OMSK 93 



obtain confirmation of this statement I spoke to ja 

 large English firm at the London Agricultural Show 

 last year and was told that " Siberia wants about 

 two years' more credit than we can give. We get 

 better terms for our goods elsewhere ; and, besides, 

 what guarantee have we that we shall ever get our 

 money? " I informed him that the passport system 

 was one that keeps the whereabouts of the peasants 

 well known to the police, and that it would be easy 

 to stop the peasant from leaving the district if he 

 owed money. It is, however, very clear that it is 

 not so much that English firms are behind Americans 

 in enterprise, but that the conditions of trade are 

 such as the Englishman does not like. 



The town itself is much more advanced than I 

 expected to find. Besides the electric light and 

 good hotels I noticed a bill announcing a biograph 

 exhibition in colour and relief which was to repre- 

 sent bull-fighting in Spain, the Spanish-American 

 war, and a religious procession in Tunis. 



The town is in a very important centre near the 

 junction of the Om and Irtish rivers. The latter is 

 the chief tributary of the Obi, taking its rise within 

 the confines of China: on the south-western slopes 

 of the southern Altai. All the tributaries which enter 

 the Obi on the right take their rise in the Altai 

 Mountains, which are clad with a rich vegetation 

 of larch, cedar, fir, and pine. These forests iwill 

 afford enormous quantities of timber for future use 

 in exploration by means of rafts, and the same chain 

 of mountains contains deposits of black and brown 

 coal, which, being near the surface, are easy to 

 work. The Irtish abounds in fish, and fishing is 

 largely carried on between Tobolsk and the estuary 

 of the river, and between Omsk and Lake Za,isan. 

 The principal fish are sterlet, sturgeon, and nelma. 

 The river is 2,666 miles long, and its system 



