]42 SIHERIA. 



prcliriihiary expenditun! of a consideiabli! capital, and presenting great danger, at the same 

 lime is ceasing to bo profitable;. Tlie last circumstance is in connexion with the progress of 

 the Russian petroleum business. With tin* appearand; of Russian cheap kerosene in the Far 

 East, the price of animal illuminating oil began to fall fast, and was of course unable to 

 stand the coin|)i;lition of mineral oil. In consequence of this the most valuable article of 

 the vvliali! industry at the pn-^eiit time is whalebone, from which extremely .solid and lino 

 libres an; prepareii wliicli aiimiral)ly replace horsehair in various plaited goods. 



Indepeiidt.'ullY of these two industries, there are yet others neeiling protection from 

 piratira! oi' nipacinus exi)Ioitation, whether by foreigners or Russian subjects. The necessary 

 information is being coll(;cted by the Government on the basis of which at no distant date 

 the required rules will be drawn up. 



The Okhotsk Sea, long celebrated for its abundance of fish of every kind, always 

 attracts a crowd of fishermen who carry away out of Russian waters great quantities of fish, 

 the most important being cod. This fish is caught most of all between Sakhalin and 

 the Kuril Islands, and in particular between capes Olotersk and Stolbovy. 



For completeness, the sketch of the fur industries in the Far Fiast carried on in the 

 sea and on the coast, must be supplemented by an account of the condition of analogous industries 

 on laud. Great forest fires started partly intentionally for the purpose of clearing the land for til- 

 lage, partly arising accidentally from the careless handling of fire, and most of all the rapacious 

 destruction of timber accompanying the construction of bamers when hunting fur animals, all 

 these causes have combined to thin the forests, which circumstance has again affected the 

 diminution of such animals in the forests. Among the most valuable species the foremost 

 place is taken by the sable which not so long ago occurred in vast numbers in all the 

 forests of the Littoral Territory. Now comparatively smaller numbers are caught, namely 

 abont 10,000 skins valued at about 100,000 roubles. Next come the ordinary, and the excess- 

 ively rare black foxes, blue foxes, gluttons, ermine, raccoon, polecats, squirrels, otter, the 

 brown and white bear, Siberian weasel et cetera. 



The main mass of the peltry of the Far East on account of the insufficiency 

 of the ordinary communications, is sold for almost nothing to Chinese factors, who 

 export this class of goods principally to their own country. For example, in 1891 there 

 passed through Kiakhta into China 22,590 roubles worth of otter, beaver and bear skins, 

 112,000 roubles worth of wolf, lynx and fox skins, and other kinds not specially named 

 to the amount of 130,774 roubles. Thus organized the fur trade brings the country compar- 

 atively little. And yet undoubtedly this industry has a gi'eat importance especially in a 

 country where nature has placed impassable obstacles in the way of the development of agri- 

 culture. In the greater part of the territory of the Far East, particularly in the northern zone, 

 the nomad, nay even the settled population, is placed by climatic conditions in the regrettable 

 necessity of contenting itself with hunting various animals, and with fishing. In many cases 

 the Government comes to the aid of the helpless aborlgenes, furnishing them with powder and 

 shot for hunting, and in those places where fishing is the sole source of existence, Govern- 

 ment stores are always ready, with hemp, horseh air and other articles required in the prep- 

 ration of nets, and other fishing tackle. These things are distributed to the remotest re- 



