GOLDEE CHILDREN.
"The Gilyaks row their boats by pulling alternately on the oars, while the Goldees, who are higher up the river, pull the oars simultaneously. The houses of the Goldees are superior in every way to those of the Gilyaks. They are warmed by means of wooden pipes passing beneath benches on three sides of the room, and serving as seats by day and beds at night. Like the Gilyaks, the Goldees live chiefly by fishing, but they give more attention to agriculture, and many of them have cows and horses. One day we passed a village where a large fleet of boats was engaged in fishing for salmon and sturgeon. Two men tried a race with thesteamboat, and fairly beat us for a short distance, though we were making nine or ten miles against the current.
"The Russians have established villages along the Amoor at intervals of twenty or thirty miles, where the steamboats are supplied with wood. Some of these villages are close to the native ones, and the people live in perfect harmony. At one of our stopping-places I suggested that I would like to see the inside of a Goldee house, and the captain kindly accompanied me to the native village.
A GOLDEE MAN AND WOMAN.
"Guided by a Russian peasant, we picked our way among the drying fish, and reached the door. It was quite late in the evening, and all the people had gone to sleep. With some difficulty we roused the owner of the place, and persuaded him to admit us. Our guide carried a torch of birch bark, and as he held it aloft the sight revealed to us was a strange one.
"Twenty or thirty persons were asleep on the benches, or huddled together to stare at the intruders. The captain explained that the Goldees keep their houses very warm, and sleep with little clothing; and certainlyit did not seem as if the whole party had bedding enough for one-quarter their number. There was a smouldering fire in the middle of the room, a large kettle, set in brickwork, was at one side, and the rafters were hung with nets and fishing implements. A vicious-looking dog stood growling in front of us, and needed only a word from his master to turn his growls into bites. I had no inclination to stay long, particularly as the atmosphere was by no means pure, and it did not seem exactly polite to rouse a gentleman in the night and compel him to open his house simply to gratify a stranger's curiosity.
"For a thousand miles or more the Amoor forms the dividing line between Russia and China, the former country being on the northern bank, and the latter on the southern. There is a Chinese town of some twenty thousand inhabitants at one point, and smaller towns and villages both above and below it.
"The whole valley of the Amoor was in the possession of the Chinese until 1853, when it was conquered by the Russians in a campaign that lasted less than two months, and was unaccompanied with loss of life. General Mouravieff, then Governor-general of Eastern Siberia, organized an expedition and sent it down the river in boats. The Chinese were wholly unprepared for it, and the Russians had everything their own way.Then colonists were sent to form the villages I have mentioned, and Russia was so firmly established that she could not be disturbed.
"And now, as you have doubtless studied the geography of Asia, will you tell me how the Amoor is formed?"
INAUGURATION OF GENGHIS KHAN.
"Certainly," answered Fred. "It is formed by the rivers Argoon and Shilka, just as the Ohio is formed by the Alleghany and Monongahela. The Argoon comes in from the south, and the Shilka from the north. Genghis Khan was born in the valley of the Argoon, and the armies that went to the Tartar conquest of Europe were originally mustered on the banks of that stream."
JUNCTION OF THE ARGOON AND SHILKA TO FORM THE AMOOR.
"The answer is correct," was the reply. "The spot where the rivers unite is called 'Oust-strelka' ("Arrow-mouth"), owing to the shape of the tongue of land between the streams. The scenery is interesting, as the banks of the Argoon are steep, and the hills as far as one can see them are covered to their summits with dense forests.
"Our steamboat turned into the Shilka, and, after making a few unimportant landings, finished its voyage at Stratensk, twenty-three hundredmiles above Nicolayevsk. The river voyage was at an end, and from this point to St. Petersburg was a land journey of five thousand miles. Horse-power was to be my mode of conveyance for more than four thousand miles—a prospect by no means pleasant.
"It was about the middle of October when I arrived at Stratensk, and bade farewell to river navigation in Siberia. By the advice of Russian friends I planned to go to Irkutsk, the capital of Eastern Siberia, before the snows fell, and there wait for the winter roads to become good enough for sledging.
"Irkutsk is about fourteen hundred miles from Stratensk, and there is a good wagon-road—at least it is called good in Siberia—connecting the two points. The road makes a detour around the southern end of Lake Baikal, and quite a distance is saved by crossing the lake on a steamer. I was told that I might have to wait a day or two to connect with the steamer, as it is not very regular in its movements.
"I had made the acquaintance of a Russian officer while ascending the Amoor, and long before reaching Stratensk it was arranged that we would travel together to the first provincial capital, where I intended stopping a few days. There I hoped to find some one else who was going in my direction, and thus would have the advantages of the companionship of some one who knew the language, and also to share the expense. It costs no more for two persons than for one, as the hire of horses and carriages is just the same, exactly as when you hire a cab in London or New York.
SCENE IN A POSTING STATION.
"From one end of Siberia to the other there is a post-road, with stations from ten to twenty miles apart, and there are similar roads leading from the great route to the towns north and south. A traveller must have apaderojnia, or road-pass, which he obtains from the Chief of Police at his starting-point. He pays at the rate of half a cent a mile for this road-pass, and it entitles him to the number of horses named in the document. For these horses he pays a rate fixed by law, usually two cents a mile for each horse. Ordinarily a traveller can get along comfortably with two horses, but if the roads are bad, three, and sometimes more, are necessary."
Frank asked if the horses must be paid for at the time the paderojnia is taken.
"Not at all," was the reply. "The money is paid at each station to thesmotretal, or station-master. It is paid in advance, or may be given to the driver at the end of the ride."
"A stranger must run a great risk of being cheated," said Fred; "the station-master could make the distance out much greater than it really is, and thus turn a dishonest penny very often."
"By no means can he do so," Mr. Hegeman answered, "if the stranger is on his guard. At every station there is an official certificate framed and hung up, showing the distance to the next station in both directions; the most enterprising efforts of the smotretal to cheat the traveller can be frustrated by a study of this document.
"And now for the means of conveyance," continued Mr. Hegeman. "Every station is required to keep a certain number of horses and drivers, and it must also have a stipulated number of wheeled carriages for summer, and sledges for winter use. The wheeled carriage is called atelega; it is a rough sort of a wagon on wooden springs, and gives a great deal of jolting to the mile. A ride of a thousand miles in a telega may be guaranteed to cure a very bad case of dyspepsia or kill the patient, and in some cases it might do both. The horses are driven at a breakneck speed, and the traveller finds himself tossed from side to side till he is bruised like arolled orange. The telega is changed, along with the horses, at every station; the traveller and his baggage must be transferred, as the carriage and horses return to the station whence they came."
"It must be very disagreeable to make these changes," remarked one of the youths, "especially at night or in a storm."
A TARANTASSE.
"It is, indeed," was the reply; "and to obviate this the Russians have a vehicle called atarantasse, which is larger, better made, and in every way more comfortable than the telega. A traveller going on a long journey, and able to afford the expense, buys a tarantasse at starting, and sells it at the end of his ride. He thus avoids the necessity of changing at every station; and if he has a servant to attend to the payments and other matters, he can sleep through the night with comparative comfort.
"We started from Stratensk in a telega, as we could not find a tarantasse for sale or hire, and changed at the next station. Luckily for us, the smotretal had a tarantasse, which we hired as far as Stratensk, about sixty miles from our starting-point. It was old, and somewhat rickety, but it was better than nothing at all, and we gladly engaged it.
"There are three classes of paderojnia for the Russian post-roads. The highest is for Government couriers and great officials; the second for officials not on Government business; and the third for civilian travellers. My companion had a courier's pass, while I had a paderojnia of the second class; consequently his was the best to use.
"A traveller with a courier's pass is never detained for want of horses,while others must take their chances. The second-class passport takes precedence over the third, and in a very summary way at times.
"Suppose Smith has a second-class paderojnia, and Jones one of the third class. Smith reaches a station and finds Jones with a team ready to start. If there are no more horses, the station-master detaches Jones's horses and gives them to Smith; Jones must wait until he can be supplied; it may be an hour, a day, or a week.
CHANGING HORSES AT A SIBERIAN STATION.
"Three horses must always be kept ready for couriers, and the changes made very quickly. If all the horses belonging to a station are out when a lower-class traveller arrives, he must wait till a team returns and has rested. If he is willing to pay something extra rather than wait, he can be accommodated; the smotretal will obtain horses from the villagers at whatever advance on the regular price that he thinks the traveller will stand. Here is where the station-master has a chance to make something, and he usually makes it.
"The horses are small and shaggy, but they are capable of great speed and endurance. They are never blanketed, even in the coldest weather,and their hair is thick and soft like the fur of a fox. Sometimes they kept up a steady gallop from one station to another, and did not seem to suffer by the speed. Frequently they travelled ten miles an hour, and when we were going down hill they did better than that. The way to go from one hill to another is to dash down the slope and across the level at full gallop, and thus obtain an impetus for mounting the next. Many of the hollows have corduroy bridges over the little streams that flow through them, and when we crossed these bridges at full gallop the tarantasse or telega received a very lively shaking."
Turning to Doctor Bronson, Mr. Hegeman suggested that the former should tell the youths about the search in Siberia for Sir John Franklin and his crew.
The Doctor smiled as he recalled the story, which he gave with a preliminary explanation:
"The Russians apply the term 'equipage' to any kind of vehicle, whether on wheels or runners. The same word is used in Russian as in French to denote the crew of a ship.
"A few years after the disappearance of Sir John Franklin, the English Admiralty requested the Russian Government to ascertain if any traces of that officer and his party had been found on the coast of Siberia. A general order was sent to all officials in Siberia to make inquiries about the 'English Captain John Franklin and his equipage.' In due time came reports that nothing could be found, except in a single instance, where a petty official wrote as follows:
"'I have made the proper inquiries. I can learn nothing about the English captain, John Franklin, but in one of my villages there is an old sleigh that no one claims, and perhaps it is his equipage.'"
THE RIGHT OF WAY IN RUSSIA.
"To return to the road," said Mr. Hegeman, when the laugh created by the story had subsided. "We carried one, and sometimes two bells on the yoke of our shaft-horse, to indicate that we were travelling by post; every humbler vehicle was required to give us not only half but the whole of the road—at any rate, it was expected to do so. Sometimes we had it, and sometimes we did not; if the drivers of the approaching vehicles were awake they usually turned out, but very often they were asleep, and their horses had their own way. When this happened, our driver brought his whip-lash heavily across the sleeper as he passed him. The driver of a post-carriage has the right to thrash a common driver who does not get out of his way, and rarely lets the opportunity pass."
Fred suggested that in this way he probably obtained some revenge for the kicks and cuffs he received from his superiors. The rest of the partyassented to the idea of the youth. Doctor Bronson remarked that the most cruel of the slave-drivers of the Southern States of America in former times were the negro slaves who were placed in authority over their fellows, and he thought the same rule held good throughout the world in general.
GETTING OUT OF DIFFICULTY.
"It had been raining before we arrived at Stratensk, and consequently we found a great deal of mud on the roads. Several times we were mired, and had to send to neighboring farm-houses for additional horses, and twice we removed all our baggage and put our own shoulders to the wheel to get out of trouble. One of these performances was during a shower, and did not improve our condition or temper. I was ready to vote Siberian travelling a first-class nuisance, and felt downhearted at the immense distance that lay between me and the railway-station at Nijni Novgorod.
"To make things worse, our Cossack servant had placed our pillows and blankets on the wet ground, and piled heavy baggage on top. For this stupidity my companion, the captain, remonstrated in very strong language, but all that he said could not dry our property. At the next stationwe stopped for dinner; while we were eating our meal the dampened articles were somewhat improved by being placed in front of the kitchen fire.
"Once while descending a hill at full speed a wheel of the tarantasse came off, but no damage was done beyond bringing us to a very sudden stop. The two axles of the vehicle were about twelve feet apart, and connected by a pair of stout poles which had a great deal of 'spring' in them. Properly made, a tarantasse is by no means an uncomfortable vehicle to ride in, provided, of course, you are travelling over good roads."
"What did you get for dinner at the station?" Frank asked.
"We had thesamovar, with some tea and sugar, from our own stock, and then we had boiled eggs and bread. They had some cold mutton, of which I ate liberally, as I had an appetite like a tiger, but my friend would hardly touch it. He told me that mutton was rarely eaten by the Russians, and during my journey through Siberia I do not remember seeing it on the table, except in a few of the way-side stations. This was all the more singular when there were great flocks of sheep in the country where we were travelling. The sheep belong principally to the Bouriats, a Mongol people who were the occupants of the country before the Russians went there.
"Eggs and bread are the only articles of food you can rely upon getting at the stations, and sometimes even the eggs are wanting. Bread is made from rye flour rather than from wheat, and its complexion is darker than that of the Boston brown bread of America. It is the bread of the peasant from one end of the Empire to the other, and a good many of the nobility prefer it to white bread. For my own part I never liked the black bread of Russia, but often ate it for lack of anything else.
"Up hill and down dale we went, and on the second morning of our journey the broad and beautiful valley of the Nertcha River lay before us. Two or three miles above the point where the Nertcha joins the Shilka lies the town of Nertchinsk, a well-built place with five or six thousand inhabitants. It has an air of wealth and solidity, and large fortunes have been made there by men interested in gold-mining. We entered the town through an arched gate-way, and drove to the house of a rich gold-miner with whom my friend was well acquainted. Hardly had we thrown off our wrappings before thesamovarwas steaming on the table. We were urged to stay to dinner, and, much to my satisfaction, the invitation was accepted by my companion."
"Haven't I read about Nertchinsk as a place of exile?" said one of the youths.
"Quite likely you have," was the answer. "Nertchinsk and its gold-mines have a prominent place in the history of Siberian exile. Would you like to hear about it?"
"Of course we would," the youths eagerly responded. It was agreed that the journey through Siberia should be suspended until the new subject was disposed of.
VALLEY OF THE AMOOR ABOVE OUK-SE-ME.
"There are many errors in the popular mind of England and America concerning the system of exile to Siberia," said Mr. Hegeman, as he settled into a chair to begin his discourse on this interesting subject.
"One error is that exiles are treated with such cruelty that they do not live long; that they are starved, beaten, tortured, and otherwise forced into an early death.
"No doubt there have been many cases of cruelty just as there have been in prisons and other places of involuntary residence all over the globe and among all nations. Exiles are prisoners, and the lot of a prisoner depends greatly upon the character of his keeper, without regard to the country or nation where he is imprisoned. Siberia is no exception to the rule. With humane officials in power, the life of the exiles is no worse, generally speaking, than is that of the inmates of a prison in other lands; and with brutal men in authority the lot of the exile is doubtless severe.
"In the time of the Emperor Nicholas there was probably more cruelty in the treatment of exiles than since his death; but that he invented systems of torture, or allowed those under him to do so, as has been alleged, is an absurdity.
"Let me cite a fact in support of my assertion. After the revolution of 1825, just as Nicholas ascended the throne, two hundred of the conspirators were exiled to hard labor for life. They were nearly all young men, of good families, and not one of them had ever devoted a day to manual occupation. Reared in luxury, they were totally unfitted for the toil to which they were sentenced; and if treated with the cruelty that is said to be a part of exile, they could not have lived many months.
"The most of them were sent to the mines of Nertchinsk, where they were kept at labor for two years. Afterwards they were employed in a polishing-mill at Chetah and on the public roads for four or five years, and at the end of that time were allowed to settle in the villages and towns, making their living in any way that was practicable. Some of them were joined by their wives, who had property in their own right (the estates of the exiles were confiscated at the time of their banishment), and those thus favored by matrimonial fortune were able to set up fine establishments.
INTERIOR OF AN EXILE'S HUT.
"Some of the Decembrists, as these particular exiles were called, from the revolution having occurred in December, died within a few years, but the most of them lived to an advanced age. When Alexander II. ascended the throne, in 1856, all the Decembrists were pardoned. Some of them returned to European Russia after thirty-one years of exile, but they found things so changed, and so many of their youthful companions dead, that they wrote back and advised those who were still in Siberia to stay there. My first visit to Siberia was in 1866, forty-one years after the December revolution. At that time there were ten or twelve of the Decembrists still living, all of them venerable old men. One was a prosperouswine-merchant at Irkutsk; another had made a fortune as a timber-merchant; others were comfortable, though not wealthy; and two or three were in humble, though not destitute circumstances. Now, if they had been treated with the cruelty that is alleged to be the lot of all Siberian exiles, do you think any of them would have reached such an advanced age?"
Silence gave assent to the query. After a short pause, Frank asked what was the social standing of these exiles, the Decembrists.
EXILES PASSING THROUGH A VILLAGE.
"It was nearly, though not quite, what it was in European Russia before their exile," was the reply. "They were received in the best Siberian families, whether official or civilian, and were on terms of friendship with the officials in a private way. They were not invited to strictly official ceremonies, and this was about the only difference between their treatment and that of those who were not exiles. Of course I refer to the time when they were settled in the towns, after their term of forced laborwas ended. Before that they were just like any other prisoners condemned to the same kind of servitude.
"There were two of the Decembrists (Prince Troubetskoi and Prince Volbonskoi) whose wives were wealthy, and followed their husbands into exile. When relieved from labor and allowed their personal liberty, these princes came to Irkutsk and built fine houses. They entertained handsomely, were visited by the officials, went very much into society, and in every way were as free as any one else, except that they were forbidden to leave Siberia. Nicholas was not of a forgiving disposition, and not till he died were the Decembrists free to return to St. Petersburg.
A TOWN BUILT BY EXILES.
"A bit of social gossip adds to the interest of the Siberian life of Prince Volbonskoi. There was some incompatibility of temper between the prince and his wife, and for a long time they were not particularly friendly. She and the children and servants occupied the large and elegantly furnished house, while the Prince lived in a small building in the court-yard. He had a farm near the town, and sold to his wife such of the produce as she needed for household use."
Fred wished to know how many kinds of people are sent to Siberia.
"There are three classes of exiles," was the reply: "political, religious, and criminal offenders. The political ones include Nihilists and other revolutionists, and of course there is a great majority of Poles among this class; the religious exiles are certain sects of fanatics that the Government wishes to suppress; and the criminal ones are those who offend against society in all sorts of ways. None of them are ever called 'prisoners' or 'criminals' while in Siberia, and it is not often you hear them termed 'exiles.' In ordinary conversation they are called 'unfortunates,' and in official documents they are classed as 'involuntary emigrants.'
"There are about ten thousand 'involuntary emigrants' going every year from European Russia to Siberia. These include criminals of all kinds, a few religious offenders of the fanatical sort, and some Nihilists and other revolutionists. At every revolution in Poland the number of exiles for the next few years is greatly increased. After the revolution of 1863 twenty-four thousand Poles were sent to Siberia, and other revolutions have contributed a proportionate number."
"Do they all have the same kind of sentence, without regard to their offences?" one of the youths asked.
BANISHED FOR FIVE YEARS.
"Not at all," was the reply. "The lowest sentence is to three years' banishment, and the highest is to hard labor for life. Sentences vary all the way between these two categories—for five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years' banishment, without labor, or for the same number of years withlabor. A man may be sentenced to a given number of years' banishment, of which a certain designated portion shall be to hard labor, or he may be sentenced for life, with no hard labor at all. The punishment is varied greatly, and, from all I hear, the sentence is rarely carried out to its fullest degree. The time of exile is not lessened until a general pardon liberates entire classes, but the severity of the labor imposed is almost always lightened.
BANISHED FOR THREE YEARS.
"Then, too, the exiles are distributed throughout the country, and not allowed to gather in large numbers. The object of the exile system is to give a population to Siberia, and not to cause the death of the banished individual. Every effort is made to induce the exile to forget the causes that brought him to Siberia, and to make him a good citizen in his new home. His wife and children may follow or accompany him into exile at government expense, but they cannot return to European Russia until he is personally free to do so. This permission is denied in the cases of the worst criminals who are sentenced to hard labor and must leave their families behind.
"Figures I was glancing at this morning show that in one year 16,889 persons were sent to Siberia, accompanied by 1080 women and children over fifteen years old, and by 1269 under that age. Of the whole number of exiles mentioned, 1700 were sentenced to hard labor, and 1624 were drunkards and tramps. The status of the rest is not given, but they were probably sentenced to various terms of deportation without labor.
"I should say further, in regard to this family matter, that an exile is regarded as a dead man in the place from which he is sent, and his wife, if she remains in Europe, is legally a widow, and may marry again if she chooses. The wifeless man in Siberia is urged to marry and become the head of a family, and whenever he marries,the Government gives him a grant of land and aids him in establishing a home. As long as an exile conducts himself properly, and does not try to escape, he does not find existence in Siberia particularly dreadful, provided, of course, he has not been sent to hard labor, and the officers in charge of him are not of a cruel disposition."
Frank asked what work was done by those sentenced to hard labor, and how the men lived who were simply exiles and had not a labor sentence attached.
COLONIST'S VILLAGE IN WINTER.
"Those sentenced tokatorga, or hard labor, are employed in mines or on roads, and in mills and factories of various kinds. Several years ago an order was issued that exiles should no longer be kept at work in mines, but I am told on pretty good authority that this humane decree has been revoked since the rise of Nihilism. In the mines of Nertchinsk, in the latter part of the last century and the early part of the present one, the labor was fearful. The prisoners were in pairs, chained together; they were often kept working in mud and water for fourteen or sixteen hours daily; their lodgings were of the poorest character, and their food was nothing but black bread and occasionally a little cabbage soup. The great mortality in the mines attracted the attention of the Government, and the evils were remedied.
"Down to the end of the last century, criminals condemned to the mines were marked by having their nostrils slit open, but this barbarity has not been practised for a long time.
"Those sentenced to lighter labor are engaged in trades, such as making shoes, clothing, or other articles. Those who are simply exiled without labor can work at their trades, if they have any, precisely as they woulddo at home. If they are educated men they may practise their professions, give instruction to young people, or find employment with merchants as book-keepers or other assistants in business. Some years ago the permission for exiles to engage in teaching anything else than music, drawing, and painting was revoked, when it was discovered that some of them had been using their opportunities to spread revolutionary doctrines. Whether this order is yet in force I do not know.
"The next thing to hard labor in Siberia is the sentence to become 'a perpetual colonist.' This means that the exile is to make his living by tilling the soil, hunting, fishing, or in any other way that may be permitted by the authorities; he must be under the eye of the police, to whom he reports at regular intervals, and he must not go beyond certain limits that are prescribed to him.
"The perpetual colonist has a grant of land, and is supplied with tools and materials for building a house; he receives flour and other provisions for three years, and at the end of that time he is supposed to be able to take care of himself. Where he is sent to a fertile part of the country, his life is not particularly dreadful, though at best it is a severe punishment for a man who has been unaccustomed to toil, and has lived in luxury up to the time of being sent to Siberia. Many of these colonists are sent to the regions in or near the Arctic circle, where it is almost continuous winter, and the opportunities for agriculture are very small. Only a few things can be made to grow at all, and the exile doomed to such a residence must depend mainly upon hunting and fishing. If game is scarce, or the fishing fails, there is liable to be great suffering among these unhappy men.
"The friends of an exile may send him money, but not more than twenty-five roubles (about $20) a month. As before stated, the wife of an exile may have an income separate from that of her husband, and if she chooses to spend it they may live in any style they can afford.
"Many criminal and political exiles are drafted into the army in much the same way that prisons in other countries are occasionally emptied when recruits are wanted. They receive the same pay and treatment as other soldiers, and are generally sent to distant points, to diminish the chances of desertion. Most of these recruits are sent to the regiments in the Caucasus and Central Asia, and a good many are found in the Siberian regiments.
"All money sent to exiles must pass through the hands of the officials. It is a common complaint, and probably well founded, that a goodly part of this money sticks to the hands that touch it before it reaches its rightful owner. The same allegation is made concerning the allowances ofmoney and flour, just enough to support life, that are given to exiles who are restricted to villages and debarred from remunerative occupation."
EXILES LEAVING MOSCOW.
"Did you personally meet many exiles while you were in Siberia?" Frank inquired.
"I saw a great many while I was travelling through the country," Mr. Hegeman answered, "and in some instances had conversations with them. At the hotel where I stopped in Irkutsk the clerk was an exile, and so was the tailor that made an overcoat for me. Clerks in stores and shops, and frequently the proprietors, were exiles; the two doctors that had the largest practice were 'unfortunates' from Poland, and so was the director of the museum of the Geographical Society of Eastern Siberia. Some of the isvoshchiks were exiles. On one occasion an isvoshchik repeated theconversation which I had with a friend in French, without any suspicion that he understood what we were saying. Hardly a day passed that I did not meet an 'unfortunate,' and I was told that much of the refinement of society in the Siberian capital was due to the exiles. In talking with them I was careful not to allude in any way to their condition, and if they spoke of it, which was rarely the case, I always managed to turn the conversation to some other subject.
TAGILSK, CENTRE OF IRON-MINES OF SIBERIA.
"When on the road I met great numbers of exiles on their way eastward. Five-sixths of them were in sleighs or wagons, as it has been found cheaper to have them ride to their destinations than to walk. Those on foot were accompanied by their guards, also on foot; there was a wagon or sleigh in the rear for those who were ill or foot-sore, and there were two or more men on horseback to prevent desertions. Formerly all prisoners were obliged to walk to their destinations. The journey from St. Petersburg to Nertchinsk required two years, as it covered a distance of nearly five thousand miles."
"Do they sleep in the open air when on the road, or are they lodged in houses?" inquired Fred.
"There are houses every ten or fifteen miles, usually just outside thevillages," was the reply. "In these houses the prisoners are lodged. The places are anything but inviting, as the space is not large. No attempt is made to keep it clean, and the ventilation is atrocious. In winter it is a shelter from the cold, but in summer the prisoners greatly prefer to sleep out-of-doors. Sometimes the guards will not grant permission for them to do so, owing to the danger of desertion, but the scruples of the guards may be overcome by a promise obtained from all that no attempt will be made to escape, and that everybody shall watch everybody else.
A SIBERIAN VALLEY.
"From fifty to two hundred exiles form a batch or convoy. They are sent off once or twice a week, according to the number that may be on hand. All the convoys of exiles go to Omsk, in Western Siberia, and from there they are distributed throughout the country—some in one direction and some in another. Those that travel on foot rest every third day, and the ordinary march of a day is about fifteen miles; those in carriages are hurried forward, only resting on Sundays, and not always then."
"Do the guards of a convoy go all the way through with the prisoners?"
"No, they do not; they go from one large town to another. In the large towns there are prisons which serve as depots where exiles are accumulated, and the distribution of prisoners is generally made from these points. The officers and soldiers in charge of a convoy take their prisoners to one of these depots and deliver up their charges; receipts are given for the number of men delivered, just as for so many boxes or bales of goods. The guard can then return to its starting-point, and the prisoners are locked up until the convoy is ready for the road again.
"The guards are responsible for their prisoners, both from escape and injury. If a man dies on the road his body is carried to the next station for burial, so that the station-master and others may certify to the death; and if a man is killed while attempting to escape, the same disposition must be made of his body.
"Some years ago a Polish lady who was going into exile fell from a boat while descending a river. She had a narrow escape from drowning, and the officer in charge of her was very much alarmed. When she was rescued from the water, he said to her, 'I shall be severely punished if you escape or any accident happens to you. I have tried to treat you kindly, and beg of you, for my sake, not to drown yourself or fall into the river again.'"
"But don't a good many escape from Siberia, and either go back to their homes or get to foreign countries?"
"The number of escapes is not large," Mr. Hegeman answered, "as the difficulties of getting out of the country are very great. In the first place, there is the immense distance from the middle of Siberia to Moscow or St. Petersburg, or, worse still, to Poland. Nobody can hire horses at a station without showing his paderojnia, and this is only issued by the police-master, who knows the name and probably the face of every exile in his district. Even if a man gets a paderojnia by fraud, his absence would soon be discovered, and his flight can be stopped by the use of the telegraph.
"If an exile should try to get out of the country by going northward he would be stopped by the shores of the Arctic Ocean. If he goes to the south he enters China, or the inhospitable regions of Central Asia, where it is difficult, if not impossible, for a European to travel alone.
"Occasionally some one escapes by way of the Amoor River, or the ports of the Okhotsk Sea; but there are not many ships entering and leaving those ports, and the police keep a sharp watch over them to make sure that they do not carry away more men than they bring. I once met in Paris a Pole who had escaped from Siberia by this route. By some means that he would not reveal to me, he managed to get out of theAmoor River and cross to the island of Saghalin. The southern half of the island was then in possession of the Japanese, and he lived among them for several months. Then he got on board an American whaling-ship, and worked his passage to San Francisco, where he found some countrymen, who helped him on his way to Paris.
TWO EXILED FRIENDS MEETING.
"I know another man, a Russian nobleman, who escaped from Siberia and went back over the route by which he had come. For convenience I will call him Ivanoff, though that was not his name. He accomplished it in this way:
"He had concealed quite a sum of money about his person, which the guards failed to find after searching him repeatedly. His offence was political, and he was sentenced to twenty years' exile. While his convoy was on the road between Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk, he arranged to change names with Petrovitch, a criminal who had been sentenced to three years' banishment, and was to remain near Irkutsk. Ivanoff was to go beyond Lake Baikal, whence escape is much more difficult. For one hundred roubles the criminal consented to the change, and to take his chances for the result.
"The substitution was made at the depot in Irkutsk, where the nameswere called off and the new convoys made out. The convoy for the trans-Baikal was first made up, and when Ivanoff's name was read the burglar stepped forward and answered the question as to his sentence. The officers who had accompanied them from Krasnoyarsk were not present, and so there was no great danger of the fraud being discovered; the convoy was made up, the new officers moved off, and that was the last my friend saw of his hired substitute.
ESCAPING EXILES CROSSING A STREAM.
"Ivanoff (under his new name of Petrovitch) was sent to live in a village about twenty miles from Irkutsk, and required to report twice a week to the police. He found employment with a peasant farmer, and managed to communicate with a friend in Irkutsk, though not without much difficulty. The peasant used to send him to market with the produce of the farm, as he found that Ivanoff could obtain better prices than himself; the fact was he generally sold to his friend, who purposely overpaid him, and if he did not find his friend he added a little to the amount out of his own pocket. Ivanoff and his friend haggleda great deal over their transactions, and thus conversed without arousing suspicion.
"Things went on in this way for some months, and the good conduct of the apparently reformed criminal won him the favor of the police-master to whom he was required to report. His time of reporting was extended to once a week, and later to once a month. This gave him the chance of escaping.
"By a judicious use of his money he secured the silence of his employer and obtained a paderojnia of the second class. The day after reporting to the police he went to fish in the Angara, the river that flows past Irkutsk and has a very swift current. As soon as he was missed his employer led the search in the direction of the river. The coat, basket, and fishing-rod of the unfortunate man lay on the bank; it was easy to see that he had been standing on a stone at the edge of the water, and thestone having given way the river had swallowed Ivanoff, and carried his body away towards the Arctic Ocean. Some money was in the pocket of the coat, and was appropriated by the officers.