SIBERIA 



427 



becomes an immense swamp. Various small tribes 

 of Manchurian origin (Golds, Mangoons, &c.) lead 

 a half aquatic existence on the banks of the Lower 

 Amur and its tributaries, while the Russian settle- 

 ments are reduced to a number of villages built on the 

 river for maintaining communication along its banks. 

 It is on the border of this region that the capital 

 of the Amur territory. Khabarovka, stands at the 

 junction of the Amur with the Usuri. The rocky 

 and inhospitable mountains of Sikhota-alin, inter- 

 sected by equally low and swampy valleys, fill the 

 remaining space towards the sea-coast the moun- 

 tains rising over the sea as a stone wall, almost 

 entirely devoid of indentations. From Khabarovka 

 the valley of the Usuri leads southwards to Lake 

 Khangka and to the fertile tracts on the frontier 

 of Corea, which surround the Gulf of Peter the 

 Great. In that gulf Russia nas at Vladivostok a 

 splendid harbour, reminding une by its general 

 aspect of the Golden Horn of Constantinople. A 

 railway, intended to connect Khabarovka with 

 Vladivostok, was begun in 1891 at its southern 

 terminns, and was strenuously carried on notwith- 

 standing the very great difficulties presented by 

 natural obstacles and the scarcitv of population. 

 The island of Saghalien and Kamchatka are separ- 

 ately treated. 



Riven. The rivere of Sil>eria are of an immense 

 importance for the life of the country. They all 

 take their origin on the plateau, and, after having 

 pierced the surrounding mountains, enter the plains, 

 where they describe great curves and receive num- 

 bers of large tributaries before entering the sea. 

 All of them have moreover this feature in common, 

 that each of them u formed by the junction of a 

 pair of great rivers : such are the Obi and the 

 irtysh, the Yenisei and the Tungnska, the Lena 

 and the Vitim, the Shilka and the Argun which 

 form the Amur. The three former enter the Arctic 

 Ocean, and repeated efforts have lieen made of late 

 by both Swedish and English explorers and traders 

 to establish a regular communication l>etween 

 Europe and the mouths of the Siberian rivers, r/Vi 

 the Kara Sea, which is now known to be free from 

 ice for a few weeks every year. These efforts have 

 not been lost, as a couple of steamers now reach 

 very year the mouths of either the Obi or the 

 Yenisei, with a cargo of machinery and various 

 manufactured goods. Owing to the great depth 

 of the siln-1 i:in rivers, Nordenskiiild was enabled 

 to sail up the Yenisei as far south as 60 N. latitude, 

 while a schooner which was built at Tiumen, on a 

 tributary of the Obi system, could sail to London 

 with a cargo of Siberian wheat. But for the interior 

 communication the rivers are of still greater im- 

 portance. A line of railway crossing the Urals 

 now connects the Kama, a great tributary of the 

 Volga, with the town Tinmen, and steamers 

 ply regularly from Tiumen to Tomsk, the capital 

 of West Siberia ; to liarnaul and Biysk in the 

 Altai Mountains ; and to Semipalatinsk in the 

 Kirghiz Steppes. Besides, a canal has recently 

 Ix-en dug to connect the Obi with the Yenisei, ami, 

 when it lias lx,wn deepened ami some rapids on the 

 Angara have lieen cleared, goods will lie trans- 

 ported from the Urals to Irkutsk, the capital of 

 East Siberia, situated within 40 miles of Lake 

 Baikal. No less than 164 steamers (4000 horse- 

 power) already ply on the Obi and the Irtysh. The 

 Yenisei is also navigated as far as Minusinsk, a 

 small town situated within 300 miles of the 

 Mongolian frontier, in a very fertile region which 

 U often described as the Italy of Siberia on account 

 of it* rich vegetation. The Lena is navigated 

 by steamers from Verkholensk (200 miles N. of 

 Irkutsk) to ita month large quantities of corn and 

 varioiiH goods being shipped to the gold-mines of 

 the Olekiua ; smaller steamers also navigate the 



Vitim. On the Amur forty-live steamers (2800 

 horse-power) ply for a distance of 2000 miles, from 

 Sryetensk in Transbaikalia to its mouth ; while its 

 tributary, the Usuri, permits steamers to approach 

 within 100 miles of Vladivostok. 



Overland communication is maintained by means 

 of post-stations between all the chief towns the 

 great highway from Russia to the Pacitic passing 

 through Tiumen, Omsk, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk, Ir- 

 kutsk, Tchita, Blagoveschensk, and Khabarovka, 

 the capitals of all the southern provinces. Com- 

 munication remains, however, difficult along the 

 Shilka and the Amur, where long distances have 

 to be traversed on horseback, especially when ice 

 is drifting on the river before it is frozen, or when 

 it is about to thaw. Two lines of railway already 

 enter Sil>eria from the west the line Perm to 

 Tiumen, not yet connected with the other Russian 

 railways, and the line Ufa to Tchelyabinsk (or 

 Cheliabinsk), which joins at Samara the railway- 

 net of European Russia. The new trans-Siberian 

 railway is a continuation of the latter, and is being 

 built in sections. The easternmost, from Vladi- 

 vostok to Khabarovka, was laid in 1891-95. In 

 1896 the western section had been pushed from 

 Tchelyabinsk to the Obi, and from the Obi (not then 

 bridged) to Krasnoiarsk. Its total length, from 

 the Urals, rin Irkutsk, to Vladivostok, will lie 

 5500 miles, and it* cost is estimated at 40,000,000. 

 Chinese rnnri'ssioiis in Manchuria (q.v.) shortened 

 the main track, and allowed extensions to Port 

 Arthur on the ice-free China Sea, with ultimate 

 connection to Peking. In 1898 the line was open 

 as far east as Krasnoiarsk. 



Climate. Siberia fully deserves its reputation 

 of being the coldest country of the world. How- 

 ever, with the exception of the Pacific seaboard, 

 it has a much warmer summer than it is generally 

 supposed to have. In the interior of the country 

 one must go as far north as the 60th degree of lati- 

 tude to find in July an average temperature of less 

 than 60 ; while in moderate latitudes July has an 

 average temperature of from 61 to 67, and 69 on 

 the Middle Amur. The hot summer and a cloud- 

 less, bright sky favour vegetation, and one learns 

 to his astonishment that melons are grown in the 

 open air in the stenpes of Minusinsk and Irkutsk, 

 or that l>arley which has been sown in May about 

 Yakutsk (62 2' N. lat.) ripens by the end of 

 August. But the summer is short, as a rule, and 

 cold weather sets in very rapidly. Night frosts 

 are usual in Septemlier, and in Noveml>er all rivers 

 are frozen ; even the Baikal becomes a highway 

 for sledges in January. In November, even in 

 South Siberia, the mercury of the thermometer is 

 occasionally frozen, and in December and January 

 it remains frozen for weeks. The spring begins 

 in April or May, according to the latitude, and is 

 very pleasant, though it still freezes hard at night ; 

 but in the second half of May, when all fruit-trees 

 are in full blossom, there is a sudden return of cold 

 which prevents apples and pears from being grown 

 in Siberia. In the far north the cold is really 

 terrible, and Verkhoyansk, although its latitude 

 is only 67 34' N., is the cold pole of the eastern 

 part of the northern hemisphere. Temperatures 

 as low as - 75 and - 85 If. have been measured 

 at Verkhoyansk and Yakutsk. Man certainly 

 could not stand such low temperatures, were it 

 not for the dryness of the atmosphere and the 

 absence of wind during the great frosts, which 

 render them more supportable than might be 

 supposed. Not so with the snowstorms, which 

 are frequent by the end of the winter, and are 

 most dangerous to both man and cattle. 



Population.- The population of Siberia is very 

 unequally distributed over the territory. As already 

 mentioned, there are from 20 to 40 inhabitant* 



