50 SIBERIA 



shouting and clamouring is indulged in. The mix- 

 ture of races at Kourgan is at all times considerable, 

 but during the Easter fair it is particularly varied. 

 Russians, Siberians, Kirghiz, Tartars, Cossacks, 

 Causasians, Gipsies — all are represented. There are 

 four annual fairs, and the aggregate turnover is 

 estimated at £500,000. In addition to the town 

 itself the railway station at Kourgan is in direct 

 communication with 132 settlements, with a popula- 

 tion of 68,000. The principal products are grain, 

 tallow, flesh-meat, game, and butter. The latter 

 article has attained such importance that I propose 

 to deal with it exhaustively in the following chapter, 

 most of the facts having never yet seen book form. 

 I was not unaware that the sensational journalism 

 of my native land had grossly libelled and mis- 

 represented this country. I was, therefore, not at 

 all surprised to learn that m"y preconceived notions 

 of wolves and their habits, of convicts, the " knout," 

 exiles who fainted or fell dead while on the march, 

 and many other blood-curdling characteristics of the 

 country and its people were altogether erroneous. 

 It is certain that if these occurrences are real they 

 rarely, if ever, come under the notice of the people 

 among whom they are supposed to occur. Business 

 is carried on pretty much the same as everywhere 

 else, and peace and serenity are the order of the 

 day. It may be, though I don't insist upon it, that 

 the journals in question refrained, from motives of 

 humanity, from sending their best men to Siberia, 

 and that the misleading reports one so frequently 

 reads are the natural consequence. The result, how- 

 ever, is that an inherently fair-minded people like 

 that of Great Britain has been trained to misjudge 

 and traduce a nation with whom" it should, for the 

 best of reasons, be on terffis of amity and peace. 

 I was told at Kourgan of an English journalist in 



