Chapter XII: Kiachta

Approach Kiachta--Maimachin--Chinese elegance--The
frontier--Russian eagle--The commissary of the frontier--
"Times" newspaper--Kiachta--Troitskosarfsk--Meet a
countryman--Part from our Mongols--Their programme--A
Russian bath--Siberian refinement--Streets and pavement--
Russian conveyances--Aversion to exercise--
Semi-civilisation--Etiquette--Mixture of peoples--Wealth
of Russian merchants--Narrow commercial views--The Chinese
of Maimachin--Domestic habits--Russian and Chinese
characters compared--Chinese more civilised than the
Russians--The Custom-house--Liberal measures--Our droshky--
Situation of Kiachta--Supplies--Population--Hay-market--
Fish--The garden--Domestic gardening--Climate salubrious--
Construction of houses--Stoves--Russian meals--Commercial
importance of Kiachta--Inundation of the Selenga--
Travelling impracticable--Money-changing--New travelling
appointments--Tarantass--Passports--Danger of delay--Prepare
to start--First difficulty--Siberian horses--Post-bell 203

CHAPTER XIII.

KIACHTA TO THE BAIKAL.

Leave Troitskosarfsk--Hilly roads--Bouriats--The first
post-station--Agreeable surprise--Another stoppage--A
night on the hill-side--Hire another carriage--Reach the
Selenga--The ferry--Selenginsk--A gallery of art--
Cultivation--Verchne Udinsk--Effects of the inundation--
Slough of despond--Fine scenery--A dangerous road--A
press of travellers--Favour shown us--Angry Poles--
Ilyensk--An obsequious postmaster--Tidy post-house--A
night at Ilyensk--Treachery suspected--Roads destroyed--
Difficult travelling--An old Pole--Baikal lake--Station
at Pasoilské--A night scene--The Selenga river--And
valley--Agriculture--Cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs 223

CHAPTER XIV.

LAKE BAIKAL TO IRKUTSK.

Morning scene at Pasoilské--Better late than never--
Victimised--Russian junks--Primitive navigators--Storms on
the Baikal--Scene at the shipping port--Religious
ceremony--A polite officer--Inconvenience of the Baikal
route--Engineering enterprise--More delay--Fares by the
Baikal steamer--Crowing and crouching--The embarkation--The
General Karsakof--A naval curiosity--The lake--Its depth--
And area--The "Holy Sea"--The passage--Terra firma--
Custom-house delay--Fine country--Good roads--Hotels Amoor
and Metzgyr 234

CHAPTER XV.

IRKUTSK.

In sight of Irkutsk--Handsome town--Wrong hotel--Bad
accommodation--Suffocation--Bad attendance--The cuisine--
Venerable eggs--Billiards--Meet a friend--Beauties of
Irkutsk--Milliners--Bakers--Tobacconists--Prison--
Convicts--Benevolence of old ladies--Equipages--Libraries--
Theatre--Population--Governor--Generalship--The levée--
Governing responsibilities--Importance of commerce--
Manufactures insignificant--Education--Attractions of
Siberia--Society--Polish exiles--The Decembrists--The
sentence of banishment--Its hereditary effect--Low
standing of merchants--Discomforts of travelling--Engage
a servant--The prodigal--A mistake--Early winter--The
Angara--Floating-bridge--Parting view of Irkutsk 246

CHAPTER XVI.

IRKUTSK TO KRASNOYARSK.

Leave Irkutsk--Roads and rivers--Capacity for sleep--
Bridges--Break-neck travelling--Endurance of Russian
ponies--Verst-posts--Appalling distances--Irregular
feeding--Tea _versus_ grog--River Birusa--Boundary
of Irkutsk and Yenisei--Stoppage--The telegraph wires--
Improved roads--River Kan--The ferrymen--Kansk--A new
companion--Prisoner of war--Advantages and disadvantages
of travelling in company--Improved cultivation--A
snow-storm--Cold wind--Absurd arrangement of stations--
The river Yenisei--Mishap at the ferry--The approach to
Krasnoyarsk--The town--Population--Hotel--Travellers'
accounts--Confusion at the station--The black-book--The
courier service 262

CHAPTER XVII.

KRASNOYARSK TO TOMSK.

Sledges--Sulky yemschiks--Progress to Achinsk--Limit of
Eastern Siberia--Game--The Chulim--Difficult ferry--
Government of Tomsk--Bad roads again--Job's comforters--
Mariinsk--An accident--And another--Resources of a
yemschik--A drive through a forest--Ishimskaya--A
day too late--A sporting Pole--Disappointment--Annoying
delay--Freezing river--A cold bath--Sledge travelling--A
night scene--Early birds--Arrive in Tomsk--Our lodging--
Religion of Russians--Scruples of a murderer--Population
and situation of Tomsk--Fire Insurance--Climate of Tomsk--
Supply of water--Carefulness and hardiness--Skating--Demure
little boys--An extinct species--The gold diggings--The
Siberian tribes 273

CHAPTER XVIII.

TOMSK TO OMSK.

Refitting--The optician--The feather-pillow question--A
friend in need--A dilemma--Schwartz's folly--Old Barnaul
leaves us--We leave Tomsk--A weary night--A Russian
dormitory--Construction of houses--Cross the Tom--And the
Ob--Enter the Baraba steppe--Kolivan--The telegraph--The
ladies of Baraba--Game--Windmills--A frozen marsh--Kainsk--
Reach Oms--Outbreaks on the Kirghis steppe--Russian
aggression--Its effects on different tribes 290

CHAPTER XIX.

OMSK TO OCHANSK.

Leave Omsk--Recruiting--Cross the Irtish--Tukalinsk--
Yalootorofsk--Reach Tumen--Improved posting--Snowroads--
Ekaterineburg--Mint--Precious stones--Iron works--
Englishmen in Siberia--Iron mines--Fish trade--A recruiting
scene--Temperature rising--Game--The Urals--Disappointing--
A new companion--The boundary between Europe and Asia--
Yermak the Cossack--Discovery and conquest of Siberia--
Reach Perm--Too late again--Progress of inland navigation--
Facilities for application of steam--Water routes of
Siberia--Railways--Tatars--Cross the Kama to Ochansk--
Dissolving view of snow roads 305

CHAPTER XX.

RUSSIAN AND SIBERIAN PEASANTRY.

Siberian and Russian peasantry--The contrast--Freedom and
slavery--Origin of Siberian peasants--Their means of
advancement--Exiles--Two classes--Their offences and
punishments--Privileges after release--Liberality of the
government--Its object--Extent of forest--One
serf-proprietor in Siberia--Exemptions from conscription--
Rigour of the climate on the Lena and Yenisei--Settlers
on Angara exempted from taxes--Improvement of Siberian
peasants--A bright future--Amalgamation of classes--Slavery
demoralising to masters--The emancipation of the serfs--
Its results 320

CHAPTER XXI.

KAZAN.--POLISH EXILES.

Road to Kazan--Polish prisoners--Arrive at Kazan--More
croaking--Temptations to delay--Sell our sledge--View of
Kazan--The ferry at the Volga--Ice-boats and icebergs--The
military--Tatars--Polish exiles--Kindly treated by their
escort--Erroneous ideas on this subject--The distribution
of exiles in Siberia--Their life there--The Polish
insurrection--Its objects--Imprudence--Consequences--Success
would have been a second failure 331

CHAPTER XXII.

KAZAN TO PETERSBURG.

A day lost--The moujik's opportunity--Return to Kazan--Hotel
"Ryazin"--Grease and butter--Evening entertainment--Try
again--The ferry--A term of endearment--Ferrymen's
devotions--A Jew publican--"Pour boire"--Villages and
churches--The road to Nijni--Penance--A savage--A
miserable night--Reach Nijni--"Sweet is pleasure after
pain"--The great fair--Nijni under a cloud--Delights of
railway travelling--A contrast--Reach Moscow--Portable
gas--Foundling hospital--The Moscow and Petersburg
railway--Grandeur of Petersburg--Late season--Current
topics--Iron-clads--The currency--Effects of Crimean war--
Russian loyalty--Alexander II. as a reformer--Leave
Petersburg 343