42 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Jan. 17, 1903. 
— ^ — 
Two Years' Outing Across Siberia. 
{Continued Jrom Vol. LIX., j>age 413 ) 
Boating on Qbirian Rivers. 
The great north-flowing rivers of Russian Asia — as 
the Irtish, Tom, Enecei (erroneously spelt "Yenecei," 
or three or four other variations), Ob, Angara, Amur, 
etc. — offer the greatest contrasts and varieties for 
shooting and fishing parties. Native-made rigs are 
purchasable at both towns and most villages; there is 
nothing nice about them, but they are serviceable and 
not high-priced. 
Do not expect, however, even in the best of the dirty 
big villages of Cibiria called towns, you can procure 
imported western boating conveniences. Take them 
along with you! Thus, you could not procure a fold- 
ing boat anywhere in the country, because one has 
never been seen there. And if you gave an order to a 
local importer to get one, it would take from six 
months to a year before you received it. And a pretty 
bill of charges there would be to pay — "surprises" for 
you — in customs, dueSj and the elastic "extras." 
The Russians are very strong, when "on the make," 
in their use of invoice heads printed on long strips of 
paper. Their bills are purposely made out on the 
elongated strips — which you will never forget — to ac- 
commodate the "extras." 
Not alone did I never perceive a folding canvas boat 
anywhere, nor a steel boat, nor a rubber boat, but even 
a boat made of bark is apparently unknown to the 
Cibiriaks. They are great ojics for rafts, and make 
them pay at both ends. Thus, a trader upstream will 
build an immense cut-timber raft, procure all the tran- 
sient passengers he can (making them pay in advance), 
build a rough log house on the raft for their con- 
venience, and float downstream for a thousand versti or 
so; then, at a town or townlet where timber is scarce 
and high-priced, he will break up and sell the raft. He 
will return upstream again either by a chance paddle 
steamer, bearing with him local products, or get back 
by roundabout caravan route. 
Sometimes the raft will be devoted exclusively to 
trading, and fitted up with small bazars, having some 
pretense even to ornamentation. It is curious to note 
how, conformably to law, they sell everything by 
weight. Kaviar and kerosene, wools and whiskies, 
soaps and samovars (even those heavj^, lead-lined tea- 
urns, which are one of the minor glories of the land of 
Tolstoi), all are" sold by the one unique system of 
weight — i.e.. the funt. or pound. This is the concen- 
trated essence of simpleness in selling — simpler than the 
decimal or metric system— simple as the single-tax 
theory. 
If babies were merchantable in Cibiria, the native 
might sell his baby by the pound. Fortunately, how- 
ever, family lies are strong among the slafs. 
Qbirian Village Sports, 
Most of the villages run up a simple combination of 
planks and poles, and call it a gimnazia. This is usually 
to one side of the one wide, straggling street. It is 
much used in summer timer and all the year round is 
handy as a hitching post for cattle, or while shoeing 
horses. In appearance, the gimnazia uprights and 
cross-piece look at first sight for all the world like ex- 
ecution scaffolds we see depicted in illustrations of the 
shuffling off of offenders ; and this view of their reason of 
being was seized on once by an English rush tourist, 
who, not having known enough of Russian to ask and 
learn the truth, exclaimed, "Ah! these rascally Rus- 
sians! So this is the way they civilize Cibiria, by erect- 
ing execution scaffolds in every village! And of course 
those executed are the unhappy political exiles!" Or 
words to that effect, the purveyor of the information 
being a Russian who had heard it from another, and 
that "other" from somebody else; so I give the version 
for what it is worth. 
.A.part from the gimnazia, the poor mujik has no 
other mentionable diversion than to get drunk. But 
even that he does better than the average westerner, in 
that he never gets into an ill-humor in consequence. 
One Sunday noon, in a trans- Baikal village, I saw two 
boys diverting themselves "playing plowing" in the 
thick dust of the deserted street. One was guiding a 
miniature plow made from a couple of staves filched 
from a kaviar barrel; the other boy played horse. Poor 
little bare-footed chaps! They enjoyed the fun in their 
own way. Thus were they getting their hand in, in 
play, what was to prove their hard lot in life — plowing. 
Who ever heard of hand-plowing being easy work? 
Yet the Cibiriak is not unhappy. He is far better off 
than the Russ in agricultural products for home con- 
sumption — plenty of meat, milk, eggs, vegetables, etc., 
though of fruits and sugared confections he knows very 
little. For my own part, I would find life miserable 
without sugar, and in some parts of eastern Cibiria, 
where sugar could not be obtained, was for days in a 
discontented state of mind. On arrival at a bazar, 
however, the first thing I would buy would be sugar 
(50 kopeks a pound), and, presto! after getting through 
a few lump.s, one's disposition would get sweeter! 
Fact! 
The good effects of sugar or things sweet, I have 
often noted. Once with a party of engineers on the 
circum-Baikal, after being out all day in the drizzling 
forests, wet to the skin, we reached the village of Kyltyk 
in the dark, still raining a coldest of rains, and the 
whole company in a bad temper, especially after the 
flounder in the deep mire of the pitch black street. Just 
beyond the church, camp was pitched for the night, and 
the soldier-cooks prepared the soup. The chief of this 
party was the military engineer Schultz, a Russian 
sure, though with a Teutonic name. After the din- 
ner — partaken in silence almost, for everything had 
seemed to go wrong that day — coffee was brought in, 
but no sugar! The chef had ordered it days before from 
Ipkytck^ but U ^1^4 arrived. The feelings gf us all 
were like those of the man who has vainly spent his last 
match over that pipe he had so contemplated enjoying. 
Who can appreciate black coffee without sugar? 
Suddenly I thought of the ounce of saccharin crystals 
in my baggage coat. Though a most unsatisfactory 
substitute for sugar, because it lacks the body or syrup 
of the real thing, it proved a little godsend to that com- 
pany—all of whom had heard of, but never tried, the 
concentrated sweetener. A ripple of laughter at the 
novelty, the "ice" (of a wretched day) was broken, and 
over the sweetened coffee and cigarettes and little 
glasses of cognac, an evening of bantering laughter and 
merriment was spent till turning-in time. 
How Engineers Combine Work and Sport in Cibiria, 
For the information of those who have never been 
engaged on nor assisted in railway location work, I 
•would say that the members of a party take care to 
have a full quota of creature comforts in their supplies, 
making the government — that is to say, the people — 
pay for it; or, if a private enterprise, making the share- 
holders do so! I call to mind some of their lists of 
supplies — which is not headed "bill of fare," but simply 
worded "available"— and is for the information chiefly 
of the chef (cook) and chief. Here are some of the 
items: Ham and eggs, beefsteak and onions, liver and 
bacon, ham and tongue, ham and chicken, roast mutton, 
roast turkey, etc. Desserts: Strawberries and cream, 
wine and walnuts, milk and honey, peach and honey, 
etc. Liquors: Brandy and soda, cognac simple, cham- 
pagne dry, port, burgundy, etc. And so might be 
quoted scores of other good things. 
For actual sport, the engineers carry along guns, 
fishing tackle, traps, etc., and take advantage of the 
numerous saints' days to suspend work altogether, and 
scour the region for both business and sport. They 
REPSESENTATIVE SLAF TYPES. 
have learned at Petersburg the value of fur-bearing ani- 
mals, and are after skins that will bring money, not 
mere pot-shot killing. Their guns are both British and 
American, and each country's arms have a good repu- 
tation. 
If anything, to a stranger in Cibiria, village life is 
better than town life. The peasants are better people. 
They are truer, simpler, more genuine. Somebody once 
said the most honorable classes in the world are the 
poorer classes. The mujik is quite hospitable, and will 
share equally with you. 
The Russian Bana. 
Then he always has his bana (bath). The most ig- 
norant slaf will run up a vapor bath house in his back- 
yard — which is always a pretty large one- — and get a 
piping hot steam bath once a week, preferably on Sat- 
urdays. It is quite simple to make one of these bath 
houses — some planks thrown together, banked up and 
over with earth to secure a certain amount of non- 
conductivity, in other words, to keep the heat in and 
the cold out, and a pile of stones heaped up over the 
rude fireplace in the middle of the hut. An iron caldron 
of water is atop of this stone pile, and water is taken 
from it for washing purposes. When vapor is required, 
a little water is dashed over the hot stones, and soon 
the bafia is filled with almost apoplectic-producing 
steam. 
When suffering from rheumatism, the practice is to 
rush from the inferno-like bath house, roll over on the 
snow naked, then dart into the seething hot house 
again. Is it any wonder that such a shock to the system 
— equivalent to the work of a powerful faradic battery — 
gives such a fright to rheumatism as to cause it to loose 
its grip? 
But the foregoing only refers to the democratic baiia 
of the mujik or peasant. Of the bigger variety — well, 
they are too well acclimatized in our own cities to need 
any description here. 
Qbirian Town Architecture, 
Architecturally regarded, Irkutck is the chief town in 
Cibiria. It has over 50,000 population, is in the heart 
of Cibiria, on the swift current Angara, and has a 
cathedral that is an optical illusion — being of a light 
color, sandstone, it looks in the near distance a gigantic 
edifice, almost sufficient to stagger the imagination. But 
on close approach it seems to suddenly dwindle to 
proper proportions. At a half mile distance I never saw 
in my life, during a quadrupled tour of the world, such 
a look-big effect. If happening, as I expect, to pass 
through Ipkytck again in the not distant ftiture, I will 
stop over expressly to see again this architectural illu- 
sion, if for nothing else. 
The governor-general's palace is the usual imposing 
white edifice; and I saw at Ipkytck (like Goldsmith at 
Paris) the exteriors of many other fine houses. There 
is a mill ion-rubli theater, completed a couple of years 
back. It was only half up when I inspected the interior 
in the fall of 1896. It follows closely the Garnier opera 
houses at Geneva and Paris. As to churches, Ipkytck 
has more per capita than Brooklyn. You will find them 
—big buildings all — on well nigh every street. Un- 
fortunately this religious ostentation has about as much 
moral effect on the slaf as the religion of the seven- 
prayers-a-day musselman has on Turkish officials or 
the manager of a syndicate of harems — the oriental 
"harem trust." 
What a Cibirian Town is Like. 
Continuing to cite Ipkytck as a representative Cibi- 
rian town — for I know more of it than of any other 
Asiatic town, except a few south of the Plimalaya range. 
A couple of months spent here, naturally took me all 
over the place. My stay was prolonged from two weeks 
to two months involuntarily, as I had to wait for bag- 
gage from the Pacific. Now, as to the houses, they are 
almost always of wood, with spacious yards to each. 
There are few conveniences. Those of means have bell 
batteries, burglar pocket-torpedo alarms, and force- 
water supply from roof cisterns. 
The sidewalks are of wood. They have to be watched 
by the police, as the natives seem to consider they have 
a right to them at nights for fuel. The streets are all 
poorly made, all dusty in dry weather, and all muddy — 
better write miry — in wet. The only time they are clean 
is when under the prolonged snow-ice of winter. But 
you should see their state during the fortnight's thaw! 
It is poorest economy, but it is just like a Russian, to 
build a million-rubli opera house, and yet cause an an- 
nual loss of a million in injury to health and commerce 
by foul, miry streets. 
The society of Ipkytck consists of two species — those 
who have been convicted and those who ought to have 
been. 
Blessing the House — A Queer Cibirian C.stom, 
On the completion of a house — even a two-roomed 
dom, the local priest offers up a blessing. A small 
established fee is charged for this, but the equivalents 
of many more fees go in the drinking bout that ensues, 
in which the priest becomes hopelessly and helplessly 
involved. Being a temperance man, I was never 
affected when invited to assist at one of these imbibing 
functions, and was referred to as a Christian. The 
Russians do not call themselves Christians, but npabo- 
clabui (pronounced prabo-glabni), meaning literally 
"verily illustrious," or in other words, "verity credu- 
lous" or "verity believers." Literally, the vernacular is 
almost untranslatable. 
A Brief Insight into the Cibirian Professional Man's Life. 
He is called, for instance, civil engineer. Thus to 
call himself he must have a diploma. Would it be be- 
lieved, that in paternally-run Russiadom, any man who 
passes an exam, in theory, can dub himself engineer 
so-and-so, although his practical qualifications are nil. 
Influence, favoritism, tips, or purposely to "lose" at 
table or cards a few hundred pybli to the list of persons 
who have to be bribed, are the bases of "promotion" in 
the slaf country. Merit has no "pull" whatever. I was 
informed of one noteworthy instance at Peterburg. 
One civil engineer, who was opposed to bribery, at- 
tempted to secure a leading position without tipping a 
kopek. His merit was undeniable; he was passed — that 
is to say, accepted — when there loomed up what the 
French call a maitre-chanteur (literally, master-black- 
mailer). This individual was named Kepbetc. He had 
the final word. He found he could not extract any tip, 
nor promise of one; so he reported, "for private rea- 
sons, cannot recommend." Could anything be more 
damaging or insinuating to a man's character? You 
see, no charge is made against the successful candi- 
date; and the board thus reported to, gets the opinion 
that something very serious has been discovered against 
the applicant. The latter has no remedy at law, for his 
traducer made a private and privileged communication, 
and even if called upon by the board to explain, would 
only say, "Well, the reasons, as stated, are private." 
This loathsome stab in the back implied insinuation is 
not actionable per se, and the complainant who tested 
it in court would lose his case (legally, but not morally) 
before any law-tribunal on earth. 
It subsequently transpired that this Kepbetc, or 
Kepbetz, was implicated in extensive frauds in the con- 
struction of the trans-Cibirian and recently finished 
trans-Manchurian railroads, disappeared, and is now 
"wanted," with many others, by the Russian police. 
The foregoing is a good illustration of incidents in 
every standard Cibirian professional's life, and is one of 
the rotten features of Russian official transactions. 
Poor Wages in Qbiria. 
A Cibirian architect is poorly paid, to give another 
illustration. The average earnings will be 100 rubli 
monthly — little over $50. The purchasing power, in- 
deed, is less than our $50. At that, he will put in twelve 
hours' work per diem. He has few creature comforts. 
He is usually married, therefore respectable, and man- 
ages to save a little money where he could not in the 
non-marital state. 
Curios in Church Architecture in Qbiria. 
The principal edifices in Cibiria are the churches; and 
of all church architecture on God's footstool, I have 
come to the conclusion that Russian church architecture 
is the ugliest. It is an eyesore to any landscape. It is 
a slavish imitation of the Byzantin, yet without any of 
the chastity or striking originality of design of the old 
Turkish or Saracenic motifs, or the grace or elegance 
of other eastern architectural styles, like the Moorish, 
Egj'ptian or Indian. The Russians seem to have at 
some time in the ages past, hit upon the most unfortu- 
nate and ugliest of Byi^ntin styles, and made "cQfl- 
