CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 



A brief history of Kamchatka — Commencement of Russian exten- 

 sion eastwards — Cossacks from the Don led by Ermak — Con- 

 queror of Siberia — Extension to the Yenissei and the Lena — 

 The founding of Yakoutsk — A fort on the Okhotsk Sea — Alexeietif, 

 the first Russian in Kamchatka — ]\Iurdered by natives — First 

 reports from Kamchatka in 1700 with furs collected as taxes — 

 Peter the Greats reforms — The Nijni-Kamchatsk fort — The 

 revolt of 1707 — Troubles in Northern Kamchatka — A sea route 

 found necessary— Okhotsk to the mouth of the Bolshaia — Dis- 

 covery of Petropavlovsk Harbour — Anti-Russian rising in 1731 — 

 Destruction of Nijni-Kamchatsk fort— Russian colonisation from 

 Siberia in 1740— Failure of agricultural experiments— Adverse 

 conditions of climate — Encouragement of private enterprise by 

 Catharine the Great — The growth of trade — The first com- 

 mercial company formed in the Aleout Islands — Annexation of 

 the Prybiloff Islands — Foundation of the Russian Seal Fisheries 

 Company, originally the Russo-American Company — The trade 

 in sealskins — Appointment of a military governor — Effect of the 

 Crimean War — The Trans-Siberian Railway — Restoration of 

 peace and revival of trade . . . ^'^^E<^ 



CHAPTER II. 



Preparations for the voyage — Leave London for St. Petersburg in 

 April, 1900 — Professor Sliounine's report of Kamchatka — Leave 

 iMoscow for the Siberian frontier — Crossing the Ob — The Central 

 Siberian Railway — The Yenissei bridge at Krasnoiarsk — Arrival 

 at Irkutsk, the capital, with M. Isvolsky, Russian Minister in 

 Japan — Poor accommodation — The "Museum" — Professor Per- 

 shine's report on mountain game — Start for Lake Baikal— The 

 route described — Crossing the lake — Myssovaia to Stretensk, the 

 terminus of the line — On board the Aviiir — Steamer aground — 



