" style="max-width: 125.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0341_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    THROUGH THE FOREST IN EASTERN SIBERIA
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>As a rule, the Russians are exceedingly
+polite and considerate of other people, and,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span>
+for the most part, the rude and selfish
+people whom we have met on this journey
+have belonged to other nationalities.
+The third-class cars frequently have an
+aisle down the middle, with seats on either
+side. As all the coaches are meant for
+night travel, all provide what is called
+“lying-down room”—<i>i.e.</i>, room is provided
+for each passenger to stretch out at full
+length either in the upper or lower berth.
+The first and second class cars are luxuriously
+upholstered, and, by a curious contrivance,
+the upper bed turns over and becomes,
+not “a chest of drawers,” but the
+back of the seat by day. The only real
+lack of a Siberian railway is suitable lavatory
+accommodations. The little toilet-room
+is often a wretched, filthy closet,
+with a single wash-basin and a very limited
+supply of water, and it answers for
+all, men and women alike. This fault is
+shared by all Siberian hotels and steamboats
+that I have seen. The one cramped
+and dirty spot is the wash-room (for many
+hotels have a common lavatory, and no
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span>
+water is brought to the rooms), and the
+one scarce article is fresh, cold water.
+Beer, wine, vodka, tea, especially tea, flows
+freely, but to order a glass of water to
+drink, or a basin of water, much more a
+tub of water for a bath, creates a commotion,
+and the water desired is often unattainable,
+except after strenuous effort. A
+Siberian writer remarks, naïvely, that
+“Englishmen have the bad habit of washing
+themselves all over every day. <em>As a
+consequence of this habit</em>, their bodies emit
+an unpleasant odor.” It must be said
+in all fairness, however, that hotels, cars,
+and steamers in Siberia are, outside of the
+wash-rooms, clean and wholesome for the
+most part. To one who has just come
+from China or Corea, and who has tasted
+the rare discomforts of travel in those
+countries, they seem to be beyond criticism.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the cars already mentioned, a
+baggage-car and a dining-car completed
+our train equipment. The latter, at least
+three times a day, is a place of much interest,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span>
+and deserves a few words of description.</p>
+
+<p>Pullman would scarcely own the diner
+as an offspring of his invention. A long
+table down the middle, at which perhaps
+twenty people can sit at one time, and a
+bar at the end, at which all kinds of light
+and strong drinks are served, and toothsome
+delicacies dear to the Russian heart,
+like caviare, sardines, and other little fishes
+“biled in ile,” are eaten. At the long
+table <i lang="fr">table d’hôte</i> meals are served, consisting
+of three or four courses, and one
+can also order what he chooses, at a fixed
+price. The meals are usually one rouble
+each, and though not luxurious, from the
+American dining-car point of view, they
+are quite sufficient for the average traveller,
+and worth the price asked for them.
+To be sure, one must get used to the greasy
+Siberian soup and to the chunks of tough
+stewed meat, which may be beef, mutton,
+or pork, one is never certain which. But
+travellers who choose to go across Siberia
+should not be squeamish, and to think of
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span>
+eating in a dining-car, however primitive,
+while whirling across the plains a little
+south of Kamchatka, is enough to kill the
+spirit of criticism in the most confirmed
+growler who ever went around the world.</p>
+
+<p>It only remains to be said that the road-bed
+of the Eastern Siberian railway is well
+made, but seems to lack permanent stone
+ballast, the bridges are substantial iron
+structures, the piers and culverts are thoroughly
+built of cut stone, the embankments
+are smooth and well sodded, but the
+rails are light, and, it would seem, must be
+replaced by heavier ones before any high
+rate of speed can be attained.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0381_ill" style="max-width: 125.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0381_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    CITY OF KHABAROFFSK, ON THE AMOUR RIVER
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="IV">
+    IV
+    <br>
+    <span class='allsmcap'>FROM VLADIVOSTOCK TO KHABAROFFSK</span>
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>The distance from Vladivostock to
+Khabaroffsk is a little less than
+five hundred miles, and it requires
+fully twenty-nine hours to cover it, so it
+will be seen that the trains are not run on
+the “Empire express” plan. However,
+before we had been many days in Siberia
+such a rate of progress had come to seem
+speed itself. The stations on the eastern
+end of the Siberian railway are not
+many, for the villages are few and far between,
+but we make up for the fewness of
+the stops by spending a long time at each
+station. Still we can occupy the waiting
+time very pleasantly by getting many,
+though fleeting, glimpses of Siberian life.
+The stations themselves are usually wooden
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span>
+buildings, neat and attractive and prettily
+painted. A picturesque water-tower
+is always a feature of the grounds, and
+usually an underground store-house, sodded
+over, that looks like an Oklahoma
+cyclone cellar. In this, doubtless, provisions
+are kept from freezing during
+the long Siberian winter. All the principal
+stations have buffets, where thirsty
+Russians refresh themselves with vodka,
+kvass, and other national drinks.</p>
+
+<p>The villages usually consist of a few log-houses,
+with an occasional more pretentious
+frame house, but they are neat and
+attractive, and compare very favorably
+with the villages on our own Western
+frontier. The most interesting object at
+all these stations was the line of country
+men, women, and children who had
+brought the products of their farms to
+sell to the hungry travellers. Every station
+had its hucksters, not noisy or obtrusive,
+but waiting patiently in an orderly
+line for customers. Bottles of milk
+for ten kopeks, hard-boiled eggs for ten
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span>
+kopeks a dozen, huge loaves of black,
+sour bread in which the Siberian rejoices,
+chunks of fried meat and fried fish, huge
+pickled cucumbers, bottles of home-brewed
+kvass, a kind of innocent pop beer, were
+among the comestibles offered for sale.
+The hucksters were all hearty, healthy
+specimens of humanity, not refined or
+elegant in feature or dress—this could
+scarcely be expected in this new land—but
+wholesome, honest-faced settlers, capable,
+evidently, of laying deep and strong the
+foundations of an empire. I am told that
+many of them are dissenters from the
+Greek Church, and that they live godly
+and simple lives, and are much respected
+by their neighbors, and in this part of
+the country at least are unmolested by
+the government, unless they try to proselyte
+among adherents of the national
+faith. Most of them, too, are vegetarians.
+Every village has its church, often embowered
+in a little park of green, and the
+towers of blue and green, colors which
+the Siberians greatly affect for their
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span>
+churches, and bright copper domes, shining
+in the brilliant sun, always gave a
+touch of pleasing color to the scene, and
+showed that the people were not wholly
+given to buying and selling and getting
+gain in these little raw railway settlements.</p>
+
+<p>The costumes of the people who flocked
+to the railway stations were most picturesque
+and interesting. Red was decidedly
+the favorite color with the women, and
+red of every shade and hue. Dull red
+and bright red, Turkey red and blood red,
+crimson, magenta, scarlet, and crushed
+strawberry. Often several, if not all, of
+these colors were combined in the same
+costume in a way which, I suppose, would
+have set the teeth of our fashion-plate
+ladies on edge, but which, after all, was
+undeniably picturesque.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp49" id="p0421_ill" style="max-width: 74.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0421_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    FATHER ALEXANDER AND STATION-MASTER AT NIKOLSKOIE
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>The men were usually clad in a loose
+blouse, belted around the waist, and loose
+trousers tucked invariably into huge top-boots
+that reached nearly to the knee.
+Many times these boots looked to be by
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span>
+far the most expensive feature of the costume.
+As a Mexican peasant will often
+wear a sombrero, it is said, worth as much
+as his coat and trousers and boots, mule
+and saddle—in fact, the whole outfit combined—so
+the Siberian peasant clothes the
+other end of his anatomy with equal care,
+and even if he must go in rags, will bankrupt
+himself on his boots.</p>
+
+<p>At all these stations the military were
+strongly in evidence, as is not unnatural,
+since this is a military road and the large
+places are all military headquarters.
+Everywhere, in the cars and out, officers
+and soldiers were to be seen. At least
+every other man you met seemed to be in
+uniform. But they, too, were invariably
+polite and showed nothing of the haughty
+arrogance and devil-may-care air often
+exhibited by the soldiery of Germany and
+other army-ridden countries. In fact, I
+was struck on this railway ride, and on
+all my other journeys in Siberia, by a certain
+quiet, dignified, self-contained air
+that the people displayed. The hucksters
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span>
+are not insistent on your buying their
+wares. The cabmen are not vociferous.
+The few beggars are not obtrusive. It is
+as though the vast, lonely stretches of
+their homeland had somehow impressed
+themselves upon the character of the people.
+The broad reach of upland and prairie,
+the noble hills, the wide stretch of blue
+heavens above them, the long, serious
+winter, the strenuous conditions of their
+life in this virgin land, have developed a
+national character, which seems never to
+have acquired the noise and bustle and
+artificial “hustle” of city-dwellers. On
+the whole, it is a pleasing, restful, and, I
+should think, likable type of character to
+which these surface indications point. I
+felt that I was back in the early days of
+New England, among the Pilgrim fathers
+and mothers of a new empire, as I looked
+into these earnest, frank, and serious
+faces, and as I looked I had large hope
+for the empire they are founding.</p>
+
+<p>The parish priest is also a picturesque
+and interesting factor of village life. He
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span>
+often came to the station to take part
+in the one excitement of the day, the
+arrival of the daily passenger train. He
+was usually clad in flowing robes of
+black, with a close-fitting purple cap,
+while a huge gold or silver crucifix dangled
+from his neck. His hair is always long
+and curly. Whether the Greek priests
+were chosen for their curly hair or indulged
+in the use of curling-irons when
+preparing their morning toilet was a question
+which interested the ladies in our
+party. They seemed to mingle with their
+people on terms of benevolent equality,
+and their kindly and gracious presence
+shed a benediction even upon the railway
+platform. They were not averse to having
+their pictures taken, and the camera
+enthusiasts “snapped” the holy fathers
+with the greatest freedom.</p>
+
+<p>The kodak is not unknown in Siberia,
+but it is evidently much more of a novelty
+than in the west, and always attracted
+crowds of staid peasants who wanted to
+look into the “finder” and see the resultant
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span>
+picture. Some were quite disappointed
+that the completed picture could not immediately
+be taken out of the camera and
+shown to them. One gorgeous railway
+official, much be-braided and be-spangled
+with gilt, insisted on having his black-bearded
+face transferred to the sensitive
+film. He posed with his most radiant
+expression, without any exhortation to
+“look pleasant.” He followed our party
+about, and apparently expressed every
+good wish for our successful journey,
+though our knowledge of Russian was
+not equal to his voluble good wishes, and,
+finally, just as the train pulled out of his
+station, he handed us a paper on which
+he had written a request that we telegraph
+him of our safe arrival at Blagavestchensk,
+a city on the Amour River, a
+thousand miles further west. A kindly
+fellow-feeling that, to be provoked while
+the train stopped “ten minutes for refreshments.”</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0461_ill" style="max-width: 114.0625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0461_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    A PATHETIC SIBERIAN VILLAGE GRAVEYARD
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Fifty miles after leaving Vladivostock
+the railway climbs to a considerable plateau,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span>
+and the trees disappear, while open
+prairie land takes the place of the forests
+that crown and gird the hill-sides. For a
+couple of hundred miles, at a rough guess,
+the open prairie land continues. The soil
+mostly seemed to be a rich black loam,
+and one would think it was capable of
+supporting millions of people where it
+now supports hundreds.</p>
+
+<p>On the second morning of our journey,
+twenty hours after leaving Vladivostock,
+we woke up in a heavily wooded, hilly
+region, and I had to rub my eyes to make
+sure that I was not dreaming and had
+really awaked in Siberia and not in northern
+Maine. Here was the Moosehead
+Lake region duplicated, apparently, in
+every stump and white birch-tree and corduroy
+road. Here were the same tree-clad
+hills and rocky ravines, with glimpses
+of other and higher hills peering above
+the tree-tops. Here were the same clear
+running brooks, babbling over their rocky
+beds, the same patches of charred timber
+burned to clear the land, the same flora
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span>
+down to the dandelions, blue-bells, butter-cups,
+and cowslips. To be sure, there
+was not such a predominance of spruce-trees
+as in northern Maine, but their
+places were taken by the larch and cedar
+and other evergreens, and white and yellow
+birch, beech, and poplar, which predominated,
+made me feel very much at
+home.</p>
+
+<p>For hours these familiar forests lined
+the railway, and then the train emerged
+into the fertile plains that border the
+Amour. Here the snow fences, piled up
+in their summer quarters, reminded one
+of the prairies of our own Northwest, and
+showed that in the Siberian winter the
+railway has the same great enemy to
+fight. The telegraph poles, often braced
+by two supports until they look like so
+many tripods, also testify to the strength
+of Siberian winds. At length, at noon of
+the second day, twenty-nine hours after
+leaving Vladivostock, the spires and chimneys
+of Khabaroffsk appear across the
+prairie, and we realize that the first stage,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span>
+and a very pleasant one, of our trans-Siberian
+journey was nearly finished.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0481_ill" style="max-width: 119.9375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0481_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    THE OLD WAY BY THE “SHIP OF THE DESERT”
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Scarcely had the train pulled into the
+station of Khabaroffsk, and before I could
+get to the door of the car, when a police official
+in gorgeous raiment crowded in and
+inquired anxiously for “Pastor Clark from
+America.” When I confessed to being, in
+all probability, the individual that he
+sought, the official seemed much relieved,
+and at once took charge of me and mine,
+bag and baggage, and summoned a small
+squad of soldiers, or sub-police, to assist
+him. Evidently the kindly telegram of
+Governor Tchitchagoff was doing its beneficent
+work, and, like expectant American
+politicians, we were “in the hands of
+our friends.”</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="V">
+    V
+    <br>
+    <span class='allsmcap'>THE <i>BARON KORFF</i></span>
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Our friend in need proved a friend
+indeed, for it would have been no
+easy thing, knowing scarcely a
+word of the language, to disentangle our
+baggage, secure a cart to carry it, and
+droskies to carry ourselves, and make
+our way through the city of Khabaroffsk
+to the steamboat landing two miles away
+in season to catch the mail steamer, which,
+with steam up and whistle shrieking, was
+waiting to start on her long journey up
+the mighty Amour. But our official accomplished
+it all for us with celerity and
+despatch. He picked out our baggage,
+hired our droskies, took another himself,
+and drove to the steamer, saw our
+baggage safely bestowed in a state-room
+which had been secured for us at the governor’s
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span>
+orders, and did not leave us until
+we were fairly established in our comfortable
+and commodious quarters on the
+<i>Baron Korff</i>. We appreciated this courtesy
+the more fully when we learned that
+the steamer was exceedingly crowded, that
+it went only once in five days, and that
+some people had already been waiting fifteen
+days for the coveted passage. Our
+rapid flight through Khabaroffsk was
+made in a cloud of dust which would have
+done honor to Peking itself, the dustiest
+city in the world. Through the dust,
+however, we were able to catch glimpses
+of a frontier American-like town, with some
+good business blocks of brick and a fine
+cathedral church. We afterwards learned
+that Khabaroffsk contains about fifteen
+thousand inhabitants, and its importance
+is derived from the fact that it is the highest
+seat of government for all this vast
+section of the Amour River. Sitting on
+a high bluff at the juncture of the Amour
+and the Ussuri, a great stream which here
+joins its forces with its greater rival, the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span>
+town occupies a commanding position and
+is regally situated to dominate the traffic
+of both rivers. In any other land the
+Ussuri itself would be a notable river,
+but in this country of great rivers, though
+it is nearly a mile wide at its juncture
+with the Amour, it is only a branch of
+eastern Siberia’s greater waterway.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0501_ill" style="max-width: 115.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0501_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    THE <i>BARON KORFF</i>
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Since the <i>Baron Korff</i> was to be our
+home for the next week, and, in a literal
+as well as figurative sense, we were to
+be “all in the same boat” with the rest of
+her passengers, we were naturally anxious
+to know something of them and of
+her, if it is proper to speak of a baron as
+belonging to the feminine sex. A hasty
+inspection showed us that the <i>Baron
+Korff</i> was a stately side-wheeler, such as
+might have done duty on the Mississippi
+before the railroads robbed her of her commercial
+glory. The first-class accommodations
+were well forward, and consisted
+of roomy and comfortably furnished staterooms
+for about twenty people on the upper
+deck, each room having berths for two
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span>
+people, a long dining-saloon, into which
+the state-rooms opened, and a pleasant
+saloon in front, handsomely furnished
+and provided with a good German piano.
+This saloon made a delightful sitting-room
+for the passengers, for its abundant
+glass furnished a splendid view of the
+river and the banks on either side, between
+which the <i>Baron</i> made her devious
+way. Behind the first-class cabins
+was a large open space, sheltered from
+the wind, and suitable for a promenade.
+Here was a restaurant and bar, frequently
+patronized by some of our thirsty fellow-passengers,
+while behind it were the second-class
+cabins, which looked to me nearly
+as comfortable as those at the other end
+of the ship. Down below were huddled
+together a miscellaneous crowd of peasants—men,
+women, and children—with
+their scant piles of bedding and all their
+worldly possessions; sturdy men in top-boots
+and figured gowns belted at the
+waist, often with a sleeveless vest worn
+outside; women in gay calicoes and hobnailed
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span>
+shoes; children clad in little more
+than nature’s original raiment—all were
+here. On the hard iron floor they spread
+out their quilts, piled their household goods
+about them, and prepared to make the
+best of their six days in the bowels of the
+<i>Baron Korff</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Their accommodations were not luxurious,
+certainly, but when we remember
+that they paid but three roubles and six
+kopeks for the entire 918 versts, more than
+six hundred miles, to Blagavestchensk, or
+only about one dollar and a half, we cannot
+think that the accommodations were
+disproportionate to the price.</p>
+
+<p>The chief rival of our friends in the
+steerage was the great pile of wood, for
+which the <i>Baron Korff</i> had an insatiate
+maw, and which, when first put on board,
+occupied fully one-half the space of the
+steerage, but which, every hour, sensibly
+diminished until we came to a station,
+where a new supply was taken on board.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0541_ill" style="max-width: 109.1875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0541_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    EMBARKING ON AN AMOUR RIVER STEAMER
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>The second-class fare was four times
+the third-class, or thirteen roubles and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span>
+ninety-seven kopeks, and the first-class
+more than seven times the third, or twenty-two
+roubles and ninety-six kopeks. I
+am constrained to admit, however, that
+the first-class accommodations are fully
+seven times as good as the third, though
+I do not think they are twice as good as
+the second.</p>
+
+<p>For the meals on the Amour steamers
+one pays separately, at the rate of two
+roubles a day, not an extravagant sum,
+indeed; but they were not extravagant
+meals, and they cost all they were
+worth.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning, about eight, tea was
+served, with the inevitable samovar occupying
+the place of honor in the centre.
+Slices of lemon and sugar were provided,
+according to the Russian style, but no
+milk. Soft bread and zweiback, without
+butter, completed the first meal of the
+day.</p>
+
+<p>The second, and principal, meal was
+served promptly at noon, and consisted
+of a thick, greasy soup, a course of meat
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span>
+with no potatoes, and very scanty vegetables
+of any kind, and a pudding. On
+rare occasions ice-cream took the place of
+the pudding. Tea was served again at
+four o’clock, and supper, which consisted
+of one meat course without vegetables, and
+more tea, completed the menus for the
+day. If one wished to supplement these
+meals with orders from the restaurant of
+caviare or smoked fish or boiled eggs, of
+course he was at liberty to do so.</p>
+
+<p>The first meal served on the <i>Baron
+Korff</i> on our voyage was supper. Fifteen
+foreigners and five Russians sat down to
+the table together. None of the foreigners,
+at least, knew what to expect from
+the culinary department. The meat was
+served, and was sparingly partaken of,
+on the supposition that, after the fashion
+of other steamers, four or five other courses
+would follow. Then came a long wait.
+The plates were removed, and still we
+waited. The minutes lengthened into
+a full quarter of an hour, and at length
+the one overworked waiter appeared, bearing,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span>
+not the expected fish or vegetables
+or salad or dessert, but <em>the brass samovar</em>,
+and we knew a tumbler of tea was
+all that was to be expected. The craning
+of necks as the long-delayed waiter
+entered the room, and the expressions of
+disappointment when his sole burden was
+discovered, were amusing. But though
+some went hungry to bed the first night,
+Experience, the mother of wisdom, taught
+a needed lesson for all travellers on the
+Amour River—to lay in a sufficient store
+from the first platter, and not trust to the
+“hereafter.” After that no one omitted the
+first course.</p>
+
+<p>I dwell somewhat at length on these
+details, because, so far as my experience
+of Siberian river-steamers goes—and this
+experience became somewhat large and
+varied before we reached Stretinsk, twenty
+days later—they are characteristic of all
+river travel in Siberia.</p>
+
+<p>The steward, to whom I have already
+alluded, was a sadly overworked individual.
+He was waiter, cook, bell-boy,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span>
+chambermaid, boots, and man-of-all-work
+for all the twenty first-class passengers,
+and, as can be imagined, no grass was
+allowed to grow under his feet. To be
+sure, his duties as chambermaid were
+merely nominal, for every one took care
+of his own room, furnished his own bedding,
+and made his own bed, and all had
+to wash in a common lavatory and furnish
+their own towel, soap, and, of course,
+all toilet articles. This common washroom
+arrangement was the most unpleasant
+feature of the <i>Baron Korff</i>, and we
+had occasionally to remind ourselves that
+we were in the extreme boundaries of Siberia.
+Who, then, had a right to look
+for all the luxuries of the latest civilization?</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0581_ill" style="max-width: 125.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0581_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    ON THE SHORE OF THE AMOUR
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>At length we were embarked on the long
+river journey to which we had so long been
+looking forward, and about which we had
+heard such various and contradictory reports.
+For months we had made it a point
+to inquire of every one likely to know concerning
+the trans-Siberian route. No two
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span>
+people agreed concerning it, or came within
+sight of agreement. “It can’t be done,”
+“You can do it easily,” “It will take two
+months,” “You can go through in twenty-two
+days,” “You will get stuck on the
+sand-bars for weeks,” “You will have no
+difficulty whatsoever,” “The steamers run
+only occasionally, and do not begin until
+the 11th of June,” “They run every day,
+and the river is open early in May,” “You
+will need heavy clothes, and all your winter
+furs,” “You will find delightful summer
+weather,” “You will have to ride in
+cattle-cars when you get to the end of
+your boat journey,” “You will have the
+most luxurious railway accommodations
+in the world.”</p>
+
+<p>Such were the varied and miscellaneous
+bits of misinformation which we had been
+able to pick up in America, Japan, China,
+and even in Vladivostock itself. But now
+the journey on the great waterway of Siberia
+had begun. The paddle-wheels of
+the <i>Baron Korff</i> had begun to revolve,
+we were to be among the first few score of
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span>
+people who had crossed the Russias by
+steam, and we should soon know which
+of these conflicting stories were correct,
+or whether they were all alike untrustworthy.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="VI">
+    VI
+    <br>
+    <span class='allsmcap'>THE LORDLY AMOUR</span>
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Fair as was the scene that first bright
+June day on the Amour, we could
+not altogether forget that we were
+in Siberia, for, as the lines of the <i>Baron
+Korff</i> were cast off, another steamer of
+like pattern anchored just beyond moved
+out of our way, and we saw that she was
+towing a convict barge, and the faces of
+the poor fellows bound for dismal exile
+could be seen, pressing close up to the
+bars of their floating cage. These prisoners
+were bound for Saghalien Island,
+a thousand miles away, at the mouth of
+the Amour.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had the <i>Baron Korff</i> gotten
+clear of the pier than we found that she,
+too, towed a convict barge, and henceforth,
+for days and days, for hundreds of
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span>
+miles, one of these grewsome ships followed
+in our wake, tugged by the same
+steam-power that carried us along. But
+what a difference! We were journeying
+in comparative luxury, with pleasant
+company, and all the freedom that a roomy
+steamer can furnish, to friends in Europe,
+and then to our home in the home land.</p>
+
+<p>They, shut up in a white, floating cage,
+in narrow quarters, were facing exile and
+misery, and perhaps death, far from their
+homes and kindred. Every revolution
+of the paddle-wheels was carrying us
+nearer home, and them farther away.
+What a mockery the bright sunshine and
+green, tree-clad banks, and boundless,
+free prairies, stretching beyond, must
+have seemed to these cabined, cribbed,
+confined, hemmed-in voyagers!</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0621_ill" style="max-width: 112.0625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0621_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    A PRISON BARGE
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>It must be confessed that these particular
+convict barges from a distance did
+not look either filthy or overcrowded, and
+closer inspection afterwards convinced
+me that if prisoners must be exiled, they
+could scarcely have expected more comfortable
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span>
+conveyance. Still the thought
+of those fellow-travellers, so near and yet
+so far from the view-point of freedom,
+hope, and good cheer, cast a shadow on
+the journey whenever we looked at their
+white prison trailing on behind.</p>
+
+<p>The Amour at Khabaroffsk, though we
+were more than five hundred miles from
+its mouth, was fully a mile and a half
+wide, and flowed in a strong, full current,
+which fact we realized for many a day
+thereafter, as we made our slow and toilsome
+way against it. The Amour is one
+of the few greatest rivers of the world.
+In length it is equalled by no river in Europe,
+and surpassed only by the Yang-tse-Kiang
+and Yenisei, in Asia, by the Nile
+and Congo, in Africa, and by the Amazon
+and Mackenzie, in America, though, if we
+reckon the Mississippi and Missouri as
+one river, it is longer than any of them
+except the Nile.</p>
+
+<p>The basin drained by the Amour contains
+over 500,000 square miles. It is a
+singular fact that so many of the great
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span>
+rivers of the world are of nearly the same
+length. The Amour, Yenisei, Mekong,
+Obi, Hoangho, and Lena, in Asia, are all
+within two or three hundred miles of the
+same length, and all surpass 2500 miles.</p>
+
+<p>The Congo, according to the geographers,
+is only about a hundred miles longer
+than the Amour, while the Niger is
+two hundred miles shorter. The Amazon
+is three hundred miles longer than the
+Amour, the Mackenzie a hundred miles
+longer, while the St. Lawrence falls short
+of it by six hundred miles.</p>
+
+<p>But, in a general way, it may be said
+that a dozen of the great rivers of the
+world are practically of the same length.
+Of them all, few are more majestic and
+imperious in their flow, or drain a fairer
+country than the Amour.</p>
+
+<p>Its water is somewhat muddy at Vladivostock,
+but nothing like the consistency
+of the Mississippi at St. Louis. It cannot
+not be said to be “both food and drink.”
+As we ascend its swift current it constantly
+grows clearer, until, a thousand miles
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span>
+farther up, it is about the color of white
+wine, and is sweet and wholesome to the
+taste.</p>
+
+<p>The Amour is unique in the fact that it
+flows through a fertile country which is
+almost uninhabited, and yet is capable of
+supporting millions. No great cities line
+its banks, and not many towns that rank
+larger than hamlets. Even these are few
+and far between, and one journeys for
+half a day at a time without seeing even
+one little hut among the bushes. Its
+shores are still in their virgin greenery.
+For hundreds of miles at a time one sees
+not a cultivated field, though doubtless
+some such tilled land lies back from the
+river and out of sight. Great wood-piles
+for the use of the frequent river-steamers
+are the most common objects that show
+the hand of man, but even these are often
+in desperately lonely spots, so that one
+can scarcely believe that they were ever
+visited by human beings. And yet all
+this immense river basin of half a million
+square miles is apparently fertile and habitable,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span>
+and, when we saw it, was glowing
+in rich and brilliant verdure. Surely
+the world is not yet over-peopled while
+such a lordly domain is waiting for the
+plough and the reaper.</p>
+
+<p>To be sure, we saw the Amour Valley
+in early June, when everything in nature
+is at its freshest and best, and our judgment
+might have been modified had we
+seen it in December. Still, every country,
+like every man, should be judged at its
+best and not at its worst.</p>
+
+<p>Promptly at four o’clock the <i>Baron
+Korff</i> started on her long journey, and
+went zigzagging across the lordly river
+in order to stem the swift current as best
+she might. On the left-hand side was
+Chinese Manchuria, on the right Russian
+Siberia. But the Bear has her huge
+paw on all this country, and only by sufferance
+has she for many years allowed
+the Sick Man of Asia to nominally rule
+the left bank of the river.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0661_ill" style="max-width: 124.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0661_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    A SIBERIAN RIVER TOWN IN WINTER
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>It is a suggestive journey that we are
+taking on the broad ribbon of water that
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span>
+divides two of the greatest nations of the
+world—the one hoary and decrepit, with
+the weakness of her centuries heavy upon
+her, the other lusty and stout in comparative
+youth, like a strong young man lately
+come to the consciousness of virile powers.</p>
+
+<p>Two hundred years ago and more China
+and Russia tried conclusions on these
+same plains of the Amour, and then China
+came off best. Russian garrisons were
+captured and carried off to Peking, and
+a treaty was concluded ceding all this
+land back to China. But during these
+two centuries China has daily been growing
+weaker and more corrupt in her senility.
+Russia has become mightier with
+each succeeding year.</p>
+
+<p>In 1868, by the treaty of Aigun, so
+called because of the Chinese town on
+the banks of the Amour, where the treaty
+was signed, China ceded all the country
+north of the river to the Great Bear, who
+afterwards obtained concession after concession,
+until she was paramount in all
+Asia north of and including Peking.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span>
+Then came the last uprising of China,
+which began the very month this journey
+was made, and which again threatened
+Russia’s domination, at least for a time.
+Thus the shuttlecock of dominion over
+northern Asia has been thrown back
+and forth between the battledore of Russia
+and China, and the end is not yet.</p>
+
+<p>It will be seen that if this country
+through which we are making our zig-zag
+route is lonely, it is not devoid of
+historic interest. It has been and is a
+battle-ground for armies and diplomats,
+and is likely to play a still larger part on
+the world’s checker-board in the future.</p>
+
+<p>All through the first afternoon and
+through the long twilight which, in these
+northern latitudes, leaves but a few hours
+to the night, the <i>Baron Korff</i> ploughed her
+way along the mighty river which seemed
+to be vexed by no other paddles. But so
+great is its extent that, although there
+are hundreds of steamboats on the river,
+to meet one is still an event.</p>
+
+<p>During the first part of the voyage the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span>
+Manchurian shore presents the most
+striking scenery. Many bold and picturesque
+hills come down to the water’s
+edge, clothed from top to toe in living
+green, the graceful boles of the white birch,
+the most abundant tree, gleaming like
+pillars of silver against the dark background.
+On the Siberian shore the banks
+are less bold, but seem to present an endless
+stretch of rich bottom lands, where the
+cattle of the world might graze.</p>
+
+<p>One important and interesting feature
+on all Amour River boats is the constant
+heaving of the lead, to tell of the treacherous
+shoals which, all up and down the
+length of the river, lie in wait for every
+passing steamer. Constantly, day and
+night, week in and week out, stands a
+man near the bow with a stick about ten
+feet long, loaded at the lower end. To
+the upper end of this pole a cord is attached,
+which is tied to the leadsman’s
+wrist, and this pole he constantly casts,
+once a minute on the average, to ascertain
+the depth of the water. The pole is
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span>
+divided into foot lengths, each painted a
+different color, so that he can tell at a
+glance how much water there is when the
+leaded end strikes bottom. When the
+water is deeper than his pole, he gives
+no warning cry, but when it comes down
+to nine, eight, seven, six feet, he calls out
+the depth with every cast, to the man at
+the wheel, and throughout half the day
+and half the night we hear his monotonous
+sing-song: “shest” (six), “shest polovina”
+(six and one-half), “pyat” (five),
+“pyat polovina” (five and one-half). When
+the leadsman calls out “pyat,” O helmsman,
+look out, for there is only five feet of
+water below your water-line, and when he
+calls out “chiteery polovina,” ring “half-speed”
+down to the engine-room, for there
+is only four feet and a half of water, and
+the <i>Baron Korff</i>, flat bottomed as she is,
+draws four feet.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp45" id="p0701_ill" style="max-width: 75.6875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0701_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    A THUNDER-STORM BY NIGHT ON THE AMOUR
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>These frequent shoals add a spice of
+excitement to the voyage, for one never
+knows when he may hear the bottom grating
+on the gravel, and find the steamer
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span>
+laid up for an hour or a day or a week on
+a sand-bar. The Amour River, like certain
+men, spreads itself out too thin, and
+gains breadth at the expense of depth.</p>
+
+<p>The cry of the leadsman reminds one of
+Mark Twain’s days on the Mississippi,
+only they “mark dva,” and “tree,” and
+“chiteery,” and “pyat,” instead of “mark
+twain,” and “mark three,” and four, and
+five. When will the genius of the Amour
+come to the front? And when he comes
+will he call himself “Dva” or “Pyat”?</p>
+
+<p>The second and third days on the <i>Baron
+Korff</i> were much like the first—bright,
+beautiful, rare days in early June. The
+breath of the flowers came sweet and fresh
+from either shore, as the steamer swept
+from one side of the river to the other. No
+grand scenery marked these early days
+of the voyage, but much that was exceedingly
+beautiful, with a quiet loveliness
+all its own. The whole country has
+a peculiarly finished and cultivated appearance
+for such a wild and almost uninhabited
+land. Though there are few
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span>
+settlements and fewer farms visible from
+the steamer, there is little of the tangled
+wildwood of our American forests. Much
+of the country is open and treeless, and,
+where trees abound, they grow in stately
+ranks, with little undergrowth and no impenetrable
+thickets.</p>
+
+<p>At night the helmsman steers by lights
+set along the shore at advantageous points
+and at a distance of a few hundred yards
+from each other. These lights are like
+kerosene street lamps, set on posts fifteen
+or twenty feet high. Some of the lamps
+are white and others red, and, though
+their light is feeble, they afford points to
+steer by, and boats are able to steam day
+and night, except when stuck upon a
+sand-bar.</p>
+
+<p>A familiar sight towards evening is the
+lonely lamplighter in his little Rob Roy
+canoe, the paddles flashing alternately on
+either side in the evening sun. Often he
+is the only inhabitant along the shore for
+miles and miles, and he must make his
+solitary rounds alone day after day to fill
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span>
+and light his lamps, and is often obliged
+to scale almost inaccessible precipices to
+get at them, for, wherever it is possible,
+the lamps are placed upon a bluff or headland.</p>
+
+<p>The voyager on the Amour has reason,
+indeed, to bless the lonely lamplighter, and
+to say to himself, as the steamer ploughs
+along through the darkness, guided by
+the minute points of light in the distance:
+“How far the little candle throws its
+beams!”</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="VII">
+    VII
+    <br>
+    <span class='allsmcap'>BETWEEN TWO GREAT NATIONS</span>
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>For three days longer we continued
+to steam on the <i>Baron Korff</i> between
+China and Russia. On the
+third day out from Khabaroffsk the scenery
+grows more charming with every mile.
+The Amour here passes through a cleft in
+a spur of the Khingan Mountains, which
+close in on her on both the Manchurian
+and Siberian sides. The hills here are
+not very high, perhaps not more than five
+hundred feet, but their sides are often precipitous
+and present a sheer wall of rock
+to the view, through which it forces its
+way with many a swirl and eddy and with
+tremendous force of current, against which
+our good ship could make but slow headway.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="p0741_ill" style="max-width: 73.5625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0741_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    ON THE BANKS OF THE AMOUR
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>We here remarked again the peculiar
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span>
+open, park-like effect of the forests, especially
+on the Manchurian side. I could
+scarcely believe that these trees in these
+far Eastern wilds had not been planted by
+man, and that they did not indicate some
+great baronial estate, whose castle, to be
+sure, was hidden behind the hills. Some
+beautiful hill slopes were covered with
+stately white birches, without a sign of
+underbrush, but with green grass forming
+a soft carpet beneath. In other places
+trees with black boles took the place of
+the white birch, but they were at such a
+distance that I could not determine the
+species, though they looked like oaks.
+For miles and miles these natural parks
+continued, and even where the park-like
+effect was not so pronounced and beautiful,
+the lovely open character of the forest
+continued, for nearly the whole of our
+fifteen hundred miles on the Amour. The
+cause of this beautiful effect I do not know.
+Perhaps in the severe Siberian winters
+only the fittest survive. The small wood,
+vines, and parasites of all kinds are killed
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span>
+off by the cold, and only the hardier and
+stronger trees remain. Whatever the cause,
+the resultant parks make the banks of
+the Amour singularly attractive during
+the brief summer.</p>
+
+<p>The approach to a village was a matter
+of much interest, both to those on ship
+and those on shore. When within a
+quarter of a mile the captain would blow
+a tremendous blast on the whistle to
+summon every man, woman, and child
+to the banks. They would all respond
+with promptness and despatch, and come
+streaming down the bluff to the shore,
+each woman hugging two or three bottles
+of milk or carrying a pail of butter or a
+basket of eggs or a bowl of sour cream
+or a great loaf of black bread, with a hole
+in the middle like a huge doughnut.
+Sometimes a woman would appear holding
+a large goose in her arms as tenderly
+as though it were a baby, the body of the
+goose being concealed in the blouse that
+covered her ample bosom, while its long
+neck craned out, exhibiting as much interest
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span>
+in the passing show as any one on
+the shore.</p>
+
+<p>The passengers on the ship would all
+congregate on the upper deck, many of
+them with empty bottles in their hands,
+to exchange, with ten kopeks added, for
+the full bottles on the shore. There are,
+of course, no docks or piers at these
+villages along the Amour, and to make
+fast to the shore in this swift and shallow
+water is a work of time and patience.
+First the anchor is thrown out about a
+hundred yards from the shore, and cable
+enough is paid out to allow the boat
+to drift within twenty feet of the bank.
+Then a bowline is carried ashore in the
+ship’s boat and made fast to a tree or a
+post. A stern line is treated in the same
+way, and by this time the steamer is near
+enough for the long gangplanks to be
+pulled ashore. A wooden horse is put
+underneath to steady them, and then the
+eager passengers stream ashore, and there
+is, for a time, a lively barter in milk and
+eggs and curd cheese and black bread,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span>
+until the market is exhausted or the passengers’
+wants satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>The villages on the Amour all have a
+striking family resemblance, and usually
+consist of one or two streets of log-houses,
+often chinked with moss, one or two stores
+of general merchandise, and, if the village
+is of any size, a handsome Greek church,
+and a triumphal arch to indicate that the
+czarewitch, in his famous journey to the
+far East, stopped there. Sometimes the
+arch is anything but majestic in its proportions,
+a mere pitiful little affair of unpainted
+wood, ten feet high, but it indicates
+the loyalty of the Siberians and
+their love for their “Little Father” just
+as well as though it was a magnificent
+and imposing work of art. The larger
+towns, like Vladivostock, Khabaroffsk,
+and Blagavestchensk, all have lofty and
+imposing arches, blazing with colors or
+shining with burnished copper, as becomes
+the larger and wealthier municipalities.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0781_ill" style="max-width: 113.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0781_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    SOME OF OUR FELLOW-TRAVELLERS. SIBERIAN EMIGRANTS ON THE AMOUR
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Just at nightfall on the third day out
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span>
+we passed a Chinese village on the Manchurian
+shore, called into being by some
+rich gold-mines in the vicinity. It is
+only placer-mining that has yet been attempted,
+and the quartz awaits the enterprise
+and the machinery of the Western
+nations.</p>
+
+<p>On the fourth day we passed the Chinese
+town of Aigun, a city of forty thousand
+inhabitants, and noted, as I have before
+said, as the place where the treaty
+was signed in 1868 which gave all eastern
+Siberia to Russia.</p>
+
+<p>These places, even from the steamer’s
+deck, mellowed and sweetened as they
+were by distance, looked dirty and wretched
+and squalid, and showed none of the
+thrift, neatness, and prosperity of the
+towns on the Russian side. These were
+the only Chinese towns that border the
+Amour for a thousand miles from Khabaroffsk.
+Besides them we scarcely saw
+a hut or a wood-pile in Manchuria. Here
+are vast stretches of virgin soil, rich and
+productive, millions of acres of noble
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span>
+forest, great park-like estates, laid out
+by nature, without a single inhabitant.
+Yet there are uncounted millions of Celestials
+huddled together in hundreds
+of cities and thousands of reeking villages
+in China, who need this sweet air
+and the wide freedom of these Manchurian
+fields, which for centuries have belonged
+to the “Middle Kingdom.” That
+the Chinaman has not occupied his own
+domain is the more remarkable, for he is
+in a way an enterprising individual and
+often leaves home to seek “fresh fields
+and pastures new.” He finds his home
+in America and Australia, in the Sandwich
+Islands and Manila, in the Straits
+Settlement and Colombo, in Japan and
+Corea—even across the Amour into Russian
+territory he has wandered in large
+numbers, while much of his own country
+is still a wilderness. I suppose the fact is
+that the Chinaman knows a good thing
+in the way of a stable and just government
+when he sees it, as well as the rest of mankind,
+and that he does not propose to develop
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span>
+a country where he will be robbed
+and pillaged under the form of law, and
+the fruits of his toil taken away from him
+as soon as they are ripe.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0801_ill" style="max-width: 114.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0801_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    SOME OTHER FELLOW-PASSENGERS. RUSSIAN OFFICERS AND THEIR FAMILIES
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Almost every day our steamer had to
+take on a fresh supply of wood, for she
+had a vast appetite for birch and pine.
+Fortunately there was enough to satisfy
+the most voracious of furnaces. When
+wooding-up time came at night, it was a
+most picturesque sight. Two great flares
+would be built of large logs on either side
+of the gangplank, a cord of the best wood
+being piled on at one time to light up the
+scene. Then the roustabouts from the
+steamer would tumble ashore, each with
+a long, stout pole and a strap to go over
+his shoulders. Two roustabouts, working
+in partnership, would then lay down their
+poles and pile the heavy sticks upon them
+till they had as much as they could carry.
+Then, hitching the straps over their
+shoulders, they would hoist their load hip
+high and rush it on board. The banks
+down which they had to carry the wood
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span>
+were often steep and slippery, and the
+gangplank was long and unsteady, and
+there was many a slip and a spill between
+the wood-pile and the steamer’s hold. But
+these minor accidents made the scene all
+the more interesting from the passengers’
+point of view. How the roustabouts
+looked at the matter I cannot tell. At
+any rate, they good-naturedly made the
+best of it, without any profanity that English
+ears could understand, picked up
+themselves and their wood, and started
+on again.</p>
+
+<p>The fourth and fifth days on the Amour
+were cold and rainy, but we comforted
+ourselves for the discomfort of the weather
+by remembering that the rain would raise
+the river, which was exceptionally low,
+and perhaps enable the <i>Baron Korff</i> to
+reach Blagavestchensk.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="p0821_ill" style="max-width: 75.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0821_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    A TRIUMPHAL ARCH IN HONOR OF THE CZAREWITCH’S
+    JOURNEY THROUGH SIBERIA
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>On the afternoon of the fourth day we
+reached a little village, which consisted
+mostly of wood-pile, and here the wait
+continued hour after hour. No one knew
+the cause of the delay, and the Russian
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span>
+of none of the foreign passengers was
+equal to the strain of finding out. At
+last it was rumored that the <i>Baron Korff</i>
+could go no farther, and that we must
+wait for a boat of lighter draught to
+take us up to Blagavestchensk. After
+several hours, two other steamers came
+sweeping down the river, and brought up
+with a graceful curve and flourish, like
+a stage-coach in the olden times, at our
+anchorage. They were little boats,
+cramped and dirty as compared with the
+<i>Baron Korff</i>, and many were the groans
+of the passengers that the change must
+be made. But low water is no respecter
+of persons, and we were told that at four
+o’clock in the morning we must make the
+transfer. At midnight, however, the captain
+changed his mind and concluded to
+scrape through if he could, so, getting up
+steam, at two o’clock he started. The
+critical shallows were reached. The
+<i>Baron</i> scraped and grated on the sandy
+bottom. A half inch less of water and
+she would have been stranded, perhaps
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span>
+for a day. But the captain whistled down
+the speaking-tube for full speed ahead, the
+engineer opened the throttle-valve, the engine
+responded, and, with a mighty shove
+and jerk, our great leviathan pushed herself
+over the shallows and into the deeper
+water beyond. It was a “close call,” but
+on the Amour, as elsewhere, an inch is as
+good as an ell.</p>
+
+<p>About eight o’clock in the evening,
+precisely five days after leaving Khabaroffsk,
+the beautiful spires of the great
+churches of Blagavestchensk appeared
+in sight above the tree-tops, and, sweeping
+around a bend in the river and heading
+due north, we were soon alongside
+the bustling wharf of the metropolis of
+eastern Siberia. In these five days from
+Khabaroffsk we had journeyed nine hundred
+and eighteen versts, or about six
+hundred miles, having made an average
+of less than five miles an hour, which is
+about the average rate of speed on the
+Amour River when there are no extraordinary
+delays. Here ended the first stage
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span>
+of our river journey, for now we must wait
+two days and then change to a smaller
+steamer that can more easily scrape over
+the shallows that are before us on the
+upper reaches of the river.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0841_ill" style="max-width: 115.875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0841_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    A MODEST TRIUMPHAL ARCH AT A LITTLE SIBERIAN VILLAGE
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="VIII">
+    VIII
+    <br>
+    <span class='allsmcap'>A SIBERIAN CAPITAL</span>
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Blagavestchensk, a mouthful
+of a name for any one but a Russian,
+is a surprising city to be found
+in the heart of the wild woods of eastern
+Siberia.</p>
+
+<p>Almost immediately after our departure
+it was besieged by the Chinese and
+became well known the world around as
+one of the storm-centres of the Yellow
+Tempest. But I must confess that my
+knowledge of geography was so defective
+that I had scarcely heard the name of
+this city three weeks before I saw it.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="p0861_ill" style="max-width: 75.375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0861_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    “EACH WOMAN HUGGING TWO OR THREE BOTTLES OF MILK”
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Had I been particularly conceited on
+this point, my geographical pride would
+have received a severe blow, for here is
+the natural metropolis of a vast section,
+as large as all New England, with New
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span>
+York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey
+thrown in. Here is a city of nearly
+40,000 inhabitants, with wide streets, as
+fine blocks for its leading banks and
+stores as Portland, Maine, or Portland,
+Oregon, could show, or any of the smaller
+cities of the Union; very comfortable
+hotels, and at least five really fine
+churches.</p>
+
+<p>The glories of Blagavestchensk, moreover,
+are not in the past by any means,
+but largely in the future, as is evidenced
+by the amount of new building going on.
+Piles of brick, masons and hod-carriers,
+and carpenters and stone-cutters, are
+seen everywhere, busy at their trades,
+and it is evident that Blagavestchensk
+is preparing for the time when the Siberian
+Railway will be completed from Stretinsk
+to Khabaroffsk, and still further add
+to her importance as the chief city on the
+Amour—indeed, the chief city between
+Lake Baikal and the Pacific.</p>
+
+<p>We did not have time, however, to make
+these observations on the evening of our
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span>
+arrival, for before the <i>Baron Korff</i> was
+made fast it was half-past nine o’clock,
+and nearly dark. Having heard of the
+Central Hotel, and knowing not whether
+it was good, bad, or indifferent, we directed
+the drosky man to drive thither,
+which he did, and soon set us down in
+front of a large brick building of imposing
+dimensions. But here our troubles began.
+No office could be discovered. No
+one seemed to be in charge. The register
+which hung in the front hall—a large
+blackboard with the numbers of the rooms
+written in chalk—indicated that every
+room, with one exception, was full. At
+last a peasant, in Russian blouse and top-boots,
+appeared who seemed to belong to
+the establishment; but, alas! he spoke
+a word of naught but Russian. To polyglot
+inquiries: “Do you speak English?”
+“Sprechen Sie Deutsch?” “Parlez-vous
+français?” he responded with a “nyet,”
+and a helpless shake of the head. At
+length his instinct, or our bad Russian,
+enabled him to understand that we wished
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span>
+lodgings for the night, and he showed us
+to a large room with a single narrow bed,
+a sofa, and some chairs.</p>
+
+<p>But there were four in this particular
+party that sought the shelter of the Central
+Hotel—two ladies, a small boy, and a
+man. It was evident that all could not
+be accommodated in these limited quarters.
+What could be done about it? All
+the other hotels were crowded. It was
+ten o’clock at night, and we were on the
+sidewalk outside of this thoroughly Russian
+hotel, with our baggage unloaded
+from the tarantass. At this opportune
+moment our good genius came to our rescue
+in the shape of a young Russian
+lieutenant who spoke French, and who
+insisted on my sharing his room with
+him, so that the ladies and the small boy
+might have the only vacant room. Moreover,
+he acted as translator, asked for
+another bed, arranged prices, and in every
+possible way became our guide, interpreter,
+and friend. I shared his room for
+two days, and when I tried to pay for my
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span>
+part of it he absolutely refused, saying,
+with the utmost delicacy, but with firm
+insistence: “I could not think of it. You
+are my guest.”</p>
+
+<p>Would such graceful and delicate hospitality
+be found in New York, or Chicago,
+or London? I very much doubt
+it, or whether the average American, or
+even the exceptional American, would
+have taken a foreigner into his room,
+and, for a couple of days, concerned himself
+for the welfare of a party of absolute
+strangers.</p>
+
+<p>Our good angel in military clothes had
+recently graduated at the Russian West
+Point, and had been stationed at Nikolskoie,
+on the Siberian frontier. He was
+on his way to visit his mother at St. Petersburg,
+and thence to the Paris Exposition.
+As I expected to travel farther
+with him, I neglected to learn his name.
+But he was detained at the last moment,
+and I shall not be able to send him my
+acknowledgment of his kindness by post,
+and I can scarcely hope that he will read
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span>
+them in this account of our travels. What
+I think will please him most, however,
+could he but see it in print, I will record
+here, that such kindness and delicate
+consideration I believe to be characteristic
+of the great people of whom he is
+such a worthy representative.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0901_ill" style="max-width: 125.6875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0901_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    THE LEADING HOTEL, BLAGAVESTCHENSK
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>While we are still at the hotel, it may
+give some idea of Siberian hostelries of
+the better class if I say that the rooms
+at the Central were large and comfortably
+furnished, but there were some peculiarities
+which strike a traveller as odd.
+A bed with a mattress upon it is provided,
+but no blankets, sheets, or pillows. A
+common wash-room, not over tidy, served
+all the guests, and such a thing as a bath-tub
+or a bath-room seemed unknown.
+Every guest is expected to bring his own
+bedding, towels, and soap. Not knowing
+this, we naturally asked for sheets
+and blankets and pillows and towels,
+which, after some delay, were brought,
+though only one sheet, blanket, and pillow
+apparently could be raised.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span></p>
+
+<p>What was my surprise to have a lengthy
+bill brought when I came to leave, for I
+was conscious of having had but few
+“extras.” When I inquired for a translation
+of the items, the waiter pointed to
+the different articles ordered the night
+before, and then to the cabalistic words
+upon the bill, and I learned that the charge
+was: Blanket, 25 kopeks; sheet, 20 kopeks;
+pillow, 30 kopeks; towel, 15 kopeks.
+No wonder the bill was a long,
+if not a large, one. The room itself was
+only two roubles and a half, or one dollar
+and a quarter, for a large double room,
+and the <i lang="fr">table d’hôte</i> meals, which consisted
+of soup, meat, dessert, and tea, cost 80
+kopeks (40 cents). Breakfast was served
+in our rooms, and normally consisted of
+tea made on the spot in a porcelain teapot,
+with water boiling hot from the samovar,
+very nice and refreshing, with lemon
+as a substitute for milk, and bread-and-butter.
+We did not attempt the coffee,
+which is not the national drink, and
+does not compare with the tea. On tea
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span>
+and bread-and-butter the Russian would
+be sure to break his fast, though eggs
+might be had by the Outlander, if he
+should insist upon it.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="p0921_ill" style="max-width: 73.6875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0921_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    THE CEMETERY AT BLAGAVESTCHENSK
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>It so happened that the day after our
+arrival at Blagavestchensk was the emperor’s
+birthday, and all the city was in
+holiday mood. But it seemed to take its
+pleasure seriously, if not sadly, as the
+English are said to do. A few flags were
+flying, the churches were open, and the
+stores were closed, and a general air of
+solemnity pervaded the town. The great
+German store of Kunst &amp; Albers was religiously
+closed in front and the curtains
+drawn, but I was told that it had a back
+door, like the saloons in Maine. As my
+conscience did not compel me to observe
+the emperor’s birthday sacredly, I sought
+the side entrance, where I made some necessary
+purchases.</p>
+
+<p>I may mention for the benefit of future
+travellers that many of the necessaries of
+life cost about the same in eastern Siberia
+as in New York—linen collars two dollars
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span>
+a dozen, cuffs twice that sum, shirts, underclothing,
+and other dry goods in like proportion.
+Two of the stores in Blagavestchensk,
+Kunst &amp; Albers and a Russian
+store nearly opposite, are really palatial
+in proportions and equipment. The department
+store has blossomed out in full
+proportions in Siberia, and it is far more
+surprising to find such a store as I have
+mentioned in Blagavestchensk than to
+find Wanamaker’s, in Philadelphia, or
+Jordan &amp; Marsh, in Boston.</p>
+
+<p>Here you find books and bric-à-brac,
+pipes and pickles, flowers and flat-irons,
+oil and oysters, waistcoats and watches,
+indigo and icons. Here were attentive
+clerks and cash-boys (Chinese cash-boys,
+by-the-way), cashier girls in their little
+elevated desks, receiving the money, and
+all the conveniences and appliances of the
+great modern establishments.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp52" id="p0941_ill" style="max-width: 75.375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0941_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    ONE OF BLAGAVESTCHENSK’S BEAUTIFUL CHURCHES
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>But the chief interest in Blagavestchensk
+centred in the churches on the
+day of our visit, especially in the blue
+and green military church. Here a high
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span>
+mass was held in honor of the emperor.
+The church was crowded with soldiers
+and peasants, and all were most devout
+and earnest. Old peasants would
+come in, and, though there was scarcely
+standing room, would spread down their
+bandannas, and, kneeling on them, would
+touch their grizzled forelocks to the floor,
+and then rise and join heartily in the service.
+This was conducted chiefly by a
+priest in beautiful robes of cloth of gold,
+whose magnificent bass voice chanted the
+service as I never heard it rendered before.
+A sweet-voiced choir of boys answered the
+priest, and the whole congregation joined
+reverentially, but in stentorian tones, in
+part of the service. Behind the altar and
+facing the officiating priest, whose back
+was to the audience, stood a figure clad,
+apparently, in pure gold, and with a golden
+mitre upon its head. Whether man or
+image I could not at first make out. But
+it stood so immovable, and was apparently
+so solidly built of gold, that I concluded
+it was an image, a huge icon,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span>
+which did duty in the soldiers’ church. I
+thought that I detected the image solemnly
+winking, but the moment after I
+concluded that I was the victim of an
+optical illusion. Nothing so stately, solemn,
+and immovable could wink. It was
+almost sacrilegious to think of such a
+thing. But when I had fully made up
+my mind to the icon theory, the golden
+image stepped from behind the altar, and,
+coming to the front, an attendant took
+off his heavy mitre, and in a deep, rich
+voice, he intoned the part of the service
+that fell to his share.</p>
+
+<p>Bowing to the cross, his golden garments
+wrinkled and bent like the scales
+of a fish, or like the chain-armor of an
+ancient knight whose corselet was of pure
+gold. Never have I seen in any church
+or temple, in Christendom or pagandom,
+such gorgeous vestments or a more stately
+service. I only hope that it was as intelligently
+devout as it was gorgeous and
+impressive.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0961_ill" style="max-width: 125.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0961_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    A GREAT DEPARTMENT STORE IN BLAGAVESTCHENSK, WITH MARKET-PLACE IN FRONT
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Some of the Greek priests, whose writings
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span>
+I have read, like Father John, of
+Kronstadt, are as deeply imbued with the
+Spirit of God as Thomas à Kempis or
+John Tauler of old, or as Andrew Murray
+and F. B. Meyer of the present day. A
+fine, sweet, mystical vein runs through
+their writings, which shows that they
+have seen the Invisible and heard the
+Inaudible, and their writings are as refreshing
+as a draught of clear spring
+water in this thirsty commercial age.</p>
+
+<p>So may it have been with the holy
+fathers of Blagavestchensk! I could not
+judge, for all their service was to me in
+an unknown tongue. I will give them
+the full benefit of the doubt.</p>
+
+<p>The streets of Blagavestchensk on this
+holiday were full of soldiers, who marched
+in orderly file from their barracks to the
+church and back again. They were fine,
+stalwart, manly fellows, marching in perfect
+alignment, and with an easy swing
+which did one’s eyes good to see, after
+beholding for a few weeks the slouchy
+straggle of Chinese soldiers. They were
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span>
+an orderly, well-behaved lot, too, and I
+saw no rioting or drunkenness. The log-cabin
+which served as a soldiers’ guard-house
+seemed to have few occupants.
+The soldiers did not know how soon their
+holiday manners would be changed into
+grim and deadly warfare with the yellow
+men on the opposite bank of the Amour.</p>
+
+<p>Blagavestchensk, though it has a few
+large and imposing buildings, is largely
+a log-built city. Nine-tenths of the houses
+are of hewn logs, but most of them are
+prettily painted and are not without appropriate
+ornamentation. I never had believed
+that a log-house city could be so
+picturesque and substantial in appearance.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the churches the people have lavished
+their chief wealth. At least three
+of them are costly and beautiful buildings
+that would do honor to any European
+capital, and a fourth that is building
+will, when completed, surpass them
+all. It is really a building of remarkable
+stateliness and beauty.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p0981_ill" style="max-width: 125.1875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p0981_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    <p>AN UPPER AMOUR RIVER STEAMER</p>
+    <p>Buriats’ hut in foreground</p>
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span></p>
+
+<p>In the cathedral I saw for the first time
+the Black Christ and the Black Virgin,
+which are often seen in Greek churches.
+The pictures in all the churches impressed
+me as a much higher grade of art than
+one sees in the ordinary church on the
+continent of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>When we were in Blagavestchensk we
+had little thought that this obscure capital
+was so soon to figure in the world’s
+telegrams, or that it could be besieged
+and bombarded by the Chinese. But history
+in the far East was making itself rapidly
+about that time, and we had scarcely
+left Blagavestchensk a week behind, when
+the apparently peaceful Celestials, inspired
+from Peking, attacked and for a long time
+bombarded this inoffensive city.</p>
+
+<p>As I write, the outcome of the immediate
+conflict is still in the balance, but it
+can scarcely be doubted that in the long
+run the Giant of the North will win his
+way through Siberia and Manchuria into
+the heart of China, and that the siege of
+Blagavestchensk will really hasten the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span>
+awakening of China from her sleep of the
+ages.</p>
+
+<p>On the evening of the second day, we
+were glad to take passage once more for
+the upper reaches of the Amour, the most
+difficult, uncertain, and tedious part of
+our journey.</p>
+
+<p>“<em>If you have tears, prepare to shed them
+now</em>” might have been our motto as we
+went aboard the crowded little steamer
+and realized that Stretinsk, the terminus
+of our river journey, was 1197¼ versts
+away, and that, much of the way, less
+than four feet of water separated our keel
+from the sandy bottom of the Amour.
+But how we scraped over the sand-banks
+from Blagavestchensk to Stretinsk must
+be reserved for “another story.”</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1001_ill" style="max-width: 118.0625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1001_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    ON THE UPPER AMOUR
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="IX">
+    IX
+    <br>
+    <span class='allsmcap'>AGROUND IN THE AMOUR</span>
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Two Mississippi River captains were
+once conversing as to the merits of
+their respective steamers as light-draught
+boats. One claimed that his
+steamer could run in a good heavy dew.
+The other, not to be outdone, claimed that
+that was nothing, for his boat could run
+on the sweat of an ice-pitcher. It is this
+latter kind of boat that is needed on the
+upper reaches of the Amour River, as we
+began to think before we were many
+miles from Blagavestchensk. We had
+scarcely gone five miles before we heard
+that peculiar crunching, scraping, gritty
+sound which we came to know so well.
+The paddle-wheels revolved fruitlessly
+for a few minutes, but it was no use, and
+we knew that we were hard and fast
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span>
+aground in less than three feet of water.
+For hours the boatmen worked with might
+and main, and at last we could feel that
+there was water under our keel and that
+we were making slow progress against
+the current once more. But we had
+scarcely been moving another hour when
+c-r-u-n-c-h, s-c-r-a-p-e, s-t-o-p, and there
+we were stuck on another sand-bank.
+The captain seemed to tear his hair in
+despair, and well he might, for Stretinsk
+was 1187 versts away, and we had scarcely
+come ten versts in ten hours from Blagavestchensk.
+If it requires ten hours
+to do ten versts, how long will it take
+to reach Stretinsk, was an appalling problem
+in mental arithmetic.</p>
+
+<p>However, we made somewhat better
+progress after getting off the second time,
+and the hope that springs eternal in the
+human breast kept us from despair of
+reaching in time the important engagement
+at our journey’s end.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1021_ill" style="max-width: 118.5625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1021_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    TUMBLING ASHORE FROM THE <i>ADMIRAL CHICACHOFF</i>
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>The <i>Ivan Vishnegradskie</i> was a much
+smaller steamer than the <i>Baron Korff</i>,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span>
+and consequently much more crowded.
+Especially were the third-class passengers
+much in evidence, for there were no
+steerage accommodations, and they were
+obliged to lie about anywhere as best they
+could, in the passages, on the companion-way,
+huddled on the boiler deck, lying
+out on the wood-pile or anchor chains;
+every available foot of deck room had its
+two human feet to occupy it.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that the birth-rate of Siberia
+is higher than any other country in the
+world, amounting to fifty-six in the thousand.
+I could well believe it as I saw
+the uncounted, tow-headed babies tucked
+into every nook and cranny of the <i>Ivan
+Vishnegradskie</i>. Head to heel and heel
+to head, they lay, with their fathers and
+mothers and older brothers and sisters
+lying about them four square, building,
+as it were, a sort of living rampart
+around the family compound. It was
+pathetic to see a mother lay her three
+little children out in a row, with the croupy
+baby in the middle, while she herself sat
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span>
+in the draughty doorway all night long
+to shield them from the wind.</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <div class="verse indent0">“She bared her bosom to the storm,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">And smiled to think her babe was warm.”</div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>For two days we sailed on this crowded
+little craft. The river turns almost due
+north after leaving Blagavestchensk. A
+very tortuous stream is the Amour from
+here on, turning and twisting and doubling
+on itself like a huge serpent writhing
+in agony. Following its twistings we
+made very little progress, even when we
+could steam all day long, which the treacherous
+shoals did not often allow us to do.
+The shores on either side were often picturesque
+and beautiful, and sometimes
+grand and striking, with bare cliffs of
+rock rising sheer from the water’s edge
+to a height of four or five hundred feet.</p>
+
+<p>The park-like effect of the clean, open
+woods continued, and made it difficult
+to believe that the country had not been
+thickly inhabited for a thousand years,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span>
+except that the utter absence of habitations
+dispelled the illusion.</p>
+
+<p>On the second day out from Blagavestchensk
+we were obliged to change steamers
+and take up our abode in the <i>Admiral
+Chicachoff</i>, the regular steamer of this
+line, which had not been able to get so
+far down the river as the above-named
+city. The <i>Admiral</i> was a somewhat
+larger boat than the <i>Ivan</i>, and had much
+better accommodations for the steerage
+passengers, who no longer had to sleep
+in doorways and draughty passages, but
+had the after upper deck roofed over for
+their accommodation. The steamers of
+the line on which we were embarked carried
+the government mail, and were supposed
+to be more sure of reaching their destination
+than the other river-steamers, of
+which there are many lines on the Amour.</p>
+
+<p>Frequently we passed other steamers
+going down with the current at a famous
+rate of speed compared with our slow and
+toilsome ascent of the river. More often
+we passed great rafts of timber, with little
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span>
+bark huts built upon them, in which families
+lived and moved and had their being
+for weeks and perhaps months at a
+time, as they let the force of the current
+carry them down the stream, and tied up
+to the bank at night to avoid the passing
+steamers. Sometimes the rafts would be
+loaded with horses that seemed to enjoy
+their floating quarters, and who lived off
+the country, for it was only necessary to
+tie the raft to the shore and drive its living
+freight into the rich pasturage, which
+in many places could be obtained free,
+gratis, for nothing.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1061_ill" style="max-width: 114.8125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1061_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    CHILDREN OF EMIGRANTS PICKING WILD FLOWERS ON THE BANKS OF THE AMOUR
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>The monotony of the voyage was varied
+by a stop once or twice every twenty-four
+hours to take on wood, or at some little
+log village on the river’s margin. On the
+occasion of these stops the passengers
+would tumble ashore almost before the
+gangplank made connections, and would
+spend the time as the fancy seized them,
+in the woods or on the pebbly margin of
+the river. The youngsters would scale
+the bluffs, which usually abounded near
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span>
+the wood-piles, or would come back from
+the meadows laden with great armfuls of
+beautiful wild flowers. Lilies of the valley
+seemed to abound everywhere, violets,
+blue and white forget-me-nots, lady slippers,
+and another beautiful orchid somewhat
+similar, which I have never seen
+elsewhere. In other places, blue honeysuckles
+were found, and yellow lilies, and
+Solomon’s seal, and the yellowest of buttercups.
+Indeed, the flora of the country
+seemed to be exceedingly extensive, embracing
+most of the spring flowers with
+which I am familiar in New England, except
+the arbutus, and many flowers that
+I had never seen before. The trees were
+mostly white and yellow birch, poplar,
+white oak, soft maple, larch, and pine.
+The wood-piles, cut for the use of the river
+steamers, were interminable, and consisted
+of beautiful, straight, knotless sticks
+of birch and pine that it seemed a pity
+to sacrifice in the rapacious maw of our
+never-satisfied boilers, to go up in smoke
+and sparks.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span></p>
+
+<p>While the smaller fry were racing on
+the shore or gathering wild flowers, their
+more sedate elders among the steerage
+passengers would kindle a little fire of
+driftwood on the shore and cook a savory
+pot of stew to vary the crude monotony of
+their daily fare. Or the forethoughtful
+mothers would improve the opportunity to
+scrub their offspring or wash their clothes,
+pounding the latter upon the stones.
+Sometimes we would get a delicious bath
+in the clear, cold water which, less than a
+month ago, was bound with icy fetters,
+for the weather, much of the time, was extremely
+warm. The summers of Siberia
+are short and fiercely hot. Vegetation has
+to be forced to maturity by Dame Nature
+in six weeks, instead of taking six
+months, as she would do in more leisurely
+climes.</p>
+
+<p>Many patches of snow and ice still lingered
+upon the banks, and it could have
+been comparatively but few days since all
+the country was snow-bound. Yet every
+tree seemed to be in full leaf, and ferns
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span>
+and grasses in many places were knee-high
+and were growing with the lustiness
+and vigor of a tropical summer.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1081_ill" style="max-width: 110.6875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1081_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    AN EMIGRANT HOUSE ON THE UPPER AMOUR
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Our new steamer was no more exempt
+from the prosaic perils of the sand-bar
+than the one we had just left, for, before
+we had finished the first day we had run
+hard aground in a place where the current
+was very swift, and where it was very
+difficult to get off. For seventeen hours
+our officers and crew worked with a will,
+but to no effect. First huge poles, like
+iron-shod battering-rams, as big as telegraph
+poles, which could barely be lifted
+by six men, were hitched to the windlass
+by a wire rope, and, with this, every
+effort was made to pry us off. But all
+utterly failed. Then two telegraph poles
+were rigged, and finally three, but all in
+vain. In the useless effort, three or four
+of these huge pries were broken off short,
+and yet the little steamer did not budge.
+Then, to lighten ship, the convict barge,
+which all these days had been following
+in our wake, was towed alongside, and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span>
+all the passengers were requested to go
+on board of her.</p>
+
+<p>This gave us an opportunity to visit
+our fellow-passengers behind the bars,
+if I may so call those who were propelled
+by the same steam and were hitched to
+us by a single cable. It must be confessed
+that they were not bad-looking fellows
+as men average, and the impartial visitor,
+had he been asked to pick out the convicts
+by their looks, would, very likely,
+have chosen the hardened criminals from
+among the free men on top of the barge,
+instead of from among those whom the
+law had put into the cage below. Possibly
+even some of the first-class passengers
+who had paid thirty roubles for their
+voyage would have been chosen, instead
+of those who had fare and board paid
+by the government. My idea of the
+severity with which Russia treats her
+Siberian exiles was also modified when
+I saw the clean and comparatively comfortable
+quarters of the prisoners, which
+compared most favorably with the steerage
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span>
+accommodations on our own steamer.
+There were not many prisoners in the
+cage, and they were going from the
+crowded prisons of Vladivostock or Khabaroffsk
+to other prisons in the interior.
+One poor fellow was landed at a little
+river town, and in his heavy felt boots
+and overcoat, though it was a broiling
+day, was marched between two soldiers
+to a new prison, or, perhaps, handed over
+to some man who had bought his labor
+for a time.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp46" id="p1101_ill" style="max-width: 76.6875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1101_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    THE MEN BEHIND THE BARS ON THE PRISON BARGE
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>But we had gone aboard the convict
+barge to lighten our ship, and not to
+inspect the prisoners. It was all of no
+avail, however, and some new method
+must be tried. So an anchor was carried
+out into mid-stream, two hundred yards
+away, perhaps; the steam windlass was
+again brought into play and, little by
+little, inch by inch, we were coaxed off
+the sand-bar, the flat bottom creaking
+and groaning as the steamer scraped
+along, as though unwilling to leave her
+comfortable bed. Seventeen hours had
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span>
+been wasted, and not a third of our voyage
+had been accomplished.</p>
+
+<p>After this experience our captain was
+very cautious, and when he came to
+shallow places would anchor, and often
+spent several hours in a small boat in
+ascertaining the channel and marking it
+with sticks driven into the sand. Then
+the <i>Admiral</i> would start up slowly and
+warily. Two men, one on either side
+of the bow, with sounding-poles, would
+constantly take the water and report to
+the first officer of the deck above, who
+shouted it back to the man at the wheel.
+“Vosem” (eight), “sem” (seven), “shest”
+(six), he would call, and no one would feel
+anxious, for the <i>Admiral</i> only draws
+two feet and a half; but when it came to
+“pyat polovina” (five and one-half), to
+“pyat” (five), or to “chiteery” (four),
+we began to be interested.</p>
+
+<p>When, in stentorian tones, the leadsman
+would call “trees polovina” (three
+and one-half), and his mate on the other
+side would call “trees,” and the first
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span>
+officer would shout to the wheel, “trees,”
+we would positively hold our breath, and
+sit more lightly in our chairs to ease the
+ship, until again the leadsman would reassuringly
+cry “chiteery,” “pyat,” “shest,”
+“sem,” and we would feel that we were
+safely over one more bar.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="X">
+    X
+    <br>
+    <span class='allsmcap'>ON THE SHILKA</span>
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Our progress up the Amour was slow
+but not sure. Time after time the
+experience described in the last
+chapter would be repeated. We would
+touch bottom, scrape on the sand, the
+engines would make desperate efforts
+to pull us off into deep water, but would
+finally give up in despair, slow down,
+stop altogether, and for one hour, or ten,
+or twenty, we must possess our souls in
+patience, until, with infinite pains, our
+craft was floated once more.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp50" id="p1141_ill" style="max-width: 74.8125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1141_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    THE HILL-SIDES WERE CARPETED WITH FLOWERS
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>We were told before starting that the
+journey from Blagavestchensk to Stretinsk
+would not take more than seven
+days, or seven days and one-half; but
+seven times twenty-four hours passed
+and Stretinsk was still four hundred
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span>
+miles away, and not half the distance
+had been traversed. The alarming tale
+was circulated that the water was falling
+at the rate of two inches a day. The
+usual story about this being an extraordinary
+season was current—“not for
+thirteen years had the water been so
+low,” etc. I am inclined to think that
+every year on the Amour is “extraordinary,”
+and that, especially in the month
+of June, those who essay this journey
+must count on spending as much time
+on the sand-banks as in deep water.</p>
+
+<p>Still, for those who are in no haste to
+reach their journey’s end, who can put
+up with very indifferent food, and who
+can good-naturedly accept the inevitable,
+there are many and delightful compensations
+in this new way around an
+old world. The scenery throughout the
+whole journey is pleasing, and, much
+of the way, it is extremely beautiful.
+A hundred miles beyond Blagavestchensk
+we passed some remarkable high
+bluffs, seamed with coal or lignite in
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span>
+narrow, diagonal veins. In many places
+this coal had caught fire, and for years
+had been burning with an unquenchable
+flame. The scene, as we passed, was
+one of striking beauty. The sun was
+just setting behind the western hills,
+lighting up the evening clouds with golden
+and crimson glory. The broad river
+swept in a grand and graceful curve
+around a pine-clad mountain that towered
+a thousand feet above its placid waters,
+while, as the light of the dying day waned,
+glowing jewels appeared in the mountainside,
+where the burning coal was afire, or
+little bursts of flame, as from a hundred
+gas-jets, lit up the gaunt and seamy cliff.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="p1161_ill" style="max-width: 73.6875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1161_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    A TYPICAL WATER-TOWER ON THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Two days later, and a hundred miles
+farther on, the same scene was repeated
+with a still lovelier variation. Again
+it was just at the hour of setting sun,
+the most delicious of all the day, for the
+boiling heat of the day was over, and
+the cool breezes of evening had begun
+to blow. On the Chinese shore of the
+great river high cliffs like the Palisades
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span>
+of the Hudson stretched westward for
+miles, with tops as even and flat as Table
+Mountain at Cape Town. Here and there,
+throughout their whole length, these
+cliffs, too, were seamed and veined with
+fire. Oftentimes green shrubs overhung
+the seams of coal, or pine-trees grew
+below them, their upper branches athwart
+the narrow line of fire, so that again the
+Scripture miracle seemed to be repeated,
+and the burning bush was not consumed.
+Imagine the Palisades on a wilder and
+grander scale, illuminated by their own
+internal fires, and you have an idea of
+this night scene on the Amour.</p>
+
+<p>Seven days out from Blagavestchensk,
+the day we should have completed our
+river journey, we again stuck fast on a
+sand-bar for nearly twenty hours. This
+delay was all the more uncomfortable
+on account of the extreme heat, unalleviated
+by the breeze caused by the
+boat’s motion, and the discomfort was
+aggravated by innumerable huge green-headed
+flies, larger than the biggest
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span>
+horse-fly I ever saw in America. These
+flies showed all the idiosyncrasy of the
+average house-fly in returning time after
+time, with the utmost persistence, to the
+same unguarded spot on ear, or nostril,
+or back of neck, and, being about ten
+times as large, their attentions were fully
+ten times as unpleasant as those of the
+house-fly.</p>
+
+<p>At length we rubbed our way, inch by
+inch, over the shallows and into deeper
+water, and an hour later found ourselves
+at Albazin, a small and decayed village
+four hundred miles from Blagavestchensk.
+Albazin has no glories in the present,
+but it is famous as the place where, two
+hundred years ago, a Russian garrison
+was defeated by the Chinese, and four
+hundred prisoners carried off to Peking.
+As a result of this victory a treaty of
+peace was concluded, and the north bank
+of the Amour again became Chinese
+territory. The Great Bear of the North
+is sometimes defeated and retreats to her
+den, but it is only to nurse her wounds
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span>
+and to come out again, stronger than
+ever, to win, either by arms or diplomacy,
+perhaps two hundred years later, a new
+victory which will wipe out old scores.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1181_ill" style="max-width: 125.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1181_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    THE LIGNITE CLIFFS ON THE AMOUR
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Two hundred years have elapsed since
+the Russian garrison was carried off to
+Peking, but Albazin is again in Russian
+territory, which stretches fifteen hundred
+miles beyond to the very shores of the
+Pacific, while Manchuria itself and China,
+almost to the very gates of Peking, seem
+likely soon to become Russian provinces.</p>
+
+<p>“That, too, is our country,” said a Russian
+judge, one of our travelling companions,
+as he pointed with a sweep of the
+hand to the Manchurian shore. “That,
+too, is our country.” And his was no
+empty boast, even if a little premature.</p>
+
+<p>It is an interesting fact that the descendants
+of the Russian garrison carried
+from Albazin to Peking still live in the
+Chinese capital. They married Chinese
+wives, but organized a distinct community
+of their own, in which the Greek Church
+has flourished ever since.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span></p>
+
+<p>Ten miles from Albazin we stopped at
+the larger and more flourishing town
+of Renova, that owes its prosperity to
+some large placer gold-mines, which,
+like all Russian gold-mines, are a government
+monopoly. All gold discovered and
+dug must be sold to the government at a
+price fixed by it below the market price.
+Of course, much is smuggled out of the
+country, and such a law is death to
+genuine private enterprise; but the laws
+are strict, and no foreigner is allowed to
+filch the gold from the czar’s private
+purse, <i>i.e.</i>, the bowels of the earth.</p>
+
+<p>The next day we reached the final
+limit of travel on the <i>Admiral Chicachoff</i>.
+She could go no farther, and we were
+transferred to a great barge, not unlike
+the prisoners’ cage which we had been
+towing all this distance. This barge,
+which for another week was to be our abiding-place,
+drew only one foot and a half
+of water, and was towed by a tug which
+also drew but eighteen inches. On this
+craft we were to enter the Shilka and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span>
+stem the current for three hundred miles
+farther to Stretinsk.</p>
+
+<p>Each change we had made was a
+descent. We had gone from luxury on
+the <i>Baron Korff</i> through different grades
+of discomfort, until we had come to the
+superlative degree of discomfort on the
+barge <i>Diana</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The men among the first-class passengers
+were all herded together in one
+cabin, and the women in another, and
+the decks and passageways were so littered
+with third-class passengers and their
+belongings, that it was with great difficulty
+that we could pick our way over
+stout, extended legs, and tender baby toes,
+and peasant women suckling still smaller
+babies, who filled every nook and crevice.
+Clad in great sheepskin garments,</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <div class="verse indent0">“With the skinny side out and the woolly side in,”</div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p class='no-indent'>and with huge top-boots, worn often by
+the women as well as the men, the Moujiks
+defied the cold night air and the intensely
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span>
+hot mid-day sun, always sprawled
+out, day and night, at full length, except
+when they went ashore at landing-places
+to cook their scanty meals over a brushwood
+fire.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, exercise under these circumstances
+was out of the question on
+shipboard, and, as can be imagined, we
+all made the most of our stops at the
+wood-piles for a little run on shore.</p>
+
+<p>Travel on Siberian rivers, like poverty
+and politics, makes strange bedfellows,
+and in the men’s cabin were a polyglot
+company, consisting of a German baron,
+a Swiss consul, a Dane, two French
+“bounders,” two Russians, two Scotchmen,
+a North of Ireland man, and two
+Americans. All made the best of the
+situation except the Frenchmen, who
+sputtered and growled at everything, and
+made themselves generally disagreeable.
+Like Mrs. Gummidge, they seemed to
+say of all the discomforts: “I feels it
+more than others.” Especially did the
+food, which indeed was atrocious, come
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span>
+in for their objurgations. At last the
+climax was reached when one of these
+irascible Gauls found that sugar had
+been put in his cabbage. His gastronomic
+canons were all outraged, and, throwing
+the cabbage, dish and all, out of the
+window into the river, he flung a full
+bottle of beer at the waiter, narrowly
+missing a lady’s head, and only then
+felt that his outraged culinary taste had
+been fully avenged.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1221_ill" style="max-width: 115.6875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1221_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    THE EVER-PRESENT SAMOVAR
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>But for the most the company on the
+<i>Diana</i> was a happy family, and though
+a “Never Again Society” was proposed
+(never again to cross Siberia by this
+route), we often consoled ourselves with
+the reflection that things “might be
+worse.”</p>
+
+<p>On the second day after boarding the
+barge the Amour, so far as we were concerned,
+came to an end, or, rather, we came
+to its abrupt beginning, for, at a junction
+point of entrancing scenery, the Argun
+and the Shilka, two great rivers, come
+together to form the Amour, after having
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span>
+pursued their separate and devious ways
+for hundreds of miles. The Argun flows
+sharply from south to north, the Shilka
+pursues a northeasterly course. To be
+sure, the Shilka is really the Amour,
+and ought to bear the same name to its
+source, but for boundary purposes the
+Russians choose to call it another river,
+and to bound their possessions by the
+left branch of the Amour, called the
+Argun. We turned into the Shilka and
+were soon steaming against its swiftly
+flowing current.</p>
+
+<p>Now, at length, after coasting along the
+Manchurian shore for over a thousand
+miles, we leave China and plunge into
+the heart of Siberian Russia. On either
+side the mountains close in on the Shilka,
+dipping their feet in its rapid, crystal
+stream, and narrowing it down to less
+than a quarter of a mile in width. Wild
+and picturesque is the scenery for almost
+the whole distance to Stretinsk. The
+fertile arable land and vast open parks
+of the Amour give way to rough and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span>
+rugged hill-sides, clad with a growth of
+small trees, but affording scant encouragement
+for the agriculturist. The villages
+are fewer and farther between, and the
+scanty houses are of a distinctly poorer
+type. In fact, the whole country is given
+up to placer gold-mining and to cutting
+wood for the frequent steamers, and almost
+no cultivation is attempted.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1241_ill" style="max-width: 115.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1241_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    SOME FIFTH-CLASS PEOPLE
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>It even became difficult, and at last
+impossible, to secure milk and eggs on
+shore, and some of the scanty fare provided
+by the steamer’s steward might
+have been called “rotten” by the college
+boy without indulging in slang.</p>
+
+<p>But the natural scenery grew more
+charming as the evidence of man’s handiwork
+disappeared. The hill-sides were
+carpeted with flowers; lilies of the valley,
+azaleas, and a half-dozen kinds of rare
+and beautiful orchids abounded everywhere,
+and the air was fragrant with the
+new-made leaves of birch and pine.
+Cuckoos struck all hours of the day from
+the deeper forest, and a sylvan beauty
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span>
+that I have rarely seen surpassed constantly
+greeted our eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Frequently during these days on the
+Shilka we passed great rafts, floating
+down stream with the current, loaded
+with emigrant families, men, women,
+and children, horses, cattle, and dogs,
+and all the little store of household goods
+that the poor Moujiks possessed. Sometimes
+a small bateau would contain a
+family of seven or eight people and all
+their belongings. Occasionally great
+barges towed by a tug-boat would pass
+us, and these were invariably crowded
+with such a mass of humanity that one
+wondered how all could stand by day,
+much less lie down by night. These
+crowded rafts and barges headed eastward
+were most suggestive of Russia’s
+policy. Hers is a peaceful conquest of
+the far East. First she must fill up the
+waste places of Siberia, and then she
+can stretch out her hand over all Manchuria
+and northern China, and even
+in spite of temporary Mongolian uprisings
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span>
+she can hold her own, with no fear
+of a repetition of the disaster of Albazin,
+and another exclusion for centuries from
+Manchuria.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="p1261_ill" style="max-width: 76.1875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1261_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    A RAFT ON THE SHILKA
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>With one barge company alone the government
+has made a contract to transport
+thirty thousand peasants within three
+months to the lower waters of the Amour.
+Thousands of others will find their way
+by other methods of conveyance. Liberal
+land laws and government aid while they
+are getting established will result in a
+few years in tens of thousands of log-house
+homes that in time will make this
+wilderness to blossom like the rose.</p>
+
+<p>As we approached Stretinsk signs of
+civilization became more numerous. Cultivated
+fields appeared. Winter wheat
+already seemed to be ripening, forced to
+maturity by a few weeks of the almost
+continuous sunlight of this northern
+clime. The interesting village of Oost
+Kara, about seventy miles from Stretinsk,
+lies on the right bank of the Shilka, and
+is supported by extensive gold-mines,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span>
+which are worked by convicts—criminals,
+not political prisoners, I am told.</p>
+
+<p>At length, on the 21st day of June,
+thirteen days after leaving Blagavestchensk,
+and twenty-one days after embarking
+on the Amour at Khabaroffsk,
+we were glad enough to bid good-bye
+to the <i>Diana</i>, its crowded decks, and
+its wretched fare, and still more glad to
+feel that our long river voyage, which
+had stretched itself out from the twelve
+days which we had expected to twenty-one,
+was at length at an end, and that
+the rest of the journey would be behind
+the iron horse on land, instead of his
+aquatic cousin, the puffing steamboat.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="XI">
+    XI
+    <br>
+    <span class='allsmcap'>THE TRANS-BAIKAL</span>
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>We had supposed, as has already
+been remarked, that if we had
+tears to shed, we should need
+to indulge them on the last part of our
+river journey. But we soon found that
+we should have saved them all for the
+journey on the Trans-Baikal Railway
+between Stretinsk and Irkutsk, as the
+sequel will show.</p>
+
+<p>Stretinsk is a raw, shabby, straggling
+frontier town, whose only excuse for
+being so uninteresting is that it is very
+new and never thought of being a place
+of any importance until it suddenly found
+itself, on the 28th of December, 1899,
+the terminus of the Trans-Baikal Railway,
+and an important forwarding point
+for freight and passengers between the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span>
+Atlantic and Pacific. The large railway
+shops and engine-houses are situated
+across the river from the town, which
+is connected with them by a ferry, ingeniously
+worked by the swift current
+of the Shilka, like the picturesque ferry
+at Bonn, on the Rhine. The hotels of
+Stretinsk are wretched inns, and there
+are absolutely no attractions within the
+town to persuade the traveller to remain.
+But, in justice even to the squalid raggedness
+of Stretinsk, it must be admitted
+that fine hills encircle it and a noble
+river washes its feet, for the Shilka, in
+spite of shoals and shallows, is still a
+mighty stream, and runs even here with
+a large, impetuous flow.</p>
+
+<p>We were glad enough to find that we
+must remain in Stretinsk only thirty-six
+hours, and that the train which was to
+carry us to Lake Baikal was to start the
+following night. We were still more rejoiced
+to find that the good governor of
+Vladivostock, General Tchitchagoff, had
+not forgotten us, but had wired for a
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span>
+special car for our use. The car was
+very small, and held but five people, and,
+as can be imagined, it was not built on
+the latest Pullman plan, but, as compared
+with the cars assigned to our three
+hundred fellow-passengers, it was a <i lang="fr">car
+de luxe</i>, indeed.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp45" id="p1301_ill" style="max-width: 76.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1301_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    SIBERIAN RECRUITS BOUND FOR CHINA
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>This road is not yet officially opened for
+traffic, and we were taken on sufferance,
+as it were. At least, most of those who
+take it have to suffer severely. Nor
+can they complain overmuch, for the
+government does not invite them to go or
+advertise any attractions. The best cars
+that are yet run, with the exception of
+the little <i lang="fr">car de luxe</i>, of which I have
+just spoken, are marked “fourth class,”
+and are no better than they pretend to
+be. They have wooden seats of the
+hardest possible variety, and three wooden
+shelves, one above another, afford
+cramped opportunity for a man not more
+than five feet long to stretch himself out.
+Each of these cars, with three tiers of
+shelves, is supposed to afford accommodations
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span>
+for forty-three people. But these
+are the best, as I have said. Others,
+which might be termed fifth class, if the
+nomenclature of railway trains descended
+so far, are simply box-cars, with no seats,
+and marked on the outside, “to carry
+twelve horses or forty-three men.” Into
+these cars there crowded, helter-skelter,
+pell-mell, higgledy-piggledy, Russians
+and Siberians, Moujiks and Chinamen,
+Tartars, Buriats and Englishmen, Frenchmen,
+Germans, and Americans.</p>
+
+<p>If there were fifth-class cars, there
+were plenty of sixth and seventh class
+people—some in rags, and many in tags,
+but few in velvet gowns. Old Moujiks,
+with half a dozen half-naked children,
+filthy with a grime that has accumulated
+since their birth, and alive with unmentionable
+parasites, crowded every car, or,
+rather, human pigpen, as each car soon
+becomes. Odors indescribably offensive
+made the air thick and almost murky.
+The stench, the dirt, the vermin grew
+worse the longer the car was inhabited,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span>
+and one simply resigned himself to the
+inevitable and lived through each wearisome
+hour as best he could.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1321_ill" style="max-width: 114.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1321_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    FOR THIRTY-SIX MORTAL HOURS WE WAITED
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Our non-Russian fellow-passengers,
+when they found the true state of affairs,
+made a desperate resistance to their fate,
+and after repeated remonstrances, objurgations,
+and even threats, which nearly
+came to blows, induced the station-master
+to put on another little car, which they
+could have for themselves.</p>
+
+<p>We fondly hoped that the governor’s
+kindness had spared us the heaviest
+affliction of the journey; but alas! even
+the best-hearted governor cannot insure
+all the bridges on the line, and we had
+not been travelling a half-dozen hours
+when we learned that a bridge had burned
+down twenty miles ahead, owing to the
+carelessness of a fireman who drew the
+fire on the wooden sleepers, and there we
+were stranded as fast as though on a
+sand-bar on the Shilka.</p>
+
+<p>For thirty-six mortal hours we waited
+at that wretched railway town, which consisted
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span>
+principally of a round-house and
+a water-tower, then were pulled to the
+burned bridge, twenty miles away, and,
+with much difficulty and long delay,
+were transferred to the train on the other
+side. Here our good fortune deserted
+us. Our comparatively fine car could
+not, of course, cross the bridge, the governor
+could do nothing more for us, and in
+the general scramble we found ourselves
+in one of those dreadful fourth-class
+cars I have already described, with the
+Moujiks, the filth, and the vermin destined
+to be our companions for four weary
+days and nights.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1341_ill" style="max-width: 116.0625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1341_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    A TRANS-BAIKAL TRAIN. PRISONERS CARRYING WATER
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>After passing the burned bridge our
+train met with no serious delay, though
+our rate of progress was exceedingly
+moderate. The whole distance to Irkutsk
+is about seven hundred miles,
+and we managed to consume three days
+and a half of actual travel in covering it.
+It would seem impossible to the uninitiated
+in Siberian travel that a railway
+train that could go at all could go so
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span>
+slowly. Two hundred miles a day, or
+about eight miles an hour, is scarcely more
+than post-horses would make. This is
+accounted for by reason of the interminable,
+unreasonable length of the stops at
+the stations. Our train would draw up
+at a wood-pile and a log-house. The
+peasants would scramble out of the train,
+build their fires, cook their soup, boil
+their tea, and still the train would wait.
+There was usually no baggage to be
+taken on or put off, no passengers to
+join us, no passing train to wait for.
+Water would soon be taken, and still we
+would wait, a half-hour, three-quarters,
+a full hour. At last, for no particular
+reason, apparently, the station-master
+would ring a big dinner-bell. Five
+minutes later he would ring another.
+Then, soon after, the guard would blow
+his whistle, the engineer would respond
+with the engine whistle, the guard would
+blow again, the engineer would answer
+him once more, and, after this exchange
+of compliments, the train would move
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span>
+leisurely along, only to repeat the process
+two hours later at the next station.</p>
+
+<p>The stops ranged from half an hour
+to two hours in length, and the speed
+attained about fifteen miles an hour
+while running. Fortunately the stations
+are few and far between, averaging nearly
+thirty miles apart.</p>
+
+<p>The only towns of any importance
+on this line are Chita and Verkneydinsk,
+the former about two hundred and the
+latter about five hundred and fifty miles
+from Stretinsk. Verkneydinsk is a centre
+of the old caravan tea trade, and retains
+its life in spite of the new railway.</p>
+
+<p>The Trans-Baikal province, which this
+railway traverses from end to end, is
+the smallest of the six provinces into
+which Siberia is divided, and has about
+six hundred thousand inhabitants, of
+whom two hundred thousand belong to
+the aboriginal tribes. Much of it seems
+exceedingly fertile, and vast savannas,
+stretching away from the railway track
+as far as the eye can reach on either
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span>
+side, are frequently seen during the early
+part of the journey. Thousands of cattle
+and horses roam on these great flat
+prairies, which, often, are as level as a
+house floor for miles. In other parts
+of this journey the scenery is beautiful
+and picturesque, but never grand, the
+mountain range which is crossed being
+not a lofty one. For many miles the
+railway follows the winding of the Shilka
+River, usually high above its banks.
+Then it crosses the plains, and afterwards,
+some four hundred miles from the starting
+point, plunges among the pine-clad
+hills which hem it in on both sides with
+their resinous heights.</p>
+
+<p>In other parts of the hill beautiful
+birches stand like white sentries in a
+green livery. The flowers that carpet the
+fields everywhere are lovely; marigolds
+and marguerites, roses and blue honeysuckles,
+buttercups galore, bold tiger-lilies,
+modest lilies of the valley, and
+white and yellow poppies make the trackside
+gay.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span></p>
+
+<p>After traversing about half the distance,
+the streams, which had been flowing
+east into the Pacific, give way to
+others that flow west to Lake Baikal.
+The roof of the world, or, at least, of this
+part of the world, has been reached,
+and now we will follow the raindrops
+towards the distant Atlantic.</p>
+
+<p>The Selenga, which we reach on the
+last day of this journey, is a great and
+strong flowing river, as large as the
+St. Lawrence above the Ottawa. It is
+crossed by a splendid iron bridge, resting
+on magnificent piers of cut stone, a bridge
+which would be an honor to any railway
+in the world.</p>
+
+<p>It is the custom of the few travellers
+who have crossed this line, or any part
+of it, to poke fun at the Trans-Baikal
+Railway. And, indeed, it is not hard to
+do so. With its crawling trains, its inordinately
+long stops, its primitive rolling-stock,
+it does not inspire much respect.
+It reminds one of the railway in
+the United States called a “tri-weekly
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span>
+road,” which was explained by its president
+to mean that a train went up one
+week, and tried to come down the next.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp46" id="p1381_ill" style="max-width: 75.4375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1381_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    <p>BOUND FOR FAR SIBERIA</p>
+    <p>A passing glimpse of an emigrant train</p>
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>All the ancient and hoary railway
+jokes, like the one about the boy who
+started on a half-fare ticket and was so
+old before he reached the end of his journey
+that he had to pay full fare for the
+last part, are cracked and appreciated by
+the passengers on this line. Yet it must
+be remembered that the last spike in this
+road was driven less than six months
+before I passed over it; that it was not
+even then accepted by the government,
+or formally open for traffic; that it is
+largely built for military exigencies, and
+that no one is asked to travel over it,
+but rather discouraged by Russian officials;
+then the jokes lose their best
+points.</p>
+
+<p>Still it must be confessed that the
+road seems to tithe the mint, anise, and
+cumin, and omit the weightier matters
+of railway construction. For instance,
+the water-towers are beautiful, stately
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span>
+structures, and the stations are very
+creditable even for an old railway, but
+the rails are light and constantly breaking
+and giving way and delaying traffic
+for days at a time. “Two streaks of rust
+across Siberia,” is the exaggeration of
+a friend, which has an element of truth
+in it.</p>
+
+<p>Many parts of the embankment have
+been carefully sodded, the sods being
+pegged down with great care, but the
+road is very imperfectly ballasted, and
+is rough almost beyond belief. The
+culverts and small bridges are buttressed
+with cut stone, carefully dressed; the
+cars, as I have said, are exceedingly
+poor and filthy.</p>
+
+<p>Still the road is evidently built for the
+future, and all these defects will, in time,
+be remedied, and the Trans-Baikal section
+will take its place as an important link
+in the greatest railway of the world.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1401_ill" style="max-width: 115.0625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1401_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    FIFTEEN MINUTES AT EVERY STATION
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>During these long and weary days we
+were obliged to get what diversion we
+could from our fellow-passengers. We
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span>
+watched the mother who combed her
+offspring’s head with a carving-knife,
+with which she made vigorous onslaught
+on the numerous inhabitants that had
+taken shelter there, while we shuddered
+as we thought of the coming night in
+close proximity. We were interested in
+the other mother who did her daily washing
+in a pint cup and hung it out to dry
+on the upper bunk. We were fascinated
+by the soldiers who performed their
+morning ablutions by taking a large
+mouthful of water from a teapot, then,
+squirting it on their hands, vigorously
+washed their faces.</p>
+
+<p>We never get away from the prisoners
+in Siberia, and two cars, immediately in
+front of ours, were filled with these poor
+wretches. Before these cars, at every
+station, marched four soldiers with set
+bayonets. The heads of the prisoners,
+shaved on one side only, would have betrayed
+them even had they escaped for
+a little.</p>
+
+<p>At the stations women and girls with
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span>
+milk and eggs were eagerly patronized
+by us all, for we were desperately thirsty,
+and water that we dared to drink was
+scarce. At some stations we saw the
+aborigines of the country, the Buriats,
+of whom two hundred thousand remain
+in the province. They are a Mongol
+race, and their black hair and slant eyes
+contrast with the blue eyes and tow
+heads of the Siberians, bleached as they
+were still further by the sun.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the Buriats are won to Christianity,
+but most of them are rank heathen
+still. They are a nomadic race, and do
+not take kindly even to the limited civilization
+of Siberia.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1421_ill" style="max-width: 124.8125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1421_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    PRISON CAR IN SIBERIA. FAMILIES OF PRISONERS AT THE WINDOWS
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>I must record that, in the midst of the
+filth and discomfort and unutterable
+odors of this hard journey, we met with
+many courtesies and kindnesses from
+the most unpromising of our fellow-travellers.
+Some of the peasants were
+ladies and gentlemen at heart, who would
+incommode themselves to promote our
+comfort, and were never too preoccupied
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span>
+to lend a helping hand, or to supplement
+our exceedingly limited Russian. We
+discovered a “fourth-class guardian angel,”
+who took us under his special protection,
+and was never weary of offering
+little kindnesses. He even wished to
+share with us his black bread and some
+curds, which we found it difficult to refuse
+without hurting his feelings.</p>
+
+<p>None of the occupants of our car were
+intemperate or noisy, and, in genuine
+politeness of heart, these Russian serfs
+of a few years back could have given
+many points to the two selfish, unmannerly,
+foul-mouthed Frenchmen of the
+party, who represent the nation erroneously
+supposed to have a superfluous supply
+of politeness and good manners.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="XII">
+    XII
+    <br>
+    <span class='allsmcap'>THE HOLY SEA</span>
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>On the fifth day after leaving Stretinsk
+we were aroused at two o’clock in the
+morning, just as the faint dawn
+began to streak the east, by a guard
+going through the train and crying out:
+“Misovaia, all change.” Eagerly we
+rubbed our sleepy eyes open, for now we
+had reached Lake Baikal, and we fondly
+hoped that the most trying part of our
+journey was over. But again we were
+doomed to disappointment, for we waited
+and waited and waited, and still there was
+no sign of departure to the other side of
+the lake. The sun rose, ascended high
+in the heavens, reached the zenith, and
+began to decline, and still we sat about
+miserably upon our baggage, not daring
+to go far lest at any moment the “ice-breaker”
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span>
+from the other side of the lake
+might come to transfer us across.</p>
+
+<p>The station-master was eagerly importuned,
+but knew nothing. No official
+had the slightest information. Our Russian
+fellow-travellers only shrugged their
+shoulders when asked when we should
+start. At length patience ceased to be a
+virtue, and a telegram was prepared for
+the governor of Irkutsk, asking why a
+trainload of inoffensive passengers of all
+nationalities were kept in anxious suspense
+for so many hours at a miserable
+little station which had been eaten bare of
+provisions long ago.</p>
+
+<p>Just as this telegram was about to go
+came word that the “ice-breaker” on the
+other side was waiting for the minister
+of justice, and that when he got ready
+to start the boat would come. This
+proved to be the case, and at last, fourteen
+hours after we had reached Misovaia, the
+great steamer which should carry us
+across was seen approaching. Then it
+took hours more to unload and reload her,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span>
+and finally, in the middle of the night,
+twenty-two hours after we should have
+started, we got under way for the other
+side of the lake.</p>
+
+<p>I dwell for a moment on this irritating
+experience, for it represents one phase of
+Russian life which is very foreign to life
+in free, constitutional countries. For
+twenty-two hours three hundred people
+were made to wait upon the convenience
+of one official. Hungry passengers were
+allowed to half starve; sick and crying
+babies, who had with difficulty survived
+a week of hard journeying amid unnamable
+privations; weary mothers,
+trying to comfort the babies; business
+and professional men with important
+engagements to keep, and whose connections
+with other roads were seriously
+imperilled by this delay, all must wait
+and suffer while this one official finished
+his morning nap, or ate an elaborate
+dinner, or otherwise made himself ready
+to start for the other side of Lake Baikal.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1461_ill" style="max-width: 125.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1461_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    THE ELEPHANT’S NOSE, LAKE BAIKAL
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Had this happened in any free country,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span>
+such a howl would have arisen as would
+have insured the decapitation of this
+minister of justice (minister of justice
+indeed! minister of injustice rather) at the
+first possible election.</p>
+
+<p>How the <cite>New York Tribune</cite> or the
+<cite>London Times</cite> would have blazed with
+indignant protests had such an affair
+taken place in America or Great Britain!
+But in Siberia such an event is quite a
+matter of course. We were still more
+surprised by the utter indifference and
+nonchalance of our Russian fellow-passengers.
+There was nothing to be said
+and nothing to be done. “Whatever is,
+is right,” especially if it is done by one
+high in authority, seemed to be their
+motto.</p>
+
+<p>The contrast between the foreign passengers
+and the Russians during this
+exasperating delay was marked and amusing.
+The former champed at the bit, and
+fretted and fumed and (it is feared) swore
+in their different tongues. They would
+gather together in little groups and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span>
+discuss the situation. They haunted the
+telegraph office. They interviewed every
+promising official. They tried to get
+another steamer. They exhausted every
+possibility of progress.</p>
+
+<p>The Russians placidly sipped their
+tumblers of tea, gathered about the steaming
+samovar, quietly curled up on their
+luggage, and went to sleep as though they
+had not an irritating care in the world.
+Why should they fret? The official had
+all power. They had no appeal. No
+protest was open to them. No <cite>Times</cite>
+would thunder in St. Petersburg. No
+<cite>Tribune</cite> would voice their complaints in
+Moscow. “Let it go; life is too short
+to wear it out with such worries,” seemed
+to be their mental attitude.</p>
+
+<p>The irritations of those hours of waiting,
+however, could not destroy the beauty of
+the placid lake, the Holy Sea (Bai-Kal),
+on whose shores we were waiting.</p>
+
+<p>Baikal is one of the great lakes of the
+world. It covers thirteen thousand five
+hundred square miles of surface. Only
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span>
+Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron,
+of our own great lakes, surpass it in size.
+It is half as large again as Lake Erie,
+and twice as large as Lake Ontario,
+and being long and narrow, and surrounded
+by high, precipitous hills, is more
+picturesque than any of them. Its waters
+are crystal clear, and, at a depth of forty
+feet, every pebble upon the bottom can
+be seen. Drop a stone into its clear
+waters from the steamer’s deck, and you
+can see it fluttering and zigzagging its
+way down as a feather falls through the
+air. The water is as cold, too, as it is
+clear, as a delicious bath that I took
+testified. Even on the last days of June
+the water cannot be far above the freezing
+point.</p>
+
+<p>The peasants who live on the shores of
+the lake regard it with almost superstitious
+reverence and love. There is in
+their estimation no lake in all the world
+like the Baikal. Its rock-bound shores,
+its wooded steeps, green with larch, and
+fir, and pine, and birch; its limestone and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span>
+marbles glistening in the sun; its shores
+strewn with bright pebbles, washed smooth
+and round by countless centuries of the
+lapping waves, all combine to make the
+Baikal worthy of the love and reverence
+with which the true Siberian regards it.</p>
+
+<p>We found it in a peaceful mood, but it
+is not always so by any means. “No
+man has ever said his prayers until he
+has ventured on Lake Baikal,” is a common
+saying of the peasants on the shore.
+Lying, as it does, in a comparatively
+narrow valley, between the mountain
+ranges, the terrible gales which have
+their homes between the mountain peaks
+are often let loose with but scant warning.
+Then woe betide the little fisherman’s
+craft that is caught far from shore, and
+even the passengers on the stout steamer
+may well tremble.</p>
+
+<p>To unite the two shores with a strong,
+substantial ferry-boat which can run
+throughout the winter months, the railway
+has had constructed in England and
+brought out piecemeal the huge “ice-breaker,”
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span>
+so called. Several of the parts
+of this great craft were lost, strayed, or
+stolen on the way, and infinite difficulty
+was experienced in putting it together
+again when it reached the lake. Even
+now some tell me that it is no great success
+as an ice-breaker.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1501_ill" style="max-width: 125.375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1501_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    THE ICE-BREAKER ON LAKE BAIKAL
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>On a fine day, with a smooth sea, nothing
+could be more delightful than a little
+journey on the great ships. Into the
+hold of the steamer runs the whole train
+without unloading; or, rather, that is to
+be the way when the railway is in running
+order. Three parallel tracks throughout
+the entire length of the boat afford ample
+room for the longest trains. Above are
+elegant accommodations for first-class
+passengers, while the steerage people dispose
+of themselves in the hold as best they
+can.</p>
+
+<p>Four great stacks belch out smoke
+and cinders, and the engines are of the
+most powerful pattern. A half acre of
+deck room over all gives the passenger
+unrivalled opportunities of viewing the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span>
+magnificent lake, whose southern end he
+is about to traverse.</p>
+
+<p>A fine breakwater of wooden piles,
+nearly half a mile long, provides a safe
+little harbor on the eastern side of the
+lake, while another, not quite so large,
+affords a refuge from the winds on the
+other side. Between these harbors the
+ice-breaker plies back and forth, making
+the distance of about fifty miles in four
+hours.</p>
+
+<p>As we approach the western shore, the
+scenery grows more lovely than on the
+eastern side. The crystal lake, fifty
+feet deep at the shore, dashes in places
+against precipitous cliffs; the banks are
+clad in freshest grass, dotted with poppies
+and lilies and blue honeysuckles, while
+a little village nestles in a cove beneath a
+frowning cliff. Rarely have I seen in
+all my travels a scene more lovely than
+is presented as the ice-breaker makes
+her way cautiously into the little artificial
+harbor of Listvinitschnoie, at the
+southwestern end of the Holy Sea.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span></p>
+
+<p>In the early morning we could see, as we
+thought, the seals disporting themselves
+in the icy waters, for it is a singular fact
+that in Lake Baikal alone, of all the fresh-water
+lakes in the world, are seals found.
+It is thought by some that in prehistoric
+times they made their way up the River
+Yenisei, that flows from the lake into the
+Arctic Ocean, two thousand miles away.
+At any rate, they have made themselves
+very much at home in the Baikal, and
+have increased and multiplied and replenished
+the lake.</p>
+
+<p>The determination of the Russian
+government to have through steam communication
+between the oceans is shown
+by the fact that while such sums have
+been spent for an ice-breaker and for
+harbors to make the link across the Baikal
+possible, the railway is also being pushed
+around the southern end of the lake, only
+a short distance away. Both of these
+routes will be needed, I understand, to
+facilitate the mobilization of her armies—the
+supreme object which Russia has in
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span>
+mind in the construction of this great
+iron road.</p>
+
+<p>At the village of Listvinitschnoie, on
+the western side of the lake, we had another
+exasperating delay of eight hours,
+while passengers and baggage were being
+transferred to the other train, a transfer
+which would have been made in America
+in half an hour. For half a day we sat
+about on our baggage in the broiling
+sun, surrounded by filthy Moujiks, while
+the leisurely engines puffed back and
+forth, and the still more leisurely porters
+loaded the train. At length all was ready,
+and we steamed in a leisurely fashion to
+Irkutsk, the great city of Central Siberia.</p>
+
+<p>Here we arrived after being six days,
+within a few hours, on the road since
+leaving Stretinsk. In those six days
+we had travelled less than eight hundred
+miles, and less than six miles an hour,
+including the stops. We had endured
+many discomforts, some of them entirely
+unnecessary had a little system and
+forethought been used. Even in the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span>
+present incomplete state of the equipment
+of the road the journey ought to be
+made in two days, and decent cars might
+be provided for decent people.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1541_ill" style="max-width: 125.5625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1541_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    THE SHORES OF LAKE BAIKAL
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>I must say that this experience somewhat
+weakened my faith in the boasted
+energy and enterprise of Russian railway
+construction. How a road that is
+so slow and halting in peace can be great
+in war, I do not see. How a line that
+cannot carry a few hundred passengers
+and their luggage without interminable
+delays can be used to mobilize a hundred
+thousand soldiers at short notice is difficult
+to comprehend. It is fortunate for
+Russia that she has a slow, stupid opponent
+on the other side of the world to
+contend with, an opponent that not only
+has no slow railroads, but no railroads
+at all, of her own.</p>
+
+<p>As it is, the Trans-Baikal railway,
+poor as it is, will undoubtedly prove
+a very important instrument in forcing
+beneficent Russian fetters upon poor,
+decrepit, worn-out China.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="XIII">
+    XIII
+    <br>
+    <span class='allsmcap'>A SIBERIAN CITY OF CHURCHES</span>
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>As the feeble and halting train that
+brought us from Lake Baikal, following
+the meanderings of the swift
+Angara River, drew near to Irkutsk, the
+capital of Central Siberia, we received the
+impression of a small city dominated
+by a score of great churches. And this
+impression was not dissipated when we
+crossed the Angara on the bridge of boats
+that links the city with the railway on
+the other side and found ourselves within
+the city precincts.</p>
+
+<p>You cannot look up without seeing a
+beautiful dome or spire. In the waters
+of the Angara the great cathedral is
+reflected, flanked by two other churches
+which in any other city of its size would
+be considered marvels. The principal
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span>
+street of the city seems to lead up to and
+terminate in another lofty and imposing
+church, while every section of the town
+has its own ecclesiastical buildings of
+lesser magnitude. Brooklyn must look
+out for its laurels as the City of Churches
+when it comes in competition with Irkutsk.</p>
+
+<p>The interior of the churches is quite
+equal to their exterior, and they blaze
+with sacred pictures and icons, framed
+and matted in gold, so that the chief impression
+one gets is of walls of solid gold,
+chased and fretted and highly ornamented,
+with the face of Christ or the Virgin
+or some Oriental saint peering out between
+the shining plates.</p>
+
+<p>The Russians are evidently an extremely
+devout and religious people. This
+is evidenced by their churches, which are
+always, both metaphorically and literally,
+higher than the chimneys of their factories.
+In the small towns along the line of the
+railway the church is always the one
+conspicuous object. The village may be,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span>
+it probably is, built entirely of logs,
+without a single frame or brick house
+within its border. But the church, with
+its glittering dome and blue and green
+towers, always lifts its Greek cross skyward,
+and reminds the poor Moujiks that
+there is another world above the flat
+plains of Siberia.</p>
+
+<p>The unabashed devoutness of the
+peasants tells the same story as their
+churches. Our fellow-travellers in the
+fourth-class cars from Stretinsk never
+omitted their morning devotions, their
+ablutions being an entirely secondary
+matter. The poorest boatman would always
+cross himself and bless his crust
+of black bread before he ate it. The
+soldiers with whom we journeyed for
+hundreds of versts, undismayed by the
+presence of their comrades, would every
+morning face the rising sun, and though
+they could secure no possible privacy,
+would, with genuine devoutness, pray for
+ten minutes at a time, standing bare-headed
+and reverential in the crowded
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span>
+railway car in which they were travelling.
+Such genuine devotion speaks well for the
+church which fosters it, and for the country
+that is peopled and defended by faithful
+devotees, for no nation without a religion
+which took strong hold of the hearts
+of the common people ever greatly influenced
+the destinies of the world.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1581_ill" style="max-width: 124.9375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1581_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    BURIATS FROM LAKE BAIKAL, WITH SEAL FROM THE LAKE
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Distance lends considerable enchantment
+to Irkutsk, and nearer approach
+does not bear out the remoter promise
+of its beautiful churches. The streets
+are poorly paved and extremely dusty,
+and the wooden sidewalks are frequently
+man-traps for the unwary passenger.
+Still it is no mean city to be found in
+the heart of Siberia, three thousand five
+hundred miles from the nearest European
+capital.</p>
+
+<p>Irkutsk has had time enough to grow,
+for it was founded thirty years after
+the <i>Mayflower</i> sailed into Plymouth harbor,
+and is about ready to celebrate its
+quarter millennial. Founded originally
+as a military post to withstand the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span>
+attacks of wandering Tartars, its naturally
+advantageous situation has made
+it the metropolis of Siberia. It is now
+the seat of government of the province of
+Eastern Siberia, and contains something
+over fifty thousand inhabitants. It contains
+twenty-five Greek churches, substantial
+Catholic and Lutheran churches,
+and two synagogues. There are no less
+than forty schools, among which are seminaries
+for girls, military and technical
+schools of various kinds, so that the
+young idea of Irkutsk has no excuse for
+not learning how to shoot.</p>
+
+<p>The city has lost something of its
+ancient importance since the region of
+the Amour has been erected into a separate
+province, independent of Irkutsk, and
+since the rise of Vladivostock as a point
+of departure on the Pacific for Odessa
+and America. Nevertheless, it will always
+be an important centre, owing to
+its situation near the head-waters of the
+Angara, which starts from Lake Baikal,
+forty miles away, and continues its
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span>
+majestic and ever-widening way for three
+thousand miles until, as the Yenisei,
+the fourth greatest river in the world, it
+empties into the Arctic Ocean. It is a
+centre for the shipment of gold, and in
+a single year no less than twenty-one
+thousand pounds weight avoirdupois of
+the precious metal passed through Irkutsk
+on its way to St. Petersburg.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1601_ill" style="max-width: 114.25em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1601_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    AN IRKUTSK DROSKY
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>It may make the geography of Siberia
+a little more plain if I here explain that
+Siberia, for governmental purposes, is
+divided into six provinces: First, starting
+from the Ural Mountains, Western
+Siberia, that borders on Europe, and in a
+rough way embraces the basin of the Obi.
+Next, Eastern Siberia, which stretches a
+thousand miles farther east and embraces
+the basin of the Yenisei and its tributaries.
+In this province Irkutsk is situated. Then
+comes the Trans-Baikal, the province that
+lies east of the beautiful lake of that name,
+and through which we made our slow and
+toilsome way as described in the last chapter.
+Then, east of that, the great province
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span>
+of the Amour, embracing the basin
+of the Amour and Ussuri. Last of all,
+bordering on the Pacific Ocean, and including
+the convict island of Saghalien,
+is the province called in Russian Primorskaia.
+The province of the Steppes lies
+south of Western Siberia, but with that
+our new way around the old world has
+nothing to do, for the railway barely
+grazes its edge, and does not fairly enter
+its territory. During the twenty-nine
+days of rail and river travel which I have
+already described, we had traversed in
+succession Primorskaia, Amourskaia, and
+Zabaikalskaia and had reached the eastern
+edge of Eastern Siberia.</p>
+
+<p>During these twenty-nine days we had
+travelled nearly twenty-seven hundred
+miles, and, between us and Moscow,
+there still lay more than thirty-three
+hundred miles to be traversed. But the
+peculiar hardships of the journey were
+nearly over, for a <i lang="fr">train de luxe</i> starts
+from Irkutsk for Moscow every Friday
+afternoon, and we were just in season to
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span>
+get our tickets, and secure our berths,
+and replenish our seedy wardrobes, and
+take passage on the most famous train
+in all the world, which, without a single
+change of cars, runs a distance considerably
+greater than from Boston to San
+Francisco.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1621_ill" style="max-width: 124.8125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1621_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    GENERAL VIEW OF IRKUTSK
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>We were happy enough to board this
+train, as can be imagined, after the bare
+boards and filth of the uncertain train
+which had carried us from Stretinsk, and
+were in a fit frame of mind to enjoy its
+luxuries and to overlook its defects.
+Nor were we sorry to leave Irkutsk, for
+though it is a remarkable place to be
+found so far from the confines of civilization,
+yet it has few attractions to long
+beguile the traveller; and the stifling
+dust of the streets, which never seem to
+be watered, obscure the attractions it
+does possess.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly before our arrival news had
+come of the serious disturbances in
+China, and troops were being enrolled
+and equipped and hurried to the eastern
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span>
+coast in feverish haste. The whole
+square in front of the Hôtel de Russie
+was filled with peasants in their red
+blouses and top-boots, each with his tea-kettle
+and little bag of poor belongings.
+These peasants were to be shipped off
+that day as food for Chinese powder, if
+so be the Celestials have any powder
+left by the time these Moujiks reach
+Blagavestchensk or, later, Port Arthur.
+The whole city was full of rumors of
+war, and, though we could not read the
+Russian papers, or know the extent of
+the trouble, the air seemed vibrant with
+battle.</p>
+
+<p>We were told that the train we had
+taken over the Trans-Baikal road would
+be the last passenger train that would
+be allowed to go through for six weeks.
+How we blessed our fortunate stars that
+we were not stranded in Stretinsk for
+six times seven days! We were told
+also that between Omsk and Irkutsk
+were twelve trains loaded with soldiers,
+bound for Manchuria, and that no private
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span>
+telegram to Vladivostock could be delivered
+within a week, so hot were the
+wires with government despatches.</p>
+
+<p>Some of these reports were true and
+some were exaggerated, but evidently
+China’s last days had come, we thought,
+as we boarded the <i lang="fr">train de luxe</i>, and
+Russia intends to be in at the death.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="XIV">
+    XIV
+    <br>
+    <span class='allsmcap'>A SIBERIAN <i lang="fr">TRAIN DE LUXE</i></span>
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>The Paris Exposition has made famous
+the Siberian <i lang="fr">train de luxe</i>, with
+its moving panorama, its terminal
+stations at St. Petersburg and Peking,
+and its dinners at seven francs per head.
+The newspaper correspondent, too, who
+has seen it only in his mind’s eye, as
+he sat at his own cosey fireside rehashing
+second-hand descriptions of its magnificence,
+has done his share to advertise
+it, until the wondering world has an idea
+that it is a veritable Waldorf-Astoria
+on wheels, before which all Empire State
+expresses on the American continent
+must hide their diminished heads. We
+read of library-cars and bath-cars, gymnasium-cars
+where one can make a century
+run on a stationary bicycle, elegant
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span>
+dinners, barber-shops where passengers
+receive a free shave every morning,
+pianos, and other luxuries too numerous
+to mention.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1661_ill" style="max-width: 125.375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1661_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    ONE OF THE BEAUTIFUL CHURCHES OF IRKUTSK
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>As a matter of fact, the Siberian <i lang="fr">train
+de luxe</i>, at least as it started from Irkutsk
+on the 29th day of June, in the year of
+our Lord 1900, was a rather shabby vestibuled
+train of three sleepers, a diner, and
+a baggage-car. It was luxurious, indeed,
+compared with the fourth-class emigrant
+train on which we had been journeying,
+but it is still many degrees behind the
+best American trains. It should be remarked,
+however, that the best cars had
+been sent to Paris for the Exposition, and
+it is doubtless true that the train we took
+is somewhat below the average of the
+Siberian <i lang="fr">trains de luxe</i>. It is well worth
+describing, however, as an important link
+in the great chain that connects the
+Atlantic and the Pacific in this new way
+around the world.</p>
+
+<p>First, and very naturally, comes the
+engine of Russian make, with a great
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span>
+flaring smoke-stack for burning wood.
+Next to it is the baggage-car with one
+end fitted with a bath-tub, where dusty
+travellers can enjoy a refreshing bath on
+payment of a rouble and a half (seventy-five
+cents), a very high price to be sure
+compared with the rate charged for transportation;
+but then the scarcest and
+dearest thing throughout Siberia we
+found to be cold water, either for drinking
+or bathing purposes.</p>
+
+<p>Following the baggage-car was the
+dining-car, which was also divided into
+two sections, half being occupied with
+small tables that seat two and four each,
+and the other half fitted with easy-chairs
+for the smokers and provided with ample
+windows for observation. In the smoking-room
+was a small library of, perhaps,
+fifty books in the Russian, French, and
+German languages, but nothing in
+English, except two or three discarded
+fifth-rate novels in paper covers, evidently
+contributed by previous travellers.</p>
+
+<p>In the dining-car, two <i lang="fr">table d’hôte</i>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span>
+meals were provided: a lunch of two
+courses at one o’clock, which cost one
+rouble, and a dinner at six of four courses,
+for a rouble and a quarter. At other
+times of day passengers could order
+what they pleased <i lang="fr">à la carte</i> from a
+limited bill of fare.</p>
+
+<p>Behind the dining-car came a second-class
+sleeping-car, then a first-class
+sleeper, and, last of all, another second-class
+sleeper.</p>
+
+<p>These cars are all divided into compartments,
+or little staterooms, holding
+two or four people each, with a window,
+a table, and a wide and very comfortable
+berth for each person. The cars are
+all handsomely carpeted and upholstered
+in blue plush, covered, for the sake of
+protection, with red-striped denim. In
+each stateroom were convenient racks
+and hooks for the disposal of clothes and
+baggage, and in every way one could
+make himself as comfortable and have
+almost as much room as in an ocean
+steamer’s cabin.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span></p>
+
+<p>For two friends travelling together,
+or for a small family of three, as in my
+own case, this arrangement is far superior
+to America’s more promiscuous and public
+Pullman sleeping-car. For individuals
+travelling alone, the Pullman plan has
+some decided advantages, if one does not
+care to be cooped up in narrow quarters
+for eight or nine days with any chance
+stranger who may be assigned to the
+same stateroom. The Pullman cars, too,
+economize space, for while from forty to
+forty-eight people can sleep in a Pullman
+car when crowded, only eighteen can find
+“lying-down room,” in a Siberian sleeper.</p>
+
+<p>One curiosity of this particular <i lang="fr">train
+de luxe</i> was that the first and second
+class cars were precisely alike in every
+particular. In amount of room, fittings,
+upholstery, and comforts of every description,
+there was not the slightest difference
+between the three sleeping-cars
+that composed our train, while the difference
+of price was nearly forty roubles in
+favor of the second-class. One would
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span>
+think that, these being the facts, the second-class
+cars would be overcrowded and
+the first-class would be empty. Such was
+not the case on this train at least, for I
+found every cabin in the first-class taken,
+and was able to get a large four-berth
+stateroom in one of the second-class cars
+for little more than I would pay for two
+berths in the first-class car.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1701_ill" style="max-width: 115.1875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1701_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    A PART OF OUR <i lang="fr">TRAIN DE LUXE</i>
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>At the most, the fares in Siberia are remarkably
+cheap. For the whole stateroom
+I paid less than one hundred and
+twenty dollars from Irkutsk to Moscow, a
+distance of three thousand three hundred
+and fifty miles; this included four fares
+and the supplementary price of the <i lang="fr">train
+de luxe</i>. For the same accommodations in
+a Pullman car across the American continent
+(a shorter distance) I should have
+paid at least five hundred dollars. The
+full first-class fare in the <i lang="fr">train de luxe</i> is
+about fifty dollars, while the second-class
+fares are less than thirty dollars. By the
+ordinary trains a considerable saving is
+effected over these very cheap rates.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span></p>
+
+<p>Each car has its porter, who can usually
+speak German or French in addition to
+Russian, but the specimens that we saw
+were very lazy and inefficient fellows compared
+with the deft and obliging “George”
+who attends to one’s wants in a Pullman
+car. Our porters on the <i lang="fr">train de luxe</i>
+never thought of sweeping or dusting
+the staterooms, and seemed to think it
+an imposition to be asked to thoroughly
+make up the berths for day travel, preferring
+to leave the beds made up by day
+that they might have less trouble at night.
+All day long the lazy porters would loll
+about on their seats in the middle of the
+car, doing as little as possible, and apparently
+begrudging that little. Twice a
+week the bed linen is changed. Ample
+washrooms, with a single roller towel,
+for all guests who do not furnish their
+own, complete the equipment of the Siberian
+sleeper.</p>
+
+<p>My excuse for this somewhat minute
+description of these accommodations is
+that it will be welcomed by future travellers
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span>
+who have to spend at least eight
+and one-half days in their little room on
+wheels.</p>
+
+<p>It must not be thought that for all its
+name and fame the “Siberian Special”
+is a lightning express. In speed it would
+be outstripped, during all the early part
+of the journey, by any “huckleberry
+train” in America. Fourteen miles an
+hour, including stops, was all it pretended
+to make during the first five days from
+Irkutsk. The road-bed is new, the rails
+are light, and as a consequence the train
+plods along at a pace which an able-bodied
+cowboy on his bronco would outstrip.
+In fact I saw, one evening, a race between
+our famous train and a Siberian “cow-puncher,”
+in which, for two miles or more,
+the horseman more than held his own.
+Then he pulled up with a careless wave
+of his hat, as though he did not consider
+it worth while to race any longer with so
+slow a rival.</p>
+
+<p>The stops at the stations, too, seem
+most unnecessarily protracted for such a
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span>
+train, which might be supposed to have
+the right of way. Never less than ten
+minutes, and more often fifteen or twenty,
+our patient locomotive would stand panting
+at every little platform in the wilds
+before the station-master would ring his
+welcome bell, to tell it that it might shriek
+its farewell and proceed on its way.</p>
+
+<p>For a number of miles after leaving Irkutsk,
+the railway follows the windings
+of the swift-flowing Angara, and then,
+leaving the river, strikes off across the
+interminable wooded prairies that line so
+much of the track to Moscow. The weather
+was exceedingly hot during the first
+four or five days of the journey, the thermometers
+in the cars frequently registering
+over ninety degrees Fahrenheit. If
+one takes the Siberian route to avoid the
+heat of the Red Sea in summer, he will not
+gain much, though, to be sure, the cool
+nights make the Siberian journey more
+tolerable. Moreover, the heat, much of
+the time, was of the damp, “muggy” variety
+so trying to bear.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1741_ill" style="max-width: 125.375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1741_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    A VIEW ON THE ANGARA, NEAR IRKUTSK
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span></p>
+
+<p>A plague of flies, which would have
+made even Pharaoh quail, added much to
+the minor discomforts of the trip, though
+they did not afflict the passengers within
+the cars as sorely as when they ventured
+out upon the platform. Here they were,
+indeed, intolerable, and set every pair of
+hands revolving about a tormented head
+like a windmill in a gale. The most obnoxious
+insect was a little black gnat,
+much like the midge of the Adirondacks,
+which in clouds filled the air, and filled as
+well eyes, and nose, and ears of any venturesome
+traveller that left the comparative
+refuge of his car. The natives have
+learned to protect themselves against these
+pests by wearing veils of black mosquito
+netting day and night. For fully
+fifteen hundred miles almost every man,
+woman, and child we met was thus protected,
+and it gave a peculiarly solemn
+and lugubrious aspect to the little villages
+and stations to see every one peering at
+you through a mask of black netting. In
+this funereal attire every Siberian looked
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span>
+as though he had lost every friend in the
+world, or was about to attend his own obsequies.
+Trainmen working on the track,
+flagmen signalling the engineer, women
+with bottles of milk and loaves of bread,
+station-masters in bright official uniforms,
+little tow-headed children with bare feet,
+all had gone into mourning because of the
+midges.</p>
+
+<p>At every station were country hucksters
+at a little stand, ready to sell the few
+products of the farms to the hungry travellers.
+They did not do much business,
+naturally, with the passengers of the <i lang="fr">train
+de luxe</i>, who had their own dining-car,
+but with the regular trains or the frequent
+special emigrant or military trains they
+had a rushing trade. As we approached
+the European frontier, prices of these country
+comestibles fell, and boiled eggs were
+to be bought for half a cent each, and a
+very considerable loaf of bread for two
+cents and a half, while milk, fried fish,
+chunks of roast meat, and kvass, or Russian
+pop-beer, were proportionately cheap.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp44" id="p1761_ill" style="max-width: 75.875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1761_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    A TRAINMAN WHO HAS TAKEN THE VEIL
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span></p>
+
+<p>At almost every siding we passed a long
+train laden with emigrants or soldiers on
+their way to China, for the Siberian reserves
+had been called out. The latter
+were stalwart, rough, honest-looking fellows,
+who evidently had left their little
+farms at a moment’s notice to serve their
+country. They seemed to possess no uniforms
+or equipments, though, to be sure,
+these may have been stored in the close
+box-cars that accompanied each train.
+They wore their peasants’ red blouses
+and loose breeches. Many of them were
+barefooted, and some of them were hatless
+and ragged, but, before they meet the Chinese,
+these raw recruits will doubtless be
+licked into shape by the drill-masters, uniformed
+and armed, and made into very
+presentable soldiers. They certainly have
+the requisite brawn, if not the brain. I
+was surprised to see that there seemed to
+be few young men among them, scarcely
+any under thirty, while most looked to be
+over forty.</p>
+
+<p>The emigrants were weighted with more
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span><i lang="la">impedimenta</i> than the soldiers, but even
+their household belongings were pitifully
+scant. Every day we passed half a dozen
+long trainloads of men, women, and children
+on their way to the new Eldorado
+on the banks of the Amour. Most of them
+were too poor to afford even the hard comfort
+of a third or fourth class car, and they
+were pigged in together in ordinary box
+freight-cars, which were marked on the
+outside to carry “twelve horses or twenty-four
+men.” Still they did not seem discontented,
+much less hopeless, but at
+every little station jumped from their stifling
+boxes and raced for the hot-water
+tank, which a paternal government always
+kept steaming, free of charge. Here
+they filled their tin pails and made their
+inevitable “chi” (tea), on which, supplemented
+by liberal portions of black bread,
+they chiefly subsist.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes we indulged in the luxury
+of giving the little emigrating urchins,
+bound for a far-off land, a few kopeks,
+when the gratitude of the parents was
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span>
+touching to see. Rushing from the car,
+they would sometimes seize our hands
+and kiss them in the courtly old Russian
+style, as though we had bestowed a
+king’s ransom on their offspring, and
+then as the trains parted, going east and
+west, would tumble back into their fifth-class
+boxes, while we would return to
+our compartments feeling as we reached
+them that he would be a thankless man
+indeed who, with such contrasts in view,
+should ever grumble again at the minor
+discomforts of a <i lang="fr">train de luxe</i>.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1781_ill" style="max-width: 125.8125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1781_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    SIBERIAN RAILWAY NEAR THE ASIATIC BORDER
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="XV">
+    XV
+    <br>
+    <span class='allsmcap'>OUT OF ASIA INTO EUROPE</span>
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>The long journey in the <i lang="fr">train de
+luxe</i> from Irkutsk to St. Petersburg,
+especially the Siberian part of the
+journey, does not afford a great variety
+of scenery or incident. But, if somewhat
+monotonous, it is a pleasing and
+gentle monotony. There is not a mile
+of desert land in all the five thousand
+versts between Lake Baikal and the
+Atlantic, or, for that matter, between
+the Pacific and the Atlantic, by the way
+we have travelled.</p>
+
+<p>There are no long stretches of sagebrush
+plain, such as Wyoming, Utah,
+and Nevada afford; no “bad lands,”
+such as are found in the Dakotas; no
+interminable stretches of wearisome, treeless
+prairies, such as the Canadian Pacific
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span>
+traverses in Manitoba and Assiniboia.
+There are occasional wide reaches of
+prairie or meadow land, but trees are
+always in sight, and for the most part
+the road passes through a heavily wooded
+country. Birches abound everywhere,
+with their graceful white boles, and there
+are many forests of pine and poplar.
+The trees in the vicinity of the railway
+are not large, the “monarchs of the forest,”
+if there ever were any, having been cut
+off at the advent of the railway.</p>
+
+<p>The piles of cut wood by the railroad
+track impress the traveller with the
+boundlessness of the forests. Millions
+of cords of clean cut birch and pine, with
+scarcely a knot or a blemish, stand in neat
+piles waiting the insatiable engine.</p>
+
+<p>Everywhere the land seems fertile,
+and, though but an infinitesimal part
+of it is cultivated, it would all reward the
+husbandman. Great flocks of sleek
+cattle roam over these natural pastures,
+but there is room for a hundred flocks
+where one roams to-day. And all this
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span>
+vast domain has been waiting for settlers
+at Europe’s back door during all the
+centuries. Only now is the door fairly
+open, and the new settlers are pouring
+through. America, meanwhile, has been
+discovered, opened, and occupied; Australia
+has been discovered and great
+cities built upon its seaboard; the tropics
+and the poles have been explored; and
+all the time a great fertile domain, vaster
+than all Europe, and separated from
+Europe’s swarming, overcrowded millions
+by no barrier of sea, and but a low mountain
+range, has been waiting, almost
+tenantless, for a people. But now Siberia
+has been discovered—discovered by the
+settler and the home-maker, as well as
+by the politician and the autocrat who
+desires a Botany Bay for his convicts—and
+a new and virgin empire that can
+afford asylum for the surplus population
+of two continents has been added to the
+world’s productive domains. Undoubtedly
+this enormous and almost untrodden
+empire gives Russia a great advantage
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span>
+among the nations of the world. Here
+is a vast new continent contiguous and
+near to ancient Russia, a domain which
+cannot be seriously threatened by any
+enemy, a domain which in the decrepit
+state of China requires no fleets or armies
+to protect. At length Russia has awakened
+to a sense of its value, and is pouring
+into it by the ten thousand every
+month the peaceful settlers who will
+make her possession secure.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1821_ill" style="max-width: 124.8125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1821_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    ZLATOOST, A BORDER TOWN BETWEEN EUROPE AND ASIA
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Between Irkutsk and Moscow the railway
+passes through a few large towns of
+considerable importance. Chief of these
+are Crasnoiarsk, about seven hundred
+miles from Irkutsk; Taiga, some three
+hundred miles still nearer Europe; Omsk,
+about five hundred miles further west;
+and Tschelabinsk, which lies near the
+edge of Europe, two thousand miles from
+our starting point at Irkutsk.</p>
+
+<p>These places will be but names to most
+of my readers, and they will not be much
+the wiser if I tell them such facts as that
+Omsk has forty thousand inhabitants and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span>
+Tschelabinsk has fifteen thousand. All
+these towns, and many smaller ones that
+I might mention, are places of no little importance
+in the districts of which they are
+the centres, but they do not as yet cut
+much of a figure on the world’s maps.
+They all have the characteristics of frontier
+towns, are built largely of logs, but
+boast from one to twenty beautiful
+churches, which always strike the eye
+and give them a character and a beauty
+which they would sadly lack without the
+shining domes and brilliant crosses pointing
+heavenward.</p>
+
+<p>Omsk is the most important place on
+the line of the railway between Irkutsk
+and Moscow, and is the residence of the
+governor-general of the province of the
+Steppes, and of a Greek Church archbishop.</p>
+
+<p>Tomsk is a larger and more important
+place still, but is not directly on the
+Trans-Siberian route, being connected by
+a branch line at Taiga.</p>
+
+<p>The road crosses many large rivers during
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span>
+these two thousand miles before it
+reaches the European frontier, and the
+cost of the great iron bridges which span
+them must have been enormous. They
+seem to be built in the most substantial
+manner, with piers and buttresses of
+massive cut stone. These rivers belong
+to the great systems of the Yenisei and
+the Obi, which in their upper reaches
+branch off into many streams, each of
+which, in any other continent, would be
+a notable and famous stream. But Siberia
+is so rich in great rivers that even the
+names of these mighty tributaries are not
+of great interest to the reading public.
+When Siberia shall come to her own and
+take her place among the great populous
+nations of the earth, these rivers will add
+enormously to her wealth and commerce.</p>
+
+<p>On the evening of the fifth day from
+Irkutsk we went to bed in Asia, and woke
+up on the morning of the sixth day in
+Europe, and in the beautifully situated
+town of Zlatoost. We found ourselves
+also in the heart of the Urals, and the contrast
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span>
+with the flat plains of Siberia was
+most refreshing.</p>
+
+<p>Lovely spruce-clad mountains towered
+above us on every side; a rushing river,
+which the track follows for many miles,
+seemed to beckon us on with its smiling
+ripples that glinted and glowed in the
+morning sun. Great, open, park-like valleys
+and uplands lay between the mountains,
+dotted with trees and covered with
+the greenest of grass, studded with beautiful
+flowers of every hue. Altogether,
+for many miles, the scene was one of rare
+loveliness, and was worth travelling a
+thousand weary versts to see.</p>
+
+<p>The Russians call this region of the
+Urals the “Switzerland of Russia,” and
+though it lacks the grandeur of the snow-clad
+Alps, it has a beauty of its own which
+is exceedingly charming.</p>
+
+<p>All day long our road wound through
+these charming scenes, up hill and down
+dale, usually keeping a rushing, sparkling
+river in view, until, towards the close
+of the long day, the great town of Oofa,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span>
+with its beautiful churches and fine railway
+station, came in view. We had
+passed the barrier of the Urals, and the
+day of loveliest scenery in all the long
+journey had come to an end.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1861_ill" style="max-width: 124.6875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1861_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    IN THE URAL MOUNTAINS
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Our deliberate train mended its pace
+very considerably after getting into Europe,
+and, on the last three days of the
+journey, did almost as many versts as
+during the first five. The engineer actually
+seemed able to get by some small
+and insignificant stations without stopping,
+and where we did stop it was often
+for less than a full half-hour. We averaged
+fully twenty miles an hour after
+crossing the Urals, which seemed like
+lightning speed after our slow and toilsome
+way in Siberia.</p>
+
+<p>On the seventh day of our journey
+from Irkutsk, the Urals had faded into the
+distance, and the flat plains of European
+Russia were substituted for the flat plains
+of Asiatic Russia. The country on both
+sides of the mountains looks much the
+same, except that the European plains
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span>
+are better cultivated and less wooded.
+They have evidently known the plowshare
+for many a hundred years, and in
+early July were smiling with luxuriant
+crops of wheat, and barley, and rye.
+Greater Russia plainly is in no danger
+this year of a wide-spread famine.</p>
+
+<p>In some places hay-making had begun,
+and the great unfenced fields containing
+hundreds of acres were alive with haymakers
+in gay attire. The Russian
+farmers live together in villages, instead
+of in isolated farmhouses, as do our
+husbandmen, and the business of cutting
+and making a great communal hayfield
+was evidently an important matter
+that brought together all the men, women,
+and children of the village. Often forty
+hay-wagons, each with a span of horses
+and five times as many people, were
+assembled at the edge of a field. The
+mowers, in long rows, would then start
+for the other side of the great field, nearly
+a mile away, cutting a wide swath as
+they went, while fifty Russian Maud
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span>
+Mullers, in red and blue bodices, raked
+the meadows sweet with hay, which
+yesterday had been cut. They seemed
+merry and light-hearted about their task,
+and we could hear snatches of song and
+bursts of laughter, and many a bright
+bandanna was waved at the flying train.</p>
+
+<p>The small villages did not strike me,
+as I saw them from the train, as being
+superior to the Siberian towns. They are
+built largely of logs, or of mud and wattle,
+and have low-browed thatch roofs, often
+much out of repair. But every village,
+however small and shabby, has a beautiful
+church, which contrasts strangely
+with the one-story thatch-roof huts that
+gather around it, as if a brood of very diminutive
+chickens were clustering around
+a big brooding mother hen.</p>
+
+<p>The large towns which we passed,
+as we drew near to Moscow, were distinctly
+better built than in Siberia.
+Large blocks of brick and stone, wide
+streets, and a general air of thrift and
+prosperity seemed to pervade them.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span>
+Samara is a city nobly situated on the
+banks of the Volga, and has really a regal
+appearance on her crown of hills, with
+her great cathedral and noble churches
+dominating all.</p>
+
+<p>The railway crosses the Volga, a few
+miles after leaving Samara, by a splendid
+iron bridge, nearly a mile long. Even
+here, so far from its source, this greatest
+river of Europe is a majestic, swift-flowing
+stream, bearing upon its ample bosom
+great rafts from the pine forests near its
+source, and many great steamers, which
+carry passengers to the famous fair at
+Nijni-Novgorod, and other towns along
+its banks. Most, if not all of these
+steamers, use petroleum for fuel, brought
+from the great wells of Batoum, and
+huge tanks for the storage of oil begin
+to form conspicuous features of the landscape
+near every large town.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1901_ill" style="max-width: 126.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1901_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    THE KREMLIN IN WINTER
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Indeed, our own locomotive, instead
+of gorging itself with birchwood, as its
+predecessors which drew the <i lang="fr">train de luxe</i>
+had done, took long deep draughts of
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span>
+crude kerosene oil, which, it must be said,
+did not improve its breath. Some of the
+engines I noticed at this end of the line
+were Baldwin locomotives, a make which
+I had not seen since we had left Khabaroffsk,
+on the further side of far Siberia.</p>
+
+<p>On the eighth and last day of our journey
+on the “Siberian Special,” as our train
+was called in railroad nomenclature, we
+passed through the large and commanding
+town of Toula, a great railroad centre,
+and also famous for the splendor of
+its churches. The stations we passed on
+this day were finer than any we had yet
+seen, and were often embowered in trees
+until they looked like châteaus in lovely
+green parks. Peasant women stood on
+every platform with heaps of little wild
+strawberries, which they sold at a ridiculously
+cheap price, about two cents a quart.
+Others had the first red cherries of the season,
+and others yellow apples that had been
+kept in water for nearly a year, and that
+tasted as if baked. Other vendors of delicious,
+sparkling koumyss, milk, Russian
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span>
+kvass, and other more harmful beverages,
+also appeared upon the scene at
+many stations.</p>
+
+<p>The devout character of the Russians
+was shown by the fact that every third-class
+waiting-room had its shrine, with
+beautifully framed pictures of Christ and
+the Madonna and some of the Eastern
+saints. Before these icons often burned
+ceremonial candles, and smaller candles
+were to be had by devotees for two or three
+kopeks apiece. Rapt travellers, with uplifted
+eyes, were often to be seen crossing
+themselves before these icons.</p>
+
+<p>We still passed frequent trains of Siberian
+settlers, and others of brawny soldiers,
+“bearded like the pard,” and packed
+into their fifth and sixth-class cars like
+the proverbial sardines in their boxes. Occasionally
+a train of prisoners looked out
+through their iron gratings at us, seeming
+to cast a murky shadow on the pleasant
+landscape, as we thought of the dreary
+years of exile before them. We saw no
+political prisoners, however, and even the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span>
+criminals are allowed to take their wives
+and children with them. These latter often
+clung to the iron bars with their faces
+close against them, like so many infant
+Charlotte Cordays. It must be said that
+these prisoners, like others whom we had
+seen, fared a good deal better in their railway
+accommodations than the emigrants
+or the soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>More and more cultivated and attractive
+the beautiful country appeared as we approached
+Moscow, giving evidence in every
+smooth and fertile field of five hundred
+years of tillage, until at last, promptly on
+schedule time, 197 hours after leaving
+Irkutsk, the Siberian Special rolled into
+the beautiful station of sacred Moscow,
+and our long journey across all the Russias
+was practically finished. It is a matter
+of thirteen hours further to St. Petersburg,
+and two days more by the fastest
+train to London. Thence six or seven
+days more by one of the Atlantic liners to
+New York, and our journey by this new
+way around an old world was completed.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="SOME_FACTS_AND_FIGURES">
+    SOME FACTS AND FIGURES
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>As a multitude of friends and other correspondents
+have asked me to give full
+particulars concerning the time and cost
+of this journey, I will add a few lines to
+answer these natural inquiries.</p>
+
+<p>I was told by the most sanguine, before
+starting, that the journey from Vladivostock
+to Moscow could be made in
+twenty-two days. I do not think that it
+ever was, or can be, made in that length of
+time, until the Trans-Baikal Railway is
+greatly improved, and the Amour and
+Shilka have a channel dredged through
+their shallows; and that will be many a
+long day yet.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="p1941_ill" style="max-width: 73.375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1941_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    A SHRINE AT A RAILWAY STATION
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>As a matter of fact, the journey took
+us thirty-eight days, and, allowing for
+probable detentions by rail and river, it
+cannot often be made in less time. If it
+had not been for the kind personal interest
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span>
+of the governor of Vladivostock, we should
+have been much longer on the way than
+we were. I can well imagine that the
+trip might take three or four months instead
+of as many weeks. The exact time
+of the different divisions of our journey
+was as follows:</p>
+
+<table class="miles">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+</td>
+<th class="tdr">
+Days
+</th>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Vladivostock to Khabaroffsk (rail)
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1¼
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Khabaroffsk to Blagavestchensk (boat)
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+5½
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Waited for steamer at Blagavestchensk
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+2&emsp;
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Blagavestchensk to Stretinsk (boat)
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+12½
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Waited for train at Stretinsk
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1½
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Stretinsk to Irkutsk (rail)
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+6&emsp;
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Waited for train at Irkutsk
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+1&emsp;
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Irkutsk to Moscow (rail)
+</td>
+<td class="tdr bb">
+8½
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl pl12">
+Total
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+38¼
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>If we had found high water in the
+Amour, we might have saved three days
+on the river journey, and if the bridge on
+the Trans-Baikal road had not burned
+down so inopportunely, we might have
+saved two days more, but it is difficult to
+see how more than five or six days could
+have been saved by the most favoring
+combination of circumstances.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span></p>
+
+<p>I also heard many absurd rumors of
+the cheapness of the journey across Siberia.
+One Russian official of note told me
+that the whole cost from Vladivostock to
+Moscow, first-class, meals included, would
+be one hundred and twenty roubles. I will
+give the fares as they actually were paid,
+leaving out the odd kopeks:</p>
+
+
+<table class="miles">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+</td>
+<th class="tdr">
+Roubles
+</th>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Vladivostock to Khabaroffsk
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+17
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Khabaroffsk to Blagavestchensk
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+23
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Blagavestchensk to Stretinsk
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+29
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Stretinsk to Irkutsk
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+18
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl">
+Irkutsk to Moscow
+</td>
+<td class="tdr bb">
+98
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl pl2">
+Total for fares (first-class)
+</td>
+<td class="tdr">
+183
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<p>To this must be added at least three
+roubles a day for living expenses along
+the road, even by those economically
+inclined who drink no strong liquors,
+which will add to the expense of a thirty-eight
+days’ journey one hundred and fourteen
+roubles, making the journey cost two
+hundred and ninety-six roubles, or, in
+round numbers, about one hundred and
+fifty dollars in gold—not expensive, to be
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span>
+sure, for a six-thousand-mile trip, but not
+so cheap as is usually thought.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="p1961_ill" style="max-width: 124.8125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/p1961_ill.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    RUSSIAN TYPES
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Those who are willing to travel in second-class
+cars and steamer accommodations
+can save nearly one hundred roubles,
+or about fifty dollars, on the whole
+journey. The second-class cars are entirely
+comfortable, and very little poorer
+than the first-class, but the second cabin
+on the steamers is not to be recommended.</p>
+
+<p>I have very often been asked whether I
+would advise others to take the journey.
+That all depends upon their circumstances
+and travel proclivities.</p>
+
+<p>For good sailors who do not mind a
+long ocean voyage, the trip through the
+Suez Canal is certainly easier and more
+restful. For bad sailors and those who
+fear the sea for any reason—and their
+name is legion—the Trans-Siberian route
+offers many compensations. Moreover,
+if one can command his own time, and
+is in no great haste to reach his journey’s
+end at a fixed date, the Siberian journey
+will prove far more attractive than to
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span>
+those who are pressed with engagements
+and must make schedule time, for
+it is impossible to calculate exactly, or
+even within a fortnight, the time that
+may be taken. A pressing engagement
+in London, which I almost missed
+owing to the unexpected delays, detracted
+not a little from the comfort of the journey
+so far as I was concerned.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, in spite of the discomforts
+and delays, I am exceedingly glad
+to have taken the journey. It was an
+experience never to be forgotten, and
+furnished memory-pictures that will never
+fade. I should advise any one with plenty
+of time on his hands, who enjoys rail and
+river travel, and who is not afraid of the
+inevitable hardships of a new frontier
+country, to go and do likewise.</p>
+
+<p>The journey I have described was
+made at a most fortunate time, immediately
+before the Chinese outbreak,
+which may change the face of the world,
+especially of the far Siberian world.
+A week later, or a fortnight later at the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span>
+most, the journey would have been impossible
+for many months. But doubtless
+before my readers wish to take this new
+way round the old world the “Yellow
+Peril” will be overpassed, and the Trans-Siberian
+route will be once more open
+to the travelling public.</p>
+
+<p>In these annals I have purposely
+omitted any extended reference to the
+commercial and political importance of
+the Trans-Siberian Railway, for the reading
+public has been flooded with speculations
+and facts, more or less accurate,
+on this subject. There seems, then, to
+be little need for their further exploitation.
+Moreover, history, during the next decade,
+will determine these matters much
+more accurately than the wisest prophet
+can forecast them to-day.</p>
+
+<p>When the Eastern Chinese Railway,
+connecting with the Trans-Siberian road,
+is opened—if the Mongolians, who are
+showing such unexpected ferocity, ever
+allow it to be opened—it will be possible,
+perhaps, to go from Paris to Peking in
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span>
+two weeks, or, in time, even in eleven
+days, as Mr. A. R. Colquhoun, in his
+excellent book, <cite>Overland to China</cite>, points
+out.</p>
+
+<p>Even then, there will be many who
+will desire to take the journey I have
+described through the lordly domain
+of Siberia, by rail and river from the
+Pacific to the Atlantic, which for vastness
+of extent along the same east and west
+parallels, for variety of primeval scenery,
+and for wideness of view over “this goodly
+frame, the earth,” will never be surpassed.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp97" id="map" style="max-width: 145.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/map.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    MAP SHOWING THE AUTHOR’S ROUTE FROM VLADIOSTOCK ACROSS SIBERIA TO ST. PETERSBURG
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="Synopsis_of_the_Russian_Alphabet">
+    Synopsis of the Russian Alphabet
+  </h2>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<table class="autotable alphabet">
+<tr>
+<th class="tdc">
+Form.
+</th>
+<th class="tdc">
+Proper sound.
+</th>
+<th class="tdc">
+Name.
+</th>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+А а
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+a <i>in</i> f<b>a</b>ther
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+ah
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Б б
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+b <i>in</i> <b>b</b>utter
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+bey
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+В в
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+v <i>in</i> <b>v</b>ein
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+vey
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Г г
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+g <i>in</i> <b>g</b>one
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+ghey
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Д д
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+d <i>in</i> <b>d</b>one
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+dey
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Е е
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+ye <i>in</i> <b>y</b>et
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+yey
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Ж ж
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+z <i>in</i> a<b>z</b>ure
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+zhey
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+З з
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+z <i>in</i> <b>z</b>one
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+zey
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+И и
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+i <i>in</i> s<b>i</b>ck
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+ee
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+І і
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+i <i>in</i> <b>i</b>ota
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+ee
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Й й
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+i <i>in</i> o<b>i</b>l
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+ee s’krátkoy
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+К к
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+k <i>in</i> k<b>i</b>n
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+kah
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Л л
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+ll <i>in</i> do<b>ll</b>ar
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+ell
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+М м
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+m <i>in</i> <b>m</b>an
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+emm
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Н н
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+n <i>in</i> <b>n</b>ote
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+enn
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+О о
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+o <i>in</i> n<b>o</b>t
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+oh
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+П п
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+p <i>in</i> <b>p</b>it
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+pey
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Р р
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+rr <i>in</i> hu<b>rr</b>y
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+airr
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+С с
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+s <i>in</i> <b>s</b>afe
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+ess
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Т т
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+t <i>in</i> <b>t</b>urn
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+tey
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+У у
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+oo <i>in</i> m<b>oo</b>n
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+oo
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Ф ф
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+f <i>in</i> <b>f</b>ine
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+eff
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Х х
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+<span class="blackletter">ch</span> <i>in</i> <span class="blackletter">Da<b>ch</b></span>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+khah
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Ц ц
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+ts <i>in</i> wi<b>ts</b>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+tsey
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span>Ч ч
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+ch <i>in</i> <b>ch</b>arm
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+chey
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Ш ш
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+sh <i>in</i> <b>sh</b>ut
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+shah
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Щ щ
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+shtch <i>in</i> sma<b>sht-ch</b>ina
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+shtchah
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Ъ ъ
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+<i>mute</i>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+<i>hard sign</i>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Ы ы
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+<i>approximately</i> y <i>in</i> pit<b>y</b>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+yairrwee
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Ь ь
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+<i>half mute</i>
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+<i>soft sign</i>
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Ѣ ѣ
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+ye <i>in</i> <b>ye</b>t
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+yaht
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Э э
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+e <i>in</i> m<b>e</b>t
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+a
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Ю ю
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+u <i>in</i> <b>u</b>niform
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+you
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Я я
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+ya <i>in</i> <b>y</b>ard
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+yah
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Ѳ ѳ
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+f <i>in</i> <b>f</b>ine
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+feetah
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+Ѵ ѵ
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+i <i>in</i> s<b>i</b>ck
+</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+eezhitsa
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204"></a><a id="Page_205"></a>[205]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="SOME_NECESSARY_RUSSIAN_WORDS">
+    SOME NECESSARY RUSSIAN WORDS
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>The following list of words, of course, does
+not pretend to be an English-Russian vocabulary,
+but simply the smallest possible number of words
+which a traveller would need in crossing Siberia.
+It would be well, of course, to know many more.
+But it would be possible for the traveller to make
+this journey with the limited means of communication
+with his fellow-travellers, restaurant-keepers,
+hotel-proprietors, train-men and steam-boat officials
+that are here put at his disposal. As it is impossible,
+of course, in a volume of this character to
+give anything like a complete vocabulary, I have
+thought that a very small fraction of a loaf was
+better than no bread, and that this was not one of
+the cases when a little knowledge (of Russian) was
+a dangerous thing.</p>
+
+
+<h3 id="Cardinal_Numbers">
+  Cardinal Numbers
+</h3>
+
+<div class='poetry-container'>
+<p class='no-indent'>
+  одинъ, one.<br>
+  два, two.<br>
+  три, three.<br>
+  четыре, four.<br>
+  пять, five.<br>
+  шесть, six.<br>
+  семь, seven.<br>
+  восемь, eight.<br>
+  девять, nine.<br>
+  десять, ten.
+</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span></p>
+
+
+<h3 id="English-Russian_Vocabulary">
+  English-Russian Vocabulary
+</h3>
+
+<ul class="index">
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>A</b>ble (to be), быть въ состояніи.</li>
+  <li class="indx">accident, несчастніе.</li>
+  <li class="indx">act (to), дѣйствовать.</li>
+  <li class="indx">address (direction), адресъ, надпись.</li>
+  <li class="indx">adieu, прощай, прощайте.</li>
+  <li class="indx">air, воздухъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">all, весь, вся, все.</li>
+  <li class="indx">America, Америка.</li>
+  <li class="indx">animal, животный.</li>
+  <li class="indx">apartment, комната, квартира.</li>
+  <li class="indx">apple, яблоко.</li>
+  <li class="indx">April, апрѣль.</li>
+  <li class="indx">as, какъ, такъ, такъ какъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">ask (to), спрашивать.</li>
+  <li class="indx">August, августъ.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>B</b>ag, кошелекъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">baggage, багажъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">barber, цирюльникъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">bath, ванна.</li>
+  <li class="indx">bed (bedstead), постель, кровать.</li>
+  <li class="indx">bedroom, спальня.</li>
+  <li class="indx">beefsteak, бифштексъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">bill (account), счетъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">boat, лодка.</li>
+  <li class="indx">book, книга.</li>
+  <li class="indx">bookseller, книгопродавецъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">boot, сапогъ, ботинка.</li>
+  <li class="indx">box (coffer), сундукъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">bread, хлѣбъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">breakfast, завтракъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span>
+business, дѣло.</li>
+  <li class="indx">butter, масло (коровье).</li>
+  <li class="indx">button, пуговиця.</li>
+  <li class="indx">buy (to), покупать, купить.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>C</b>ab, дрожки.</li>
+  <li class="indx">cabman, извощикъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">can (I), я могу.</li>
+  <li class="indx">carriage, карета, телѣга.</li>
+  <li class="indx">carry (to), носить, нести.</li>
+  <li class="indx">chair, стулъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">chamber, комната.</li>
+  <li class="indx">China, Китай.</li>
+  <li class="indx">church, церковь.</li>
+  <li class="indx">city, городъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">class, классъ, разрядъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">clean (to), чистить.</li>
+  <li class="indx">clock (what o’—is it?), который часъ?</li>
+  <li class="indx">clothing, одежда, платье.</li>
+  <li class="indx">coachman, кучеръ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">coffee, кофей.</li>
+  <li class="indx">coffee-house, кофейня.</li>
+  <li class="indx">copeck, копейка, (копѣйка).</li>
+  <li class="indx">cost (to), стоить.</li>
+  <li class="indx">cure (to), лѣчить.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>D</b>ay, день.</li>
+  <li class="indx">December, Декабрь.</li>
+  <li class="indx">dentist, зубной врачъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">dinner, обѣдъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">dirty, грязний.</li>
+  <li class="indx">dish, блюдо, кушаніе.</li>
+  <li class="indx">do (to), дѣлать.</li>
+  <li class="indx">doctor, врачъ, лѣкарь, докторъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">dress, пгатье.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span><b>E</b>at (to), ѣсть, кушать.</li>
+  <li class="indx">egg, яйцо.</li>
+  <li class="indx">engage (to), уговаривать.</li>
+  <li class="indx">enough, долвольно.</li>
+  <li class="indx">Europe, Европа.</li>
+  <li class="indx">express-train, курьерскій поѣздъ.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>F</b>ace, лицо.</li>
+  <li class="indx">fact, дѣло.</li>
+  <li class="indx">family, семейство.</li>
+  <li class="indx">farmer, фермеръ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">February, февраль.</li>
+  <li class="indx">first (at), сперва.</li>
+  <li class="indx">fish, рыба.</li>
+  <li class="indx">flour, мука.</li>
+  <li class="indx">flower, цвѣтъ, цвѣтокъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">foreign, иностранный.</li>
+  <li class="indx">fork, вилка.</li>
+  <li class="indx">fowl, курица.</li>
+  <li class="indx">French, французскій.</li>
+  <li class="indx">Friday, пятница,</li>
+  <li class="indx">friend, пріятель, другъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">fur, шуба, мѣхъ.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>G</b>irl, дѣвочка.</li>
+  <li class="indx">give(to), давать, дать.</li>
+  <li class="indx">glass (drinking), стаканъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">glove, перчатка.</li>
+  <li class="indx">gold, золото.</li>
+  <li class="indx">good, добрый.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>H</b>alf, половина, полу ...</li>
+  <li class="indx">handkerchiefs, (носовой) платокъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">hat, шлапа, шапка.</li>
+  <li class="indx">have (to), имѣть.</li>
+  <li class="indx">here, здѣсь.</li>
+  <li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span>
+hill, холмъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">horse, конь, лошадь.</li>
+  <li class="indx">hot, жаркій, горячій.</li>
+  <li class="indx">hotel, гостинница.</li>
+  <li class="indx">hour, часъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">house, домъ, жилище.</li>
+  <li class="indx">how much, сколько.</li>
+  <li class="indx">hungry (to be—), быть голоднымъ.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>I</b>ce, ледъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">ill (sick), больной.</li>
+  <li class="indx">important, важный.</li>
+  <li class="indx">impossible, невозможный.</li>
+  <li class="indx">inhabitant, житель, обитатель.</li>
+  <li class="indx">ink, чернила.</li>
+  <li class="indx">inn, гостинница.</li>
+  <li class="indx">instantly, немедленно.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>J</b>anuary, январь.</li>
+  <li class="indx">journal, журналъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">July, Іюль.</li>
+  <li class="indx">June, Іюнь.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>K</b>ey, ключъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">knife, ножъ, ножикъ.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>L</b>ady, госпожа.</li>
+  <li class="indx">lamp, лампа, лампада.</li>
+  <li class="indx">landlord, хозяинъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">language, языкъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">lantern, фонарь.</li>
+  <li class="indx">large, большой, широкій.</li>
+  <li class="indx">letter, письмо.</li>
+  <li class="indx">light, свѣтъ, сіяніе.</li>
+  <li class="indx">linen, бѣлье.</li>
+  <li class="indx">little (a), мало.</li>
+  <li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span>
+lock, замокъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">lodging, квартира.</li>
+  <li class="indx">lunch, закуска.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>M</b>ail, почта.</li>
+  <li class="indx">man, человѣкъ; men, люди.</li>
+  <li class="indx">many, многіе.</li>
+  <li class="indx">map, карта.</li>
+  <li class="indx">March, Мартъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">matter (no), бсе равно.</li>
+  <li class="indx">May, Май.</li>
+  <li class="indx">meat, мясо.</li>
+  <li class="indx">mend (to), исправлять.</li>
+  <li class="indx">mile, миля.</li>
+  <li class="indx">milk, молоко.</li>
+  <li class="indx">minute, минута.</li>
+  <li class="indx">Monday, понедѣльникъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">money, деньги, монета.</li>
+  <li class="indx">morning, утро.</li>
+  <li class="indx">morrow (to), завтра.</li>
+  <li class="indx">Moscow, Москва.</li>
+  <li class="indx">mother, мать.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>N</b>ame, имя.</li>
+  <li class="indx">needle, иголка.</li>
+  <li class="indx">never, никогда.</li>
+  <li class="indx">news, новость, извѣстіе.</li>
+  <li class="indx">newspaper, вѣдомость, газета.</li>
+  <li class="indx">night, ночь.</li>
+  <li class="indx">no, нѣетъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">noon, полдень.</li>
+  <li class="indx">north, сѣверъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">November, ноябрь.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>O</b>ctober, октябрь.</li>
+  <li class="indx">overcoat, пальто.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span><b>P</b>etersburg (Saint), (Санктъ) Петербургъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">pillow, подушка.</li>
+  <li class="indx">plate, тарелка.</li>
+  <li class="indx">please (if you—), пожалуйста.</li>
+  <li class="indx">post-office, почтамтъ, почта.</li>
+  <li class="indx">potato, картофель.</li>
+  <li class="indx">promise (to), обѣщать.</li>
+  <li class="indx">pronounce (to), произносить.</li>
+  <li class="indx">province (Russ.), губернія.</li>
+  <li class="indx">purse, кошелекъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">put (to), класть.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>Q</b>uarter, четверть.</li>
+  <li class="indx">quickly, скоро.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>R</b>ailroad, railway, желѣзная дорога.</li>
+  <li class="indx">railway-station, вокзалъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">rain, дождь.</li>
+  <li class="indx">read (to), читать.</li>
+  <li class="indx">refreshment, освѣженіе.</li>
+  <li class="indx">registered (letter), заказное.</li>
+  <li class="indx">repair (to), поправлять.</li>
+  <li class="indx">rest (repose), отдыхъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">river, рѣка.</li>
+  <li class="indx">road, дорога, путь.</li>
+  <li class="indx">room, комната.</li>
+  <li class="indx">Russia, Россія.</li>
+  <li class="indx">Russian, Россіянинъ, русскій.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>S</b>alt, соль.</li>
+  <li class="indx">Saturday, суббота.</li>
+  <li class="indx">say (to), сказать, говорить.</li>
+  <li class="indx">sea, море.</li>
+  <li class="indx">September, сентябрь.</li>
+  <li class="indx">sheet (bedlinen), простыня.</li>
+  <li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span>
+Siberia, Сибирь.</li>
+  <li class="indx">silver, серебро.</li>
+  <li class="indx">soap, мыло.</li>
+  <li class="indx">soup, супъ, похлебка.</li>
+  <li class="indx">speak (to), говорить.</li>
+  <li class="indx">spoon, ложка.</li>
+  <li class="indx">stay (to), оставаться.</li>
+  <li class="indx">steamboat, steamer, пароходъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">stocking, чулокъ, носокъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">stove, печь, печка.</li>
+  <li class="indx">street, улица.</li>
+  <li class="indx">sufficient, достаточный.</li>
+  <li class="indx">sugar, сахаръ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">Sunday, воскресенье.</li>
+  <li class="indx">supper, ужинъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">sweep (to), мести.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>T</b>able, столъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">table-cloth, скатерть.</li>
+  <li class="indx">talk (to), разговаривать.</li>
+  <li class="indx">tea, чай.</li>
+  <li class="indx">thank (to), благодарить.</li>
+  <li class="indx">there is, вотъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">thirsty, жаждущій.</li>
+  <li class="indx">Thursday, четвергъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">ticket, билетъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">towel, полотенце.</li>
+  <li class="indx">trunk (coffer), сундукъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">Tuesday, вторникъ.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>V</b>egetables, овощи.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>W</b>agon, вагонъ, телѣга.</li>
+  <li class="indx">wait (to), ждать, пожидать.</li>
+  <li class="indx">waiter, служитель, человѣкъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span>
+waiting-room, (станціонная) зала.</li>
+  <li class="indx">waken (to), разбудить.</li>
+  <li class="indx">walk (to), гулять, ходить.</li>
+  <li class="indx">want (to), нуждаться, желать.</li>
+  <li class="indx">wash (to), мыть, обмывать.</li>
+  <li class="indx">washerwoman, прачка.</li>
+  <li class="indx">washstand, рукомойникъ.</li>
+  <li class="indx">water, вода.</li>
+  <li class="indx">way, путь, дорога.</li>
+  <li class="indx">Wednesday, среда.</li>
+  <li class="indx">what, что; какой; то что.</li>
+  <li class="indx">when, когда.</li>
+  <li class="indx">wish (to), желать.</li>
+  <li class="indx">woman, жена, женщина.</li>
+  <li class="indx">wood (fuel), дрова.</li>
+  <li class="indx">word, слово.</li>
+  <li class="indx">work (to), работать.</li>
+  <li class="indx">write (to), писать.</li>
+
+  <li class="ifrst"><b>Y</b>es, да.</li>
+</ul>
+
+
+<p class='center mt2'>
+  THE END
+</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_214"></a><a id="Page_215"></a><a id="Page_216"></a>[216]</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='pib'>
+<h2 class='mt1 nobreak'>
+  S. W. PARTRIDGE &amp; CO.’S<br>
+  CATALOGUE<br>
+  <span class='allsmcap fs90'>. . OF . .</span><br>
+  POPULAR ILLUSTRATED BOOKS.</h2>
+
+<p class='mt1 fs90 center'>
+  Classified according to Price.
+</p>
+
+<hr class='r30'>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mb2'>
+  8 &amp; 9, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E. C.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='advertisement'>
+<h3 id="6s_each">
+  6s. each.
+</h3>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'><i>Large Crown 8vo. Cloth Boards, gilt top.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Strong Man’s Love. By David Lyall. 344 pages. Twelve
+Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Old Readymoney’s Daughter. By L. T. Meade. 332 pages.
+Twelve Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Letter Killeth. By A. C. Inchbold. 310 pages.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Ruth Gwynnett, Schoolmistress. By Morice Gerard. 332
+pages. Twelve Illustrations.</p>
+
+<hr class="r15">
+
+<p class='hang1'>Japan: From the Old to the New. By R. G. Webster, LL.B.,
+J.P. With 16 Illustrations on art paper. Demy 8vo.</p>
+
+
+<hr class='r30'>
+
+<h3 id="5s_each">
+  5s. each.
+</h3>
+
+<p class='center'><span class="smcap">By</span> GEO. MANVILLE FENN.</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mth mbh'><i>Large Crown 8vo. Fully Illustrated. Cloth Boards, gilt edges.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Dead Man’s Land; or, The Adventures of Certain and Uncertain
+Whites and Blacks at Zimbambangwe, the Ancient Home
+of Gold.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Trapper Dan: A Story of the Backwoods.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>To Win or to Die.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>In the Mahdi’s Grasp.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>In Honour’s Cause: A Tale of the Days of George the First.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Steve Young; or, The Voyage of the “Hvalross” to the Icy Seas.</p>
+
+<hr class='r15'>
+
+<p class='center mt1 mbh'>
+  <span class="smcap">By</span> ROBERT LEIGHTON.
+</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Cap’n Nat’s Treasure: A Tale of Old Liverpool. Eight Illustrations.
+Large Crown 8vo. Cloth.</p>
+
+<hr class='r15'>
+<p class='center mt1 mbh'>
+  <span class="smcap">By</span> G. A. HENTY.
+</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Cuthbert Hartington: A Tale of Two Sieges. Large
+Crown 8vo. Six Illustrations. Cloth boards, gilt edges.</p>
+
+<hr class='r15'>
+<p class='center mt1 mbh'>
+  <span class="smcap">By</span> E. F. POLLARD.
+</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Scarlet Judges. Illustrated. Large Crown 8vo. Cloth
+boards, gilt edges.</p>
+
+<hr class="r5">
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Two Babylons; or, The Papal Worship proved to be the
+Worship of Nimrod and his Wife. With 61 Illustrations from
+Nineveh, Babylon, Egypt, Pompeii, etc. By the late Alexander
+Hislop. Demy 8vo. Cloth extra.</p>
+
+<hr class='r30'>
+<h3 id="New_5-_Library">
+  New 5/- Library.
+</h3>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'><i>Demy 8vo. Of special bulk. Well Illustrated. Bound in handsome Cloth
+Boards with full gilt edges. 5/- each.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Cuthbert Hartington: A Tale of Two Sieges. By Geo. A. Henry.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Lady of the Forest. By L. T. Meade.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>True Unto Death: A Story of Russian Life. By E. F. Pollard.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Better Part. By Annie S. Swan.</p>
+
+
+<hr class='r30'>
+<h3 id="3s_6d_each">
+  3s. 6d. each.
+</h3>
+
+<p class='fs80 mbh center'><i>Handsomely bound in Cloth Boards, with gilt top.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Old Wenyon’s Will. By John Ackworth. Large Crown 8vo.
+Twelve Illustrations. 344 pages.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>More than Money. By A. St. John Adcock. Twelve Illustrations.
+Large Crown 8vo.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Those Berkeley Girls. By Lillias Campbell Davidson. Twenty-four
+Illustrations. Large Crown 8vo.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Awakening of Helena Thorpe. By E. Rentoul Esler
+Large Crown 8vo. Eight Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Parting of the Ways. By J. L. Hornibrook. Twelve
+Illustrations. Large Crown 8vo.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Lion of Wessex; or, How Saxon fought Dane. By Tom
+Bevan. Large Crown 8vo. Eight Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Hero King: A Romance of the Days of Alfred the Great. By
+Eliza F. Pollard. Large Crown 8vo.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Three-Cornered House. By the Author of “Everybody’s
+Friend.” Illustrated. Large Crown 8vo.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Casque and Cowl: A Tale of the French Reformation. By
+F. M. Cotton Walker. 364 pages. Four Illustrations. Large
+Crown 8vo.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Lady of High Degree. By Jennie Chappell. Large Crown
+8vo. Illustrated.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Gentleman of England. A Story of the Time of Sir Philip
+Sidney. By Eliza F. Pollard. Large Crown 8vo.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Pilgrims of the Night. By Sarah Doudney. Frontispiece.
+Large Crown 8vo.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Skeleton Reef. A Sea Story. By Hugh St. Leger. Large
+Crown 8vo.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Scuttling of the “Kingfisher.” By Alfred E. Knight.
+Frontispiece. Large Crown 8vo.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Missing Million. A Tale of Adventure in Search of a
+Million Pounds. By E. Harcourt Burrage. Large Crown 8vo.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Among Hills and Valleys in Western China. By Hannah
+Davies. Demy 8vo. 326 pages. Fifty Illustrations from photos,
+and Large Map. Cloth boards.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Story of the Bible. Arranged in Simple Style for Young
+People. <i>New Edition.</i> Demy 8vo. 620 pages. Eight beautiful
+pictures in colours, and more than 100 other Illustrations. Cloth
+extra, 3s. 6d. Gilt edges, bevelled boards, 4s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Pilgrim’s Progress. By John Bunyan. Illustrated with
+55 full-page and other Engravings, drawn by Frederick Barnard,
+J. D. Linton, W. Small, and engraved by Dalziel Brothers.
+Crown 4to. Cloth extra, 3s. 6d. Gilt edges, 5s. Padded Watered
+Silk, 6s. 6d.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Come, Break your Fast: Daily Meditations for a Year. By
+Rev. Mark Guy Pearse. 544 pages. Large Crown 8vo. Cloth
+extra.</p>
+
+
+<hr class='r30'>
+<h3 id="2s_6d_each">
+  2s. 6d. each.
+</h3>
+
+
+<p class='no-indent fs110 mt1 u'>
+  “<i>Girls’ Imperial Library.</i>”
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mth mbh'><i>By Popular Authors. Large Crown 8vo. 332 pages. 6 Illustrations,
+printed in photo brown. Handsomely bound in Cloth Boards.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Gladys’s Repentance; or, Two Girls and a Fortune. By Edith
+C. Kenyon.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Ursula; or, “A Candidate for the Ministry.” By Laura A. Barter-Snow.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Uncle Joshua’s Heiress; or, Which shall it be? By Lillias
+Campbell Davidson.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Molly: The Story of a Wayward Girl. By Harriet E. Colville,
+Author of “My Grandmother’s Album.”</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Love’s Golden Thread. By Edith C. Kenyon.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Sydney Lisle; or, The Heiress of St. Quentin. By Dorothea
+Moore.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Fortunes of Eight; or, The House in Harford Place. By
+Isabel Suart Robson.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Little Missis. By Charlotte Skinner.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Girl’s Battle. By Lillias Campbell Davidson.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Girl In a Thousand. By Edith C. Kenyon.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Agnes Dewsbury. By Laura A. Barter-Snow.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Monica’s Choice. By Flora E. Berry.</p>
+
+
+<p class='no-indent fs110 mt1 u'>
+  <i>“Red Mountain” Series.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mth mbh'><i>Crown 8vo. 320 pages. Illustrated. Handsomely Bound in Cloth Boards.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Rob Harlow’s Adventures: A Story of the Grand Chaco. By
+Geo. Manville Fenn.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Master of Dunholme. By W. Scott King.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Boy of the First Empire. By Elbridge S. Brooks. (Superior
+binding, gilt top, 3s. 6d.)</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Smoking Flax. By Silas K. Hocking. Twelve Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Boy’s Life of Nelson. By J. Cuthbert Hadden. Large
+Crown 8vo. 300 pages. Beautiful coloured frontispiece and eight
+illustrations on art paper.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>In the Misty Seas: A Story of the Sealers of Behring Strait.
+By Harold Bindloss.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Two Barchester Boys: A Tale of Adventure in the Malay
+States. By K. M. Eady.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>True Grit: A Story of Adventure in West Africa. By Harold
+Bindloss. Six Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Yellow Shield; or, A Captive in the Zulu Camp. By
+William Johnston. Six Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Firebrands of the Caspian: The Story of a Bold Enterprise.
+By F. M. Holmes.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Desert Scout: A Tale of Arabi’s Revolt. By Wm. Johnston.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Cormorant Crag: A Tale of the Smuggling Days. By G. Manville
+Fenn. Eight Illustrations by W. Rainey, R.I.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>One of the Tenth: A Tale of the Royal Hussars. By William
+Johnston. Six Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Lost in the Slave Land; or, The Mystery of the Sacred Lamp
+Rock. By W. M. Graydon. Six Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Ice-Bound; or, The Anticosti Crusoes. By Edward Roper,
+F.R.G.S. Six Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>On Winding Waters: A Tale of Adventure and Peril. By
+William Murray Graydon. Six Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Under the Sirdar’s Flag. By William Johnston. Six Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Dorothy: The Coombehurst Nightingale. By E. M. Alford.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Boy from Cuba: A School Story. By Walter Rhoades.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Fighting Lads of Devon: or, In the Days of the Armada.
+By William Murray Graydon.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Trip to Many Lands. By W. J. Forster. Illustrated with 26
+full-page Pictures. 4to. Cloth gilt.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Crystal Hunters: A Boy’s Adventures in the Higher Alps.
+By G. Manville Fenn.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>First in the Field: A Story of New South Wales. By G.
+Manville Fenn. 416 pages.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Great Works by Great Men: The Story of Famous Engineers
+and their Triumphs. By F. M. Holmes.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Lady of the Forest. By L. T. Meade.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Red Mountain of Alaska. By Willis Boyd Allen.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Two Henriettas. By Emma Marshall.</p>
+
+
+<p class='no-indent fs110 mt1 u'>
+  <i>Popular Works by Miss Charlotte Murray.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>From School to Castle. By Charlotte Murray. Illustrated.
+Large Crown 8vo. Cloth boards.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Coral: A Sea Waif and her Friends. 268 pages. Six Illustrations.
+Cloth boards.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Stuart’s Choice; or, Castleton’s “Prep.” Crown 8vo. 288
+pages. Six Illustrations. Cloth boards.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Muriel Malone; or, From Door to Door. Illustrated. Crown
+8vo. 272 pages. Cloth boards.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Through Grey to Gold. Crown 8vo. 280 pages. Six Illustrations.
+Cloth boards.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Love Conquereth; or, The Mysterious Trespasser. (<i>See under
+Home Library. 2s.</i>)</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Wardlaugh; or, Workers Together. (<i>See under Home Library. 2s.</i>)</p>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 mt1'><span class='fs110 u'><i>Ferrar Fenton’s Translations of the Holy Scriptures
+in Modern English.</i></span> 2s. 6d. each <i>net</i>.</p>
+
+<table class='hsme'>
+<tr>
+<td class='tdl'>Vol.</td>
+<td class='tdr'>   I.—</td><td class='tdl'>The Five Books of Moses.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class='tdl'>Vol.</td>
+<td class='tdr'>  II.—</td><td class='tdl'>The History of Israel.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class='tdl'>Vol.</td>
+<td class='tdr'> III.—</td><td class='tdl'>The Books of the Prophets.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class='tdl'>Vol.</td>
+<td class='tdr'>  IV.—</td><td class='tdl'>The Psalms, Solomon, and Sacred Writers.</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class='tdl'>Vol.</td>
+<td class='tdr'>   V.—</td><td class='tdl'>The New Testament.</td>
+</tr></table>
+
+<p class='hang1'>
+  The Complete Bible in Modern English. Incorporating the
+  above five volumes. Cloth extra, gilt top. 10s. net.
+</p>
+
+<hr class="r15">
+
+<p class='hang1'>James Flanagan: The Story of a Remarkable Career. By
+Dennis Crane. Crown 8vo. Fully Illustrated. Cloth boards.
+2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Earnest Life. By Silas K. Hocking. Crown 8vo. 192
+pages. With portrait and autograph. Handsomely bound in
+cloth boards.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Stories of Self-Help: Recent and Living Examples of Men
+Risen from the Ranks. By John Alexander. Well Illustrated.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Young Man’s Mind. By J. A. Hammerton. Crown 8vo.
+Cloth extra, gilt top.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Romance of the Bible. The Marvellous History of the
+British and Foreign Bible Society. By Charles F. Bateman.
+Crown 8vo. Cloth.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Crown and Empire: A Popular Account of the Lives, Public
+and Domestic, of Edward VII. and Queen Alexandra. By Alfred
+E. Knight. Large Crown 8vo. 336 pages. Cloth boards.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>My Dogs in the Northland. By Egerton R. Young. 288 pages.
+Many Illustrations. Crown 8vo. Cloth.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Our Rulers from William the Conqueror to Edward VII.
+By J. Alexander. Foolscap 4to. Cloth gilt. Sixty beautiful
+Illustrations. Attractively bound.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Great Siberian Railway: What I saw on my Journey. By
+Dr. F. E. Clark. Crown 8vo. 213 pages. Sixty-five First-class
+Illustrations on art paper, and a Map. Handsomely bound.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Chaplains at the Front. By One of Them. Incidents in the
+Life of a Chaplain during the Boer War, 1899–1900. By Owen
+Spencer Watkins, Acting Wesleyan Chaplain to His Majesty’s
+Forces. Crown 8vo. 334 pages. Handsomely bound.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Lord Roberts of Kandahar, V.C.: The Life-Story of a Great
+Soldier. By Walter Jerrold. Crown 8vo. Eight Illustrations.
+Handsomely bound in cloth boards. 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Sir Redvers H. Buller, V.C.: The Story of His Life and Campaigns.
+By Walter Jerrold. Crown 8vo. 218 pages. With
+8 Illustrations. 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Following Jesus: A Bible Picture Book for the Young. Size,
+13½ by 10 inches. Contains 12 beautifully coloured Old and New
+Testament Scenes, with appropriate letterpress by D.J.D.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Brought to Jesus: A Bible Picture Book for Little Readers.
+Containing 12 New Testament Scenes, printed in colours. Size,
+13½ by 10 inches. Handsome coloured boards.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Bible Pictures and Stories: Old and New Testament. In one
+Volume. Bound in handsome cloth, with 89 full-page Illustrations
+by Eminent Artists.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Light for Little Footsteps; or, Bible Stories Illustrated. With
+beautiful coloured Cover and Frontispiece. Full of Pictures. Size,
+13½ by 10 inches.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Potters: their Arts and Crafts. Historical, Biographical and
+Descriptive. By John C. Sparks and Walter Gandy. Crown 8vo.
+Copiously Illustrated. Cloth extra.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Story of Jesus. For Little Children. By Mrs. G. E.
+Morton. <i>New Edition.</i> Large 8vo. 340 pages. Eight pictures
+in best style of colour-work, and many other Illustrations. Handsomely
+bound in cloth boards.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Victoria: Her Life and Reign. By Alfred E. Knight. Crown
+8vo. 384 pages. Cloth extra, 2s. 6d.; fancy cloth, gilt edges,
+3s. 6d.</p>
+
+<hr class='r30'>
+<h3 id="2s_each">
+  2s. each.
+</h3>
+
+<p class='hang3 mt1 u fs110'><i>The Home Library.</i></p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh mth'><i>Crown 8vo. 320 pages. Handsome Cloth Covers.
+Fully Illustrated.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>By Bitter Experience: A Story of the Evils of Gambling. By
+Scott Graham.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Love Conquereth; or, The Mysterious Trespasser. By
+Charlotte Murray.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>White Ivory and Black, and other Stories of Adventure by Sea
+and Land. By Tom Bevan, E. Harcourt Burrage, and John
+Higginson.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Adventures of Don Lavington; or, In the Days of the
+Press Gang. By G. Manville Fenn.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Roger the Ranger: A Story of Border Life among the Indians.
+By E. F. Pollard.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Brave Brothers; or, Young Sons of Providence. By E. M.
+Stooke.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Moat House; or, Celia’s Deceptions. By Eleanora H.
+Stooke.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The White Dove of Amritzir: A Romance of Anglo-Indian
+Life. By E. F. Pollard.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>In Battle and Breeze: Sea Stories by G. A. Henty, G. Manville
+Fenn, and J. Higginson.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Crag Island; or The Mystery of Val Stanlock. By W. Murray
+Graydon.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Wild Bryonie. By Jennie Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Edwin, the Boy Outlaw; or, The Dawn of Freedom in England.
+A Story of the Days of Robin Hood. By J. Frederick Hodgetts.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Manco, the Peruvian Chief. By W. H. G. Kingston. Illustrated
+by Lancelot Speed.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Neta Lyall. By Flora E. Berry, Author of “In Small Corners,”
+etc. Six Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Robert Aske: A Story of the Reformation. By E. F. Pollard.
+Eight Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>John Burleigh’s Sacrifice. By Mrs. Charles Garnett. Nineteen
+Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Lion City of Africa. By Willis Boyd Allen. Sixteen
+Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Aveline’s inheritance. By Jennie Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Ben-Hur. By L. Wallis.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Better Part. By Annie S. Swan.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Cousin Mary. By Mrs. Oliphant.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Dorothy’s Training; or, Wild-flower or Weed? By Jennie
+Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Grace Ashleigh; or, His Ways are Best. By Mary D. R.
+Boyd.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Honor: A Nineteenth-Century Heroine. By E. M. Alford.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Her Saddest Blessing. By Jennie Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Inca’s Ransom: A Story of the Conquest of Peru. By
+Albert Lee.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>John: A Tale of the Messiah. By K. Pearson Woods.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Jacques Hamon; or, Sir Philip’s Private Messenger. By Mary
+E. Ropes.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Leaders into Unknown Lands: Being Chapters of recent
+Travel. By A. Montefiore-Brice, F.G.S., F.R.G.S.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Lights and Shadows of Forster Square. By Rev. E. H.
+Sugden, M.A.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Last Earl Grahame. By Rev. J. M. Dryerre, LL.B.,
+F.R.G.S.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Martyr of Kolin; A Story of the Bohemian Persecution.
+By H. O. Ward.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Morning Dew-Drops: A Temperance Text Book. By Clara
+Lucas Balfour.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Mark Desborough’s Vow. By Annie S. Swan.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Norman’s Nugget. By J. Macdonald Oxley, B.A.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Puritan Wooing: A Tale of the Great Awakening in New
+England. By Frank Samuel Child.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Petrel Darcy; or, In Honour Bound. By T. Corrie.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Polar Eden; or, The Goal of the “Dauntless.” By Charles
+R. Kenyon.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Strait Gate. By Annie S. Swan.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Spanish Maiden: A Story of Brazil. By Emma E. Hornibrook.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Wardlaugh; or, Workers Together. By Charlotte Murray.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Wreck of the “Providence.” By Eliza F. Pollard.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Alfred the Great: The Father of the English. By Jesse Page.</p>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 mt1 u'>
+  <i>Library of Standard Works by Famous Authors.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mth mbh'><i>Crown 8vo. Bound in handsome Cloth Boards. Well illustrated.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Old Lieutenant and His Son. By Norman McLeod.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Coral Island. By R. M. Ballantyne.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Nettie’s Mission. Stories Illustrative of the Lord’s Prayer.
+By Alice Gray.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Home Influence: A Tale for Mothers. By Grace Aguilar.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Gorilla Hunters. By R. M. Ballantyne.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>What Katy Did. By Susan Coolidge.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Peter the Whaler. By W. H. G. Kingston. 300 pages. Six
+Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Melbourne House. By Susan Warner. 452 pages. Six Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Lamplighter. By Miss Cummins. 444 pages. Six Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Carefully chosen from the Tales collected
+by the Brothers Grimm. Twelve Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Swiss Family Robinson: Adventures on a Desert Island.
+Twelve Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Tom Brown’s School-Days. By an Old Boy. 344 pages.
+Twelve Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Little Women and Good Wives. By Louisa M. Alcot. 450
+pages. Six Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Wide, Wide World. By Susan Warner. 478 pages. Six
+Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Danesbury House. By Mrs. Henry Wood. 332 pages. Six
+Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Stepping Heavenward. By E. Prentiss. 332 pages. Six Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>John Halifax, Gentleman. By Mrs. Craik. 540 pages.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. By Daniel Defoe.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Naomi; or, The Last Days of Jerusalem. By Mrs. Webb.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Pilgrim’s Progress. By John Bunyan. 416 pages.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Uncle Tom’s Cabin. By Harriet Beecher Stowe.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Westward Ho! By Chas. Kingsley.</p>
+
+<hr class="r15">
+
+<p class='hang1'>Bunyan’s Folk of To-day; or, The Modern Pilgrim’s Progress.
+By Rev. J. Reid Howatt. Twenty Illustrations. Crown 8vo. Cloth
+extra.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Sunday Afternoons with My Scholars. By J. Attenborough.
+With portrait. Crown 8vo. 290 pages. Cloth gilt.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Bible Light for Little Pilgrims. A Coloured Scripture Picture
+Roll. Contains 12 beautifully coloured Old and New Testament
+Scenes, with appropriate texts. Varnished cover printed in 10
+colours. Mounted on Roller for hanging.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Kwang Tung; or, Five Years in South China. By Rev. J. A.
+Turner. Eight Illustrations. Map. Imperial 8vo. 176 pages.
+Cloth gilt. 2s. net.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Platform, Pulpit and Desk; or, Tools for Workers. Being
+148 Outline Addresses on all Phases of the Temperance Movement
+for all Ages and Classes. By W. N. Edwards, F.C.S. With an
+Introduction by Canon Barker. Crown 8vo. 300 pages.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Pleasant Half Hours; or, Thoughts for Men. By Rev. E. H.
+Sugden, M.A. Crown 8vo. 224 pages.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Bible Picture Roll. Containing a large Engraving of a Scripture
+Subject, with letterpress, for each day in the month. Mounted on
+Roller for hanging.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Love, Courtship, and Marriage. By Rev. F. B. Meyer, B.A.
+Crown 8vo. 152 pages. Embellished cloth cover. 2s. net. Full
+gilt edges, 2s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+
+<hr class='r30'>
+<h3 id="1s_6d_each">
+  1s. 6d. each.
+</h3>
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u'><i>Partridge’s Eighteenpenny Series</i></p>
+
+<p class='center fs80'><span class="smcap">Of Charming Stories for Holiday and Fireside Reading.</span></p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mth mbh'><i>Crown 8vo. 160 pages. Well Illustrated and Attractively Bound.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A String of Pearls. By E. F. Pollard.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Elsie Macgregor; or, Margaret’s Little Lass. By Ramsay Guthrie.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Lady of the Chine. By M. S. Haycraft.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Carola’s Secret. By Ethel F. Heddle.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Home of His Fathers. By Lillias Campbell Davidson.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Great Patience. By L. Moberley.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>In the Bonds of Silence. By J. L. Hornibrook.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Late Repentance. By Hannah B. Mackenzie.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Shepherds and Sheep. By E. Stuart-Langford.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Golden Doors. By M. S. Haycraft.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Noble Champion. By David Hobbs.</p>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u mt1'>
+  <i>The Up-to-date Library.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mth'><i>Of Thick Crown 8vo. Volumes. 320 pages. Many Illustrations.
+Cloth Boards.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Without a Thought; or, Dora’s Discipline. By Jennie
+Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Edith Oswald; or, Living for Others. By Jane M. Kippen.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Bunch of Cherries. By J. W. Kirton.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Village Story. By Mrs. G. E. Morton.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Eagle Cliff. By R. M. Ballantyne.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>More Precious than Gold. By Jennie Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Slave Raiders of Zanzibar. By E. Harcourt Burrage.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Ester Ried. By Pansy.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Avice: a Story of Imperial Rome. By E. F. Pollard.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The King’s Daughter. By Pansy.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Foster Brothers; or, Foreshadowed. By Mrs. Morton.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Household Angel. By Madeline Leslie.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Green Mountain Boys: a Story of the American War of
+Independence. By E. F. Pollard.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Way in the Wilderness. By Maggie Swan.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Miss Elizabeth’s Niece. By M. S. Haycraft.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Man of the House. By “Pansy.”</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Olive Chauncey’s Trust: a Story of Life’s Turning Points.
+By Mrs. E. R. Pitman.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Whither Bound? a Story of Two Lost Boys. By Owen Landor.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Three People. By “Pansy.”</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Chrissy’s Endeavour. By “Pansy.”</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Young Moose Hunters. By C. A. Stephens.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Eaglehurst Towers. By Emma Marshall.</p>
+
+<hr class="r15">
+
+<p class='hang1'>Chilgoopie the Glad: a Story of Korea and her Children. By
+Jean Perry. With eight Illustrations on art paper, and bound in
+cloth boards.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Man in Grey; or, More about Korea. By Jean Perry.
+Crown 8vo. Illustrated. Cloth boards.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>More Nails for Busy Workers. By C. Edwards, Author of “A
+Box of Nails for Busy Christian Workers,” etc. Crown 8vo. 196
+pages. Cloth boards.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Queen Alexandra: the Nation’s Pride. By Mrs. C. N.
+Williamson. Crown 8vo. Tastefully bound, 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>King and Emperor: the Life-History of Edward VII. By
+Arthur Mee. Crown 8vo. Cloth boards. 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>William McKinley: Private and President. By Thos. Cox
+Meech. Crown 8vo. 160 pages, with Portrait, 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Studies of the Man Christ Jesus. His Character, His Spirit,
+Himself. By R. E. Speer. Cloth, gilt top. 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Studies of the Man Paul. By Robert E. Speer. Long 8vo.
+304 pages. Cloth gilt. 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Angel and the Demon; and other Stories. By E. Thorneycroft
+Fowler. Cloth gilt. Eight Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Measuring Eye. By E. Stuart-Langford. Illustrated. Cloth
+boards.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Wellington: the Record of a Great Military Career. By A. E.
+Knight. Crown 8vo. Cloth gilt, with Portrait, 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Hector Macdonald; or, The Private who became a General. By
+T. F. G. Coates. Crown 8vo. Cloth gilt, with Portrait. 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Baden-Powell: The Hero of Mafeking. By W. Francis Aitken.
+Crown 8vo. Cloth gilt, with Portrait. 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Every-day Life in South Africa. By E. E. K. Lowndes. Crown
+8vo. Illustrated. Cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Royal Life. By Rev. J. C. Carlile. Crown 8vo. 128 pages.
+Cloth gilt.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Insects: Foes and Friends. By W. Egmont Kirby, M.D., F.L.S.
+32 pages of Coloured Illustrations. Cloth boards.</p>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u mt1'><i>The British Boys’ Library.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'><i>Fully Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 168 pages. Cloth extra.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Adventures of Ji. By G. E. Farrow, Author of “The
+Wallypug of Why.”</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Missionary Heroes: Stories of Heroism on the Missionary Field.
+By C. D. Michael.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Andrew Bennett’s Harvest; or, The Shadow of God’s Providence.
+By Lydia Phillips.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Brown Al; or, A Stolen Holiday. By E. M. Stooke.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Pigeons’ Cave: A Story of Great Orme’s Head in 1806.
+By J. S. Fletcher.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Robin the Rebel. By H. Louisa Bedford.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Runaway Rollo. By E. M. Stooke.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Success: Chats about Boys who have Won it. By C. D.
+Michael.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Well Done! Stories of Brave Endeavour. Edited by C. D.
+Michael.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Wonder Seekers. By Henry J. Barker, M.A.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Little Soldiers. By Kate L. Mackley.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Will; or, That Boy from the Union. By Lydia Phillips.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Heroes All! A Book of Brave Deeds for British Boys. Edited
+by C. D. Michael.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Noble Deeds: Stories of Peril and Heroism. Edited by C. D.
+Michael.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Armour Bright: The Story of a Boy’s Battles. By Lucy
+Taylor.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Ben: A Story of Life’s Byways. By Lydia Phillips.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Major Brown; or, Whether White or Black, a Man. By Edith
+S. Davis.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Jack. A Story of a Scapegrace. By E. M. Bryant.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Hubert Ellerdale: A Tale of the Days of Wicliffe. By W.
+Oak Rhind.</p>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u mt1'>  <i>The British Girls’ Library.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'><i>Fully Illustrated. Crown 8vo. 160 pages. Cloth extra.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Mystery Baby; or, Patsy at Fellside. By Alice M. Page.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Zillah, the Little Dancing Girl. By Mrs. Hugh St. Leger.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Patsie’s Bricks. By L. S. Mead.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Salome’s Burden; or, The Shadow on the Homes. By Eleanora
+H. Stooke.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Heroines: True Tales of Brave Women. By C. D. Michael.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Granny’s Girls. By M. B. Manwell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Mousey; or, Cousin Robert’s Treasure. By Eleanora H.
+Stooke.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Marigold’s Fancies. By L. E. Tiddeman.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>“Our Phyllis.” By M. S. Haycraft.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Lady of Greyham; or, Low in a Low Place. By Emma
+E. Hornibrook.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Gipsy Queen. By Emma Leslie.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Kathleen; or, A Maiden’s Influence. By Julia Hack.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Rajah’s Daughter; or, The Half-Moon Girl. By Bessie
+Marchant.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>In Self-Defence. By Julia Hack.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Regia; or, Her Little Kingdom. By E. M. Waterworth and
+Jennie Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Una’s Marriage. By Mrs. Haycraft.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Tephi: An Armenian Romance. By Cecilia M. Blake.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Christabel’s Influence. By J. Goldsmith Cooper.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Queen of the Isles. By Jessie M. E. Saxby.</p>
+
+
+<hr class='r15'>
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u'>  <i>Picture Books.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'><i>Size 9 by 7 inches. Coloured and numerous other Illustrations. Handsome
+Coloured Cover, Paper Boards with Cloth Back.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Happy and Gay: Pictures and Stories for Every Day. By
+D. J. D.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Pleasures and Joys for Girls and Boys. By D. J. D.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Anecdotes of Animals and Birds. By Uncle John.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Stories of Animal Sagacity. By D. J. D.</p>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u mt1'>  <i>“The World’s Wonders” Series.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mth'><i>Crown 8vo. 160 pages. Copiously Illustrated. Handsome Cloth Covers.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Conquest of the Air: The Romance of Aerial Navigation.
+By John Alexander.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Surgeons and their Wonderful Discoveries. By F. M.
+Holmes.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Life-Boat: Its History and Heroes. By F. M. Holmes.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Firemen and their Exploits. With an Account of Fire Brigades
+and Appliances. By F. M. Holmes.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Romance of the Savings Banks. By Archibald G.
+Bowie.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Romance of Glass Making. A Sketch of the History of
+Ornamental Glass. By W. Gandy.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Romance of the Post-Office: its Inception and Wondrous
+Development. By Archibald G. Bowie.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Marvels of Metals. By F. M. Holmes.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Triumphs of the Printing Press. By Walter Jerrold.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Electricians and their Marvels. By Walter Jerrold.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Musicians and their Compositions. By J. R. Griffiths.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Naturalists and their Investigations. By George Day, F.R.M.S.</p>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u mt1'>  <i>Devotional Classics.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'><i>A New Series of Devotional Books by Standard Authors. Well printed on
+good paper. Size 6¼ by 4¼ inches. Beautifully bound in
+Cloth Boards. 1s. 6d. each</i>, <span class="smcap">Net</span>.<br>
+(<i>Not illustrated.</i>)</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Imitation of Christ. By Thomas à Kempis.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Holy War. By John Bunyan.</p>
+
+<hr class="r15">
+
+<p class='hang1'>Letters on the Simple Life. By the Queen of Roumania, Marie
+Corelli, Madame Sarah Grand, “John Oliver Hobbes,” Sir A.
+Conan Doyle, The Bishop of London, Canon Hensley Henson,
+Sir J. Crichton Browne. Rev. S. Baring-Gould, Dr. Robertson
+Nicoll, etc. Crown 8vo. 160 pages. With Autographs of contributors
+in fac-simile. Imitation Linen, 1s, net. Cloth boards,
+1s. 6d. net. (Not illustrated.)</p>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u mt1'><i>Popular Missionary Biographies.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'><i>Crown 8vo. 160 pages. Cloth extra. Fully Illustrated.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Christianity of the Continent: a Retrospect and a
+Review. By Jesse Page, F.R.G.S.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Missionaries I have met, and the work they have done.
+By Jesse Page. F.R.G.S.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>James Chalmers, Missionary and Explorer of Rarotonga and
+New Guinea. By William Robson.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Griffith John, Founder of the Hankow Mission, Central China.
+By William Robson.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Robert Morrison: The Pioneer of Chinese Missions. By William
+J. Townsend.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Amid Greenland Snows; or, The Early History of Arctic
+Missions. By Jesse Page. F.R.G.S.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Bishop Patteson: The Martyr of Melanesia. By same Author.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Captain Allen Gardiner: Sailor and Saint. By same Author.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Congo for Christ: The Story of the Congo Mission. By
+Rev. J. B. Myers. <i>New Edition</i>, brought up to date.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>David Brainerd, the Apostle to the North-American Indians.
+By Jesse Page. F.R.G.S.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>David Livingstone: His Labours and his Legacy. By Arthur
+Montefiore-Brice.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>From Kafir Kraal to Pulpit: The Story of Tiyo Soga, First
+Ordained Preacher of the Kafir Race. By Rev. H. T. Cousins.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Japan: and its People. By Jesse Page, F.R.G.S.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>John Williams: The Martyr Missionary of Polynesia. By Rev.
+James Ellis.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>James Calvert; or, From Dark to Dawn in Fiji. By R. Vernon.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Lady Missionaries in Foreign Lands. By Mrs. E. R. Pitman.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Missionary Heroines in Eastern Lands. By Mrs. E. R. Pitman.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Reginald Heber: Bishop of Calcutta, Author of “From Greenland’s
+Icy Mountains.” By A. Montefiore-Brice. F.R.G.S.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Robert Moffat: The Missionary Hero of Kuruman. By David
+J. Deane.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Samuel Crowther: The Slave Boy who became Bishop of the
+Niger. By Jesse Page, F.R.G.S.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Thomas J. Comber: Missionary Pioneer to the Congo. By
+Rev. J. B. Myers.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>William Carey: The Shoemaker who became the Father and
+Founder of Modern Missions. By Rev. J. B. Myers.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Henry Martyn. By Jesse Page, F.R.G.S.</p>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u mt1'><i>Popular Biographies.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'><i>Crown 8vo. Cloth Boards. Fully Illustrated.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Life-Story of Ira D. Sankey, The Singing Evangelist. By
+David Williamson.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Great Evangelists, and the Way God has Used Them.
+By Jesse Page. Crown 8vo. 160 pages, with Portraits and Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Women who have Worked and Won. The Life Story of
+Mrs. Spurgeon, Mrs. Booth-Tucker, F. R. Havergal, and Ramabai.
+By Jennie Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>John Bright: Apostle of Free Trade. By Jesse Page, F.R.G.S.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Two Stephensons. By John Alexander.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>J. Passmore Edwards: Philanthropist. By E. Harcourt Burrage.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Dwight L. Moody: The Life-work of a Modern Evangelist. By
+Rev. J. H. Batt.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Noble Work by Noble Women: Sketches of the Lives of the
+Baroness Burdett-Coutts, Lady Henry Somerset, Miss Sarah Robinson,
+Mrs. Fawcett, and Mrs. Gladstone. By Jennie Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Four Noble Women and their Work: Sketches of the Life and
+Work of Frances Willard, Agnes Weston, Sister Dora, and Catherine
+Booth. By Jennie Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Canal Boy who became President. By Frederic T.
+Gammon.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Florence Nightingale: The Wounded Soldiers’ Friend. By
+Eliza F. Pollard.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Four Heroes of India: Clive, Warren Hastings, Havelock,
+Lawrence. By F. M. Holmes.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>General Gordon: The Christian Soldier and Hero. By G.
+Barnett Smith.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>W. E. Gladstone: England’s Great Commoner. By Walter
+Jerrold. With Portrait and 38 other Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Heroes and Heroines of the Scottish Covenanters. By
+J. Meldrum Dryerre, LL.B., F.R.G.S.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>John Knox and the Scottish Reformation. By G. Barnett
+Smith.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Philip Melancthon: The Wittemberg Professor and Theologian
+of the Reformation. By David J. Deane.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Sir John Franklin and the Romance of the North-West
+Passage. By G. Barnett Smith.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Slave and his Champions: Sketches of Granville Sharp,
+Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce, and Sir T. F. Buxton. By
+C. D. Michael.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>C. H. Spurgeon: His Life and Ministry. By Jesse Page, F.R.G.S.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Two Noble Lives: John Wicliffe, the Morning Star of the
+Reformation; and Martin Luther, the Reformer. By David J.
+Deane. 208 pages.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>William Tyndale: The Translator of the English Bible. By G.
+Barnett Smith.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Marquess of Salisbury: His Inherited Characteristics,
+Political Principles, and Personality. By W. F. Aitken.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Joseph Parker, D.D.: His Life and Ministry. By Albert
+Dawson.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Hugh Price Hughes. By Rev. J. Gregory Mantle.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>R. J. Campbell, M.A.; Minister of the City Temple, London.
+By Charles T. Bateman.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Dr. Barnardo: “The Foster-Father of Nobody’s Children.” By
+Rev. J. H. Batt.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>W. Robertson Nicoll, LL.D.; Editor and Preacher. By Jane
+Stoddart.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>F. B. Meyer: His Life and Work. By Jennie Street.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>John Clifford, M.A., B.Sc., LL.D., D.D. By Chas. T. Bateman.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Thirty Years in the East End: A Marvellous Story of Mission
+Work. By W. Francis Aitken.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Alexander Maclaren, D.D.: The Man and His Message. By
+Rev. John C. Carlile.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Lord Milner. By W. B. Luke.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Lord Rosebery, Imperialist. By J. A. Hammerton.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Joseph Chamberlain: A Romance of Modern Politics. By
+Arthur Mee.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>General Booth: The Man and His Work. By Jesse Page,
+F.R.G.S.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Torrey and Alexander: The Story of their Lives. By J.
+Kennedy Maclean. Crown 8vo. Illustrated. Imitation cloth,
+1s. net. Cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u mt1'>  <i>Illustrated Reward Books.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'><i>Crown 8vo. 160 pages. Cloth extra. Fully Illustrated.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Bethesda Chapel. A Story of the Good Old Times. By Rev.
+C. Leach, D.D.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Philip’s Inheritance; or, Into a Far Country. By F. Spenser.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Donald’s Victory. By Lydia Phillips.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Red Brick Cottage. By Lady Hope.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Marchester Stories. By Rev. C. Herbert.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Sister Royal. By Mrs. Haycraft.</p>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u mt1'>  <i>“Onward” Temperance Library.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'><i>Crown 8vo. Illustrated. Cloth extra.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Dick’s Chum. By Miss M. A. Paull.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>“This book is well written and illustrated. It is just the book for boys.”</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class='hang1'>We Girls. By Miss M. A. Paull.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>“A capital book for girls—written by one who thoroughly understands them.”</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Manor House Mystery. By Mrs. C. L. Balfour.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>“It is written in excellent style, with a well-constructed plot, sparkling dialogue
+and a faultless moral.”</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Bird Angel. By Miss M. A. Paull.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>“One of Miss Paull’s most delightful stories.”</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Lyndon the Outcast. By Mrs. Clara Lucas Balfour.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Ronald Clayton’s Mistake. By Miss M. A. Paull.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>“It is a capital book to place in the hands of working lads.”</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Nearly Lost, but Dearly Won. By Rev. T. P. Wilson, M.A.,
+Author of “Frank Oldfield,” etc.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Hoyle’s Popular Ballads and Recitations. By William Hoyle,
+Author of “Hymns and Songs,” etc.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>“A capital book for Sunday School, Temperance, and general Recitations.”</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+
+<hr class='r30'>
+<h3 id="1s_each">
+  1s. each.
+</h3>
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u'><i>One Shilling Reward Books.</i></p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'><i>Fully Illustrated. Crown 8vo. Cloth extra.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>True Stories of Brave Deeds; or, What Boys and Girls can
+Do. By Mabel Bowler.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Mystery of Marnie. By Jennie Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Gipsy Kit; or, The Man with the Tattooed Face. By Robert
+Leighton.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Dick’s Desertion; A Boy’s Adventures in Canadian Forests.
+By Marjorie L. C. Pickthall.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Wild Swans; or, The Adventure of Rowland Cleeve. By
+Mary C. Rowsell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>George &amp; Co.; or, The Choristers of St. Anselm’s. By Spencer
+T. Gibb.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Fern Dacre: A Minster Yard Story. By Ethel Ruth Boddy.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Caravan Cruises: Five Children in a Caravan—not to mention
+Old Dobbin. By Phil Ludlow.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Other Pets and their Wild Cousins. By Rev. J. Isabell, F.E.S.
+Many Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Little Chris the Castaway. By F. Spenser.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Children of the Priory. By J. L. Hornibrook.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Through Sorrow and Joy; or, The Story of an English Bible in
+Reformation Times. By M. A. R.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Tom and the Enemy. By Clive R. Fenn.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Ruth’s Roses; or, What Some Girls Did. By Laura A. Barter-Snow.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>In Paths of Peril: A Boy’s Adventures in Nova Scotia. By
+J. Macdonald Oxley.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Pets and their Wild Cousins: New and True Stories of
+Animals. By Rev. J. Isabell, F.E.S.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Brother’s Need. By L. S. Mead. Crown 8vo. 128 pages.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Sunshine and Snow. By Harold Bindloss.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Donalblane of Darien. By J. Macdonald Oxley.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Crown Jewels. By Heather Grey.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>At the Bend of the Creek. By E. Gertrude and Annie A. Hart.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>All Play and No Work. By Harold Avery.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Bernard or Ben? By Jennie Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Always Happy; or, The Story of Helen Keller. By Jennie
+Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Birdie and her Dog, and other Stories of Canine Sagacity. By
+Miss Phillips (Mrs. H. B. Looker).</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Bessie Drew; or, The Odd Little Girl. By Amy Manifold.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Cola Monti; or, The Story of a Genius. By Mrs. Craik, Author
+of “John Halifax, Gentleman.”</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Children of Cherryholme. By M. S. Haycraft.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Fatal Nugget. By E. Harcourt Burrage.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Frank Burleigh; or, Chosen to be a Soldier. By Lydia
+Phillips.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Harold; or, Two Died for Me. By Laura A. Barter.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Indian Life in the Great North-West. By Egerton R. Young,
+Missionary to the North American Indian Tribes.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Jack the Conqueror; or Difficulties Overcome. By the
+Author of “Dick and his Donkey.”</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Little Bunch’s Charge; or, True to Trust. By Nellie Cornwall.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Lost in the Backwoods. By Edith C. Kenyon.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Little Woodman and his Dog Cæsar. By Mrs. Sherwood.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Our Den. By E. M. Waterworth.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Paul the Courageous. By Mabel Quiller-Couch.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Roy’s Sister; or, His Way and Hers. By M. B. Manwell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Raymond’s Rival; or, Which will Win? By Jennie Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Sweet Nancy. By L. T. Meade.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Who was the Culprit? By Jennie Chappell.</p>
+
+
+<hr class='r30'>
+<h3 id="1s_each_net">
+  1s. each net.
+</h3>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'>(<i>Not Illustrated.</i>)</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Partridge’s Popular Reciter. Old Favourites and New. 208
+pages. Crown 8vo. Imitation Cloth, 1s. net; Cloth boards,
+1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Partridge’s Humorous Reciter (uniform with Partridge’s Popular
+Reciter). Imitation Cloth, 1s. net; Cloth boards, 1s. 6d. net.</p>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 mt1 u'><i>Cheap Reprints of Popular Books for the Young.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='fs80 center mbh'><i>Crown 8vo. 160 pages. Illustrated. Cloth Boards, 1s. each.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Deeds of Daring; or, Stories of Heroism in Everyday Life.
+By C. D. Michael.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Everybody’s Friend; or, Hilda Danver’s Influence. By Evelyn
+Everett Green.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Bell Buoy; or, The Story of a Mysterious Key. By F. M.
+Holmes.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Saph’s Foster-Bairn. By Rev. A. Colbeck.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Vic: A Book of Animal Stories. By Alfred C. Fryer, Ph.D.,
+F.S.A.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>In Friendship’s Name. By Lydia Phillips.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Nella; or, Not my Own. By Jessie Goldsmith Cooper.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Blossom and Blight. By M. A. Paull.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Aileen. By Laura A. Barter-Snow.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Satisfied. By Catherine Trowbridge.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Ted’s Trust; or, Aunt Elmerley’s Umbrella. By Jennie
+Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Candle Lighted by the Lord. By Mrs. E. Ross.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Alice Western’s Blessing. By Ruth Lamb.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Tamsin Rosewarne and Her Burdens: A Tale of Cornish
+Life. By Nellie Cornwall.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Raymond and Bertha: A Story of True Nobility. By Lydia
+Phillips.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Gerald’s Dilemma. By Emma Leslie.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Fine Gold; or, Ravenswood Courtney. By Emma Marshall.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Marigold. By Mrs. L. T. Meade.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Jack’s Heroism. A Story of Schoolboy Life. By Edith C.
+Kenyon.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Lads of Kingston. A Tale of a Seaport Town. By
+James Capes Story.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Her Two Sons: A Story for Young Men and Maidens. By
+Mrs. Charles Garnett.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Rag and Tag: A Plea for the Waifs and Strays of Old
+England. By Mrs. E. J. Whittaker.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Through Life’s Shadows. By Eliza F. Pollard.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Little Princess of Tower Hill. By L. T. Meade, Author
+of “The Lady of the Forest.”</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Clovie and Madge. By Mrs. G. S. Reaney.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Ellerslie House: A Book for Boys. By Emma Leslie.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Like a Little Candle; or Bertrand’s Influence. By Mrs.
+Haycraft.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Louie’s Married Life. By Sarah Doudney.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Martin Redfern’s Vow. By Ethel F. Heddle.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Dairyman’s Daughter. By Legh Richmond.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Bible Wonders. By Rev. Dr. Newton.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Pilgrim’s Progress. By John Bunyan. 416 pages. Eight
+coloured and 46 other Illustrations.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Our Duty to Animals. By Mrs. C. Bray, Author of “Physiology
+for Schools,” etc. Intended to teach the young kindness to
+Animals.</p>
+
+<hr class='r15'>
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u'>
+  <i>“Onward” Temperance Library.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'><i>Crown 8vo. Illustrated. Cloth extra. 1s. each.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Western Waif. By Old Cornish.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Addy’s Two Lives. By Mrs. Ruth B. Yates.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>John Dudley’s Secret; or, The Gambler’s Daughter. By
+Edward Armytage.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Suspected; or, Under a Cloud. By A. J. Glasspool.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Whispers to those who wish to Enjoy a Happy Life. By
+Rev. Benj. Smith.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Snatched from Death. By Alfred J. Glasspool.</p>
+
+<hr class='r15'>
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u'>  <i>Everyone’s Library.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='hang1 fs80 mbh'><i>A re-issue of Standard Works in a cheap form, containing from 320
+to 500 pages, printed in the best style; with Illustrations on art paper,
+and tastefully bound in Cloth Boards. 1s. each.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Tom Brown’s Schooldays. By an Old Boy.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Wide, Wide World. By Susan Warner.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. By Daniel Defoe.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Uncle Tom’s Cabin. By H. B. Stowe.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Old Lieutenant and His Son. By Norman McLeod.</p>
+
+<hr class='r15'>
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u mt1'><i>Books for Christian Workers.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'><i>Large Crown 16mo. 128 pages. Chastely bound in Cloth Boards.
+1s. each.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Master’s Messages to Women. By Charlotte Skinner.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Royal and Loyal: Thoughts on the Twofold Aspects of the
+Christian Life. By Rev. W. H. Griffith-Thomas.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Thoroughness: Talks to Young Men. By Thain Davidson
+D.D.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Some Secrets of Christian Living. By Rev. F. B. Meyer.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Overcoming Life. By Rev. E. W. Moore.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Marks of the Master. By Charlotte Skinner.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Some Deeper Things. By Rev. F. B. Meyer.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Steps to the Blessed Life. By Rev. F. B. Meyer.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Daybreak in the Soul. By Rev. E. W. Moore.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Temptation of Christ. By C. Arnold Healing, M.A.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Keynotes to the Happy Life. By Charlotte Skinner.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>For Love’s Sake. By Charlotte Skinner.</p>
+
+<hr class="r15">
+
+<p class='hang1'>Our Bands of Love and what we do there: Hints and Helps
+in providing occupation for Children’s Classes. Compiled by
+Mildred Duff. Full of illustrations. Cloth boards. 1s.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Ingatherings: A Dainty Book of Beautiful Thoughts. Compiled
+by E. Agar. Cloth boards, 1s. (Paper covers, 6d. <i>net</i>.)</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Golden Words for Every Day. By M. Jennie Street. A
+prettily illustrated Text Book for the Young.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Armour of Life. A Little Book of Friendly Counsel.
+Edited by J. A. Hammerton. Foolscap 8vo. Ninety-six pages.
+Cloth.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The New Cookery of Unproprietary Foods. By Eustace
+Miles, M.A. 192 pages, 1s. <i>net</i>.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Child’s Book of Health. A Series of Illustrated and Easy
+Lessons for Children and Parents on taking care of ourselves. By
+Walter N. Edwards. F.C.S. 1s. <i>net</i>.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Hiram Golfs Religion. By George H. Hepworth, D.D., Author
+of “The Life Beyond,” etc. 128 pages. Cloth gilt.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Eon the Good; and other Verses. By Charlotte Murray.
+Crown 8vo.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Uncrowned Queens. By Charlotte Skinner. Small 8vo. 112
+pages. Cloth.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Victoria: the Well-Beloved. (1819–1901.) By W. Francis
+Aitken. Eight Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 152 pages. Cloth
+boards.</p>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u mt1'><i>New Series of One Shilling Picture Books.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='hang1 fs80 mbh'><i>Size 10½ by 8 inches. 96 pages. Coloured Frontispiece and numerous other
+illustrations. Handsomely bound in Paper Boards, covers printed in 10
+colours and varnished.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Trip to Storyland. By R. V.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Holiday Hours in Animal Land. By Uncle Harry.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Bible Treasures. A Book of Old Testament Pictures in
+colours. With suitable letterpress.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Animal Antics! By the Author of “In Animal Land with Louis
+Wain.”</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Happy Days. By R. V.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Old Testament Heroes. By Mildred Duff.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Feed My Lambs. Fifty-two Bible Stories and Pictures. By the
+Author of “The Friends of Jesus.”</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Jesus the Good Shepherd. A Book of Bible Pictures in
+colours, with suitable letterpress.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Tell Me a Tale! A Picture Story Book for Little Children.
+By J. D.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Little Snow-Shoes’ Picture Book. By R. V.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>In Animal Land with Louis Wain. Coloured Frontispiece
+and many other of Louis Wain’s striking animal pictures for the
+young.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Two Little Bears at School. By J. D.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Merry and Free. Pictures and Stories for our Little Ones. By
+R. V.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Bible Pictures and Stories: Old Testament. By D. J. D.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Bible Pictures and Stories: New Testament. By James
+Weston and D. J. D.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Pussies and Puppies. By Louis Wain.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Life of Jesus. By Mildred Duff, 112 pages.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Gentle Jesus: A Book of Bible Pictures in colour. Size, 11 by
+8 inches.</p>
+
+<hr class="r15">
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class='fs80'>Commendations from all parts of the world have reached
+Messrs. S. W. Partridge and Co. upon the excellence of their
+Picture Books. The reading matter is high-toned, helpful, and
+amusing, exactly adapted to the requirements of young folks;
+while the Illustrations are by first-class artists, and the paper is
+thick and durable. Bound in attractive coloured covers, they
+form a unique series.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+
+<h3 id="9d_each">
+  9d. each.
+</h3>
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u'><i>Ninepenny Series of Illustrated Books.</i></p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'><i>96 pages. Small Crown 8vo. Illustrated. Handsome Cloth Covers.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Kibbie &amp; Co. By Jennie Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Brave Bertie. By Edith C. Kenyon.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Little Slave Girl. By Eileen Douglas.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Marjorie’s Enemy: A Story of the Civil War of 1644. By Mrs.
+Adams.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Lady Betty’s Twins. By E. M. Waterworth.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Venturesome Voyage. By F. Scarlett Potter.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Out of the Straight; or, The Boy who Failed and the Boy
+who Succeeded. By Noel Hope.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Bob and Bob’s Baby. By Mary E. Lester.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Robin’s Golden Deed. By Ruby Lynn.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Little Captain: A Temperance Tale. By Lynde Palmer.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Runaway Twins; or, The Terrible Guardian. By Irene
+Clifton.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Grandmother’s Child. By Annie S. Swan.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Dorothy’s Trust. By Adela Frances Mount.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Grannie’s Treasures; and how they helped her. By L. E.
+Tiddeman.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>His Majesty’s Beggars. By Mary E. Ropes.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Love’s Golden Key. By Mary E. Lester.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Faithful Friends. By C. A. Mercer.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Only Roy. By E. M. Waterworth and Jennie Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Aunt Armstrong’s Money. By Jennie Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Babes in the Basket; or, Daph and Her Charge.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Bel’s Baby. By Mary E. Ropes.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Birdie’s Benefits; or, A Little Child Shall Lead Them. By
+Edith Ruth Boddy.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Carol’s Gift; or, “What Time I am Afraid I will Trust in
+Thee.” By Jennie Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Cripple George; or, God has a Plan for Every Man. A Temperance
+Story. By John W. Kneeshaw.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Cared For; or, The Orphan Wanderers. By Mrs. C. E. Bowen.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Flight with the Swallows. By Emma Marshall.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Five Cousins. By Emma Leslie.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Foolish Chrissy; or, Discontent and its Consequences. By
+Meta.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>For Lucy’s Sake, By Annie S. Swan.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Giddie Garland; or, The Three Mirrors. By Jennie Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>How a Farthing made a Fortune; or, Honesty is the Best
+Policy. By Mrs. C. E. Bowen.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>How Paul’s Penny became a Pound. By Mrs. Bowen.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>How Peter’s Pound became a Penny. By the same Author.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>John Blessington’s Enemy: A Story of Life in South Africa.
+By E. Harcourt Burrage.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>John Oriel’s Start in Life. By Mary Howitt.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>The Man of the Family. By Jennie Chappell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Mattie’s Home; or, The Little Match-girl and her Friends.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Nan; or, The Power of Love. By Eliza F. Pollard.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Phil’s Frolic. By F. Scarlett Potter.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Paul: A Little Mediator. By Maude M. Butler.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Rob and I; or, By Courage and Faith. By C. A. Mercer.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>A Sailor’s Lass. By Emma Leslie.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Una Bruce’s Troubles. By Alice Price.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Won from the Sea. By E. C. Phillips (Mrs. H. B. Looker).</p>
+
+<hr class='r30'>
+<h3 id="6d_each">
+  6d. each.
+</h3>
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u'><i>The Marigold Series.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1 fs80 mth'><i>An unequalled series of Standard Stories, printed on good laid paper.
+Imperial 8vo. 128 pages. Illustrated covers with vignetted design
+printed in eight colours. Price 6d. each net.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Pride and Prejudice.</span> By
+Jane Austen.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">From Jest to Earnest.</span> By
+E. P. Roe.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Wide, Wide World.</span>
+By Susan Warner.</p>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u mt1'><i>New Series of Sixpenny Picture Books.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='hang1 fs80 mbh'><i>Crown 4to. With Coloured Frontispiece and many other Illustrations.
+Handsomely Bound in Paper Boards, with cover printed in ten colours.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Off to Toyland! By Uncle Jack.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Going A-Sailing! By J. D.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Follow the Flag. By J. D.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Dollie Dimple. By J. D.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Old Mother Bunnie! A Picture Story Book for Laddies and
+Lassies. By J. D.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Off We Go! Pictures and Stories for Boys and Girls. By R. V.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Sweet Stories Re-Told: A Bible Picture Book for Young Folks.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>Little Snowdrop’s Bible Picture Book.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>March Away! Pictures and Stories for Every Day.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>After the Ball: Pictures and Stories for One and All.</p>
+
+<hr class="r15">
+
+<p class='hang1'>Mother’s Sunday A B C: A Little Book of Bible Pictures,
+which can be coloured by hand.</p>
+
+<hr class='r15'>
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u'><i>The “Red Dave” Series.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'><i>New and Enlarged Edition. Handsomely bound in Cloth Boards.<br>
+Well Illustrated.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>“<span class="smcap">Roast Potatoes!</span>” A Temperance Story. By Rev. S. N. Sedgwick, M.A.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">His Captain.</span> By Constancia Sergeant.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'>“<span class="smcap">In a Minute!</span>” By Keith Marlow.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Uncle Jo’s Old Coat.</span> By Eleanora H. Stooke.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Cost of a Promise.</span> By M. I. Hurrell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Farthing Dips</span>; or, What can I do? BY J. S. Woodhouse.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Roy Carpenter’s Lesson.</span> By Keith Marlow.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Gerald’s Guardian.</span> By Charles Herbert.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Where a Queen once Dwelt.</span> BY Jetta Vogel.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Wilful Jack.</span> By M. I. Hurrell.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Willie the Waif.</span> By Minie Herbert.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">A Little Town Mouse.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Little Governess.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Puppy-Dog Tales.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Mother’s Boy.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">A Great Mistake.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">From Hand to Hand.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">That Boy Bob.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Buy Your Own Cherries.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Left in Charge</span>, and other Stories.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">A Threefold Promise.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Four Young Musicians.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Two Little Girls and What They Did.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">A Sunday Trip and What Came of it.</span>
+By E. J. Romanes.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Little Tim and his Picture.</span>
+By Beatrice Way.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Midge.</span> By L. E. Tiddeman.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Conjurer’s Wand.</span> By
+Henrietta S. Streatfeild.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Benjamin’s New Boy.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Enemies</span>: a Tale for Little Lads
+and Lassies.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Cherry Tree Place.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">A Tale of Four Foxes.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Joe and Sally</span>: or, A Good Deed
+and its Fruits.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Island Home.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Chrissy’s Treasure.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Lost in the Snow.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Owen’s Fortune.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Red Dave</span>; or, What Wilt Thou
+have Me to Do?</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Dick and His Donkey.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Jessie Dyson.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Come Home, Mother.</span></p>
+
+<hr class='r30'>
+
+<h3 id="4d_each">
+  4d. each.
+</h3>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u'>  <i>Cheap “Pansy” Series:</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'><i>Imperial 8vo. 64 pages. Many Illustrations. Cover printed in five colours.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Strait Gate.</span> By Annie S.
+Swan.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Mark Desborough’s Vow.</span> By
+Annie S. Swan.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Her Saddest Blessing.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Miss Priscilla Hunter</span>, and
+other Stories.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Wild Bryonie.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Avice.</span> A Story of Imperial Rome.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Links in Rebecca’s Life.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">From Different Standpoints.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Those Boys.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Chrissie’s Christmas.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Four Girls at Chautauqua.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Julia Ried.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Ester Ried yet Speaking.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Echoing and Re-echoing.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Cunning Workmen.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Tip Lewis and His Lamp.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The King’s Daughter.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Household Puzzles.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Randolphs.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Wise To Win</span>; or, The Master
+Hand.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">A New Graft on the Family Tree.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Man of the House.</span></p>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u mt1'>  <i>The Young Folks’ Library.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80'><i>Of Cloth-bound Books. With Coloured Frontispiece. 64 pages.<br>
+Well Illustrated. Handsome Cloth Covers.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Little Woodman.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Jacko the Monkey</span>, and other
+Stories.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Little Dan, the Orange Boy.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Ronald’s Reason.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">From Shadow to Sunshine.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">A Bright Idea.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Sybil and Her Live Snowball.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Church Mouse.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Dandy Jim.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">A Troublesome Trio.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Perry’s Pilgrimage.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Nita</span>; or, Among the Brigands.</p>
+
+
+<h3 id="3d_each">
+  3d. each.
+</h3>
+
+<p class='hang3 fs120 u'><i>New Pretty “Gift-Book” Series.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'><i>With Beautiful Coloured Frontispiece, and many other Illustrations.
+Paper Boards, Cover printed in eight Colours and Varnished, 3d. each.
+Size 6 by 5 inches.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Jack and Jill’s Picture Book.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Lady-bird’s Pictures and
+Stories.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Playtime Joys for Girls and Boys.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Dolly’s Picture Book.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">By the Sea.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Toby and Kit’s Animal Book.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">“Pets” and “Pickles.”</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Our Little Pets’ Alphabet.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Bible Stories—Old Testament.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Bible Stories—New Testament.</span></p>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u mt1'>  <i>The Tiny Library.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80 mbh'><i>Books printed in large type. Cloth limp, 3d.</i></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Little Chrissie</span>, and other Stories.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Harry Carlton’s Holiday.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">A Little Loss and a Big Find.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">What a Little Cripple Did.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Bobby.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Matty and Tom.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Broken Window.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">John Madge’s Cure for Selfishness.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Pedlar’s Loan.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Letty Young’s Trials.</span></p>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 u mt1'>  <i>Paternoster Series of Popular Stories.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='center fs80'><i>An entirely New Series of Books, Medium 8vo. in size, 32 pages, fully illustrated.<br>
+Cover daintily printed in two colours. 1d. each. Titles as follows</i>:—</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">A Candle Lighted by the Lord.</span>
+By Mrs. Ross.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Grandmother’s Child.</span> By
+Annie S. Swan.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Babes in the Basket</span>; or,
+Daph and her Charge.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Jenny’s Geranium</span>; or, The Prize
+Flower of a London Court.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Through Sorrow and Joy.</span> By
+M. A. R.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">The Little Woodman and His Dog Cæsar.</span> By Mrs. Sherwood.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Cripple George.</span> By J. W.
+Kneeshaw.</p>
+
+<p class='hang1'><span class="smcap">Rob and I.</span> By C. A. Mercer.</p>
+
+
+<p class='hang3 fs110 mt1 u'>  <i>Partridge’s Pictorial Magazines.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class='hang1 fs80 mth'>“A word of emphatic praise should be given to the old-established and excellent
+magazines of Messrs. Partridge and Co. They ought to hold their own against the
+great competition, for they are eminently sound, healthy, and interesting.”—<span class="smcap">British
+Weekly.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1 fs80 mth'>“It would be difficult to surpass these Magazines. All have marched with the times.”—<span class="smcap">Daily
+Telegraph.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1 fs80 mth'>“There are no more attractive Annual Volumes than those issued by <span class="smcap">S. W. Partridge.</span>
+and Co.”—<span class="smcap">The Christian.</span></p>
+
+<p class='hang1 mth'>The British Workman. Contains popular Articles and Stories
+on Temperance, Thrift, etc., and short biographies of eminent
+Self-made Men; also interesting information of special value
+to the sons of toil.
+
+<span class='float-right'>  1d. Monthly.</span>
+</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class='fs80 mth hang1'>The Yearly Volume, 144 pages full of illustrations, coloured paper boards,
+<b>1s. 6d.</b>; cloth, <b>2s. 6d.</b></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class='hang1 mth'>The Family Friend. A beautifully Illustrated Magazine for the
+Home Circle, with Serial and Short Stories by popular
+Authors, Helpful Articles, Hints on Dressmaking, etc.
+
+<span class='float-right'>
+  1d. Monthly.
+</span>
+</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class='fs80 mth hang1'>The Yearly Volume, in coloured paper boards and cloth back, <b>1s. 6d.</b>;
+cloth, <b>2s.</b>; gilt edges, <b>2s. 6d.</b></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class='hang1 mth'>The Friendly Visitor. An Illustrated Magazine for the people,
+full of entertaining reading with sound religious teaching in
+the form of story, article, and poem. Printed in good type
+and fully illustrated. Just the paper for the aged.
+
+<span class='float-right'>
+  1d. Monthly.</span>
+</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class='fs80 mth hang1'>The Yearly Volume, coloured paper boards and cloth back, <b>1s. 6d.</b>; cloth,
+<b>2s.</b>; gilt edges, <b>2s. 6d.</b></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class='hang1 mth'>The Children’s Friend. Charming Stories, interesting Articles,
+Indoor Recreations, beautiful Pictures, Puzzles, Prize Competitions,
+etc.
+
+<span class='float-right'>
+  1d. Monthly.</span>
+</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class='fs80 mth hang1'>The Yearly Volume, coloured paper boards, with cloth back and excellent
+coloured frontispiece, <b>1s. 6d.</b>; cloth, <b>2s.</b>; gilt edges, <b>2s. 6d.</b></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class='hang1 mth'>The Infants’ Magazine. No other periodical can be compared
+with the Infants’ Magazine for freshness, brightness, and
+interest. Full of bright pictures and pleasant reading to
+delight the little ones.
+
+<span class='float-right'>
+  1d. Monthly.</span>
+</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class='hang1 fs80 mth'>The Yearly Volume, coloured paper boards, with cloth back and beautifully
+coloured frontispiece, <b>1s. 6d.</b>; cloth, <b>2s.</b>; gilt edges, <b>2s. 6d.</b></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class='hang1 mth'>The Band of Hope Review. The Leading Temperance
+Periodical for the Young, containing Serial and Short Stories,
+Concerted Recitations, Prize Competitions. Should be in
+the hands of all Members of Bands of Hope.
+
+<span class='float-right'>
+  ½d. Monthly.</span>
+</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class='hang1 mth fs80'>The Yearly Volume coloured paper boards, <b>1s.</b>; cloth boards, <b>1s. 6d.</b></p>
+</blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<div class="chapter transnote">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes">
+    Transcriber’s Notes
+  </h2>
+
+
+<ul>
+<li>Illustrations moved to nearby paragraph breaks.</li>
+
+<li>Obvious typographic errors silently corrected.</li>
+
+</ul>
+</div>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78829 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
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@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+[Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for eBook [#78829](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78829)