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ASIATIC RUSSIA

Tomb of Tamerlane at Samarkand.

Asiatic Russi

By

George Frederick Wrighi^

LL.D., F.G.S.A.

Instructor in Quaternary Geology and Professor

of the Harmony of Science and Revelation

in Oberlin College; Author of "The

Ice Age in North America," " Man

and the Glacial Period,"

etc., etc.

$M»*.

*

With Maps and Illustrations

Volume One

8! WW l3

New York

McClure, Phillips & Co.

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LIBRARY C

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Copyrigrr^icjpi, by S. S. McClure
Copyright, 1902, by McClure, Phillips & Co.

Published, May, 1902, N

150

To
Samuel Prentiss Baldwin, Esq.

whose frequent, long-continued, and close

companionship in travel

and whose enlightened interest in my

investigations in Northern Asia

have rendered the present work possible,

these volumes are gratefully

dedicated

I

PREFACE

PREFACE

THE extension of Russian influence and the spread of
Russian colonies over Northern Asia are among the
most interesting and significant events of modern
history. They are doubly interesting because of the peculiar
physical conditions of the country and of the peculiar char-
acter of the aboriginal population. They are significant be-
cause of the political relations which have arisen between
Russia and the nations of the Orient, and because of the op-
portunity opened for the unlimited peaceful expansion into
contiguous territory of one of the most vigorous and progress-
ive races of modern times.

When several years ago I began to make preparation for an
extended trip through China, Siberia, and Central Asia to
collect information concerning the conditions of the region
during the glacial period, I found it difficult to obtain the
preliminary comprehensive knowledge of the country which
would render such a trip most profitable. It was in the effort
to collect such information that the thought of preparing the
present volumes was suggested. Now that I have traversed
the principal portions of the country described, and have
seen with my own eyes the land, the present varied popula-
tion, and the numerous remains of ancient civilization, the

ix

x PREFACE

importance and interest of the subject have been greatly en-
hanced in my own mind, and, I hope, my ability to comprehend
the facts has been so increased as to justify attempting to bring
the work to completion.

The physical conditions of Asiatic Russia are unique, and
have both molded its past civilization, and shaped to a large de-
gree the forces determining its future. The region of the Cau-
casus, the arid area centering in the closed basin of the Cas-
pian and Aral seas, the vast drainage basin tributary to the
Arctic Ocean, and the splendid navigable river systems upon
the Pacific coast bordering upon Japan and China, can be ap-
preciated in their full significance only by detailed study in con-
nection with the general geological facts and the remarkable
climatic conditions of the country.

So intimately are the physical conditions of the country re-
lated to the historical development, that the last three chapters
would logically have found a place before the history of the
conquest and the account of the colonization. But, for fear
of dismaying " the general reader " with too much " science "
at the outset, they were deferred, as a sort of appendix, to the
end. Still the climate, the geology, and the natural history,
in addition to being extremely interesting in themselves, have
been such potent factors in determining the historic develop-
ment that most readers will wish to turn back from perusal
of the chapters relating to them to further study of those
dealing with the resources, the social conditions and the history
of the region.

The historian has always been impressed, if not perp'exed, by

PREFACE

XI

the fact that Central Asia has been such a disturbing factor in
the progress of human events. The movements of population
from this radiating center have from the earliest times pro-
foundly affected the history of the world. The results of these
migrations are seen to-day in the Finns of Russia, in the Mag-
yars of Hungary, in the Turks on the Bosphorus, in the Mon-
golian races of Eastern Asia and in the Red Indians of America,
found from Bering Strait to Patagonia, as well as in the wide-
spread Uralo-Altaic languages, and in the still more widely
disseminated Aryan tongues.

Much welcome light is shed upon this problem from study
of the physical conditions which we have here so fully detailed.
The irrigated belt about the base of the Tian-Shan and Hindu
Kush mountains was admirably adapted to be the breeding
place of nations, from whose subsequent overcrowded popula-
tion there should be pushed outward the lines of colonization
just indicated. There the lofty mountains not only give
variety to the scenery and to the conditions of life, but by con-
densing the moisture of the clouds and retaining it for a while
in glaciers and perpetual snow-fields, finally let it down in due
measure to meet the wants of the teeming populations which in
the midst of perpetual sunshine have grown up in dependence
upon irrigation.

But the past has not always been like the present. This is
evident enough to the ordinary student of the history of this
region. The population was formerly more dense than now.
This can partly be accounted for by a change in social and
political conditions ; but partly, and perhaps, more largely by

Xll

PREFACE

the physical changes indicated by close study of the geology
of the region, and by the climatic changes affecting the dis-
tribution of plants and animals. The former greater rainfall,
dependent on geological conditions, and profoundly affecting
the climate, is probably the key to the puzzling historical prob-
lems. How much science and good government can do to
counteract these deteriorating conditions and to restore and
augment the former prosperity, remains to be seen.

Everything in Asiatic Russia presents itself in gigantic pro-
portions. Russia's empire in Asia is destined to be either a
monumental success or a tragic failure. The curtain is about
to rise on the third and final act of the drama in Central and
Northern Asia. Aboriginal man and the Mongol race have
there already had their day. Europe of the middle ages has
finished its invasion and reached the limit of its development.
And now the twentieth century with all its new-born energies
is entering upon its more hopeful effort to subdue and utilize
to the utmost the latent physical forces of its vast territory.
The results will depend upon the wisdom of the ruling minds
at St. Petersburg. At present the Tsar has no more loyal
subjects than those residing in his Asiatic dominion. The
same political and natural instincts which are now re-con-
solidating the English-speaking people of the world may well
preserve forever the unity of the great Slavic nation, and re-
store again the golden age to this, which many, with much
reason, believe to be the original center of the human race.

In a bibliography is given a partial list of the books and
publications which have been found most helpful in the prepara-

PREFACE xiii

Hon of the work. In addition I would make special acknowl-
edgments to the managers of the Trans-Siberian Railroad for
their reports, of more than twenty volumes, upon the Geological
Exploration conducted by the government in connection with
that great enterprise ; to Professor F. Schmidt for numerous
publications upon the geology of the New Siberian Islands and
the adjoining mainland; to General M. Rikatcheff. Director of
the Nicholas Physical Observatory, for the magnificent Climato-
logical Atlas summarizing for Russia the results of fifty years'
observations in all parts of the Empire ; and to Actual Privy
Councillor Witte, the Minister of Finance ; Actual Privy Coun-
cillor Yermoloff, the Minister of Agriculture and State Do-
mains ; and Actual Privy Councillor Khilkoff , the Minister of
Public Works and Railways, for various publications and docu-
ments of great value and importance. The important chapter
on Climate has been prepared by Mr. Frederick Bennet Wright,
for some time connected with the United States Weather
Bureau. To him also I am indebted for most of the photo-
graphs from which the illustrations are furnished, and also
for much assistance in preparing the chapter on the Flora and

Fauna.

G. Frederick Wright.
Oberlin, April 21, 1902.

a Cable of tfje Contents

VOLUME I

preface

INTRODUCTORY

Page

3

PART I
f^pgicai <*Beograpj)p

Chapter

I GENERAL DESCRIPTION .
II TRANS-CAUCASIA ....
Ill THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION
Its Mountain Border
Its River Basins .
i The Atrek .

2 The Tejend .

3 The Murghab

4 The Oxus .

5 The Zerafshan

6 The Jaxartes

7 The Talas .

8 The Chu .

9 The Hi
io The Seven Rivers

1 1 The Ayaguz

12 The Sarai-su

13 The Turgai and Irgiz

xv

13

16

25
26

3°
31
31
32
32

38

40

43
44
47
5i
51
52
52

XVI

Chapter

IV

V
VI

CONTENTS

Page

14 The Emba ...... 53

15 The Ural ...... 53

16 The Volga . . . . . -53
General View . . . . . -54

RIVER BASINS OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN 65

1 The Obi and Its Tributaries . . -65

2 The Yenisei . . . . . .70

3 The Lena . . . . . -83
THE ARCTIC LITTORAL ... 92
THE PACIFIC BASIN . . . .111

The Amur . . . . . .111

PART II

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA
l Yermak

Yermak's Successors .

"-^ The Northeast Territory and Kamchatka

VIII STRU^GGLE'ToiT'tHE AMUR
IX ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT .
X THE OCCUPATION OF THE AMUR
XI THE OCCUPATION OF TURKESTAN
XII THE OCCUPATION OF CAUCASIA
XIII PRE-RUSSIAN COLONIZATION
Prehistoric Races
The Mongols
The Northeastern Tribes
The Yakuts
The Tunguses .
The Samoyedes .

123

123

*35

H7
160

181

198

215

245
251
251

254
256

257
258
260

CONTENTS

xvu

Chapter

XIV

The Ostiaks
The Buriats

The Original Aryan Center.
_Ihe Turkish Races
/^Phex Tribes of Trans-Caucasia
RUSSTAN COLONIZATION
The Raskolniks\ .

Pago

261
261
262
265
271
278
280

a 3Ltst of Jftaps

VOLUME I

Facing
page

Map of Lake Baikal 76

Section Showing the Proportion of Lake Baikal below

Sea Level ........ 76

Asia, Showing Successive Advances of Russia . .128

Tribes of Northern Asia . . . . . .256

xix

a £tst of pUtstrattonsi

VOLUME I

Tomb of Tamerlane at Samarkand

A Defile in the Caucasus
Military Road over the Caucasus
Dariel Pass

Russian Street in Samarkand
Russian Street in Tashkent .
Artistic View of the Ala-tau Range from Verni
Scene in the Altai Mountains
The River Om near Omsk
The Museum at Minusinsk
Prehistoric Pottery in the Museum at Minusinsk
Tunguses on Vitim Plateau .
Volcano Springs, Kamchatka
Typical Scene in the Upper Amur
City of Okhotsk

Russian Inhabitants of Northern Kamchatka
Two Kamchatkan Princes
Kamchatka Female Faces
Old Fortress at Omsk
Typical Street in a Siberian Village

xxi

Frontispiece

Facing
page

14
18
22
38
38
50
64

66

74

74

84

88

114

148

152

158

158

196

196

XX11

ILLUSTRATIONS

A Stall in the Bazaar at Tashkent . .

Civilized Kirghiz Tartars .....

Tiflis

Ananur, on the Aragwa River in the Caucasus
Prehistoric Mound near Verni ....

Bronze Ornaments in the Museum at Minusinsk .
Bronze and Iron Implements in the Museum at Minu-
sinsk ......

Designs Worked by Kodaks

Yakut Prince and People

Wandering Tungus Getting Benefit with his Family

Winter Tent of Tunguses .

Buriat Travelers .....

Buddhistic Temple of the Buriats

A Kirghiz Tartar Tent

Watering the Sheep on the Steppes

Typical Group in the Caucasus .

A Postman's Children in Semirechensk .

A Frequent Scene in the Steppe .

Facing
page

214

214
244
246
25O
252

252

254
258
258
260
262
266
268
268
27O
278
278

ASIATIC RUSSIA

INTRODUCTORY

RUSSIA'S advance into Northern Asia is merely the
reversal of the ancient order of events. From the
earliest periods of history down to the seventeenth
century of the Christian era, the movements of population in
this region had been towards the setting sun. Long before
the beginning of the Christian era, the tribes inhabiting the
northeastern portion of Mongolia, about the headwaters of
the principal tributaries of the Amur River, became a dis-
turbing element in the history of the world. Penned in by the
Pacific Ocean upon the east, and restrained by the more com-
pact civilization of China upon the south, they began those
vast migrations to the west whose influence was eventually
felt to the farthest extremity of Europe. Being nomadic in
their habits, they were not firmly attached to any particular
locality, and hence could easily migrate en masse in whatever
direction inclination and opportunity might lead.

As the conditions to the north were not inviting, their in-
clinations would naturally lead them to the more attractive
regions of the west ; where lay, also, their opportunity. Mov-
ing westward over the northern margin of the great plateau
of Central Asia, they found a belt of territory which was suf-
ficiently well irrigated by streams coming down from the snow-
clad mountains to furnish them ample pasturage for their
flocks and herds. On passing the southern spur of the Altai

3

4 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Mountains, they found, in the Sungarian depression between
the Greater Altai and Tian-Shan ranges, the natural pathway
to the plains which stretch from these mountain borders of
Central Asia northwards over twenty-five degrees of latitude
to the Arctic Sea, and westward to the shores of the Baltic
and of the German Ocean.

From this point, following down the Irtysh River, and
crossing to the various other southern tributaries of the Obi,
they found conditions which did not differ to any great extent
from those in Northern Mongolia. Over this area, the Scyth-
ians, or Tartars as they are indifferently known in history,
easily became the dominant race. But the most inviting region
beckoning them onwards was that exceedingly fertile belt of
territory which is watered by the perennial streams descending
from the northern slopes of the Tian-Shan range, and which
extends southwest along their base through what was formerly
known as West Turkestan to Bokhara, and thence along the
base of the Hindu Kush Mountains to the Caspian Sea. Here,
in the " Land of the Seven Streams," to the south of Lake
Balkash, and in the valleys of the Hi, the Chu, the Talas, the
Jaxartes (the modern Syr Daria), the Zerafshan, the Oxus
(the modern Amu Daria), the Murghab, and the Tejend, is
found one of the most fertile areas of the world; each of the
streams being bordered by rich deposits of loam, or " loess,"
and each rivaling the Nile in its life-giving properties.

After sufficient time had elapsed for the occupation of this
fertile belt, the Mongols spread westward over the pasture
lands of Northern Turkestan, which extend past the Aral and

INTRODUCTORY 5

Caspian seas, until they found more congenial room for ex-
pansion in the steppes of Southern Russia, which are watered
by the Ural, Don, and Volga rivers. From this center there
proceeded, in the fourth century of our era, a movement of
population which has most profoundly affected the history of
the world. About the year 3?2 a. d., the Huns, under Balamir,
moved westward from the region of the Volga and the Don,
and, driving before them the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths,'
succeeded in crossing the Danube and in forming permanent
settlements in the fertile plains of Hungary, from which center,
they became, under Attila, the terror of the world and a fruit-
ful cause of the fall of the Roman Empire.

Again, in the thirteenth century of our era, a movement of
the Mongols, under Jenghiz Khan, began in the valley of the
Onon, one of the headwaters of the Amur River, which did
not cease until Mongol troops swarmed like locusts over the
steppes of Southern Russia, and, advancing northward, cap-
tured the cities of Ryazan, Moscow, and Vladimir. The
scenes of this conquest were well calculated to burn themselves
into the memories of the Russian people. After the capture
of Ryazan by assault on the 21st of December,

"the prince, with his mother, wife, sons, the boyars, and the inhabi
tants, without regard to age or sex, were slaughtered with the savage
cruelty of Mongol revenge; some were impaled, some shot at with
arrows for sport, some were flayed or had nails or splinters of wood
driven under their nails. Priests were roasted alive, and nuns and
maidens ravished in the churches before their relatives. No eye re-
mained open to weep for the dead."

6 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Advancing westward, the Mongols carried Kief by assault,
razed the city to the ground and subjected the people to indis-
criminate massacre. Nor did they cease their victorious march
until the armies of Hungary and of Poland were defeated and
their capitals had submitted to Mongol rule. Only the death
of Ogdai, who was the successor of Jenghiz Khan in Mongolia,
brought this invasion to an end. Batu, their leader, was sum-
moned to return, but not until he had founded upon the Volga,
the city of Sarai, which became the permanent center of Mongol
domination. The power of Russia seemed completely broken.
Only Novgorod and the northwestern portion of Russia which
she represented remained free from the Tartar yoke.

" Hundreds of thousands of Russians were dragged into captivity.
Men saw the wives of boyars, ' who had never known work, who a
short time ago had been clothed in rich garments, adorned with jewels
and collars of gold, surrounded with slaves, now reduced to be them-
selves the slaves of barbarians and their wives, turning the wheel of
a mill, and preparing their coarse food.'"*

In 1272 the Tartars became Mohammedans, and were hence-
forth among the most active propagators of that alien faith.
This increased the burden of the yoke imposed upon Russia.
The domination continued for more than two centuries, namely,
from 1243 to 1480. During the first half of this period a
capitation tax was levied by the Mongols upon the whole
Russian people, the collection of it being farmed out to the
merchants of distant Tartar cities. The poor who neglected
to pay were enslaved, being frequently beaten without mercy

* History of Russia. By Rambaud. Vol. i, p. 161.

INTRODUCTORY 7

as a preliminary stage in their punishment; while the rich
were let off with an extra payment.

But during the fourteenth century the rising power of Mos-
cow began to check the insolence of the Tartar hordes. In 1378
Dmitri, afterwards entitled Donskoi, gained a small victory
over the Tartar arms. Whereupon, in 1380, the Tartar Khan
Mamai raised a large army, and marched towards Moscow
to avenge the defeat. Dmitri with an army of 150,000 men met
him in battle on the plain of Kulikovo, on the Upper Don,
September 3, and fought one of the most hardly contested
battles in history, each side losing as many as 100,000 men.
Though the victory was slightly in favor of the Russians, it
did not stem the tide. Two years later the Tartars captured
Moscow and devastated it ; Dmitri humbled himself before the
Khan and consented to pay a heavy tribute. This tribute con-
tinued to be exacted for another hundred years.

In 1480 Ivan III. finally and forever broke the Tartar rule.
But at this period, as in the time of Dmitri Donskoi, the rival-
ries of Russian princes gave to the Tartars a great advantage.
The King of Poland and Lithuania formed an alliance with
them against the Prince of Moscow and helped to continue the
Tartar domination. But Ivan III. did not, as was done in
the preceding century, risk everything upon a single battle.
On the contrary, he wore the enemy out by delays, until the
terrible Russian winter wrought its havoc upon the lightly
clad Tartars, who, after suffering untold hardships, beat a re-
treat on the 1 6th of November, 1480, and retired from Russia
nevermore to return. But they still remained a disturbing,

8 ASIATIC RUSSIA

though receding, element upon the frontier, until the last half
of the nineteenth century.

It was this long contest with the Tartar tribes which bound
Russia into the compact military organization which it has
since continued to be. Only by union could the Russians suc-
ceed. During the century following the expulsion of the
Tartars, the national feeling in Russia continued to grow
strong, and there were formed those peculiar military organi-
zations which were necessary not only for their present de-
fense, but for the conquests which were before them. Most
prominent of these was that of the Cossacks, who were bodies
of Russians volunteering either of their own accord or in re-
sponse to public command to go to the border countries, where
they could be a defense against the inroads of the Tartars and
the Turks. Naturally they consisted of the boldest spirits
among the Russians, and were not likely to be governed com-
pletely by the rules of civilized warfare.

The Zaporog Cossacks were specially noted. They were
orthodox in their Christian faith, and asked no questions con-
cerning an applicant's past life, if only he were orthodox and
possessed a strong body and a stout heart. Their organization
was democratic. All questions were settled in mass meeting,
and all property, except arms and clothing, was held in com-
mon. On the shores of the Black Sea they carried on their
predatory adventures in rude boats, often hollowed out of logs.
On the steppes they became horsemen fully equal in agility and
boldness to the Tartars with whom they had to contend. In
many respects they resembled the pioneers who formed the ad-

INTRODUCTORY 9

vance guard of American civilization in displacing the Indians
first from the Mississippi Valley, and then from the plains and
mining districts of the Rocky Mountains.

The relation of the Cossacks to the Russian government has
been, and continues to be, unique. While in complete sub-
ordination to Russian supremacy, they elect their own officers,
except the commander-in-chief, who is appointed by the gov-
ernment. They clothe themselves, and provide themselves with
horses and arms ; so that they are at all times completely ready
for a march. They receive pay, however, only when in service.
In return they are freed from certain taxes and their commu-
nities receive grants of land or other rights of value. They enlist
at eighteen and are only discharged at fifty. Thus organized,
they are admirably adapted to settle on the outposts, where they
can at once develop the resources of the country and serve as a
defense against the aggressions of barbarous enemies.

In 1582 Yermak Timofeyevitch set out from Perm as leader
of an expedition, organized by the family of Strogonofs, to
chastise and subdue the nomadic tribes on the east side of the
Ural Mountains who were harassing the settlements upon the
Russian border. It has generally been represented that Yer-
mak was nothing but a brigand and an outlaw. This seems to
be an error, since he was at this time a regular Cossack officer
in the service of the government at Perm. But it is true that
the men of his command were selected for their bravery, rather
than for their morality; while his chosen lieutenant, Ivan
Koltso, was " an outlaw under sentence of death for capturing
and sacking a small town of the Nogay."

io ASIATIC RUSSIA

The Strogonofs had come out into this wilderness a hundred
years before, by permission of the Imperial Government, and
had formed an important colony to develop the industries of
the region, being engaged largely in salt-boiling and the fur
trade. Nor did they send Yermak upon his enterprise across
the Urals without the permission of the Tsar, though it would
seem that they had overstepped their commission ; for when
Ivan IV. learned that Yermak had set out to wage a campaign
not merely of self-defense, but of aggressive warfare upon the
Tartars, he became alarmed and hastily sent a messenger to
the Strogonofs, telling them to countermand the order and
recall the forces under Yermak, since he wished to avoid a
quarrel with Kutchum, the powerful " Sultan," or Khan, of
the Tartars in Siberia. But he was too late. The deed had
been done; the Urals had been crossed; and the conquest of
Siberia was already well under way.

It is not, however, our purpose at this point to follow further
the fortunes of these bold adventurers. The narrative thus
far has merely brought us to the border of our subject, and
here we can profitably pause to take a rapid glance at the
empire which, at the close of the sixteenth century, was open-
ing up before the Russian people. Only then had begun that
counter-march which was not to end until well-nigh half of
Asia came under the control of the Muscovite power, and a
Tartar civilization had given place to that of an Aryan race;
thus reversing the course of empire, which in Asia had been so
long setting from the east to the west.

PART I

Physical Geography

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

ASIATIC Russia at the present time contains an area of
6,564,778 square miles, which is nearly twice that of the
United States of America, including Alaska, twenty-
five times that of Texas, and one hundred and sixty-one times
that of Ohio. It stretches across one hundred and fifty de-
grees of longitude, and about forty degrees of latitude, and
comprises about one tenth of the total land surface of the
globe. For purposes of an empire, also, it has the advantage,
or as some regard it the disadvantage, of being all contiguous
territory, and possessing climatic and other conditions closely
similar to those of the mother country. Like Russia in Europe,
Asiatic Russia is a land of vast plains and of magnificent river
systems, with endless opportunity for navigation ; while the
drainage of two thirds of Russia in Europe empties into the
depressed basin of the Caspian Sea, which lies wholly within
her Asiatic possessions. In any event, so vast and varied a
region merits careful and extended treatment ; but especially
is this the case because of the great and almost unparalleled
influence which the physical conditions of the country have had
in determining the movements of the population and the char-
acter of its civilization.

13

H ASIATIC RUSSIA

The Asiatic boundary of European Russia begins with the
Caucasus Mountains, which extend in an unbroken line from
near the mouth of the Sea of Azof to the Caspian Sea, near
Baku; thence it follows the northwest shore of the sea to
the Ural River, which it follows as far as Orenburg, near the
southern extremity of the Ural Mountains. A small part of
the plain west of the Ural River is, however, incorporated into
the Asiatic domain. For practical purposes, also, the Ural
Mountains may be considered the boundary from Orenburg to
the Kara Sea; although in comparatively recent times a con-
siderable portion of the eastern flank of the Urals has been
reckoned politically with the European provinces of Perm
and Orenburg.

The northern boundary of Asiatic Russia is formed by the
deeply indented shore-line of the Arctic Ocean extending from
the 66th to the 190th degree of longitude east from Green-
wich. The eastern boundary is traced along the waters of the
Pacific as it is broken into the minor basins of the Bering,
Okhotsk, and Japan seas.

Beginning at the border of Korea, at the mouth of the
Tuman, in latitude 420 45' N., the boundary between the Rus-
sian and Chinese empires runs by an irregular line northward
and eastward until it reaches the Usuri River as it emerges
from Lake Khanka, and follows this to its junction with the
Amur at Khabarovsk; thence westward the line follows the
Amur River and its chief tributary, the Argun, to near its
source, from which point, after crossing the northern pro-
jection of the great Asiatic plateau near the south end of Lake

A Defile in the Caucasus.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION 15

Baikal, it follows, roughly speaking, the summit of the lofty
mountains which form the northwestern border of the Central
Asiatic plateau past Afghanistan, Persit, and Turkey to the
southern end of the Caspian Sea, and thence on to the Black
Sea at Batum.

For general reference, this vast area may be divided into
four sections, consisting of Trans-Caucasia, the Aral-Caspian
depression, the River Basins of the Arctic Ocean, and those of
the Pacific Ocean. We will treat of these in their order.

II

TRANS-CAUCASIA

THE Caucasus Mountains are now accepted by the
Russian Government as the northern boundary of the
Asiatic provinces lying between the Black and Caspian
seas. This mountain range extends from the vicinity of Baku,
on the Caspian, in a northwesterly direction for a distance of
seven hundred miles, until it terminates in the promontory
which nearly separates the Sea of Azof from the Black Sea
at the mouth of the Kuban River. Throughout this entire
distance the range is continuous, having no low passes, and
but one which is practicable for a wagon road. Few long
mountain chains have their boundaries so clearly marked for
so great a distance. Though extending diagonally across more
than twelve degrees of longitude and six of latitude, the average
width is not over ninety miles ; ranging from sixty-five to
one hundred and twenty. On their northern side they rise
with great abruptness from the vast Russian plain, which has
nothing to break its uniformity between them and the Arctic
Ocean. On the southern side they slope more gently, descend-
ing in a series of broken ridges, which afford arable land and
protected fastnesses sufficient to support a large population and

16

TRANS-CAUCASIA 17

shield them from outside interference with their tribal develop-
ment.

Geologically the range consists of a central nucleus of
granitic and gneiss rocks which, in the middle and western
portions, appear at the summit for a distance of fully three
hundred miles. From this central ridge, stratified rocks of
successive ages slope in both directions. Upon the northern
side, rocks of Jurassic age extend nearly the entire length of
the range, bordered successively by a belt of Cretaceous and
Tertiary strata, which are at length covered, in the plains
watered by the Kuban and Terek rivers, by late Quaternary
sediment. Upon the south side there is a nearly continuous belt
of Paleozoic rocks, which in the eastern third form the summit
of the range. These are flanked by a less continuous belt of
Jurassic and Cretaceous strata, which in turn are bordered
by Tertiary deposits extending the entire length of the range.

Both in average height and in that of the individual peaks
the Caucasus considerably exceeds the Alps. Mount Elburz
is 18,526 feet above the sea, which is nearly 2,800 feet higher
than Mount Blanc; while three other peaks attain elevations
nearly as great, namely, Koschitan Tau (17,100 feet), Dych
Tau (16,925 feet), and Kazbek (16,546 feet). Many other
peaks approximate these, if. indeed, some do not equal them.
It is to be said, however, that Elburz and Kazbek are volcanic
cones standing somewhat apart from the main chain upon its
northern side, and it is this which has largely given them their
relative prominence. Mount Elburz is a conspicuous object
even from the Black Sea, and is said to be visible upon the

1 8 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Russian plains to the north for a distance of more than two
hundred miles.

For something over one third of the length of the chain,
the elevation, though continuous, is of more moderate height,
rising gradually from Novo Rossisk to a height of about ten
thousand feet, opposite the eastern end of the Black Sea.
From this point near where the Kuban River rises, on the
north side, to the Dariel Pass, about one hundred and thirty
miles in a direct line, are found all the most lofty mountains
of the chain; while the elevation of the watershed never
sinks below ten thousand feet, and is nearly everywhere cov-
ered with glaciers. But none of these extends far down the
mountain side. Just east of Mount Kazbek at Krestovaia
Gora (Mountain of the Cross) there is a pass con-
necting the headwaters of the Aragua, a tributary of the
Kur, upon the south, with those of the Terek, on the north,
which is only 7,940 feet above the sea. This pass is now oc-
cupied by the excellent military road connecting Tiflis with
Vladikavkaz. In the lower part of this road, upon the northern
side, occurs the celebrated Dariel Gorge from which the Pass
has been named, where the mountains rise on each side to a
height of about five thousand feet as nearly perpendicular as
rocks can stand, and the river dashes through a gorge so
narrow that in ancient times it is said to have been closed by a
gate. This is mentioned by Pliny under the name of the
Caucasian Gates, and has continually played an important part
in the defense of the country against enemies advancing from
the north.

u

TRANS-CAUCASIA 19

The Eastern Caucasus is broader and more complicated than
the portion west of the Dariel Pass. But from this pass to
the Baba Dagh, the last of the high mountain peaks toward
the east, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles, there is a
continuous line of snowy peaks reaching a height of from
ten thousand to fourteen thousand feet. The triangular area
between this main line of the Eastern Caucasus and the Cas-
pian Sea, occupying more than eleven thousand square miles,
is known as Daghestan, and consists of a mountainous plateau,
from seven thousand to eight thousand feet in height, sloping
gently towards the northeast, and furrowed by innumerable
ravines cut by the descending streams. It was in this region,
about the middle of the last century, that the Russians met
with greatest difficulty in subduing the independent mountain-
eers ; numerous peaks furnishing impregnable strongholds, and
the complicated ravines providing convenient death-traps into
which the invading armies were inveigled.

On the south side the Caucasus* is connected with the ele-
vated plateaus and more extensive mountain systems of Asia
Minor and Armenia by a cross-range of granitic rocks not over
3,000 feet high, known as the mountains of Suram, from a
town of that name which occurs at the summit. This range
forms the watershed between the Kur and the Rion River, and
divides the country into two distinct zoological and botanical
regions. The southern highlands, sometimes denominated the
Anti-Caucasus, stretch from the southern side of the Black
Sea to the Caspian in a northwest-southeast direction for about
three hundred and seventy-five miles, with an average width

20 ASIATIC RUSSIA

of one hundred and sixty miles. A large part of this consists
of plateaus from five thousand to six thousand five hundred
feet above the sea, surmounted by various peaks and ridges
rising from one thousand five hundred to four thousand feet
higher; while towards the east the Alaghez rises to a height
of thirteen thousand four hundred and thirty-six feet, and
Mount Ararat, which lies upon the southern border, to seven-
teen thousand one hundred and twelve feet. Numerous other
peaks farther east exceed ten thousand feet. Mount Ararat
and several other of the high peaks are volcanic cones. In-
deed, a considerable portion of the southern part of this area
is covered by volcanic rocks of geologically recent age, and the
stratified rocks of all the northern part of the plateau belong
to the Lower Tertiary period.

Trans-Caucasia occupies a territory of ninety-four thou-
sand one hundred and eighty-two square miles, all of which,
except a portion of Daghestan, lies south of the main ridge
of the Caucasus Mountains, and possesses climatic condi-
tions which are as divergent as possible from those upon
the European slope. Over the plains of Russia the cold winds
from the north bring severe winters to Northern Caucasia;
while upon the southern side, sheltered by the vast mountain
wall, a warm climate prevails during the entire year. Tiflis,
though one thousand five hundred feet above the sea, has a
mean temperature of 55°, and Kutais of 580 F. ; while the
average winter temperature of Tiflis is as high as 360, and
that of Kutais 43°. The rainfall upon the southern side of
the mountain is likewise greatly in excess of that upon the

TRANS-CAUCASIA 21

northern, especially in the western part : at Kutais fifty-
seven inches per year, and on the coast of the Black Sea,
from sixty to seventy-nine inches. East of the Suram
ridge, however, the rainfall diminishes to twenty inches at
Tiflis, and to a still smaller amount near the Caspian Sea.
The narrow strip of land which lies between the main ridge
of the Caucasus and the Black Sea is so rough and wild,
through the frequent occurrence of short mountain gorges,
that it has been well-nigh impossible to construct a road along
the shore, and for a distance of two hundred miles, between
Novo Rossisk and Sukhum Kaleh, in longitude 41 ° £. there
is not a single harbor. The soil of this narrow strip is rich ;
so that, by reason of the abundant rainfall, magnificent forests
cover the whole slope, and dense underbrush unites to increase
the difficulties of travel by land. The great Mithridates is the
only general who was ever able to conduct an army through the
entire region.

The principal river in the western part of Trans-Caucasia
is the Rion, which, with its tributaries, has a drainage basin
of nearly fourteen thousand square miles. Rising near the
summit of the mountain halfway between Elburz and Kazbek,
and following a circuitous route, it empties into the Black Sea
at Poti. The Rion is the ancient Phasis whither the Argonautic
expedition went in search of the golden fleece. Accord-
ing to an early explanation of the legend, this fleece was one
which had been spread on the bottom of the river to catch the
fine particles of gold washed down by the stream — a mining
process akin to that still practiced in many places. But at the

22 ASIATIC RUSSIA

present time little gold is found in the sands of this mountain
stream. The valley, however, produces what is better than
gold, namely a luxuriant vegetation; the rapid decomposition
of its sedimentary rocks and its abundant rainfall making it one
of the richest gardens in the world. The mountain slopes are
covered with a majestic growth of deciduous trees, and the fast-
nesses are adorned with azaleas, almonds, and rhododendrons ;
while the mulberry, the vine, and almost every variety of fruit
grow in abundance in every valley and on the gentler slopes.
From the earliest times the main valley has supported a dense
population, the longitudinal valleys in the upper part of the
river and its tributaries, as well as those of the Ingur, (which
reaches the sea not far from the mouth of the Rion) furnishing
the strongholds for the Swanians, one of the most independent
of all the mountain tribes.

Geologically these high-level valleys are of much interest
in illustrating the methods by which nature has produced most
important results. All the southern streams coming down
from the highest summits of the granitic axis, upon reaching
the Paleozoic limestone strata which flank the mountain at a
level of six thousand or seven thousand feet are deflected for a
considerable distance to the right or left, until a gorge is found
to conduct the waters over rapids and cataracts to a lower level.
These narrow, high-level valleys parallel with the axis of the
main chain have, both by their fertility and inaccessibility,
furnished the conditions for the development of some of the
most interesting races, and the arena for some of the most
stirring episodes in human history.

TRANS-CAUCASIA 23

The eastern part of the area included between the Caucasus
and the Anti-Caucasus Mountains is occupied by the valley of
the Kur, which, coming down from the Armenian highlands,
is still narrow at Tiflis, but gradually widens in its course of
three hundred and fifty miles towards the Caspian, until it
attains a breadth of one hundred and fifty miles. In its
progress eastward, the rainfall continues to diminish, and
large areas are incapable i of cultivation from lack of water.
Over these plains great numbers of antelope roam, and in
winter pasturage is found for numerous flocks and herds.
Nearer the foot of the mountain ranges irrigation is practiced
with increasing success; while, farther up, forests appear,
and the vine is cultivated. The Kur, however, has cut its
bed so deep that, without government aid or the intervention
of vast corporations, its waters are largely unavailable for
the irrigation of the main portion of the valley.

From the southern slopes of the Caucasus farther east, the
Alazan and the Gora rivers come down through long, trans-
verse valleys similar to those about the headwaters of the Rion,
only at lower levels, and irrigate areas which possess both a
soil of great fertility and a congenial climate. The valley of
the Alazan is especially rich in its deposits of loess.

The Aras, known in ancient times as Araxes, comes into the
Kur in the lower part of its course, from the south. This
important river rises in the highlands of Armenia not far
from the sources of the Euphrates and of the Kur, and forms
for several hundred miles the boundary line between Russia
and Persia, but the descent is too steep to permit of navigation.

24 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Indeed, its whole course is through scenery of the wildest
description. Flowing not far from Mount Ararat, it sur-
rounds in a great semicircle a plateau upon the north whose
general elevation is about five thousand feet, from which rise
numerous peaks from five thousand to seven thousand feet
higher. The whole area is covered by rocks of volcanic origin,
while one of its tributaries, the Sunga, which passes the city
of Erivan, issues from Lake Goktcha, a body of water cover-
ing five hundred square miles of a depression, surrounded by
volcanic masses, and having an elevation of 6,310 feet above
the sea. Much of the area in the upper part of the Sunga
Valley in the neighborhood of Erivan, and extending up to
the base of Mount Ararat, is covered with deep deposits of
loess.

Such is this most interesting country between the Black and
Caspian seas which in ancient times was looked upon as the
end of the world, into which were driven, as into a pocket,
between the seas on either side and the impenetrable chain of
the Caucasus on the north, all the odds and ends of the human
race, and which has presented to Russia during the last hun-
dred years some of her most difficult problems both of con-
quest and of government.

Ill

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION

THE lowlands of Western Siberia and Turkestan stand
in unbroken connection with those of Russia in
Europe and Northern Germany, being but partially
interrupted by the low north-and-south range of the Ural
Mountains, and in their southern portions absolutely continu-
ous. Altogether they form the most extensive area of low land
upon the globe, estimated at 2,213,400 square miles.

" Take away the Ural, and a continuous line could be drawn from
Breda, near the confluence of the Meuse, Rhine, and Scheldt, across
Europe and Asia, following the line of 500 N. Lat. as far as the Chinese
frontier, passing over a continuous series of low, insignificant hills,
heath-lands, and steppes, and traversing a space estimated by Humboldt
to be three times the length of the Amazon."

In Asia these lowlands are separated into two clearly-
marked basins by a gentle swell of land, less than one thousand
feet above the sea, which extends from the southern part of the
Ural to the Altai Mountains. This forms the watershed be-
tween the streams running into the Arctic Ocean and the re-
markable depression to the south which is occupied by Lake
Balkash and the Aral and Caspian seas.

25

26 ASIATIC RUSSIA

The Mountain Border

The southern boundary of the Aral-Caspian Depression
in Asiatic Russia begins at Astara, about one hundred miles
south of the mouth of the Kur, in Trans-Caucasia. Thence
to Astrabad, on the southeast corner of the Caspian Sea, a
distance of something over four hundred miles, the territory
to the south belongs to Persia. Throughout this whole dis-
tance there is but a narrow margin separating the sea from
the semicircular crest of the Elburz Mountains, several of
whose peaks rise to an enormous height ; Mount Savelan being
fourteen thousand feet, and Mount Demavend, 18,600 feet.
With one exception the streams coming down the northern
flank of this range are unimportant, being only from twenty
to fifty miles in length. The Kizil-Uzen, however, has a
drainage basin of about twenty-five thousand square miles,
extending almost to Lake Urumiah. This narrow seashore
tract is well watered, and occupied by the Persian provinces
of Gilan and Mazandaran. The eastern portion was formerly
called Hyrcania, and was the region into which Alexander
pursued Darius, and where the Persian monarch was assas-
sinated. The height of the bordering plateau of Northern
Persia, nowhere less than five thousand feet above the ocean
level contrasts strangely with the depth of the southern part
of the Caspian Sea, which ranges in its central portion from
one thousand eight hundred to three thousand feet below.

So far, the elevated plateau of Northern Persia, with its
abrupt northern wall, is a continuation of the Taurus Moun-
tains of Asia Minor through the Armenian plains past Ararat

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION 27

in a northwest-southeast direction. But a little north of Astra-
bad, the border turns to the northeast to meet, about two hun-
dred miles distant, the Kuren Dagh and Kopet Dagh range,
which running in a northwest-southeast direction, for nearly
five hundred miles form the boundary line between Persia and
Turkestan. This range is exactly in line with that of the
Caucasus, which may really be said to be continuous across the
Caspian Sea from Baku to Krasnovodsk, since between these
places there is a ridge, over which the water is not more than
one hundred and fifty feet in depth, which not only separates
the two deep basins of the Caspian Sea from each other, but
forms a direct connection between the Apsheron Peninsula (a
projecting promontory of the Caucasus on the west), and the
Balkan Mountains ; then the Balkan Mountains rise to con-
siderable prominence back of Krasnovodsk, and extend, with a
slight interruption, to join the northwestern spurs of the Kopet
Dagh. The complex mountainous district included in this
northeastern angle of Persia was the center of the ancient
Parthian power. The Atrek River, which enters the Caspian
Sea about fifty miles north of Astrabad, with its northern
tributary the Sumbar, now practically forms the boundary be-
tween the Russian and the Persian dominion for a distance of
two hundred miles in a northeast direction to the summit of the
Kuren Dagh.

Near the northwestern corner of Afghanistan the great east-
and-west mountain system of Asia begins its general trend to
the northeast, from which it does not depart until reaching
the farthest extremity of the continent at Bering Strait.

28 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Throughout the northern part of Afghanistan, for a distance
of about eight hundred miles, and until in the lofty plateau of
the Pamir it forms an angle with the Himalaya Mountains,
this range is known under the general name of the Hindu
Kush Mountains. Throughout this entire length it forms the
southern boundary of Turkestan, and occasionally projects
snow-clad peaks to a height of twenty thousand feet above
the sea.

The Pamir, known as " the Roof of the World," is a series
of plateaus formed at the meeting-point of the Hindu Kush,
the Himalaya, and the Tian-Shan, three of the largest moun-
tain chains of the world. It has a breadth of about two hun-
dred and fifty miles, and a general elevation of about twelve
thousand feet. Kaufmann Peak rises from the general level
to a height of 22,500 feet above the sea ; while Mustagh Ata,
a little east of the line, reaches a height of 25,800 feet. Many
lakes are found at an elevation of more than ten thousand feet.
The Great Kara Kul, covering an area of one hundred and
twenty square miles, has an altitude of 12,800 feet, and has
no outlet. The Little Kara Kul and the Bulan Kul, with
areas of fifteen and eight square miles respectively, have an
elevation of more than thirteen thousand feet; while Victoria
Lake reaches the extreme height of 13,900 feet, with an area
of twenty-five square miles. This, however, does not by any
means exhaust the list. From this plateau issue the Oxus
River towards the west, the Jaxartes to the north, and the
Tarim River to the east; while the headwaters of the Indus
issue from the mountains which form the southern border.

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION 29

To the northeast of the Pamir, the Tian-Shan (Celestial
Mountains), with their offshoots, form the southeastern
boundary of the Russian possessions for a distance of six hun-
dred or seven hundred miles. These mountains begin in the
center of the Desert of Gobi, in longitude 95° E., and latitude
430 N., rising abruptly out of the desert sands, and continue
in a westerly and southwesterly direction for a distance of
sixteen hundred miles. The range gradually increases in
width and height until, along the Russian border, it fans
out to a width of eight hundred miles, with three projecting
spurs extending into the lowlands of Turkestan to a distance
of three hundred or four hundred miles. In the peak of
Khan-tengri it rises to a height of 24,060 feet ; while the
average height of its dominant peaks is upwards of sixteen
thousand feet. Reclus estimates the entire mass of the chain
to be twenty-five times larger than that of the Swiss Alps.

The mountain masses projecting into Western Turkestan
are really three slightly convergent chains running nearly east
and west, but so arranged as to form a part of the grand south-
west-and-northeast central mountain plateau of Central Asia.
The southernmost of the projections is itself a vast mountain
complex, four hundred miles long and more than one hundred
and fifty broad, known chiefly under the title of Alai Tagh,
(but also by various other local names), which lies within the
provinces of Bokhara and Zerafshan, and between the Amu
Daria and Syr Daria rivers. The extreme northwesterly pro-
jection is known as the Nura Tau ; while the range of which
the Kara Tau and the Alexandrovskii form the northern border,

3o ASIATIC RUSSIA

separates the Syr Daria and Chu rivers, and has a length, from
northwest to southeast, of something more than four hundred
miles, with a breadth in its widest part of two hundred. The
northeastern continuation of these border ranges, flanking the
great Tian-Shan chain, is continued for about three hundred
miles by the Trans-Ili, or Western Ala-tau, so named because
it is upon the western side of the Hi River.

Farther on, the Eastern Ala-tau continues the elevated
border line for another three hundred miles, when we reach
what is called the Sungarian depression, which separates the
Tian-Shan range from that of the Altai. This depression is
in general between two hundred and three hundred miles in
width, but is occupied in the middle by the minor range of the
Tarbagatai Mountains, which run generally northwest and
southeast nearly parallel with the main projections of the Tian-
Shan and Great Altai ranges but at right angles to the general
trend of the continental uplift, which for more than one
thousand, five hundred miles forms the southeastern border of
the Russian possessions in Central Asia. This Sungarian de-
pression, as already said, has played an important part in the
history, both of Asia and the world, by reason of the facilities
it has afforded the nomad races of Mongolia for descending
into the inviting fields of the Aral-Caspian region, from which
they have readily found their way southwestward to the bor-
ders of Persia, and westward to the central plains of Europe.

The River Basins
Historically the interest of the entire region centers about
the streams which descend into the basin from the mountain

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION 31

border which we have been considering. These all empty
into lakes which have no outlet, or finally waste their waters
in desert sands. But in the middle and upper portions of their
course they all rival the Nile in their life-giving properties,
and furnish the arena for a long series of the most tragic and
interesting episodes of human history, while at the present
time, in connection with the progress of modern science, they
are opening up to Russia a most attractive field for expansion
and dev elopement.

Beginning in order from the Caspian Sea, we encounter the
following river basins in the Aral-Caspian depression : —

1. The Atrek, which in the lower part of its course form3
the boundary between Persia and the Russian possessions,
passes through the center of what was in ancient times called
Hyrcania, which, on account of its fertility and genial climate,
is described by Strabo as " highly favored of heaven." Ac-
cording to him, a single vine of this region had been known
to produce nine gallons of wine, and a single fig tree ninety
bushels of figs ; while grain did not require to be sown, but
sprang up from what failed to be gleaned in previous years.

2. The Tejend. — After passing a narrow strip of fertile soil
(known as the "Atok") stretching for about three hundred
miles along the northern base of the Kopet Dagh range, and
irrigated by innumerable short streams coming down from
its flanks, we reach the Tejend, known in the upper part of
its course as the Heri Rud. This river rises in Afghanistan,
and, after watering the plains of Herat, forms the boundary
between Afghanistan and Turkestan for about one hundred

32 ASIATIC RUSSIA

miles, when it penetrates the mountain border, and issues upon
the plain at Sarakhs, dispensing fertility for another one hun-
dred miles, when it is lost in the desert sands.

3. The Murghab also rises in Northern Afghanistan, and
runs along the elevated plains of that country for a consider-
able distance nearly parallel with the Tejend, entering the
plains of Russian territory at Penjdeh, about one hundred and
twenty miles north of Herat, and forming here the main gate'
way between Persia and Turkestan. Thence the river pro-
ceeds for one hundred miles into the plain, ending in the cele-
brated oasis of Merv, which formerly supported an immense
population ; the city alone being estimated to have had a mil-
lion inhabitants in the thirteenth century of our era. Accord-
ing to Strabo, such was the ancient fertility of the soil, " that
it was not uncommon to meet with a vine whose stalk could
hardly be clasped by two men with outstretched arms, while
clusters of grapes might be gathered two cubits in length."
Surrounded on every side by sandy deserts, the oasis has a
climate that in the summer is oppressive by reason of the heat,
and of the dust that comes in from every direction, but in the
winter is exceptionally pleasant, snow rarely falling, and then
rapidly melting. A large area extending westward from Merv
towards the Tejend is covered with dilapidated irrigating
ditches which could easily be re-opened ; thereby restoring the
oasis to its former state of fertility. Under the successors of
Alexander the city itself is said by Strabo to have been sur-
rounded by a wall 185 miles in length.

4. The Oxus. — The Amu Daria (called by the Greek his-

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION 33

torians the Oxus) is one of the most important and interesting
rivers, not only of Central Asia, but of the world. Rising in
the elevated plains of the Pamir, it pursues for about six hun-
dred miles a circuitous westerly course until it emerges upon
the plains of Balkh, whence it takes a northwesterly course for
another six hundred miles through a desert which is rendered
fertile only by means of the water drawn from its banks,
emptying finally by a number of mouths into the Aral Sea.
The principal branches from the Pamir are the Pan j ah, about
three hundred miles in length, which, rising in Lake Victoria
(13,900 feet above the sea), comes down from the south closely
bordering the highest ridge of the main Hindu Kush range, and
the Bartang, three hundred and thirty miles in length, coming
down from the central part of the Pamir. The two by their
junction really form the Oxus, about latitude 370 N., longi-
tude J2° E. Below Kila Wamar, the point of junction (seven
thousand feet above the sea), various streams come in from
both sides of the ever-broadening drainage basin, until, at
Kilif (seven hundred and thirty feet above the sea), the Oxus
passes into the desert region, through which no tributary pene-
trates at the present time. Of the tributaries above this point,
the most important are the Waghesh, which forms the real
northern boundary of the Pamir, separating it by a narrow
deep valley from the Alai Tagh range, which is one of the
main continuations of the Tian-Shan. In its upper tributaries
this stream is fed by numerous glaciers which cap peaks on
both sides, rising from fifteen thousand to twenty-two thou-
sand feet above the sea. The headwaters of this stream in-

34 ASIATIC RUSSIA

osculate at the summit with those of the Kashgar branch of
the Tarim. Between these high mountain peaks are the diffi-
cult snow-covered passes leading on the east to Kashgar, and
on the north to the fertile portions of Ferghana.

Two other streams of considerable length come down to the
Oxus from the southern slope of this southwest projection of
the Tian-Shan chain, besides two which come down from the
northern slope of the mountains upon the south. All four of
these have valleys of considerable width in their lower por-
tions. The importance of the region of these rivers may be
inferred from the prominence in the past history of the world
of the city of Balkh, the ruins of which now occupy a space
of twenty miles in circuit. Among the natives it is known as
the " Mother of Cities." Before the Christian era it was the
rival of Ecbatana and Nineveh and Babylon. It is also gener-
ally reputed to have been the burial-place of Zoroaster, and
certainly it was for many centuries the center of the Zoroas-
trian religion, which prevailed throughout Persia.

In early history this region was known as Bactria, and is
commonly repuTed to be the center in which was developed
the Aryan or Indo-European language and the rudiments of
Aryan civilization. Not until the seventh century b. c, did it
yield its independence to the Medes, and even then its mono-
theistic religion became dominant with the conquerors ; so
that in the time of Cyrus there was a natural affiliation be-
tween them and the Jews, and at the birth of Christ the wise
men who brought their gifts were moved by impulses trace-
able to this central point both of the largest land mass in the

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION 35

world, and of its earliest historical forces. Later Bactria be-
came a part of Alexander's conquered territory and a seat of
a Graeco-Bactrian empire which has left many marks of its
power and influence. But the Romans never penetrated so
far.

For small boats the Oxus is navigable as far up as its junc-
tion with the Waghesh; while Russian steamers have actually
ascended to the vicinity of Kilif. About one hundred miles
above the Aral Sea, at the head of an old delta of the stream,
occurs the important oasis of Khiva, covering an area of about
six thousand square miles, and dependent wholly upon irriga-
tion for its fertility. Being surrounded by almost impassable
deserts on every side (since, for two hundred miles above, the
barren sands encroach so close upon the river that cultivation
is impracticable), and with an area half as large as that of the
cultivable portions of Egypt, this, too, has played an impor-
tant part in history, and has great possibilities before it in the
future. In ancient times it was known as Chorasmia. Pro-
tected by their desert environment, the Chorasmians were pre-
served from being conquered by Alexander, though from
Bagae (the present Bokhara) he sent a strong force to extend
his conquests in that direction. It was, however, so ignomini-
ously defeated that the attempt was discontinued.

Great interest attaches to the Oxus by reason of the insta-
bility of the lower portion of its channel. It would seem that
all the plains south of the Aral Sea are composed of sediment
deposited by the rivers coming down into them from the moun-
tains on the southern border, and chief among the contribu-

36 ASIATIC RUSSIA

tors, as being itself by far the largest stream, has been the
Oxus; so that this whole plain partakes of the nature of a
delta deposit, along whose axis the river flows at an elevation
considerably above the general slope of the plain towards the
Caspian Sea. There are many indications of a deserted chan-
nel leading from the Oxus, near where it is crossed by the
road from Bokhara to Merv, westward across the Turkoman
desert to the Caspian Sea south of Krasnovodsk. The theory
that these old westerly channels crossing the desert were
formerly occupied by the Oxus is supported by evidence of
considerable strength, to the effect that the Murghab and the
Tejend formerly joined the Oxus; while the Zerafshan, com-
ing down past Samarkand and Bokhara, and now falling short
of entering the Oxus by less than fifty miles, is almost exactly
in line with them. Later, also, we shall have occasion to con-
sider the numerous indications that all these rivers were once
much larger than now.

But whatever may be thought of this old westward course
of the Oxus along the fortieth parallel, it is beyond question
that it formerly turned westward near Koja-Ili, at the head of
the present delta, one hundred and ten miles south of the Aral
Sea. Even from this point the slope of the deserted channels
leading to the Caspian Sea is as great as that of the present
one leading to the Aral ; the descent to the Aral Sea being
fifty-nine feet in the one hundred and ten miles ; while that to
the Caspian is three hundred and two feet in a distance of six
hundred miles. The existence of this old channel to the Cas-
pian Sea is very clearly marked through its entire distance;

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION 37

so that Russian engineers have even contemplated building a
dam at the head of the present delta to turn the river into the
Caspian, and thus provide continuous navigation from the
head of the Volga through the Caspian and up this old channel
(called the Uzboi) into Central Asia. The main difficulty of
the project lies in the fact that the present volume of the Oxus
is probably not sufficient to fill so long a channel in this in-
tensely dry and hot climate. Furthermore a large area around
Sary-kamysh Lake, in the upper part of this old channel, is
so much depressed, that it would absorb a large part of the
waters of the Oxus to fill up its basin, and to supply the loss
which would take place from evaporation over its broad
surface.

Eut it seems clear, from the writings of Strabo, Pliny, and
Ptolemy, that, from about 500 b. a, until some time after the
Christian era, the Oxus did flow into the Caspian Sea, and
that, as a consequence, the Aral Sea nearly disappeared, becom-
ing in large part a marshy bed of reeds ; about the year 600
a. d., the river was turned back again into the Aral. Of these
facts there would seem to be little ground for question; but
the cause of them is not so apparent. Probably the return to
its old bed was due to the accumulation of silt on the western
side, which gave advantage to some chance opening through
the barrier leading to the Aral Sea. This process is steadily
going on at the present time ; so that the principal branch of
the delta turns off towards the northeast nearly at right angles
to the main course of the stream.

Some have supposed, however, that the change was effected

38 ASIATIC RUSSIA

by an artificial dam which closed up the western branch, as
the Russian engineers were proposing during the last century
to close the eastern branch. Some of the most tragic events
in history have been connected with the diversion of these
irrigating channels from the west, whereby the central author-
ity has starved into submission, or driven into permanent exile,
large tribes who were dependent upon the water thus cut off.
5. The Zerafshan would be one of the most important tribu-
taries of the Oxus but for the absorption of its water in irri-
gating the fertile plains of Samarkand and Bokhara. Issuing
from a cluster of glaciers fourteen thousand feet above sea-
level, near the Tasak Pass over the Alai Tagh range south of
Kokand, it flows with a rapid descent in a narrow valley for
about one hundred miles, when it is joined from the south by
the Fan, whose chief tributary, the Yagnov, runs for sixty
miles parallel with the main stream, but on the other side of
the Zerafshan mountain ridge. After about forty miles' fur-
ther descent, the stream issues into a rapidly enlarging fan-
shaped plain at Pendjakent, at an elevation of 3,250 feet above
the sea. Over this plain the water is spread out by means of
irrigation canals, one of which is fifty miles in length; while
the main stream separates into branches which, coming to-
gether lower down, surround a large and fertile island. It is
in the center of this plain, at an elevation of 2,230 feet, that the
famous city of Samarkand is situated, whose history goes far
back of the Christian era. In the time of Alexander the Great
it was called Maracanda, and was the capital of Sogdiana.
It was then a well-fortified city, surrounded with walls ten

Russian Street in Samarkand.

Russian Street in Tashkent.

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION 39

miles in extent. It was here that Alexander in a drunken fit
committed the tragedy of killing his old friend Clytus ; while
the city was his headquarters for many months during the
time he was engaged in conquering the Scythian and moun-
tain tribes that mysteriously appeared to resist his course
from the unknown regions beyond. About the year 700 A. D.,
Arab conquerors succeeded to the heritage of the Graeco-
Bactrian dynasty established by Alexander, which had long
since passed away, and introduced the Mohammedan religion.
Persian and Turkish conquerors followed in their turn, until,
in I22i, Jenghiz Khan with his Mongol hordes conquered, and
pillaged, and nearly destroyed the city. Out of one hundred
thousand families said to be resident, only twenty-five thou-
sand were left. At a still later date, in 1369, Timur, or as he
is generally called Tamerlane, chose Samarkand as the capital
of his empire and made it one of the most magnificent capitals
in the world. Its population quickly rose to one hundred and
fifty thousand, while the mosques and tombs and college
buildings erected by him and his successors, even now, in their
ruins, rival in beauty and magnificence those of Egypt, and do
not fall much short of those of Greece and Rome.

In the lower part of its course the Zerafshan waters and
fertilizes the oasis about the city of Bokhara, and fails of
reaching the Oxus River by a space of only twenty-five or
thirty miles. Indeed, were it not that its water is so exten-
sively withdrawn for irrigation, the river would form an im-
portant tributary of the Oxus. But, as it is, it ends in various
small lakes, which receive the fitful overflow of the stream in

4o ASIATIC RUSSIA

times of flood. The name of the river signifies " gold-spread-
ing." But gold is such a small ingredient of its sand that the
name is more properly justified by the fertility which it
spreads upon the deep envelope of loess which extends over
the whole region from the mountains to Bokhara. Better than
almost any other river, also, it illustrates in its situation the
difficulty of adjusting riparian rights. The water, being so
valuable for irrigation, is in danger of being cut off from the
inhabitants in the lower part of the valley by excessive use in
the upper portion ; so that it is a constant bone of contention
between the inhabitants of the lower and those of the upper
part of the river valley. At the present time the people of
Bokhara are suspicious lest the Russians should divert an
undue amount of water as it passes through their territory.

6. The Jaxartes. — The Syr Daria (the classical Jaxartes,
the Arab Sihun), is the most important of the two rivers run-
ning into the Aral Sea. It has a length of fifteen hundred
miles, with a drainage area of three hundred and twenty thou-
sand square miles, which is considerably larger than that of
the Danube in Europe (three hundred thousand), and one
third larger than that of the Ohio in the United States
(two hundred and one thousand). Its longest tributary, the
Naryn, issues from the Petroff Glacier, on the crest of the
Tian-Shan chain, just south of Lake Issyk-kul, and 13,790 feet
above the sea. After flowing westward for many miles
through a narrow trough between ten thousand and eleven
thousand feet above the sea, it descends by a series of rapids
to a broad valley in which Fort Naryn is situated, but which

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION 41

is still, for a hundred miles, more than six thousand feet above
the sea. This valley seems to be covered with the sediment
of a long, narrow alpine lake, which has been left dry by the
lowering of^the channel of the river. By means of irrigation
this is rendered extremely fertile, and capable of supporting
a dense population.

During the next one hundred and seventy miles, between
Fort Kurtka and the Ferghana Valley, it pursues a zigzag
course, alternately crossing high parallel ridges and fertile in-
tervening valleys, until it reaches the level of one thousand
four hundred and forty feet.

In the Ferghana Valley, near Namangan, it is joined by the
Gulsha River coming down from the Terek Pass, which af-
fords the most feasible route to Kashgar, and lies on one of the
most important of the ancient trade routes between China and
the West. The Ferghana Valley, too, seems to be a dried-up
lake basin. Covered with a fertile loamy sediment for a dis-
tance of one hundred and sixty miles, with an average breadth
of fourteen miles, this valley is made, by irrigation from the
mountain streams, especially those upon the south side, the
richest garden spot in Central Asia. The river itself, however,
is bordered by sandy and sterile strips. The total width of the
valley is about sixty-five miles, and is easily entered by only
one narrow pass between inclosing mountain spurs which con-
centrate upon the city of Khojent, where the elevation above
the sea is eight hundred and forty feet. This valley supports
nearly a million inhabitants, and contains the flourishing cities
of Kokand, Margelan, Namangan, Andidjan, Uzgent, and

42 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Ush, and is now penetrated by a branch of the Trans-Caspian
railroad.

Below Khojent the Syr Daria pursues its course in a north-
westerly direction for eight hundred and fifty miles, when it
enters the northern part of the Aral Sea. In the first half
of this course it keeps near the base of the western and north-
western projections of the Ala-tau range, and receives from
it tributaries which are of great value for irrigating pur-
poses. The chief of these are the Chirchik, the Keles, the
Arys, the Bugun, and the Karaifehek. The first two, inter-
locking and spreading out over the plains at the base of the
mountain, water the rich oasis of loess in which Tashkent,
the capital and at present the largest city of Turkestan, is
situated. In a similar fertile oasis, amid the headwaters of
the Arys, Chimkent occupies a strategic position whose im-
portance has long been, and is still, recognized. From this
point the great caravan route to Southeastern Russia puts
off from the main line of travel which from the earliest ages
has led from China to Persia. Fifty or sixty miles down this
branch road is the flourishing city of Turkestan.

For the lower three hundred and fifty miles of its course
the Syr Daria has at present no tributaries, though, as we shall
see a little later, it probably at one time received from the east
two or three of great size. At Perovsk the river carries about
the same quantity of water as passes over Niagara Falls,
namely, three hundred and twelve thousand cubic feet per
second. Here begins the present delta of the river and a
branch called the Yani Daria (New River) which formerly

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION 43

put off to the left, and, after a course of nearly three hundred
miles, reached the>Aral Sea one hundred and fifty miles south
of the northern mouth. The Kirghiz Tartars say that this was
originally an irrigation canal. But, though, it may have been
used for irrigation purposes, it is doubtless the bed of one
of the channels which naturally course along the extreme
margin of a delta deposit. At times this has been obstructed
by an artificial dam, so that in 1820 the Russians found it
to be a dry bed ; while, upon reopening the channel, the water
failed to reach the Aral Sea, losing itself in the sands after
flowing about t.wo hundred and fifty miles. In the days of
Timur, however, this branch was in full operation, bringing
one mouth of the Syr Daria near to the eastern mouth of
the Amu Daria. In prehistoric times it seems probable that
the Syr Daria left its bed in the vicinity of Tashkent shortly
below Khojent and, running near the base of the Nura Tau
range, occupied the elongated beds of Tuz-Kane and Bogda-
nata lakes, and, uniting with the Zerafshan, entered the Amu
Daria three hundred or four hundred miles above its mouth.

7. The Talas. — This river rises between the western spur
of the Alexandrovskii range and the much longer projection
of the central Tian-Shan complex toward the northwest called
the Kara Tau. It has a course of about three hundred miles
in a northwesterly direction, when it ends in a number of
small lakes surrounded by a sandy waste, nearly opposite the
city of Turkestan, from which it is separated by the low range
of the Kara Tau. Near the extremity of the Alexandrovskii
Mountains, the city of Aulieata, like all the other principal

44 ASIATIC RUSSIA

cities of this region, revels in the verdure produced by the
unfailing waters of a mountain stream. From earliest times
it has been a celebrated resting-place for pilgrims and armies
moving backwards and forwards from Central Mongolia,
though the present city is several miles distant from the ruins
of the ancient site. The situation is so important that, upon
its conquest by the Russians in 1864, it was first proposed to
establish the administrative center of the province here instead
of at Tashkent.

8. The Chu. — This is another stream of great importance,
rising near the sources of the Naryn River, but on the north
slope of the Tian-Shan range, south of Lake Issyk-kul, which,
after a course of six hundred or seven hundred miles, ends in
a desert-girt lake, in this case about one hundred miles east
of Perovsk, on the Syr Daria River. Beginning thirty or
forty miles west of Aulieata, there is a remarkably fertile
triangle, with a base of about one hundred and fifty miles
resting on the northern slopes of the Alexandrovskii range
with its apex about one hundred miles north, at the junction
of the Kurgati River, which comes in from the west, with
the main stream of the Chu. At frequent intervals through-
out the entire space enclosed by these branching arms, small
mountain streams come down to fertilize the terrace of loess
which is here continuous, making it a region of surpassing
richness. The enthusiasm of the early Chinese travelers knew
no bounds as they described this remarkable region, which
they called the " Land of the Thousand Springs." It was in

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION 45

this region, also, that the celebrated Prester John is supposed
to have had his residence, about the twelfth century of the
Christian era.

This whole story is doubtless largely mythical, but it is
interesting to observe how naturally the conditions here fit
the seat of his reputed early empire " beyond Persia and Ar-
menia," and in the line of the subsequent march of Jenghiz
Khan. Prester John is identified with probable correctness
with Yeliu Tashi, who took the title of Ghur-Khan, and had
his capital at Bala Sagun, in the valley of the Chu. This
distinguished leader, whose dynasty in Eastern Mongolia was
overthrown in 1125 a. d., had received a Christian education,
and fled with his body of faithful followers beyond the western
bounds of Mongolia, where he established an empire known
as that of Kara-Khitai (Black Cathay). He is reported to
have become one of the most effective opponents of the Mos-
lem forces which were then spreading over that region ; having
defeated Sanjar near Samarkand, September, 1141, in a
battle which was reputed to be the most bloody ever waged
with Islam. Naturally the fame of such a leader took on
enormous proportions throughout the countries of Christian
Europe. But all traces of the Christian influences which cer-
tainly marked this period of history in Central Asia have long
since disappeared. Between the upper and the nether millstone
of the Mohammedans on the west and the avenging hordes
of the Tartars under Jenghiz Khan from the east, Christianity
was destroyed, and other religious institutions came to pre-

46 ASIATIC RUSSIA

vail. At the present time the population is spread pretty evenly
over the upper valley of the Chu, being gathered, however, to
some extent in the important cities of Merke and Pishpek.

Among the most remarkable features of this valley is Lake
Issyk-kul, a body of water one hundred and twenty miles long
and thirty-three wide, which was formerly supposed to be
the source of the river Chu, but is now found to be without
any outlet, though its western end is very near the upper
branch of the Chu. This lake is five thousand three hundred
feet above the sea, situated between the Ala-tau range and
the main Tian-Shan near where it culminates in the lofty peak
of Khan-tengri, which is upwards of twenty-four thousand
feet above the sea. Though without present outlet, the water
is only slightly salt ; and the lake basin gives many evidences
of great changes of the water level in former times. Terraces
surround the basin two hundred or three hundred feet above
the present level of the water; while there are foundations of
walls and buildings clearly visible below the surface upon its
eastern side, showing that it was once considerably lower than
now. During the time when the upper terraces were formed,
however, it must have overflowed into the Chu, from which
it is separated by a narrow space of loose soil.

Thinking to lower the lake to its former diminished pro-
portions, the tribes living upon its border dug not long ago
a channel between the two; but, owing to miscalculations
of level, it not only failed to accomplish the object desired, but
actually turned the waters of the Chu into it; so that now,
in times of flood, a portion of the water of the Chu continues

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION 47

to run into the lake. The name Issyk-kul signifies " Warm
Lake," a name originating, as it is thought by some, in the
fact that many of the springs that feed it are warm ; but more
probably the name was suggested by the fact that the lake,
though at such a high altitude, does not freeze over in the
winter. Near the south end of Lake Issyk-kul, a military
wagon road has been built over the mountain to Fort Naryn,
about one hundred miles distant, in the fertile elevated valley
already described in the upper part of the longest tributary
of the Syr Daria. There are also caravan routes over a diffi-
cult pass across the Tian-Shan, both from Naryn to Kashgar
and from the west end of Lake Issyk-kul to Aksu.

9. The Hi. — A still more important river is the Hi, which
originates in the junction of three branching tributaries, — the
Tekes, the Kunges, and the Kash, — descending from the junc-
tion of the Boro-khoro Mountains (a northern projection of
the Ala-tau) with the Tian-Shan. Of these, the Tekes rises
on the north side of Khan-tengri, and its valley forms an
important part of the celebrated caravan route leading from
Kuldja over the Muzart Pass across the glaciers on the eastern
flank of the mountain, which has been so vividly described
by early Chinese pilgrims. In 629 a. d. Hiouen-Tsang, a Bud-
dhist pilgrim, wrote the following description:

" Passing through the border o£ Pa-lu-kia [Aksu], northeast, we
crossed a stony desert, and arrived at an icy mountain [Ling-tchan,
the Muzart Pass, close to the peak Khan-tengri], where 'snow had
been heaped up from the beginning o£ the world, which never melts
either in spring or in summer. Smooth fields of hard and glittering

48 ASIATIC RUSSIA

ice stretch out unendingly, and join with the clouds. The way is
often between icy peaks overhanging on each side, and over high
masses of ice. These places are passed with great trouble and danger,
with constant blasts of piercing wind and gusts of snow; so that even
with warm boots and a fur coat, the cold penetrates to the bones.
There is no dry place in which to lie down or to eat. You must cook
your food and sleep on the ice.' ' One is often a prey to the ferocity
of the dragons, which attack travelers. Those who follow this route
should not wear red clothing, or carry calabashes, or cry aloud.
Should these precautions be forgotten, the greatest misfortunes would
come. A violent wind would suddenly arise, whirl about the sand,
and engulf the traveler with a shower of stones. It is very difficult
to escape death.' "

The total length of the Hi, measuring to the head of its
longest tributary, is about seven hundred miles. In the upper
portion of its valley it waters an expanded plain of loess about
fifty miles wide and one hundred and fifty long, making it one
of the most productive areas in the world. The oasis re-
ceives additional importance from its lying in the line of the
main traveled road, and indeed almost the only wagon road,
which from early times connected China and Mongolia with
Western Asia. This great road, leaving China at about the
middle of its western border, and crossing the Desert of Gobi
to the eastern extremity of the Tian-Shan Mountains runs
along their base as far as Turphan, where a southern branch
turns off towards Aksu and Kashgar, while the northern
branch crosses a low pass of the chain to Urumchi, which
also might be reached by road upon the northern side of the
chain. Thence it passes on to Manas, where it divides again,

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION 49

one branch striking off north to the Tarbagatai Mountains,
and, passing through Chuguchak, comes out at Sergiopol, and
thence onward meets the Irtysh River at Semipalatinsk. But
the main line leads westward on the north side of the Boro-
khoro Mountains to Lake Baratala (or Ebi-nor), an inclosed
basin about forty miles long and twenty broad, but which is
only seven hundred feet above the sea. Here the road turns
to the left and, after rising about six thousand three hundred
feet in about seventy miles, reaches at the summit of the pass
the remarkable Sairam-nor, (nor meaning "lake"), filling a
bowl-shaped depression about thirty miles in diameter, and
surrounded by lofty mountains upon nearly every side. The
water is clear and of a beautiful blue color, and only slightly
saltish, though it has no outlet.

The Chinese monk Chang Chung describes this lake and the
pass thence down to Kuldja in the following language, which
is as correct as it is vivid :

" ' After having left the sandy desert, we traveled five days, and
stopped on the northern side of the Yin-shan. The next day, early
in the morning, we proceeded southward on a long slope seventy
or eighty miles, and stopped in the evening to rest. The air was
cold ; we found no water. The next day we started again, and traveled
southwestward, and at a distance of twenty li [about seven miles]
suddenly got sight of a splendid lake of about two hundred li in
circumference, enclosed on all sides by snow-topped peaks, which were
reflected in the water. The master named it the Lake of Heaven.
Following the shore we descended in a southern direction, and on
either side were nothing but perpendicular cliffs and rugged peaks.
The mountains were covered to their summits with dense forests,

5o ASIATIC RUSSIA

consisting of birches and pines more than a hundred feet high. The
river winds through the gorge for about sixty or seventy li with a
rapid current, sometimes shooting down in cascades. The second
prince, who was with the Emperor at the time he went to the west,
first made a way through these mountains, cut through the rocks, and
built forty-eight bridges with the wood cut on the mountains. The
bridges are so wide that two carts can pass together.*

" ' We passed the night in the defile, and left it the next morning ;
we then entered a large valley which stretched from east to west, well
watered, with abundant grass, and here and there some mulberry trees
or jujubes.' "

It is said that with slight repair the wagon road down the
Talki ravine from Sairam-nor to Kuldja could still be used.
The fertile oasis of Kuldja was a favorite stopping-place for
the hordes of Jenghiz Khan and his successors on their
marches between the east and the west. It formerly had a
population of three ihundred and fifty thousand or more, but
now is reduced to about one third that number. For a few
years subsequent to 1870 the province was included within
Russian territory, but was afterwards restored to China, when
she became able to re-establish a settled condition of things
upon the Mongolian border. At the present time the Russian
boundary crosses the river about one hundred miles below the
present city of Kuldja, where the elevation of the valley is
two thousand, five hundred feet above the sea.

The most fertile part of the valley of the Hi below the
Mongolian border is in the vicinity of Verni, where there is
a shallow segment of a circle of rich loess which is well

* Turkestan. Vol. ii. pp. 191-192.

>

V

to

a

3
C<1

CD
>

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION 51

watered by streams coming down from the Western, or Trans-
Hi, Ala-tau. In many respects this resembles the area of the
Thousand Springs about the headwaters of the Chu, a little
to the west. The river is crossed by a bridge at Ilisk, about
thirty miles from Verni, whence the military road proceeds
northward over the western spurs of the Eastern Ala-tau.
From Kuldja to this point, and somewhat farther down, the
river is navigable for small boats, but its bed is sunk so deep
below the sands of the region intervening toward Lake Bal-
kash, into which it empties, that irrigation without a very
large outlay of capital is impossible, and Lake Balkash pre-
sents no inducements to commerce of any kind.

10. The Seven Rivers. — The province of Semirechensk re-
ceives its name from the fact that it possesses seven rivers,
one of which is the Hi. The others are, proceeding eastward,
the Koksu, the Karatal, the Aksu, the Sarkan, the Baskan,
and the Lepsa. These are all streams coming down from the
Ala-tau range, and of minor significance, except for the fer-
tility which they spread over the narrow marginal border of
loess. Only three of them reach Lake Balkash; the three
others being tributary to them, or ending in the desert sands.
In the lower part of their course the three streams which enter
the lake run in such deep channels that, like the Hi, they are
incapable of being used for irrigation.

11. The Ayaguz, coming down from the vicinity of Ser-
giopol, and entering the east end of Lake Balkash, has a
length of about two hundred miles, but its sources are in the
lower portions of the Tarbagatai Mountains, where the water-

52 ASIATIC RUSSIA

supply is neither abundant nor constant, and the soil through
which the river flows is not so fertile as that which borders
the mountain chains to the westward which we have been con-
sidering.

12. The Sarai-su rises in the low watershed separating the
Aral-Caspian basin from the Tobol and other tributaries of
the Irtysh River. After taking a southwest course for a dis-
tance of about five hundred miles, it ends in a small inclosed
lake not far from the termination of the river Chu, and only
sixty or seventy miles from Fort Perovsk on the Syr Daria,
from which point as already said, the Yani Daria formerly put
off to reach the Aral Sea near its southern end. It seems alto-
gether likely that these streams, joined also by the Talas,
formerly united and reached the Syr Daria at Perovsk, and
helped to send onward the strong current of water which then
flowed from the southern end of the Aral Sea into the Caspian.
But that was when the climatic conditions were considerably
different from those which now prevail, — a subject which will
require special attention in a subsequent chapter.

13. The Turgai and Irghiz rivers (each about three hundred
miles in length) rise between two low branching spurs of
the Ural Mountains which extend southward through the
provinces of Akmolinsk and Turgai enclosing the northern
portion of the basin of the Aral Sea. With a little increase of
water-supply these united streams would reach the Aral, but
now they terminate in a shallow irregular lake, surrounded
by desert sands about one hundred and fifty miles from the
Aral Sea — called Chel-Kar Tingez.

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION 53

14. The Emba. — Still farther west, the Emba River rises in
the western spur of the Urals, and, after a course of about
three hundred miles in a northwestern direction, reaches the
northern end of the Caspian Sea.

15. The Ural rises on the same watershed with the Tobol,
and, after pursuing a westerly course for several hundred miles
directly across the low southern projection of the Ural Moun-
tains, in which the two former streams have taken their rise,
turns to the south, and empties into the Caspian Sea one
hundred miles west of the mouth of the Emba ; its total length
being about eight hundred miles. The lower two hundred and
fifty miles of its course is through a level plain which is only
from twenty to fifty feet above the level of the Caspian Sea,
and has for a long time been a famous center for some of
the Cossack organizations, where they maintained semi-inde-
pendence, and still preserve in high perfection their communal
organizations. Their chief industry is the sturgeon fisheries
in the river.

16. The Volga, though not politically belonging to Asia,
geographically, is Asiatic. Indeed the entire northwestern
shore of the Caspian Sea, including the mouths of the Volga
River, and all the intervening low plain as far as Samara, and
the lower portion of the Don River, which empties into the
Sea of Azof, is Asiatic rather than European. This entire
region is but little raised above the level of the Caspian Sea,
and is dotted over with salt lakes having no outlet, some of
them even occupying depressions which are below that level.
At Tzaritzin so short a space separates the Volga from the

54 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Don that a canal has been projected to connect one drainage
basin with the other; while it is thought by some that the
Volga itself at one time kept straight on in its course to join
the Don and empty into the Black Sea instead of the Caspian.
So slight is the elevation of the land between the Azof and
the Caspian seas that a depression of less than thirty feet would
now permit their waters to mingle through the long marshy
lake of Manytch. The Volga River also really belongs to this
Aral-Caspian depression, draining into it, as it does, the larger
part of European Russia, and having a length of two thousand
three hundred miles, and drainage basin of five hundred thou-
sand square miles. The Kuma and Terek rivers, coming down
from the northern flanks of the Caucasus, also flow through
this low plain for a considerable distance, and help to give
character to the western shore of the Caspian ; while the whole
area of the plain which borders the northern end of the Cas-
pian Sea, is still occupied by Kalmuck and Kirghiz Tartars,
hemmed in by Ural Cossacks still farther north.

Besides these streams there is a large number ending in
enclosed lakes, together with well-nigh innumerable small lakes
having no permanent tributaries, scattered all along the 50th
parallel, on the elevation connecting the Ural Mountains and
the projection of the Tarbagatai range, which forms the south-
ern watershed of the Obi basin.

General View

Aside from the interest attaching to these details in them-
selves considered, it was important to pass them under review

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION $S

as preliminary to a study of some general questions of absorb-
ing interest relating to the entire basin considered as a unit.
Including only the lower part of the Volga, from the point
where it approaches nearest to the Don, this basin has a width
from northwest to southeast of one thousand, six hundred
miles, with an equal extent, measuring at right angles, from
the southwestern corner of the Caspian Sea to the headwaters
of the stream which enters the eastern end of Lake Balkash ;
while from north to south on the sixtieth meridian E., the
breadth is fully one thousand two hundred miles. Taken all in
all, this has been justly regarded by physical geographers, ever
since the investigation of Humboldt, as the most interesting
depression anywhere to be found on the face of the globe.

Excluding the upper portion of the Volga, it covers an area
of nearly two million square miles ; while for a distance of
more than three thousand miles along the serrate edge of its
southern border, it is shut in, as we have already seen, by
the loftiest mountain chains of the world. Mount Elburz
(18,526 feet above the sea) ; Mount Ararat (17,260) ; Mount
Demavend, immediately south of the Caspian Sea (18,600
feet) ; Mount Dora and various other peaks in the Hindu
Kush, in which numerous branches of the Amu Daria have
their source (from 16,500 to 20,300) ; Mount Kaufmann in
the Pamir (22,500), with numerous other surrounding peaks
falling but little below that figure ; Khan-tengri in the Tian-
Shan range (24,060), with many others upward of 15,000;
— these with their continuous, connecting mountain chains, all
of which would be conspicuous anywhere else in the world,

56 ASIATIC RUSSIA

and with their massive bordering plateaus nowhere to be
equaled except in Tibet, present a spectacle to the imagination
which it never wearies of picturing. Through this entire dis-
tance of more than three thousand miles, passes are infre-
quent, most of them being hazardous, while all of them are
difficult, and everywhere the descent to the plains on the north
is rapid and final. From the bordering mountains of Afghan-
istan, lines can be drawn in several directions to the Arctic
Ocean, across forty degrees of latitude, or two thousand, eight
hundred miles in actual distance, without encountering an
elevation of a thousand feet. At the same time, from the lofty
height of Mount Demavend the descent within one hundred
miles to the bottom of the Caspian Sea, which is two thou-
sand three hundred feet below the ocean level, is nearly twenty-
two thousand feet. The physical changes Which have taken
place over this area in recent geological times, and even within
the historical period, are of most extensive and significant char-
acter, both from the standpoint of physical geography, and of
their effect upon the fortunes of man and of the plants and
animals which preceded and have accompanied him.

Upon even a cursory examination, the whole area, to the
height certainly of several hundred feet, gives evidence of be-
ing an ocean bed from which, owing to recent changes in level
and equally significant changes in climatic conditions, the
water has evaporated, until it is now everywhere dotted over
with small enclosed basins of salt water, besides three large
enclosures which merit the name of seas. Of these, Lake
Balkash, on the eastern side of the basin, is crescent-shaped,

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION $7

and has a length of about four hundred miles and a width of
from five to fifty. Its circumference is said to be nine hun-
dred miles, and its area 12,800 square miles; or, nearly
twice that of Lake Ontario, four times that of Great
Salt Lake in Utah, and thirty-six times that of Lake
Geneva. Though receiving seven mountain tributaries from
the south, one of which, the Hi, is several hundred miles in
length, it has not a single tributary from the north. Nowhere
is its depth more than seventy feet ; while upon the south side,
into which the sediment from the mountains is brought by
the rivers, it gradually merges into an impenetrable, reedy
marsh, where for a long distance the water is so shallow, and
the bottom so shelving, that a strong south wind lays it bare.
Such are the conditions, however, that there are no settlements
upon its banks, and navigation upon it is utterly impracticable.
Its surface is at present, according to Mushketoff , nine hundred
feet above the sea; but at no distant period, even historically
considered, it covered an area many times its present size,
extending eastward to Lake Ala-kul, and to the base of the
Tarbagatai Mountains. The military road from Sergiopol to
Kopal now leads for a long distance across the plains of fine
silt, which settled over the eastern portion of the great ex-
tension. It is probable, also, that the water overflowed its
western border, and, joining the Chu, entered with it the great
Aral basin. But, notwithstanding its diminution in size, and
its inland character, without any outlet, the water, along con-
siderable portions of its southern and eastern shores, is so
slightly salt that animals freely drink it, though in the western

60 ASIATIC RUSSIA

copious overflow, to a shallow pool, which has at certain historical
epochs been shallower still, or has even perhaps dried up sufficiently
to have caused its practical disappearance from the map. Such, in
somewhat general terms, is the explanation of the difficulties which
have been experienced regarding the existence and history of Lake
Aral in past times."

The Caspian Sea is the largest of all the inland bodies of
water in the world which are without connection with the
ocean. It has a length from north to south of seven hundred
and forty miles, with an average breadth of two hundred and
ten miles. Its total area is estimated to be about one hundred
and eighty thousand square miles. The northern half of the
sea projects into the region of the low plains to which we
have already referred as forming the northwestern border of
the great basin under consideration. Here, as already re-
marked, the land level is but slightly raised above that of the
ocean, and gives abundant evidence of having been not long
ago overspread by the waters of the Caspian, — the shells of
Caspian species of mollusks being found up the valley of the
Volga nearly to Saratof, up the Ural to the vicinity of Uralsk,
and up the Emba throughout nearly half of its entire course.

Between the Caspian and Aral seas, however, which are
separated by a distance of from two hundred to three hundred
miles, occurs the plateau of Ust-Urt, which rises with precipi-
tous sides of from five hundred to seven hundred and twenty-
seven feet above the general level, and covers an area of about
one hundred thousand square miles, ending near Krasnovodsk,
in the great Balkan Mountains, which seem to be a connecting

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION 61

link between the Caucasus chain, upon the west, and the Kopet
Dagh, on the east, of the Caspian basin. As before stated, this
connection seems also the more probable from the fact, that a
line of shallow water crosses the sea from Krasnovodsk to the
Apsheron Peninsula, in the vicinity of Baku, the depth of the
water over this ridge averaging no more than one hundred and
eighty feet. Between the Balkan and the Kopet Dagh range,
however, there is an opening twenty-five or thirty miles in
width which is nearly at the level of the Caspian, and through
which the waters of the Aral Sea when it stood at its former
high level found ready passage into the Caspian. This chan-
nel, which skirts the Ust-Urt on the southeast fof a distance
of about five hundred miles, is called the Uzboi, and is so well
marked that even the cursory observer cannot fail to see its
significance.

The Caspian Sea is divided into three distinct parts. The
northern portion into which the Volga and the Ural pour their
heavy burdens of sediment, is shallow, and without any well-
defined shoreline, the water being nowhere more than fifty
feet deep. This extends southward to the mouth of the river
Kuma, on about the forty-fifth degree of north latitude.

The middle basin extends from this point to the line of shal-
low water, already spoken of, extending from Krasnovodsk to
Baku. The depth of this portion is everywhere greater than
that of the northern, being in the center more than one thou-
sand feet, and near the southwestern side more than two thou-
sand feet deep.

The third portion, which lies south of the submerged ridge

62 ASIATIC RUSSIA

spoken of, also descends, as we have said before, to a depth
of more than two thousand feet, and that only a short dis-
tance from the lofty plateau of Northern Persia, whose sum-
mits run up to an elevation of more than eighteen thousand
feet above the sea.

The total drainage area emptying its waters into the Caspian
at the present time does not fall much short of one million
square miles ; being, indeed, not much less than that of the
whole Missouri-Mississippi basin. Yet all the water thus
received is evaporated from an area of about one sixth that
extent. Here, also, as in the case of both Lake Balkash and
the Aral Sea, we encounter the striking and significant fact,
that the salinity of the water is only about one third that of
the ocean. We are bound to state, however, that the saltness
of the water differs in a marked degree in the different parts.
In the shallow northern portions, when the Ural and the
Volga are in their flood stage the water in the Caspian is so
nearly fresh as to be drinkable far out from the shores. In
the central and southern portions the water is stated by Von
Baer to be about one third as salt as the ocean. In explana-
tion of this an interesting process is found to be going on
at the present time, constantly tending to reduce the salinity of
the water, and helping us to understand both this and how the
vast salt deposits underlying central Xew York, eastern Ohic,
and southern Michigan might have been formed. The Cas-
pian Sea is surrounded on its most arid sides by numerous and
large bays connected with the main body of water by narrow
and shallow channels through which currents are constantly

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION 63

flowing from the sea, but not back into it. This is because
the evaporation is so great that the inflowing currents are
barely sufficient to supply the waste from that source. The
consequence is, that an enormous amount of salt is carried
off from the sea into these receptacles and there detained,
forming a solid layer over the bottom. One of the largest of
these is the Kara Bugas, or Bitter Water, a bay nearly one
hundred miles in diameter, situated about midway on the east-
ern shore, and connected with the sea by a channel only five
feet deep and four hundred and fifty wide. Through this
the water of the Caspian is constantly flowing at a rate which
is never less than a mile and a half an hour, and is usually
three miles an hour. Von Baer, who has investigated the
matter most carefully, estimates that through this channel
alone three hundred and fifty thousand tons of salt are daily
withdrawn from the central body of the sea. Many similar
basins have already been filled with the salt which has crystal-
lized from the water thus brought into them and evaporated.
The animal life of the Caspian presents, also, many striking
peculiarities, since it includes a curious admixture of fresh
and salt water types. Here are found seals and herrings,
which are marine species belonging to the Baltic and Polar
seas, rather than to the Black and Mediterranean. Curiously
enough, also, the seal in the Caspian are of nearly identical
species with those that are found three thousand miles to the
east in Lake Baikal, whose waters are now fresh, and whose
surface is at an elevation of nearly one thousand six hundred
feet above the sea. It is related, also, that seal were formerly

62 ASIATIC RUSSIA

spoken of, also descends, as we have said before, to a depth
of more than two thousand feet, and that only a short dis-
tance from the lofty plateau of Northern Persia, whose sum-
mits run up to an elevation of more than eighteen thousand
feet above the sea.

The total drainage area emptying its waters into the Caspian
at the present time does not fall much short of one million
square miles; being, indeed, not much less than that of the
whole Missouri-Mississippi basin. Yet all the water thus
received is evaporated from an area of about one sixth that
extent. 'Here, also, as in the case of both Lake Balkash and
the Aral Sea, we encounter the striking and significant fact,
that the salinity of the water is only about one third that of
the ocean. We are bound to state, however, that the saltness
of the water differs in a marked degree in the different parts.
In the shallow northern portions, when the Ural and the
Volga are in their flood stage the water in the Caspian is so
nearly fresh as to be drinkable far out from the shores. In
the central and southern portions the water is stated by Von
Baer to be about one third as salt as the ocean. In explana-
tion of this an interesting process is found to be going on
at the present time, constantly tending to reduce the salinity of
the water, and helping us to understand both this and how the
vast salt deposits underlying central New York, eastern Ohio,
and southern Michigan might have been formed. The Cas-
pian Sea is surrounded on its most arid sides by numerous and
large bays connected with the main body of water by narrow
and shallow channels through which currents are constantly

THE ARAL-CASPIAN DEPRESSION 63

flowing from the sea, but not back into it. This is because
the evaporation is so great that the inflowing currents are
barely sufficient to supply the waste from that source. The
consequence is, that an enormous amount of salt is carried
off from the sea into these receptacles and there detained,
forming a solid layer over the bottom. One of the largest of
these is the Kara Bugas, or Bitter Water, a bay nearly one
hundred miles in diameter, situated about midway on the east-
ern shore, and connected with the sea by a channel only five
feet deep and four hundred and fifty wide. Through this
the water of the Caspian is constantly flowing at a rate which
is never less than a mile and a half an hour, and is usually
three miles an hour. Von Baer, who has investigated the
matter most carefully, estimates that through this channel
alone three hundred and fifty thousand tons of salt are daily
withdrawn from the central body of the sea. Many similar
basins have already been filled with the salt which has crystal-
lized from the water thus brought into them and evaporated.
The animal life of the Caspian presents, also, many striking
peculiarities, since it includes a curious admixture of fresh
and salt water types. Here are found seals and herrings,
which are marine species belonging to the Baltic and Polar
seas, rather than to the Black and Mediterranean. Curiously
enough, also, the seal in the Caspian are of nearly identical
species with those that are found three thousand miles to the
east in Lake Baikal, whose waters are now fresh, and whose
surface is at an elevation of nearly one thousand six hundred
feet above the sea. It is related, also, that seal were formerly

64 ASIATIC RUSSIA

found in the Aral Sea. But they disappeared from its waters
a long time ago. Salmon also abound in the Caspian, furnish-
ing another indication of a former connection between its
waters and those of the Arctic Ocean. Sturgeon, likewise,
abound in immense numbers, providing to the Cossacks on the
Ural and to the government agents on the Kur the basis for
enormous fishing industries. Indeed, at the present time the
whole world is supplied with caviar and isinglass from the
roe and the swimming bladders of sturgeon caught in these
waters.

According to Bogdonoff, a complete connection in recent
time between the Caspian basin and the Arctic Ocean is
demonstrated by the sea-shells that are found continuously in
the superficial deposits which cover the whole basin. Many
of the animals now living in the numerous salt lakes extend-
ing from the Aral and Caspian seas across the watershed into
the valley of the Obi belong to the polar fauna — the propor-
tion of polar species increasing as the Arctic Sea is approached.
Moreover, the shells of this ancient sea-bottom differ from
those in the Caspian chiefly in their size, those in the Caspian
being much smaller than those upon the area outside. This
indicates that the water which submerged this large area had
the saltness of the ocean which tends to increase the size of
the shell-fish living in it, making them larger than they would
have been in less saline waters like those of the Caspian.

c

IV

RIVER BASINS OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN
i. The Obi

THE Obi and its tributaries occupy a vast plain sloping
gently from the border of the Aral-Caspian depres-
sion and the Altai Mountains to the Arctic Ocean,
having an area of nine hundred and twenty thousand square
miles. This plain is separated from Europe by the Ural Moun-
tains, but in its main physical features is similar to much of
European Russia, being everywhere level except on its moun-
tain borders, and deeply covered with alluvial soil, — advantages
which make it the most important agricultural section of Si-
beria. Although this region is commonly known as the basin
of the Obi, the main branch, the Irtysh, is four hundred miles
longer than the Obi above their junction, and fairly deserves
to be called the main stream. We will therefore put it first
in our description.

The Irtysh River (2,520 miles in length) rises south of the
Mongolian border, and after flowing five hundred miles by a
comparatively gentle current through the Sungarian depres-
sion between the Great Altai and the Tarbagatai mountains,
expands, soon after crossing the Russian border, into Lake

65

66 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Zaisan, a body of water about sixty miles long and from
twenty to thirty wide. From this point it turns eastward,
cutting its way in a deep rocky gorge for a hundred miles
or more across a spur of the Altai Mountains, when it
reaches, at Kamenogorsk, the border of the great plain
stretching to the Arctic Ocean. But on its way across the
spurs of the Altai Mountains it has been joined by the
Kurgum, the Naryn, and the Bukhtarma, — rivers which come
down through narrow and deep, but fertile, valleys from
the center of the Altai Mountains furnishing ready access to
their mining wealth, and supplying rich agricultural products
for the home market. Lower down, on the way to Semi-
palatinsk, the Uda River comes down in a similar manner
from the northern portion of the Altai.

As far up as Semipalatinsk the river is readily navigated by
steamboats, which in some stages of water can ascend con-
siderably farther, while above Lake Zaisan steam navigation
is practicable for a considerable distance, and rafts bring down
the products from the entire upper basin.

Below Semipalatinsk the Irtysh has no tributaries for four
hundred miles until reaching Omsk, where it is joined by the
Om, a small stream from the east which imperfectly drains
a portion of the Baraba Steppe. One hundred miles lower
down, the Tara River comes in from the same direction, the
city of Tara being near its mouth. One hundred and fifty miles
still farther down it is joined on the west by the Ishim, an
important tributary several hundred miles in length rising on
the watershed between the Obi and Aral-Caspian basins, and

ARCTIC-OCEAN RIVER BASINS 67

watering the most productive portions of Akmolinsk. About
two hundred and fifty miles above its mouth, the Ishim was
early crossed by the old Siberian military road, and now by
the railroad, at Petropavlovsk. One hundred and fifty miles
below the Ishim, the Irtysh is joined by the Tobol, which is
itself four hundred and twenty miles long, and which, with its
branches, the Tavda, the Tura, and the Iset, waters a fertile
and well-drained area of forty thousand square miles on the
gentle eastern slope of the Ural Mountains.

A fair proportion of this area is covered with forests, espe-
cially along the streams ; while the plains consist of rich black
earth like that of the steppes of Southern Russia, or of the
prairies of Minnesota and Dakota, which resemble it also in
many other particulars. Along the water-parting between the
Ishim and the Aral-Caspian depression, and in the upper por-
tion of the valley of the Tobol, as well as upon the east side
of the Irtysh between Omsk and Semipalatinsk, innumerable
lakes occur, many of which are salt and without outlets, and all
of which seem to be rapidly drying up. Indeed, numerous
flourishing Russian villages are now standing upon what was
the bed of Lake Chany in the early part of the last century,
so rapidly is the desiccation of that region progressing.

The Obi River proper rises in the Altai Mountains, being
formed at Biisk by the junction of the Biya and Katun rivers,
whose headwaters are in the Altai Mountains on the Mon-
golian border, two hundred and fifty miles distant, and from
seven thousand to ten thousand feet high. Lake Teletskoi, an
enlargement seventy or eighty miles long of the upper part

68 ASIATIC RUSSIA

of the Biya, is celebrated for the grandeur and beauty of its
scenery. Before the Obi fairly emerges from the border ridges
of the Altai Mountains, it is joined on the west side by the
Churut and the Alea; while, below Barnaul, the Chumut, the
Berdu, and the Ina come in from the east before it is joined
by the Tom, the Tom itself having had a course of four hun-
dred and fifty miles from near the Mongolian border. At some
stages of water, the Obi is navigable to Biisk, and the Tom
to Kusnetzk.

A striking feature of the valley of the Obi is its close ap-
proach to the main stream of the Yenisei on the east. In fact,
the Yenisei has practically no western branches, yet at sev-
eral points the navigable branches of the Obi approach it so
closely that the portages are short, and even furnish actual
connection through a level swampy water-parting. A little
more than a hundred miles below Tomsk, the Obi is joined
by the Chulym River. This branch has a very circuitous and
zigzag course of several hundred miles from its headwaters
in the mountains, bordering the Yenisei near the Mongolian
frontier and passes in its lower portions through one of the
best agricultural districts of Siberia. Near Chernoba, about
halfway between Krasnoyarsk and Minusinsk, the Chulym,
which is navigable the whole distance below, approaches to
within six miles of the Yenisei, but a difference of elevation
of four hundred feet renders a canal project impracticable.
A little over a hundred miles north of the Chulym, the Ket joins
the Obi after a course of two hundred and forty miles, and
as it is navigable throughout this course it furnishes through

ARCTIC-OCEAN RIVER BASINS 69

Lake Bolshoe, at the head of one of its tributaries, a con-
venient passage for a canal leading into the Kas, a tributary
of the Yenisei joining it a little below Yeniseisk. Such a
canal has already been constructed through which boats of
considerable tonnage are able to pass from one river system
to the other. Still lower down the valley there is another
portage of only three miles, connecting the principal affluent
of the Tym, a tributary of the Obi, with the Sym, which after
a short course enters the Yenisei.

The broad plain extending for about two degrees each side
of the fifty-sixth parallel north stretching from the Irtysh to the
Obi is known as the Baraba Steppe. This includes more than
fifty thousand square miles, and is covered with soil of the
best quality; but the country is so flat, and the drainage so
poor, that it is unfavorable for cultivation. Small lakes and
marshes abound ; so that, in the short hot summer, mosquitoes
make life almost unendurable.

To the north of the fifty-eighth degree of north latitude, there
are more than one hundred thousand square miles which are al-
most impenetrable in summer by reason of quivering marshes
and dense thickets. These marshes are called urmans. Cedar
trees of great size, together with larches, firs, pines, beeches,
and maples, abound in clusters all over the region, but the
underwood is so thick and the moist soil and the cool climate
have so combined to preserve the fallen trees from complete
decay as to render progress through the jungles well-nigh
impossible. The numerous marshes are often barely coated
over with a film of trembling soil covered with long grass, so

jo ASIATIC RUSSIA

that they can be crossed only by the use of snowshoes in
summer, while many of them are penetrable only on the ice in
the dead of the winter. Much of this region remains still
unexplored. Not over two per cent is under cultivation.

Farther to the north is the tundra where the soil is frozen
to a depth of hundreds of feet, thawing to the depth of only
a few inches during the summer. Scanty forests are found
in the southern part of the tundra, but they rapidly disappear
towards the north, until, in the most protected localities, they
are represented only by scattering clumps of stunted trees,
which at length give place to creeping birches and dwarf
willows ; while north of the Arctic Circle trees of every sort
disappear. But this region will be described more fully in
a special chapter on the Arctic Littoral.

2. The Yenisei

Both in its length and in the size of its drainage basin,
the Yenisei River ranks among the largest of the world. If,
as in the case of the Mississippi, we reckon the length from
the sources of the longest tributary, the Yenisei will not fall
far short of the combined length of the Missouri and the Mis-
sissippi, namely, four thousand two hundred miles ; while in
area its drainage basin is considerably in excess of that of
the combined Missouri and Mississippi basins, the basin of the
Yenisei being estimated at one million three hundred and
eighty thousand square miles, and that of the Missouri-Mis-
sissippi at one million two hundred and fifty thousand square
miles.

ARCTIC-OCEAN RIVER BASINS 71

The Yenisei proper rises on an elevated plateau in Mon-
golia between the Tannu and West Sayan ranges, which
branch off from the eastern side of the Altai Mountains. It
is formed by the junction of the Shiskit and several other
small streams, and for the two hundred or three hundred
miles of its course over the Mongolian plateau is called the
Ulu-kem, and runs nearly west. The Shiskit rises but a short
distance from the elevated Lake Koso-gol (five thousand five
hundred feet above the sea), which was formerly one of the
sources of the Selenga River. About latitude 520 N., the
Yenisei crosses the Russian boundary, turns abruptly to the
north, and, after cutting its way through the Sayan Mountains
in a precipitous, wild, and impassable gorge, enters the fertile
prairie-region of Minusinsk. This consists of an. ellipsoid
area, about one hundred and fifty miles long and one hundred
miles broad, which is watered, not only by the main stream
of the Yenisei, but by the Abakan, which comes down from
the Altai Mountains on the west, and the Tuba, which is fed
by numerous spreading branches descending from the Sayan
Mountains on the east. To the north, also, the Yeniseisk
Mountains close in upon this secluded area, and compel the
river to force its way between a long series of precipitous
cliffs. Thus sheltered on every side by mountains, and watered
by abundant streams, this oasis, as we may call it, forms one of
the most attractive and fruitful areas in all Siberia. Indeed,
so mild and dry is the climate of Minusinsk, that it has properly
been called the Italy of Siberia.

The mountains surrounding this secluded area, though only

72 ASIATIC RUSSIA

four or five thousand feet high, are almost impenetrable on
every side ; but they abound in gold-bearing rocks, whose slow-
disintegration has resulted in a large number of placer mines,
which, though not relatively rich in gold, have been exceed-
ingly profitable, by reason of the cheap living afforded by
their proximity to the fertile districts of the oasis. At one
point, however, namely on the fifty-fifth degree of north lati-
tude, the Yenisei approaches, as already related, to within six
miles of the Chulym River, a navigable tributary of the Obi.
But though the project of a connecting canal at this point is
not likely to be carried out, it must continue, as heretofore, to
be an important line of portage, which very likely will eventu-
ally be connected by railroad.

Though so isolated, the history of the Minusinsk Oasis is of
surpassing interest. Through the efforts, largely, of Dr. N.
Martianoff, the pre-historic mounds of the region have been
thoroughly explored, and have been found to yield relics of
the greatest importance. These are preserved and carefully
classified and arranged in a fire-proof museum constructed
by the citizens. The number of specimens reported in 1900,
amounted to upwards of sixty thousand. Here more fully
perhaps than anywhere else in the world is displayed the
progress of the human race, from the stone, through the
bronze, to the iron age. Indeed, this museum contains the
richest collection of bronze implements which has ever been
made. Among the relics, also, are to be found many of Chinese
origin dating from the Han dynasty in the second century
before the Christian era. It is evident, also, that the iron

ARCTIC-OCEAN RIVER BASINS 73

mines which are still worked in the district especially around
the Abakan River were opened early in the pre-historic period.

Below Krasnoyarsk, on the fifty-sixth parallel, N. the Yenisei
is a comparatively sluggish stream to its mouth in the Arctic
Ocean, descending from barely four hundred feet at that point
to sea level in a distance of about one thousand five hundred
miles. About fifty miles below Krasnoyarsk (where in former
times the great Trans-Siberian highway, and now the rail-
way, crosses the river), the Yenisei is joined by the Kan,
an important tributary from the east, but originating in the
auriferous spurs which project northward from the Sayan
Mountains, east of Minusinsk. The lower one hundred and
fifty miles of this tributary passes through fertile rolling coun-
try, while the upper portion of the valley is rich in placer
gold mines ; thus, as in the case of Minusinsk, the agricultural-
ists about Kansk have found a ready market for all their
products, even before the building of the railroad.

About one hundred and fifty miles below Krasnoyarsk, and
close to the fifty-eighth parallel, N. the Yenisei is joined by the
Angara, a tributary much longer than the Yenisei above this
point. The Angara proper is one thousand one hundred miles
long below Lake Baikal, but the extreme source is to be found
far up on the Mongolian Plateau near the forty-seventh parallel
in latitude N. in the headwaters of the Selenga River, which
itself has a length of about eight hundred miles, receiving in
Mongolia the drainage of a mountainous region, nearly two
hundred thousand square miles in extent. Entering Siberia
near Kiakhta, at an elevation of about two thousand five

74 ASIATIC RUSSIA

hundred feet above the sea, it wends its way by a moderate
descent between increasing mountain heights on either side
to Lake Baikal, vhose elevation is 1,561 feet above the sea.
Through this entire distance it occupies a broad deep trough
of erosion, indicating that it has been a line of drainage for
many hundred-thousand years.

Inside the Siberian boundary, the Selenga receives a num-
ber of tributaries which are important, not for the facilities
they furnish for navigation, which they do not do, but for
their easy gradients for overland routes, and for the rich soil
of their valleys, and their favorable climate, which early drew
to them a tide of enterprising and industrious immigrants.
From the west comes in the Dzhinda, after a course of some-
thing over two hundred miles ; while from the east there come
down from the southern part of the Yablonoi Mountains the
Chikoi, the Khilok, and the Uda, each from three to four
hundred miles in length. The Uda, being the most direct,
has long furnished the natural channel for the great highway
leading to the Vitim Plateau (five thousand feet high) from
which water flows into the Yenisei, the Lena, and the Amur.
But the Siberian railway, turning off at Verkhni Udinsk,
crosses into the valley of the Khilok, and takes advantage of
its gentle gradient to reach the summit a little south of Chita.

Lake Baikal, into which the Selenga flows, and from which
the Angara emerges, is one of the most remarkable lakes in
the world. It extends a distance of four hundred miles in a
southwest-and-northeast direction reaching from the fifty-first
degree north latitude nearly to the fifty-sixth. It is from twenty

The Museum at Minusinsk.

Prehistoric Pottery in the Museum at Minusinsk.

ARCTIC-OCEAN RIVER BASINS 7S

to sixty miles broad, and has an area of twelve thousand five
hundred square miles. As just said, its surface is 1,561 feet
above the sea, and it is remarkable, among several things, for
having no western tributary of any length. For most of the
distance upon its west side it is bordered by the Baikal Moun-
tains which everywhere present a precipitous face toward the
lake, but give rise on their western slope, a few miles distant,
to the headwaters of the Lena River, which drains an elevated
table-land separating Lake Baikal from the Angara. Upon the
eastern side of the lake, however, there are, besides the Sel-
enga, the Turka, the Bargusin, and the Upper Angara, the last
two of which have a length of from two hundred to three
hundred miles each, draining a considerable portion of the
Vitim Plateau.

Lake Baikal occupies a trough of what is evidently one of
the recent geological folds in the mountains bordering the
northeast-southwest continuation of the Central Asiatic pla-
teau reaching from Mongolia to Bering Strait. The lake is
nearly divided into two portions by the Olkhon Mountains,
which project from the southwest towards the Sviatoi Nos, a
peninsula extending in an opposite direction from the Vitim
Plateau near the mouth of the Bargusin River. Between these
points the water is very shallow, showing the existence of a
submerged ridge. The portion of the lake north of this is
also comparatively shallow, having nowhere a depth of more
than two hundred and ten feet, but the southern portion, called
the Great Lake, has a depth towards the southwest of 4,186
feet, making its lowest point about two thousand six hundred

76 ASIATIC RUSSIA

feet below sea-level. At the mouth of the Selenga, however,
the silt from that drainage basin has formed a delta of con-
siderable size, which causes the water to shallow gradually
for a long distance on either side. As before remarked, the
lake is inhabited by great numbers of seal (Phoca annealata),
an arctic species found in the Caspian Sea, and nowhere else
in Asia outside of the Arctic Ocean. There are, also, enor-
mous quantities of salmon of various species, giving rise to
fishing industries of great importance.

Surrounded as it is by rugged mountains on every side, and
its ends connected with no practicable roadways, the lake is
not, like the great system in North America, an aid to com-
merce, but rather a hindrance, since it projects itself squarely
across the natural line of travel from west to east ; while the
southern portion can be avoided only by a long detour through
a country presenting great difficulties to road-building. In
the winter, however, for five months, it can be safely crossed
upon the ice, which has helped to made that the favorite time
of year for the transportation both of colonists and of mer-
chandise. Indeed, a large part of the extensive commerce
between China and Russia has availed itself of this winter
route for two centuries past. A crossing can be effected in
the summer by boats, but during a portion of the autumn and
of the spring months there are a number of weeks in which
the lake is utterly impassable. The ice, also, is so subject to
the formation of crevasses at all times of winter, and is so
liable to break up suddenly in the spring, that to cross on it
calls for much care.

Map of Lake Baikal.

Section Showing the Proportion of Lake
Baikal Below Sea Level.

ARCTIC-OCEAN RIVER BASINS y7

The railroad has attempted partially to overcome the diffi-
culty by putting on to the lake an immense steam ferryboat
which transports thirty cars and a thousand men at one time,
and which, it was hoped, would be able to keep a channel open
through the ice during a part at least of the winter season.
Up to the winter of 1901, however, the experiment had not
been perfectly successful. The railroad therefore contem-
plates completing eventually the section around the lake, which
will make the land communication continuous. As it is, the
transporting capacities of the road are practically limited by
those of the steam ferry; hence, when that is interrupted in
the winter, the entire business is at a standstill.

The Angara River issues from the western side of Lake
Baikal about forty miles from its southern end, and, after
flowing several hundred miles to the north, turns westward
near the fifty-ninth parallel, N., and joins the Yenisei a little
above Yeniseisk, and about two hundred miles below Kras-
noyarsk, having, as already said, a total length of one thousand
one hundred miles, with a drainage basin of two hundred and
seventy-five thousand square miles. The larger part of this
great area, equal in size to the combined areas of Iowa, Illinois,
Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, is well watered,
and in every way as well adapted to pasturage and cultivation
as are the central portions of Russia in Europe, which are in
about the same latitude. Most of the tributaries to the Angara
rise in the East Sayan Mountains on the Mongolian border,
where are to be found numerous rich placer mines of gold. Of
these streams taken in regular order from Lake Baikal, the

78 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Irkut, the Kytok, the Urik, the Oka, and the Uda, are worthy
of special mention, each of them furnishing a natural line of
communication between the mining regions of the mountain
border and the vast agricultural districts between the lower
part of the Angara and the Yenisei. None of these tributaries
are, however, navigable to any great extent, and even the An-
gara has so many rapids and shoals that navigation is difficult
and hazardous. The Ilim River upon the east side, however,
is navigable for small boats, and is separated from a navigable
branch of the Lena by a portage of only forty or fifty miles.

Below the mouth of the Angara the Yenisei River has
scarcely any tributaries on the west side, but, as already re-
marked, two of these, the Great Kas and the Sym, are impor-
tant because they lead up to portages of only four or five miles,
across which canals can be easily constructed connecting with
the Ket and the Tym, navigable tributaries of the Obi.

The eastern side of the Yenisei in this portion of its course
includes within its basin a mountainous country of no great
height, about six hundred miles in width, much of which is
unexplored. This is watered by the Podkamennaya (or Middle
Tunguska) and the Lower Tunguska rivers ; the Angara River
being locally known as the Upper Tunguska. The Lower
Tunguska has a length of about one thousand four hundred
miles, and is navigable for small boats up to a point on the
fifty-seventh degree of latitude, N., where it is only a few miles
from the Lena River; thus, with its portage, furnishing an-
other of the early natural lines of communication between
these great river valleys. The mountainous region near the

ARCTIC-OCEAN RIVER BASINS 79

Yenisei and between the Angara and the Middle Tunguska
is another of the celebrated mining regions of Siberia.

North of the sixtieth degree of latitude, N., where it is al-
ready two miles in width, the Yenisei broadens out into a lake-
like expanse of numerous islands and dangerous rapids, but
narrows again into a regular channel below the mouth of the
Middle Tunguska. Five degrees farther northward, near the
Arctic Circle, below the mouth of the Lower Tunguska, the
river becomes a stream six miles wide, emptying at length a
little above the seventieth degree N., through a broad delta
into an estuary forty miles in width, but which near the sev-
enty-second parallel narrows to a width of twelve miles before
finally emerging into the broad Yeniseisk Bay, thence into the
Arctic Ocean.

The middle portion of the river between Yeniseisk and
Minusinsk is freely navigable to river steamers of large size.
But the difficulty of penetrating the ice of the Kara Sea, and
the shortness of the period during which, even at the best,
the outlet of the river is free from ice, for a long time pre-
vented any serious effort to secure direct water communica-
tion through this river between Central Siberia and European
ports. For, although early English and Russian navigators
had frequented the Kara Sea during the sixteenth century, the
opinion had come to prevail that it was impossible to enter
with safety the Siberian rivers, — an opinion which we shall
see later was not far from correct.

In 1853, however, a wealthy Siberian named Sidoroff re-
vived the idea of establishing direct communication between

80 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Russia and the great river systems of Siberia. It was not
until after more than twenty years of vigorous agitation that
this enterprising patriot accomplished his object. In the year
1874, the English Captain Wiggins, after many preliminary
efforts, succeeded in reaching the mouth of the Obi River;
while in 1875 Nordenskjold, the distinguished Swedish savant
and explorer took his ship into the mouth of the Yenisei. In
the following year Captain Wiggins not only reached the
mouth of the Yenisei, but ascended it several hundred miles,
to the junction of the Kureika, where he arrived only two or
three days before the formation of ice stopped navigation for
eight months. In 1877 Sidoroff himself succeeded in descend-
ing the Yenisei from Yeniseisk. Here a vessel had been built
to his order, and he navigated it around to St. Petersburg.
The same year, another steamer ascended the Obi and the
Irtysh as far as Tobolsk, and still another arrived at the mouth
of the Yenisei. In 1878, also, steamers again reached the
mouths of these two rivers, and one ascended the Yenisei as
far as Yeniseisk. It was in this same year, also, that Norden-
skjold set out upon his famous exploring expedition with the
Vega, Lena, Fraser, and Express. The last two of these ships
turned up the Yenisei, while the second ascended the Lena
River one thousand eight hundred miles to Yakutsk, and the
Vega kept skirting along the northern coast until it was
stopped near Bering Strait by winter ice, but during the fol-
lowing summer reached the Pacific.

The success of these voyages aroused great expectations as
to the establishment of profitable lines of direct commercial

ARCTIC-OCEAN RIVER BASINS 81

intercourse between Europe and the interior of Siberia. In
1897 a cargo of tea was billed to Siberia by the way of London,
to be trans-shipped from there to some of the river ports of
the interior. Later a company was formed to ship supplies
from England up the Yenisei River, for the construction of
the Siberian railroad from Krasnoyarsk. This town was made,
also, a depot for the distribution of agricultural and mining
machinery to be transported by the same route. But these
projects did not prove ultimately to be profitable or even prac-
ticable, for the success of Nordenskjold and Wiggins had
been due to the favorable conditions of an exceptionally mild
summer. In many years the ice of the Kara Sea is altogether
impassable, while the long passage up the Yenisei, the stiff-
ness of the current, and the general difficulties of navigation
have interposed so many obstacles that in 1900 it was defi-
nitely decided to abandon the enterprise and dissolve the com-
pany. A year later the Russian ice-breaker which was sent
to open a way to the mouth of the river was compelled to
turn back, after entering the Kara Sea. It is likely, therefore,
that the foreign commerce of this entire interior region will
be dependent in the future upon the capacity of the railroads.
The great drawback to the commercial value of the Siberian
rivers is the fact that they all flow to the north and empty
into the Arctic Sea at high latitudes, so that their navigation
is at best limited to three months of the year. In the middle
and upper portions, however, they are open for a longer
period, thus furnishing internal navigation for two or three
additional months. But, during much of this time, regularity

82 ASIATIC RUSSIA

of communication is greatly impaired by reason of low water.
The long northerly direction of the Siberian streams, also,
produces a condition of things, upon the breaking up of the
ice, which well-nigh baffles the imagination to conceive. The
eminent ornithologist Seebohm, one of Captain Wiggins's com-
panions, has described the scene as he witnessed it in 1877,
in language which will apply to the Obi and the Lena as well
as the Yenisei.

He, in company with Captain Wiggins, was awaiting the
break-up on the ship Thames, which, for winter quarters, had
put into the mouth of the Kureika, almost exactly on the
Arctic Circle. At the appointed time, June 1, the waters from
the melting snows in more southern latitudes began to exert
such a pressure underneath the ice, that large fields swelled
up and at length burst away, and by the enormous pressure
from behind, were pushed outward upon the banks and pro-
jecting points, forming miniature ice-mountains fifty or sixty
feet in height, with many blocks several feet in thickness and
several times as long, standing upright in the midst of the
general confusion. These blocks had all the variety of color
belonging to ice in its various stages, from the white of the
partly melted masses to the transparent turquoise blue of the
more solid portions. In the course of the night, though in
this latitude there is no darkness at that time of year, the
whole icy mass across the entire breadth of the river was in
tumultuous motion, the fragments crashing together, and giv-
ing forth resounding noises that were as terrible as they were
indescribable. The rising waters of the main stream, mean-

ARCTIC-OCEAN RIVER BASINS 83

while, set backwards into the Kureika, whose basin had not
yet been affected by the slowly rising summer sun. Piles of
ice like an Arctic floe soon surrounded the Thames in its win-
ter resting-place, and even lifted it up upon their backs con-
siderably above the water line. Mr. Seebohn reckons the
velocity of the pack-ice passing down the Yenisei to have been
at times as much as twenty miles an hour.

The conditions described continued for a fortnight, while
masses of ice measuring many miles in superficial area moved
backwards and forwards, up and down the Kureika, accord-
ing to the various stages of the water in the main stream, which
were determined in some cases by the forming and breaking
away of partial ice-dams across the channel. As the ice gorges
broke and the upper portions were carried onward, uncover-
ing the loose masses below, these miniature submerged ice-
bergs often rose rapidly to the surface with a splash, vibrating
for a considerable period before attaining their equilibrium.
For seven days more, trie straggling masses of ice kept hurry-
ing past the scene, when it was found that the river had risen
seventy feet, and spread out like a vast lake over all the bor-
dering lowlands. It may well be believed that the annual
occurrence of scenes like these must permanently interfere
with the maritime trade of these great Siberian rivers.

3. The Lena

The third great river of Siberia is the Lena, which has a
length of three thousand miles and a drainage basin of six
hundred thousand square miles, or about twice that of the

84 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Danube, and one half that of the Missouri-Mississippi. As
we have already seen, the headwaters of the Lena are found
for a distance of two hundred miles along the western slope
of the mountains which form the precipitous shore line of
Lake Baikal. After flowing in a northeastern direction for
about six hundred miles, it is joined by the Vitim, which rises
upon the Vitim Plateau east of Lake Baikal, about five thou-
sand feet above the sea, and, after a course through a wild
and unexplored region of one thousand four hundred miles in
a northwesterly direction, joins the Lena at the town of Vitim,
where the elevation above the sea is but six hundred and seven
feet.

Proceeding thence to the northeast for four hundred or five
hundred miles, the Lena is joined by the Olekma, whose head-
waters are upon the eastern side of the Vitim Plateau, not over
fifty miles from the main line of the Shilka River, the most
important tributary of the Amur. After flowing for eight
hundred miles through a wild and mountainous country, fa-
mous for its rich gold mines, it reaches a level of three hun-
dred and seventy-five feet at its junction with the Lena, near
Olekminsk. About four hundred miles down, the city of
Yakutsk is the central trading-point for all this vast region.
Situated at the enlargement of the river where it is several
miles in width and studded with islands, it is connected by
navigation with both the lower and middle portions of the
Lena, and by roads with the most of its main tributaries,
though these roads are but a little improvement over the or-
dinary trail.

Tunguses on Vitim Plateau.

ARCTIC-OCEAN RIVER BASINS 85

Several important trails also branch off from here in differ-
ent directions ; one leading to the west penetrates the valley of
the Viliui, which itself has a length of one thousand three hun-
dred miles, and is joined by a great number of spreading tribu-
taries which come in from the mountainous and little explored
region of the interior. In its upper portion the Viliui is sepa-
rated by only short portages from the Lower Tunguska, a
principal tributary of the Yenisei.

Eastward from Yakutsk, trails radiate to the Sea of Okhotsk
about five hundred miles distant in a straight line; and, far-
ther north, to the basin of the Kolyma, a large river which
enters the Arctic Ocean nearly a thousand miles east of the
Lena. Up to the middle of the nineteenth century, these trails
furnished the only post routes by which the central govern-
ment of St. Petersburg kept itself in communication with its
provinces upon the Pacific coast.

A hundred miles below Yakutsk, the Lena is joined by the
Aldan, which has a length of one thousand three hundred miles,
and, owing to its spreading branches, a drainage basin much
larger in proportion. The headwaters of this stream almost in-
terlock with those of the Zeya and of the Olekma upon the
eastern border of the Vitim Plateau, while its eastern branches
penetrate to within forty or fifty miles of the Sea of Okhotsk.
Of the tributaries of the Aldan, the Utchur is three hundred
and fifty miles long ; the Amga, eight hundred miles ; and the
Maya, four hundred, with numerous wide-spreading branches.

Below the mouth of the Aldan, the Lena has a course of
one thousand two hundred miles, with an average fall of only

86 ASIATIC RUSSIA

about two inches to the mile. Throughout this course it is a
majestic stream from four to seventeen miles in width, and
studded with innumerable islands. Its delta, which is two hun-
dred and fifty miles wide on the coast-line, begins one hundred
miles from the sea, and is traversed by seven or eight main
channels, one of which is six miles broad. The bar at the
mouth affording only about eight feet of water, is a serious
impediment to the entrance of ocean ships; while here even
more than at the mouth of the Yenisei, the spring, or rather
summer, freshets upon the breaking-up of the ice are terrible
in the extreme. The ice from the upper portions of the river
breaking up earlier than that near the mouth is piled upon
that of the lower course, while it is still several feet in thick-
ness. Large portions of the bank are annually torn away and
the navigable channels completely changed.

A short distance to the west of the Lena, and indeed through
the same delta, the Olenek River enters the Arctic Ocean after
a parallel course of one thousand two hundred miles. About
two hundred and fifty miles east of the Lena, the Arctic Sea is
entered by the Yana River, which rises in a mountainous re-
gion a thousand miles to the south, and not over a hundred
miles from the mouth of the Aldan, flowing in its middle
course through the interior plateau of Verkhoyansk (latitude
670 34' N., longitude 1340 20' E.), which has the reputation
of being the coldest place in the world, the thermometer some-
times standing as low as — 900 Fahrenheit, and averaging
— 54.40 during December and January. In the short summer,
however, it sometimes rises to 900 above, thus giving the re-

ARCTIC-OCEAN RIVER BASINS 87

markable range of 1800. The soil is frozen to a depth of six
hundred feet, and never thaws out more than a few inches from
the surface. The Jana River is free from ice for only one
hundred and five days in the year, while there are only seventy-
three days in which it has no snow, and only thirty-seven in-
tervene between the latest frosts of spring and the earliest of
autumn.

Four hundred miles farther east, the Indigirka River, and
four hundred miles still farther the Kolyma, enter the Arctic
Sea after having pursued a course in each case of about a
thousand miles through valleys of considerable breadth and
importance. The Kolyma has a single tributary, the Omolon,
which is seven hundred miles in length. All these rivers rise
in the Stanovoi Mountains, which, while sloping gradually to
the northwest, for more than a thousand miles present a
precipitous slope toward the Okhotsk Sea, and form the
boundary line between Yakutsk and the Maritime Province of
Siberia.

The Land of the Chukches is the name given to the north-
eastern projection of the great Asiatic continental plateau end-
ing at Bering Strait. This triangular area, six hundred or
seven hundred miles long, and with an average width nearly
as great, consists for the most part of a barren plateau from
one thousand to two thousand feet above the sea, ending
abruptly in promontories of that height about longitude 1900
E., from Greenwich. In the northern part of the peninsula,
however, there is a bordering chain of mountains which rises
to an elevation, In Matichinga Peak, of eight thousand two

88 ASIATIC RUSSIA

hundred feet, the highest known point within the Arctic
Circle.

The peninsula is penetrated by two large bays from the
Arctic Ocean, and three from the Pacific. The Chaunskaya
Bay reaches from the seventieth degree of latitude, on the one
hundred and seventieth meridian, southward about one hun-
dred and twenty miles, with an average width of about half
that amount. The Koliuchin Bay, about four hundred and
fifty miles farther east, is a long fiord-like basin projecting
one hundred and twenty miles into the interior towards a
similar projection from the Pacific side. It was in this that
Nordenskjold wintered with the Vega in his celebrated voyage
around Northern Asia. On the Pacific side of the peninsula
the principal bays in this section are those of Mechigme, St.
Kresta, and Anadyrski. The latter receives the Anadyr River,
which has a length of about five hundred miles, and, with its
spreading branches, a drainage basin of about fifteen thousand
square miles. Though this plateau is barren of forests and
for the most part covered with mosses, it supports a popula-
tion of about twelve thousand Chukches and kindred tribes,
who seem to be an intermediate ethnological link between the
Mongols of Central Asia and the Eskimos and Red Indians of
North America. In the interior, vast herds of reindeer abound ;
while on the shores and neighboring islands, especially upon
Bering Island, fur-bearing animals furnish an abundant source
of profit to hunters, both native and foreign.

From the main northeastern peninsula of Siberia, the penin-
sula of Kamchatka projects in a southwesterly direction be-

u

ARCTIC-OCEAN RIVER BASINS 89

tween Bering Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk. This has a length
of about nine hundred miles, with an area estimated at 237,266
square miles, or about half the size of Alaska. It consists
chiefly of a range of mountains which towards the middle
bifurcates so as to cover the larger part of the more expanded
portion of the peninsula. In the southern part there are no
less than twelve active volcanoes with twice as many extinct
craters, nearly all of which are upon the eastern side. The
highest of these volcanoes, Kluchevskaia Sopka, is fifteen
thousand and forty feet above the sea. Its eruptions bear
comparison with those of Mount Etna. It was active from
1727 to 1 73 1, and again as late as 1854. Hot springs also
abound.

The main basis of the mountain rock is granite and por-
phyry, but it is flanked by sedimentary rocks of as late age
as the Tertiary period. The Kamchatka River flows in a
northerly direction for a distance of three hundred miles
through the middle of the peninsula, and empties into Bering
Sea, watering in its course a valley of considerable fertility in
which is supported the chief part of the population. This,
however, taken altogether, does not amount to more than six
thousand or seven thousand. The weather upon the western
coast is much more severe than on the eastern, while the sum-
mers everywhere are characterized by frequent rains and fogs.
Vegetation, however, is in places remarkably luxuriant, the
grass occasionally growing to a height of five feet, and requir-
ing to be cut three times in the season. Of the inhabitants,
about two thousand are Kamchadales, an inoffensive, strong,

/

go ASIATIC RUSSIA

hardy race, who in winter live in underground houses to which
they descend by means of ladders. The settlements upon the
coast are infrequent, but a naval station of considerable im-
portance was long maintained by the Russians on the eastern
coast, at Petropavlovsk. This figured somewhat prominently
at the time of the Crimean War, when the Russians succeeded
in maintaining and even strengthening their hold upon the
Pacific coast.

Northwest of the Sea of Okhotsk, there is a comparatively
narrow strip of rough and almost impenetrable land extend-
ing for a length of more than twelve hundred miles, which
is separated from the rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean by
the Yablonoi Mountains, the continuation of the Stanovoi
range, which forms the eastern border of this northeastern
extension of the Asiatic plateau. The mountains here are not
more than six thousand or seven thousand feet in height, but
they approach so close to the Pacific basin that the slope is very
steep, and consequently the short streams have everywhere
worn very deep and almost impassable gorges. The town of
Okhotsk, situated at the mouth of the Okhotsk River, has
from the time of the earliest Russian exploration been the
chief port upon the sea of the same name, being connected by
trail both with the Lena et Yakutsk, about five hundred miles
to the west, and with the valleys of the Indigirka and the
Kolyma to the north. In reaching Yakutsk the trail on account
of the circuitous course of the river crosses the broad valley
of the Aldan, but it is not able to make use of the stream
itself as a line of communication. From Okhotsk, also, a trail

ARCTIC-OCEAN RIVER BASINS 91

follows along the shore northeastward to the head of the
peninsula of Kamchatka, and thence downward on the western
shore, making a circuitous post-route of more than three thou-
sand miles. Until lately this trail has been through most of
the year the only route by which communication has been kept
up with this far-off dependency.

The Uda River, which has a length of about two hundred
and fifty miles, comes into the southwestern corner of the Sea
of Okhotsk, and occupies a basin about two hundred miles in
width, which is bounded upon the west by the Yablonoi Moun-
tains and on the east by the Little Kinghan range. Its head-
waters inosculate with those of the Zeya (an important tribu-
tary to the Amur), whose upper drainage basin lies in the low
plateau joining that of the upper Uda, and extends southwest
an indefinite distance along the base of the Yablonoi and
Stanovoi Mountains. These mountains for more than a thou-
sand miles form a sharp line of demarcation between the
elevated Vitim Plateau, whose waters flow into the Arctic
Ocean, and the great valley of the Amur.

ARCTIC LITTORAL

THE Arctic Littoral includes the great tundra belt that
extends around the coast of the Arctic Ocean, and
the intermediate ground between this and the forest
belt, whose northern boundary is, roughly speaking, coincident
with the sixty-ninth parallel of north latitude, although along
the great rivers it is considerably extended towards the north.
The appearance of the country is that of an endless plain of
moss and lichens, with shrubs, dwarf birches, willows, and
stunted pines in the southern part. The general level is re-
lieved in places by low hills and in the Taimur Peninsula by
the Biranga Mountains. Towards the east along the coast
the strip of level tundra becomes much narrower.

In connection with the Arctic Littoral of Siberia the islands
off its coast should be included, the principal of which are
Beli or White Island, the New Siberian Islands, Wrangel
Island, and the Medvid or Bear Islands.

The coast is deeply indented by the Gulf of Obi, sixty to
seventy miles wide, five hundred and fifty miles long, and its
branch, the Gulf of Taz, extending south to latitude 65°,
which is six hundred miles from the Arctic Ocean; by the

92

ARCTIC LITTORAL 93

Gulf of Yenisei, much narrower, and only three hundred
miles long; by Khatanga Bay, which extends into the Taimur
Peninsula one hundred and eighty miles; by Borkhaya and
Yana Bays, just east of the Lena Delta ; by Chaun Bay and
many other smaller indentations, for the coast is everywhere
very irregular. The main projections are Yalmal Peninsula,
between the Kara Sea and the Gulf of Obi ; and Taimur Penin-
sula, which terminates in Northeast or Chelyuskin Cape, the
most northern point of Asia.

It is not known when the Russians first visited the Yalmal
Peninsula; but it was certainly from the south that traders
and hunters first worked their way thither by the Obi River
and the Gulf of the same name. In 1593 there was a Cossack
station established at Berezof, on the Obi River, latitude 640
N. ; so that it is probable that, during the early part of the
seventeenth century, Russians had pushed down the river to
the Yalmal Peninsula to trade with the Samoyedes. The
first surveying party of which we have a record is that under
Selifontof, who in 1737 went by reindeer sledge along the
west coast of Yalmal, crossed by boat to Beli Island, and
then returned and surveyed the coast of the Gulf of Obi,
mapping it with fair accuracy.

During the next hundred years a few expeditions touched
on Beli Island, or the northern part of the Yalmal Penin-
sula. The best accounts of the country, however, are given by
Nordenskjold, who visited the west coast of Yalmal in 1875.
He landed in latitude 730 18' N., longitude 68° 42' E., and
describes the region thus : " The land was bounded here by

94 ASIATIC RUSSIA

a low beach, from which at a distance of one hundred paces
a steep bank rose to a height of from six to thirty meters.
Beyond this bank there is an extensive, slightly undulating
plain, covered with a vegetation which indeed was exceed-
ingly monotonous, but much more luxuriant than that of Vay-
gats Island or Nova Zembla. There is no solid rock here.
The ground everywhere consists of sand and sandy clay in
which I could not find a stone so large as a bullet or
even as a pea, though I searched for a distance of sev-
eral kilometers along the strand bank." * At this time,
none of the Samoyede inhabitants were seen, but there
were many traces of men, reindeer, and dogs. On a slight
promontory they found a sacrificial mound, consisting of
a pile of, " forty-five bears' skulls placed in a heap, a large
number of reindeer skulls, the lower jaw of a walrus," and
other bones. Some were fresh, and still had flesh clinging to
them, while others were overgrown with moss and lichens.
In the middle of the heap were four erect sticks of wood, three
feet long, and decorated with bear and reindeer skulls.

The low sandy coast here offers no inducements to sea fowl,
and, as there are no cliffs near by for breeding, Arctic bird
life is almost entirely wanting. There are, however, some of
the larger animals on the island, for Nordenskjold saw a herd
of reindeer when he landed.

In 1878 the Vega expedition also made an excursion on Beli
Island, which Nordenskjold found to be low, flat and sandy,
scarcely rising more than nine feet above the sea. Back from

* Voyage of the Vega. pp. 157-160.

ARCTIC LITTORAL 95

the water the sand is, " covered with a black and white varie-
gated covering of mosses and lichens ; scattered among which
at long intervals are small tufts of grass. First somewhat
higher up, and properly only round the marshy margins of the
numerous small freshwater lakes and in hollows and bogs, is
the ground slightly green. The higher plants are represented
by only seventeen species, all small and stunted, most of them
rising only some few lines [one line is one twelfth inch]
above the sand. Very few plants reached the height of fifteen
centimeters [about five inches]. No kind of willow was
found, nor any flower seen of any other color than green or
white." *

In the southern part of the Yalmal Peninsula there are some
low hills which are really a northeastern branch of the Ural
Mountains. Just south of Kara Bay the Ural Mountains
proper begin as low hills, but increase in height and rugged-
ness; so that they have an elevation of over three thousand
feet on the Arctic Circle. This extreme northern portion is
barren, and entirely destitute of trees.

The region between the Gulf of Obi and the Yenisei River
is better known than the Yalmal Peninsula, because more
frequented by hunters, and more easy of access. The land is
low, and full of swamps and lakes, which are frozen the
greater part of the year; while the ground never thaws out
to a depth of more than a few inches. There are almost no
permanent settlements here, except along the Yenisei River.

The first mapping of the Gulfs of Obi and Taz, and Gyda

* Voyage of the Vega. pp. 153-155-

96 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Bay, which branches off to the southeast from the extreme
northern end of the Gulf of Obi, was done by Owzyn between
the years 1734 and 1737. During these four years he at-
tempted three times to sail from the Obi to the Yenisei River.
The first two expeditions were made on a " double sloop, the
Tobol, seventy feet long, fifteen feet broad and eight feet
deep," built at Tobolsk. This carried fifty-three men with
two cannon, and was accompanied by several small craft with
provisions. Soon after entering the Gulf a storm wrecked
one of the small boats, which delayed the expedition so that
he only reached 700 N. Lat., when he had to return to
Obdorsk for the winter. The next spring he started again,
but all but seventeen of the fifty-three men on board were
suffering severely from scurvy ; so that he had to turn back,
and take his men to Tobolsk. The next year he tried again,
with the same result; but in 1737, with a new ship, he sailed
successfully out of the Gulf of Obi and up the Yenisei to
71° 33' N. Lat., where he wintered.

A good description of the lower Yenisei River and the Gulf
is given by Nordenskjold, who visited the region in 1875.*
At the very mouth of the Gulf of Yenisei is the large island
of Sibiriakof. This is so low that it cannot be seen from
the channel in the east arm of the river, which is usually
taken by vessels. For this reason it was never mapped till
after the Vega expedition had landed there in 1875. In fact,
it had never been mentioned before that time, and Nordenskjold

* Voyage of the Vega. pp. 285-291.

ARCTIC LITTORAL 97

found no signs of man's having lived on the island or
even visited it. He found it covered with typical tundra
vegetation, and saw reindeer pasturing on the " low grassy
eminences."

The east shore of the Gulf at the northern end is high, and
hills of from four hundred to six hundred feet can be seen
in the interior from the water. Ascending the river, the
vegetation quickly changes from the typical Arctic Ocean
flora. Where the river banks are of loose earth, the west
strand is low and marshy, while the east " consists of a steep
bank ten to twenty meters high, which north of the limit of
trees is distributed in a very remarkable way into pyramidal
pointed mounds. Numerous shells of Crustacea found here,
belonging to species which still live in the Polar Sea, show
that at least the earthy layer of the tundra was deposited in
a sea resembling that which now washes the north coast of
Siberia." *

Only the upper part of the tundra thaws out here in sum-
mer. In places, sections show that the earth alternates with
layers of pure rock ice, as the natives call it. In this frozen
strata, mammoth carcasses with the flesh still unputrefied have
been found, and new stores of ivory are opened up every year
as the river cuts into its eastern bank.

" Besides there are to be seen in the most recent layer of the Yenisei
tundra, considerably north of the present limit of actual trees, large
tree-stems with their roots fast in the soil, which shows that the limit

* Voyage of the Vega. pp. 286-287.

98 ASIATIC RUSSIA

of trees in the Yenisei region, even during our geological period, went
further north than now, perhaps as far as, in consequence of favorable
local circumstances, it now goes on the Lena." *

Most of the tundra is scantily covered with moss, and has
but little grass. The valleys, however, are very rich in vegeta-
tion. Nordenskjold says that in places as far north as 71 °
there were " actual thickets of flowering plants." At the
very mouth of the Gulf of Obi there are a few exceedingly
small willows, and in latitude 72 ° 8' dwarf birch and cloud-
berries. However, the limit of trees does not begin till the
great bend of the river in latitude 69 ° 40' N., is reached. Here
the trees are " half-withered, gray, mossgrown larches, which
seldom reach a height of more than seven to ten meters,
and which much less deserve the name of trees than the
luxuriant alder bushes which grow nearly two degrees farther
north." f Not far south of here, however, the pines begin,
and mark the northern border of the enormous forest belt of
Asia.

In 1879 the region north of Goltschicha was uninhabited,
but there were many deserted houses, showing that it had once
been settled, probably when hunting and fishing were better.
The climate here is very uncomfortable. The winters are
cold, and the summers exceedingly short, and subject to al-
most continual fogs.

The region east of the Yenisei has been very little explored,
except along the rivers, the principal of which are the Piasina

* Voyage of the Vega. p. 287.
t Ibid. p. 289.

ARCTIC LITTORAL 99

and Taimur on the peninsula of Taimur, the Khatanga River
and Gulf, which form its eastern boundary, and the Anabara
and Olenek, which flow into the Arctic Ocean west of the Lena
delta. All these rivers rise within or near the Arctic circle.
But, while most of the region is level or slightly rolling
tundra, the low range of the Biranga Mountains runs across
Taimur Peninsula. These start at the Piasina River, and ex-
tend with a northeasterly trend to a point somewhat east of the
Taimur River, where they turn due north and end in North-
east or Chelyuskin Cape.

Although native hunters come north from the forest belt to
these arctic tundras, we have no record of any naturalist or
European explorer having crossed overland from the Yenisei
to the Lena rivers previous to the expedition of Mr. Stadling,
who traversed the region in 1898 on a futile search for some
traces of Andree. From the Lena delta he crossed north of
the forest line to Rybnoie, on the Khatanga River, then in a
crooked line still north of the forest belt to Dudinskoe, on
the Yenisei River, about 690 N. Lat. The total distance
traveled from the Lena to the Yenisei was one thousand eight
hundred and sixty miles which he accomplished in fifty-one
days. With the exception of the western end of his course,
which Middendorff covered in traveling from the Yenisei to
Lake Taimur, the journey was through a section never before
trodden by a civilized man. The usual course across country
here is in the forest belt further south.

Concerning the tundra in the central part of the Taimur
district Stadling says :

ioo ASIATIC RUSSIA

" This Nosovaya tundra, the highest tundra on the Taimur, is flat
and abounds in marshes and lakes, making traveling easy in good
weather. ... At one place near a lake we found to our surprise, a
thin forest of small and stunted larch trees, forming an island in this
boundless, frozen ' sea ' as the natives in their picturesque language call
the tundra. In this same lake region we came upon a number of very
poor native families of various races, occupying themselves with fishing
and trapping foxes," * I

Most of the natives on the Taimur Peninsula, are Shamans,
pure and simple, and have not become even nominal Chris-
tians. In this they differ from the tribes in general, who, as
a rule, have outwardly accepted the beliefs of the Orthodox
Church, but inwardly stake their faith in Shamanism.

Along the Khatanga River there are a number of prosperous
native villages or camps. Here is found a race of people called
Dolgans, who have a mixture of Yakut and Tungus blood in
their veins. Throughout all this region the natives are cheated
and fearfully maltreated by the merchants, who keep them in
poverty by selling them alcoholic drinks, and paying them
almost nothing for the furs they buy.

On the Khatanga River, in latitude 72° 46' N., Stadling found
a cluster of " dwarf and stunted Siberian larch trees " which
he thinks forms the most northern forest in the world. On
the tundra between the Khatanga and Olenek rivers he ob-
served what is more interesting, a quantity of " ancient drift-
wood in a stratum of soil from four to seven feet thick, rest-
ing on pure ice of unknown thickness, here playing the part

* Through Siberia. By J. Stadling. pp. 240-243.

ARCTIC LITTORAL 101

of rock."* Further reference to this will be made later in
speaking of similar deposits on the Lena River.

The delta of the Lena and the mouth of the Olenek River,
which flows into the Arctic Ocean but a short distance from
the western branch of the Lena delta, has been the arena for
two of the most tragic events in the history of Arctic explora-
tion; Prontschischev's attempt in 1737 to sail from the Lena
to the Yenisei River around Taimur Peninsula, and the loss of
De Long's party in 1881.

Lieutenant Prontschischev tried to sail from the mouth of
the Lena around to the mouth of the Yenisei. He reached,
after much difficulty, the most northern point of Taimur Penin-
sula and had he had steam would have succeeded in his object,
but his sail boat could not work its way through the ice, so
he had to turn back to the mouth of the Olenek for the winter.
Contrary winds and ice kept them off shore for six days,
during which time they were almost in sight of their haven.
Before they reached it, however. Lieutenant Prontschischev
died and, two days later, his wife, who had accompanied him.
Both were buried near the mouth of the Olenek, where a rude
cross still marks the spot. Nordenskjold says:

" To Prontchischev's melancholy fate there attaches an interest
which is unique in the history of arctic exploration voyages. He was
newly married when he started. His young wife accompanied him on
his journey, took part in his dangers and sufferings, survived him
only two days, and now rests by his side in the grave on the desolate
shore of the Polar Sea." f

* Through Siberia. By J. Stadling. p. 209.
t Voyage of the Vega. pp. 541-542.

102 ASIATIC RUSSIA

The remaining1 members of the expedition, under Chelyuskin,
succeeded in returning to Yakutsk.

The fate of De Long's party, which is well known, was even
more tragic. His steamer, the Jeannette, was wrecked on June
12, 1881, considerably northeast of the New Siberian Islands,
in latitude JJ° 15' N., longitude 1540 59' E. By working
their way over the floe ice and through the open water
in three boats, his party all succeeded in reaching a point
ninety miles northeast of the Lena delta, where they were
overtaken by a severe storm. The boat under charge of Chipp
with its crew was lost, and the other two boats, under De
Long and Melville, were separated.

Melville and his party reached the mouth of the Lena safely,
and proceeded up the river to get aid to search for their
missing companions. The first of November at Bulun they
found two of De Long's party, Nindemann and Noros, whom
De Long had ordered on October 9, 1881, to march ahead
and try to get aid and food for the remainder of the party.
They told him that, after fearful suffering and struggling, they
two had reached a deserted hut on October 19. Here they
found some half-rotten fish remnants, which they ate, and then
tried to proceed, but lacked the strength. On the 22d they
were discovered by a native, Androssoff, who brought them
food, and then took them to Bulun. They tried by gestures
to get them to understand that there was a party down the
river who were starving. The natives only hurried them on
up the river all the faster, so it was not till after Melville
found them that aid was started to De Long's party. Had

ARCTIC LITTORAL 103

Nindemann and Noros succeeded in making the natives under-
stand at first, De Long might have been saved. As it was,
the last camp of De Long's party was not found till March
23d, 1882, when Melville discovered De Long's arm sticking
out of the snow. From the position it was evident that he
died while trying to move his records back from the river to
higher ground, where the spring floods would not wash them
away. The last entry in his journal was, "Oct. 30, (1881)
Sunday — Boyd and Gortz died during night. Mr. Collins
dying." A large wooden cross on Monument Cape marks the
spot where Melville buried De Long and his companions, but
the bodies were later removed to this country. The cross over
the spot bears an inscription to the " Memory of twelve of
the Officers and Men of the U. S. Arctic Steamer Jcannette
who died of Starvation in the Lena delta, October, 1881."
Then follow the names of De Long and his companions.

The delta of the Lena is intersected by a labyrinth of chan-
nels which divide the fan-shaped projection of land which it
has built up, into thousands of islands. The larger of these
are fine hunting-grounds, for the wild deer come up here by
thousands to escape the heat and mosquitoes of the mountain
region further south. In returning, the deer have special
places where they swim the different channels, and here the
natives reap their harvest, spearing them while they are
swimming. Foxes and bears, as well as fish and sea birds,,
abound here ; so that it is in every respect a first-rate hunting-
ground, and hence much frequented by the native tribes during
the summer and early autumn.

104 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Stadling, when on the delta in 1898, learned from one of
the chiefs, that

" formerly the inhabitants of the delt'a had numbered about 1,000
souls, but about ten years ago nearly half that number had perished
from the terrible smallpox, so that the whole population at present is
not much more than 500. These are divided into groups, each under
an ' elder,' somewhat after the fashion of the Russian peasant com-
munities." *

They are nomadic, living on the mainland during the winter,
and on the islands during the summer and early autumn.

The most western branch of the mouth of the Lena flows
along the edge of a low mountainous region in a northwesterly
direction. The most eastern branch is like a long broad bay,
which describes a semicircle around the northern spur of the
Kara Ulak range, which terminates in " Stolb " or Pillar-
Mountain, a " weird-looking lonely " peak rising one thousand
feet above the water. After flowing north around this point,
the channel turns to the southeast, and enters the Arctic
Ocean a little below 720 N. Lat. The mountains, one
of whose ridges pushes up into this curved branch of the
river's mouth, are one thousand three hundred feet high ;
and, although called the Kara Ulak range, are really a con-
tinuation of the Verkhoyansk Mountains. In fact, the lower
mountains extending northwest and lying just south of the
delta belong to this range, and terminate abruptly in the
Arctic Ocean, about 730 N. Lat., 1230 E. Long. Included be-
tween these two great arms of the river's mouth is the enor-

* Through Siberia. By J. Stadling. p. 169.

ARCTIC LITTORAL 105

mous archipelago of the delta. Its western part, according to
the latest Russian map, is composed of a few large islands.
The largest of these is Khaigalagsky, which has an area nearly
equal to that of Connecticut, and along its northern coast is
permanently inhabited; there being a number of native huts
and small villages upon it. The western part of the archi-
pelago is a wilderness of small low islands and ramifying
channels.

Above the delta the Lena flows through a rather narrow
channel, which it has cut through the Kara Ulak Mountains.
In this section, Mr. Stadling made some very interesting dis-
coveries which bear on the recent geological history of the
country.

" On the west side of the river, where Bulkur is situated, the
ancient beaches of the gigantic river form terraces for a distance of
about ten miles or more inland, and through these old river-banks
the tributaries of the Lena, like the river Bulkur, have cut their way.
One day, following the latter river some six miles to the west, I left
its valley and ascended to the highest of these terraces or ancient
beaches. Here, ten miles from the Lena, and about 600 feet above
its present level, in a layer of soil composed of turf and mud mixed
with sand, resting on a foundation of solid ice as clean and blue as
steel and of unknown depth, I found large quantities of drift wood,
evidently brought down by the river at the remote period when it had
its course here." *

The significance of this does not seem, however, to be, as
Mr. Stadling suggests further on, that the terraces were made
before the river had cut through the Kara Ulak Mountains,

* Through Siberia. By J. Stadling. pp. 158-161.

106 ASIATIC RUSSIA

but rather that this rock ice of " unknown depth " had been
formed during a subsidence of the land. Over this the river
deposited the soil and driftwood, which has since been raised,
and through this ice and frozen soil the river has cut the
valley which it now occupies. The deposit of rock ice seems
to be general along this section of the Arctic Littoral at least ;
for, on the tundra west of Olenek, Stadling found this rock ice
also covered with wood and soil. The height of it above the
sea is not given, but must be considerable, as the location is
a long distance south of the Arctic Ocean.

From the Russian geological map published in 1899, it
appears that the rocks along the west bank of the lower Lena
are of an age between the Jurassic and the Cretaceous ; that is,
they correspond to the Volga formation of Russia. These
rocks extend along the coast to the west as far as the mouth
of the Anabara River. At the mouth of the Olenek River
there is a small patch of Triassic rocks. Going up the Ana-
bara River, there is a series which starts with a small area
of Lower Jurassic at the Arctic Ocean. South of this is a
narrow strip of the " Volga " formation, followed by Creta-
ceous, and later by Lower Jurassic. The mountains between the
Lena River and Borkhaya Bay are largely composed of Upper
Carboniferous rocks, some Triassic appearing near the head
of the delta. In the central part of the delta there is marked
a patch of Quaternary.

To the eastward the Arctic Littoral as far as mapped, that
is to the mouth of the Khroma, River, is mostly Quaternary,
except the recent deltas of the rivers, which are quite extensive.

ARCTIC LITTORAL 107

Where the mountains to the south begin, about JQ° N.
Lat., Tertiary rocks are found. Sviatoi Cape, which pro-
jects towards the New Siberian Islands, is a dyke of diabase,
several isolated knobs of which are found in that vicinity, and
also on the New Siberian Islands.

The New Siberian Islands consist of four large and several
smaller islands. They were often sighted, especially Liakhof,
the most southern one, by early voyagers, among whom was
Bokhoff, who saw it in 1761, and described it as a high-lying
island. The first to actually land there was Liakhof, who
in 1770 visited the island which bears his name, and also Maloi
and Kotelnoi islands.

" On this account he obtained an exclusive right to collect mammoth
tusks there, a branch of industry which since that time appears to have
been carried on in these remote regions with no inconsiderable profit.
The importance of the discovery led the government some years after
to send thither a land surveyor, Chvoinov, by whom the islands were
surveyed, and some further information obtained regarding the re-
markable natural conditions in that region. According to Chvoinov
the ground there consists at many places of a mixture of ice and sand
with mammoth tusks, bones of a fossil species of ox, of the rhinoc-
eros, etc. At many places one can literally roll off the carpet-like bed
of moss from the ground, when it is found that the close, green vegeta-
ble covering has clear ice underlying it, a circumstance which I have
also observed at several places in the Polar regions. The new islands
were rich not only in ivory, but also in foxes with valuable skins, and
other spoil of the chase of various kinds. They therefore formed for a
time the goal of various hunters' expeditions." *

* Voyage of the Vega. p. 552.

108 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Concerning Liakhof Island Dr. Bunge remarks that so
much of the island is ice mixed with mud that if the temper-
ature of its soil should remain above freezing a number of
years all of the land would melt into mud and flow off into
the sea leaving four rock hills standing to mark the old site.
The Chancellor of Russia later ordered Hedenstrom, a Siberian
exile, to explore and map the New Siberian Islands. Assisted
by Sannikof, he began the task in March, 1809, and during
the following two years made a fairly accurate map of the
main islands of the group, Sannikof made several excursions
to Kotelnoi Island. Here he found

" on the heights in the interior . . . skulls and bones of horses,
oxen, buffaloes (Ovibos?) and sheep in so large numbers, that it was
evident that whole herds of graminivora had lived there in former
times. Mammoth bones were also found everywhere on the island,
whence Sannikof drew the conclusions, that all these animals had
lived there at the same time, and that since then the climate had con-
siderably deteriorated. These suppositions he considered to be further
confirmed by the fact that large, partially petrified tree-stems were
found scattered about on the island in still greater numbers than on
Nova Sibir. Besides he found here everywhere remains of old
' Yukaghir dwellings ' ; the island had thus once been inhabited." *

In one place on the New Siberian Islands, Hedenstrom saw,
in a walk of less than a mile, ten tusks sticking out of the
ground, which gives an idea of their abundance.

From the early part of the nineteenth century until near

* Voyage of the Vega. pp. 555-556.

ARCTIC LITTORAL 109

its close the islands were often visited by tusk hunters, but
there was no adequate scientific exploration till the latter part
of the century. In the chapter upon the Geology the specific
results of the researches of Schmalhausen, Baron Toll, and
Tscherski, who have made extensive studies of the plants and
animals, will be given.

According to the Russian geological maps, the sedimentary
rocks of Liakhof Island are entirely Quaternary, through
which protrude five knobs of diabase. The island of Maloi is
all Quaternary. The large island Kotelnoi has Devonian rocks
along its west coast. Its extreme eastern coast is Quaternary.
The northeast is Middle Devonian, and the southeast Triassic.
There are several outcrops of diabase in the southern part of
the island. The remainder of the group has not been well
mapped geologically. Fadievskoi is partly Quaternary, and
the western part of New Siberian Island is Quaternary and
Miocene.

The Arctic Littoral east of the delta of the Khroma to
Bering straits is indented by several bays, the principal of
which are Chaun and Koliuchin. There are two good-sized
rivers, the Indigirka and Kolyma. The northern spurs of the
Stanovoi Mountains come near to the Arctic Ocean here, so
that the tundra region is very much restricted. Nijni Kolymsk,
at the mouth of the Kolyma River, is the only settlement of
any size.

Off the mouth of the Kolyma River lie the Bear Islands,
which are mostly " formed of a plutonic rock, whose upper

no ASIATIC RUSSIA

part has weathered away, leaving gigantic isolated pillars.
Four such pillars have given to the easternmost of the islands
the name of Lighthouse Island." *

This region was first visited by the Russians in 1639, when
a Cossack, Elisei Busa, worked along the coast from the mouth
of the Lena as far as the Yana River collecting tribute of the
Yukaghir tribe whom he found living in earth huts. Not
till 1644 was the Kolyma River discovered, and the town of
Nijni Kolymsk founded by the Cossack Michailo Staduchin.
He collected tribute from the natives, which cost him consider-
able fighting. However, it must have been a lucrative busi-
ness, for several Cossacks petitioned immediately for a post
on the Anadyr River, further east, to collect tribute.

The extreme eastern part of the Arctic Littoral was first
visited by Bering in 1725, when he passed through the straits
bearing his name.

* Voyage of the Vega. p. 323.

VI

THE PACIFIC BASIN

The Amur

THE Amur River, being- one of the latest of Russia's
acquisitions as well as one of the largest and most
magnificent rivers of the world, has properly excited
the greatest interest both of the Russians themselves and of
all others who have observed the steps taken for its possession,
and reflected upon its ultimate significance to the development
of the Russian Empire in the east. This river, if we trace it
to the sources of the Onon, its farthest tributary, rises on the
Mongolian Plateau south of Lake Baikal not far from the
city of Urga, and traverses in its course to the sea a distance
of fully two thousand seven hundred miles, draining a basin
of about eight hundred thousand square miles. In recent
years its drainage basin has been somewhat curtailed by the
diminished rainfall in Mongolia which has caused the Kerulun
River, a former tributary, to stop short of reaching the Amur,
its waters at the present ending in the enclosed basin of Lake
Dali Nor.

Unlike most of the Siberian rivers, the main course of the
Amur is east and west between definite parallels. Rising in

in

ii2 ASIATIC RUSSIA

latitude 49° N. and longitude 109° E., it flows eastward in
a series of great bends which cross the fiftieth parallel at
three different points, but unfortunately at last turns north-
ward into a narrow, ice-bound strait, which connects the
Sea of Tartary with the Sea of Okhotsk, near the fifty-third
parallel, thus interfering to a large degree with its value as
a channel of communication with the sea. But its impor-
tance for internal commerce, and the vast resources of every
sort furnished by the basin which it waters, make it a pos-
session of inestimable worth, — the navigable waters of the
basin being scarcely less than five thousand miles; while in
the winter season its frozen surface furnishes an even more
rapid line of communication by means of sledges.

A little above Nerchinsk, the Onon River is joined by the
Ingoda, which, after rising in Mount Chokondo, where the
short Daurian range of mountains joins the Yablonoi, runs
northward at the base of the latter chain to the city of Chita,
where it is joined by the Chita River, which comes down in
an opposite direction for about one hundred and fifty miles
along the eastern base of the same mountain chain. Here both
streams, turning eastward, unite and become the Ingoda for
a distance of about one hundred and fifty miles. Below the*
junction of the Onon, it goes under the name of the Shilka.
At Nerchinsk, the Shilka is joined by the Nercha, which has
had a course of about three hundred miles across this same
low plateau which characterizes the region east of the Yablo-
noi Mountains. This plateau is called Dauria, and differs
strikingly in its climatic conditions from the Vitim Plateau,

THE PACIFIC BASIN 1 1 3

which is separated from it by so narrow a margin. But the
difference of elevation is sufficient to account both for the
difference of climatic conditions and for the great change in
vegetation which is encountered on descending from the east-
ern border of the Vitim Plateau. As before remarked, this
plateau has an average elevation of about five thousand feet,
while that of Dauria, through which the head waters of the
Amur have cut their channels, is only about two thousand
five hundred feet above the sea. As one looks westward from
Chita, the Yablonoi Mountains present an abrupt and unbroken
wall to the right and to the left as far as one can see, giving
one a very impressive sense of the abruptness of the change
in physical conditions which here takes place.

Shielded by this wall from the cold northern winds, and
facing the more genial rays of the southern sun unimpeded
by the fogs which envelop the higher plateau, Dauria is rich
in vegetation, and is well entitled to be called, as it is, the
granary of the basin of the Amur. Here, in the words of
Kropotkin, " in the spring the traveler crosses a sea of grass
from which the flowers of the peony, aconite, Orobus, Carallia,
Saussurea, and the like, rise to a height of four or five feet."
Early frosts, however, make agriculture somewhat uncertain,
so that cattle-breeding has from time immemorial been the
main occupation both of the native Buriats and of the Russian
colonists who have not been engaged in mining. But ever since
the early part of the seventeenth century, this region has been
best known on account of its mining industries, which have been
mostly owned by the government and worked through penal

ii4 ASIATIC RUSSIA

colonies. In the earlier part of the period, silver mines were
chiefly worked, but in later times gold has been found in
numerous rich placer deposits. Unfortunately, the unfriendly
critics of Russia have been in the habit of transforming the
words silver into quick-silver, and have never been weary of
expatiating upon the horrors of the quick-silver mines to
which exiles of various kinds were assigned. It is due to
the truth, however, to state that there are no quick-silver mines
in Siberia, and that the silver in the Nerchinsk region is found
in conditions similar to those in which it is mined in other
parts of the world.

The present head of navigation upon the tributaries of the
Amur is fixed at Stryetensk, where the Siberian railroad also,
for the present, has its terminus. But from the earliest occu-
pation by the Russians the stream has been extensively used
for transportation all the way from Chita, where innumer-
able barges have been built to be floated down with their
cargoes upon the rising waters of the spring floods.

Two hundred and fifty miles below Stryetensk, the Shilka
is joined by the Argun, a river of nearly equal length, which,
in former times, when fed by the Kerulun, was of even greater
length than the Shilka with its longest tributary, the Onon.
The Argun up to the vicinity of Lake Dali Nor forms the
boundary between Russia and Manchuria, and in high water
is navigable throughout this portion of its course. Below the
junction of these two rivers the stream is known as the Amur,
and forms the boundary from Manchuria to its junction with
the Usuri, one thousand two hundred miles below. For the

-
E
<

THE PACIFIC BASIN 1 15

first five hundred and fifty miles of its course, it has cut a
tortuous channel across the Great Kinghan Mountains, and
occupies a deep trench which seems to have little available
bordering land suitable for cultivation. So rough, indeed, is
the region, that for the most of the distance the Russians
have not made a wagon-road ; so that, when it is impracticable
to follow the river on account either of low water or the break-
ing up of the ice, communication except on horse-back is abso-
lutely interrupted.

At Blagovestchensk the Amur is joined by the Zeya, a river
eight or nine hundred miles in length, with wide-spreading
tributaries, one of which, the Silinja, lias a length of nearly
four hundred miles. The Zeya is navigable for steamboats
for three hundred miles of its course, and comes down from a
region which is rich in gold mines. Blagovestchensk is less
than four hundred feet above the sea, from which it is sepa-
rated, as the river runs, by a distance of about one thousand
three hundred miles, giving to the river below this point a
gradient of less than four inches to the mile. It is, therefore,
the natural stopping-place of the larger steamboats, though
boats of smaller size have no difficulty in traversing the whole
length of the river. Below Blagovestchensk, also, the main
course of the river is through a level country with wide-ex-
panding plains on either side, except where it crosses the
Bureya, or Little Kinghan Mountains, about three hundred
miles farther down. About midway between these points, the
Amur is joined from the north by the Bureva, a navigable
stream, which has a length of fully four hundred miles.

u6 ASIATIC RUSSIA

The channel which the river has cut across the Bureya
Mountains is celebrated for its picturesque and beautiful
scenery. The majesty of the slow geological forces which
have produced this channel is appreciated by a little reflection.
The Bureya range consists for the most part of stratified rocks
which have been thrown up across the valley in a north-and-
south line to a height of several thousand feet. The channel
of the river across this range is mainly one of erosion. As the
rocky barrier slowly rose, the river was successful in sawing
a channel down as fast as the mountains rose, so that now
there is scarcely any change in the gradient of the stream
where it crosses this mountain chain from what it is both
above and below.

Sixty or seventy miles east of the Bureya Mountains the
Amur is joined by the Sungari, a river of so much importance
that the Chinese have claimed it as the real extension of the
Amur. This river with its branches drains all the northern
and central part of Manchuria, and is navigable for steam-
boats of large size as far up as Harbin, a distance, as the
river runs, of nearly five hundred miles, while smaller boats
make use of it as far up as Kirin and Tsitsikar, on branches
coming in from the north and south, each terminus being as
much as four hundred miles from Harbin. The total length of
the river is not less than a thousand miles, with a drainage
basin of more than two hundred thousand square miles, or two
thirds that of the Danube. A large part of this basin consists
of fertile prairie land still open to cultivation. The new
Chinese Eastern railroad, which is the proper extension of the

THE PACIFIC BASIN 117

Siberian railroad, bisects this valley in both directions, thus
making it especially significant with respect to the Russian
interests.

At Khabarovsk the Amur is joined by the Usuri, whose
sources are four hundred miles to the south, and only a short
distance from the Pacific Ocean. This river now forms the
boundary between Manchuria and the Russian province of
Usuri, which has the Japanese Sea for its eastern boundary
for a distance of nearly a thousand miles. The Usuri is navi-
gable for steamboats about three hundred miles to Busse,
where it is joined by the Sunsala, a navigable tributary, con-
necting it with Lake Khanka, which is partly in Russian and
partly in Chinese territory. Southward from Lake Khanka
the boundary line follows irregular spurs of the Long White
Mountain, of Manchuria, to the mouth of the Tuman River,
which separates the Russian possessions from Korea, about
one hundred miles south of Vladivostok. The southern part
of the province of Usuri is watered by rivers of no great
length ; the principal one, the Suifun, being less than two hun-
dred miles long. The watershed between these streams and
the Usuri is less than a hundred miles from the Japanese Sea,
and is only a few hundred feet above sea-level.

Vladivostok has a magnificent harbor in the Gulf of Peter
the Great, in latitude 43 ° N. Naturally this has been made
a point of great importance to the Russian government,
both because of its capaciousness and protected position (being
completely enclosed and capable of containing the navies of
the world) and because of its low latitude, though even here

n8 ASIATIC RUSSIA

the harbor is ice-covered during three months each winter.
There will, however, be no serious difficulty in keeping the
harbor open by the use of ice-breakers of modern construc-
tion. Vladivostok, therefore, is likely to maintain its impor-
tance, notwithstanding the possession of Port Arthur, for it
is nearer to Central Siberia by two or three hundred miles, and
is the natural outlet to all the lower part of the Amur Valley
and of the province of Usuri. The beauty of its situation, the
relative mildness of the climate, and the fertility of the Suifun
Valley, together with the proximity of coal mines of con-
siderable importance, are sure to give to the city a permanent
and increasingly important position in the future.

The area included between the sea and the Usuri and the
lower part of the Amur River is about nine hundred miles
long and two hundred miles wide. The Sikhota-Alin Moun-
tains fill the larger part of the area, the main ridge, about
five thousand feet in height, being considerably nearer the sea
on the east than to the river valley on the west. This moun-
tain ridge is without any natural passes until reaching nearly
the fifty-second degree of North latitude, where it is pene-
trated in its narrowest part by Lake Kizi, which reaches
nearly all the distance from the Amur River to the Bay of
De-Kastri, which sets in westward from the Strait of Tartary.
It is thought that the Amur formerly emptied into the strait
along this opening, which is about one hundred and fifty miles
south of its present mouth. The Sikhota-Alin Mountains are
covered with dense forests through which it is almost im-
possible to work one's way except by cutting a path. But

THE PACIFIC BASIN 119

the broad valley of the Usuri presents extensive tracts of
alluvial soil, which are rapidly attracting a large body of
emigrant peasants from the plains of Russia ; but the climatic
conditions are a serious drawback to the prosperity of the
settlers, the winters being cold, and the summers so wet as
to interfere with harvests. The Usuri and the Amur are here
frozen in November, and heavy rains are likely to occur in
August.

The lower part of the Amur is also subject to enormous
inundations. Though the ordinary channel is two miles wide,
the water in consequence of these storms sometimes rises
fifteen feet in a few days, and spreads out over a breadth of
fifteen or twenty miles, rendering navigation for small boats
extremely difficult. It is not an unheard-of thing for a river
steamer in time of high water to be stranded on the flood-
plain some distance from the main channel and find itself,
upon the subsidence of the flood, high and dry upon the
land, where its only hope of deliverance is a similar flood in
the following year, or perhaps in the same season. Both
the Usuri and the Amur are favorite resorts of salmon, and,
in the month of August, fairly swarm with these fish ascending
from the ocean to their spawning places farther up. The
plants and animals of the region present a unique combination
of species belonging both to the warm climates of the south
and the colder regions of the north. The vines here are found
clinging to the northern larch and the cedar-pine, and the
tiger of the south mingles with the bear and sable from the
north.

120 ASIATIC RUSSIA

The principal island in Asiatic waters belonging to Russia
is that of Sakhalin. It is separated from the main land by
the Strait of Tartary, and stretches along nearly parallel with
the main shore for a distance of about six hundred miles, ex-
tending from latitude 45° 54' N. to 540 21'. It has an area of
something over thirty thousand square miles. The island can-
not be said to be desirable as a place of residence, for the
climate is both cold and damp, the average temperature, though
in the latitude of Northern Italy, being about the same as
that of Archangel ; while, at the principal port in the south
end of the island, two hundred and fifty days of the year
are said to be foggy or rainy, with even a worse record for
the eastern shore. The island consists, essentially, of a low
mountain range, none of whose peaks are above the limits of
perpetual snow and which up to a height of one thousand
five hundred feet is covered with coniferous trees, and higher
up, toward the summit, with birches, willows and creeping
shrubs. In most respects the plants and animals resemble
those of the bordering mountain region of the Usuri. The
tiger, even, is said at times to cross on the ice at the Strait
of Mamia Rimso. Nevertheless, the native population is esti-
mated at fifteen thousand, and the island has become noted,
since the Russian occupation, as a center to which prisoners
of the worst class have been exiled, and set to work in the
coal mines; coal being found here in considerable quantities,
and being especially valuable in supplying the wants of the
Pacific coast.

PART II

Russian Occupation

VII

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA

Yermak

SIBIR was the name of the small city on the Irtysh River
occupied in the sixteenth century as a capital by the
Tartar prince Kutchum. The capture of this place in
October, 1582, was the first step in the conquest by the Rus-
sians of the vast area now known as Siberia, and later of
the still larger area which can be included under no less gen-
eral phrase than Asiatic Russia.

It was early in the autumn of 1582 that Yermak with his
followers set out to cross the Ural Mountains for the conquest
of the mysterious regions beyond. The most they knew of the
country was that the friendly and innocent tribe of Ostiaks
who inhabited the northern and middle parts of the Obi Valley,
and who might easily be made to pay annual tribute of valu-
able furs to the Tsar, was being pressed northward by a power-
ful Tartar tribe advancing from the south. The triumphal
progress of the Tartars had already curtailed the revenues of
the Russian government from that quarter and was likely to
curtail them still more.

123

124 ASIATIC RUSSIA

As remarked at the outset, Yermak was 'supported in his
daring adventure by the Strogonofs, a rich and powerful
family of merchants who lived near Perm in the valley of
the Kama River on the western flanks of the Ural Mountains.
The Strogonofs provided Yermak and his fellow Cossacks
with a reinforcement, bringing the total command up to eight
hundred men, equipped with the best firearms obtainable at
the time. They provided them also with a large stock of
provisions to meet the unknown contingencies which might
arise in an unexplored country inhabited by vigilant enemies.
Three priests, likewise, and a runaway monk were sent along
to look after the spiritual wants of the company. With these
preparations the expedition started from Perm upon the 1st
of September (old style), which, according to the Russian
calendar at that time in use, was the first day of the year.

The Ural Mountains are here so broad and low that they
offer no real obstacle to the passage from Europe to Asia.
Only a few peaks in this vicinity attain a height of more than
2,000 feet above the sea, while the approach to the lower
passes from both sides is so gradual as to be almost impercepti-
ble. At the present time the railroad has no difficulty in find-
ing an easy grade in its passage from the valley of the Volga
to that of the Yenisei. Yermak, therefore, could easily begin
his journey with a fleet of boats, which was rowed and poled
and towed up the Chusovaya and its tributary, Serebrianka, as
far as the supply of water would permit.

Over the shallows Yermak is said to have forced his heavily
laden boats by damming the stream with his sails to provide

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA 125

a sufficient depth of water. When the utmost limit of naviga-
tion even by these means had been reached, the party dragged
their boats over the short portage separating them from the
headwaters of the Taghil, which leads into the Tura, upon
which the important city of Tiumen now stands.

While passing down the Tura, the expedition was attacked
by the Tartars; but, as they had only bows and arrows, the
firearms of Yermak gave him a great advantage, terrorizing
the enemy as much by what they thought to be manufactured
thunder and lightning as by the actual injury inflicted. When
at last the Cossacks succeeded in capturing a Tartar, they
impressed his imagination with the power of their firearms
by showing how thick a plate of mail could be penetrated by a
musket ball. From the terrorized prisoner, they learned that
they were in the territory ruled by the celebrated Tartar chief-
tain, or khan, Kutchum, who at a previous time had put to
death an envoy of Ivan who had been sent to ask tribute
from the Tartar. Kutchum, who, like all other Tartar princes,
gloried in being a descendant of Jenghiz Khan, was now in-
deed old and blind, but he was still energetic, and had tr
loyal support both of his tribe and of his kinsmen, whom r.
had trained to follow in his footsteps. But the Tartars wen.
unpopular with the Ostiaks, because of their efforts to con-
vert the natives to Mohammedanism.

Kutchum, however, was not at all dismayed by the reports
which reached him concerning the power of the firearms pos-
sessed by his enemy, and made vigorous efforts to resist their
progress. At a narrow place in the river he stretched iron

126 ASIATIC RUSSIA

chains across to stop the progress of the boats, while he pre-
pared to make a vigorous attack from the bank. But Yermak
outwitted his enemy by a clever device. Dressing up bundles
of sticks to resemble Cossacks, he had them placed in the boats
with a few pilots to steer them in their progress down stream,
and thus made the Tartars believe that he was descending to
meet them in their chosen line of battle. In the meantime,
however, the larger part of the Cossacks had been landed
above to attack the Tartars by a flank movement in the rear
while they were upon the bank awaiting the opportune mo-
ment for destroying Yermak's fleet when it should strike the
iron chain. So perfect was this surprise that Kutchum's men
fled with scarcely any resistance.

But on approaching Sibir, which was not far from the
present city of Tobolsk, the Cossacks found a large army thirty
times their own number gathered, not only to resist the in-
vaders, but prepared to take the initiative and attack them
with cavalry, which they did with great force. The Tartars,
however, like the Mexicans in their conflict with Cortez, were
not prepared to stand against an army provided with firearms
which sent invisible missiles with deadly force to unheard-of
distances, and which by effects resembling thunder and light-
ning, made their possessors seem to be in league with super-
natural powers. The Cossacks inflicted a crushing defeat
upon the Tartars, but at the loss of some of the bravest of their
number.

Descending now still farther upon the river Tobol, the Cos-
sacks were continually harassed by unseen enemies on the

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA 127

bank, but at last they reached the Irtysh River, and advanced
to Sibir, where Kutchum had made preparations for a final
defense. The Cossacks were now fifty days' journey from
their starting-point in the Kama Valley, and the season was
so far advanced that ice would soon begin to form upon the
Siberian rivers. So far their success had been so problemati-
cal and purchased at so great a price, that they naturally
hesitated at the prospect of risking everything upon a single
battle so far away from their base. But Yermak pointed out
to them that there was really nothing else for them to do. The
near approach of winter precluded retreat ; their only hope
lay in fighting and winning a decisive battle.

The Tartars were well intrenched behind a bristling abattis.
Nevertheless, on the morning of October 23d, (o. s.) 1582,
the Cossacks boldly began an attack. Such was the number
of the Tartars, however, that, rushing out from their intrench-
ments, they completely surrounded their enemy, so that the
Cossacks seemed to be able to do little but sell their lives as
dearly as possible in a forlorn hope. Fortunately for them,
Mahkmetkul, a near relative and chief lieutenant of Kutchum,
whose leadership was absolutely essential to the party, was hit
by a bullet in the early part of the battle, and incapacitated
for further part in the contest. Thus deprived of their leader,
the Tartars were defeated, and Kutchum, on hearing of it,
fled southwards, both to save his own life and to do what he
could toward repairing the fortunes of his tribe.

This third victory was, indeed, most important to the Rus-
sians; but it also had cost many lives and greatly weakened

128 ASIATIC RUSSIA

their force. Nevertheless, there was nothing for them to do
but to remain and brave the rigors of the approaching winter.
On the 26th of October, Yermak took possession of the town
which was to become the nucleus for the expansion of the
Russian Empire in Asia, and to give to the Empire its euphoni-
ous name. In the captured city it is reported that the Cos-
sacks found rich treasures of silk and fur and gold; but their
own provisions were nearly exhausted; and no food had been
left in the town. The defeat of Kutchum, however, had won
for the Russians the favor of the Ostiaks, who, as we have
seen, were already disaffected towards the Tartars. On the
30th of October, they offered their allegiance to the Russians,
and brought tribute of various kinds, including food. Nor
was it long before the Cossacks, having taken advantage of
the present lull in the contest with the Tartars, had formed
fishing and hunting parties to add to their stock of provisions
for the long winter which was approaching. These parties,
however, did not find themselves as secure as could be de-
sired. In December, a company of twenty were massacred by
the Tartars. Upon hearing of it, Yermak at once set out from
Sibir to avenge the outrage, when he found that Mahkmetkul
had recovered from his wound, and was the leader of the at-
tacking party. Yermak was, however, able at this time to
inflict upon him so severe a defeat that he suffered no further
disturbance during the winter. But in April, 1583, Mahkmet-
kul again approached his ancient capital, though with only a
small force; so small, indeed, that a company of ten Cossacks
took them by surprise both dispersing them and capturing

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA 129

Mahkmetkul. The power of Kutchum was thus completely
destroyed, and Yermak had succeeded beyond all reasonable
expectations in accomplishing the object of his expedition.
He promptly sent parties down the Irtysh and the Obi who
easily secured the submission of the native tribes, and collected
from them large tribute.

After so successful a completion of his arduous and daring
task, Yermak not only sent his congratulations to the Strogo-
nofs for their encouragement, but even ventured to address
a letter to Ivan the Terrible, who had passed sentence of death
upon his chief lieutenant for his early misdeeds and robberies.
In this letter, he offered to Ivan the land of Sibir as the fruit
of his venture, and laid it at the feet of the Tsar as he begged
pardon for the past misconduct of his followers. The messen-
ger who carried this letter was none other than Ivan Koltso,
his companion chief who was under sentence of death for his
former misdeeds. But with the letter Koltso delivered, like-
wise, the captured Mahkmetkul into the hands of the Tsar,
together with many valuable presents. This speedily allayed
the wrath of Ivan, and aroused the greatest enthusiasm
throughout Moscow. Yermak was at once exalted to the
position of a hero of the first degree. His monument now
fittingly occupies the most conspicuous place in Tobolsk, the
commercial center of Western Siberia, and his exploits form
the basis of innumerable popular songs and legends, while
the houses of the Russian peasants are everywhere adorned
with his pictures.

But the labors of Yermak were not yet ended and he sadly

130 ASIATIC RUSSIA

needed reinforcements. These, however, ladened with rich
presents to the surviving Cossacks and a fur mantle for Yer-
mak selected from the imperial wardrobe, were speedily sent
to reinforce the depleted ranks of the successful Siberian ad-
venturer. But the five hundred strielitz, or ordinary soldiers
which the Tsar sent, were not adequate to the occasion. They
had not been inured to privations as had been the Cossacks
who formed the original company, nor did they know so well
how to take care of their health. The hardships of the follow-
ing winter led to a violent outbreak of scurvy. The com-
mander of the reinforcements himself died of the disease,
together with many of his soldiers. Through craft and de-
ceit, Yermak's favorite lieutenant, Koltso, with a party of
Russians, was surprised and put to death by the Tartars.
Whereupon the tribes which had so readily yielded their alle-
giance revolted and besieged the Russians in Sibir. Quickly
surrounding the city with a line of carts, they both prevented
the Russians from coming out for the attack and protected
themselves from their firearms. But on a cloudy night (June
12, 1584), the Russians by stealth penetrated the line of
wagons, and surprised the Tartars in their sleep, killing them
in great numbers. Whereupon Karatcho their leader fled
southward to the Steppes of the Ishim to join Kutchum, who
was still alive, and meditating revenge upon the Russians.

The opportunity for revenge came all too soon. Yermak,
on learning that a party of merchants from Bokhara were
endeavoring to reach Russia for purposes of trade but were
prevented by the opposition of Kutchum, promptly set out

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA 131

with a party of fifty Cossacks to open the way for the caravan.
Encamping for the night on the banks of the Irtysh, with the
boats moored near by, the Russian party, while in a deep
sleep, was surprised by Kutchum. In a storm which arose dur-
ing the night chosen for the attack, the boats broke loose from
their moorings and drifted down the river, and the Russians
were prevented from hearing the approach of the enemy.
Finding an unguarded entrance to the Russian camp, the
Tartar cavalry entered without opposition, and butchered all
but three of the company.

One of these was Yermak, who, seeing the desperateness
of the situation, rushed for the boats to effect his escape.
Finding that they were gone, he attempted to swim the river,
but was dragged to the bottom by the weight of his armor,
and drowned ; thus ending his eventful career. His two com-
panions, however, managed to elude the enemy and bring
away the disheartening news. A little later Yermak's body
was found by the Tartars, who, after subjecting it to un-
worthy indignities, at last buried it with special honors, dis-
tributing his armor among the Tartar chiefs. Seventy years
afterwards, however, the Russians regained his coat of mail,
and preserved it as a souvenir of a heroic and successful chief-
tain who had accomplished for Russia more than any other
single individual had ever done. He had in deed and in truth
laid the foundations of that greater Russia whose vast pro-
portions and inspiring possibilities, after four hundred years
have elapsed, are only now beginning to attract the attention
which they properly deserve. Up to the time of Yermak, the

1 32 ASIATIC RUSSIA

policy of Russia had been one merely of defense. So far, she
had been satisfied to drive back the Tartar hordes, and timidly
maintain for herself a partial independence, if that indeed
can be called independence which is only obtained by the pay-
ing of tribute. But Yermak had succeeded in putting the
Tartars upon the defense, and in making Russia an aggressive
power in the East.

The death of Yermak had for the time a depressing influ-
ence upon the Cossacks, who inconsiderately resolved to re-
turn to Russia, and actually commenced the retreat by
withdrawing from Sibir. But before they had made much
progress they met a hundred reinforcements who had been
sent on by the Tsar for their relief. It was, however, too
late for them to regain their abandoned position at Sibir, since
it had been quickly occupied by the mobile and ever-watchful
Tartars. But meanwhile Kutchum had lost hold of his follow-
ers, and had been driven from power by another chieftain.
While the Tartars were thus weakened by internal dissensions,
three hundred new reinforcements, commanded by TchulkofT,
joined the Russians. But even then, instead of risking an
attack upon Sibir, the Cossacks contented themselves with
building (1587) a new town upon the present site of the city
of Tobolsk, about twelve miles distant from Sibir, where,
after a short period of disturbing conflicts with the Tartars,
they ever after lived in peace. It is interesting to note, also,
in passing, that Kutchum, after he was cast out from the Tar-
tar capital in his old age and blindness, appealed to the Tsar
for protection, and for a time received it. But when, after a

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA 133

little, his pride drove him back to his countrymen, he was
murdered, and his old capital gradually lost its importance,
until now nothing but a few uncertain ruins mark the ancient
site.

The conquest of the central valley of the Irtysh by Yermak
was speedily followed by an attempt at colonization. In 1586
a number of peasants were settled in the country and encour-
aged to develop its agricultural resources. The most of these,
however, were soldiers who were compelled to combine with
their agriculture the duty of collecting tribute, of traffic, and
of self-defense, the last of which was by no means easy or
unimportant. As there was no natural boundary line between
their territory and that of the Tartars, who roamed over the
broad steppes stretching southward to the Aral and Caspian
seas, the Russians were constantly subject to raids from their
mobile and remorseless neighbors. A line of forts was built
by the Russians to afford partial protection. These, like the
early block houses in the United States, consisted of inclosures
surrounded by pointed beams firmly set in the ground, which
very well served to give protection against sudden attacks,
and to give shelter to a considerable band of Cossacks with
their families.

In 1594 the town of Tara, about two hundred miles above
Tobolsk, on the Irtysh River, had its origin in such a fort, or
ostrog, as it is called. Originally this consisted of a rectangle
one thousand four hundred feet long, and one thousand and
fifty feet wide, surrounded by a palisade, inside of which were
log houses for the accommodation of the Cossacks and their

i34 ASIATIC RUSSIA

families ; while in the center there was a smaller inclosure, about
three hundred feet square, which contained the church, the
governor's residence, the powder magazine, and the public
storehouses. Twenty years later Kusnetzk, in the Altai Moun-
tains, at the head of navigation, on the river Tom, four hun-
dred miles to the southeast of Tara, and five hundred and
seventy miles from Tobolsk in a straight line, was founded
in a similar manner, and the small company of Cossacks in
these two fortresses were expected to protect the whole inter-
vening area between the Irtysh and the Obi River known as
the Barabinsk Steppe. Naturally, however, so weak a force
could afford but indifferent protection. Though the fortresses
were supplied with cannon and the Cossacks with firearms,
they were unable effectually to stop the inroads of the Kirghiz
and Kalmuck Tartars. The outlying stations were frequently
burnt ; while, sixty years after the conquest of Yermak, the
Tartars advanced far enough north to endanger the Russian
settlement in Tobolsk. Indeed, it soon became evident that
the Tartars in their normal home south of the fifty-fifth degree
of latitude, were too numerous and too warlike to admit of
the further expansion of Russian settlements in that direction.
This obstacle upon the south continued for two hundred and
fifty years to be the means of diverting Russian enterprise
from further efforts in that direction, and of turning it to the
more inhospitable northern portion of Siberia, where it has
accomplished such remarkable results.

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA 135

Yermak's Successors

Interest in the occupation of Siberia was maintained and
stimulated by the opportunities for trade which were soon
opened. In Mexico and Peru it was gold and silver which
stimulated the Spanish explorers. It was the valuable fur-
bearing animals scattered over the vast wastes which excited
the cupidity of the Russian adventurers in Siberia. Of these
the most highly valued was the sable, now almost exterminated
by the hunters, but which in 1640 yielded no less than six
thousand eight hundred skins, being in fact so common that
the Siberian Cossacks used its fur for their coat linings ; while
already in European Russia they had become so scarce as to
bring an exorbitant price. Not only sable, but foxes, snow
foxes, ermines, squirrels, bears, reindeer, and hares provided a
great store of furs which it was profitable to transport to the
mother country.. To obtain these treasures, independent hunt-
ing and trading parties of Cossacks set out in all directions,
oftentimes interfering and quarreling with each other when
they chanced to meet in the same locality. A large tribute of
furs was also exacted from the Ostiaks and Samoyedes. As
early as 1593, or a year before the founding of Tara, the Cos-
sacks had descended the Obi River to the sixty-fourth degree
of latitude, N., seven hundred miles below Tiumen, and founded
the trading-post of Berezof, which is still an important Siberian
town.

Following the lines of water communication offered by the
wide-spreading branches of the Obi, the Russian adventurers
reached the Yenisei River in 1620, though probably sporadic

136 ASIATIC RUSSIA

expeditions had visited the river two or three years earlier. In
order to appreciate the enterprise which carried the explorers
thus far, it is necessary to note the length and the difficulties
of the journey by which the passage is made from one river
valley to the other. First, after having crossed the Ural
Mountains by a journey of not less than four hundred miles
to reach Tiumen, they must descend the Tura and Irtysh
rivers for a distance of five hundred miles to the Obi, at
about the sixty-first degree of latitude, when they must ascend
the Obi for a distance of fully six hundred miles, to the mouth
of the River Ket, which in turn must be ascended for a dis-
tance of three hundred and sixty-five miles, where the explor-
ers, turning aside into the Lomovataya, must ascend it and
its principal tributary, the Yazevaya, until, after fifty-five miles,
they reach Lake Bolshoe, four miles in length. From the
end of this lake, a portage of five miles brings them to the
head of the Kas, which, after one hundred and thirty miles,
joins the Yenisei about one hundred and fifty miles below
Yeniseisk, the first important settlement effected upon that
river.

It is possible, however, that the first explorers ascended
the main stream of the Ket to a point more nearly opposite
Yeniseisk, and made a longer portage of forty or fifty miles.
The entire distance by the only practicable route of travel
was not far from two thousand two hundred miles, one half
of which in either journey, going or coming, must be made
up stream. The boats used were of the most primitive kind,

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA 137

often being nothing but rafts, while their one-masted vessels
with decks upon them were less than one hundred feet long,
put together without the use of iron, their anchors, even,
being made of wood loaded with stone sinkers. Their ropes
and their sails were made of the skins of animals. Neverthe-
less, with these rude conveyances communication was kept up
between a line of settlements scattered along this whole dis-
tance of more than two thousand miles, and with others
established at feasible points upon either side. The junctions
of nearly all the streams, as well as the portages between the
headwaters of the different drainage areas, were naturally the
favorite places of settlement.

But years of experience and the occurrence of repeated ca-
tastrophes of floods were needed to teach the settlers to build
upon the bluffs rather than upon the low banks of the stream,
whose floods, owing to the obstructions of ice in the higher
latitudes of the river course, were phenomenal and terrific in
their extent. The distance was so great from their starting-
point that these settlements were compelled to be somewhat
permanent in their character and to serve as winter quarters
to which the hunting parties could retire upon the close of
the season. Here in a commodious but rude log hut, with an
earthen stove to furnish heat and the most primitive arrange-
ments for admitting light, the hunters would cluster together
to await the opening of spring. Oftentimes these huts would
be completely enveloped in the snow, their presence being
betrayed solely by the column of smoke which continuously

138 ASIATIC RUSSIA

arose from the chimney. But wherever the Cossacks went, a
rude cross of wood was erected to distinguish their houses
from those of the natives.

As time went on and success attended the exploring parties,
settlers of a more permanent order followed in the wake of
the early adventurers. To some extent the first explorers inter-
married with the natives, but the number of such marriages
is surprisingly small; much less, for example, than those
which took place between the French trappers and the Indians
of America. Then, as at all times in Siberia, Russian women
were ready to follow their husbands and lovers wherever they
went. In 1630, one hundred and fifty women and girls emi-
grated to Tobolsk at one time. Still the men were always
somewhat in excess and in advance of the women, and the
efforts of the home government, both to protect the natives,
and to preserve the morality of the explorers and adventurers,
were not altogether successful. The exercise of justice and
humanity was always freely enjoined upon them ; but, in the
absence of oversight, many irregularities occurred, and the
traders often degenerated to the level of freebooters, robbing
the natives' of what they should have obtained only by fair
purchase. As late as 1662, the patriarch of Moscow com-
plained to the archbishop of Tobolsk that his subjects were
grossly neglecting their religious duties, and violating the
plainest rules of morality in their associations with native
women, even going so far, it was alleged, as to sell them and
exchange them in a most scandalous manner.

On the Yenisei River, the Cossacks met the Tunguses, a

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA 139

branch of Mongols, related to the Manchus, who extend from
the Yenisei to the Pacific Ocean. These stoutly resisted the
collection of tribute, and were brought into subjection only
by several years of war; while the Buriats, another Mongol
race, occupying the upper portions of the river, succeeded in
maintaining their independence for twenty or thirty years
longer, and temporarily turned the tide of Russian emigration
from the upper part of the Yenisei Valley into that of the
Lena. It was not until 1648 that the Russians succeeded in
following up the Angara River to Lake Baikal, and in estab-
lishing a fort on the east side at the point which is now known
as Verkhni Udinsk.

Meanwhile, in 1628, the enterprising adventurers had crossed
from the Yenisei to the Lena, and established a fort at Yakutsk
in 1637. This they accomplished only by a long and most
tedious route up the Angara and its tributary the Ilim to a
difficult portage near the fifty-sixth degree of latitude. The
distance from Yeniseisk to this portage is not less than seven
hundred miles, which had to be made against numerous rapids
where the water was often insufficient, so that the Cossacks
were compelled to resort to the old device of Yermak of
securing a sufficient depth by damming the streams with their
sails. The portage also, was long and difficult. For thirty or
forty miles, the sledges had to be hauled overland, and each
sledge could convey only about one hundred and fifty pounds
of provisions.

An even longer route was established by going down the
Yenisei six hundred miles from Yeniseisk to Turukhansk, at

140 ASIATIC RUSSIA

the mouth of the Lower Tunguska River, and thence, following
up that stream for a thousand miles, to where it approaches
near Kirensk, still closer to the Lena than the Ilim does, the
portage here being but ten miles. After reaching the Lena
River, however, by either of these portages, it was still nearly
one thousand miles down the river to Yakutsk. To increase
the difficulty, the Russians were bitterly opposed at these
portages by the Buriats, and were compelled to carry on a
long and expensive warfare before they were freed from mo-
lestation. In 1641, and soon after, two expeditions were sent
against them, — one under Vassil Vlasieff, and a later one
under Vassil Bugor, — which succeeded in accomplishing their
objects only by the total annihilation of the existing force of
Buriats. Vassil Bugor, in reporting upon the success of the
one hundred and thirty Cossacks under his leadership, says,
" By the grace of God and the good luck of the Emperor, the
imperial soldiers stood firm, and the Bretski (they were five
hundred) were all destroyed to a man." Such was the vigor
of this resistance that, as already remarked, it was not until
1648 that a fort was established on the east side of Lake
Baikal at Verkhni Udinsk ; while Irkutsk was not founded
until 1 65 1, fourteen years after the establishment of Yakutsk.
With their headquarters now in the valley of the Lena, about
four thousand miles away from their starting-point in the
valley of the Kama, the restless Cossacks continued their ex-
plorations in almost every direction beyond. In 1630, two
years after reaching the Lena, we find them following up
the channel of the Aldan River to its sources in the Stanovoi

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA 141

Mountains, from which they could almost look over into the
waters of the Pacific. Here the difficulties of farther progress
were greatly increased by the rapidity of the descent upon
the eastern side; for, as we have seen in describing the coun-
try, the entire descent was made in a distance of twenty or
thirty miles in the narrowest place, and even where the dis-
tance is greater by streams that were utterly unnavigable.
Nevertheless, in 1639, tnev succeeded in crossing the moun-
tains and in descending the Ulia River to the Sea of Okhotsk,
about fifty miles south of the present town of that name.

Meanwhile, in 1636 a company of ten Cossacks were sent
out from Yeniseisk to explore the lower part of the Lena
River. They wintered at Olekminsk, at the mouth of the
river of that name, and about half way down towards Yakutsk.
Here they were joined by forty trappers, and with them, upon
the breaking-up of the ice, descended on the bosom of the
swift current of the Lena so rapidly that they reached the
Arctic Ocean in ten days. Having passed through the western
branch of the delta, they were not far from the mouth of
the Olenek River, a stream nearly one thousand miles in
length, which in the lower half of its course, as already de-
scribed, is nearly parallel with the Lena, and only from twenty-
five to one hundred and fifty miles distant. After having
found a direct pathway across the space between these two
rivers (coming out upon the Lena two hundred and fifty miles
above its western mouth), and having spent the winter in
safety in one of the secluded bays, the leader of the expedi-
tion (Elisei Busa) set out in 1638 with two vessels to explore

142 ASIATIC RUSSIA

the country farther to the eastward. Passing around the broad
delta of the Lena, after five days' favorable sail, he reached
the mouth of the Yana, about three hundred miles east of the
Lena. This river, whose headwaters are near the mouth of
the Aldan, and connected with it by a favorable portage, has
a length of about six hundred miles and affords a favorite
hunting-ground for the aboriginal inhabitants. Ascending it
for some distance, he spent three weeks in collecting tribute,
and returned to Yakutsk before the close of the season.

But in 1639 Busa was despatched again to carry on ex-
plorations upon the Arctic coast still farther eastward. This
time he easily reached the Indigirka, which enters the Arctic
Ocean considerably east of the New Siberian Islands, and
about four hundred miles in a straight line east of the Yana
River. This river, also, has its sources not far from the great
bend in the Aldan River, with which it is connected by an
easy portage. Its total length is fully seven hundred miles,
and its valley is a favorite hunting-ground for the natives.
Here he found in the interior a new tribe, called the Yukagirs,
intervening between the Tunguses on the coast and the Yakuts
in the interior. With them he remained on friendly terms for
three years, building a fort on the river's bank.

In 1642 Busa returned to Yakutsk, and created much excite-
ment, not only by the great success he had had in trading
with the natives and in collecting tribute from them, but in
the glowing reports which he gave of the country, and espe-
cially by the news obtained from native sources which he
brought, that there was another river still farther to the east

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA 143

which could be reached from the Indigirka by reindeer sledges
in a week's time, and which was rich in silver mines. As the
vigorous hunting of the fur-bearing animals had already begun
to reduce their numbers, the additional prospect of obtaining
silver as well as new hunting-grounds whetted the appetite
for adventure beyond all control. Under the lead of one
Bugor the Cossacks speedily set out for the new Eldorado,
but did not find what they expected. The silver was a myth.
To recoup themselves for their losses they added more zeal
in the collection of furs from the natives, and grew less and
less scrupulous in their means of obtaining them. Their ex-
actions at length so exceeded all bounds that the Yukagirs
revolted, and, having surreptitiously obtained firearms, were
at first a match for the Cossacks. The insurrection was not
quelled until 1645.

The hardships of border life, and freedom from central con-
trol, produced in the Cossacks of the region many undesirable
characteristics, and led to atrocities which detract much from
the pleasure of the story. It took a year for a messenger to
go from Yakutsk to Moscow, and another year to return ;
so that it was almost impossible to redress any evils that were
reported to the Tsar. Nor was it merely the natives who
suffered from these irregularities. Bugor, who had won the
victory over the Buriats already referred to, set out from
the upper part of the Lena for the reported silver mines of
the northeast district, but he carefully avoided passing through
Yakutsk, though the commander there was his military chief
to whom he was under obligations to report. In explanation

144 ASIATIC RUSSIA

of this irregular conduct he wrote to the Tsar that he had
already suffered so many indignities from the commander at
Yakutsk that he did not feel it was safe to trust himself
again in his hands. We have endured, he says, from him,
" knout and fire and exposure and cold " and sufferings that
are beyond all endurance. If it was thus with the Cossacks,
how must it have been with the natives ! Unable to escape
to the south, on account of the more warlike tribes in that
direction, the Yukagirs retreated to the northeast to the very
extremity of the continent, where they were hemmed in be-
tween the Russians and the icy sea of the north, until at
length their power was completely broken. The atrocities that
accompanied the victory of the Cossacks are probably far
from being fully reported, but can easily be imagined.

The discovery and exploration of the last of the Siberian
rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean were reserved for Michailo
Staduchin. who in 1644 entered the Kolyma, whose mouth is
about three hundred and fifty miles east of the Indigirka, and
nearly one thousand miles east of the Lena. This river he
described as rivaling the Lena in size and importance, as
well he might when one considers the extent of its delta and
the primitive means he had of exploration ; for, though the
river has not a length of more than seven hundred miles, it
is fed by so many wide-spreading branches that its volume
near the mouth is exceptionally large. In the delta of this
river the Cossacks first found the tusks of the mammoth, which
occurred in large heaps, and furnished a most valuable article

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA 145

of merchandise, thus beginning a trade in this region which
even in our own times continues to have great importance.

Up to this time the trade with the river valleys east of the
Lena was all conducted by water, the rude river vessels descend-
ing the Lena from Yakutsk, and then braving the hazards
of the Arctic Ocean for a coast voyage of several hundred
miles. Frequently these expeditions involved untold dangers
and hardships. Timothy BuldakofF was the leader of one such.
In 1649 he left Yakutsk, but failed to reach the ocean before
winter. On June 2 of the next year he reached the sea only
to find that the winds blowing from the north had brought
so much ice with them as almost effectually to impede naviga-
tion. After waiting, however, for a month, the wind changed
and he made progress for a while, getting as far as the Bay
of Omoloeva, about one hundred miles from the mouth of the
Indigirka, where, after being drifted about for two weeks by
adverse winds, he found the season so late and his boat so
disabled, that he returned to the mouth of the Lena. Finding
here eight other Russian vessels bound on their way to the
east, he started back with them. But by the end of August
they had succeeded only in reaching Cape Sviatoi, about half
way between the Yana and the Indigirka, and exactly south
of the New Siberian Islands.

Here the whole fleet was frozen in, notwithstanding the
desperate efforts which were made to break the thin ice and
to force their way through it when first it began to form,
while on the 1st of September a change of the wind from land-

146 ASIATIC RUSSIA

ward to seaward drifted them out into the ocean for five days,
when the whole sea froze over. Not knowing the direction
of the land, they here abandoned their vessels, converting
portions of them into sledges, and set out to find their way
to a place of safety. As Buldakoff had been intrusted with
government stores, he directed his efforts to the saving of
them; but the trappers and traders of his party were more
anxious to save their own effects than they were to save those
of the government. " We do not know," said they, " where to
find the land, or whether we shall live to reach it ; we cannot
carry those things without sledges and dogs." But Buldakoff
set them a noble example by burdening himself with twenty
pounds of government stores, and persuading the soldiers to
carry three pounds each, and the traders one pound. Before
reaching land they were attacked by scurvy, and only after nine
days of exhausting labor in dragging their sledges did they
get ashore. Their shoes were worn out, their clothes were in
tatters, and they were shivering from cold and well-nigh
perishing from hunger. In this plight they found themselves
at the mouth of the Indigirka, which they were still compelled
to ascend for some distance before reaching a comfortable
wintering place, where a company of tax collectors were sta-
tioned some distance up the river.

Human nature being the same in Siberia that it is in all
other parts of the world, the refugees came near being starved
to death in this lonely place by the inhumanity of the specula-
tive provision dealers. Though there was in the hands of one
of these a stock of twenty thousand pounds of wheat and flour,

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA 147

it was reserved for profitable barter with the natives. As the
Cossacks had nothing but credit to offer, they were unable to
purchase anything from the dealer, even though they offered
to sell themselves to him as serfs. They were hence compelled
to move on, with nothing but " larch-prickles " to satisfy their
hunger. On the strength of such food, they traveled for a
month longer, until they reached more humane specimens of
humanity on the river Mazeya.

The Northeast Territory and Kamchatka

Up to this time no one had advanced along the coast beyond
the mouth of the Kolyma, but on June 20, o. s. (June 30, n. s.),
1648, Simon Dejneff set out from the Kolyma to discover an-
other river which was supposed to exist still farther east
beyond the Stanovoi Mountains, which here project themselves
abruptly against the northern ocean. But finding no great
river, he continued his course until he came to Bering Strait,
which he boldly passed through, and then turned westward
along the southern shore. This was long before Bering the
reputed discoverer of the strait was born, being in fact eighty
years before the passage of the strait by the German navigator.
Had his expedition been adequately reported at the time,
this important connecting link between two seas would have
been named Dejneff Strait, instead of Bering Strait.

Proceeding along the barren and deeply indented coast upon
the south side of the peninsula. Dejneff's party came at length
to the broad Gulf of Anadyr, and following up the bay of
the same name, supposed that they had accomplished the object

148 ASIATIC RUSSIA

of their journey when they found the mouth of the Anadyr
River. Whereupon half the party, twelve out of twenty-five,
were commissioned to explore the valley. But the country
was found to be so rough and inhospitable that not even a
path could be found, and after three days' absence, the men
became so weary and depressed in spirit that they sank down
helplessly to sleep in the snow. The most vigorous efforts to
arouse them were unavailing. The leader, Permiak by name,
with one trapper hastened back for relief, which was speedily
sent, but all too late. Their companions could not be found;
they had perished, and the drifting snows had so completely
covered them that their last resting-place was never known.
Winter being now at hand, Dejneff established his quarters
upon the land, and laid the foundations for the modern fort
(or ostrog, as it would be called in Russian) of Anadyrski,
which still remains the most distant Russian post in Asia,
being nearly seven thousand miles by any practicable route
from Moscow. But even here he was not beyond the reach
of jealous rivals. Staduchin, with whom we have already
become acquainted as the explorer of the Kolyma, had coveted
for himself the privilege of exploring the country still farther
to the east, and felt keenly his disappointment at being antici-
pated by Dejneff. He, therefore, set out on an independent
expedition, and, passing from the valley of the Kolyma over the
Stanovoi Mountains to the headwaters of the Anadyr, had
followed that stream down to its mouth, where he arrived
shortly after Dejneff's party had established themselves there
for winter quarters. The character of Staduchin, however,

V

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA 149

had sadly deteriorated under the influences of irresponsible
frontier life, and, taking advantage of the weakness of Dej-
neff's party, he robbed them of their furs and of their pro-
visions, and went so far as to humiliate their leader by striking
him in the presence of the natives. Not content with this,
he put forth the claim that it was he, and not Dejneff, who
had first passed around the Great Cape which formed the
eastern extremity of Asia. Thus humiliated, Dejneff was com-
pelled to lead a wandering life upon these inhospitable shores
for the rest of his days. For six or seven years he was known
in the region as a successful trader and hunter, when he dis-
appeared, about 1654, from the knowledge of the civilized
world, illustrating in his whole career the hardships attending
the class of pioneer explorers to which he belongs.

During the progress of these events in the northeastern
extremity of the Asiatic continent, other Cossack adventurers
wTere slowly making their way from the middle valley of the
Lena over to the Sea of Okhotsk, one thousand five hundred
miles in a straight line southwest of the Anadyr. In 1647
Ivan Athanasieff, with a company of fifty-four Cossacks,
crossed the valley of the Aldan River, a distance of five hun-
dred miles in a straight line eastward from Yakutsk, and,
having descended the short eastern slope of the Stanovoi
Mountains, permanently intrenched himself on the bay of
Okhotsk. Here he was vigorously resisted by the Tungusian
warriors, who outnumbered him twenty to one, but the su-
periority of his arms and of his discipline gave him the ad-
vantage, and they were speedily brought into subjection, and

150 ASIATIC RUSSIA

compelled to pay exorbitant tribute. Infuriated by the exac-
tions of their conquerors, the Tunguses made repeated efforts
to free themselves from the yoke, and maddened the Cossacks
by mutilating the bodies of those whom they had slain in
battle. It is to be deplored, yet not to be wondered at, that
the Cossacks retaliated by the practice of similar barbarity.

The result is the same whether in the wilds of Siberia or
of America : the pioneers who are far beyond the reach of the
central government become a law unto themselves, and in
dealing with the aborigines descend to their methods and
manners. The story of the Cossacks in their dealing with the
native races of Siberia can be easily enough equaled in that
of the frontiersmen of the United States, who have by similar
means gradually wrested the continent of America from the
improvident hands of the Red Indian. At Okhotsk, how-
ever, the contest was long and bitter, and without any prospect
of establishing in the place any important center of civiliza-
tion. The resources of the country are too scanty for the
maintenance of anything higher than the conditions of bar-
barous life. In 1654 the Russian settlement was burned, and
the settlers only saved from extermination by the arrival of
reinforcements from Yakutsk. At the close of the nineteenth
century the place is reduced to a few rude houses with scarcely
any permanent occupants.

A little later than this, there followed the discovery and
exploration of Kamchatka. For some time the settlement at
Anadyrski was the sole representative of Russian power on

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA 151

the Pacific coast east of Okhotsk. Though the advance of
Russian occupation from the Urals to Bering Strait had been
accomplished in less than eighty years, it was nearly fifty
years after the settlements of Anadyrski and Okhotsk before
Kamchatka was occupied. This, however, does not seem so
strange when one takes into account the unattractiveness of
the region, and the difficulties of moving from point to point
along that inhospitable coast. The means were not at com-
mand to build sea-going ships, while the coasts were too
rugged either to furnish shelter for the navigator or to permit
of roads or even respectable trails for the traveler by land.
The enterprise which finally led to the exploration of Kam-
chatka surpasses the ordinary conceptions of even the novelist.
The Russian hero of Kamchatka is Vladimir Atlasoff. He
was a peasant boy who had emigrated with his father from
the valley of the Kama in European Russia, and spent his
early years on the Lena River, where he entered the Cossack
organization, and at length became a commander of fifty.
Early in the season of 1695, he was commissioned with thirteen
Cossacks to go from Yakutsk to Anadyrski and take control
of the collection of tribute at that point. They set out across
the country, a distance of one thousand, five hundred miles in
a straight line. There was no trail, and the party had to find
their own way through forests and swamps and over moun-
tain ranges and across river valleys. Part of the way they
went by water, and part of the way by horseback and rein-
deer, but much of the way on foot. Nearly four months were

152 ASIATIC RUSSIA

consumed in the journey. Late in the summer, however, the
party arrived at their destination with unimpaired health and
in good condition.

Such success naturally bred contempt of danger, and all
through the long winter Atlasoff and his companions occu-
pied themselves, as it is said the Russian pioneers are always
much in the habit of doing, with discussing great plans for
the future. Erman tells us that in Berezof, far down upon
the Obi River, he found in the winter season that

" instead of the system of contracting for services usual in the
mother country, recourse is had to an avocation quite as shifting and
as various. This business is very significantly noted in Siberia by the
term promuisl, a word hardly known in European Russia which . . .
signifies every kind of inventive and active care for the future. . . .
The first Russian adventurers took a pride, and with good reason, in
the new-found appellation of Promuishleniki, or ' discoverers/ as they
dispersed themselves through countries little known to them, and
occupied by aboriginal tribes who were their deadly enemies. . . .
The talent of the fathers has descended on the sons, and to this day the
expression to 'find out something' (to discover some new art or
resource) is the general watchword of all the men in Siberia." *

Later Erman well remarks that " the downright necessity of
maintaining without intermission a struggle with the rigors
of the climate, has developed here, as in every sequestered spot
in Siberia the true genius of promuisl, and with it the faculty
of theoretical speculation among all classes of society."

In the Ostrog of Anadyrski in the winter of 1695, the

* Travels in Siberia. Vol. i. p. 332-

u

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA 153

exercise of " promuisl " was practiced with most fruitful re-
sults. It was reported by a native woman that forty years
before, a companion of DejnefT had been stranded upon the
shores of Kamchatka, and that he found it filled with all the
valuable furs which were the chief inducement to Russian
exploration. But, unfortunately, he with his party had been
massacred, and nothing but vague reports of his discoveries
had reached his companions. These, however, were diligently
collected, and formed the substance of many a conversation
during the long winter at Anadyrski ; while Atlasoff gathered
together much further information confirmatory of the dim
earlier tradition. To such an extent was their curiosity ex-
cited by these winter conferences that, in the spring of 1696,
Luke Morozko was sent off with a small party to determine
the truth of the vague reports, and to add, if possible, both to
the wealth and to the renown of the whole official settlement.
With little difficulty Morozko succeeded in penetrating to the
center of Kamchatka, and returned with a large amount of
tribute collected from the Koriaks, and reported that there
would be little difficulty, even with their small force, in con-
quering the country and making it a permanent acquisition
for the Russian Empire.

After whiling away another long winter in the pastime pro-
muisl, Atlasoff himself early in 1697 set out with a larger
force to make a permanent conquest of the partially explored
peninsula. All the force that he could muster was sixty Cos-
sacks and sixty Yukagirs. Dividing these into two parties, he
himself followed down the western coast of the peninsula,

154 ASIATIC RUSSIA

while Morozko with the rest followed the eastern coast. At-
lasoff was unfortunate in his allies, who mutinied, and at-
tempted to kill all the Cossacks, but succeeded only in killing
three and wounding fifteen, Atlasoff himself being one of the
wounded. But this did not hinder the expedition; the party
proceeded to Cape Lopatka, at the south end of the peninsula,
having marched a distance of one thousand four hundred
miles. He then set out to return, but paused on the Kamchatka
River to build a fort near the head of the valley, where a settle-
ment is still known as Verkhni (Upper) Kamchatka. Here
he left a small garrison and returned himself with the rest of
the party to Anadyrski. The garrison, however, became dis-
contented, and, in endeavoring later in the season to follow
their leader, were all murdered by the Koriaks.

In hopes of obtaining adequate reinforcements for the con-
quest of Kamchatka, Atlasoff returned to Yakutsk in the
summer of 1700. He carried with him, as a token of the
wealth of Kamchatka, the large amount of tribute which had
been collected. This and the story which he told aroused great
enthusiasm among the Russians on the Lena, and he was
sent on to Moscow to try the effect of his story upon the
Tsar and his counselors. His expedition was successful even
beyond his expectation. It had been so long since any im-
portant discoveries had been made in Eastern Siberia that all
Moscow was excited over what they now saw and heard.
The furs brought home as tribute were pronounced to be of the
most valuable kinds, and they were certainly great in quantity.
Atlasoff was honored on every hand, and was provided, both

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA 155

in men and provisions, with all the reinforcements he could
reasonably ask from the central government.

Leaving Moscow, Atlasoff paused at Tobolsk to recruit a
larger force for his contemplated expedition. But on reach-
ing the River Tunguska on his way to Yakutsk, he attempted
to treat a Russian merchant named Loghin Dobrynin as he
had been in the habit of treating the natives of Kamchatka.
This merchant was coming down the river on a raft with a
load of Chinese goods. Atlasoff proceeded to plunder his
cargo; whereupon the trader entered a complaint against him
at Yakutsk, which led to the arrest and imprisonment both
of him and of the Cossacks who had been most intimately
associated with him in the robbery, and here he was kept in
prison for the next five years.

Meanwhile Kobeleff, his successor in Kamchatka, had con-
tinued to carry out the original plans for the occupation of
the peninsula, and had rebuilt Verkhni Kamchatka, and es-
tablished a new fort on the shore of the Sea of Okhotsk. This
was in 1700. Two years later, Kobeleff 's successor, Zinoveff,
established a fort near the mouth of the Kamchatka River
called Nijni (lower) Kamchatka. Two years later still, in
1704, Kolisoff explored the Kurile Islands, which form a con-
tinuous line between Kamchatka and Japan. But all these
efforts at settlement proved abortive. In their isolation the
Cossacks deteriorated and their discipline relaxed, so that in
1706 the natives were able to drive them out of the country,
burning their settlements and committing wholesale massacres
upon the intruders.

156 ASIATIC RUSSIA

When things had come to this pass, the Russians began to
think of Atlasoff in his prison at Yakutsk. Believing that he
had already made sufficient atonement for this crime, they
released him, and restored him to the command of the Cos-
sacks in Kamchatka, where he was given almost unlimited
authority. Thus armed and equipped he set out for Anadyrski,
but on the way the Cossacks bitterly complained of the severity
of his discipline, and sent charges against him back to Yakutsk.
These complaints, however, did not prevent the progress of
the party. In 1707 Atlasoff had reached Kamchatka again,
had restored the posts destroyed upon the Kamchatka River,
had defeated the natives in two important battles and so had
re-established Russian authority in the peninsula. Still the
severity of his discipline was such that the Cossacks mutinied,
and, having seized Atlasoff, imprisoned him, and took posses-
sion of the goods which he had collected for himself, in addi-
tion to that collected as the government tribute during the few
months of the occupancy. According to report these " con-
sisted of one thousand two hundred and thirty-five sables, four
hundred red foxes, fourteen grey foxes, and seventy-five sea-
otters," which is in itself a striking commentary upon the rich-
ness of the country. In their complaints against Atlasoff, the
Cossacks made various charges which seem to imply that,
whatever cruelty their chief was guilty of was chiefly in the
interest of good order and discipline, and for such protection
of the natives as would tend to secure their good-will.

The authorities of Yakutsk scarcely knew what to do, for
Atlasoff had the crowning merit of being successful in a

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA 157

most difficult and dangerous enterprise where others had
notoriously failed. Besides Yakutsk was so far away from
Kamchatka that it took a year for news to come and go, and
during that time no one could tell what changes had occurred.
In the five years following 1707 as many different commanders
were appointed at Kamchatka only to fail each in his turn. In
1710 indeed there were three commanders at once, AtlasofT
had broken away from confinement and set up a government of
his own at Nijni Kamchatka, while the new appointee had ar-
rived upon the scene before the old one was willing to vacate
his office. The Cossacks solved the difficulty by murdering
AtlasofT and both of the regular appointees and electing a
chief of their own.

But the new chiefs, Antzyphor and Kozyrefski, were no
more successful than the regular appointees. Under their
oppression the natives became desperate, and broke out in
open rebellion, which was put down only after a number of
desperate battles in which the losses of the natives were terrific.
What they could not obtain by open force, however, the natives
at length obtained by treachery. In the winter of 1712 Antzy-
phor with a small number of Cossacks endeavored to collect
tribute at Avacha. near where the fortress of Petropavlovsk
was subsequently established. Amidst mutual professions of
friendship the transactions began ; the Kamchadales readily
surrendering a number of their principal men as hostages for
their good behavior. At night these retired with the Cossacks
to the principal building for sleep. But the natives had
planned to burn the building in the night and with it all

158 ASIATIC RUSSIA

the inmates. A secret passageway, however, had been pre-
pared by them through which they expected their own men
to escape. But after the building was fired, they learned, to
their horror, that their hostages had been chained by the Cos-
sacks, so that escape was impossible. The hostages, however,
plead with their kinsmen outside to let the holocaust go on, if
only, by perishing themselves, they could secure the destruc-
tion of the enemy. And so all in the building perished to-
gether.

Up to this time the immense distances to be traveled over-
land through inhospitable regions to reach Kamchatka, effectu-
ally prevented any oversight of the Russian forces despatched
for the conquest and government of the country. A fort had
been built on the river Penjina in 1708 midway between the
Anadyr and the central portion of Kamchatka, where this
river empties into Penjina Gulf, at the head of the peninsula.
In 1 714 a fort was built at Kintorsk to facilitate somewhat the
passage from Anadyrski to the peninsula. At the same time
expeditions were started out from Yakutsk to find a shorter
way to the country by means of a direct route to Okhotsk and
passage across the sea. Going up the Aldan River to the Maya,
and turning from that into the Yudomo, they reached the
Stanovoi Mountains near one of the branches of the Urak,
which leads directly down to Okhotsk. The length of this
trail was nearly one thousand miles, but that was short com-
pared with the other. The rivers were indeed difficult to
navigate, the mountains crossed were rugged, and the descent
upon the eastern side too precipitous to admit of any naviga-

W'i \fi -f r w

Two Kamchatkan Princes.

Kamchatka Female Faces.

THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA 159

tion upon the stream. But it was a great improvement upon
the old way; while with seaworthy boats of moderate size
built at Okhotsk, the communication with Kamchatka was
direct. As a consequence of opening this new route, quiet
soon reigned in Kamchatka, and it has ever since remained,
if not a very valuable, at least a most interesting, portion of
the Russian possessions in Asia.

Isolated as Kamchatka seems, it has been the stepping-stone
to still larger and more important acquisitions. It was from
the Sea of Okhotsk and harbors of Kamchatka that the Rus-
sian adventurers set out to discover Alaska, and to add it
to the Russian domain ; while between 1807 and 1812 settle-
ments were actually founded on the Columbia River and in the
vicinity of San Francisco; thus anticipating by more than a
third of a century the advent of the United States upon the
Pacific coast. The story of the transfer of Alaska to the
United States in 1867 is too well known to need repetition,
but the reminders of Russian occupation are still with us in
the names of many of the islands, and in the provisions of the
treaty with Great Britain in 1825 defining the limits of the
territory, which, since the discovery of gold in the Yukon dis-
trict, have become a bone of contention between the two great
Anglo-Saxon nations. It was from Kamchatka, also, that
finally, after two hundred years, the advance was made to the
mouth of the Amur. But the story of that belongs to later
times.

VIII

STRUGGLE FOR THE AMUR

IN order to complete the story of the occupation of the ex-
treme portions of Northeastern Asia, we have antici-
pated other and more important events which were going
on in the exploration of the upper basins of the Lena and Amur
rivers. As already seen, the Russians in the second quarter of
the seventeenth century had come in contact with the Buriats
about Lake Baikal, and had met in them most vigorous re-
sistance, but had succeeded in 1648 in establishing a fort at
Verkhni Udinsk, on the east side of the lake. From the
Buriats the Cossacks obtained vague reports concerning the
headwaters of a great river some hundreds of miles east of
Lake Baikal upon the other side of the mountains. Similar
reports also came to the explorers in the Lena Valley of a
great river to the south that could be reached by following
up the Vitim and the Aldan. By consulting the map, one
will see that, as already described, the headwaters of the
Shilka, one of the principal tributaries of the Amur, interlock
on the Vitim Plateau with both those of the Uda and of the
Vitim ; while the headwaters of the Aldan come from the same
swampy plateau west of the Stanovoi Mountains from which
issue those of the Zeya, which joins the Amur at Blagovest-

160

STRUGGLE FOR THE AMUR 161

chensk. Among the ornaments which the Russians found in
the possession of the Buriats, and even of the Tunguses, were
many of silver, which presumably came from the vicinity of
the celebrated Nerchinsk mines.

To get further light, an exploring expedition commanded
by Maxim Nerphilieff, who had been prominent in circulat-
ing exciting rumors about the region, set out from the Lena
Valley to follow up to its sources the Vitim River, thus hoping
to reach the valley of the Shilka. After toiling the whole
season to make his way against the stiff current of the river
as it comes down from its elevation of five thousand feet on
the Vitim Plateau, he was compelled to go into winter quar-
ters not far from Lake Oron. Resuming his journey in the
spring, and probably not being able to determine which was
the main stream and which the tributary, he turned up the
Tzipa, which comes in from the west, and so was led away
from his object of search. But even here he gained much
additional information from the Tunguses, learning that the
Buriats in Dauria, on the east side of the Yablonoi Mountains,
possessed firearms, and raised cattle and grain, and had silver
which they exchanged with the Tunguses for furs and with
the Chinese for silk. Even this information amply justified
the expedition, and created much excitement upon his return
to his compatriots on the Lena.

As a result of the report by Nerphilieff, Vassil Poyarkoff, a
name almost as distinguished as that of Yermak himself, set
out, in 1643, witn one hundred and thirty-two men, mostly
soldiers, to make a more thorough exploration of the coun-

1 62 ASIATIC RUSSIA

try. But he took another route to reach his destination.
Descending the Lena from Yakutsk to the river Aldan, he
ascended this for a month with his boats to the Utchur, which
he reached about the middle of July. This stream was found
to be so rapid that it was with great difficulty that they could
make any headway up it at all. But after ten days of arduous
labor they succeeded in reaching the Gonom, which they as-
cended with even greater difficulty, losing one of their boats
and spending five weeks, without attaining the object of their
journey. Winter coming on, they established themselves in
comfortable quarters, while Poyarkoff, with ninety of his men,
pushed onward to cross the mountain and reach the more
genial climate upon the other side. Those who remained be-
hind were left under orders to follow him in the spring.

Crossing the low mountains on snowshoes, the advancing
party descended a small tributary into the valley of the Zeya,
thinking it to be the Shilka, having gone as much to the east
of the point aimed at as Nerphilieff had to the west of it.
However, he was really in the valley of the Amur, and had
the prospect of its exploration before him. Building boats
upon the Zeya during the winter, he descended the stream
as soon as it was clear of ice in the spring of 1644, but did
not care to venture upon the Amur until the companions he had
left behind should arrive with their store of provisions. Erect-
ing a fort, therefore, he quietly awaited their arrival, occupy-
ing his time meanwhile by attempting to get information from
the natives. But naturally, being so far below the Nerchinsk
region, he could get little information concerning the mines

STRUGGLE FOR THE AMUR 163

or precious stones of which he was in search, while the rich
placer gold mines of the Zeya region awaited discovery two
centuries later. At first the Daurians, as the natives were
called, received them cordially and furnished them food; but
before long they became wearied of the friendship, and espe-
cially of the continued demands for food, and attacked the
party, killing ten of their number. Through sickness and lack
of food, forty more also soon died.

But at last Poyarkoff was joined by his companions with
their stock of provisions, and all together descended to the
Amur, still supposing it to be the Shilka. The region now
entered differed greatly from any with which the Cossacks
had heretofore been acquainted. On reaching the mouth of
the Zeya, where the city of Blagovestchensk now stands, the
Amur has emerged from the rugged area covered by the Great
Kinghan Mountains, and has entered upon a part of its course
where it rolls in slow but majestic volume through broad
prairie regions, interrupted only by the Bureya (or Little
Kinghan) Mountains, two hundred and fifty miles below,
the elevation of the river at Blagovestchensk, one thousand,
two hundred miles from the mouth, being less than four hun-
dred feet above the sea. The climate, also, is mild in com-
parison with that of the Lena basin, and the plants and animals
all wear a more southern aspect. The tribes living upon the
river there owed allegiance to the Manchus, who had recently
become the rulers of China, and were in the height of their
power. But the natives, either from fear of their firearms or
from indifference, offered no resistance to the progress of the

1 64 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Russians. Delighted thus with these favoring conditions, and
forgetting as far as possible the hardships from which they
had so recently escaped, Poyarkoff and his party descended
the river, quietly passed the mouth of the Bureya, threaded
the tortuous gorge, one hundred miles long, through which the
Amur crosses the Little Kinghan Mountains, and reached the
Sungari River after three weeks of pleasant sailing, or rather
floating.

The Sungari is of so much importance that, as we have said,
the Chinese regard it as the main stream, and so Poyarkoff at
first thought, believing that, so far, he had been upon the
Shilka. He now paused at this important place to reconnoiter
the situation, sending a party of twenty-five men for a short
distance down the stream, all but two of whom were massacred
on their way back. Nothing daunted, however, Poyarkoff
went down the river with the rest of his party, and after a
few days reached the mouth of the Usuri, and a little later
ventured to go the rest of the distance to the very mouth of
the Amur, where he established winter quarters, and the party
by dint of great perseverance in hunting and fishing managed
to keep themselves from starving until spring, when for a
time th^v were compelled to live on roots and grass.

The return voyage, moreover, was beset with difficulties
which were well-nigh insuperable. They had floated down
the Amur in two months, but it would take many months more,
indeed the entire season, to return by this route, even if, in
their weakened condition, they should be unmolested by the
natives who had displayed such hostility the previous summer.

STRUGGLE FOR THE AMUR 165

In view of these difficulties, therefore, they resolved boldly
to venture northward along the shore of the sea to Okhotsk,
which had been discovered nine years earlier. But they had
no boats, except those which they were able to build during
the winter, nor did they have a compass or any means of
mathematically determining their position, while none of them
had ever been upon the ocean. Nevertheless, they made the
venture, and, after hugging the shore for three months amid
untold hardships, they were at last driven ashore at the mouth
of the Ulia, about fifty miles south of their destination, where
they were forced to spend the winter in an abandoned fort
that had been used by the Cossacks at some previous time.

When spring opened, Poyarkoff, with a portion of his party,
crossed the Stanovoi Mountains to the valley of the Aldan
River, descending into it through the Maya. He reached
Yakutsk, July 12, 1646, after an absence of a little more than
three years, his party having traveled nearly five thousand
miles. Two thirds of his men, however, had died, and all of
them endured hardships which are too terrible to narrate.
Even some of those who survived, it is said, had been com-
pelled to resort to cannibalism. He had, indeed, discovered
the mouth of the Amur River, but this was of no present ad-
vantage to Russia because of her inability at that time to
take permanent possession. Poyarkoff, however, reported that
a force of three hundred men would be sufficient to establish
Russian rule over the entire region which he had traversed.
Being a man of some literary pretensions, he has also left an
intelligible account of the expedition, though, as already re-

1 66 ASIATIC RUSSIA

marked, his entrance to the Amur through the Zeya led to
serious geographical blunders, since he represented that the
Shilka was a branch of the Sungari, and mistaking the Sun-
gari for the Amur, thought that he had only reached the main
river when he had reached the junction of the Sungari.

Though the government did not respond to Poyarkoff' s
appeal to send out a more formidable expedition for the posses-
sion of the Amur, private enterprise was not slow in taking
advantage of the newly opened opportunities, and a name ap-
pears upon the scene which has been properly immortalized
in that of the important city of Khabarovsk. Erothei Pavlof
Khabaroff had emigrated from northeastern Russia to Siberia
in 1636, reaching the Lena in 1638. There he engaged in
hunting and trapping, sending parties up the Vitim and
Olekma rivers, who spent their winters in these regions in
capturing the sables and other fur-bearing animals which
then abounded. His enterprise prospered, and he spent large
sums of money in its extension and in trade, establishing
meanwhile an important business on the portage between the
Lena and the Yenisei at Ilimsk, and engaging in other profit-
able enterprises. The commanders of his various expeditions
up the southern tributaries of the Lena brought back much
information concerning the country, so that at last he learned
of the short route from the Lena to the Amur which could be
taken by following up the Olekma to its sources, where an
easy pass at an altitude of less than three thousand feet leads
to the head of the Amur, at the junction of the Shilka and the
Argun. On making this known to the authorities at Yakutsk,

STRUGGLE FOR THE AMUR 167

he was permitted in 1649 to enlist one hundred and fifty men
for the purpose of exploring the region on his own account.
The only conditions enjoined upon him were that he should
build a fort on the Shilka, that he should not use firearms
except in the case of necessity, that he should treat the natives
kindly, that he should keep a record of his dealings with them,
and should furnish the government with whatever information
he might obtain.

Early in 1649 Khabaroff set out with a party of seventy
men. Ascending the Olekma, he encountered the usual diffi-
culties from the rapids which obstructed his way, so that the
entire summer was spent in the effort, and he was then com-
pelled to go into winter quarters before reaching the summit.
In January, however, he succeeded by the use of sledges and
snowshoes in crossing the mountains and reaching the Amur
River through the Urka, which enters it fifty or sixty miles
below the Shilka. But on descending the river a short dis-
tance, he found several of the native cities deserted, and that a
general alarm had been raised which had put the whole popu-
lation into a state of defense. Khabaroff therefore prudently
returned to the mouth of the Urka, and, having fortified the
position, left his party to defend themselves during the season,
while he himself returned to Yakutsk to convey the informa-
tion already obtained. This was specially important, since it
revealed a shorter route to the Amur than had heretofore been
found, and described a portion of the valley which had not
before been visited, where the climate was mild and the con-
ditions were favorable for the raising of agricultural products ;

1 68 ASIATIC RUSSIA

barley, oats, buckwheat, peas, millet, and hemp — all objects of
necessity to the Russians — being here freely grown, while in
the valley of the Lena almost everything of that sort had to be
imported.

But Khabaroff estimated that it would require a force of
six thousand men to conquer and hold the district. To enlist
such a number in Siberia was, at that time, however, entirely
out of the question. Khabaroff therefore was compelled to be
content with a detachment of only one hundred and seventy
men, though he had the promise of further assistance if it
should be needed. With these reinforcements he returned in
the autumn to find that the Daurians had rallied to resist fur-
ther encroachments upon their territory, and that they had,
with their rude warlike implements, attacked the party he had
left behind, though with unsatisfactory result. Speedily tak-
ing up the offensive, the Russians, now reinforced, descended
the river, and fought a decisive battle at the town of Albazin,
which subsequently played so important a part in the history
of this region. The Russians suffered little loss in this battle,
and obtained large stores of grain, and a position commanding
a short route to the best portage between the Amur and
Olekma rivers.

Repairing the fortifications at Albazin, and settling down
there for the winter, Khabaroff employed his time in various
minor expeditions which accomplished the object both of
terrorizing the natives and of enlarging his knowledge of the
country. In glowing terms he forwarded a report to the gov-
ernor of Yakutsk describing the country and the people, whom

STRUGGLE FOR THE AMUR 169

he said numbered fully twenty thousand, and urging that he
be reinforced with a body of men sufficient not only to conquer
the Amur, but the whole of Manchuria. When these reports
reached Moscow, the government immediately forwarded one
hundred and thirty-two men with ammunition and supplies of
every sort, and at the same time sent an embassy to the Khan
of Manchuria suggesting that, in view of the greatness of the
Russian Empire, it would be to his advantage to come under
its protection, and to obtain the advantages by immediately
beginning to pay tribute. The answer, however, was the
massacre of the entire embassy.

Before the arrival of reinforcements, in the spring of 165 1,
Khabaroff descended the river with such force as he had, until
he came to a strongly fortified town only three or four days'
distance from the mouth of the Zeya. Here he found Chinese
envoys who consorted with the Daurians, but would hold no
intercourse with him. The cannon of the Russians enabled
them easily to make a breach in the walls of the city, and
though there were three enclosures, one within the other, they
were all rapidly broken down, the people slaughtered, the
princes taken as hostages and the town captured, with a large
quantity of supplies, including one thousand cattle. Only four
Cossacks were killed and fifty wounded. Here the Russians
rested for six weeks, when they floated down the river as far
as the Zeva. where Poyarkoff had preceded them a few years
before.

The Daurian tribes of this region, although acknowledging
allegiance to the Khan of Manchuria, and through him to the

i7o ASIATIC RUSSIA

Emperor of China, had a great degree of independence. Car-
ing little for the princes whom Khabaroff held in his hands as
hostages, the people left them to their fate, and fled in every
direction, deserting the entire country to the invaders. This
made it impossible for the Russians to establish winter quar-
ters at that point, on account of the lack of provisions. There-
fore they descended the river, until, upon the fourteenth of
September, they were at the mouth of the Sungari, their only
means of obtaining food being by plunder from the natives.
Descending the river still farther, Khabaroff reached the
mouth of the Usuri, where he selected for his winter quarters
the picturesque promontory upon which the present city of
Khabarovsk is built. On the extreme point of this promon-
tory, which protects a cove where his boats could anchor in
safety, Khabaroff erected his fort. The work was commenced as
late as the twenty-fourth of September, and the season was
so far gone that it was necessary to take immediate measures
to supply themselves with a stock of food. Hunting and
fishing parties were at once sent out, and an expedition as-
cended the Usuri to collect provisions of every sort. As this
end was largely accomplished by plunder, the natives took
alarm, and with the evident co-operation of the Manchurian
government attacked the party, and endeavored to intercept
their passage down the river. To accomplish this, a complete
line of boats was stationed across the stream below the Rus-
sians, but Khabaroff, skillfully concentrating his attack upon
the center of the line, broke through and escaped without
serious loss.

STRUGGLE FOR THE AMUR 171

Meanwhile, the natives in the vicinity of the fort took ad-
vantage of the absence of the party up the Usuri, and made a
vigorous attack upon it, endeavoring to burn the fort by col-
lecting straw around it and setting it on fire. But they were
not prepared for the volley of musketry with which they were
greeted, and were so effectually driven back that they offered
no further molestation for some months.

Before the opening of spring, however, the Manchurians ap-
peared before the walls of the Russian fort and subjected it
to a vigorous siege, having at their command two thousand
men with many guns and with ingenious devices for blowing
up the walls with gunpowder. The hostile forces were com-
manded by Prince Isinei. Fortunately for the Russians the
Chinese then, as now, were poor marksmen, and therefore ac-
complished but little, and were at length totally defeated.
Khabaroff 's account of the defeat was so lively that it is worthy
of repetition.*

" On March 24, at daybreak, the Bogdoi (Chinese) army, horsemen
and armored men, came upon us Cossacks in the town of Atchansk. and
our Cossack csaul [lieutenant], Andrew Ivanoff, shouted in the town;
' Brother Cossacks, arise quickly, and put on your strong breastplates ! '
and the Cossacks, in their shirts only, rushed to the town wall, and
stood to the guns and muskets, and fired on the Bogdoi army. And
we Cossacks fought with them, the Bogdoi people, from dawn to
sunset ; and the Bogdoi army fired on the Cossack huts, so that we
Cossacks could not go about in the town, and the Bogdoi people with
their flags surrounded the town wall. The Bogdoi men broke down
the wall of our town to the ground, and then the Bogdoi Prince Isinei

♦Russia on the Pacific, pp. 120-121.

i72 ASIATIC RUSSIA

and all the great Bogdoi army shouted : ' Do not burn or strike the
Cossacks, but take them alive ! ' and our interpreters repeated these
words of the Prince Isinei to me, Erothei, and hearing these words of
the Prince Isinei, we Cossacks put on our armor, and I, Erothei, and
the regular and the volunteer Cossacks, praying the Saviour and our
Blessed Virgin and Saint Nicholas, took farewell of each other. And
I, Erothei, and Andrew Ivanoff, and all our Cossack army, said : ' Let
us die, brother Cossacks, for the Chrisiian faith; let us stand by the
Saviour, the Virgin, and Saint Nicholas; let us serve the Emperor
Alexis Mikhailovitch, Grand Duke of all Russia; and let us Cossacks
all die to the last man against the Tsar's enemies, but never shall we
fall alive into the hands of the Bogdoi men.' And the Bogdoi people
were talking near the fallen walls, and we Cossacks wheeled up to
the breach of a large brass gun, and we began to fire cannon and
muskets, while from the walls they fired some iron guns upon the
Bogdoi people. And, by the grace of God and the Imperial good luck
and our efforts, many of those dogs were killed. And as the Bogdoi
men retreated from our cannon and the breach, at that moment 156
men, regular and volunteer Cossacks, in armor, sallied forth upon the
enemy, while fifty men remained in the town. As we sallied forth
upon them, we captured two iron guns; and by the grace of God and
the Imperial good luck we fell upon the enemy, capturing the muskets
of their best men. And a great fear came upon them, our force seeming
innumerable, and the remaining Bogdoi men fled from the town and
our arms. And we counted the dead around the town of Atchansk;
of the Bogdoi men there were 676 killed, and of our Cossacks ten, but
wounded in that battle there were seventy-eight men."

But, notwithstanding this decisive victory, Khabaroff's
situation was exceedingly critical. It was evident that the
Manchurians were fully aroused, and that they could easily
overwhelm him with numbers, and match him with arms nearly

STRUGGLE FOR THE AMUR 173

equal to his own. He, therefore, speedily abandoned his win-
ter quarters at Khabarovsk, and in April, 1652, began his re-
treat up the river. Meanwhile, the reinforcements which had
been sent out from Moscow, under the command of Trenka
Tchetcheghin, having reached the Amur and found that
Khabaroff had descended the river on the preceding year, and
had not been heard from, sent a party down for his assistance.
But amid the numerous channels and islands which charac-
terized the stream below the mouth of the Zeya, the reinforc-
ing party passed the other without finding them. They con-
tinued their downward progress until they reached the mouth
of the river, where after great hardships they followed the
example of Poyarkoff and set out to reach Okhotsk by sea.
They were, however, drifted ashore after a few days, but
finally succeeded in crossing the mountains by an unfrequented
trail, and returned to the Lena Valley.

Nor did Tchetcheghin remain idle on the Upper Amur; he
also descended the river and, fortunately, met Khabaroff in
the gorge where the river cuts across the Little Kinghan or
Bureya Mountains, to which point the retreating Cossacks had
made their way amid great difficulties and against great odds.
For, on reaching the mouth of the Sungari, they had been con-
fronted by a Manchu army of six thousand men, well provided
with artillery and firearms ; but as the river is here a broad
stream a mile or more in width, Khabaroff was saved by a
fortunate circumstance. A wind was blowing up stream with
sufficient strength to enable him to keep in the middle of the
river and make progress against the current. Putting on all

174 ASIATIC RUSSIA

the sail possible, he succeeded in safely running the gauntlet,
and so had reached the point where assistance was obtained.

It was evident, however, that further efforts to hold the
Lower Amur would be useless, especially since the six thou-
sand men from whom they had just escaped were soon to be
augmented by forty thousand more. Khabaroff, therefore,
hastened to the mouth of the Zeya, which he reached on the
first of August (o. s.), 1652. Here, also, further troubles
awaited him. More than one third of his men having seized
some of his boats and government stores, deserted him, and
set out upon a marauding expedition of their own. The atroci-
ties committed by them still further infuriated the natives, and
still further embarrassed the situation. In fact Khabaroff was
able to accomplish nothing more, and sent back his last report
on August fifth, setting forth the difficulties of his position
and his need of immediate reinforcement.

The descriptions of the Amur forwarded by Khabaroff had
aroused great interest, both in Siberia and in Moscow, and it
was, proposed to send three thousand soldiers to help him
accomplish what two years before he had said would require
six thousand. But even these were not sent, and the small
force that finally reached him under Zinoveff was far from
being an aid. The commander abused Khabaroff, charged him
with appropriating to his own use treasures collected for the
government, put him under arrest and sent him to Moscow
for trial, where he arrived in the winter of 1665. The charges
against him (whatever they were, for nobody seems to know
exactly), were not sustained. On the contrary, he was re-

STRUGGLE FOR THE AMUR 175

warded as a hero, and appointed to an important official posi-
tion on the Lena River, where he died soon after, and to this
day his name and Yermak's are coupled as the two most suc-
cessful founders of the Siberian Empire.

The struggle for the Amur was not, however, confined to
these expeditions upon the middle and lower portions of the
river valley. As already seen, the Russians as early as 1648
had crossed Lake Baikal, and built the fort of Verkhni Udinsk,
about one hundred miles up the Selenga River, where it is
joined by the Uda. This led to the speedy colonization of the
Transbaikal region, which was in every way well fitted to
furnish homes for the Russian peasantry. In 1653 Peter Beke-
toff went up the Khilok River, which is now followed by the
Trans-Siberian Railroad, and built a fort near the crest of the
Yablonoi Mountains, on Lake Irghen. In 1654 he descended
the Vitim Plateau to the more attractive Daurian region, fol-
lowing the Ingoda and Shilka rivers as far as the mouth of
the Nercha, where he founded what became the important city
of Nerchinsk ; thus opening what has ever since been the main
line of communication between Western Siberia and the valley
of the Amur, and leading to the permanent organization of
the Russian province of Transbaikalia, with the capital at
Nerchinsk.

But during this decade important events were taking place
on the Lower Amur after the recall of Khabaroff. The new
commander, Onuphrius Stepanoff, ascended the Sungari River
in 1654, and gave battle to the Chinese army, which was there
in great force. The Chinese were victorious, and compelled

176 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Stepanoff to retreat. In returning up the Amur, however, he
met Beketoff coming down from Transbaikalia through the
new road which he had opened. Thus reinforced, the Rus-
sians erected fortifications at Kumarski, about one hundred
and fifty miles above the mouth of the Zeya, where the Kumara
River comes in from the Manchurian side. A Manchu army
of ten thousand men followed them, and on the thirteenth of
March (o. s.), 1665, laid siege to the new fortification. They
were provided with abundant artillery and all other known in-
struments of attack, which they used to good effect. On the
twenty-fourth of March they assaulted the place, but were
kept at bay by the five hundred desperate Cossacks who de-
fended the place. For a week longer the Manchus kept up a
continuous cannonade, but on April fourth, they suddenly gave
up the effort and retreated.

The Russians, however, were compelled to abandon the
position on account of the lack of provisions. The violent
methods of the Cossacks had continued to estrange the natives,
leading them to withhold supplies, while the Chinese authori-
ties had forbidden the cultivation of the land in the region,
and ordered the people to abandon the country, and leave it a
waste. Whereupon Stepanoff resorted to the desperate plan
of carrying the war into Manchuria. He boldly ascended the
Sungari River, pillaging as he went, and actually succeeded in
penetrating the country as far as Ninguta. Afterwards he
again descended the Amur nearly to its mouth, where he built
a fort near its junction with the Amgun. From this point
Stepanoff continued for two or three years regularly to ascend

STRUGGLE FOR THE AMUR 177

the Sungari River, committing depredations as he went; but
on June 30, 1658, he found himself surrounded with the
Chinese as he was coming down the river, and was unable to
extricate himself. In the contest he and two hundred and
seventy of his men were killed, and the remaining two hundred
effectually dispersed. Thus the Russians lost their prestige,
so that they were no longer considered invincible, and the
Lower Amur remained in the hands of the Chinese for the
following two hundred years.

In the upper part of the valley, also, Albazin, which had
been resisting a siege for the whole year, was abandoned in
1658; thus freeing the entire valley of the Amur from the
presence of the Cossack. But in 1665 a Polish exile named
Nikiphor Romanoff Tchernigofski, who had been guilty of
both mutiny and murder since being in Siberia, persuaded a
company of eighty-four men to accompany him and rebuild
the fort of Albazin, which thereupon became the general ren-
dezvous for all the freebooters who had remained in the re-
gion. The necessities of trie case, however, compelled them
to maintain some show of order, and in 1669 they appealed to
the Tsar for protection, and humbly offered to submit them-
selves to his authority. This was readily granted, and the
sentence of death upon the whole company was remitted in
1672. So glad indeed were the Russian authorities to regain
Albazin that they gave a reward of two thousand rubles to
the outlaws who had brought them again in possession of it.
In 1674 the place was again well provided with barracks and
government officers.

178 ASIATIC RUSSIA

The pardoned outlaw then set about the task of reconquer-
ing the Lower Amur and Manchuria. This he prosecuted with
such vigor that in 1681 he had re-established Russian forts at
all the most important places on the Amur and upon the Usuri
and Sungari rivers. But again the Russians failed to send
reinforcements sufficient to maintain their hold upon the coun-
try; so that when, in 1684, the Chinese set out to regain their
territory, they had little difficulty in driving the Russians from
the Lower Amur, and on June of the following year (1685)
they were again before the walls of Albazin with fifteen thou-
sand men and one hundred and fifty cannon. But, although
the Russians had only four hundred and fifty men inside the
fortifications and but three guns, they maintained so vigorous
a defense that nothing but the final failure of ammunition
induced their gallant leader, Tolbuzin to surrender, and this
he succeeded in doing on honorable terms ; he with his Cos-
sacks retiring with their arms and being allowed to ascend
the river to Nerchinsk. The Chinese, however, instead of
attempting to hold Albazin, burned it, and went down the river
to Aigun, a fortress a little below Blagovestchensk which has
played a prominent role in recent times, but which had then
just been built as a defense against the encroachments of the
Russians.

No sooner, however, had the Chinese left Albazin, then
Tolbuzin returned. This was on August 7, 1685, which was
so early in the season that he was able to restore the fortifica-
tions before the winter set in. Consequently the following
year, in June, 16S6, the Chinese returned and commenced an-

STRUGGLE FOR THE AMUR 179

other siege, with an army of five thousand foot and three thou-
sand horse. Tolbuzin however, had taken the precaution to
enlarge his garrison, so that it consisted of eight hundred men,
and to increase his cannon from three to eight. In the course
of the siege Tolbuzin was killed, but the defense was carried
on by Athanasius Beiton so successfully that the Chinese re-
tired for the winter. In the spring of 1687, however, they
returned to the attack, but the Cossacks maintained a stubborn
resistance, even when but sixty-six of the eight hundred re-
mained alive, and when their supplies were nearly exhausted ;
so that the Chinese were compelled again to retire. Where-
upon peace negotiations began between Russia and China, and
hostilities were suspended, until in 1689 the treaty of Nerchinsk
was signed, which permanently closed the contest, and secured
peace along the whole border between China and Russia for
the next one hundred and sixty years.

Thus ends the first part of the story of Russia's conquests in
Asia. Altogether, from the setting out of Yermak to cross the
Urals in 1582, to the treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689, it covers a
period of one hundred and seven years, and represents an
amount of activity which has scarcely ever been equaled in
the same length of time, either in its character or its results.
In the light of the standards of the twentieth century, the
means pursued were often objectionable, but they conformed
to those employed by all the Christian nations of Europe in
their colonizing efforts of that time. The English in America
and the French in Canada were engaged during this period in
despoiling the Indians of their hunting-grounds, and in taking

180 ASIATIC RUSSIA

possession of all their natural privileges ; while the subsequent
fate of the aborigines of America has been far more deplorable
than that of the native races of Siberia. In entering upon
the succeeding chapter, which has to do chiefly with the in-
ternal development of Siberia, one is at first surprised that
the progress in Northern Asia has been so much slower than
that which followed the conquest of America. But when one
considers the natural difficulties in the way of introducing
civilized methods of life into the region, he may well wonder
that it proceeded as rapidly as it did.

IX

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

THE treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689 marks a long pause in
Russia's advance into Asiatic territory. For the next
one hundred and sixty years, the political boundary
of Siberia remained practically unchanged. During this
period, however, the settlement of the country was in prog-
ress, though at so slow a rate that it may well cause surprise.
In 1709 there was in Siberia a Russian population of less than
one hundred and fifty thousand, and at the beginning of the
nineteenth century there were scarcely more than five hundred
thousand Russians in the territory; whereas in the United
States the population of the settlements made on the Atlantic
coast about the same time with that of the entrance of the
Russians into Siberia had grown before the Revolutionary
War in the latter part of the eighteenth century to exceed
three million in number.

In looking for the causes for this slow development, we
shall find that they were numerous.

1. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Russia
herself was in a state of very backward development, and her
area was far from being over-populated. According to the
census of 1762, the total population of the Russian Empire was

181

1 82 ASIATIC RUSSIA

only about nineteen million, while twenty years later, under the
more trustworthy census of 1782, the population was not esti-
mated to be more than twenty-eight million. At the present
time, European Russia alone, outside of Poland, has a popula-
tion of ninety-four million. As the population of Russia is
still as formerly, agricultural, it is evident that during the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries over-crowding was not
an urgent reason for emigration. There was still room enough
west of the Urals for all the agricultural development that
could be desired.

2. However fertile the soil and favorable the conditions in
Siberia for raising agricultural products, the distances were
so great and the means of communication so difficult, that
markets were of necessity extremely limited, and therefore
there was little inducement for agriculturists to settle in the
country. From Perm to Tiumen across the Ural Mountains
is a distance of four hundred miles ; from Tiumen to Tobolsk
by the river is three hundred and fifty miles ; while to Tomsk
on the Obi is more than one thousand four hundred miles, and
to Omsk on the Irtysh nearly one thousand two hundred, —
distances which rendered the transportation of agricultural
products entirely impracticable. Had it not been that the great
rivers of Siberia poured their superfluous waters into an
Arctic Sea, they might have been the channels through which,
by cheap water carriage, the agricultural products of the coun-
try could have reached the marts of Western Europe and been
exchanged for those articles of necessity and luxury which
were needed to lend attractiveness to the hamlets and home-

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT 183

steads which were growing up upon the banks of the Obi and
its tributaries. As it was, the whole country was kept wait-
ing for the advent of steam and its transformation of all the
methods of traffic and travel. In this, however, the conditions
did not differ much from those in the United States, where
the Alleghany Mountains presented a barrier to emigration
until after the opening of the nineteenth century. When we
remember that, with all the facilities offered for transportation
on the Great Lakes, Chicago was but a village in 1830, and
that twenty years later it was considered doubtful whether
Minnesota could be profitably settled, and twenty years later
still it was a problem whether the Dakotas and the valley of
the Red River of the North could offer permanent induce-
ments to agricultural industry, we need not wonder that
Western and Central Siberia were left practically unsettled
until the dawn of the new era at the beginning of the twen-
tieth century.

3. There were, however, some special inducements to settle-
ment in Siberia which produced striking results. Professor
Shaler has somewhere maintained that the development of the
colonies in the United States was largely due to their cultiva-
tion of tobacco, — tobacco being a ready means of exchange in
the European markets for the manufactured products of which
the pioneers stood in most need. In Siberia there was one
constant source of profitable exchange in the valuable furs
which were produced in the more inhospitable portions of the
country. The collection of furs became, indeed, the leading
motive for entering Siberia at all, and large private fortunes

1 84 ASIATIC RUSSIA

frequently resulted from the traffic. On this account it was
that explorers and pioneers rushed with such impetuosity to
the farthest extremities of the most inhospitable portions of
the country. It was there that the fur-bearing animals were
found, and that the native populations resided whose skill
could be utilized in their capture. This constant procession of
hunters and trappers, and of the traders following in their
wake, furnished a limited market for agricultural products.
As this company had to live, they naturally gave support to a
limited number of agricultural colonists along the line ; and
so Siberia began to fill up with permanent settlers.

4. The discovery of mines in Siberia also furnished an in-
creasing demand for such agricultural products as could be
raised in their vicinity ; but the mines of Siberia which have
been developed are few, and mostly of rather late discovery.
Indeed, until the building of the Trans-Siberian railroad, the
coal deposits had scarcely been touched, while the iron mines
had been utilized only to a very limited degree. It is true that
in the vicinity of Minusinsk, far up in the valley of the Yeni-
sei, iron had been manufactured even in pre-historic time,
and a limited amount made for home consumption down to
the present time, while in Transbaikalia, two hundred miles
east of the lake, the government established in the eighteenth
century a blast furnace at Petrovskia, using charcoal from the
forests for fuel, and have continued to patronize it to the
present day. But all these efforts for the manufacture of iron
in Siberia up to the present century have been trifling. Even
now, in Central Asia it is not uncommon to see camels carry-

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT 185

ing bars of iron upon their backs which they have brought
more than five hundred miles into a mountainous region where
native coal and iron both abound.

The discovery of silver and gold in the vicinity of Ner-
chinsk, about the headwaters of the Amur River, early led to
extensive mining industries in that region. The mines were,
however, owned by the government, and were reserved for the
most part to be worked by prisoners. Still, the presence of
such a market furnished an inducement both for free emi-
grants who came in from Russia and for the settlement of pris-
oners who had served out their time of sentence. The prox-
imity of that far-off region to the markets of China by way
of the caravan route from Kiakhta to Kalgan across the Gobi
Desert was also an important advantage to the agricultural
settlers. The great development of gold-mining in the vicinity
of Yeniseisk, of the Altai Mountains, and on the Olekma and
Zeya rivers has been of comparatively recent date.

5. The policy of the Russian government in the transporta-
tion of criminals and political offenders has likewise from the
earliest times done something to secure the settlement of the
country. For, the prisoners must be fed and cared for and
provided with adequate overseers and guards, while agricul-
ture was not an occupation in which they could profitably
engage. It was in the mines chiefly that they could be em-
ployed ; hence the great numbers of them sent to Transbaikalia.
Others, whose crimes had been such that they could not be""
set at liberty were kept in close confinement, where, in default.^:

• y(~^. ...

of any employment which could be given them, they^wevre

■■■< >

1 86 ASIATIC RUSSIA

compelled to idle away their time at the public expense. But
all the same they had to be fed and clothed and guarded. In
short, the exile system of Siberia gave to the colonists all the
advantage of the markets furnished by the prisons which are
so much coveted by the local communities in the United States.
When a new prison is to be built in Ohio, there is a great
struggle between the towns of the State to secure it with the
consequent local expenditure of public money attending its
establishment.

The exile system of Siberia, therefore, has had no small part
in this indirect manner in the encouragment of the free coloni-
zation of the country ; while, as in Australia and other convict
colonies of Great Britain, the convicts themselves when joined
by their families have been no insignificant addition to the
permanent population of the country. This is of special signifi-
cance in Siberia, in view of the fact that many of the exiles
have been banished not for ordinary crimes, but for their re-
ligious convictions and their part in political revolutions. To
the religious devotees, banishment to Siberia has been so little
of a hardship, that it can scarcely be looked upon by them as
a punishment, since there they have had even freer scope than
they could have expected at home to perpetuate their views.
Indeed, so attractive to these sectarians has the free life of
Siberia been, that large numbers have, like the Pilgrims of
Massachusetts, voluntarily left their original homes for the
wider sphere of development which was open to them in this
new country. Hundreds of thousands of these may now be

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT 187

found in the vicinity of Tomsk, of Barnaul and of Verkhni
Udinsk, as well as in various other localities.

6. At the same time there were reasons at home for the
feeble prosecution of the work of colonizing Siberia. Ivan the
Terrible, under whom Yermak set out for the conquest of
Siberia in 1582, died three years later, leaving his throne to a
feeble-minded heir, Feodor, — and with Ivan the Terrible per-
ished the rule of the reigning house of Rurik, which had been
in authority since the ninth century, and through whose efforts
the Russian people had been sufficiently united to succeed in
driving back the Mongol invaders, who had at different times
partially conquered and desolated the land. It was a strange
episode in Russian history which followed. Feodor, the nomi-
nal Tsar, naturally surrendered the real authority to his
brother-in-law Boris Godunoff, an able and ambitious favorite
of Ivan the Terrible, and said to have been of Mongol
descent. The only other possible heir to the throne was Feo-
dor's brother, Dmitri, who was still a child. But soon after
(on the 15th of May, 1591) Dmitri came to an untimely end.
lie was playing with a knife in the courtyard of Uglich whither
he had been sent. His governess and nurse were near at hand.
But, while their backs were turned, his throat was cut in a
mysterious manner. The governess and the friends of Godu-
noff asserted that he must have cut himself during a fit of
epilepsy ; but the enemies of Godunoff, and they were many,
insisted that the lad had been killed by his adversaries to leave
the way open for the events which soon followed.

1 88 ASIATIC RUSSIA

In 1598 Feodor died, leaving the throne without an heir;
meanwhile Godunoff had shown great ability in the defense of
the country. He had defeated the Swedes on the west ; he
had beaten back the Mongols who had raided the country from
the Crimea; and in every way had strengthened the empire.
But on the death of Feodor, he retired to a monastery while
the people should choose a Tsar. After six weeks he was
prevailed upon to come out from his retirement and ascend the
throne. This, however, was not by any means acceptable to
all the people, and was especially offensive to the members of
the Romanoff family, who were allied to the house of Rurik,
and who aspired themselves to the position which that family
had so long occupied. These, however, were repressed by
Godunoff with a stern hand ; the head of the house being con-
fined in a monastery. An extensive famine in 1601 added to
the discontent. In the midst of all this, a pretender came
forth in Lithuania claiming to be the Dmitri who was sup-
posed to be dead. The story given out by him was that Godu-
noff had sent emissaries to assassinate him, but that a loyal
friend, hearing of it in advance, had substituted another boy
in his place, whom the assassins had killed, while he and his
friend had fled, and had secreted themselves until now.

This story gained such credence in Poland that the Pre-
tender soon had a large following, so that the King of Poland
publicly recognized him as the rightful Tsar, and on the 31st
of October, 1604, he was able to advance with an army as far
as Novgorod, where a battle took place on the 2d of January,
1605. Dmitri was defeated, but succeeded in making his es-

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT 189

cape; while a few weeks afterwards Godunoff suddenly died
under circumstances which indicated that he had been poisoned.
Whereupon GodunofFs ablest general, Basmanoff, joined the
forces of Dmitri, whom he had before so successfully defeated,
and soon after marched against Moscow, where Feodor, a son
of Godunoff, had been proclaimed Tsar, and was intrenching
himself. On the 20th of June, 1605, the false Dmitri entered
Moscow in triumph, and established his court in great splendor.
The triumph, however, was destined to be short. In less than
a year a counter-revolution had broken out, and he was killed,
or at any rate was supposed to be.

At three different later times, however, persons came for-
ward pretending to be Dmitri, who had not perished, but, it
was claimed, each time had mysteriously escaped from death.
Meanwhile the Poles invaded Russia, and defeated the army
under the very walls of Moscow, capturing Shuiskoi, who had
been elected Tsar, and Russia seemed to be on the verge of
dissolution, when deliverance was brought through the bra-
very and patriotism of a butcher from Nijni Novgorod named
Minin, who roused the people to arms, and, with the help of
the military skill of Prince Pozharski, succeeded in defeating
the Poles and driving them from the country. But Moscow
was for the most part in ashes, the treasures had been carried
away by the Poles, and the sufferings of the country in general
beggared description.

It was not until 161 3 that Michael Romanoff, the first of
the present reigning dynasty, was elected Tsar, and he was
but a youth of sixteen. But he associated with him his father

190 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Philarete, whom he had appointed patriarch. Under this new
leadership the country was speedily pacified and restored to its
former prosperity ; while Russia began the more intimate rela-
tions with Western Europe which have characterized her later
history. Many English, Scotch, French, Dutch, German, and
Swedish families were induced to come into the country and
give it the aid of their knowledge and skill.

In 1645 Michael was succeeded by his son Alexis, who codi-
fied the laws, and annexed the borderlands known as the
Ukraine, on the southwest, which had been occupied by inde-
pendent Cossacks, and by treaty extended the domains of
Russia to the Dnieper River. His reign was disturbed by the
rebellion of a Cossack named Stanka Razin in 1648, who se-
cured a following of two hundred thousand men, capturing
Astrakhan, and holding in subjection the whole country from
Nijni Novgorod to Kazan. It was not until 1671 that this bold
outlaw was captured and his forces dispersed. Five years later
Alexis died, after a reign which, notwithstanding its external
troubles, had been fruitful in greatly improving the internal
condition of the country. As the two sons by his first wife,
who would naturally inherit the crown, were both of them
too infirm in health properly to exercise the duties of the posi-
tion, their elder sister Sophia was appointed regent. But the
external troubles continued to increase until 1689, when Peter
the Great, a son of Alexis's second wife, came to the throne,
and began his illustrious career.

Thus during this first century of Siberian exploration from
the setting-out of Yermak in 1582 to the treaty of Nerchinsk

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT 191

in 1689, the affairs of the home government were in such a
disturbed condition that there is little wonder at the feeble
support which was extended to the hardy pioneers of the new
empire in Asia, and at the small amount of supervision which
was exercised over their conduct. Even the deportation of
prisoners to Siberia was carried on with little regard to sys-
tem. This began as early as 1581. But, much to the advan-
tage of Siberia, the exiles of the first century were in general
not criminals in the accepted sense of that term, but political
prisoners, insurgents, and religious dissenters. In 1658 the
nonconformist priest Avvakum (whose autobiography is still
one of the most popular books among the more devoutly re-
ligious people of Russia), was led in chains with the exploring
party of Pashkoff when he advanced along the headwaters of
the Amur to retrieve the misfortunes which had attended the
explorers coming in from another direction. Many of these
exiles became most loyal and valuable citizens, and did good
work in laying the foundations for the subsequent prosperity
of the country.

Nor were the conditions in Europe during the eighteenth
century much more favorable for advancing the interests of
civilization in Siberia. The attention of Peter the Great dur-
ing his long reign from 1689 to 1725 was too much occupied
with the development of European Russia, and with the ad-
justments of its relations to Western Europe, to permit his
giving much attention to Asiatic interests; so that Siberia's
development was left to the slowly working natural causes
which were in operation, and which, as we have seen, were,

192 ASIATIC RUSSIA

for the most part, adverse to the rapid growth of civilization.
Peter was keenly alive to the possibilities of his Asiatic do-
main, but his efforts were chiefly limited to the organization
of scientific parties of exploration. In 1719 Daniel Amadeus
Messerschmidt was sent into Siberia to make inquiries into
the natural history of the country, and returned in 1727 with
a vast amount of information, which still serves as the nucleus
of all our present knowledge of Siberian natural history. Not
far from the same time two ships were sent out by Peter from
Archangel to explore the frozen ocean to the east, but neither
of them was ever heard from afterwards. Nothing daunted,
however, he immediately began preparing a new expedition
which he put in charge of the celebrated Dane who was in his
service, Captain Vitus Bering. For him he had two vessels
built at Okhotsk, from which place he set out in 1725, the
year of Peter's death. As the result of this expedition, Bering's
Strait was rediscovered, and the separation of Asia from
America became a practical part of the world's knowledge,
though, as we have seen, the Cossack Dejneff had already
made the discovery eighty years before. In the Iron Works at
" Petrovskia," two hundred miles to the east of Lake Baikal,
we have continued evidence of Peter's far-sighted interest,
since it was he that established it to provide for the necessities
of that inaccessible country.

During many years subsequent to the death of Peter the
Great in 1725, the throne of Russia was occupied by vacillating
and inefficient monarchs, two of whom were women, who did
little for the material interests even of the mother country.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT 193

But the unpatriotic German influences of Anna's reign con-
ferred a great favor upon Siberia by banishing to it, in 1730,
a number of the most patriotic and intelligent of the Russian
nobles, among whom were those belonging to the Dolgorouki
and Golitzan families. An important service was also rendered
both to Russia's own possessions and to the world by con-
tinuing the scientific exploration of Siberia by Messerschmidt
and his associates and successors from 1733 to 1742; while in
1755 the University of Moscow was founded, which, with that
already founded at St. Petersburg, continued to foster these
scientific investigations in Asiatic territory. In 1768 the cele-
brated Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin and the still more distinguished
scientific investigator Peter Simon Pallas were sent into Asia
for scientific explorations, each being accompanied by a num-
ber of assistants. Gmelin advanced along the Caspian Sea into
the north of Persia, returning after four years with a vast
amount of information concerning the natural history of the
southern and western parts of the great Aral-Caspian de-
pression. Pallas followed along the northern shoreline of this
same depression, giving us what is still the best presentation
of the evidence of the former enlargement of its inland seas.
He then crossed the Urals, and pursued his course via Omsk
to the Altai Mountains, and from thence, in 1771, to Kras-
noyarsk, on the Yenisei, while in 1772 he went as far east as
Lake Baikal, crossing it and ascending the Selenga River as
far as the Chinese border. Meanwhile one of his associates
had descended the Obi River and returned to join the main
party. It was not until 1774 that Pallas returned to St. Peters-

i94 ASIATIC RUSSIA

burg. So important was his work that his voluminous reports
were translated into both French and English, and are looked
upon as marking an epoch in the progress of the natural
sciences.

Catharine II. began her illustrious reign in 1762. But,
though she cast longing eyes upon her eastern possessions,
she was too busily occupied with the partition of Poland, the
conquest of the Crimea, the subjugation of the Zaporoghian
Cossacks, and the putting down of the Pretender Pugatcheff,
a Cossack of the Don, who claimed to be none other than
her husband Peter III. whom she had deposed, to take any
effective measures for either their enlargement or develop-
ment. She is said, however, to have been much impressed by
the desire of Peter the Great, expressed in the last year of his
life, to visit Siberia and the land of the Tunguses, and pene-
trate to the wall of China. On having her attention called to
these plans of Peter, Catharine remarked, "If the Amur were
useful only as a convenient route to supply our possessions
in Kamchatka and on the Sea of Okhotsk, its possession would
be important." But nothing came of these vague desires, ex-
cept some insignificant revisions of the treaties regulating the
overland trade with China. Meanwhile the French Revolution
burst upon the world and clouded the whole western horizon.
For a little it seemed as though the Emperors Paul and Alex-
ander I. would fall in with the advice of Napoleon, and divert
the attention of the enemies of France from the immediate
disturbances at their own doors to a grand policy of oriental
expansion in which Russia should advance with the co-opera-

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT 195

tion of France as her ally. But fortune did not so order, and
for twenty years the energy of Russia was absorbed in thwart-
ing the plans of the great French reformer, the dramatic
culmination being reached when a French army far greater
and more formidable than that which the Mongols ever brought
into the field, advanced from the west, as the Mongols had
done from the east, to capture the ancient capital of the Mus-
covite Empire.

It was during the eighteenth century, however, that Russia
established her temporary occupation of northwestern America.
This was the result of Bering's expedition in 1741, during
which he was wrecked to perish on Bering's Island. This
expedition was but a supplement to the previous one in 1728
upon which he was sent by Peter the Great. Soon after the
explorations by Bering, Russian fur-traders established them-
selves at various points along the American coast, but it was
not until 1799 that the Russo- American Fur Company was
chartered and given control of what is now known as Alaska.
With their headquarters at New Archangel, or Sitka, this
company carried on trade, and under the protection of Russia
built up industries with varying degrees of success, until 1867,
when the whole territory was ceded to the United States.

The eighteenth century was also marked in Siberian history
by the extension of the Russian border to the north end of
the Caspian Sea, and to the headwaters of the Tobol and Ishim
rivers, thence to Lake Balkash, and eastward along the Sun-
garian depression by Lake Zaisan to the Altai Mountains ;
thus including Semipalatinsk and the middle portion of the

196 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Irtysh River. The way for this occupation had b^en paved
by the gradual extension of trade in that direction. To such
an extent had trade with the Mongolian tribes in Central
Asia been fostered, even as early as the middle of the seven-
teenth century, that, in 1665, the Russian merchants sent
Theodor Baikoff by this route to China to represent their
interests. He proceeded up the Irtysh River past Lake Zaisan,
from which point he was seventeen days in reaching the sources
of the Irtysh whence he went on to China to fulfill his mission.
Little, however, came of it, its failure being partly due to
the growth of the Sungarian kingdom of Kalmuck Tartars,
which about this time rapidly spread its power over a large
part of central Turkestan, including Kashgar, Yarkand, Ko-
kand, and indeed over the whole range of the Tian-Shan Moun-
tains, and successfully maintained its position until utterly
destroyed by the Chinese in 1756.

Attention had been directed to the Kalmuck-Tartar king-
dom, also, by an expedition of Peter the Great in 1714. This
was under command of Colonel Bukholts, who was expected
to find deposits of gold on the Irket River. It was during
this expedition, which met with various fortunes, that the
fortress was built at Omsk, and in 1718 the first fortress
at Semipalatinsk. Later the party visited Lake Zaisan, and
went twelve days farther up the Irtysh River, where it met
a large army of Kalmucks, which led them to return to Semi-
palatinsk. Two years later a fortification was established at
Kansk, and soon after a line of fortifications westward to
Orenburg, which remained substantially the southern border

Old Fortress at Omsk.

•-!»-*

Typical Street in a Siberian Village.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT 197

of Asiatic possessions for more than a hundred years. Mean-
while Semipalatinsk became an important center of trade with
China and Central Asia.

Thus limited on the southwest by the watershed of the Aral-
Caspian depression, on the south by the impassable Sayan
Mountain chain, and on the southeast by the watershed be-
tween the Amur and Lena basins, Siberia remained in com-
parative obscurity until, about the middle of the ninetenth
century, it began to feel the swelling tide of the new forces
material, political, and social, which have everywhere so trans-
formed the face of history. Meanwhile Russia was steadily
increasing in population, and feeling more and more the need
of enlarged opportunities for extension and development.
From a population of fourteen million in 1722, the population
had risen to forty-one million in 1812 and sixty-eight million
in 1 85 1 ; while that of Siberia was at the beginning of the
nineteenth century only about five hundred thousand.

It must also be noted that it was during the eighteenth
century that Russia came into possession of the Kingdom of
Georgia in Central Caucasia. This ancient kingdom whose
history goes back upwards of two thousand years, had
become weakened by long conflict with the Tartars and the
Turks and later with the Persians, so that as early as 1774
it placed itself under the protection of Russia. In 1799 the
last king, George XIII., was so disheartened by the condition
of affairs that he renounced his crown in favor of Russia ;
thus giving to the Russians a vantage-ground for the ultimate
possession of the entire region of the Caucasus.

THE OCCUPATION OF THE AMUR

THE last half of the nineteenth century has witnessed
the expansion of Russia to its natural limits in the
southwest, and its acquisition of an important van-
tage-ground in the southeast. As the new movement towards
the Pacific Ocean began a little earlier than the other, we
will first trace the course of events in that region.

By the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689, the boundary between
the Russian and Chinese empires in the east, beginning at
the mouth of the Gorbitza River, followed it to its source in
the Yablonoi Mountains, and thence northeastward along the
crest of this range to the Sea of Okhotsk near Ayan ; thus
surrendering to China all the northern basin of the Amur
River below the junction of its two principal branches, the
Shilka and the Argun. No efforts were made by the Russians
to disturb this boundary until the middle of the nineteenth
century. Indeed, during this period the Russian statesmen
were over-scrupulous in their observance of the terms of the
treaty, lest they should disturb their interests in the caravan
route from Kiakhta to Kalgan over which most of the traffic
to China was conducted.

The grand instigator of the movements leading to the

198

THE OCCUPATION OF THE AMUR 199

cession of the north banks of the Amur was Nikolai Nikolaie-
vitch Muravieff, whose monument fitly stands in a conspicu-
ous place at Khabarovsk, the present capital of the Maritime
Provinces, and who later was made Count Amurski.

In 1847 Muravieff, when only thirty-eight years old, was
appointed, by Tsar Nicholas I., governor-general of Eastern
Siberia, and in 1848 went to Irkutsk, the provincial capital.
Here his study of the conditions on the Pacific coast led him
to appreciate the great advantages to Russia of gaining posses-
sion of a direct route to the Pacific through the Amur River.
His sense of the importance of this river to Russian dominion
in the east was greatly enhanced on the following year when
he undertook a journey to Okhotsk, and from thence by sea
to Kamchatka. Leaving Irkutsk upon the 15th of May (O. S.),
two months and ten days were required to complete the journey.
The season of his arrival at Petropavlovsk was that best cal-
culated to set off the beauties of this bay, in all its magnificence,
which, indeed, rivals in its natural features the finest harbors
of the world. With characteristic forethought, Muravieff laid
plans for the future fortification of the harbor on a grand
scale, and at the same time provided for such temporary
strengthening of the position as could be effected with the ten
small guns and the few hundred soldiers which the place con-
tained.

Going south from Petropavlovsk, Muravieff approached the
mouth of the Amur River, and there awaited the arrival of
Admiral Nevelskoy, whom, on the eve of his appointment, he
had met at St. Petersburg, and whom he had imbued with

200 ASIATIC RUSSIA

his sense of the importance of the Amur River. Soon after,
Nevelskoy had been despatched on the transport Baikal to
co-operate with Muravieff ; and the two met again near the
mouth of the Amur on September 3, 1849. Nevelskoy having
come up from the south of the Gulf of Tartary, pushing his
way northward through the narrow strait separating Sakhalin
from the main land, made the discovery that Sakhalin was
an island, and that the mouth of the Amur could be approached
from the south. This channel, however, is so narrow and
lined with so many projecting promontories that it had easily
escaped detection, and was unknown to the English officers
a few years later, when it played so important a part in the
affairs connected with the Crimean War.

Returning to Irkutsk in 1849, Muravieff pressed upon the
government the importance of strengthening its position upon
the Pacific coast, and secured authority to transfer the center
of naval operations in the Pacific from Okhotsk to Petropav-
lovsk, with which he had been so much delighted, and at the
same time to create a small fleet and to occupy a position
near the mouth of the Amur River. In following out Muravi-
eff's instructions, however, Nevelskoy found it impracticable
to secure safe winter quarters near the mouth of the Amur
without entering the river itself. He therefore ascended it
about twenty miles, and established his quarters, and raised
the Russian flag at Nikolaievsk.

In 1850 both Muravieff and Nevelskoy returned to St. Peters-
burg to report in person upon the transactions of the previous
year. They found the opinion of the ministry much averse to

THE OCCUPATION OF THE AMUR 201

their plans, Nesselrode earnestly arguing that they should at
once retreat from the Amur. Nicholas I. was so op-
posed to having the Russian flag lowered where it had once
been hoisted, that the station at the mouth of the Amur was
retained, though to the Chinese it was represented to be
merely a station of the " Russo-American Company."

On returning to his post in 1851, Muravieff at once took
measures to increase the military force in Transbaikalia. This
he did by practically freeing the crown peasants in Nerchinsk
from their serfdom, and organizing them into Cossack regi-
ments. He also organized regiments of Tunguses and Buriats.
With a male population of twenty-nine thousand in Trans-
baikalia he was able thus to secure twelve battalions, each of
one thousand two hundred men available for offensive and
defensive purposes. The conversion of the peasants into Cos-
sacks at Nerchinsk was accompanied with great demonstra-
tions of joy.

Meanwhile Nevelskoy had returned to the Pacific, and with
the very few men at his command had proceeded in open boats
to survey more completely the lower part of the Amur. The
winter of 1852 was employed in a partial survey of Sakhalin.
The result of Nevelskoy 's explorations was the occupation by
the Russians of the Bay of De Kastri, which projects west-
ward from the Gulf of Tartary, about latitude fifty-one degrees,
towards Lake Kizi, which forms almost a continuous connec-
tion with the Amur River about two hundred miles above its
mouth, lying in a longitudinal depression which is thought by
some to have been the ancient river channel, through which

202 ASIATIC RUSSIA

it took a short cut to the sea. The possession of this bay
and its line of connection with the river, it was easy to see,
was essential to the military protection of the river itself.
Upon receiving from the Tsar approval of his conduct in
1853, Nevelskoy explored the Island of Sakhalin more care-
fully, and in accordance with the intimation received from the
central government, took the first step towards its occupation
by the Russians.

In the following year, political events in Europe began to
give great significance to the preparations which Muravieff
and Nevelskoy had been making for the protection and en-
largement of Russian interests in the east. The Crimean War
was in progress, and it was a matter of great importance for
the allied forces to destroy the Russian fleet on the Pacific
coast, small though it was. Protected in their commodious
harbor on the coast of Kamchatka, Russian vessels could issue
forth at opportune times, and prey upon the vast commerce
of the Pacific Ocean. Thus Muravieff could easily foresee
that, as a part of the military operations tending to cripple
Russian power, an effort would be made to destroy the Rus-
sian fleet in the Pacific and to capture the settlements. He
therefore took wise provision towards strengthening the har-
bor at Petropavlovsk, and set on foot measures to reinforce
the struggling Russian settlements at the mouth of the Amur.
The plan proposed to accomplish the latter object was to build
a river fleet at the head of the Amur and use it for the trans-
portation of a few thousand soldiers to the mouth of the river.

The explorations already carried on had shown that the

THE OCCUPATION OF THE AMUR 203

Amur was but thinly occupied by the Chinese, and that there
would be no serious difficulty in obtaining from the Chinese
government permission to navigate the river for the purpose
of strengthening in the present emergency the Russian posses-
sions on the Pacific. In order to facilitate matters, Muravieff
obtained plenary power to deal directly with the Peking foreign
office. But the urgency was such that it would not do to await
the slow progress of Chinese diplomacy. It was resolved
therefore to send the reinforcements down the Amur at all
hazards, and, if necessary, to obtain permission afterwards.

On the 14th of May, 1854, the flotilla which Muravieff had
been preparing on the Shilka River set out for its descent to
the mouth of the Amur. A steamer had been built (the first
to venture upon these waters), and seventy-five barges and
rafts constructed. The flotilla carried eight hundred regular sol-
diers, a division of mountain artillery and a regiment of Cos-
sacks, besides a large amount of provisions and stores designed
both for immediate use and for trans-shipment to Kamchatka.
The expedition passed safely down the river, reaching the pres-
ent site of Blagovestchensk on May 28. Here a pause was made
to communicate with the Chinese governor of Aigun, the forti-
fied town on the Chinese side a few miles below. Not caring
to have so formidable a force, and especially a steamboat,
which he had never seen before, remain in his vicinity, the
Chinese governor petulantly sent them on, so that they reached
the mouth of the Sungari on the 2d of June, and of the Usuri
on the 5th. Upon seeing the conspicuous promontory below
the mouth of the Usuri, Muravieff exclaimed, " Here there

204 ASIATIC RUSSIA

shall be a town," and here, indeed, has grown the picturesque
and influential capital named after the original discoverer,
Khabarovsk; but from its most conspicuous point rises the
heroic statue of Muravieff, its real founder.

On the 14th of June the flotilla reached Mariinsk, the forti-
fied settlement upon the Amur lying opposite the Bay of De
Kastri and connected with it by the depression of Lake Kizi.
At De Kastri Bay, Muravieff found Nevelskoy awaiting him,
and the two proceeded to distribute the reinforcements to the
best advantage, stationing a few hundred in this vicinity, but
sending four hundred to Kamchatka to reinforce the fortress
at Petropavlovsk, which they did not reach any too soon, since
the French and English squadron were already well on their
way to attack it.

This important harbor was defended by only a thousand
men, including those who had just arrived, as well as the
natives and civilian volunteers. Thirty-nine guns, and they so
scattered that a concentrated fire was impossible, were all the
Russians could bring into operation from the land, but two
Russian gunboats anchored in the inner harbor were able on
occasion to bring into action sixty-five more. The Anglo-
French squadron which formed the attacking party had a
total of two hundred and thirty-six guns distributed on six
vessels. On the 20th of August (new style Sept. 2), 1854, the
first successful attack was made, and on the 24th the second
attack, which ended in disaster, resulting in the loss to the
allies of three hundred out of a thousand men who had made
a desperate attempt to carry the fortress by storm. On the

THE OCCUPATION OF THE AMUR 205

following day the allied fleet retired, and the history of
the Russian victory began to spread over Siberia, where it
aroused to the highest pitch the patriotic enthusiasm of all
classes.

Muravieff had thus saved the Russian government from dis-
aster, both by his far-sighted preparations when first visiting
Kamchatka, and by the timely reinforcements which he had
brought down the Amur. But his comprehensive mind quickly
foresaw that the following year would witness a still more
determined attack of the allies upon the Russian interests in
the Pacific. He therefore at once began laying plans to meet
the emergency. Ordering the abandonment of Petropavlovsk,
he had its garrison and all the Russian flotilla concentrate
about the mouth of the Amur, while he with great rapidity
pushed forward preparations for sending down further rein-
forcements the following year from Transbaikalia, whither
he had returned. One hundred and thirty new barges were
built, sufficient to carry seven thousand tons, three thousand
men were enlisted, and a large number of families were se-
cured who were willing to form settlements along the line of
the river. During the winter cannon were dragged overland
from the Ural Mountains for a distance of three thousand
miles to be in readiness for an early advance in the spring.
A trusted agent was despatched overland a distance of more
than five thousand miles to order the evacuation of Petro-
pavlovsk and the concentration of the forces at the mouth of
the Amur. The departure from Petropavlovsk was accom-
plished by sawing through the ice on the 5th of April, and

206 ASIATIC RUSSIA

then by eluding the English cruisers under the protection of
a dense fog.

The evacuating forces from Petropavlovsk safely reached
their destination, but the condition of the Russian forces at
the mouth of the Amur was exceedingly critical. The river
would not be free from ice for some weeks, and the entire
fleet was compelled to take refuge in De Kastri Bay, which
was open to attack from the English squadron, which was
already patrolling the Gulf of Tartarv to the south of them,
and on May n had been sighted by the Russians. But at this
time it was generally supposed that Sakhalin was a peninsula,
and that the Gulf of Tartary ended in a pocket a short dis-
tance to the north of De Kastri. This ignorance of the geo-
graphical conditions on the part of the English admiral led
him to believe that, since the escape of the Russians to the
north was impossible, it would be wiser for him to watch the
movements of the enemy from the south, and await reinforce-
ments which would assure him of success. But Nevelskoy,
taking advantage of a fog a few days after, made the best
use of his more perfect geographical knowledge, and con-
ducted his fleet through the straits to the mouth of the river
in which the ice had just broken up.

Meanwhile the English fleet had returned to De Kastri Bay
to find it abandoned, but supposing that they must be in some
other place of concealment, Commodore Elliott kept sailing
fruitlessly backwards and forwards for some time in a vain
endeavor to find their place of retreat, until finally he con-
cluded that the Russian fleet must have passed southward

THE OCCUPATION OF THE AMUR 207

during the fog, and have set out by circumnavigating Sak-
halin to reach the Sea of Okhotsk. On this theory he followed,
on in that direction, appearing at Ayan on the 27th of
June, only to find that it, like Petropavlovsk, had been evacu-
ated. After frittering away the entire season in these mis-
directed efforts, the English fleet at last on October 17 re-
tired to winter quarters, and left the Russians in undisturbed
possession of their Pacific settlements.

But Muravieff had not been inactive. In the early part of
May he had set out with more than a hundred barges and
with three thousand men to descend the river a second time
with an armed force. Again the Chinese at Aigun were aston-
ished at his sudden appearance, but as he was awaiting direct
information from Peking he paid no attention to the protests
of the local officials, and the Chinese's occupation of the river
banks was so nearly nominal that no resistance was offered.
Nor was there any difficulty in establishing along the north
side of the river numerous Russian settlements which should
be able to render assistance to future parties going up or down
the river. Twelve barges of settlers were indeed taken at this
time to the lower part of the Amur, where the peasants selected
for themselves the most eligible agricultural locations along
the river.

On September 8 of this same year, Muravieff met by ap-
pointment the Chinese plenipotentiaries whom he had requested
to have sent down to his headquarters at Mariinsk. To these
he made the definite proposal that the Russians should be
permitted to keep the settlements they had already made about

208 ASIATIC RUSSIA

the mouth of the Amur in order to protect it against the
aggressions of foreign powers, and further that the Russians
should be permitted to establish a chain of settlements upon
the north bank of the Amur. Without waiting for their assent,
he quietly sent, through them, to Peking notice that he intended
the following year to bring another expedition down the Amur
for the establishment of settlements sufficient to keep up com-
munication between the interior and the fortresses already
established about the mouth of the river.

Hastening back overland by way of Irkutsk, Muravieff hur-
ried preparations during the winter for another expedition.
But successful as his plans had so far been, they did not meet
the entire approval of the authorities at St. Petersburg. Nes-
selrode continued to advocate a policy of excessive conciliation
toward China, and was unduly alarmed at the encroachments
which had already been made upon Chinese territory and
sovereignty. It was therefore necessary for Muravieff to
leave to his trusted lieutenants the preparations for the ensuing
expedition, while he hastened to St. Petersburg to explain
the situation more fully, and to use his influence to win more
active support to his policy.

It is well to remark, in passing, that it is difficult for the
ordinary reader to appreciate the physical as well as the mental
strain which must be endured to accomplish the feats which
have been here rapidly recounted. Year after year we find
Muravieff and his associates traveling with great regularity
at all seasons backwards and forwards across the vast and in-
hospitable wastes of Eastern Siberia. In his anxiety to prepare

THE OCCUPATION OF THE AMUR 209

for the second expedition down the Amur, Muravieff set out
on horseback before the ice had broken up to follow down
the bank of the river in advance of the expedition. In the
autumn the return had to be made by the way of Ayan, on
the Sea of Okhotsk, which involved a journey of three thou-
sand miles upon foot and horseback in the worst season of
the year, in order to reach Irkutsk in time to complete his
preparation for the coming season ; while from Irkutsk to St.
Petersburg, a journey which he undertook almost immediately,
was not much less than four thousand miles.

Although peace had been declared by the allies, and the
Treaty of Paris had been signed, MuraviefFs third expedition
down the Amur was by no means abandoned. Again a flotilla
of more than one hundred boats and rafts, and carrying more
than one thousand six hundred men, started down that river
in the middle of May in 1856. Arriving at Aigun on the 21st
of May, a short parley was had with the local officers, who
said they would make no objections to the passage of the
Russians up and down the stream, but that they were not
prepared to acquiesce in the establishment of settlements along
the bank. Nevertheless, four settlements, namely, Kumarski,
Ust-Zeiski, (the present Blagovestchensk), Khinghanski, and
Sungarieski, were established at about equal distances apart ;
thus giving the Russians virtual possession of the north bank
of the river.

The utility of these settlements was demonstrated all too
soon. Upon the conclusion of the war, two thousand seven
hundred soldiers, no longer needed at the mouth of the Amur,

210 ASIATIC RUSSIA

were ordered in the summer of 1856 to return to the interior
along the bank of the river, and provisions were provided
for them at the above named stations, but the delays in making
headway against the currents, and the difficulty of finding the
way in the lower part of the Amur, where the breadth of the
stream is from twelve to fifteen miles, and often divided into
numerous blind channels, were so great, that all of the troops
were late in reaching their destination. Indeed one detach-
ment of four hundred early in October were caught at Ku-
marski by the freezing ice, and had to remain there until the
last of the month, when it was frozen sufficiently hard to bear
them upon the surface. But their supplies of provisions were
insufficient, and they were ill-clad, and their shoes worn out;
so that more than one hundred of their number perished on
the way, and the remnant reached the head of the Amur only
in the middle of winter.

But in 1857 Muravieff was again at his post upon the Upper
Amur with another expedition ready to go down the river, this
time prepared for establishing more numerous stations upon
the north bank. At the same time Admiral Putiatin was ap-
pointed on a special mission to Peking to settle the frontier
question. Not being permitted to cross the Mongolian desert
by the caravan route from Kiakhta to Kalgan and Peking, he
was compelled to descend the river with Muravieff and make
his way by water to Tientsin, where he was met by the Chinese
commissioners, only to be baffled in all his efforts to bring
matters to a conclusion.

Meanwhile Muravieff remained on the Amur, and sue-

THE OCCUPATION OF THE AMUR 211

ceeded in settling Cossacks at convenient distances from each
other along the entire length of the river as far down as the
Little Khingan Mountains, while a larger force was left at
Blagovestchensk, at the mouth of the Zeya, to meet any hostile
demonstration that might be made by the Chinese from Aigun ;
thus completing the actual occupation by the Russians of
the north bank of the river. The ease with which it had been
accomplished is the best evidence that the Chinese really had
no just rights in the territory thus occupied. There were, in
fact, no Chinese worth speaking of living in the country, and
China was doing nothing for its advantage; while the native
tribes were friendly to Russian rule. In fact, it appeared
that the Chinese had for the last one hundred and fifty years
kept the Russians from the use of this natural channel for
commerce so essential to them by a great game of bluff suc-
cessfully played in the preliminaries to the treaty of Nerchinsk.
After visiting St. Petersburg in 1858, Muravieff made
preparations to conduct another expedition with a still larger
number of settlers into the newly acquired territory. As the
Chinese Empire was at this time distracted by the successful
progress of the Taiping Rebellion, she was now more ready
to consider the question of adjusting anew her relations with
Russia upon the northern boundary, and on account of the
increasing difficulties with England and France, who were
threatening all her seaports, she preferred to conduct the nego-
tiations upon the border itself. Commissioners were therefore
despatched to Aigun, where they intercepted Muravieff as he
was descending the river on May II, 1858. Here he proposed

212 ASIATIC RUSSIA

to them the terms of a treaty by which China should cede to
Russia the entire territory to which she had laid claim north
of the Amur and east of the Usuri River, and a strip of
territory beyond the headwaters of the Usuri extending to
the Korean border, and including the Bay of Peter the Great
upon which Vladivostok now stands. The Chinese and Rus-
sians were to be granted exclusive rights to navigate these
two rivers, and free trade was to be allowed. Among the
arguments with which the Russians urged the acceptance of
this treaty was that the Chinese in 1689 had used undue force
in negotiating the treaty of Nerchinsk ; and it was true that
while the Russian plenipotentiary was at that time almost un-
attended, the Chinese were present with a large army. As
much as possible was also made of certain infractions of the
treaty and of the natural rights of Russians, of which the
Chinese Government had been guilty.

Such was the vigor with which Muravieff pressed his points,
that, five days after, namely on the 16th of May, 1858, the
treaty was signed by both parties. This is known as the
Treaty of Aigun, and is the basis upon which the relations
between China and Russia were adjusted during the rest of
the century. The few Chinese who were living upon the north
side of the Amur on the fertile prairies below the mouth of
the Zeya were permitted to remain and to be responsible to
the Chinese authorities. It was upon the return of Muravieff
to the station at the mouth of the Zeya River, a few miles
above Aigun, that that place received the name of Blagovest-
chensk (Good Tidings), in special recognition of the thanks

THE OCCUPATION OF THE AMUR 213

that were due to God, whose hand was recognized in the suc-
cessful issue of the long and arduous undertaking which had
resulted in the acquisition of this vast territory and of this
direct line of communication with the eastern ocean.

In recognition of his great work, Muravieff was accorded
the title of Count Amurski; and he continued for some time
to promote with great energy the interests of the newly ac-
quired territory. The city of Khabarovsk was founded and
named after the original Cossack explorer who had here de-
fended himself against the Manchus one hundred and fifty
years before. Muravieff also ascended the Sungari River in
a steamer, and secured the formal right of its navigation by
the Russians, a right, however, which was never claimed in
practice until near the close of the century, after negotiations
had been made for the construction of the Chinese Eastern
railway through Manchuria. On the following year he took
measures for the survey of the country and the construction
of maps, and selected the harbor of Vladivostok as the center
of Russian naval power on the Pacific. Emigration to the
new territory was encouraged in every way, order was every-
where rapidly established, and thereby an uninterrupted course
of prosperity was opened up both to the region itself and to
all the territory in the interior made accessible by the new line
of communication. During the next forty years nearly half a
million Russian settlers entered the country, and engaged in
building up on every hand the institutions which accompany
and characterize a high civilization. In 1872 the Russian
naval station at Nikolaievsk, near the mouth of the Amur,

214 ASIATIC RUSSIA

was formally transferred to Vladivostok, which, fifteen years
later, became also the terminus of the great Trans-Siberian
railroad.

It is impossible to overestimate the extent and value of
what Muravieff did for the interests of the Russian Empire
upon the Pacific. During the fifteen years of his administra-
tion, the Russian territory upon the Pacific slope had been
augmented by the addition of more than three hundred and
fifty thousand square miles of territory, fully one half of which
is admirably adapted to Russian colonization, a territory nearly
one fifth as large as European Russia, and capable of support-
ing a population of several million souls. One of the noblest
river systems in the world was opened to the free navigation
of Russian ships, mining interests of unmeasured value are
brought within the reach of civilization, and a harbor as
splendid as that of Constantinople or Rio Janeiro was made
available for the Russian Empire upon the Pacific, and all this
had been accomplished without bloodshed and without dis-
turbing the friendly relations existing between Russia, that
received the gift, and China, that bestowed it. It was under
Muravieff's advice, also, that Alaska was ceded to the United
States, and the enterprise of Russia limited to the eastern
continent.

Leaving for a while this great region to develop under the
natural influences set in operation by Muravieff, we will turn
our attention, in the following chapter, to the expansion of
Russia in the southwest, and follow the course of events which
led to the final subjection of the Tartar tribes of Turkestan,
and of the indomitable but troublesome tribes of the Caucasus.

.*>>

J&\. ^*^ mm 'S^d^Ss: mm.-.

A Stall in the Bazaar at Tashkent.

Civilized Kirghiz Tartars.

XI

THE OCCUPATION OF TURKESTAN

THERE is no natural political boundary line between
Siberia and the Aral-Caspian basin. The watershed
between the two areas lies approximately along the
fiftieth parallel of north latitude, but is marked only by a
gentle swell of land scarcely anywhere more than a thousand
feet above the sea, and presenting no barrier to the passage of
predatory tribes. It may rather be said to form a kind of
bridge connecting the Tian-Shan range with the Urals through
a distance of about one thousand two hundred miles. Over
this entire area the Kirghiz Tartars freely roam, finding in one
place or another, pasturage for their flocks throughout the
entire year. An imaginary line drawn from Orenburg to Semi-
palatinsk following the course of this watershed formed the
practical boundary between the Russian settlers in Western
Siberia and the Tartar tribes of Turkestan from the time of
the conquest in the early part of the seventeenth century to
the middle of the nineteenth. But from the nature of the case
it was a very unsatisfactory line. The Cossack defenders were
few, and their stations far apart ; while the nomad tribes who
traverse long distances with their caravans, could easily
concentrate at any point, and, overpowering the guards, make

215

216 ASIATIC RUSSIA

incursions upon Russian territory. Not satisfied with carry-
ing away property, they also made slaves of their captives.
As late as the last quarter of the nineteenth century many
Russian slaves were found in Khiva when it was captured by
General Kaufmann.

We have already seen that a Russian fort and trading-point
had been established at Semipalatinsk in the early part of the
eighteenth century. But no farther advance into Turkestan
was made until 183 1, when the Russians established a fortified
settlement at Sergiopol, about two hundred miles southwest of
Semipalatinsk, and well within the drainage basin of Lake
Balkash. Previous to this, however, a number of scientific
explorers had penetrated to the interior of Asia through the
Sungarian depression between the Tarbagatai and the Ala-tau
range. Indeed, the Russian botanist Sivers had visited the
region in 1793; while some Russian merchants about 1820
had traversed the entire distance between Semipalatinsk and
Kashgar; and in 1828 the illustrious Humboldt had visited
Semipalatinsk, and, after ascending the Irtysh River nearly
to Lake Zaisan, had collected from the itineraries of earlier
travelers information which shed much light upon the physical
geography of the region. Humboldt was led to regard this
region as the very central point of the action of the geological
forces in Asia. The occupation of Sergiopol soon led, also,
to subsequent scientific explorations, among which especially
are to be mentioned that of Federof who, in 1834, definitely
established the geographical position of a number of important
points; while from 1840 to 1842 Karelin and Schrenk more

THE OCCUPATION OF TURKESTAN 217

carefully explored the regions of the south, and made botan-
ical and other collections.

This region, it will be remembered, is that of the so-called
Sungarian depression, which forms the natural channel of
communication between East and West Turkestan, and indeed
between all Central Asia and the attractive agricultural areas
of the Aral-Caspian basin. From the earliest times it had
furnished the natural route for caravans and armies and mi-
grating populations. As already remarked, it was through
here that the early Huns made their way to Europe, and that
the armies of Jenghiz Khan swooped down into the Land of
the Seven Rivers and the Thousand Springs. It was here,
also, that the Sungarian kingdom fixed its capital, from which
it ruled Central Asia for a hundred years previous to the
Russian occupation of Semipalatinsk. The fall of this king-
dom had removed not only all formidable opposition to the
advance of Russia, but had left the country in a state of
anarchy, which was destructive of all material and social in-
terests.

Advancing into the country during this state of things, the
Russians displayed great tact, as well as perseverance, and
succeeded in gradually pacifying the tribes ; thus acquiring
possession of the country by peaceable means. In 1844 tne
last of the great hordes of Kirghiz Tartars peaceably sub-
mitted to Russian rule, and have ever since remained faithful
allies, the Russians interfering as little as possible with their
national and social customs. In 1846 and 1847 Prince Gort-
chakoff advanced two hundred miles from Sergiopol, over a

2i 8 ASIATIC RUSSIA

spur of the Ala-tau range, and established the town of Kopal,
meanwhile forming some fourteen thousand peasants into Cos-
sack organizations for the defense of the border extending
from Kopal to the Irtysh River. For a considerable time
Kopal became an important center of commerce between West-
ern Siberia and the valley of the Hi, especially the province
of Kuldja, through which there was much traffic with Central
Asia.

It was soon evident, however, that Kopal was of only tran-
sitory importance. Though established temporarily for the
protection of the Kirghiz Tartars, it was not sufficiently near
their enemies the Black Kirghiz, who were especially numerous
about the headwaters of the Hi and about Lake Issyk-kul, at
the head of the valley of the Chu. In 1853, therefore, the
Russians advanced two hundred miles farther along the base
of the Ala-tau range to the southwest, and established them-
selves in the valley of the Hi, founding in 1855 the fortified
settlement of Verni, whose position is such as to render it a
permanent and growing commercial city. In the midst of an
irrigated area of great fertility overlooked by mountains seven-
teen thousand feet in height, which furnish the sublimest
scenery imaginable, and blessed with a climate which permits
the ripening of the most delicious varieties of grapes and other
fruit, few places in the world present greater attractions for
residence than this. Naturally therefore the establishment of
this military post led to the introduction of a large number
of peasant settlers. Two hundred families of peasants, to-
gether with a sufficient number of Cossacks for local protec-

THE OCCUPATION OF TURKESTAN 219

tion, were almost immediately induced to emigrate to the
region. Not only were they offered land, but they were
guaranteed a partial support for a limited time. But really
there was little need of forcing emigration to a country pos-
sessing so many natural attractions, and which has since drawn
to itself in natural ways a Russian population of nearly one
hundred thousand.

As usual the advance guard of Russian occupation was fol-
lowed by active efforts for scientific exploration, both of the
country occupied and of the adjoining regions. In 1856 the
distinguished man of science and letters M. P. P. Semenov
was sent out by the Imperial Russian Geographical Society and
conducted a most important series of explorations in the whole
mountain complex lying in the Western Ala-tau and the Tian-
Shan range, whose center is occupied by Lake Issyk-kul. He
even succeeded in ascending the Peak of Khan-tengri, which
rises twenty-four thousand feet above the sea, and from whose
glaciers issue the headwaters of the Hi River. After three
years, Semenov was followed by Captain GolubefT, who made
a partial trigonometrical survey of the region, and established
many of the points which have become fixed in our geog-
raphies. To complete the work however, it was necessary
for one Captain Valekinoff, himself of Kirghiz descent, to
travel back and forth over the country disguised as a mer-
chant, but really acting the part of a geographer. This he
did, crossing and recrossing the entire Tian-Shan chain from
Lake Issyk-kul to Kashgar by way of the Turgat Pass and
Lake Chatir Kul. Later these surveys were completed by

220 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Baron Osten-Sacken, who accompanied a military expedition
to the region in 1867.

In i860 the valley of the Naryn River, south of Lake Issyk-
kul, had been formally ceded to Russia by the Treaty of
Peking, the southern boundary being fixed along the summit
of the Tian-Shan range and along the watershed between
the valley of Kashgar and that of the headwaters of the Syr
Daria to the Great Plateau of Pamir. In 1867 the province of
Semirechensk was established, with Verni as its capital, in-
cluding the whole drainage basin of Lake Balkash, together
with the mountainous region occupied by the upper portion
of the valley of the Chu and that of the Naryn River.

So far we have been following the line of Russian advance
from the Irtysh River along the base of the lofty mountains
which form the northern border of the Central Asian Plateau.
From Semipalatinsk to Verni is six hundred miles. The
boundary established along this line is practically that of the
Kirghiz Tartar tribes on the southeast. From Verni in i860
the Russians sent troops one hundred and sixty miles farther
west to capture the forts of Tokmak and Pishpek, in the
valley of the Chu, which were in possession of the Kokandians,
then controlling the fertile area of Ferghana, in the upper por-
tion of the valley of the Syr Daria. These forts commanded
the celebrated Land of the Thousand Springs, so often referred
to as stretching for more than a hundred miles along the north-
ern base of the Alexandrovskii Mountains, and receiving the
life-giving waters which descend in small streams at frequent
intervals along- the whole northern face of the mountain chain.

THE OCCUPATION OF TURKESTAN 221

The forts were easily taken, but not so easily held. The
Kokandians sent an army of forty thousand men to retake
the positions lost ; but it failed to do so, and the forts were
henceforth occupied by the Russians as advance posts.

Meanwhile from another quarter the Russians had been
slowly advancing southward across the steppes from Orenburg
to the Aral Sea and to the lower portion of the Syr Daria ;
thus coming in contact with the Kokandians from two direc-
tions, and bringing on a crisis of great importance, with a race
that was bound to offer most vigorous resistance.

So much trouble was constantly arising from predatory
bands along the southeastern border of Russia, that in 1834 a
Russian fort was established at Novo Alexandrovskii, on the
northeastern projection of the Caspian Sea known as Dead
Bay; while in 1836 earthworks were extended for twelve miles
into the interior to furnish, like a Chinese wall protection
against " Mongolian Invaders." In 1847 Fort Uralsk on the
Irgiz River, and Fort Orenburg on the Turgai, were built
by the Russians to secure further safety along this indefinite
boundary line, and a year later Fort Karabutak, about half-
way between Orsk on the Ural River and Fort Uralsk on the
Irgiz. About the same time the Russians also advanced to
the mouth of the Syr Daria, and built the fort of Aralsk on
the shores of the Aral Sea, and two ships wrere built in hopes
of developing commerce. These were transported in sections
from Orenburg, a distance of six hundred miles ; while later
a larger war vessel was built in the same manner and em-
ployed for the survey of the lake. In 1850 a small steamer

222 ASIATIC RUSSIA

was built in Sweden and transported in the same manner to
the mouth of the Syr Daria, whence it was expected to make
trips up and down the river as far as Ferghana. This was
launched in 1853; but, owing to the scarcity of fuel, the
strength of the current in the river, and the variableness of
its channels, it could not compete with the regular caravan
trade, and proved an unprofitable enterprise. The steamer,
however, was of considerable use in aid of the military ad-
vance which the Russians were making up the river.

For the protection of their wards, the Kirghiz, in this
quarter, as in the Lake Balkash region, it was necessary for
the Russians to resist the encroachments of the Kokandians,
who were extending their forts far down the Syr Daria River
and collecting tribute of the Kirghiz Tartars in their wander-
ings back and forth for pasture. Six such Kokandian forts
were built below the town of Turkestan, the lowest being
Kosh Kurgan, about half way to the Aral Sea. At the same
time the Khivans were excited to secure the same end, and
to accomplish the purpose had built a fort at Khoja-Niag, in
the delta of the Syr Daria, about half way between Fort
Perovsk and Aralsk, which enabled them to levy contribution
upon all the Kirghiz who ventured into the region for pastur-
age, and upon their caravans on their way to Orenburg. Thus,
in their anxiety to get the lion's share of the plunder, the
Kokandians and the Khivans both were committing depreda-
tions upon the Russian wards. It was a matter of necessity,
therefore, for the Russians to advance up the Syr Daria, in
order to provide the protection demanded by their allies. But

THE OCCUPATION OF TURKESTAN 223

it was also equally evident that the possession of the upper
part of the Syr Daria would, by extending the Russian lines
of advance in this direction toward that from the east (which
had already reached the valley of the Chu) be of great service
in the permanent pacification of the region.

Accordingly in 1852 and 1853 detachments of troops were
sent up the Syr Daria from Aralsk, supported by the steamer
to which reference has already been made. Fifteen hundred
troops thus accompanied ascended the banks of the river, two
hundred and fifty miles to Ak Metched, where one of the
caravan routes between Akmolinsk and Bokhara crosses the
river. This was captured by storm in August, 1853, and its
name changed to Perovsk, after the general who had been in
command. Beyond this, little was done in the region by the
Russians for the next eight or ten years ; the reason for which
will be easily recognized by remembering that this is the period
of the Crimean War and of the great advance in Russian
domination upon the Pacific coast.

It had been the intention of the Russian government to
establish a line of forts extending from Perovsk along the
north side of the Kara Tau range to connect with those already
established at Tokmak, Pishpek, and Merke, in the Land of
the Thousand Springs, on the north side of the Alexandrovskii
Mountains. This would seem to form a " scientific " boundary
and to afford sufficient protection to their Kirghiz allies.
But the officers upon the ground urged the more thorough-
going proposition of pushing their advance along the river
valley itself south of the Kara Tau range, past Turkestan, to

224 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Chimkent ; thus getting more complete control of some of the
important centers of Kokandian activity.

A simultaneous advance was therefore ordered along both
lines of approach. General Chernaief set out from Verni to-
ward Aulieata, which he succeeded in capturing on the third of
July, 1864, with a loss of only five wounded on his side, but
of three hundred killed on the side of the Kokandians. On
the twelfth of July, the troops, advancing up the Syr Daria
under the lead of Colonel Verefkin, captured Turkestan, and
later went on one hundred miles farther to Chimkent, where
they were joined by General Chernaief, after the capture of
Aulieata. It was not, however, until October, that this city
was reached and the citadel stormed. Mr. Schuyler was told

" that the successful assault was owing to a ludicrous mistake. In
the first outset one of the soldiers was slightly wounded and cried out
for the surgeon — ' Dok-tu-ra ! ' His comrades heard only ' u-ra ! ' — the
Russian ' Hurrah,' rushed forward, pressing the enemy before them,
and within an hour had full possession of the citadel, with only
five men killed."

Immediately afterwards, General Chernaief rapidly ad-
vanced to Tashkent, and, after a brief bombardment, assaulted
it on October fifteenth, but, being unable to capture it, he re-
tired to Chimkent, after having suffered a loss of fifteen killed
and sixty-two wounded. On the following May, however, he
returned and captured the fortress of Niazbek, about sixteen
miles above Tashkent, on the Chirchick River, which com-
mands the water-supply of the city. But, considering that
he had only two thousand men and twelve guns, his condition

THE OCCUPATION OF TURKESTAN 225

was by no means hopeful, especially in view of the fact that
the Emir of Bokhara was coming with a large force to aid
Tashkent, or rather for the purpose of taking possession of
it in anticipation of the Russians. But by a prompt move-
ment of the Russians, to Chinas, the advance of the Bokharian
army was prevented from crossing the Syr Daria River.

Leaving a small guard at the ferry, Chernaief returned to
the vicinity of the walls of Tashkent. But, as they were six-
teen miles in extent, inclosing a population of more than one
hundred thousand people, it was impossible to lay formal siege
to the place; while it would be disastrous to remain and await
a drawn battle with the superior forces which could be con-
centrated against him. He therefore resolved upon another
attempt to take the city by assault. On the twenty-seventh of
June, at three o'clock in the morning, a storming party assaulted
the gate which led to the highest part of the city, surprised the
watch, silenced the artillery fire, and entered the town. But
resistance was met with at every step, the inhabitants erecting
barricades, and the soldiers shooting from gardens and houses.
Nevertheless, on the following day, a deputation from the
city made overtures for unconditional surrender, and the Rus-
sians came into full possession of the place. Thus two thou-
sand Russians had overcome the formidable fortification of
the city, and had defeated on their own ground an army of
thirty thousand, with a loss on their own part of only twenty-
five killed and one hundred and seventeen wounded. This re-
sult, however, was partly obtained by the co-operation of an in-
fluential party in the city, composed largely of merchants who

226 ASIATIC RUSSIA

were favorable to the Russians, and who, soon after the sur-
render, united in pacifying the city, and restoring the regular
order of business. Though these were Mohammedans, they
spoke, in the proclamation issued by them, of the Russian
Emperor in the highest terms of praise.

Chernaief's demeanor was so courageous in publicly expos-
ing himself in the streets, and at the same time so courteous,
that he won for himself a very high position in the respect
and affection of the people of Tashkent. But, owing to the
sensitiveness of the other European powers, who regarded
these advances in Central Asia as exceeding the limits neces-
sary for self-protection, the Russian authorities at home were
compelled to make an example of him for exceeding his in-
structions in attacking Tashkent, and he was superseded by
General Romanovski.

The situation, however, was one which could not be reme-
died by paper protocols. The new commander was compelled
to continue an aggressive policy, especially in view of the
fact that the Emir of Khojent had seized, and was holding in
imprisonment, a Russian embassy that had been sent to him,
and was threatening to raise against the Russians a holy war.
General Romanovski, therefore, anticipated further trouble by
advancing into Khojent in the spring of 1866, and capturing
it without great difficulty, and releasing the prisoners. In the
following autumn and spring he extended his conquests along
the northern base of the mountains separating the Syr Daria
from the Zerafshan, to Jizak, on the direct road to Tashkent
and Samarkand.

THE OCCUPATION OF TURKESTAN 227

In this condition of affairs, General Kaufmann was, on the
nineteenth day of November, 1867, appointed governor-general
of the newly formed military district of Turkestan, and was
given full power to make treaties with the surrounding inde-
pendent tribes. Early in 1868 it was found necessary to ad-
vance still farther in the direction of Bokhara, on account of
the inroads which the emissaries of the Emir of Bokhara were
making upon the Russian frontier. After a slight encounter
with the enemy, however, Samarkand itself was taken on the
first of May without any resistance from within the city;
while on the thirtieth of May the Russians advanced to Katte-
Kurgan, half way to Bokhara, where they defeated the army
of the Emir on the fourteenth of July. In the meantime
Samarkand had been attacked by a large force of the enemy,
and the garrison was in imminent danger, both from without,
and from the citizens within. For six days the Russians de-
fended themselves with the greatest gallantry, losing one
hundred and eighty out of the seven hundred and sixty-two
composing their number, four hundred and fifty of whom,
however, were sick and wounded. On the nineteenth of June,
General Kaufmann reached the city just in time to save the
survivors, who had resolved to blow up the magazine and
perish all together, rather than fall into the hands of the
enemy.

The Emir of Bokhara now submitted himself to the Rus-
sians, who granted him favorable terms of peace, and allowed
him still to retain his power. But soon afterwards his eldest
son headed a revolt against the father's authority, and the Emir

228 ASIATIC RUSSIA

was compelled in self-defense to call in the aid of the Rus-
sians, who speedily quelled the revolt; so that in 1870 his
power was re-established, and he was allowed to continue his
rule over the entire original territory. Bokhara has since re-
tained a semi-independence, being nominally under the protec-
tion of Russia.

Affairs in Kokand, however, did not turn out so favorably
to the native princes. There in 1868 a peace had been con-
cluded with Khudiar, then ruler, which confirmed his sover-
eignty and respected the independence of the province. But
the exactions of the petty princes were so great that in 1871 a
revolt against them broke out. Though not successful, it was
the precursor of others, in 1873 and 1874, which so unsettled
the affairs of the province and became so dangerous to the
surrounding country, a religious war even having been de-
clared against the Russians, that the Russians were compelled
to interfere ; and formally annexed Kokand to the Empire.
This was done in 1876, and the province has since been a part
of the Russian possessions, under the name of Ferghana.

During these years, also, there was continual trouble in ad-
justing the southern frontier in the Balkash basin. From
1862 to 1864 the Chinese were actively engaged in putting
down insurrections against their authority wrhich were in
progress in Sungaria and Kuldja. Though the Russians suf-
fered much loss in the destruction of their consulate and trad-
ing-posts in these provinces, and from the arrival within their
lines of a large number of impoverished refugees, they de-
clined to take the part of either side, preferring to leave af-

THE OCCUPATION OF TURKESTAN 229

fairs to adjust themselves. But on gaining partial success,
the rebels fell to quarreling with each other and committed
wholesale slaughters, which terribly shocked the civilized
world. Still, there was no attempt at interference until 1870,
when the Taranchis, who were in the ascendancy, attacked
some Russian Kirghiz who were crossing the Muzart Pass to
Kashgar, whereupon General Kaufmann took possession of the
pass. This led to an outbreak of hostilities between the Tar-
anchis and the Russians for the possession of Kuldja. For
some time the disturbances in that province had been so seri-
ous that the Russians had been compelled to keep a consider-
able body of troops upon the frontier. Now upon the declara-
tion of war by the Taranchi Sultan, the Russians at once
crossed the border and captured Kuldja, the Sultan surren-
dering himself on the third of July, 1871. The Russian gov-
ernment, however, desiring to keep on friendly terms with
China, assured the Chinese that their province would be re-
stored to them as soon as they were able to take bona fide
possession of it and maintain order. Upon the Chinese giving
evidence of having accomplished this, end in 1882, Kuldja was
ceded back to China, and up to this date, 1902, has remained
a province of that empire.

To secure peace and good order in Turkestan, there still re-
mained the difficult task of compelling Khiva to conform to
the usages of civilized nations. The difficulty of attaining this
object was greatly enhanced by the security of the situation.
Khiva, as we have seen, is an oasis of about six thousand
scmare miles, watered by canals branching off from the Amu

230 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Daria River where it first meets the head of the old delta, two
or three hundred miles south of the Aral Sea. On the north-
east it is bounded by the vast desert of Kizyl-kum, on the
southeast by that of Kara-kum, and on the northwest by the
equally barren plateau of Ust-Urt, while the Aral Sea upon
the north with its many difficulties of navigation, is an effectual
barrier to the advance of an enemy from that direction. This
region well sustains the reputation of being the driest in the
world, the average rainfall being less than four inches. In
consequence, the deserts surrounding the oasis are so inhospi-
table that an army large enough to be formidable is unable to
endure the hardships of the march overland; while the small
detachments which are able to follow the caravan trails and
reach the objective point are too small to accomplish anything
when they get there. Thus secure in their position, the Khi-
vans continued to conduct their affairs with a high hand, and
were a constant menace to the peace and the natural rights of
all the surrounding region.

From time immemorial the Khivans had been in the habit
of capturing and enslaving Russians. To put a stop to this
disorderly state of things, General Perovski in 1839, ^d a
formidable expedition from Orenburg across the Ust-Urt,
composed of an army of five thousand men and twenty-two
guns, with ten thousand camels, besides horses, and two thou-
sand Kirghiz drivers. Thinking that the expedition could
best succeed in the winter, Perovski set out at the end of
autumn, but before he was half-way to his destination, winter
had set in with great severity; no forage could be found for

THE OCCUPATION OF TURKESTAN 231

the camels, and the expected supply of provisions had not
arrived. He was consequently compelled to retreat, and re-
turned after the loss of more than three thousand men and
of nearly all of the animals used for transportation.

The expedition, however, alarmed the Khivans, so that in
1840 they voluntarily liberated four hundred and eighteen
Russian captives, and sent them to Russia accompanied by an
envoy; at the same time the capture or purchase of Russians
was publicly forbidden by the Khan; while in 1842 a formal
treaty was signed by the Khan, in which he promised to main-
tain friendly relations with the Russians and to restrain his
people from committing acts of robbery and piracy. This
treaty, however, was from the first practically a dead letter,
and robberies went on as before. In 1858 the Khivans, in justi-
fication of their conduct even went so far as to deny that such
a treaty had ever been made. Thus, with little change, matters
went on until 1869, when it was determined by the Russians
that comprehensive plans must be taken for the final and com-
plete suppression of the nuisance which Khiva evidently was
in the strongest sense of the word.

Toward the accomplishment of this end, Krasnovodsk, upon
the eastern side of the Caspian Sea, was founded to serve as
a military basis for one line of approach. In 1871 and 1872,
expeditions were sent out to explore the old bed of the Oxus,
which, following the southeastern edge of the Ust-Urt Plateau,
formerly conducted the overflow of the Aral Sea into the Cas-
pian through Balkan Bay. These expeditions alarmed the
Khan of Khiva so that he again proposed to make a new treaty

232 ASIATIC RUSSIA

with the Russians. But as preliminary to any such negotia-
tions the Russians insisted that he should at once liberate both
the Russian and Persian captives whom he was holding in a
state of slavery. Upon his refusal to do this, the official organ
of the Russian government announced its intentions in the
following words:

" Russia's patience and love of peace must have their limits. The
dignity and interests of the State do not allow that the insignificant
ruler of a half barbarous nation should dare with impunity to disturb
the peace and liberty of our subjects and the safety of trade, and
insolently reject all our efforts for establishing good relations with
him. Mohammed Rahim Khan, by his weakness and by the obstinacy
of his advisers, has himself called the tempest down on his country.
The final refusal by Khiva to fulfill our demands renders it necessary
to enforce them by other means, and show this khanate that the
steppes which surround it cannot protect it from deserved punish-
ment."

As a result a comprehensive plan was laid to advance upon
Khiva in three different directions in the spring of 1873. The
difficulties of the undertaking may better be appreciated by
noting the distances which each military expedition would
have to make to attain its object. Expeditions were to be
started from Tashkent, from Chikishliar, and from Orenburg.
From Tashkent the distance was six hundred miles, from
Chikishliar, five hundred miles, and from Orenburg nine hun-
dred and thirty miles. No use could be made of water com-
munication through the Aral Sea, because there was a lack of
transports at the mouth of the Syr Daria, and, even if they
had been provided, the bars at the mouth of the Amu Daria

THE OCCUPATION OF TURKESTAN 233

would prevent their passage into the river. A somewhat de-
tailed account of this campaign will be useful in bringing to
light the conditions of life in this whole region.

General Kaufmann commanded the expedition which set out
from Tashkent. Having collected his forces at Jizak, he set
out from that point on the twenty-eighth of March. He had
altogether a force of five thousand five hundred men, with
twenty cannon, and with eight thousand, or as some say, four-
teen thousand camels to transport the ammunition, provisions,
and baggage. The first advance, of about one hundred and
eighty miles, to Aristan Bel Kuduk was made in two weeks,
and was accomplished without serious difficulty, notwith-
standing some unexpected snowstorms which happened. But,
actuated by fear lest they should not receive pay for their
animals, which was to have been fifty rubles a head, the Kir-
ghiz Tartars had turned over their poorest and weakest camels.
So many of these had perished already from lack of food and
exhaustion that it was found impossible to carry all of their
provisions with them any farther; hence much was abandoned
both here and in the farther advance. Moreover, it was found
that the biscuits, which had been kept in store for several
years, were wormy and unfit for use. It was necessary, there-
fore, to send to Samarkand for a fresh supply.

The ordinary route from Aristan Bel Kuduk to the Amu
Daria seems from the map to be a long way around; since,
after making a detour of about one hundred and fifty miles
to the northwest, it then turns at right angles to the south-
west, and, after about two hundred miles farther, reaches the

234 ASIATIC RUSSIA

river nearly opposite Khiva. There seemed to be a more
direct route which would reach the river at Utch-Utchak, in
a course of about two hundred miles directly west. Much to
the sorrow of the Russians this was the route eventually
chosen. After a delay of ten days, during which they had
received fresh supplies of bread, and eight hundred new
camels, they set out, April twenty-fourth, for Khalata, about
one hundred miles to the west, which they reached May sixth.
Here three days were spent in erecting a fortification for the
protection of their rear. On the eleventh of May they set out
for their farther advance, only to find that the difficulties were
almost insurmountable. Instead of being eighty miles farther
to the river, it proved to be one hundred and twenty, and the
good road which they expected proved to be shifting sand,
which so yielded under the feet of both men and animals that
the march was extremely slow and tiresome. The only wells
which were known to exist on the road were at Adam Krylgan,
twenty-four miles from Khalata. It was somewhat significant
that Adam Krylgan means " man's destruction." Here they
arrived, greatly exhausted at midnight, May twelfth, but
found the water insufficient for their necessities.

After resting a day, a desperate determination was formed
to attempt to reach the river by forced marches with three
halts between of six hours each. In pursuance of this plan,
the advance-guard set out almost immediately, and, after
marching thirteen miles, halted for their rest at nine o'clock
in the morning. The road was so heavy, however, that the
camels and the rear detachment did not arrive until five o'clock

THE OCCUPATION OF TURKESTAN 235

in the afternoon, and all were so weary that it was impossible
to think of advancing; while to keep from perishing it was
necessary to send troops back to Adam Krylgan for a fresh
supply of water, which, however, was so nearly exhausted that
at the best it could only partially meet their necessity. In
short, the expedition seemed upon the very verge of ruin ; for
not only would it have been humiliating to have retreated, but
the loss of camels had been such that at the best the army
could only regain its original base, when it would be too late
to refit and set out anew. But at this juncture, a rough-looking
Kirghiz Tartar who had recently joined the expedition, in-
formed General Kaufmann that there were wells a few miles
off the road to the north, at Alty-Kuduk. The General took
out his pocket-flask and told him that if he would bring it
back full of water from those wells he would give him a hun-
dred rubles. The hundred rubles were speedily won. The
water, though scant, was found to be sufficient for their pur-
poses, and the expedition after resting several days was en-
abled to move on in small detachments, but the Amu Daria
was reached only on the twenty-third of May, after eleven
days from Khalata instead of two, and with a loss of eight
thousand, eight hundred, out of ten thousand camels.

Having reached the river at Utch-Utchak, they marched
slowly down, having occasional skirmishes with the Turko-
mans, who had been sent up from Khiva to obstruct their prog-
ress. With the aid of some boats which they had captured
from the enemy, the Russians completed crossing the river on
the third of June, and occupied the town of Hazar-asp, about

236 ASIATIC RUSSIA

forty miles above Khiva, where General Kaufmann received
a letter from the Khan requesting the cessation of hostilities,
and giving as one reason that he had already released the
Russian prisoners.

Leaving General Kaufmann at this point, it will be neces-
sary, in order fully to appreciate the culmination of the cam-
paign, briefly to follow the fate of the other detachments which
were moving from different directions towards the same
point.

The less fortunate of the expeditions was that which set out
from Chikishliar, on the southeast corner of the Caspian Sea,
at the mouth of the Atrek River. This was under the com-
mand of Colonel Makozof, who, with two thousand three hun-
dred men, two thousand six hundred camels, and provisions
for ten weeks, started on the thirty-first of March. The dis-
tance before him was five hundred and twenty-three miles, the
latter part of it leading across the Kara-kum, one of the most
inhospitable of the deserts of this arid basin. On the twenty-
ninth of April the expedition reached Igdy, in the old bed of
the Oxus, about midway between Khiva and both Chikishliar
and Krasnovodsk. Here they supplied themselves with water
for use through the fifty miles which separated them from the
next well.

But the sand was deep and the weather intensely hot. At
ten o'clock on May first, the thermometer ran up to 1300 F.,
and at noon burst. Many of the soldiers were prostrated by
sunstroke, and the water was nearly exhausted. Still they
pressed on to reach their limit of fifty miles. But to their

THE OCCUPATION OF TURKESTAN 237

dismay, on reaching the place, they found no water, and there
was still a broad expanse of desert before them. Making a
virtue of necessity, a counsel of war resolved to retreat to
Krasnovodsk. The retreat was begun on May fourth, and
they reached Krasnovodsk on May twenty-sixth. Sixty men
had died of sunstroke, while almost all the rest were sick.
The troops had thrown away their arms ; the camels and pro-
visions had been abandoned in the desert. Still it had accom-
plished something by diverting the attention of the Tekke
Turkomans, and keeping them from going to the assistance
of Khiva. A part of the blame for the failure of the expedi-
tion is chargeable to the rascality of the contractor, who, in
supplying the army with food, had feathered his own nest by
setting full price on provisions that were both bad in quality
and short in weight.

A third column, under command of General Verefkin, was
sent out from Uralsk and Orenburg on the ninth of March.
The detachments met at Fort Embinsk, on the Emba River,
having been conveyed to this point in sledges. On the eleventh
of April they left Fort Embinsk, and, following the well-
known road along the west side of the Aral Sea, reached Kun-
grad about one hundred miles below Khiva, in good condition
on May twentieth. On May twenty-fourth they began their
march through the delta, skirmishing with the enemy and
building bridges over the irrigating canals. On June fifth Gen-
eral Verefkin received a letter from the Khan of Khiva, ask-
ing for a truce, and saying that a similar letter had been sent
to General Kaufmann. No attention, however, was paid to it,

238 ASIATIC RUSSIA

but on the seventh of June General Verefkin was encamped
within three miles of the city. Not hearing from General
Kaufmann, and fearing that he might have met with some
reverse, General Verefkin on the ninth made a reconnaissance
in force close to the walls, and began the bombardment. This
was carried on with such vigor that a request for suspension
of hostilities came from the city, but, as the Khivans kept on
firing, the bombardment was continued. In the evening, how-
ever, a letter was received from General Kaufmann, stating
that he was seven miles east of the city, and that he had the
promise that it would be surrendered to him at eight o'clock
the next morning. The loss of the Russians had been four
killed and twenty-six wounded. The next morning, however,
firing was still continued by the Khivans, and General Veref-
kin's army was compelled to renew the bombardment and to
storm the north gate, which they captured with a loss of fifteen
more killed and wounded. It turned out that the formal sur-
render of the city to General Kaufmann was in progress at
the very time of the storming of the north gate; so that it is
doubtful who should have the honor of the capture. The city,
however, was in a state of partial anarchy, so that no one
was generally recognized as having complete authority.

Not only was there a state of anarchy in the city of Khiva,
but it prevailed to a large extent throughout the whole prov-
ince. The leniency of the Russians in dealing with the con-
quered people soon won the confidence of those who were in
the immediate vicinity. But trouble soon after arose with
tribes who were outside, especially in connection with the

THE OCCUPATION OF TURKESTAN 239

liberation of the Persian slaves, who numbered in all about
thirty thousand. At the same time, the Turkoman tribes were
so much feared by the Khan of Khiva, that it was thought
wise to humble them, and to impress them with a due sense
of the invincible power of Russia. As a result, a penalty of
three hundred thousand rubles (about two hundred thousand
dollars) was laid upon the Yomud Turkomans, with the de-
mand that it be paid within ten days. This was followed by
a campaign against the tribe, of short duration, but of great
destructiveness and of much apparently unnecessary cruelty,
since General Kaufmann " gave over the settlements of the
Yomuds and their families to complete destruction, and their
herds and property to confiscation," in case they did not use
due diligence in collecting the indemnity. It is needless to
say that the opposition of the Yomuds, vigorous though it
was, was fruitless of result, and that they were taught a lesson
that they could not soon forget, but that at the same time their
enmity towards the Russians was greatly increased.

As the result of this campaign all the territory on the east
of the Amu Daria was formally ceded to Russia, and though
the Khivan Khanate was permitted to retain an independent
existence, it came formally under the protectorate of Russia,
and was compelled to pay an indemnity of two million two
hundred thousand rubles (about one million four hundred
thousand dollars), and slavery was definitely abolished. This
indemnity proved so heavy a burden, and the difficulty of
collecting tribute from the Turkoman tribes proved so great,
that the Khan desired to have the Russians take entire posses-

240 ASIATIC RUSSIA

sion. This, however, they did not care to do, yet they did
repeatedly supply him with troops with which to bring the
Turkomans to terms. This was in 1873. The last payment
was to have been made in 1893, but at the opening of the
twentieth century, Khiva was still in arrears, and was still an
independent province under the protection of Russia.

The campaign against Khiva was followed by some impor-
tant exploring expeditions which prepared the way for the
further enlargement of Russian possessions in the Transcas-
pian region. In 1875 General Lomakin set out from Kras-
novodsk with one thousand men and six hundred camels to
explore the Uzboi. This he found to be a plainly marked
river bed which had formerly been the outlet of the Aral Sea,
carrying off the combined waters of the Amu Daria and the
Syr Daria when their volume was much greater than now.
The banks were everywhere found to be sharp-cut, and in the
bed there were many stagnant bodies of water, — some salt,
some fresh, and some sulphurous. The party reached the
wells of Igdy on the twentieth of June, when they halted, and
sent forward a surveying party to Lake Sary-kamysh, upon the
border of the Khivan delta, and near the point where the
water of the Aral Sea formerly overflowed into the old channel
of the Uzboi. By the middle of July all had returned to the
vicinity of Krasnovodsk, having experienced repeatedly hot
weather in which the thermometer rose from no0 F., in the
shade to 1220 in the sun. Two had died on the road from
the heat, and thirteen more were prostrated. During the en-

THE OCCUPATION OF TURKESTAN 241

tire trip, however, the Russians were hospitably received by
the Turkomans.

Other expeditions explored the region lying east of the Cas-
pian Sea between the Atrek River and the Little Balkan
Mountains. These brought to light an extensive region which
had in former times been irrigated by water from the Atrek
carried by an aqueduct across the Sumbar River, and fertiliz-
ing an extensive region which was once thickly populated,
but is now desolated. This expedition brought the Russians
into more intimate contact with three Turkoman tribes, with
which they were soon to have much to do.

These branches of the Turkomans are the Yomuds, the
Goklans, and the Tekkes. Of these the Yomuds migrate as
far north as Kara-Bugas in the spring, and go up the Uzboi
as far as Igby. During the winter months they retire to the
south of the Atrek. In all they number about eighty thousand.
The Goklans adjoin the Yomuds on the east, and are princi-
pally agriculturists. Their number is about fifteen thousand.
The Tekke Turkomans occupy the fertile strip called the Atok
along the northern base of the Kopet Dagh range, which is
about twenty-five miles wide, and extends for one hundred
and fifty or two hundred miles towards Merv.

Of these tribes the Tekkes are by far the most warlike
and formidable. Nominally they owed allegiance to the Khan
of Khiva, but really they lived in almost complete independ-
ence, and were a terror to all their neighbors. Frequently,
marauding expeditions of the Tekkes penetrated as far as

242 ASIATIC RUSSIA

Meshhed in Persia, and Herat in Afghanistan to bring away
plunder, and captives whom they held for ransom. In 1874 a
company of five hundred Turkomans carried off one hundred
and fifty prisoners from a settlement within twenty-five miles
of Krasnovodsk, and left eighty killed upon the ground. Thus
matters went on without improvement for several years ; the
Tekkes successfully resisting the several efforts made by the
Russians to bring them into subjection.

But at length in 1880 a more formidable campaign was
entered upon against them, this time under General Skobe-
leff, who found the Tekkes strongly fortified at Geok-Tepe.
Skobeleff had only from eight thousand to ten thousand men,
while the Tekkes were said to have had thirty thousand.
Nevertheless, the fortification was stormed and taken, though
with a greater loss on the part of the Russians than they had
suffered previously in all the sieges of Central Asia for thirty
years. The seriousness and importance of the event is marked
by a museum upon the spot amply supplied with wall paint-
ings of the heroic deeds of the Russians on this occasion.
All railroad trains now stop long enough at the station for
the passengers to visit this striking monument to the bravery
and devotion of the Russian soldiers.

The capture of Geok-Tepe brought the Russians well on
towards Merv, and gave intimation of what must soon be the
fate of that once important but now sadly dilapidated center
of population. As this had been a special center from which
the marauding expeditions of Turkomans set out for pillage,

THE OCCUPATION OF TURKESTAN 243

it was impossible for civilization to exist in its neighborhood.
As late as 1878 the Merv Tekkes had gone in great force to
within five miles of Meshhed in Persia, and laid waste the
surrounding villages, capturing some of the men and women,
killing and maiming others, and carrying off everything of
value which it was in their power to do. It is estimated that
during the forty years previous to this time the Turkomans
had carried away as many as two hundred thousand captives
from Persia. At the request of the Persians, a Russian force
was in November 1883 advanced towards Merv. This alarmed
the people of Merv to such an extent that they sent representa-
tives to the commanding general, and offered to liberate all
slaves, to forbid slavery in the future, and to submit them-
selves to Russian authority. Thus without further bloodshed
Russia at length, in 1883, reached her natural boundary along
the mountain-chain which separates the highlands of Persia and
Afghanistan from the rich borderland and the broad desert
wastes of Turkestan — Bokhara and Khiva alone retaining their
independence, but acknowledging the protectorate of Russia.
The alarm of the English at the advance of Russia towards
India in this direction has long since subsided, in view of
the evident good faith with which the Russians are applying
themselves to the development of the country and to the
maintenance of peace upon the border. Minor readjustments
in the determination of the boundary line have been easily
made while in 1895 a joint commission of the English and
the Russians peaceably settled the boundary line in the Pamir,

244 ASIATIC RUSSIA

extending the Russian possessions to the lofty mountain sum-
mits which form the watershed between the Amu Daria, Indus,
and Tarim rivers. And so the boundary remains, and is likely
to remain for an indefinite period.

en

h

XII

THE OCCUPATION OF CAUCASIA

ALLUSION has already been made to the abdication of
the King of Georgia in 1799 in favor of Russia. This
was an event that was not altogether unlooked for,
since Georgia had for some time been under the protectorate of
Russia. To measure all the forces leading to this end it is
necessary to go back to the fourth century of our era, when the
Georgians were converted to Christianity. For several cen-
turies previous to this time, the kingdom had maintained its
independence. As early as 300 b. c. a Georgian prince had
driven from the country the governor appointed by Alexander
the Great, while even before this time the town of Mikhetsk,
which still exists about twenty miles from Tiflis, had been
recognized as the capital of a Georgian Kingdom. Here in
295 a. d. the Georgian King Meriam was converted to Chris-
tianity by a poor captive named Nina who had escaped from
the religious persecutions in Armenia. Through her influence
the offering of human sacrifices was abolished and the pagan
altars overturned, and a sanctuary was erected at Mikhetsk
on the site which is occupied by the present cathedral. In
469 and the following years, King Vakhtang founded Tiflis,
which in 499 became the capital. Under his rule Georgia

245

246 ASIATIC RUSSIA

became a formidable power in the world, since he not only
brought a large part of the Caucasus under his dominion,
but conquered a considerable portion of Armenia, and through
an alliance with the king of Persia extended the influence of
his arms into India. About this time the Georgian and Ar-
menian churches, which had been united, separated from each
other; and in the following century a union was formed be-
tween the Georgian and the Russian churches.

During the height of the Mohammedan power its influence
rapidly spread to the Caucasus, and for centuries Georgia was
overrun by Mohammedan conquerors. But with varying for-
tunes the kingdom maintained its existence, rising, like the
Phcenix, even after the desolations inflicted upon it by Timur
the Tartar during the latter part of the fourteenth century.
In the wars with Turkey and Persia which followed during
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Georgian kings re-
peatedly sought the aid of the Russians, with whom, as we
have seen, they were already in close affiliation through their
churches. In 1716 Peter the Great sent an expedition to aid
the Georgians against their Mohammedan enemies, and
formally took them under his protection, and in return was
given by treaty Derbent, and Baku, while a strip of land
upon the Caspian Sea became an integral portion of the
Russian Empire. In the latter part of the eighteenth century
the difficulty of maintaining themselves against their Moham-
medan enemies had so increased, that, as already said, George
XIII., whose ancestors had held the throne for more than a
thousand years, abdicated in 1799 in favor of Russia, and

u

<

THE OCCUPATION OF CAUCASIA 247

Alexander I. became heir to his kingdom. Some ineffectual
attempts at revolt were made, but they were easily put down.

As will readily be seen, the foothold which Russia ob-
tained in the Caucasus through the annexation of the Georgian
Kingdom rendered the ultimate conquest of the entire terri-
tory inevitable. At the same time, the natural strength of
the military positions in the Caucasus were so great that
their possession by warlike and fanatical Moslems rendered
the position exceedingly unpleasant, as the events of the next
fifty years amply demonstrated.

In 1829, Turkey, by the Treaty of Adrianople, surrendered
to Russia her sovereignty over the Caucasian tribes. Where-
upon the long struggle for their conquest began in earnest.
The great military museum in Tiflis is filled with paintings
of the many heroic struggles engaged in by the Russians to
overcome both the natural difficulties, and the sublime valor
of these defenders of liberty in the fastnesses of the Caucasus.
One of the most impressive pictures represents the Cossacks
as throwing their living bodies into a ditch to fill it up so
that the artillery wagons could be hastily drawn over it to a
position of advantage. As a last resort the Russians were
compelled to denude the mountain sides of their trees, in
order to break up the guerrilla warfare for which the forests
afforded such excellent protection. It is reported that when
Schamyl perceived this, he lost heart, exclaiming, " Now that
the Russians are clearing away the woods, I perceive that
Woronzoff [the Russian general] has discovered the secret of
my strength."

248 ASIATIC RUSSIA

The resistance to the Russians was chiefly maintained by
the Circassians on the west and the Lesghians on the east.
The Circassians gradually retreated from their strongholds on
the Black Sea to their fastnesses in the mountains, where they
maintained themselves for many years against all the military
power that Russia could bring against them. Slowly, how-
ever, all the strongholds were captured in detail, the last of
the tribes surrendering only as late as 1864. We have al-
ready referred to the fact that these Circassians, rather than
remain in the dominion of a Christian ruler, preferred to emi-
grate in a body, and that as many as five hundred thousand
abandoned their homes and took refuge in Turkey. A large
part of the abandoned territory is still unoccupied on ac-
count of the difficulty of obtaining a clear title to the land,
while the Circassian families and their descendants can be
found scattered all over Asia Minor, even as far south as
the Hauran, on the east side of the Jordan Valley.

The subjugation of the Lesghians in Daghestan was even a
more difficult task. This was partly owing to the greater
extent and the even wilder character of that mountainous
region, and partly to the intensity of the religious fanaticism
of the Mohammedan population, but mainly to the remarkable
ability of their leader Schamyl, who came into power almost
immediately after his country was ceded to the Russians in
1829. His influence both as prophet and warrior was greatly
enhanced by his numerous remarkable escapes from the diffi-
cult situations in which he was repeatedly placed by the in-

THE OCCUPATION OF CAUCASIA 249

vestment of the Russians. Many of these were such as to
seem to his followers scarcely less than miraculous ; while
his victories over the Russians often had the appearance of
being won by divine aid. Especially was this the case, when,
in 1842, though the Russians, under General Gravie, had
seemingly almost won their goal, Schamyl completely routed
them in the woods of Itchkiri. One Russian general after
another lost his reputation in contending with this great leader,
who easily with a small force dodged about from place to place
in the mountain complex of Daghestan, beguiling the enemy
into unexpected ambushes, and pouncing upon and annihilat-
ing their small detachments whenever they became separated
from the main force.

But Schamyl was at last taken in the mountain fastnesses,
September 6, 1859, and, soon after the entire country passed
quietly into the hands of the Russians. Schamyl himself,
however, spent ten years of honorable captivity in Russia,
and was permitted in 1870 to make a pilgrimage to Mecca,
dying at Medina, in March, 1871, at the age of seventy-four
years. Unlike the Circassians, the Lesghians preferred to re-
main in their mountain home, even though hedged in by Chris-
tian powers. The policy of the Russian government toward
alien religions, however, is such that the freedom of their
Mohammedan sects is in no ways interfered with, except as
it may be in countervention of the natural rights of man.
But here in the Caucasus, as throughout Turkestan, the reign
of law and order has followed in the wake of Russian occu-

250 ASIATIC RUSSIA

pation. Property, life, and individual liberty are everywhere
protected; brigandage has been suppressed, and peaceful
travelers with properly credited passports can now penetrate
safely to the inmost recesses of its sublime and picturesque
mountain scenery.

XIII

PRE-RUSSIAN COLONIZATION

Prehistoric Races

THE first colonists of Asiatic Russia belonged to the
stone age, and accompanied the mammoth in his
wanderings over the plains of Siberia.
The existence of man in Western Europe when the physical
conditions were very different from those of the present time
has long been an object of reasonable inference from the occur-
rence of his implements and remains in deposits of glacial age
and in connection with the bones of numerous extinct animals.
More recently, as will be related, similar evidence witness-
ing to man's presence on the plains of Southern Russia
during late glacial or postglacial time has come from Kief on
the Dnieper River, but the details must be reserved for the
geological chapter. More lately still evidence to the same
effect has come to light in the central part of the valley of the
Obi near Tomsk. Here Professor N. Th. Kashchenko, in
1896, found the

" remains of a mammoth twelve feet below the surface of a cliff
which stands 136 feet above the present level of the river Tom. Only

251

252 ASIATIC RUSSIA

a few small bones of the skeleton were missing, and with it were
associated thirty flint knives, besides scrapers and about one hundred
flakes. The large bones were split in the usual way for the extraction
of the marrow, and there were other clear indications of the presence
of man. . . . The position, and various other circumstances ex-
clude any recent date for the find." *

From Finland to Japan there stretches an almost continuous
belt of prehistoric monuments that apparently have no con-
nection with any of the races now occupying the region. These
consist of barrows, or burial-mounds of large size, stone circles,
and huge stone monuments of various types. Such burial-
mounds, differing in type from anything erected by the present
inhabitants, fairly line the way from Tashkent to Semipalatinsk
along the fertile irrigated belt which borders the Ala-tau range,
and are conspicuous in Mongolia outside the great Chinese
Wall not far from Kalgan ; while in Japan numerous dolmens,
constructed of huge unhewn stone and wholly unconnected with
the present civilization, are thick on the hillsides near Oka-
yama and various other places in the empire; and shell-heaps
and cave-dwellings yield many relics more directly connecting
the aborigines of Japan with men of the stone age in other
parts of the world.

In Western Siberia the barrows are called by the present
inhabitants chudskiye Kurgani, " Chudish graves " ; the term
Chud indicating a vanished and unknown race. A probable
connection of these burial-mounds with the men of the stone
age is shown by the fact that some of the skulls found in

* Man Past and Present, p. 269.

a-

Bronze and Iron Implements in the Museum at Minusinsk.

' 1 111'

i itti,r

Bronze Ornaments in the Museum at Minusinsk.

PRE-RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 253

them, notably two from a mound near Kiakhta, in Trans-
baikalia are of the prehistoric, rather than the Mongolian,
type. Mongolian skulls belong to the brachycephalic type,
in which the breadth is more than eighty per cent of the length ;
but these skulls were distinctly dolichocephalic, the breadth
being but a trifle over seventy-three per cent of the length.

In the Irkutsk Museum may be seen many implements of
stone, of bone, of mammoth tusks, and of carefully worked
copper which have been found in the burial-mounds in the
vicinity of Lake Baikal. These would seem clearly to be older
than the bronze age, from the fact that no bronze implements
were found in connection with them; while in Minusinsk, an
oasis in the upper part of the Yenisei River, inclosed between
the Sayan and the Altai Mountains, the mounds, as before
remarked, have yielded an immense number and variety of
bronze implements, some of them evidently going far back of
the Christian era. Indeed, the collection from these mounds
in the museum at Minusinsk gives a more complete represen-
tation of the progress of art in the bronze age, and of the
transition from the use of bronze to the use of iron, than
is to be found anywhere else in the world. It is generally
believed that these skillful mineralogists and agriculturists of
Minusinsk are represented by the Samoyedes, who now occupy
the bleak region about the mouths of the Obi and Yenisei
rivers, extending westward nearly to the White Sea. At the
present time, indeed, they are sadly degenerated from their
former condition, being reduced almost to the condition of
the people who inhabited Western Europe during the Stone

254 ASIATIC RUSSIA

period, but this is probably due to the inhospitable character
of the country to which they have been driven.

There seems to be cumulative evidence, also, that America
is a province of Asia, having received its population from
Northeastern Siberia by way of Bering Strait. This passage
is so narrow, being but thirty-six miles in width, that the
shores on either side are visible from the other, while Diomede
Islands, in the middle, still farther facilitate passage. At the
present time, natives annually cross from side to side in their
skin boats. At the same time the physical, social, and linguis-
tic characteristics of the aboriginal inhabitants of America
closely ally them to the Mongolian tribes occupying North-
eastern Siberia, which may properly be looked upon as the
advance guard of colonists from Central Asia who have been
driven farther and farther from their central home by the
continued pressure of the tribes in the rear who are increasing
both in numbers and civilization.

The Mongols

Previous to Russia's extension into Asia, the whole of her
vast possessions in that continent (if we except portions of
Trans-Caucasia) were occupied by numerous representatives
of the Mongolian race, one branch extending even to Finland
and Lapland. Speaking broadly, the Mongols are divided
into the Northern and the Southern branch. The Southern
branch includes the people inhabiting Tibet, the south slopes
of the Himalaya Mountains, a considerable portion of Indo-
China, all of China and Formosa, and oarts of Malaysia. In

ml

Mi

Designs Worked by Koriaks.

PRE-RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 255

light of the latest investigations, it seems probable that Tibet
is the center from which the various members of the Mongoloid
family have radiated. In the south and the southeast, where
it has occupied the south slope of the Himalaya Mountains,
Indo-China, China, Formosa, and parts of Malaysia, the
race has developed many peculiarities which differ from those
of the northern branch of the family, which spread over
Mongolia, Turkestan, Asia Minor, and Siberia, and probably
across Bering Straits to North America. Still the general
resemblances are so many that they are properly classed as one
family.

The Northern Mongols, or as they are sometimes called
the Mongolo-Tartars or Mongolo-Turks, are by some classed,
from a linguistic point of view, under the title of Uralo-Altaic,
from the region between the Ural and Altai Mountains, which
seemed to serve as an important radiating center. Physically
the characteristics of the Northern Mongols, are black hair,
beardless faces, light or dirty yellowish skins, broad skulls
(the width being from eighty to eighty-five per cent of the
length), jaws slightly projecting, cheekbones very high and
prominent laterally, nose very small and concave with widish
nostrils, eyes small, black, and oblique, stature usually short,
lips thin. In temperament the Mongols are generally dull and
somewhat apathetic, but usually brave and warlike, though
capable, under proper conditions, of development into a mild
and humane disposition.

Linguistically the Uralo-Altaic family use the agglutinative
form of speech, which has no prefixes, but innumerable suf-

256 ASIATIC RUSSIA

fixes to the original root syllable. In these languages, words
are formed by adding on to the root almost any number of
suffixes to enlarge and modify its meaning. Thus the Turk-
ish word for " love " is sev. But to express the idea for
which we require the sentence, " They were not to be brought
to love one another," one word only, consisting of the root and
numerous suffixes, is required, namely, ^z'-ish-dir-il-med-il-er.
Religiously Shamanism prevailed over the larger part of
Siberia. The Shamans believe in a supreme being who ad-
ministers his government in the world through innumerable
secondary gods whom it is absolutely necessary to propitiate
by magic rites and spells. Because, also, of their gloomy
views of the future life, they have a great dread of death.
The tribes of Turkish stock are mostly Moslems; while a
few in Siberia adjoining Mongolia proper are Buddhists.
But, before considering these tribes in detail, it will be proper
to say something about the prehistoric races.

The Northeastern Tribes

The northeastern portion of Siberia is occupied by the
Chukches, the Yukagirs, the Koriaks, and the Kamchadales,
with whom may be joined the Ghilaks, living about the mouth
of the Amur. These tribes are sometimes called Hyper-
boreans, and, as just remarked, in many respects form a natural
connecting link between the Mongolian races of Asia and
their allies in North America. It is evident, however, that
their retreat to this lonely region was so long ago that under
the pressure of the severe conditions of life a number of

PRE-RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 257

separate stocks have become amalgamated; so that we have
in the long-headed Eskimo and Alaskans, and in the round-
headed natives of Mexico and of the southern portions of
America in general, the descendants of the earliest colonists
of Northeastern Siberia before these amalgamating processes
had proceeded to any great length. At the present time these
tribes possess and use great herds of reindeer in the portions
of country which are adapted to that animal, and live in com-
parative comfort ; while those who are confined to the seashore
and limited to fishing as a means of support are in a much
more degraded condition. Altogether, however, they number
only a few thousands.

The Yakuts

Adjoining these tribes upon the west, and presumably be-
longing to a succeeding wave of emigration, are the Yakuts,
who occupy the Lena Valley throughout nearly its entire
length, together with an extension to the east along the head-
waters of the Yana, the Indigirka, and the Kolyma rivers, and
on the west along the Arctic Sea as far as the Taimur Penin-
sula. These are indeed Mongolians, but they belong to the
Turkish branch, whose relatives are now for the most part
in Turkestan. In Eastern Siberia they are completely shut
off from their allied tribes by Mongolians of the Manchu type,
who have pressed across their pathway even to the Arctic
Ocean. Altogether the Yakuts number about two hundred
thousand souls. They are short in stature, averaging only
five feet four inches in height, and show much capacity in

258 ASIATIC RUSSIA

adjusting themselves not only to the severe climatic condi-
tions of their territory, but to the progressive ideas introduced
by Europeans.

As already noted, this region is the coldest in the world and
subject to the greatest range of temperature ; at Verkhoyansk,
the range being from 900 F. below zero to 930 F. above. Yet
in the depth of winter the grown-up members of the tribe
move about in light attire, while the children make nothing of
sporting naked in the snow. The Yakuts are enterprising
and laborious, cultivating the soil to a considerable extent, and
making the most of such school advantages as are afforded
them. They are increasing in numbers, and really succeed
in partially absorbing the Russians who settle among them.
During the winter they live in log houses, with plates of ice
or pieces of skin in place of glass in their small windows.
During summer they wander about more or less, living in
conical tents covered with birch bark. For the most part they
have outwardly accepted the Christian religion, but are slow
in abandoning the practices of Shamanism, their former faith.

The Tunguses

The Tunguses presumably furnish the next wave of invad-
ing emigrants ever crowding outwards from the center of
Asia to the northeast. These are closely connected with the
Manchus, the typical and most aggressive branch of the family.
Their language, which is simple in structure, is more nearly
allied to that of the Chinese than to the Turkish dialects.
The main area occupied by the Tunguses proper is in the

Yakut Prince and People.

Wandering Tungus Getting Benefit with his P'amily.

PRE-RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 259

eastern portion of the middle part of the Yenisei Valley in the
vicinity of the Lower, Middle, and Upper Tunguska rivers
(the latter the Angara). A branch, however, of their terri-
tory extends to the Arctic Ocean, spreading over the entire
Taimur Peninsula. Eastward the Tunguses proper are con-
nected with the Manchus by various minor tribes in the valley
of the Amur. Of these tribes the principal are the Oroches,
the Daurians, Birars, Golds, Manegrs, Sanagirs, Ngatkons,
and Nigidals. Altogether these number about fifteen thousand.
The Tunguses proper, however, are thinly spread to the east
over the Vitim Plateau as far as the Pacific Ocean, and extend
northward along the line of the Yablonoi Mountains to the
vicinity of Kamchatka ; their total number being about seventy
thousand.

The Tunguses are universally represented as a " cheerful,
persevering, open-hearted, trustworthy, fearless race of hunt-
ers " who sturdily resist taking service under the Russians,
and refuse to be enticed away from their forest hunting-
grounds. By the Russians they are classed as " Reindeer,
Horse, Cattle, Dog, Steppe, and Forest Tunguses," according
to the various conditions in which they are found. Few of
them have become agriculturists, but most of their time is
spent in the collection of skins and furs with which to supply
the demand of the Russian and Yakut traders. They still
chiefly practice their Shamanistic religious rites, but they are
gradually giving way before both the Russians and Yakuts,
and are diminishing in number through the ravages of the
contagious diseases imported from their civilized neighbors.

260 ASIATIC RUSSIA

The Samoyedes
Adjoining the Tunguses on the west, and stretching along
the Arctic Ocean across the lower part of the valley of the
Yenisei and the Obi almost to the White Sea, are the Samo-
yedes, who in language are closely allied to the Finns, the
principal European branch of the Mongols in Northern Europe.
Formerly these occupied the Altai Mountains, and they are
supposed to have been driven north by the Huns some time
previous to the Christian era. As before remarked, they are,
with some reason, supposed to be descended from the men
of the bronze age whose remains are found in such abundance
at Minusinsk. A few members of the family are still found
in secluded valleys of that region. When in Minusinsk they
were agriculturists, and displayed considerable skill in mining
and metallurgy. Now, however, owing to the hard conditions
of the country occupied by them, they are reduced almost to
the level of the prehistoric men of the Stone age, closely similar
to that of the Eskimo. From the fact that the Samoyedes
speak of the Tunguses as Aiya, or Younger Brothers, it is,
however, inferred by some that the Tunguses arrived in the
region at a later date than the Samoyedes. Like the Tun-
guses, the Samoyedes possess many noble qualities of char-
acter, being specially noted for their honesty, but because
of this, unprincipled traders take advantage of them. Through
the ravages of smallpox and other contagious diseases they are
rapidly diminishing. Altogether they number no more than
ten thousand or twelve thousand souls.

PRE-RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 261

The Ostiaks

Adjoining the Samoyedes on the north and the Tunguses
on the east, we find the Ostiaks, who are also allied to the Finns,
These occupy the middle portion of the Obi River, extending
eastward to the Yenisei. They number in all about thirty
thousand. In the southern portion of their territory they have
adopted settled life, and have great herds of cattle. In the
northern part they are more nomadic in their habits, and make
great use of the reindeer, possessing, it is estimated, with the
Samoyedes, one hundred thousand of these animals. They
are kind, gentle, and honest, skillful in carving wood and
bone and in tanning leather, and in the manufacture of artistic
implements from birch-bark. They still hunt for the most
part with bows and arrows. Upon the occupation of the
country by the Russians, they were compelled to retreat north-
ward from the southern part of their territory; while a large
number of their fortified places in the vicinity of Obdorsk,
near the head of the Gulf of Obi were destroyed.

The Buriats

Before treating more particularly of the Turkish Mongolians
who occupy Turkestan, we must speak of the Buriats, who
in many respects resemble the Chinese, since, like them, they
shave their heads and wear pigtails. These originally occu-
pied the northern portions of Mongolia, and are supposed to
have been forced into Siberia by Jenghiz Khan in the thirteenth
century. When the Russians first came into contact with them
in the beginning of the sixteenth century, they were spread

262 ASIATIC RUSSIA

over a large part of the Upper Angara Valley, about Irkutsk,
and across Lake Baikal into the upper part of the Amur
Valley. They vigorously opposed the progress of the Rus-
sians, and for thirty or forty years were successful in main-
taining their position. In the latter part of the eighteenth
century their attention was turned to agriculture, in which,
as well as in the raising of domestic animals, they have be-
come very successful, making the most of a fertile soil and
showing much skill and enterprise in the practice of irriga-
tion. The larger part of them are to be found in Transbaikalia,
which has long been considered the granary of Eastern Siberia.
They number about two hundred thousand. In religion they
are still mostly Buddhists.

The Original Aryan Center

As the southeastern portion of the Aral-Caspian depression
is almost exactly in the center of the eastern continent, so
there is much to be said in favor of the theory, that it is
near the center from which the human race originally dis-
persed itself over the surface of the earth. In that case the
Mongolian tribes which now occupy the area are to be looked
upon merely as long-time wanderers in the East who at last
returned to their ancestral home. But, in fact, there can be
but little doubt that, in prehistoric times, the Aryan language,
whose dialects are now spoken throughout Europe, and to
which belong the classical literatures of Greece and Rome, as
well as that of the ancient Sanscrit invaders of India, was
developed somewhere in the great Aral-Caspian basin.

PRE-RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 263

This is indicated by the root words which are common to
Anglo-Saxon, Latin, Greek, Slavonic, Persian, and Sanscrit,
and which at the same time imply the conditions of life exist-
ing in the central area under consideration. The original
people who spoke the Aryan tongue had the knowledge of
the seasons, especially of winter, and of snow, ice, cow, sheep,
goat, dog, birch, and many other things, which would be
obtained in this region, and nowhere else. From their com-
mon root words we may also infer that they were familiar
with plowing, weaving, sewing ; that they built roads and ships
and houses; that they had domesticated the cow, the horse,
the sheep, and the dog, and were acquainted with the bear, the
wolf, the mouse, and the fly; that they made cloth from wool
and hemp, and welded metals into the sword, the spear, and
the shield. Common words expressing all these things are
found in the languages we have mentioned, and which are
spoken from the western boundary of Europe to the plains of
India.

The limitation of the common words to the things which
are characteristic of the Aral-Caspian basin, as well as the
geographic position of this area with reference to the dis-
persion of the languages, point to it with irresistible force as
the region in which they had their common development.
Bactria and the entire region between the Upper Oxus and
the Jaxartes has been supposed by many to be the most likely
center for the development and the dispersion of the Aryan
language and civilization. There are, however, many in recent
times who would shift the imaginary center to Europe, but,

264 ASIATIC RUSSIA

even so, they would, for the most part, keep it within the
Aral-Caspian basin by locating it upon the banks of the Volga,
where the conditions are in many respects similar to those
in the upper middle portion of the Oxus, or Amu Daria.

The date of this original Aryan occupation must be carried
back several thousand years; for, probably as early as 1500
B. c, Sanscrit literature was already abundant, proving that at
that early period the original Aryan language had put forth
one of its most important branches which had had time to
develop into an independent dialect. But the supposed original
center of Aryan civilization has never lost its importance.
Balkh and Merv were great cities in the earliest periods re-
ferred to in written history. Zoroaster (the founder of the
religion which in early times prevailed in Persia, and still
survives among the Parsees in India and the so-called fire-
worshipers who, until lately, made pilgrimages to the per-
petual burning gas-wells at Baku, on the Caspian) — Zoroaster
if he was not born in Bactria, most certainly died there, and
Balkh, its capital, was for a long time the central seat of his
religious system. For a considerable period " this mother of
cities " upon the Amu Daria was a formidable rival, in influ-
ence if not in military prowess, of Ecbatana, Nineveh, and
Babylon, its contemporaries on the plains of Persia and in the
valley of the Euphrates.

In later times Bactria emerges into history through its con-
quest by the Medes in the seventh century before Christ;
while later still it is enumerated among the conquests of Cyrus
and the dependencies or satrapies of Darius. Also, as al-

PRE-RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 265

ready related, Alexander the Great spent here nearly two years
in efforts to extend the conquest of Greece to the Jaxartes;
while his successors occupied Merv, and surrounded it with
most extensive fortifications, and founded numerous Grecian
cities to serve for the defense of the new empire, and as out-
posts of Grecian civilization. In the third century before
Christ a Graeco-Bactrian kingdom was founded, and continued
for a hundred years or more. The traveler will find in the
museum at Tashkent innumerable coins and some interesting
works of Grecian art illustrative of this period when Western
civilization was making a premature struggle to restore its
dominion in the cradle of its ancestors. But success was not
to attend these efforts until the closing part of the nineteenth
century, when, with the means at her command furnished by
the experience of ages and the mechanical inventions of the
century, Russia was able firmly to plant her feet on the sources
of the Jaxartes and the Oxus, and to open up to the country
the opportunity of joining with the Western world in the pro-
gressive march of her vigorous civilization.

The Turkish Races

The larger part of Turkestan and a considerable portion
of the Upper Obi Valley were, at the time of the Russian
advance into Asia, and are still, in possession of the Turkish
branch of the Mongolian race. The original country or cradle
of the Turks is in the northern part of Mongolia, about the
headwaters of the Amur and the Selenga, the eastern source
of the Yenisei River. It was probably during their occupa-

266 ASIATIC RUSSIA

tion of this region about Lake Baikal that the Yakuts, whom
we have already described as now in possession of the Lena
basin, became separated from the parent stem. In any event
the Turkish tribes were originally upon the west of the Mon-
gols proper, and advanced into Turkestan ahead of their
rivals and final conquerors. It is proper to say, however, that
the Turks, considered as a race, are not to be confounded
with the present small branch of the Osmanlis, who in the
fourteenth century of our era spread over Asia Minor and
eventually captured Constantinople, laying the foundation of
the present Ottoman Empire. These are, indeed, of the Turk-
ish stock, but they have become so amalgamated, through inter-
marriage, with the Caucasian race, that now, except in lan-
guage, they have little resemblance to their distant relatives
in Central and Northern Asia. It is still, however, said to
be true that a Turk from Constantinople can more readily
make himself understood among the Yakuts in the Lena Valley
than can a Frenchman from Paris in some of the more remote
provinces of the republic.

The Turks first appear in history in the scanty and uncer-
tain records of the Chinese Empire. These records refer to
them as the Hiong-nu, who, about 170 b. c, occupied the
country to the south of the Altai Mountains, in the vicinity
of Kobdo. There we hear of them later as miners and iron-
smelters, under the Chinese name Tu-kiu, from which has come
the present term, Turk. About 552 a. d. the Turks emerged
from the comparative obscurity into which they had been
thrown by the domination of adjoining tribes, and founded an

PRE-RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 267

empire in Eastern Turkestan, which was of so much impor-
tance that ambassadors were sent to it by Justin II., the Roman
emperor at Byzantium. Under this empire the Turks advanced
as far westward as the Oxus River, settling in Ferghana and
Tashkent. For several hundred years this migration to the
west continued without attracting very much attention from
the outside world, except occasionally, as, when the Petchenegs,
in the latter part of the ninth century, wandered across the
steppes to the Ural and the Volga, and settled on the plains
to the north of the Caspian Sea; or when, a little later, these
were driven farther westward to the banks of the Dnieper by
the Ghuzz, who in turn had followed them from Central Asia
to Turkestan, and, like their predecessors, so soon as the
region was overstocked by nomadic populations, pressed on-
wards to the plains of Southern Russia. Others of them, how-
ever, poured over into Persia, and their descendants under
the Seljuk dynasty, with their capital at one time at Merv,
but afterwards removed to the Euphrates Valley, laid the
foundations of the present Turkish predominance in Western
Asia. Meanwhile the Turks in general had become converts
of Mohammedanism, and Turkestan became one of the most
important centers of its influence, and the race in this its
typical center became subdivided into the well-known branches
which appear at the present day. Of these branches occupy-
ing Turkestan, the most important are: —

1. The Kirghiz. — These are divided into the Kara-Kirghiz,
or Black Kirghiz, and Kirghiz-Kazak, or Riders, (i) The
Kara-Kirghiz remain, for the most part, in the mountainous

268 ASIATIC RUSSIA

regions of Turkestan; their favorite homes being in the Ala-
tau range, about Lake Issyk-kul, the headwaters of the Chu
and Talas rivers, and in the Tian-Shan range, about the head-
waters of the Tarim River, flowing to the east, and of the
Jaxartes and Oxus to the west. They are essentially a nomadic
race, and have clung to their independence with great tenacity.
All told, they number about four hundred thousand.

(2) The Kirghiz-Kazaks, (commonly called Kirghiz-Tar-
tars), who must not be confounded with their namesakes, the
Cossacks of Russia, are much more numerous, numbering in
all nearly three million souls. They occupy all the northern
part of the Aral-Caspian basin in Asia and a considerable area
in the upper part of the basin of the Obi. They spread unin-
terruptedly from Lake Balkash westward past the Aral Sea and
along the shores of the Caspian as far as the Volga River,
covering an area of about one million two hundred thousand
square miles. They are also essentially a nomadic race, de-
pending principally upon their flocks both for food and cloth-
ing. They keep immense numbers of sheep, goats, and camels,
and are especially devoted to horseback riding. Their bee-
hive tents, covered with black felt, furnish them protection
both in summer and in winter. They have no settled habitation,
but move about with all their belongings from place to place
wherever pasture is most abundant, and water within reach.

They are divided into three " hordes " or races. The Great
Horde live chiefly in the region extending from Semi-
palatinsk to the Ala-tau range south of Lake Balkash. These
are estimated to number four hundred and fifty thousand, with

PRE-RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 269

eighty-five thousand tents. The Middle Horde occupy the
watershed between the Aral-Caspian basin and the Obi River,
extending from the Aral Sea to Lake Balkash, being most
numerous in the provinces of Semipalatinsk and Akmolinsk.
They number about one million one hundred thousand and
are reported to have one hundred and seventy-five thousand
tents. The Little Horde spread over the Ust-Urt, between
the Aral and Caspian seas, and northward to the Ural River,
being most numerous in the provinces of Orenburg, Uralsk,
Turgai, and Astrakhan. They number one million, and are
reputed to have one hundred and seventy thousand tents.

The Kirghiz-Kazaks readily bowed before the authority of
Jenghiz Khan in the thirteenth century, and upon his death
became part of the dominion of his son, Juchi, the head of
the Golden Horde. They, however, maintained their own local
government, and retained their own khans. But when the
Usbegs came into authority, about 1500 a. d., a division arose,
with their centers of influence respectively in the Kipchak and
Cheteh steppes, the latter of which, it is said, could at one
time bring into the field four hundred thousand fighting men.
The Kirghiz have readily yielded to Russian rule, and have
become loyal Russian subjects, while allowed to maintain their
local political and social organization. The Middle Horde and
the Little Horde voluntarily submitted to the Russians in 1730.
The Great Horde became for the most part subdued by Fer-
ghana in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and only
came under Russian rule fifty years later. All the Kirghiz
belong to the Sunnite sect of Mohammedans, but they are not

2jo ASIATIC RUSSIA

intolerant, and neglect many of the requirements of the strict
Mohammedans.

2. The Usbegs represent rather a political, than an ethnologi-
cal, division. They derive their name from their original
khan, Usbeg, who rose to power in the Golden Horde in the
early part of the fourteenth century. For a long while they
dominated the valley of the Tarim River east of the Pamir
with Kashgar as their center, but their rule was afterwards
extended to Ferghana, and in the headwaters of the Syr Daria
River, down to Tashkent, also over the lower part of the Zeraf-
shan, and into the valley of the Amu Daria, including the
whole of Bokhara and Khiva. The Usbegs are agriculturists
and are fond of living in cities. Altogether they number at
the present time about two million, and in Bokhara and Khiva
still maintain a semi-independence, being merely under the
protectorate of Russia.

3. The Turkomans consist of various tribes occupying the
territory between the Amu Daria River on the east, the Kopet
Dagh range on the south, and the Caspian Sea, having on the
north Khiva and the portion of the Ust-Urt occupied by the
Little Horde. The largest of these tribes are the Tekkes, who
control the fertile strip of land called the Atok along the north-
ern base of the Kopet Dagh range, together with the oasis
formed by the Murghab and Tejend rivers. Counting all the
eight or nine other tribes, the Turkomans number about one
million souls, all of whom are nomads, and have had a bad
reputation. For a long time they have freely made predatory
expeditions into the neighboring countries, coming back with

PRE-RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 271

plunder and captives, whom they either held for ransom or
sold as slaves. But since the capture of Merv by the Russians
in 1884 they have in general become law-abiding citizens, and
are trusted in military positions even more than some of their
less demonstrative neighbors.

The Tribes of the Trans-Caucasia

In very early times the Greeks braved the terrors of naviga-
tion upon the Black Sea, and reached the valley of the Rion,
which became known in their literature as Colchis. Later they
formed the flourishing settlement of Dioscurias, of which we
are still reminded in the name Cape Iskuria, not far from
Sukhum Kaleh. But the Greeks came here not so much for
settlement, as for trade, since they found the country already
full of inhabitants. Indeed, in the unknown period preceding
the advent of the Greeks, the mountain tribes had, so far as
we can see, become about as numerous and as diverse in their
characteristics as they are at present. The independence in
which the Greeks found them was maintained during the
period of Alexander's successors and until the time of Mithri-
dates (b. c. 135), the great leader of the Parthian Empire.
But even his dominion reached only to the foot of the Cau-
casus Mountains, leaving the tribes in the upper valleys still
in their wild independence. He is said, however, to have
forced a way with his army along the shores of the Black Sea
from Colchis to the Cimmerian Bosphorus. But the Romans
never penetrated so far. Even Pompey drew back in the
presence of the hazards which beset a campaign in that moun-

272 ASIATIC RUSSIA

tainous region. The Iberians and the Albanians on the south
side of the Caucasus were known to the Romans only by name.
Practically the Aras and the plains of Armenia were the limit
of Persian, Greek, and Roman conquests in that direction.
Only inferential glimpses of the early history of the country
are within our reach, and those are mainly such as are de-
rived from a study of the ethnology of the country. But
Kutais, perhaps justly, prides itself on being one of the oldest
cities of the world; while Tiflis enjoys the pre-eminence of
having more languages and dialects spoken in its streets than
can be found in any other single city. Even in the early
time of Herodotus, the Caucasus is represented as a region
of the greatest diversity of tribes and languages anywhere to
be found within so small a territory ; while Pliny tells us that
one hundred and thirty different interpreters were needed for
a Greek to carry on trade in the marts of Colchis. Other
writers affirm that three hundred languages were necessary
to meet the wants of a trader in that conglomerate popula-
tion. Modern philologists simplify the problem somewhat by
assigning these innumerable dialects to a few central groups.

i. The Georgian Group is supposed to represent the ancient
Iberian tribes of the Greek authors. The language which they
speak is, however, known among themselves as the Kartli.
Hence they are often called the Kartlinian tribes. From the
earliest times the Iberians were in possession of the central
portion of the country south of the Caucasus. In this group
there are five subdivisions: —

(i) The Georgians proper, or Grusians, who occupy the

PRE-RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 273

middle portion of the Kur Valley, extending from the Suram
Mountains eastward past Tiflis well down into the lowland
plains. They extend, also, along the Aragua well up towards
the summit of the Dariel Pass, and occupy much of the upper
portion of the valleys of the Alazan and Gora rivers.

(2) The Imeritians, who are found westward from the
Suram Mountains, in the valley of the Rion and of its tribu-
tary the Quirilha.

(3) The Mingrelians, who extend along the lower part of
the mountain flank throughout the western portion of the
northern part of the drainage basin of the Rion and as far
west as the Ingur River. The Imeritians and the Mingrelians
are closely allied both in language and racial characteristics.

(4) The Gurians, whose territory lies south of the mouth
of the Rion, and extends up upon the mountainous frontier
towards the Turkish border. They are closely allied with
the Lazi, who were already settled in the time of Strabo on
the other side of the present Turkish frontier, where they still
remain.

(5) The Swanians, a wild and barbarous tribe of moun-
taineers who were among the last to be conquered by the Rus-
sian army. They occupy those high-level parallel, fertile and
almost inaccessible, valleys which we have already spoken of
as occurring about the headwaters of the Rion and the Ingur.
The beauty and grandeur of their surroundings were admir-
ably adapted to inspire their patriotism; while the inacessi-
bility of their fertile fields and their fortresses has given them
ample opportunity to resist the inroads of the outside world.

274 ASIATIC RUSSIA

They were already known under their present name in the
time of Strabo and Pliny, when they were one of the most
powerful nations in the Caucasus. Notwithstanding all their
peculiarities, they are closely allied both in language and race
with the Georgians and Mingrelians.

2. The Circassian Group. — This occupied the whole of the
Western Caucasus upon both sides of the mountain, extend-
ing from the Ingur River to the vicinity of Novorossiisk. Of
these there are three principal divisions: —

( i ) The Circassians Proper, as they are called by the others,
but the Adighe, as they prefer to call themselves. These
formerly occupied the entire narrow strip between the moun-
tains and the Black Sea west of the Pitzunta River, together
with a considerable portion of the northern flank of the moun-
tains in the drainage basin of the Kuban. The Circassians
early became Mohammedans, and, stimulated by their religious
zeal no less than by their patriotic fervor, were among the
very last to yield to the Russian power; and when, in 1864,
they were at last subdued, they emigrated as before related
almost in a body to the Turkish Empire, leaving their fields
untilled and the whole country desolate.

(2) The Abkhasians occupy the mountain flank extending
from the Mingrelian border on the river Ingur westward to
the Pitzunta. They are closely allied to the Adighe. or Cir-
cassians, both in race and religion, and largely shared with
them in the glory and the humiliation of the defeat in 1864,
and followed their example in emigrating to Mohammedan
countries. Their territory is still almost wholly uninhabited.

PRE-RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 275

(3) The Kabardans live upon the European side of the Cau-
casus, in the high mountain valleys occupied by the head-
waters of the Kuban and the Terek. These, moreover, have
never shared with their kindred in their opposition to the
Russian government, and have quietly become peaceable and
loyal citizens of the empire.

(3) The Ossetes occupy the very center of the Caucasian
range, their territory being bisected by the great highroad
already mentioned which connects Vladikavkaz with Tiflis,
and passes through the celebrated Dariel gorge. These clearly
belong to the great Aryan family, and speak an Indo-European
language closely related to the Medo-Persian. They have so
many manners and customs in common with the Germans
that some have supposed them to be an offshoot of the Goths,
or lineal descendants of "the Alani, who thwarted the Romans
so effectually the last days of the Empire. They call them-
selves Iran, the other name being that applied to them by
their neighbors. In religion they are mainly Christians, but to
some extent have been tinctured with Mohammedanism, and
still retain many pagan customs.

(4) The Tchetchens. — These, too, are, wholly on the north-
ern slopes of the Eastern Caucasus, and would not properly
come into our survey of the Trans-Caucasus, but for the inti-
macy of their tribal relationship. They are Mohammedans,
and speak dialects to the number of twenty, which differ al-
most as much from one another as they do from the language
of the surrounding tribes. The total population, however, does
not exceed one hundred and fifty thousand.

276 ASIATIC RUSSIA

(5) The Lesghians vie with the Circassians Proper in their
claim upon the attentions of the world. Under this term is
grouped a number of petty tribes who differ greatly in
the dialects spoken, if not indeed in their fundamental
linguistic affinities. They occupy nearly the whole of the
complex mountainous system east of the Dariel Pass, includ-
ing all of Daghestan and many of the southern declivities of
the mountains watered by the tributaries of the Alazan and
of the Kur. Not only is there much variation in the dialects
of the people occupying this region but they are characterized
by other differences so profound that they are thought by
many to be an amalgamation of various diverse racial stocks.
Certainly two of the small tribes — the Udi and the Kubatschi
— belong to alien races, and these are the only ones who pos-
sessed a written language, and that, one which made use of
the Arabic alphabet. The mountainous area occupied by these
tribes is mostly drained by independent streams into the Cas-
pian Sea, and altogether has not far from fifteen thousand
square miles, being about the size of Switzerland, or twice that
of Massachusetts, with a population approaching eight hun-
dred thousand. They are all fanatical Mohammedans in re-
ligion, who maintained their independence for well-nigh half
a century in the presence of most strenuous efforts of the
Russian army which surrounded them on every side.

In addition to these native tribes, many Turko-Tartars are
found along the borders of the Caspian Sea outside of the
strong lines of defense furnished by the mountains a little
farther inland.

PRE-RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 277

Such is the conglomeration of people occupying this peculiar
region between the Black and the Caspian Sea, and shielded
upon the north by the Caucasus Mountains almost as effectually
from Cossack invasions as they were from the Arctic winds
which blow unimpeded over the plains of Russia. Trans-
Caucasia alone is nearly as large as Italy, with mountain
systems three times as massive as the Alps upon one side, and
with a plateau as lofty and impenetrable as that of Mexico
upon the other. The increasing importance of the commerce
upon the Black and Mediterranean seas rendered inevitable a
final conflict between these barbarous tribes and Russia. But
it was delayed until long after the wastes of Siberia had been
explored and to a large extent colonized. The occupation of
Trans-Caucasia was, therefore, but an eddy, though an im-
portant one, in the eastward march of the Russian Empire.

XIV

RUSSIAN COLONIZATION

INTO the foregoing complex mass of Asiatic races, Rus-
sian colonists have been steadily intruding ever since
the conquest began under Yermak at the opening of the
seventeenth century. Having already detailed the leading facts
connected with the military occupation, we may now profitably
bring under review the more peaceful order of events which
are transforming the country into a European province and
substituting an Aryan in place of a Mongolian civilization. It
is to be noted, however, that Siberia was explored and brought
under Russian dominion, not so much by formal military
expeditions, as by independent parties of hunters and traders,
In this respect the history of Siberia is much like that of North
America, where the Hudson Bay Company and its rival, the
American Fur Company, organized by John Jacob Astor, had
established their posts in almost every accessible point in the
continent far in advance of the agricultural colonists.

Still, the influx of traders and explorers, together with the
military forces which were thought necessary to give them
protection and support, immediately created a demand for
civilized food, which could best be supplied by Russian colo-
nists. These, therefore, were soon found in moderate numbers

278

RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 279

surrounding the military posts and lining the navigable rivers
and the military roads through which the increasing traffic
to the distant regions was maintained. A large part of the
early colonists were sent out under government supervision.
First, there were the ordinary Cossacks, who served both as
agriculturists and as a military force for the protection of
the frontier. Second, there were the peasants who were either
ordered, or induced, by the government to settle at convenient
places for the maintenance of communication. These, like the
Cossacks, were favored by special grants of land and a cer-
tain amount of government assistance, and were to be ready on
reasonable terms to serve the interests of all travelers who had
occasion to use the highway. Third, there were the strielitz
or regular soldiers, who were stationed in the forts, which had
been established at all strategic points. Fourth, there were
the yamschiks who were regular Russian officials of low order
charged with maintaining the postal service and with keeping
a supply of horses on hand at convenient intervals for the
use of official and other travelers. It is the service of the
yamschiks on the Siberian post roads which has made travel
so regular, rapid, easy and economical that, except for the
transportation of heavy freight, the need of the transconti-
nental railroad has not been so pressingly felt as it would have
been in other countries. Two hundred miles a day is by no
means an uncommon rate of travel across Siberia through the
use of the convenient tarantass or sledge and frequent changes
of horses at the regular post stations. Another class of colo-
nists sent out by the government consisted of convicts, who

280 ASIATIC RUSSIA

were placed under a variety of regulations according to the
crimes which they had committed. But of these we must
speak more in detail in a later chapter.

In addition to the colonists who were thus patronized or
sent out by the government, there has been from the first a
large and increasing amount of free colonization stimulated
by discontent of various kinds, some of which is common to
all countries, but much of which was peculiar to Russia.
Previous to the abolition of serfdom in 1861, there was a
constant stream of fugitives of this class escaping from Russia
to Siberia, much as the slaves in the Southern States in Amer-
ica fled for refuge to the Northern States and Canada. Dis-
content with the conscription laws for filling the ranks of the
army drove many others into voluntary exile.

But most prominent and effective of all the forces early
leading to free colonization in Siberia were the religious per-
secutions in Russia during the seventeenth, the eighteenth,
and part of the nineteenth century. The importance of these
religious movements is such as to demand special attention
from the student of Siberian history.

The Raskolniks

Russia, in common with all Europe, was deeply agitated by
the spirit of religious reformation which characterized the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; both in character and
results that of Russia has been peculiar to itself. To a con-
siderable extent, the religious revolutions in Russia during
the seventeenth century were due to the peculiar relations

RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 281

between Russia and Poland. Poland has always been a
staunch representative of the Roman Catholic influences in
Central Europe; while Russia is a leading representative of
the Orthodox, or so-called Greek, Church, which has always
violently opposed the recognition of the Pope, or the decrees
of any church council subsequent to the division of the Church
into the Eastern and Western branches. Poland, also, on ac-
count of its more favorable conditions with reference to com-
munication and soil, but especially of climate, made earlier
advancement in civilization, and, in consequence, was able
more than once to threaten not only the life of the Russian
nation, but the establishment of the Roman Catholic religion
as the state religion in Russia. Thus religious and political
questions have always been most intimately connected with the
perpetual causes of contention between the Polish and Rus-
sian peoples; and from the beginning, patriotism and the
Orthodox religion have been nearly synonymous.

About the middle of the seventeenth century, a vigorous
effort was made, under the patriarch Nikon, to revise the
liturgy and some of the practices of the Russian Church, so
as to make them conform to those of the other branches of
the Greek Church. On the face of it, this would seem to
be both a most reasonable and a harmless effort designed
merely to correct the mistakes of copyists which had crept
into the liturgy, and to restore the original ceremonials which
had been perverted through ignorance or carelessness. But
it was not so regarded by a large part of the most devout
members of the church. Actuated by a vague fear that Nikon

282 ASIATIC RUSSIA

was an emissary of Polish Catholicism and a promoter of
Polish luxury, these loyal devotees to Russian ideas, and to
the truth as they supposed it had once been delivered to the
saints, made a stand against the innovations, which fairly
shook the nation, and the influence of which continues seri-
ously to affect the policy of the whole empire to the present
day.

"The principal differences to be settled were: whether a triple
halleluia should be pronounced, in honor of the Trinity, or a double
halleluia, in reference to the double nature of Christ; whether pro-
cessions around the churches should march against or with the sun ;
whether it be right or wrong to shave the beard; whether at mass
there should be upon the altar one or many loaves — the Russian used
seven ; whether the name Jesus should be spelled lissons or fssous;
whether, in prayer, the Saviour should be addressed as our God or as
the Son of God; whether it be right to say of God, whose reign is
eternal, or whose reign shall be eternal; whether the cross should
have four or eight points ; and whether the sign of the cross should
be made with three fingers extended, as denoting the Trinity, and two
closed, in reference to Christ's double nature, or with two fingers
extended, in allusion to the double nature, and three closed, in token
of the Trinity.

" The hidden and typical significance of these ceremonies and sym-
bols constituted their special importance. The Greeks, in each case,
followed the former, and the Russians the latter, of the above alterna-
tives, and in these respects a change, so as to conform to the Greek
practice, was ordained by the synod, and was confirmed by subsequent
councils in 1666 and 1667." *

* Russian Church and Russian Dissent, p. 95.

RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 283

But it must not be thought that these seemingly trivial
questions in themselves explain the depth and strength of this
great religious and political movement. These were but the
symbols of a deep-seated conservative sentiment which was
in its intention loyal to what they supposed to be the best
interests of Russia and of the world. Nikon represented a
party which was not only polishing the ritual, but endeavor-
ing to polish the manners of the people, introducing the
luxurious tendencies of the West. The party of Nikon was
also extending the realm of serfdom and binding the fetters
of the serf into knots that could not easily be untied. It was
also interfering with the freedom of the village communities
by various centralizing processes, and taking out of the hand
of the people the regulation of many of what seemed to them
their inborn rights. Peter the Great became, a little later,
specially obnoxious to this " Old Russian " conservative party,
for he not only introduced the skeptical ideas of French in-
fidelity, but attempted to reform the manners of the people
and to prescribe even the fashion of the hats which they should
wear. In short, the opponents of Nikon based their opposi-
tion on the threefold ground of loyalty to God, loyalty to
Russia, and loyalty to themselves and their posterity, and
would not be put down.

The Russian name for " schism " is raskol. Consequently
these schismatics are called Raskolniks; and so, for lack of
any other descriptive term, we must designate them. Like
the Protestants of Western Europe, the Raskolniks of Russia
soon became divided into a large number of sects, all agreeing

284 ASIATIC RUSSIA

however, in their opposition to the innovations of Nikon and
Peter the Great, and in their belief that the regular church had
apostatized, and become the representative of Satan. Peter
the Great was denounced as " Antichrist," and by vast multi-
tudes is still believed to be so. All likewise agree in fanatical
devotion to the Bible as they interpret it.

The first great division of the Raskolniks was into Popo-
vists (Pope meaning " priest," Popovists, those having priests)
and Bez Popovists (Bez meaning "no"), or those who have
no priests. This division originated, also, from the extreme
devotion of all parties to the original formularies of the
church. The Popovists considered that it was absolutely es-
sential to have priests to administer the sacraments, and that
the priests should be in the line of apostolical succession,
having been regularly ordained by a bishop. Only one bishop,
however, remained with them when the rest of the church
seceded, and he died before he had ordained a successor. There
was some talk of having the hands of the dead bishop used
to impart the divine power to his successor, but as his lips
could not be made to speak the necessary words of consecra-
tion, the plan was abandoned, and the Popovists were for
more than a century reduced to the necessity of receiving
runaway priests, who had incurred the censure of the regular
church, or others who could be induced from mercenary mo-
tives to abandon the poorer parishes of the state church for
the richer ones of the Raskolniks. It is only in recent times
that a regularly ordained bishop has been persuaded to join
their number, and, securely protected outside the bounds of

RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 285

Russia, to provide for the Popovists priests of their own,
regularly set aside by the laying on of apostolical hands.

The Bez Popovists reasoned that if the church had aposta-
tized, the priesthood was also fatally corrupted, and that
thereby the apostolical succession had been irrevocably broken.
To them, therefore, it seemed that they were living already
in the last days of the world, whose end they speedily ex-
pected. Taking occasion from necessity, they administered the
sacraments to one another, or resorted to the most fantastic
ways of receiving their benefit directly from the unseen spirit-
ual agencies of the world. Many of them, for example, would
sit by the roadside or in the market for hours with their
mouths wide open and turned upwards to receive the in-
vigorating drops of spiritual blessing that they supposed dis-
tilled from the skies for the benefit of waiting believers.

These strange and fantastic exhibitions were, however, but
the outward sign of an inflexible determination to resist to
the utmost what they believed to be the agencies of the Prince
and Power of darkness, which, in corrupting the doctrines
of the Russian Church, were taking away the last hope of the
world. Nor did they fail to show their faith by their works.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Raskol-
niks of Russia furnished more martyrs for the stake than did
the Huguenots after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes
in France, or the Protestants under the persecutions of Bloody
Mary in Great Britain.

An innumerable number of sectarians went even farther
than the Bez Popovists., and became violent revolutionists, and,

286 ASIATIC RUSSIA

under the color of religion, engaged in practices which are in
contravention of all morality, and are too shocking to be
related, much less to be endured. Among some, suicide was
exalted to a virtue, and hundreds together set their own houses
afire, whole families plunging into the flames to court a
martyr's death. Infant children were freely put to death by
some, the more certainly to secure their eternal salvation.
Marriage was prohibited by others; and as a consequence lust
was glorified by many, while others went to the extreme of
self-mutilation as a religious deed.

All these facts must be borne in mind before we pass judg-
ment upon the measures of the Russian Church to suppress
the Raskolniks. Many of the sects were too monstrous both
in their doctrines and practices to be endured in any self-
respecting civilized nation, and it was not always easy in
official action to distinguish between dangerous and compara-
tively harmless heresy. Besides, it should be remembered that
the civilized world has everywhere been slow m learning the
true lesson of religious liberty.

The course of the Russian government from the beginning
in dealing with the Raskolniks has been vacillating. Periods
of violent persecution have alternated with periods of toler-
ance and even of complacent admiration. But through it all
the Raskolniks and other schismatics have continued to increase
until now they number, according to the best estimates, as
many as fifteen million, comprising more than ten per cent
of the total population of the Russian Empire; and. though
it may be said that " not many mighty, not many noble, have

RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 287

been called," the Raskolniks as a class have an enviable repu-
tation, on account of their industry, sobriety, honesty, benevo-
lence, and general prosperity. Their principal fields of de-
velopment have been in Central, Northern, and Eastern Rus-
sia, from which emigration to Siberia has always been active.
The Raskolniks religiously abstain from the use of alcoholic
beverages, and tobacco, and many of them from tea and other
luxuries. Above all other Russians they encourage elementary
education sufficient to read the Bible and their primitive eccle-
siastical literature. From the province of Jarislov, where
the Raskolniks are predominant, it is said that nearly all of
the recruits to the army are able to read and write.

Naturally, also, their industry and sobriety have given them
a degree of material prosperity far in excess of that of the
average of their countrymen. Large numbers of the rich
merchants and manufacturers of Moscow are Raskolniks. In
the province of Perm the wealth of the mining district has
largely fallen into their hands. During the pestilence of 1771
which paralyzed the industries of Central Russia and spread
universal terror throughout the empire, the Feodocians, a
sect of Raskolniks, came forward and poured out their treasure
to bury the dead and care for the sick ; and thereby so won
the favor of the government, that they were permitted to
establish public hospitals and other beneficiary institutions.
These soon so commended them to the favor of the people,
that their increasing influence threatened the stability of the
throne, and measures were taken for their repression. But
while the Raskolniks promote elementary education, and are

288 ASIATIC RUSSIA

the most prosperous of the Russian people, they are not largely
found in the universities and higher institutions of learning.

Nor, with all their criticism of the government, and with
all the persecution they have suffered at its hands, are they
disloyal to Russia, for they are emphatically devoted to the
interests of the Slavic race. They are, indeed, Slavophiles.
All the efforts of the nihilists to secure their co-operation have
failed. Like the Puritans, when leaving their native country
they have still wished to be within the hallowed circle of its
domain. The Cossacks of the Don are largely Raskolniks.
Yet when sent out upon the frontiers they are ever most faith-
ful guardians of the national interests. Cheerfully the Ras-
kolniks have submitted to the double taxation imposed upon
them by Peter the Great and during later times of intolerance ;
while, in addition to supporting their own church ordinances,
they have complacently stopped the mouths of the regular
priesthood by voluntarily paying their churchly dues, and of
the police by quietly putting into their hands the money that
in times of tolerance was formally collected by the state.

Naturally Siberia received among its early colonists more
than its full proportion of Raskolniks. In many cases the sects
which were denominated dangerous, — like those which prac-
ticed self-mutilation, and those which refused to recognize
the formulas of marriage — were exiled to the Caucasus or
to Siberia. Of these, colonies of Skoptsy and Doukobourtski
may be met with in many secluded places of the Caucasus and
on the Armenian plateau near Erivan, while the Skoptsy
communities near Yakutsk, like the Shaker communities in

RUSSIAN COLONIZATION 289

America, are noted for their material prosperity and the high
standard of their ordinary morality.

But in larger numbers the Raskolniks and other schismatics
have voluntarily sought in Siberia that freedom of develop-
ment which the Puritans sought on the bleak shores of New
England. Sporadic settlements of many of the lesser sects
can be found secluded in the forests and swamps of the Middle
Obi Valley or in the far-off sequestered nooks of the Mon-
golian mountain border; while in unusually large numbers
they are found on the fertile prairies in the vicinity of Tobolsk,
Tomsk, and Barnaul, where, according to the census, they
number fully one hundred thousand; but, from the notorious
imperfection of the census reports in religious matters, they
may be safely reckoned as two hundred thousand. In Trans-
baikalia, with its population of six hundred and sixty-four
thousand, the Raskolniks are the predominant element, having
begun to go there in large numbers in the beginning of the
nineteenth century to occupy the richest farming land. Hither
they have transported in perfection their patriarchal com-
munities and have preserved their peculiarities of belief and
practice better than is done in the older centers of their influ-
ence in European Russia. In the province of Amur ten per
cent of the population are Raskolniks. or members of minor
branches of schismatics. They largely control the steam
transportation of the river, and are bringing under cultivation
tfie richest lands bordering that truly magnificent stream.

In view of all these considerations, it is safe to say that,
at the beginning of the twentieth century, fully five hundred

290 ASIATIC RUSSIA

thousand of the population of Asiatic Russia, or perhaps ten
per cent of the Russian population, belong to the various
sects who, while maintaining with great tenacity the general
doctrines of Orthodox Christianity, are vigorously protesting
against the authority of the state church.

,In giving a general survey of the religious influences at
work in Siberia, we may also properly combine with these those
of the members of the various Jewish and Protestant sects
that are found in Siberia ; the Jews especially being in many
places very numerous. The city of Kansk, on the Baraba
prairies, with its population of eight thousand or ten thousand
is so predominantly Jewish that it is known as the " Jerusalem
of Siberia " ; while in four of the largest and oldest cities —
Omsk, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Irkutsk — both Lutheran and
Roman Catholic churches are to be found.

But in the greatly increased emigration of the latter part
of the nineteenth century the members of the regular Russian
branch of the Orthodox Greek Church have so predominated
as largely to overshadow all others ; and the beautiful domes
of their imposing church edifices may be seen rising above the
log houses of every village settlement, as well as adorning
the most conspicuous building sites in all their thriving cities.
Indeed, the religious devotion of the Russians who have
settled in Siberia seems to pass all the bounds of wisdom in
the erection of many more churches in the principal centers
of population than are demanded by the present or the prospec-
tive population. These, however, have not been mainly erected
by governmental order, but by private citizens.

, . .v

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Asiatic Russia