4 6 



The National Geographic Magazine 



Church at Stretensk. 



said: " I will write a letter tonight and 

 mail it to you at St. Petersburg, by way 

 of. San Francisco, New York, and Lon- 

 don. I think it will go around the 

 world and get there before you do." 

 And it did, reaching St. Petersburg in 

 35 daj's, while it took me 40 da3's to get 

 to Moscow. 



My first stop was in Korea, a pov- 

 erty-stricken land, which Russia and 

 Japan, in eager rivalry, are attempting 

 to exploit. In my judgment, it will 

 ultimately be a province of Siberia, for 

 islands do not annex continents per- 

 manently. 



India and Canada do not disprove the 

 rule; for, as we reckon the life of na- 

 tions, British occupation of either is but 

 temporary. 



There is an opinion prevalent that the 

 Philippines are a doorway into China, 

 and that Manila is an entrepot for Chi- 

 nese trade. One might as well claim 

 that Cuba or the Bahamas could con- 

 trol the commerce of the United States; 

 for, barring the small percentage of 



Americans and Europeans in 

 Manila, the industr} 7 , the en- 

 terprise, and indeed the capital 

 is largely Chinese. 



From Gensan, in Korea, we 

 crossed the Japan Sea in a 

 splendid subsidized Japanese 

 steamer, with the most cosmo- 

 politan company- of passengers 

 that I ever traveled with — a 

 Turkish pasha and wife, two- 

 Mohammedan priests and their 

 attendants, and English, 

 Scotch, French, Danes, Japa- 

 nese, Chinese, Koreans, In- 

 dians, Russians, Germans, and 

 Americans. 



We arrived in Vladivostok- 

 Tuesday evening, July 2. The 

 harbor is a grand one, tremen- 

 dously fortified from the outer 

 approaches straight into and 

 around the city itself. In 

 man} 7 respects it resembles the 

 Golden Gate at San Francisco, 

 the Amur Ba}' reaching for many miles- 

 north and south behind the city. 



Vladivostok is what its name implies, 

 "The Capital of the Eastern Domin- 

 ion," and a wonderful empire that do- 

 minion is sure to be. It is totally dif- 

 ferent from anything that I had seen 

 elsewhere in the Orient. In place of 

 mud huts and nipa-thatched shacks- 

 were three and four story brick and 

 stone buildings, and instead of little 

 brown specimens of humanity I found 

 full-bearded, strong-limbed men and 

 vigorous, rosy-cheeked women. 



Vladivostok has even- appearance of 

 one of our western boomed cities in the 

 very height of its prosperity. An ex- 

 tensive naval station is being established 

 there. Large drj' docks for the con- 

 struction and repair of the fleets of the 

 Pacific are being built. Its wharves 

 were filled with shipping, and everybody 

 seemed to be prosperous and full of busi- 

 ness. New hotels, a new railroad sta- 

 tion, extensive buildings for a new naval 

 academ3 T , and a college for the study of 



