224 SIDKKIA. 



The most important rivers of Siberia, the Obi, Yenisei and Lena, flow from south to 

 north, and aio for tlie greater jiart of iheir course navigable; only one river, the Amour, 

 Hows to the east, ami, at the junction with the Sungara, turns northwards and falls into 

 the Parilic Oe(;aii. 



The gifat Siberian rivi-r, ihe Obi, rises in Mongolia, carries vast masses of water into 

 the Arctic Ocean and gathers along its extensive course a multitudi- of large and small 

 rivers which lertilizi" and animate an expanse of more than 3".' million square versts. 

 With a total length of 5,300 versts it has a most extensive basin on which regular navi- 

 gation is kept up ovci- an extent of 15,000 versts. There is always a lively transport trade on 

 the Obi system and the rivers composing it have a transit character, as there is but little 

 local exchange of merchandise, all freights being transported from far distant regions. Being 

 almost on the borders of Europe and Asia, the Obi and its tributaries form the cheapest 

 means of communication between two vast continents of the world. Asia only supplies 

 Europe with the raw products of the soil, the animal kingdom, the produce of the fishing 

 and hunting trades which Europe then returns to her in a finished state. Before the opening 

 of the Ural Railway these goods were conveyed in summer principally along the Kama and 

 its tributaries, then carried by road across the Ural chain and then again by water on the 

 rivers of the Obi system. The road is now replaced by the Ural and Samaro-ZIatooust 

 railways, which deliver European goods to the Obi system through the Tura, Mias and other 

 rivers; but the most important route before the opening of the Cheliabinsk section was the 

 Ural line which delivers goods partly at Irbit and partly at Tumen. These goods, both from 

 Irbit and Tumen are conveyed further into Siberia on the rivers Tura and Tobol up to the 

 point where this latter falls into the Irtish. A considerable quantity of goods from the 

 Krestovsky fair follow the route. Before reaching the mouth of the Tobol, part of the freight 

 separates and goes down the Tavda and southern Sosva to supply the wants of the popula- 

 tion of the settlements along these rivers as well as the Sosvinsk works and those of the 

 Bogos'lovsk mining district. 



From the mouth of the Tobol the European freights are distributed in two direc- 

 tions: about 25 per cent goes towards the source of the Irtish and 75 per cent towards 

 that of the Obi. The goods are conveyed along the Irtish principally to the following popu- 

 lated points: the towns of Tura, Omsk, Pavlodar and Semipalatinsk; those conveyed along 

 the Obi are in a small part destined for the consumption of the strangers and fishmongers 

 on the lower parts of that river, and the sparse population of the towns of Berezov and 

 Obdorsk, whilst by far the greater part is sent up the Obi to supply the government of 

 Tomsk and the whole of Eastern Siberia. The principal points of destination are Surgut, 

 Narym, Barnaoul and Biisk, but the most important is Tomsk. Some of the goods are also 

 shipped up the Chulim as far as the settlement of Berluze and the town of Achinsk. 



The Siberian good's pass over the same route but in the contrary direction and here 

 the lower parts of the Tura and Tobol form a most important part of the waterways of 

 Siberia joining all the streams which convey Siberian merchandise to Russia in Eu- 

 rope. In the same way the Irtish and its tributaries are the most important part 

 of the Obi 1 asin and ihen the middlle course of the Obi itself but not that portion of 



