WATER AND OVERLAND C05IMUNICATI0N. 223 



CHAPTER XIV. 

 Water and overland communication. 



The Irausport of goods between Europoau Ilu.s.sia and Siberia by the Volga and Obi; the 

 Obi- Yenisei canal; navigation in Western Siberia; navigation on the Yenisei ami Angara; 

 steam navigation on the Baikal: navigation on the Lena and the Amour basin: steamer 

 communication with the Siberian ports of the Northern and Eastern oceans; the Volunteer 

 Fleet; a cursory view of the overland communications. 



THE wide expanse and sparse po])ulation of Siberia combined with thai historical destiny 

 which has been described in the commencement of the present work, have prevented 

 its being enriched with regular overland means of communication which could have been 

 accomplished at the expense of a vast amount of labour and capital. Xature has, on the 

 other hand, richly endowed this country with water communication; washed on the north and 

 east by the waters of the Arctic and Pacific oceans, it is at the same time intersected for 

 thousands of versts by large rivers connecting these oceans with western China, and in general 

 with Central Asia. Thanks to these rivers, whose basins cover several million square versts, 

 in summer time it is i)ossible to communicate with far distant regions. This was the route 

 taken by the conquerors of Siberia and the settlers who followed them. The Volga, Jvaraa 

 Chusovaya, Serebrianka, Tagil, Tura, Tobol, Irtish, Obi, and other rivers and comparatively 

 short forest tracts this is the route followed by Ermak and by the traveller of the present day. 

 This is however from the west, but of late years communication has been kept up with Si- 

 beria by sea from the north and from the east. 



The hydrographic sketch of Siberia already given has shown how abundantly the 

 country is sujiplied with water, but unfurtunately the insufTiciency of the coast development 

 on the one hand, and the severe climate of the arctic zone on the other hand, prevent the 

 sea navigation fiom reaching that degree of development which would be possible under more 

 favourable conditions. This sann' severity of climate and the prolonged period during which 

 the rivers are in consequence frozen over, considerably hinders navigation on the principal 

 Siberian rivers which fall into the Arctic Ocean. Other circumstances, which will be men- 

 tionel hereafter also interfere with the progress of navigation on those rivers which flow into 

 the Tacific. 



