28 ' Sketch of Siberia, &c. 
for minor offences, and who, bringing with them some of the knowl- 
edge of European customs, impart-an air of thrift and neatness to all 
about them. Near the city is a cloth manufactory, and within it a 
military, and a Lancasterian school, with other humane and useful 
institutions. ‘These convicts if they attempt to desert, are considered 
and treated as outlaws, so that once passing the frontier of the prov- 
ince fixes their fate for life. 
YAKUTSK. 
For several hundred miles north east towards Yakutsk on the Lena, 
the country is in a state of barbarism, inhabited principally by wan- 
dering tribes, occupied in the chase, or in raising reindeer, for whose 
subsistence they roam from pasture to pasture with their herds and 
tents. Yakutsk is much resorted to by the Russian American Com- 
pany, and is a great mart for furs, the choicest kinds being bought 
and sold there. It is on the left bank of the Lena, which in sum- 
mer is four miles wide. ‘This is a majestic river, the longest in Si- 
beria, pursuing a course of nearly four thousand miles from its source 
to the frozen ocean.* 
From Yakutsh north east to Nishney Kolyma is a distance of 
eighteen hundred miles. Yakutsh is the las. limit of civilization ; the 
country becomes mountainous north east ‘rom ihe Lena to the Aldan 
and the Jana, and perpetual snow marks the near approach to the 
arctic regions, Parallel ranges of mountains occur in these latitudes 
composed of granite, with accompanying strata of slate. On the 
banks of the Kamer de Maslo is a fossil or earthy substance, of a 
yellowish cream color, called by the Russians kammenoye-maslo, or 
stone butter, which is eaten in various ways, and is not disagreeable 
to the taste. It is probably similar to the mineral found in corres- 
ponding latitudes, on the banks of the McKenzie; which Capt. Frank- 
lin states is used by the natives for food in periods of famine. It 
oozes out of the rocks in many parts of Siberia, and when exposed 
to the air it hardens, but in wet weather hecomes soft and even liquid. 
That found on the McKenzie resembled a kneaded paste, and was 
used by the traders as is stated by Capt. Franklin, for whitening their 
apartments. 
Sta amie ge EE SE rib 
* Cochrane. 
