112 SIBERIA 



The nuts are obtained in the northern parts of 

 the Governments of Tomsk and Mariinsk, and in the 

 mountainous localities of the Kuznetsk districts, 

 Tomsk being the principal market for their sale. 

 From' five to six thousand tons are collected in i 

 good season, the nuts being sold wholesale at los. 

 to 15s. a cwt. The harvest in the forest begins 

 about the loth of August and ends about the middle 

 of September. The cones are obtained by climbing, 

 or by shaking the trees, while, in remote spots, huge 

 trees, centuries old, are ruthlessly felled by greedy 

 collectors. One family will gather as much as 

 10 cwts. of nuts in one day during the season. 

 The tree froiil which the nut is obtained, and which 

 is called the Siberian cedar, is really a species of 

 pine. It attains aL height of over 100 feet, with a 

 diameter of 12 inches at the top. 



The greater part of the nuts are sent by way of 

 the rivers Chulym' and Obi to Tumen, and thence to 

 European Russia, while at portion is consigned via 

 the Siberian railway. The price is regulated by 

 the crop and the trade is ra:ther precarious, on 

 account of the fluctuations in the quantities. For 

 this reason more than one Siberian merchant has 

 lost severely through unlucky speculations in the 

 article. 



Our route lay through a long stretch of almost 

 virgin forest. At ten minutes past mid-day, local 

 time, on the following day, we were informed that 

 we would have to make a change for Tomsk, and 

 shortly afterwards we stopped at the station of Taiga, 

 an isolated spot in the heart of a virgin forest or 

 " ta,iga." A year or two before, the only inhabitants 

 of the place were the wolves and bears, but a settle- 

 ment has since sprung up, and, for the growl of 

 the latter and the howl of the former, the inhabitants 

 have substituted the more welcome sound of the 



