28 Sketch of Siberia, ^c. 



for minor offences, and who, bringing with them some of the knowl- 

 edge of European customs, impart an air of thrift and neatness to all 

 ahout them. Near the city is a cloth manufactory, and within it a 

 military, and a Lancasterian school, with other humane and useful 

 institutions. These convicts if they attempt to desert, are considered 

 and treated as outlaws, so that once passing the frontier of the prov- 

 ince fixes their fate for life. 



YAKUTSK. 



For several hundred miles north east towards Yakutsk on the Lena, 

 the country is in a state of barbarism, inhabited principally by wan- 

 dering tribes, occupied in the chase, or in raising reindeer, for whose 

 subsistence they roam from pasture to pasture with their herds and 

 tents. Yakutsk is much resorted to by the Russian American Com- 

 pany, and is a great mart for furs, the choicest kinds being bought 

 and sold there. It is on the left bank of the Lena, which in sum- 

 mer is four miles wide. This is a majestic river, the longest in Si- 

 beria, pursuing a course of nearly four thousand miles from its source 

 to the frozen ocean.* 



From Yakutsh north east to Nishney Kolyma is a distance of 

 eighteen hundred miles. Yakutsh is the last limit of civilization ; the 

 country becomes mountainous north east rom the Lena to the Aldan 

 and the Jana, and perpetual snow marks the near approach to the 

 arctic regions. Parallel ranges of mountains occur in these latitudes 

 composed of granite, with accompanying strata of slate. On the 

 banks of the Kamer de Maslo is a fossil or earthy substance, of a 

 yellowish cream color, called by the Russians kammenoye-maslo, or 

 stone butter, which is eaten in various ways, and is not disagreeable 

 to the taste. It ig probably similar to the mineral found in corres- 

 ponding latitudes, on the banks of the McKenzie ; which Capt. Frank- 

 lin states is used by the natives for food in periods of famine. It 

 oozes out of the rocks in many parts of Siberia, and when exposed 

 to the air it hardens, but in wet weather becomes soft and even liquid. 

 That found on the McKenzie resembled a kneaded paste, and was 

 used by the traders as is stated by Capt. Franklin, for whitening their 

 apartments. 



Coclirane. 



