SIBERIA AND THE EXILES. 633 



in Russia nor in Siberia, but in Olmutz, in Austria, in the year of 

 grace 1872. The worst part of the journey is when the steamers come 

 into requisition. They are long boats with a high deck, designed to 

 carry six hundred persons at once. The deck is inclosed and covered 

 with strong grating, in order to prevent any attempts to escape. Fore 

 and aft of these are the kitchens and hospitals, while the six hundred 

 convicts are confined in a mass under the deck in a space which is far 

 too narrow, and where, for lack of efficient ventilation, a stifling at- 

 mosphere always prevails. The Russian law allows a divorce to the 

 wives of convicts sentenced to exile, but the communes, on the other 

 hand, are anxious to cast off the burden of their possibly pauper fami- 

 lies, and the government encourages this disposition by permitting the 

 wives and children of the exiles to go with them. In most cases, the 

 families are ready to share the fate of the father ; the Jewish wife 

 always goes with her husband. The relatives are also sent off with 

 the prisoner. This measure has evil consequences on the vessels, 

 where, as we have said, six hundred persons, including those of the 

 worst character, are crowded into a single apartment, and can see, 

 hear, and talk with one another at every hour of the day and night. 

 When we consider that many children are mingled with the crowd, we 

 can easily conceive what horrible scenes besides the physical torments 

 are enacted there, and how brutalizing must be the impression they 

 make upon young and old. In such cases the reproach of inhumanity 

 against the government is fully justified, and it is not spared, for I 

 have frequently heard the officers condemn the decrees of the courts. 

 The journey by steamer requires ten times less time, but it is also ten 

 times worse, more degrading, and more barbarous than the march on 

 foot. When the change is made from the steamer to the railroad the 

 situation assumes a little better shape. The prisoners, with their wives 

 and children around them, cling to the benches along the bare walls, 

 and the chains clink weirdly in the confusion of screaming, moaning, 

 and cursing voices. Here also is a deficiency of space and air, and the 

 conditions are hardly endurable. But the few observations of stran- 

 gers are contradicted by the stereotyped view. " The farmers do not 

 travel differently, and what they freely endure for themselves certainly 

 ought to be good enough for criminals." Gangs on foot are still usual, 

 but only the strongest men are taken in them, and the treatment is 

 more humane than it was. The average day's journey is about seven 

 geographical miles, and every third day is a rest-day. Complaints 

 may be heard that seven miles a day is too much, but it seems to be 

 forgotten that the soldier has to perform the same march, and he is 

 encumbered with his baggage. At the present time the deportation 

 takes place only in the summer, and the exiles are settled before the 

 approach of winter. 



At the beginning of the journey, each prisoner is given a gray 

 cloak, and he receives daily for his maintenance from ten to fifteen 



