PETROPAVLOVSK 81 



an explanation becomes necessary, as it is assumed 

 that if he had his back turned he must have been 

 running away, and it is only allowable to sho<Jt 

 a robber in self -protection. On the other hand, 

 horse-stealers are very often shot. The Danish and 

 German residents are attacked so frequently that the 

 very first advice they gave me was : "If you see 

 a man approach you too closely in the dark shoot 

 him ; you can scarcely make a mistake." The above 

 remarks apply to convicts who have been exiled for 

 murder or other criminal offences. These are a 

 source of endless trouble and anxiety and are totally 

 undeserving of sympathy or pity. 



The political exile is, however, a very different 

 type of man. These unfortunates numbered 700,000 

 in seventy-five years, and included some of the most 

 enlightened of the Tsar's subjects. Two-thirds of 

 them, accompanied by their wives and families, settle 

 peacefully in the country and supply the intelligence 

 of the place. The development of Siberia is due 

 in no small measure to the enlightened efforts of 

 this section of the population. But in view of the 

 fact that Russia's worst criminals, to the number of 

 many hundreds of thousands, have been set loose 

 in Siberia, it is surprising that crime is not more 

 prevalent there than it is, and that business can be 

 conducted as peacefully and methodically as in 

 European Russia— the export trade reaching a figure 

 somewhat in excess of £3,800,000. This is in dairy 

 produce, principally butter, most of which comes 

 direct to London. There is no robbery on the way 

 to speak of, the occasional petty pilferings scarcely 

 exceeding in value what daily takes place on our 

 British railways. 



As regards the place itself and the dread of being 

 compelled to live there, Germans and Danes look 

 upon Siberia as a kind of El Dorado, where money 



6 



