526 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



a similar sum. Additional earning is permitted, and money gained 

 by work or begging flows, though perhaps not quite untaxed, into 

 the pockets of the condemned himself, or down his throat in the 

 form of vodki. 



I said that everyone was at liberty to take his wife and children 

 with him into exile, and I may add that he usually does so. A long 

 sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime is a ground of divorce 

 even in Russia; every married woman is, therefore, free to choose 

 whether she will accompany her husband into exile, or remain 

 in her native land. Even children who have attained their four- 

 teenth year have the right to decide for themselves whether they 

 will leave Russia for Siberia with their parents or not. But the 

 government prefer that wife and children should accompany the 

 criminal, and they encourage it in every possible way, therefore they 

 give much consideration to the question of how far it is practicable 

 to lessen the difficulties and disagreeablenesses of the journey. 



That it is oppressive under all circumstances cannot be denied; 

 but the journey of the exiles is by no means so indescribably dread- 

 ful as it has been depicted. Only those convicted of the gravest 

 crimes are conducted to their destination in chains; the rest enjoy 

 more freedom than our convicts. The portion of the journey which 

 has to be performed in the steamers or the boats they tow is 

 the worst. Here all the exiles and their families are cooped up 

 together, and excesses of all descriptions are committed by the most 

 degraded criminals, who are only, or can only, be kept under 

 sufficient restraint in rare cases. The expert thief steals from the 

 bungler in the same disreputable calling, the more violent over- 

 powers the weaker, or takes the soles off the boots of a sleeper 

 to possess himself of the bank-notes supposed to be hidden there; 

 the incorrigible shakes the resolution of the penitent, or destroys 

 utterly those who had previously given ground for hopes of 

 improvement. Male and female criminals are now separated from 

 each other, but the members of a family remain with their head, 

 and the wife and daughters of an exile are always in danger during 

 the journey, no matter what attempts are made to avoid this. On 

 the other hand, the steamer shortens the journey tenfold, and thus 



