284 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 



Altai Mountains in the neighbourhood of the Selenga, the 

 source-river of the Yenisej. At several places the river terri- 

 tories of the Ob and the Yenesej nearly reach hands to one 

 another through affluents, which rise so close to each other that 

 the two river systems might easily be connected by canals. 

 This is also the case with the affluents of the Yenesej and the 

 Lena, which at many places almost meet, and the Lena itself 

 is, according to Latkin's statement, navigable from the village 

 of Kotschuga to the sea. We see from this how extraordinarily 

 advantageous is the natural system of interior communication 

 which Siberia possesses, and at the same time that a communica- 

 tion by sea between this country and the rest of the world is pos- 

 sible only by the Arctic Ocean. It is on this that the enormous 

 importance of the navigation of the Siberian Polar Sea depends. 

 If this can be brought about, Siberia, with an inconsiderable 

 expenditure in making canals, will not only become one of the 

 most fortunate countries of the globe in respect of the possi- 

 bility of the cheap transport of goods, but the old proposal of a 

 north-eastern commercial route to China may even become a 

 reality. If, on the other hand, navigation on the Polar Sea 

 be not brought about, Siberia will still long remain what it is 

 at present — a land rich in raw materials, but poor in all 

 that is required for the convenience and comfort with which the 

 civilised man in our days can with difficulty dispense. 



Many perhaps believe that the present want of commercial 

 communication may be removed by a railway running across 

 Eussia and Southern Siberia. But this is by no means the 

 case. On the contrary, communication by sea is an indispens- 

 able condition of such a railway being profitable. For it can 

 never come in question to carry on a railway the products of 

 the forest or the field over the stretch of three to five thousand 

 kilometres which sejDarates the fertile river territory of the Ob- 

 Irtisch from the nearest European port. Even if we suppose 

 that the railway freight, inclusive of all costs, could be reduced 

 to a farthing the kilometre-ton, it would in any case rise, from 

 the grain regions of Siberia to a harbour on the Baltic, to from 

 4/. to nearly 7^. per ton. So high a freight, with the costs of 

 loading in addition, none of the common products of agriculture 

 or forestry can stand, as may easily be seen if we compare this 

 amount with the prices current in the markets of the world 

 for wheat, rye, oats, barley, timber, &c. But if the Siberian 

 countryman cannot sell his raw products, the land will continue 

 to be as thinly peopled as it is at present, nor can the 

 sparse population which will be found there procure themselves 

 means to purchase such products of the industry of the present 

 day as are able to bear long railway carriage. In the absence of 

 contemporaneous sea-communication the railway will therefore 



