CHAPTER XL 



THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA. 



While engrossed with matters pertaining to forestry, and 

 matters of such interest as mines of iron, of copper, and of 

 gold, it may not have occurred to some of my readers that 

 we have got beyond what, was at one time considered the 

 boundary of Europe. Yet such is the case. The Ural 

 mountains, throughout much of their extent, constitute this 

 boundary, and here they constitute the boundary between 

 Russia and Siberia. Even in Perm, the produce of the 

 soil, and the nationality, language, and customs of the 

 inhabitants, partake decidedly of an Asiatic character ; but 

 geographically it belongs to Russia. 



The boundary consists of hills rather than mountains ; 

 the slope or inclination is slight, the elevations inconsider- 

 able, and in many cases it appears more as a rolling, un- 

 dulating country than even as a region of hills, and the 

 traveller by the highway might fail to know when he had 

 crossed the boundary line — but there stands at the spot 

 an obelisk. It is a plain stone, with no other inscription 

 than the word ' EuEOPE 'on one side and 'Asia' on the 

 other, and is said to have been erected in honour of 

 Yermak, a Cossack robber chief, who, towards the end of 

 the sixteenth century atoned for his crimes by discovering 

 and partly conquering Siberia for the Russians. 



' Yermak,' writes Michie, ' being outlawed, found his 

 way, with some two hundred adventurers, across the Ural. 

 After pillaging the Tartars for some time, his handful of 

 troops, i.e., robbers, became so wasted by constant fighting 

 that he could no longer maintain himself amongst his 

 numerous enemies. It then occurred to Yermak to return 

 to Moscow, announce his discoveiy, and make his peace 



