657 



SIBERIA. 



SIBERIA. 



653 



there is an English missionary establishment. West of it, in a steppe, 

 is th seat of the Khamba Lama, the chief of the Buddhist religion 

 among the Buriates : like the Dalai Lama in Tibet, the soul of the 

 Lama ia supposed to pass into his successor. Close to the boundary 

 of the Chinese empire U the commercial town of Kiachta with Troizko 

 Sawsk. [KIACUTA.] In Da-uria U the town of Nertshintk, a miser- 

 able place with 1000 inhabitants. Not far from the banks of the river 

 Argun is Nertshinskoi Sawod, with 4000 inhabitants, the seat of 

 administration for all the mines of this district. 



The province of Yakutsk extends over all the north-eastern part of 

 Siberia. Grain is only cultivated in the Vale of the Lena as far as 

 Yakutsk ; but the crops are uncertain, owing to the shortness of the 

 warm season. In the basin of the Vilni there are mines of excellent 

 iron. The most numerous and most wealthy tribe are the Yakutes, 

 who are breeders of cattle, hones, and sheep. The capital is Yakutik, 

 on the river Lena, with more than 4000 inhabitants. Yakutsk is 

 one of the best markets in Siberia for fun, especially sable, as this 

 animal U very abundant in the wilderness south of the road leading 

 to Okhotsk, and tho fur is of the best quality. In the northern 

 district* are some place*, as Ust-Yansk and Niachnei-Kolymsk, to 

 which the native tribes resort to exchange their fun for flour, tobacco, 

 and other articles. 



The province of Okhotsk extends along the sea of that name, from 

 the innermost comer of the Bay of Penahinak to 58 N. lat., compre- 

 hending the lower coast and the mountains at the back of it There 

 u no cultivation here. The capital U OkhoUk. [OKHOTSK.] At the 

 most northern recess of the Bay of lahiginsk, one of the great 

 inlet* of the Sea of OkhoUk, is the small town of Iikigitul, with 500 

 inhabitants, who live chiefly on the produce of their fishery, but 

 have also some commerce. 



The province of KAJITCHATKA is separately noticed. 



Mamfactra. Siberia doe* not possess many manufacturing esta- 

 blishments. It ha* some tanneries, iron-foundries, glass-works, and 

 manufacture* of coarse wooUen-etufis and linen. An article of export 

 U made at Ekaterinburg by the jewellers and cutters of precious 

 stones. During nine months in the year the dress of the poor, as 

 well as of the rich, consist* of fun or sheep-skins, or the hide* of the 

 reindeer prepared in a peculiar way ; and in the manufacture of these 

 objects the nomadic nation*, especially the Samoyede* and Ostiaks, 

 excel 



Though the ocean washes the northern and eastern side* of 

 Siberia, this country ha* no maritime commerce. The ice of the 

 Polar Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk prevent* the free navigation of 

 the** waters, and the mountainous oountry which line* the shore* of 

 the Sea of OkboUk, affords nothing that could be brought into coin- 

 mere* except the fan of some wild an***!* Bat Siberia carried on 

 an extensive commerce with Ruwb, Bokhara, Taahkend, and China. 

 The most important U the trade with Russia. The transport of the 

 rood* is effected by a road which lead* from Perm in Russia to 

 KkaUrinburg and Tobolsk. We*t of Ekaterinburg it crosses tb* 

 Ural Mountains by a mountain paw, the highest part of which, near 

 Cilimbayewsk, is 1608 feet above the see. By this road the produce 

 of the rich mines of Sioeria i* brought to Europe, a* well a* a great 

 quantity of fun, MM! some leather and skin., which are chiefly col- 

 lected among the nomadic tribe* of the northern district*. The 

 commerce which ia carried on at Kiachta with the Chin*** ha* been 

 noticed under KIACBTA. The good* from Irkutsk to Kiachta, and 

 fn.m Kischta to IrkuUk, are conveyed, from May to November, by 

 large veewb which 

 and in November 



... :.. I...-U : . . .-.' .:-, 



the lake called the Kultuk, and in winter by sledges on the ice of 

 the lak* itwif. Tb* greater put of the Chinese goods U afterward* 

 wnt to Western Siberia and to Europe at a comparatively small 

 expense, nearly the whole transit being by water. The inhabitants 

 of Siberia have also some commerce with Kul.Uha, the capital of the 

 Chinee* government of Hi, or of Songaria, through the agency of the 

 Khirghi* Cowaks, who inhabit the country contiguous to the Chinese 

 boundary. A regular commercial intercourse has been teUhnehoH 

 betw**u Siberia and the khanat of Khokan, by mean* of canvans 

 pawing through the steppe* of the Khirghis Cossak*. The** cara- 

 vans are not composed of Siberian*, but of Bokharians, Armenian*, 

 and Siberian Tartan. These Tartan can proceed with their goods 

 to the town of Kanhgar in Chinee* TurknUn, from which place the 

 Itisnisin are excluded by the Chin*** government, but the Siberian 

 Tartan an admitted. The principal article* brought to Siberia are 

 derived from the Khirghis Cowak*. and consist of cattle and hone*, 

 of which latter the consumption in the mining district is very great, 

 and of felt* mad* of the hair of camels and cattle, and of coarse 

 carpet* made of wool The article* exported from Siberia by this 

 way are chiefly corn for the consumption of the Khirghis Cossaks, 

 and for the commerce with Khokan, Russian leather, otter-skins and 

 eaUkiiM, woollen-cloth, looking-glasses, won and some cutlery, 

 comb* of European manufacture, and particularly large quantitira of 

 iron, and copper from the Ural mine*. The commerce which i* 

 carried on between the town of Troizk, on the river Ooi, in the 

 ' Orenburg, and the town of Bokhara, i* of a similar 

 The caravan*, which are composed of Bokharians and 



msc, are conveyed, iron May to > overnoer, oy 

 navigate the Lake of Baikal and the river Selenga, 

 and December by cart* on a road which pa**** 

 ntain ranges that inclose the wesUrn portion of 



Armenians settled at Bokhara, traverse the steppo of the Little Orda 

 of the Khirghis Cossaks. Besides the articles brought from Khokan, 

 the Bokharians import large quantities of raw cotton, and a few 

 shawls of great value. 



There is a considerable commerce carried on between the southern 

 agricultural districts and the northern, which are inhabited by 

 nomadic nations. A great number of Russian merchants at certain 

 periods, especially in February, visit certain places to which the 

 nomadic nations resort, to buy from the latter their furs and other 

 objects. The Russian merchants give in return flour or bread, and 

 a few manufactured articles. These places of commerce are very 

 small, but arc full of people at the time of the fairs. Among these 

 places are Obdursk on the Obi, Toorookhansk on the Yeueseij Ust- 

 Yansk on the Yana, and Ostronoye on the Aniuy, one of the con- 

 fluents of the Kolyma, The most frequented are the first and the 

 last. The fair of Obdursk is attended by all the nomadic nations 

 that live between the town of Archangel on the White Sea, and the 

 river Yenesei, by Samoyedes, Syrianes, Ostiaks, and Vogules. The 

 fair at Ostronoye is attended by the tribes that inhabit the north- 

 eastern peninsula of Asia, the Yookahires, Lamutes, Toonguses, 

 Choowanzes, Koriakea, and particularly the Tshooktshes. The 

 Tshooktsheg, most of whom have frequent dealings with the native 

 tribes of the north-west districts of America, are in general sufficiently 

 skilful in trading with the Russians ; but they are easily cheated 

 out of their goods when spirits ore offered to them, which however 

 are only smuggled into the country in very small quantities, as the 

 Russian government has prohibited the importation of this article. 

 In the commercial intercourse of the Tshooktshes with the native 

 tribes of Russian America, the island of Imaklitt, one of the group of 

 the Diomede or Gwosdef Islands, is generally the place where the 

 exchange of goods takes place. The most active merchants are the 

 American inhabitants of the two small islands called King's Islet or 

 Ookivok, and Asiak or Ajak, especially those of the last-mentioned 

 island, who dispose of the Russian goods which are obtained from 

 the Tshooktshes along the coast of America, as far south as the 

 peninsula of Aliaska, and would probably carry them still farther to 

 the east, if the settlements of the American Company did not provide 

 the tribes in those parts with such articles. The Tshooktshes, as 

 well as the Americans, visit the island of Imaklitt in summer in their 

 boat* called ' baidarea,' which are made of whale-bone, nnd in winter 

 in sledge* which are drawn by dogs. The Tshooktshes bring tobacco, 

 some iron utensils and ornaments obtained from the Russians, with a 

 considerable number of reindeer dresses, as this animal does not 

 appear to be common in any part of North America. The Asiak- 

 niutes, or inhabitants of the island of Asiak, bring various descriptions 

 of fun, and a great number of morse-tusks. 



Jliitory. Europeans had not the least knowledge of the existence 

 of Siberia up to 1580. It is however certain that a part of it was 

 conquered by Oengis Khan and his successors ; for it appears that the 

 Bnriate* were subjected to the Kslkas Mongols by that conqueror ; 

 and when the Coesaks had passed the Ural Mountains, they found 

 that the country on both sides of the river Irtish was subject to 

 KuUhum Khan and hi* Tartan or Turks. A Cossak chief called 

 Yermiik Timofeyew, passei.l the Ural Mountain* with his small army 

 ia 1580, and made several important acquisitions of territory till 1684, 

 when he was drowned in the Irtish. After his death his conquests 

 were lost to Russia, but the power of Kutahum Khan (the Tartar 

 chief of this district) had been broken, and he was unable to resume 

 his former position. The Russians continued gradually to gain on 

 him, until his empire was entirely destroyed, and all the country west 

 of the river Obi wa* subjected to the sway of tho Czar. In 1604 the 

 town of Tomsk was built, which constituted a fresh point from which 

 the bold spirit* of the age might proceed farther east In 1014 the 

 different Turkish tribes that inhabited those parts, joined by the 

 Khirghis, rose against the inhabitant* of Tomsk, laid waste the whole 

 country to the very gates of the town, and besieged the city itself 

 No succour could bo sent from Europe, as Russia was then in great 

 internal disorder, owing to the unsettled state of the country after 

 the death of Boris Godoonoflf, and the wan which preceded tho acces- 

 sion of the family of Romanoff to the throne of Husaia. But the 

 inhabitant* of Tomsk maintained their footing, though their progress 

 for some time was retarded ; and several yean afterwards, when the 

 Eastern Khirghis, in despair of resisting the Cossaks, left the country 

 and emigrated to the west, the progress of tho Russians was very 

 rapid. Small parties of adventurers, issuing from Tomsk, advanced 

 to the banks of the Lake Baikal, entered the basin of the river Lena, 

 where they subjected, though not without considerable difficulty, the 

 powerful nation of the Yakutes, and after passing tho Aldan Moun- 

 tain*, reached the Sea of Okhotsk in 1639. The populous nation of 

 the Buriates had been attacked and partly conquered in 1620, but 

 they frequently rebelled, and their complete submission was not 

 effected before 1658. Soon afterwards the town of Irkutsk was built 

 by Iwan Pochaboff (1661). Thus the whole of Siberia, with the 

 exception of Da-uria, was subjected to Russia in about eighty years, 

 without the government having been at the least expense; for all 

 these wan had been undertaken and brought to successful issue by 

 private at! venturers, mostly Cossaks, who were induced to such under- 

 taking* by the desire of plunder and by thuir roving habits. The 



