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us, we could perceive that it contained perhaps three hundred souls. It was only natural to find that they had mostly come from Southern Russia, but had been waiting where we found them six long weeks, in hope of further transmission to the neighbourhood of Yeneseisk. They had much of which to complain, and recounted how they had suffered numerically from epidemics. Cholera, typhus, and other loathsome enemies of mankind had walked-were walking at their ease amongst them; thirty per cent had died. Most had ensconced themselves in the lee of the embankment, which at this point began to rise to meet a bridge that spans the small river on which Atchinsk stands. Beside them were the railway trenches water-filled; clouds of mosquitoes filled the air. These the colonists attempted to drive away by smoking, or by sitting closely round the fires that formed the centre of each family circle; or again, some plucked short half-charred sticks out of the fire, and, blowing on them, served by the heat engendered to protect their faces; while others sought refuge in shawls and handkerchiefs, so wrapping up their heads that only an eye remained visible. Not far removed, in little heaps, lay their worldly possessions, a square box or two wrapped in sacking forming the groundwork, on and around which were bags and bundles tied with rope, untied, split, bursting, empty. A few branches bent hoopwise, with either end stuck in the ground, and interwoven with yet other leafy branches, formed their rude dwellings. Some, more fortunate, had improvised a tent of dirty cloth, into which they could just crawl. Others had adopted the device of the surfacemen, and appropriated sleepers for hut-build

ing purposes. ing purposes. See them squatting there, in weariness of soul, killing time as best they may around a samovar, perhaps the family heirloom that once saw better days. Thus, then, they sat by the low fires in dark-brown homespun kaftans, fleecy shubas, or padded jackets. And as they sat they talked I know not what about, perchance some memories of home, while far to the west the last rays of the declining sun were filling the heavens with a purple glow. We sat by the car-window and watched them in the stillness of the night: now and again they would start up when there was borne from some remoter group keeping late vigil those soft, weird, minor melodies that are the priceless possession of the Russian folk. And when the dying strains of the song soared to a high-pitched note held by the female voices, while the men prolonged it an octave lower, it seemed like some sad musical interrogation, Why had they left Poltava to die on the Siberian steppe?

Next morning we left our helpless waggon, crossed the river by the ferry-boat, and started off on the last possible railway stretch in a fourth-class car.

Now we are fairly in the Taiga, as they call the forest zone. Siberian poplars, with ash-grey stem and quivering leaves; spruces, with their regular isosceles - triangled contours and dark shading; giant larches towering above their fellows; cedars having peculiar branches, crowded with knob-like bunches of green needles; Scotch firs, with cinnamon-coloured upper trunks, toning down to sombre iron-grey; birches, with pure white gentle stems; and alders,-these form the body, while the padding is largely left to the smaller but graceful Siberian spruce, with smoother bark and darker leaves,

Such is the Siberian jungle, now pierced by two thin lines of iron rail. At night, during this last journey, the coupling-irons gave way on a somewhat steep incline, and the detached portion of the train began to roll backwards. Luckily the man in charge of the only brake awoke at this moment, and in a few seconds the retreat was stopped. He confessed, however, that it was more owing to the rough state of the line than to the efficiency of the brake that the runaway portion was so quickly controlled. But this was not all, for first the engine deserted the track, and later on another waggon followed its example, so that in all we spent exactly four days in covering what was performed in thirty-six hours on the homeward run.1 As we carried workmen with us, however, it was only a case of waiting till the necessary repairs were accomplished, except in the case of the coupling-irons. The Taiga has been cut down for about 40 yards on either side of the embankment, making a broad clearing of 100 yards or so at parts. Along the rough roadway, seldom devoid of gradient, the weary engine toils: at times it almost seems as if a steeper bit of incline would be too much for it, when suddenly with a jerk the difficulty is overcome, and we resume our seven miles an hour, which slow rate is in part a precaution for safety.

One fine morning at 3 A.M. we enter the hill-encircled plain where lies the town of Krasnoyarsk. Piles of wood, stone, and rails indicate that here, at any rate, is to be a station of some dimensions; and when towards the end of summer we passed through again,

a fine building had been reared in red sandstone. The bridge over the Yenesei will be one of the masterpieces of the line. Built, like them all, in the lattice-girder style, its single span will have a length of over 400 sajens (2800 feet). The bridge over the Tom is only about half as long as this one will be, with three spans, and it cost half a million roubles.

Although when coming back we joined a special waggon at a point 103 versts east of Krasnoyarsk, yet from this town we had to begin driving on the way out. We constantly passed little patches of embankment, either finished or in process of construction, or again as yet merely represented by three sticks standing in the tree-cleared vista, of which the outer two indicated the extreme limit of the breadth of the embankment, while the third attested its height at the middle point. And as we drove on through the forest we would suddenly come on the birchbark huts of the workmen nestling in the shade of the trees. The labourers, variously attired, but with a preference for the red rubashka, sit round their fires: a few telegas, still heaped with goods, the hobbled horses, all proclaim that work has not long commenced at this point. In the distance the overseer is riding away on his horse to the nearest village, now that the day's work is over.

It is difficult to estimate the enormous amount of labour that has been expended on this railway. Consider how, to begin with, all the sleepers have been sawn tediously by hand: the log rests at a considerable elevation upon two props; one man stands upon it,

1 I.e., we retraced most of it at the rate of 27 versts an hour, while it is asserted that Prince Khilkoff was taken over parts of the line in August of last year at 52 versts an hour.

VOL. CLXI.-NO. DCCCCLXXV.

B

working the saw downwards to another man below. Then in the construction of any high embankment the supporting piles are driven in by a primitive contrivance, also of wood, in the form of a giant tripod, from the top of which there hangs a pulley. Över this runs a rope, to one end of which is attached a heavy stone, with level base, while the other end is led on to a wheel at the side, by means of which the weight is raised. This arrangement is fixed over each pile in turn, so that the descending stone may strike it; thus after a generation the pile is driven home to the required depth. One other point may be briefly touched upon. Siberia, with one or two exceptions, is not in the possession of good roads—at least, such as could be counted on for the transport of rails, fixed or rolling stock. The natural course was therefore to employ her splendid waterways, and one of the first acts of the Committee of the TransSiberian Railway was to authorise the expenditure of over a million roubles on the improvement of water-communication on the rivers of Western Siberia, and on exploration of the Amur. How much was necessary to be done in the way of deepening channels, cutting down trees which threatened to fall into the water, retaining rivers in their beds, and marking dangerous places, can only be understood by those who have seen it for themselves. How much has been done is only in keeping with the really remarkable speed at which this whole enterprise is being carried through.

each of which is held in position by two little pegs of wood.

Evidences of the railway accompanied us so far as we went. The clearing through the Taiga now extends throughout its length, and at different points one comes on the embankment in varying stages of development. Commonly, it is still disconnected where rivers break across its course; but the magnificent bridge over the Selenga, in the neighbourhood of Verchni-Udinsk, is now in process of construction.

This

It was impossible to see the progress of the work round the south end of the Baikal Lake, as the direct route leads one naturally to traverse it by steamboat. part will involve considerable difficulty, and, as it may not be ready for some time, a steamer of 4000 tons is being constructed for the purpose of transporting the train bodily across the lake. A model of this boat was on view at the Nijni-Novgorod Exhibition of last summer. It is intended that it shall make its own way across the ice-bound lake; but instead of working on the American principle of, as it were, climbing up on the ice and so breaking it down by sheer weight, in accordance with the idea of a Russian engineer the model represents the vessel as provided with a screw in the bow, which, by its action near the surface of the water, might be supposed to weaken the ice. Captain Wiggins meanwhile condemns this scheme, for however well it may succeed with a foot of ice, it seems to be a very inefficient method of coping with the thicker Baikal ice. There is a twin screw-propeller at the stern: and the bow is modelled to have the same appearance above is water as the stern. Four funnels, disposed in corners of an imaginary square, serve to give the steamer,

Lastly, one is impressed with the extremely finished nature of the work thus the side of the large brown embankment covered often with an infinite number of small squares of turf,

on the whole, a very imposing appearance.

In connection with the geological expeditions that have also been at work on behalf of the railway, some excellent results have been obtained. Hitherto the fuel used has been wood, and a recent discovery of coal at Pavlodar had not been regarded with any great interest.

More lately, however, in the Mid-Siberian district, there have been two remarkable discoveries of anthracite or stone coal, but of very good quality, at points within 20 versts of the railway. Also in Trans - Baikalia, in the valley of the Selenga and other places, valuable deposits have been found, some of the seams averaging 35 feet in thickness.

In its relation to Russia, it is obvious that the new railway as an exporting agency may not be altogether an unmixed blessing. A prominent official told me that it will probably involve a radical change in the administration of this matter. The route from Europe to Siberia through the Kara Sea is still too uncertain a course to come into anything like general usage. Meantime an expedition is engaged in hydrographical work in these regions; and the lapse of a few years may make a great change in the point of view from which this passage is regarded at the present moment. But Siberia requires some cheap convenient way even now by which to export her produce. The yearly excess of grain available for export is 9 to 12 million poods (pood 36 lb. Eng.) A moment's thought will serve to show how the great railway, mainly in its function of populating the country, will soon augment this large quantity. At the same time, to flood the already crowded Russian markets with Siberian corn would

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be fatal to the agricultural world of the former, where prices are even now at a minimum.

To obviate this, a proposal was laid before the Committee of the Trans-Siberian Railway to join by rail the basins of the Ob and northern Dwina. The projected line was to start from Perm, and, passing through Viatka, to strike the Dwina near the village of Kotlass, whence a run of 649 versts down the river would bring one to Archangel. At the present moment there are upwards of seventy steam craft plying on that stretch of the river. It has been estimated that the cost of delivery of grain cargoes in London would be about 13 to 21 kopecks the pood cheaper from Tiumen, and 3 to 6 kopecks from Barnaul through Archangel, than through St Petersburg. In time, with the improvement of the navigable condition of the Dwina and other rivers, as also by the lowering of the freights, it is supposed that this difference would yet be more increased to the advantage of Archangel. The cheapening of grain in the Archangel market will mean the fall of prices on all the White Sea coast, and will provide the possibility in the widest measure of increasing the sea industry, which is now declining year by year, and passing into the hands of the Norwegians. The estimated cost of this railway is 55 million roubles (£5,500,000). A commencement was made in 1895, and in time the line will be brought into direct connection with the other branches of the Russian railway system. Such, at least, is Prince Khilkoff's dream, which many, however, loudly prophesy will result in failure, ascribing it to what they deem to be his over-eagerness in Russian railway

extension.

One feature about the railway

working the saw downwards to another man below. Then in the construction of any high embankment the supporting piles are driven in by a primitive contrivance, also of wood, in the form of a giant tripod, from the top of which there hangs a pulley. Over this runs a rope, to one end of which is attached a heavy stone, with level base, while the other end is led on to a wheel at the side, by means of which the weight is raised. This arrangement is fixed over each pile in turn, so that the descending stone may strike it; thus after a generation the pile is driven home to the required depth. One other point may be briefly touched upon. Siberia, with one or two exceptions, is not in the possession of good roads-at least, such as could be counted on for the transport of rails, fixed or rolling stock. The natural course was therefore to employ her splendid waterways, and one of the first acts of the Committee of the TransSiberian Railway was to authorise the expenditure of over a million roubles on the improvement of water-communication on the rivers of Western Siberia, and on exploration of the Amur. How much was necessary to be done in the way of deepening channels, cutting down trees which threatened to fall into the water, retaining rivers in their beds, and marking dangerous places, can only be understood by those who have seen it for themselves. How much has been done is only in keeping with the really remarkable speed at which this whole enterprise is being carried through.

Lastly, one is impressed with the extremely finished nature of the work thus the side of the large brown embankment is covered often with an infinite number of small squares of turf,

each of which is held in position by two little pegs of wood.

Evidences of the railway accompanied us so far as we went. The clearing through the Taiga now extends throughout its length, and at different points one comes on the embankment in varying stages of development. Commonly, it is still disconnected where rivers break across its course; but the magnificent bridge over the Selenga, in the neighbourhood of Verchni-Udinsk, is now in process of construction.

This

It was impossible to see the progress of the work round the south end of the Baikal Lake, as the direct route leads one naturally to traverse it by steamboat. part will involve considerable difficulty, and, as it may not be ready for some time, a steamer of 4000 tons is being constructed for the purpose of transporting the train bodily across the lake. A model of this boat was on view at the Nijni-Novgorod Exhibition of last summer. It is intended that it shall make its own way across the ice-bound lake; but instead of working on the American principle of, as it were, climbing up on the ice and so breaking it down by sheer weight, in accordance with the idea of a Russian engineer the model represents the vessel as provided with a screw in the bow, which, by its action near the surface of the water, might be supposed to weaken the ice. Captain Wiggins meanwhile condemns this scheme, for however well it may succeed with a foot of ice, it seems to be a very inefficient method of coping with the thicker Baikal ice. There is a twin screw-propeller at the stern: and the bow is modelled to have the same appearance above water as the stern. Four funnels, disposed in corners of an imaginary square, serve to give the steamer,

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