202 SIUKKIA. 



Tilt' abovo table shows at a glance; what goods form the subject of home trade, lu the 

 forefront appear woollen and cotton goods swallowing up 3G per cent of the annual turnover; 

 n(!xt follow groceries ]5 per cent, liquors 11 per cent, and others. Thus the chief strength of 

 Siberian trade is concentrated in i)rovisions, clothing and shoes. Part of these goods is prepared 

 on the spot, but a considerable proportion is imported ready made from European Russia. 



To elucidate tin; character of the exchange between Siberia and Kuropean Russia, it 

 is necessary to turn to the returns of the Ural Railway, or rather to those of two of its 

 stations. Tinmen and Tura, which no freight escapes in whichever direction it is going. On 

 examining the goods traffic over the said line, it is not dill'icult to sec that the principal mass, 

 going in the direction of the basin of the Volga, is composed of raw materials and half 

 manufactured productions of agriculture and cattle rearing, while in the opposite direction 

 to the basin of the Obi go principally the productions of manufacturing industry. In the first 

 case the chief articles are grain, Hour, flax and linseed, tow, nuts, tallow, butter, hair, 

 wool, hides, skins, furs; in the second, cloth, haberdashery, groceries, dry goods, metals, por- 

 celain, glass, spirit, sugar, tobacco, mineral oils. The goods of the latter kind forwarded to 

 Siberia tmugh Tiumen and Tura amounted in 1888 to 2,209,000 pouds, in 1889 to 2,299,000 

 pouds, in ls90 to 2,587 ,<XJO pouds. In the contrary direction, that is, towards European Russia, 

 these stations forwarded in 1888, 4,799,000 pouds, in 1889, 3,676,000 pouds, and in ls90, 

 4,787,000 pouds. The returns lor 1891 as well as certain details on the goods traffic are 

 given further on under the description of the water ways, as up to the present time this 

 system of conveyance is almost the sole existing. 



Passing to a review of the most important trade centres, it must be observed that 

 the scanty population scattered over the boundless expanse of this country by virtue of 

 historical and still more geographical conditions could not be concentrated in large centres 

 and therefore in Siberia to the present day there are hut 28 towns counting more than 

 5,000 inhabitants. Of these the most largely populated are Irkutsk 44,000, Tomsk 40,000, 

 Omsk 34,000, Vierny 25,000, Tobolsk 20,rKX), and Semipalatinsk 18,000. 



The home trade is mainly concentrated in the towns named and consists partly 

 in the barter of the raw materials produced by the natives, partly in the sale for cash. It is 

 everywhere in the hands of a few persons, who availing themselves of the difficulty of com- 

 munications and the absence of competition in consequence of this, not seldom raise the 

 prices exorbitantly upon all goods, especially woollens and cottons. Some years ago a comer 

 was arranged among several liquor merchants, and the prices of alcohol rose so high, that 

 the Government thought good to despatch a considerable party of spirit from Odessa to 

 Vladivostok, for sale there in the Government warehouses at a fixed price and thus compel 

 the ring to return to the normal course of business, a result which ensued iu the shortest 

 possible time. What kind of goods are for sale appears from the trade returns quoted above. 

 It must be observed that trade has not always a constant character but often becomes more 

 lively at certain times and places during fairs. 



Fairs in Siberia possess a great importance and they are there very numerous, hut 

 their business is not great. The existence of these institutions is dependent upon the inade- 

 quacy of communications, the difficulty of transport, the inconveniences of frequent travelling 



