356 



THE JEANNETTE ARCTIC EXPEDITION. 



I was fortunate enough to secure some beautiful shawls and 

 table covers. The shawls were made from cashmere wool, 

 the yarn having been spun in the country by hand. I also 

 saw some very pretty netted bed-covers with figures marked 

 in with Berlin worsteds very tastefully. The love of orna- 

 ments is universal. Among the Tunguses the women were 

 inveterate beggars, especially for small pieces of scarlet flan- 

 nel part of a pair of woolen drawers of mine. 



The population of most Siberian towns increases consider- 

 ably in the autumn. Petropaulofsky, a small town of some 

 1,100 inhabitants, between Omsk and Orenburg, swells its 



numbers in the fall to 17,000 

 by the arrival of natives with 

 goods for trade and barter. 

 The business of the place 

 consists of raising horses, 

 and exporting tar, sheep- 

 skins, hides and furs, which 

 are sent to Russia. 



After leaving Omsk we 

 traveled across the Kirghe- 

 sian steppes, a generally level 

 country, evidently producing 

 some hay and grain, but at 

 the time covered with snow. 

 On these steppes I saw num- 

 erous droves of horses grubbing an existence. There must 

 be good pasturage here a part of the year to support so much 

 stock. The inhabitants, particularly the men, wear a sur- 

 prisingly small amount of clothing. They have a cap or 

 big hood of sheep-skin tanned with the hair on, and coats 

 of the same material with long sleeves ; and over this, in 

 severe weather, a big deer-skin or some other skin garment 

 is worn. The under garments are of cheap, 1 (right-colored 

 cotton, with pants of shoddy gray, and foot gear made of 

 plaited straw, skins, or leather, according to the wealth of 

 the owner. 



SPINNING. 



