TOMSK 121 



outfit. We were able to buy apples newly arrived 

 froiii the Caucasus, tea from China — only 400 miles 

 away and brought by a sledge or drosky by the 

 overland trade routes first opened by Peter the 

 Great— and many kinds of goods from Germany, such 

 as kodaks, photographic material, and all kinds of 

 up-to-date articles. We also paid a visit to a barber, 

 who could compare favourably with one of the first- 

 class barbers in the West End of London and was 

 quite as dear, charging us is. for a shave and hair 

 cut. I was in every way very favourably impressed 

 by the town, which is built upon hilly ground. With 

 a population of about 60,000, it is as rich in churches 

 and public buildings as any English or American 

 town with five times the number of inhabitants. The 

 university is a most imposing building and contains 

 two faculties : those of medicine (232 studentsj 

 and law (159 students). There are in all about 

 2,000 students, the remainder being engaged in a 

 general course of study. There are, besides, 6,000 

 students in the other fifty-six educational institutions 

 in Tomsk. This capital, in fact, takes the third place 

 as regards educational importance in the Empire. 

 During a period of ten years, over 1,000 students 

 have qualified. Of these 239 have taken degrees 

 with them to their desert homes in Siberia, and, 

 together with the numerous lawyers sent out by 

 the university, will, in the near future, introduce a 

 new element of civilisation in Siberia:. 



In addition to a mineralogical and geographical 

 museum there is a library, which contains 100,000 

 volumes. A substantial aid to the students is 

 furnished by privately -endowed scholarships, which, 

 at the present time, amount to over £500,000. The 

 town contains a. handsome cathedral, built at great 

 cost, as well a,s other buildings too numerous to 

 mention. There are, moreover, six local publications 



