SIBERIA FUR-TRADE AND GOLD-DIGGINGS. 



205 



able to sustain a far more considerable population. In the south there are 

 thousands of square miles fit for cultivation; the numbers of the herds and 

 flocks might be increased a hundred-fold, and even the climate would become 

 milder after the labor- of man had subdued the chilling influences of the forest 

 and the swamp. But it is easier to express than to realize the wish to see Si- 

 beria more populous, for its reputation is hardly such as to tempt the free col- 

 onists to settle within its limits ; and thus the Russian Government, which 



towns 

 growth 

 t sends 



. 



is mel- 

 favor- 

 revolu- 

 In a 

 Peter 

 as con- 

 it, and 

 misfor- 

 e jour- 

 lis two 

 e him- 

 >w, the 

 1 God, 

 [e con- 

 lasting 

 hands, 

 bitants 

 y were 

 i disin- 

 ipse of 



ted by 

 -rouky, 

 low, in 

 ;ss and 

 )k pos- 

 4e hon- 

 the fa- 



Marshal Munich, the favorite of the Empress Anna, was doomed, in his six- 

 tieth year, to a Siberian exile, when Elizabeth ascended the throne. His prison 

 consisted of three rooms one for his guards or jailers, the second for their 

 kitchen, the third for his own use. A wall twenty feet high prevented him 

 from enjoying the view even of the sky. The man who had once governed 

 Russia had but half a rouble daily to spend ; but the love of his wife who, 



