82 SIBERIA 



can be earned quickly and easily. The firm to which 

 I belong frequently receives applications from young 

 men in Denmark and Germany requesting , to be 

 sent to Siberia, while Germany, in particular, has 

 furnished a number of individuals anxious to be 

 introduced to the official who has the responsibility 

 of a,ppointing dairy instructors, a circumstance which 

 is owing to the fact that the dairy industry in 

 Germany is being slowly crushed by that of Siberia. 



The inhabitants are very well to live with, and 

 the conditions of life quite endurable. A Russian 

 and several Danes of my acquaintance, at present 

 living in London, have repeatedly told me that they 

 would rather live in Siberia than in London ; and 

 a Siberian merchant, residing about 300 miles from 

 the Siberian railway, in the course of a conversa- 

 tion on a foggy day in London, declared that he 

 would not live in London for the equivalent of £1,000 

 a year. This man had come over from Siberia to 

 arrange the sale of a gold mine and to settle the 

 preliminaries for the purchase of 7,500 tons of 

 Siberian butter during the ensuing) year for a 

 prominent London firm. It is now becoming quite 

 common for Siberian merchants to visit London, so 

 that, as the people of Siberia are constantly coming 

 into closer contact with this country, it will be im- 

 possible shortly to circulate foolish and malicious 

 reports about the country and the Government without 

 the risk of their being authoritatively contradicted. 



The mixed peoples of Siberia are destined one 

 day to become a very powerful nation. They possess 

 considerable originality, and are supported and 

 encouraged by a far-seeing and energetic Govern- 

 ment. 



From Petropavlovsk to Omsk, a distance of 186 

 miles, the railway runs parallel to the ancient 

 frontier, from which steppe highways and caravan 



