302 THE EAST CHINESE RAILWAY. 



known as the South Manchurian line running from 

 Kharbin on the main line to Dalni and Port Arthur. 

 Shares in the company can only be held by Russian 

 and Chinese subjects, a rebate of ^ of the Chinese 

 custom duties is allowed on goods imported and ex- 

 ported across the northern frontier by rail, the com- 

 pany have rights ovei- a strip of territory on either 

 side of the line, and are entitled to keep as many 

 troops along it as are considered necessary for its 

 protection. The resultant railway is now a link in 

 the great overland route to the Far East. 



With this very brief reminder of the birth and 

 growth of the Manchurian railway, and without for 

 the present entering upon any wider discussion of the 

 Manchurian question, let me give a description of a 

 journey over it in the autumn of 1903. 



At 10 A.M. on September 24 we steamed out of Irkutsk, 

 and by midday had covered the forty-two miles which 

 lay between us and the station of Baikal, built on the 

 shores of the lake of the same name. Here we had to 

 leave our carriage and embark on the steamer Angara, 

 for the circum-Baikal branch was only in process of 

 construction, and though its completion was ofl&cially 

 predicted for January 1904, the officials responsible for 

 the prediction were the only people who believed even 

 ostensibly in its possible fulfilment. The large ice- 

 breaker Baikal, which accommodates whole trains on 

 board, and is capable of cutting its way through 2 feet 

 of solid ice, is used only for goods trains, passengers 

 being- taken across on the smaller boat, which is said to 

 be capable of travelling through from 16 to 18 mches 

 of ice. Both vessels were constructed at the Arm- 

 strong works, and brought out in pieces and fitted up 

 on the lake, as was also a floating dock, which has, 

 however, so far proved a failure. The smaller boat on 



