Chapter I: Preface

Many who read the following account of our long land journey will not unnaturally ask: "What was the object of this stupendous voyage, or the reward to be gained by this apparently unnecessary risk of life and endurance of hardships?"

I would reply that my primary purpose was to ascertain the feasibility of constructing a railway to connect the chief cities of France and America, Paris and New York. The European Press was at the time of our departure largely interested in this question, which fact induced the proprietors of the _Daily Express_ of London, the _Journal_ of Paris, and the New York _World_ to contribute towards the expenses of the expedition. Another reason is one with which I fancy most Englishmen will readily sympathise--viz., the feat had never before been performed, and my first attempt to accomplish it in 1896 (with New York as the starting-point) had failed half way on the Siberian shores of Bering Straits.

The invaluable assistance rendered by the United States Government in the despatch of a revenue cutter to our relief on the Siberian coast is duly acknowledged in another portion of this volume, but I would here express my sincere thanks to the "Compagnie Internationale des Wagonslits" for furnishing the expedition with a free pass from Paris to the city of Irkutsk, in Eastern Siberia. In America the "Southern Pacific" and "Wabash" Lines extended the same courtesies, thus enabling us to travel free of cost across the United States, as guests of two of the most luxurious railways in the world.

45 AVENUE KLEBER, PARIS, _October 1903_.

CONTENTS

PART I.--EUROPE AND ASIA.

CHAP. PAGE

I. THROUGH EUROPE. THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY. 15 II. THE PARIS OF SIBERIA 28 III. THE GREAT LENA POST-ROAD 41 IV. THE CITY OF THE YAKUTE 68 V. THE LAND OF DESOLATION 92 VI. VERKHOYANSK 109 VII. THROUGH DARKEST SIBERIA 122 VIII. AN ARCTIC INFERNO 148 IX. THE LOWER KOLYMA RIVER 171 X. A CRUEL COAST 183 XI. IN THE ARCTIC 203 XII. AMONG THE TCHUKTCHIS 221 XIII. AMONG THE TCHUKTCHIS (_contd._) 239

PART II.--AMERICA.

XIV. ACROSS BERING STRAITS--CAPE PRINCE OF WALES 257 XV. AN ARCTIC CITY 274 XVI. A RIVER OF GOLD 286 XVII. DAWSON 304 XVIII. THE UPPER YUKON AND LEWES RIVERS. THE WHITE PASS RAILWAY 323 XIX. THE FRANCO-AMERICAN RAILWAY--SKAGWAY--NEW YORK 340