Cochrant's Journey to tht Frozen Sea and Kamtchatka. G33 



of what is tloiiig, and of what the cri- 

 minals suller; J'ct how then can we ac- 

 count torn continuance of sucli severe 

 treatment afler Ihe visit oftlie celebrated 

 Mr. Speranski I This is indeed a serious 

 question and charge. Since n)y arrival 

 at St. Petersburg.', however, I have been 

 inrormed that it is the intention of go- 

 vcrnnient to give up tiie establishment 

 at Nertchinsk altogether, and withdraw 

 the |>eopIe. 



Tliere arc six silver founderies, name- 

 ly, Nertchinsk, Doutcharsk, Kouto- 

 marsk, Ekalerininsk, Gazimoursk, 

 Shiikinsk. There is also a new fonndery, 

 named Pelrofsk, for the casting of iron 

 for the use of the silver founderies. The 

 tiiirleen principal mines, when wurked, 

 pnulnced formerly about a million of 

 |Mods of ore, or three hundred poods of 

 silver per annum, which is nearly one 

 pound weight of silver for every four 

 thousMnd ponmis weight of ore. The 

 present proportion is one-third less, or 

 trom one hundred and eighty to two 

 hundred poods of silver per annum, he- 

 sides twenty-five thousand pooils of lead, 

 which is of no service whatever.' When 

 t!ie transport of lliis silver to St. Peters- 

 burg by esj)ecial conductors and guards 

 is calculated, together witii the main- 

 tenance of the esLablishments at Nert- 

 chinsk, and a large military and Cossack 

 force, who must be fed from Irkutsk, I 

 iiecd scarcely say tiiat the whole is a 

 ruinous as well as a cruel coiiccrii. 

 "VVhat is half a million of roubles? 

 What is twenty-five tiionsand pounds to 

 the emperor, the produce of forty-eight 

 thousand and twenty-seven iiidividiiaiR, 

 «t ten shillings and fivepence per head 

 per aununi, being the value extracted 

 from the mines of Nertchinsk? The 

 following IS the population : — 



Staff Officers ™^ 78 



Unelasged Officers .„™-^,™. 699 



Convicts in the Mines -™™ 2,458 



Persons released from labour^ — v, l,!i;16 



Boys who do or do not receive 



. maintenance from Government. 1,611 



Total male convicts 0,062 



Female branches of the above 6,098 



Peasants attached totheFounderies 17,773 

 Females, do.. 



Grand Total 48,027 



Of these there arc actually but sixteen 

 hundred and two able-bodied men in the 

 luincK, and these are guarded by five 

 hundred and sixty-four interior ollicers, 

 to prevent their secretin]; gold, silver, 

 orpreciouk stuncx. 



DEPARTt'RE FROM IRKUTSK. 



U|)on the evening of the lOlh of Fe- 

 bruary snow fell in great quantities, and 

 I coiisccpiently departed the next morn- 

 ing, with tears of regret at quitting a 

 place where I had been so cordially and 

 respectfully entertained. If on my 

 return I experience similar good fortune, 

 I shall indeed have cause to rejoice ; 

 and if my expenses from hence to Mos- 

 cow be as small as to this place, I may 

 be termed a most economical traveller; 

 for from thence to Irkutsk, about three 

 thousand five hundred miles, cost me 

 only thirty-two roubles, or ahoutlwenty- 

 five shillings. 



The government of Irkutsk is most 

 extensive, occupying a breadth from 

 east to west, of two thousand miles, and 

 a diflerence of latitude equal to one 

 thousand two lunidred, which averages 

 not more than one person to every four 

 square miles. 'J'his part of the world is, 

 however, so rujiidly improving, that al- 

 though it is little more than two years 

 and a half since I passed this load, lean 

 scarcely recognize the same places. 

 Commissariats have become govern- 

 nients, towns have taken the rank of 

 cities, villages are called towns, and 

 wiiere there were no dwellings, there are 

 now many hamlets. 



RETURN TO EUROPR. 



At break of day I was on the high- 

 est peak of the Ural mountain pass, 

 and could nut help stopping to take a 

 last view of Asia, the forced residence 

 of many dear and valued friends, as 

 also the abode of others whom I much 

 esteem. Though it is, generally speak- 

 ing, the land of the exile, it is rather 

 the land of the unfortunate than the 

 criminal. It is the want of education 

 which begetting a looseness of morals, 

 plunges those unfortunates into error. 

 The thinness of |)opulation in Siberia, 

 is a ready reason to account for the 

 facility with which a person is exiled. 

 Of rial criminals there are not so many 

 as is imagined, as by the report of 

 Nertchinsk it appears, that but two 

 thousand five hundred criminals arc 

 employed in the mines. It is not every 

 man who is sent to Botany Bay that 

 ought to be termed a criminal ; nor is 

 every one who is exiled to Siberia. 

 It may be safely said that all the 

 most hardened criminals who are 

 banished for life, are at Nertchin^k and 

 Okotsk ; at least there are very few ex- 

 ceptions, and I believe their whole 

 number does not exceed throe thousand, 

 while the niunbcr of exiles smt for a 

 limited 



