CONQUEST OF SIBERIA BY THE RUSSIANS. 



195 



monument to Yermak in the town of Tobolsk, which was built on the very spot 

 where he gained his first decisive victory over Kutchum. It is inscribed with 

 the dates of that memorable event, and of the unfortunate day when he found 

 his death in the floods of the Irtysch. His real monument, however, is all Sibe- 

 ria from the Ural to the Pacific; for as long as the Russian nation continues 

 to exist, it will remember the name of Yermak Timodajeff. The value of the 

 man became at once apparent after his death, for scarcely had the news of the 

 disaster arrived, when the Russians immediately evacuated Sibir, and left the 

 country. But they well knew that this retreat was to be but temporary, and 

 that the present ebb of their fortunes would soon be followed by a fresh tide 

 of success. After a few years they once more returned, as the definitive masters 

 of the country. Their first settlement was Tjumen, on the Tara, and before 

 the end of 1587 Tobolsk was founded. They had, indeed, still many a conflict 

 with the Woguls and Tartars, but every effort of the natives to shake off the 

 yoke proved fruitless. 



As gold had been the all-powerful magnet which led the Spaniards from His- 

 paniola to Mexico and Peru, so a small fur-bearing animal (the sable) attracted 

 the Cossacks farther and farther to the east; and although the possession of 

 fire-arms gave them an immense advantage over the wild inhabitants of Sibe- 

 ria, yet it is as astonishing with what trifling means they subdued whole nations, 

 and perhaps history affords no other example of such a vast extent of territory 

 having been conquered by so small a number of adventurers. 



As they advanced, small wooden forts (or ostrogs) were built in suitable 

 places, and became in their turn the starting-posts for new expeditions. The 

 following dates give the best proof of the uncommon rapidity with which the 

 tide of conquest rolled onward to the east. Tomsk was founded in 1604 ; and 

 the ostrog Jeniseisk, where the neighboring nomads brought their sable skins 

 to market, in 1621. The snow-shoes of the Tunguse, which they sometimes 

 saw ornamented with this costly fur, induced the Cossacks to follow their 

 hordes, of which many had come from the middle and inferior Tunguska, and 

 thus, in 1630, Wassiljew reached the banks of the Lena. In 1636 Jehssei Busa 

 was commissioned to ascend that mighty river, and to impose jassak on all the 

 natives of those quarters. He reached the western mouth of the Lena, and 

 after navigating the sea for twenty-four hours came to the Olekma, which he 

 ascended. In 1638 he discovered the Tana, on whose banks he spent another 

 winter; and in 1639, resuming his voyage eastward by sea, he reached the 

 Tchendoma, and wintering for two years among the Jukahirs, made them also 

 tributary to Russia. 



In that same year another party of Cossacks crossed the Altai Mountains, 

 and, traversing forests and swamps, arrived at the coasts of the inhospitable 

 Sea of Ochotsk ; while a third expedition discovered the Amoor, and built a 

 strong ostrog, called Albasin, on its left bank. The report soon spread that the 

 river rolled over gold-sand, and colonists came flocking to the spot, both to col- 

 lect these treasures, and to enjoy the fruits of a milder climate and of a more 

 fruitful soil. But the Chinese destroyed the fort in 1680, and carried the gar- 

 rison prisoners to Peking. 



