In the afternoon of the same day they came to another river village, Bulun. Impatient to proceed, and supposing that it too was inhabited wholly by "Asiatics,"[206] Johannesen intended to pa.s.s it without stopping. But when the inhabitants saw the steamer they welcomed it with a salute from all the guns that could be got hold of in haste.[207] The _Lena_ then anch.o.r.ed. Two Crown officials and a priest came on board, and the latter performed a thanksgiving service.
Even at that remote spot on the border of the _tundra_ the Asiatic comprehended very well the importance of vessels from the great oceans being able to reach the large rivers of Siberia. I too had a proof of this in the year 1875. While still rowing up the river in my own Nordland boat with two scientific men and three hunters, before we got up with the steamer _Alexander_ we landed, among others, at a place where a number of Dolgans were collected. When they understood clearly that we had come to them, not as brandy-sellers or fish-buyers from the south, but from the north, _from the ocean_, they went into complete ecstasies. We were exposed to unpleasant embraces from our skin-clad admirers, and finally one of us had the misfortune to get a bath in the river in the course of an attempt which the Dolgans in their excitement made to carry him almost with violence to the boat, which was lying in the shallow water some distance from the sh.o.r.e. At Dudino, also, the priests living there held a thanksgiving service for our happy arrival thither. Two of them said ma.s.s, while the clerk, clad in a sheepskin caftan reaching to his feet, zealously and devoutly swung an immense censer. The odour from it was at first not particularly pleasant, but it soon became so strong and disagreeable that I, who had my place in front of the audience, was like to choke, though the ceremony was performed in the open air. Soon the clerk was completely concealed in a dense cloud of smoke, and it was now observed that his skin cloak had been set fire to at the same time as the incense. The service, however, was not interrupted by this incident, but the fire was merely extinguished by a bucket of water being thrown, to the amus.e.m.e.nt of all, over the clerk.
At nine in the morning the _Lena_ continued her voyage up the river with the priest and the Crown officials on board, but they had soon to be landed, because in their joy they had become dead drunk. On the 13th September Schigansk was reached, and samples of the coal found there were taken on board, but these proved unserviceable,[208] and on the 21st September the _Lena_ reached Yakutsk. The first vessel which, coming from the ocean, reached the heart of Siberia was received with great goodwill and hospitality, both by the authorities and the common people. But when Johannesen did not find here Sibiriakoff"s representative, Kolesoff, he continued his voyage up the river, until, on the 8th October, he came to the village Njaskaja, 220 versts from Vitim, in about 60 N.L. Here he turned back to Yakutsk and laid up the steamer in winter quarters a little to the south of that town.
[Ill.u.s.tration: YAKUTSK IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. (After Witsen.) ]
Both the _Fraser_ and _Express_ and the _Lena_ had thus fully answered the purposes intended before the departure of the expedition, and their voyages will always form an important link in the chain of the attempts through which navigation in the Siberian Polar Sea has been opened.
In order to give an idea of the influence which this sea-route may have on the commerce of the world, and the new source of fortune and prosperity which thereby maybe rendered accessible to millions, I shall in a few words give an account of the nature of the territory which by means of this sea-communication will be brought into contact with the old civilised countries of Europe.
[Ill.u.s.tration: YAKUTSK IN OUR DAYS. (After a recent Russian drawing.) ]
If we take Siberia in its widest sense, that is to say, if we include under that name not only Siberia proper, but also the parts of High Asia which lie round the sources of the great Siberian rivers, this land may very well be compared in extent, climate, fertility, and the possibility of supporting a dense population, with America north of 40 N.L. Like America, Siberia is occupied in the north by woodless plains. South of this region, where only the hunter, the fisher, and the reindeer nomad can find a scanty livelihood, there lies a widely extended forest territory, difficult of cultivation, and in its natural conditions, perhaps, somewhat resembling Sweden and Finland north of 60 or 61 N.L. South of this wooded belt, again, we have, both in Siberia and America, immeasurable stretches of an exceedingly fertile soil, of whose power to repay the toil of the cultivator the grain exports during recent years from the frontier lands between the United States and Canada have afforded so striking evidence.
There is, however, this dissimilarity between Siberia and America, that while the products of the soil in America may be carried easily and cheaply to the harbours of the Atlantic and the Pacific, the best part of Siberia, that which lies round the upper part of the courses of the Irtisch-Ob and the Yenisej, is shut out from the great oceans of the world by immense tracts lying in front of it, and the great rivers which in Siberia cross the country and appear to be intended by nature to form not only the arteries for its inner life, but also channels of communication with the rest of the world, all flow towards the north and fall into a sea which, down to the most recent times, has been considered completely inaccessible.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Map of the River System of Siberia. ]
Of these rivers the double river, Ob-Irtisch, with its numerous affluents, occupies an area of more than 60,000 geographical square miles, the Yenisej-Angara, not quite 50,000, and the Lena, somewhat over 40,000.[209] As the map of the river system of Siberia, which accompanies this work, shows, but a small part of these enormous territories lies north of the Arctic Circle, and only very inconsiderable portions of it are occupied by woodless _tundra_, which is explained by the fact that the greater part of the coast-land bordering on the Arctic Ocean is drained by small rivers of its own, and therefore cannot be considered to belong to the river territories now in question. If we draw the northern boundary of the land that may be cultivated with advantage at 60 N.L., there remains a cultivable area of 90,000 geographical square miles.
Perhaps a third part of this is occupied by rocky country which is wooded, and probably capable of being cultivated only with considerable difficulty, but the rest consists for the most part of easily cultivated gra.s.sy plains, with little wood, and covered with the most luxuriant vegetation. The soil, in many places resembling the black earth or _tscherno-sem_ of Russia, recompenses with abundant harvests even the slightest labour of cultivation.
Notwithstanding this, these regions now support only an exceedingly spa.r.s.e population, but many, many millions may without difficulty find their subsistence there when once cultivation has developed the rich natural resources of the country.
It is a circ.u.mstance specially fortunate for the future development of Siberia that its three great rivers are already navigable for the greater part of their course. The Ob is navigable from Biisk (52-1/2 N.L.), and the Irtisch at least from Semipalitinsk (50 18" N.L.). The Yenesej, again, which, after leaving the region of its sources in China, crosses with its two main arms the whole of Siberia from north to south, from the forty-sixth to the seventy-third degree of lat.i.tude, and thus traverses a territory which corresponds in length to the distance between Venice and the North Cape, or between the mouth of the Mississippi and the north part of Lake Winnipeg, and is already navigable by nature from the sea to Yenisejsk. To this town goods are already transported _down_ both the main arms from Minusinsk and the region of Lake Baikal. It is said that the Angara might be made quite navigable during its whole course at an expenditure trifling in comparison with the advantages that would thus be gained, as well as its continuation, the Selenga, in its lower part between the Chinese frontier and Lake Baikal. In this way a river route would be opened for the conveyance of the products of North China and South Siberia to a sea which an ordinary steamer would cross in five or six days to the White Sea or the North Cape. A similar communication with the Atlantic may be opened on the double river Ob-Irtisch with Western Siberia and High Asia as far as to Chinese Dsungaria, where the Irtisch begins its course as a small river, the Black Irtisch, which falls into Lake Saisan, and rises south of the Altai Mountains in the neighbourhood of the Selenga, the source-river of the Yenisej. At several places the river territories of the Ob and the Yenesej nearly reach hands to one another through affluents, which rise so close to each other that the two river systems might easily be connected by ca.n.a.ls. This is also the case with the affluents of the Yenesej and the Lena, which at many places almost meet, and the Lena itself is, according to Latkin"s statement, navigable from the village of Kotschuga to the sea. We see from this how extraordinarily advantageous is the natural system of interior communication which Siberia possesses, and at the same time that a communication by sea between this country and the rest of the world is possible only by the Arctic Ocean. It is on this that the enormous importance of the navigation of the Siberian Polar Sea depends. If this can be brought about, Siberia, with an inconsiderable expenditure in making ca.n.a.ls, will not only become one of the most fortunate countries of the globe in respect of the possibility of the cheap transport of goods, but the old proposal of a north-eastern commercial route to China may even become a reality. If, on the other hand, navigation on the Polar Sea be not brought about, Siberia will still long remain what it is at present--a land rich in raw materials, but poor in all that is required for the convenience and comfort with which the civilised man in our days can with difficulty dispense.
Many perhaps believe that the present want of commercial communication may be removed by a railway running across Russia and Southern Siberia. But this is by no means the case. On the contrary, communication by sea is an indispensable condition of such a railway being profitable. For it can never come in question to carry on a railway the products of the forest or the field over the stretch of three to five thousand kilometres which separates the fertile river territory of the Ob-Irtisch from the nearest European port. Even if we suppose that the railway freight, inclusive of all costs, could be reduced to a farthing the kilometre-ton, it would in any case rise, from the grain regions of Siberia to a harbour on the Baltic, to from 4_l_. to nearly 7_l_. per ton. So high a freight, with the costs of loading in addition, none of the common products of agriculture or forestry can stand, as may easily be seen if we compare this amount with the prices current in the markets of the world for wheat, rye, oats, barley, timber, &c. But if the Siberian countryman cannot sell his raw products, the land will continue to be as thinly peopled as it is at present, nor can the spa.r.s.e population which will be found there procure themselves means to purchase such products of the industry of the present day as are able to bear long railway carriage. In the absence of contemporaneous sea-communication the railway will therefore be without traffic, the land such as it is at present, and the unprosperous condition of the European population undiminished.
In order to give the reader an idea of the present natural conditions, and the present communication on a Siberian river, I shall, before returning to the sketch of the voyage of the _Vega_, give some extracts from notes made during my journey up the Yenesej in 1875, reminding the reader, however, that the natural conditions of the Ob-Irtisch and the Lena differ considerably from those of the Yenisej, the Ob-Irtisch flowing through lower, more fertile, and more thickly peopled regions, the Lena again through a wilder, more beautiful, but less cultivated country.
When one travels up the river from Port d.i.c.kson, the broad sound between Sibiriakoff"s Island and the mainland is first pa.s.sed, but the island is so low that it is not visible from the eastern bank of the river and which is usually followed in sailing up or down the river. The mainland, on the other hand, is at first high-lying, and in sailing along the coast it is possible to distinguish various spurs of the range of hills, estimated to be from 150 to 200 metres high, in the interior. These are free of snow in summer. A little south of Port d.i.c.kson they run to the river bank, where they form a low rock and rocky island projecting into the river, named after some otherwise unknown Siberian Polar trapper, Yefremov Kamen.
Sibiriakoff"s Island has never, so far as we know, been visited by man, not even during the time when numerous _simovies_ were found at the mouth of the Yenesej. For no indication of this island is found in the older maps of Siberia, although these, as appears from the fac-simile reproduced at page 192, give the names of a number of _simovies_ at the mouth of the Yenisej, now abandoned. Nor is it mentioned in the accounts of the voyages of the great northern expeditions. The western strand of the island, the only one I have seen, completely bore the stamp of the _tundra_ described below.
Several reindeer were seen pasturing on the low gra.s.sy eminences of the island, giving promise of abundant sport to the hunter who first lands there.
Still at Yefremov Kamen we saw in 1875 three Polar bears who appeared to pasture in all peacefulness among the rocks, and did not allow themselves to be disturbed by the enormous log-fire of driftwood we lighted on the strand to make our coffee. Here were found for the last time during our journey up the river actual marine animals: Appendicularia, Olio, medusae, large beroids, &c.
Large bushy plants were still completely wanting, but the vegetable world already began to a.s.sume a stamp differing from the Arctic Ocean flora proper. A short distance south of Yefremov Kamen begins the veritable _tundra_, a woodless plain, interrupted by no mountain heights, with small lakes scattered over it, and narrow valleys crossing it, which often make an excursion on the apparently level plain exceedingly tiresome.
[Ill.u.s.tration: RIVER VIEW ON THE YENISEJ. (From a drawing by A.N.
Lundstrom.) ]
As is the case with all the other Siberian rivers running from south to north,[210] the western strand of the Yenisej, wherever it is formed of loose, earthy layers, is also quite low and often marshy, while on the other hand the eastern strand consists of a steep bank, ten to twenty metres high, which north of the limit of trees is distributed in a very remarkable way into pyramidal pointed mounds.
Numerous sh.e.l.ls of crustacea found here, belonging to species which still live in the Polar Sea, show that at least the upper earthy layer of the _tundra_ was deposited in a sea resembling that which now washes the north coast of Siberia.[211]
The _tundra_ itself is in summer completely free of snow, but at a limited depth from the surface the ground is continually frozen. At some places the earthy strata alternate with strata of pure, clear ice. It is in these frozen strata that complete carcases of elephants and rhinoceroses have been found, which have been protected from putrefaction for hundreds of thousands of years. Such _finds_, however, are uncommon, but on the other hand single bones from this primeval animal world occur in rich, abundance, and along with them ma.s.ses of old driftwood, originating from the Mammoth period, known by the Russian natives of Siberia under the distinctive name of "Noah"s wood." Besides there are to be seen in the most recent layer of the Yenesej _tundra_, considerably north of the present limit of actual trees, large tree-stems with their roots fast in the soil, which show that the limit of trees in the Yenesej region, even during our geological period, went further north than now, perhaps as far as, in consequence of favourable local circ.u.mstances, it now goes on the Lena.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SUB-FOSSIL MARINE CRUSTACEA FROM THE TUNDRA. ]
On the slopes of the steep _tundra_ bank and in several of the _tundra_ valleys there is an exceedingly rich vegetation, which already, only 100 kilometres south of Yefremov Kamen, forms actual thickets of flowering plants, while the _tundra_ itself is overgrown with an exceedingly scanty carpet, consisting more of mosses than of gra.s.ses. Salices of little height go as far north as Port d.i.c.kson (73 30" N.L.), the dwarf birch (_Betula nana_, L.) is met with, though only as a bush creeping along the ground, at Cape Schaitanskoj (72 8" N.L.); and here in 1875, on the ice-mixed soil of the _tundra_, we gathered ripe cloudberries.
Very luxuriant alders (_Alnaster fruticosus_, LEDEB.) occur already at Mesenkin (71 28" N.L.), and the Briochov Islands (70 to 71 N.L.), are in several places covered with rich and luxuriant thickets of bushes.
But the limit of trees proper is considered to begin first at the great bend which the river makes in 69 40" N.L., a little north of Dudino.
Here the hills are covered with a sort of wood consisting of half-withered, grey, moss-grown larches (_Larix sibirica_), which seldom reach a height of more than seven to ten metres, and which much less deserve the name of trees than the luxuriant alder bushes which grow nearly 2 farther north. But some few miles south of this place, and still far north of the Arctic Circle, the pine forest becomes tall. Here begins a veritable forest, the greatest the earth has to show, extending with little interruption from the Ural to the neighbourhood of the Sea of Ochotsk, and from the fifty-eighth or fifty-ninth degree of lat.i.tude to far north of the Arctic Circle, that is to say, about one thousand kilometres from north to south, and perhaps four times as much from east to west. It is a primeval forest of enormous extent, nearly untouched by the axe of the cultivator, but at many places devastated by extensive forest fires.
On the high eastern bank of the Yenisej the forest begins immediately at the river bank. It consists princ.i.p.ally of pines: the cembra pine (_Pinus Cembra_, L.), valued for its seeds, enormous larches, the nearly awl-formed Siberian pine (_Pinus sibirica_, LEDEB.), the fir (_Pinus obovata_, TURCZ.), and scattered trees of the common pine (_Pinus sylvestris_, L.). Most of these already north of the Arctic Circle reach a colossal size, but in such a case are often here, far from all forestry, grey and half-dried up with age. Between the trees the ground is so covered with fallen branches and stems, only some of which are fresh, the others converted into a ma.s.s of wood-mould held together only by the bark, that there one willingly avoids going forward on an unbroken path. If that must be done, the progress made is small, and there is constant danger of breaking one"s bones in the labyrinth of stems. Nearly everywhere the fallen stems are covered, often concealed, by an exceedingly luxuriant bed of mosses, while on the other hand tree-lichens, probably in consequence of the dry inland climate of Siberia, occur sparingly. The pines, therefore, want the s.h.a.ggy covering common in Sweden, and the bark of the birches which are seen here and there among the pines is distinguished by an uncommon blinding whiteness.
The western bank of the Yenesej consists, like the innumerable islands of the river, for the most part of lowlying and marshy stretches of land, which at the season of the spring floods are overflowed by the river and abundantly manured with its mud. In this way there is formed here a fertile tract of meadow covered partly with a gra.s.sy turf untouched by the scythe, partly with a very peculiar bush vegetation, rising to a height of eight metres, among which there are to be found a number of families of plants well known by us in Sweden, as Impatiens, Urtica, Sonchus, Heracleum, &c., but in gigantic forms unknown at home. Often a dense thicket of a willow (_Salix vitellenia_, L.), whose straight, branchless stems resemble at a distance the bamboo woods of the south, alternates with level, gra.s.sy carpets of a lively green and small streams in such a way as gives the whole the appearance of the most smiling park carefully kept free of fallen branches and dry gra.s.s. It is the river water which in spring has played the gardener"s part in these parks, seldom trodden by the foot of man and endlessly rich in the most splendid greenery. Near the river there are also to be found carpets of a uniform green, consisting of a short kind of Equisetum, unmixed with any other plants, which forms a "gazon," to which no n.o.bleman"s country seat can show a match. The drawback is, that a stay in these regions during summer is nearly rendered impossible by the enormous number of mosquitoes with which the air is infested.
A table drawn up by Dr. Arnell, to be found in _Redogorelse for de svenska expeditionerna till mynningen of Jenisej r 1876_,[212]
shows the distribution of the most important varieties of trees.
From it we see that on the Yenesej the birch (_Betula odorata_, BECHST.), the fir (_Pinus obovata_, TURCZ.), the larch (_Pinus larix_, L.), and the juniper (_Juniperus communis_, L.), go to 69 35" N.L. (that is to say to the lat.i.tude of Tromsoe); the sallow (_Salix caprea_, L.) to 68 55"; the bird"s cherry (_Prunus padus_, L.), and the Siberian pine (_Pinus sibirica_, LEDEB.), to 66 30"; the aspen (_Populus tremula_, L.) to 65 55"
(the lat.i.tude of Haparanda); the pine (_Pinus sylvatica_, L.) to 65 50", &c.
In the middle of the forest belt the wood appears to cover the whole land without interruption, there being, unless exceptionally, no open places. But towards the north the forest pa.s.ses into the treeless _tundra_ through bare spots occurring here and there, which gradually increase, until trees grow only in valleys and sheltered places, and finally disappear completely. Similar is the pa.s.sage of the forest to treeless regions (steppes), which at first are here and there bestrewed with more or less detached groups of broad-leaved trees, until they wholly disappear, and the land forms an endless plain, out of whose fertile soil the warm summer sun calls forth a great variety of luxuriant vegetable forms, whose many-hued flowers, often large and splendid, clothe the fields with the richest splendour of colour. Here is the true homeland of many of the show-plants in the flower-gardens of Europe, as, for instance, the peony, the Siberian robinia, the blue iris, &c.
If the Siberian wooded belt forms the most extensive forest in the world, this flower-steppe forms the world"s greatest cultivable field, in all probability unequalled in extent and fertility.
Without manure and with an exceedingly small amount of labour expended on cultivation, man will year by year draw forth from its black soil the most abundant harvests. For the present, however, this land, with its splendid capabilities for cultivation, has an exceedingly scanty population; and this holds good in a yet higher degree of the forest belt, which is less susceptible of cultivation.
At a considerable distance from the rivers it is for the most part an unknown land, where the European seldom or never sets his foot, and where only the native nomad or hunter wanders about. These forests, however, are by no means so rich in game as might be expected, perhaps because the mosquitoes in summer are unendurable by warm-blooded animals.
The main population in the forest belt consists of native nomad or hunting tribes, of which Samoyeds, Ostyaks, Tunguses, and Yakuts are the most numerous. Only along the rivers do we find Russian villages and peasant settlements, placed there for trading with the natives, for fishing, and at some places for washing gold. Not till we come to the middle of the country is the Russian population more numerous, here it spreads out in a broad belt over the whole of the immense expanse between the Ural and the Angara.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SIBERIAN RIVER BOAT. Used by the Norwegian traveller Chr. Hansteen on the river Angara. ]
In the farthest north the Russian dwelling-places consist of single cabins built of logs or planks from broken-up lighters,[213] and having flat, turf-covered roofs. Such carvings and ornaments as are commonly found on the houses of the well-to-do Russian peasant, and whose artistic outlines indicate that the inhabitants have had time to think of something else than the satisfaction of the wants of the moment, are here completely wanting; but further south the villages are larger, and the houses finer, with raised roofs and high gables richly ornamented with wood-carvings. A church, painted in bright colours, generally shows that one of the inhabitants of the village has become rich enough to be at the expense of this ornament to his native place. The whole indicates a degree of prosperity, and the interiors of the houses, if we except the c.o.c.kroaches, which swarm everywhere, are very clean. The walls are ornamented with numerous, if not very artistic, photographs and lithographs. Sacred pictures, richly ornamented, are placed in a corner, and before them hang several small oil-lamps, or small wax-lights, which are lighted on festive occasions. The sleeping place is formed of a bedstead near the roof, so large that it occupies a half or a third of the room, and at such a height from the floor that one can stand upright under it. There a tropical heat commonly prevails, the occupant of the bed accordingly enjoying an almost constant sweat-bath, which does not prevent him from going out immediately into the open air at a temperature at which mercury freezes. Food is cooked in large baking ovens, which are fired daily for that purpose, and at the same time heat the cabin. Fresh bread is baked every day, and even for the poor a large tea-urn (_samovar_) is an almost indispensable household article. The foreigner is certain to receive a hearty and friendly welcome when he crosses the threshold, and if he stays a short time in the cabin he will generally, whatever time of the day it be, find himself drinking a gla.s.s of tea with his host. The dress everywhere closely resembles the Russian: for the rich, wide velvet trousers stuck into the boots, a shirt showily embroidered with silver thread, and a large caftan often lined with fur; for the poor, if not too ragged, the same cut, but the cloth inferior, dirty, and torn. During winter, however, for going out of doors, the Samoyed _pesk_ is said to be common to high and low, Russian and native, settled and nomad.
In my journey up the Yenesej in 1875 I met with only a few persons in these regions who had been exiled thither for political reasons, but on the other hand very many exiled criminals of the deepest dye--murderers, thieves, forgers, incendiaries, &c. Among them were also some few Fins and even a Swede, or at least one who, according to his own statement in broken Swedish, had formerly served in the King"s Guard at Stockholm. Security of person and property was in any case complete, and it was remarkable that there did not appear to be any proper distinction of caste between the Russian-Siberian natives and those who had been exiled for crime. There appeared even to be little interest in ascertaining the crime--or, as the customary phrase appears to be here, the "misfortune"--which caused the exile. On making inquiry on this point I commonly got the answer, susceptible of many interpretations, "for bad behaviour." We found a peculiar sort of criminal colony at Selivaninskoj, a very large village situated on the eastern bank of the Yenesej in about the lat.i.tude of Aavasaksa. My journal of the expedition of 1875 contains the following notes of my visit to this colony.
The orthodox Russian church, as is well known, is tolerant towards the professors of foreign religions--Lutherans, Catholics, Jews, Mohammedans, Buddhists, Shamans, &c.; but, on the other hand, in complete correspondence with what took place in former times within the Protestant world, persecutes sectaries within its own pale, with temporal punishments here upon earth and with threatenings of eternal in another world. Especially in former times a great many sectaries have been sent to Siberia, and therefore there are sometimes to be found there peculiar colonies enjoying great prosperity, exclusively inhabited by the members of a certain sect.
Such is the Skopt colony at Selivaninskoj, in connection with which, however, it may be remarked that the nature of the religious delusion in this case accounts for the severity of the law or the authorities. For, on the ground of a text in the Gospel of Matthew interpreted in a very peculiar way, all Skoptzi subject themselves to a mutilation, in consequence of which the sect can only exist by new proselytes; and remarkably enough, these madmen, notwithstanding all persecution, or perhaps just on that account, actually still gain followers. A large number of the Skoptzi were Fins from Ingermanland, with whom I could converse without difficulty. They had, through industry and perseverance, succeeded in creating for themselves a certain prosperity, were hospitable and friendly, and bore their hard fate with resignation. They would not themselves kill any warm-blooded animal, for it was "a sin to kill what G.o.d had created;" which did not hinder them from catching and eating fish, and from selling to us, who in any case were lost beings, a fine fat ox, on condition that our own people should slaughter it. Their abstinence from some kinds of animal food had besides the good result of inducing them to devote themselves to the cultivation of the soil. Round about their cabins accordingly there were patches of land growing potatoes, turnips, and cabbage, which at least that year yielded an abundant crop, though lying under the Arctic circle.
Farther south such plots increase in size, and yield rich crops, at least, of a very large potato. There is no proper cultivation of grain till we come to Sykobatka, situated in 60 N.L., but in a future, when forests and mosses are diminished, a profitable agriculture will be carried on far to the northward.
[Ill.u.s.tration: OSTYAK TENT. (After a Photograph.) ]
[Ill.u.s.tration: TOWING WITH DOGS ON THE YENISEJ. The boat _Luna_ with the Swedish Land Expedition of 1876 on board. (After a drawing by Hj Theel.) ]
Along with the dwellings of the Russians, the tents of the natives, or, as the Russians call them, "the Asiatics," are often to be met with. They have the same shape as the Lapp "kota." The Samoyed tent is commonly covered with reindeer skins, the Ostyak tent with birch bark. In the neighbourhood of the tent there are always large numbers of dogs, which during winter are employed for general carrying purposes, and in summer for towing boats up the river--a means of water transport which greatly astonished the Norwegian sailors with whom I travelled up the river in 1875. To see people travelling in a boat drawn by dogs appeared to them more remarkable than the Kremlin of Moscow, or the bells of Kiev. For such a journey a sufficient number of dogs are harnessed to a long line, one end of which is fastened to the stem of the boat. The dogs then go along the level bank, where they make actual footpaths. The boat being of light draught is kept afloat at a sufficient distance from land partly by means of the rudder which is managed by a person sitting in the stern of the boat, and partly by poling from the fore. Small boats are often hollowed out of a single tree-stem, and may notwithstanding, thanks to the size which some of the pines attain in those regions, be very roomy, and of a very beautiful shape. The dogs strongly resemble the Eskimo dogs in Greenland, which are also used as draught animals.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FISHING BOATS ON THE OB. (After a Photograph.) ]
Most of the natives who have come into close contact with the Russians are said to profess the Christian religion. That many heathen customs, however, still adhere to them is shown, among other things, by the following incident: At a _simovie_ where we landed for some hours on the 16th Sept. we found, as is common, a burying-place in the forest near the dwelling houses. The corpses were placed in large coffins above ground, at which almost always a cross was erected. In one of the crosses a sacred picture was inserted, which must be considered a further proof that a Christian rested in the coffin. Notwithstanding this, we found some clothes, which had belonged to the departed, hanging on a bush beside the grave, together with a bundle containing food, princ.i.p.ally dried fish. At the graves of the richer natives the survivors are even said to place along with food some rouble notes, in order that the departed may not be altogether without ready money on his entrance into the other world.
[Ill.u.s.tration: GRAVES IN THE PRIMEVAL FOREST OF SIBERIA. (After a drawing by Hj. Theel.) ]
Right opposite the village Nasimovskoj is a gold-digger"s deserted "residence," named Yermakova after the first conqueror of Siberia.
The building owed its origin to the discovery of sand-beds rich in gold, occupying a pretty extensive area east of the Yenisej, which for a time had the repute of being the richest gold territory in the world. Here in a short time enormous fortunes were made; and accounts of the hundreds of poods which one or another yearly reaped from the sand-beds, and the fast reckless life led by those to whom fortune dealt out the great prizes in the gold-digging lottery, still form a favourite topic of conversation in the region. A rise in the value of labour and a diminished production of the n.o.ble metal have, however, since led to the abandonment of a large number of the diggings that formerly were most productive; others now scarcely pay the expense of the working. Many of the gold-diggers who were formerly rich, in the attempt to win more have been impoverished, and have disappeared; others who have succeeded in retaining their "pood of gold"--that is the mint unit which the gold-diggers prefer to use in their conversation--have removed to Omsk, Krasnojarsk, Moscow, Petersburg, Paris, &c. The gold-diggers"
residences stand, therefore, now deserted, and form on the eastern bank of the river a row of half-decayed wooden ruins surrounded by young trees, after which in no long time only the tradition of the former period of prosperity will be found remaining. In one respect indeed the gold-diggers have exerted a powerful influence on the future of the country. For it was through them that the first pioneers were scattered in the wilderness, the first seed sown of the cultivation of the region.
In 1875 there were only two steamers on the Yenisej. These were neither pa.s.senger nor cargo boats, but rather movable commercial stores, propelled by steam. The fore-saloon formed a shop provided with a desk, and shelves on which were to be seen cloths, iron wares, guns, ammunition, tobacco, tea, matches, sugar, brightly coloured copper engravings or lithographs, &c. In the after-saloon was enthroned, among brandy casks, purchased furs, and other precious or delicate wares, he who had the command on board, a kind and friendly merchant, who evidently did not concern himself much with the work of the sailors, but rather with trade and the making of bargains, and who was seldom called by the crew captain (_kapitan_), but generally master (_hosain_). After the steamer, or floating commercial store, there was towed one or two _lodjas_, which served as magazines, in which meal and salt and other heavy goods were stored, the purchased fish were salted and looked after, fresh bread baked for the numerous crew, &c. And as there was not a single jetty to be found the whole way between Yenisejsk and the sea, both the steamer and the _lodjas_, in order to be able to load and deliver goods at any point, had a large number of boats and lighters in tow. No place was set apart for pa.s.sengers, but travellers were received in a friendly and hospitable manner when they came on board, where they were then allowed to look out for themselves as best they could. The nautical command was held by two mates or pilots of a stately and original appearance, who, clad in long caftans, sat each in his watch on a chair at the wheel, generally without steering, mostly smoking a cigarette made of coa.r.s.e paper and, with the most careless appearance in the world, exchanging jests with those who were going down the river. The prohibition of taking away the attention of the steersman from his work by conversation was thus not in force hereabouts. A man stood constantly in the fore, uninterruptedly testing the depth with a long pole. For in order to avoid the strong current of the main stream the course was always shaped as near the sh.o.r.e as possible, often so near that one could almost jump ash.o.r.e, and my own Nordland boat, which was towed by the side of the steamer, was occasionally drawn over land. It will be seen from this of how light draught the steamer was.
Siberia, especially the river territory of the Yenisej and the Lena, possesses rich coal seams, which probably extend under considerable portions of the Siberian plain, but are yet unworked and have attracted little attention. The river steamers accordingly are fired, not with coal, but with wood, of which, if I remember right, 180 fathoms went to the voyage of the steamer _Alexander_ up the river. As the vessel could carry only a small portion of this quant.i.ty of wood at one time, frequent halts were necessary, not only for trading with the natives, but also for taking fuel on board. In addition to this, the weak engine, _although the safety valves were overloaded when necessary with lead weights_, was sometimes unable to make head with all the vessels in tow against a current which at some places was very rapid, and often, in the attempt to find still water near the river bank, the steamer ran aground, notwithstanding the continual "ladno" cry of the poling pilot standing in the fore. It made so slow progress on this account that the pa.s.sage from Saostrovskoj to Yenisejsk occupied a whole month.
[Ill.u.s.tration: CHUKCH VILLAGE ON A SIBERIAN RIVER. (After a Photograph.) ]