GLIMPSES OF SIBERIA, THE RUSSIAN "WILD EAST' 



Ooo 



The Siberians make much of their 

 "cold table" — raw fish, caviar, salads, 

 and that delicious crab whose meat gives 

 no nightmare, indigestion, or headache. 



Their best dish is chicken, prepared in 

 a most unusual way. Butter is laid 

 thickly on a bone ; layers of light and 

 dark meat are wrapped around it ; then 

 the whole is rolled in egg and crumbs and 

 baked. It makes a small "ham" of 

 chicken and is very tender. One must be 

 careful in cutting into it lest the hot 

 butter spurt out beyond the plate. 



The Russian is a heavy meat eater, due 

 largely to the fact that there is an abun- 

 dance of game, pheasants being cheaper 

 than chickens, and in some places venison 

 is cheaper than steak. In the palmy days 

 the Siberian table must have groaned. 



Russian architecture is unmistakable. 

 A house, a church, a factory, or just a 

 plain shed will show the touch of the 

 Slav. Russian elements are noticeable in 

 the windows and doors, in little and big 

 lines of decoration, as well as in the gen- 

 eral plan and shape of a building. No 

 matter how poor the cottage may be, 

 there is something distinctive about it. 

 Even those miserable little refugee shacks 

 built of tin cans filled with mud "sported" 

 a Russian cornice, or a Russian window 

 frame, though these racial architectural 

 touches meant much extra labor. The 

 Russian architecture is unique, in that it 

 can carry a lot of what we call "ginger- 

 bread" and not appear cheap, trashy, or 

 bizarre. 



I often wondered what people did for 

 a living, what they did to earn even their 

 black bread and tea. The government 

 employed a few in the machine-shops and 

 some worked on the railroad, and many 

 more were soldiers ; but this did not begin 

 to account for all. In the days of the 

 Tsar most of the men were farmers ; but 

 farming has become a thing of the past. 

 Because of the ever-changing conditions 

 and the perpetual civil war, farmers have 

 been afraid to risk the expense and labor 

 of putting in a crop. Cows disappeared 

 to such an extent that almost everyone 

 resorted to canned milk. 



But the Siberians are informing them- 

 selves about tractors and other farming 

 machinery, and when they can devote 



Photograph from Cody Marsh 



THE AUTHOR SURROUNDED BY A GROUP 

 OP SIBERIAN FEMININE TYPES 



their energies to agriculture again they 

 will produce much to satisfy the world's 

 hunger. 



THE COSTUME OP THE SIBERIAN 



The dress of the Siberian Russian dif- 

 fers from ours in that the woman always 

 has a platok, or colored handkerchief, of 

 some sort on her head and white shoe:- 

 and stockings on her feet. The distinct- 

 ive article of the man's dress is the ro- 

 bashka, or shirt, which is worn outside 

 the trousers. The neck and front of the 

 garment are generally beautifully embroi- 

 dered and a rope-like girdle confines it at 

 the waist. These are not the native Rus- 

 sian costumes, but the costumes worn for 

 the most part at the present time. 



