Tent Life in Siberia | Page 3

CHAPTER XXIX
CLASSIFICATION OF NATIVES--INDIAN TYPE, MONGOLIAN
TYPE, AND TURKISH TYPE--EASTERN VIEW OF WESTERN
ARTS AND FASHIONS--AN AMERICAN SAINT

CHAPTER XXX
AN ARCTIC AURORA--ORDERS FROM THE
MAJOR--ADVENTURES OF MACRAE AND ARNOLD WITH THE
CHUKCHIS--RETURN TO GIZHIGA--REVIEW OF WINTER'S
WORK

CHAPTER XXXI
LAST WORK OF THE WINTER--BIRDS AND FLOWERS OF
SPRING--CONTINUOUS DAYLIGHT--SOCIAL LIFE IN
GIZHIGA--A CURIOUS SICKNESS--SUMMER DAYS AND
NIGHTS--NEWS FROM AMERICA

CHAPTER XXXII
DULL LIFE--ARCTIC MOSQUITOES--WAITING FOR
SUPPLIES--SHIPS SIGNALLED--BARK "CLARA
BELL"--RUSSIAN CORVETTE "VARAG"

CHAPTER XXXIII
ARRIVAL OF BARK "PALMETTO"--DRIVEN ASHORE BY
GALE--DISCHARGING CARGO UNDER DIFFICULTIES--NEGRO
CREW MUTINIES--LONELY TRIP TO ANADYRSK--STUPID
KORAKS--EXPLOSIVE PROVISIONS

CHAPTER XXXIV

A MEETING IN THE NIGHT--HARDSHIPS OF BUSH'S
PARTY--SIBERIAN FAMINES--FISH SAVINGS BANKS--WORK
IN THE NORTHERN DISTRICT--STARVING POLE CUTTERS--A
JOURNEY TO YAMSK

CHAPTER XXXV
YURT ON THE TOPOLOFKA--THE VALLEY OF
TEMPESTS--RIVER OF THE LOST--STORM BOUND--ESCAPE
BY THE ICE-FOOT--A SLEEPLESS NIGHT--LEET REPORTED
DEAD--YAMSK AT LAST

CHAPTER XXXVI
BRIGHT ANTICIPATIONS---A WHALE-SHIP SIGNALLED--THE
BARK "SEA BREEZE"--NEWS FROM THE ATLANTIC
CABLE--REPORTED ABANDONMENT OF THE OVERLAND
LINE

CHAPTER XXXVII
OFFICIAL CONFIRMATION OF THE BAD NEWS--THE
ENTERPRISE ABANDONED--A VOYAGE TO OKHOTSK--THE
AURORA OF THE SEA

CHAPTER XXXVIII
CLOSING UP THE BUSINESS--A BARGAIN SALE--TELEGRAPH
TEACUPS REDUCED--CHEAP SHOVELS FOR
GRAVE-DIGGING--WIRE FISH NETS AT A SACRIFICE--OUR
NARROWEST ESCAPE--BLOWN OUT TO SEA--SAVED BY THE

"ONWARD"

CHAPTER XXXIX
START FOR ST. PETERSBURG--ROUTE TO YAKUTSK--A
TUNGUSE ENCAMPMENT-- CROSSING THE STANAVOI
MOUNTAINS--SEVERE COLD--FIRE-LIGHTED SMOKE
PILLARS--ARRIVAL IN YAKUTSK

CHAPTER XL
THE GREATEST HORSE-EXPRESS SERVICE IN THE
WORLD--EQUIPMENT FOR THE ROAD--A SIBERIAN
"SEND-OFF"--POST TRAVEL ON THE ICE--BROKEN
SLEEP--DRIVING INTO AN AIR-HOLE--REPAIRING
DAMAGES--FIRST SIGHT OF IRKUTSK

CHAPTER XLI
A PLUNGE INTO CIVILISATION--THE NOBLES'
BALL--SHOCKING LANGUAGE-- SHAKESPEARE'S
ENGLISH--THE GREAT SIBERIAN ROAD--PASSING TEA
CARAVANS--RAPID TRAVEL--FIFTY-SEVEN HUNDRED MILES
IN ELEVEN WEEKS--ARRIVAL IN ST. PETERSBURG
INDEX

ILLUSTRATIONS
GEORGE KENNAN, 1868
A TENT OF THE WANDERING KORAKS IN SUMMER

TOWARD NIGHT: A TIRED DOG-TEAM From a painting by
George A. Frost.
WANDERING KORAKS WITH THEIR REINDEER AND
SLEDGES From a painting by George A. Frost.
A MAN OF THE WANDERING KORAKS
TENTS AND REINDEER OF THE WANDERING KORAKS From a
painting by George A. Frost.
DRAWINGS OF THE KORAKS. ILLUSTRATIVE OF THEIR
MYTHS
A KORAK GIRL
KORAK DOGS SACRIFICED TO PROPITIATE THE SPIRITS OF
EVIL
A RACE OF WANDERING KORAK REINDEER TEAMS From a
painting by George A. Frost.
HOUR-GLASS HOUSES OF THE SETTLED KORAKS From a
model in The American Museum of Natural History.
INTERIOR OF A KORAK YURT. GETTING FIRE WITH THE FIRE
DRILL From a photograph in The American Museum of Natural
History.
A WOMAN ENTERING A YURT OF THE SETTLED KORAKS
SETTLED KORAKS IN A TRIAL OF STRENGTH
AN OLD MAN OF THE SETTLED KORAKS From a photograph in
The American Museum of Natural History.
YURT AND DOG-TEAM OF THE SETTLED KORAKS From a
painting by George A. Frost.
A WOMAN FEEDING A DOG-TEAM IN GIZHIGA From a, painting
by George A. Frost.
INTERIOR OF A YURT OF THE SETTLED KORAKS
DOG-TEAMS DESCENDING A STEEP MOUNTAIN SLOPE
CHUKCHIS ASSEMBLING AT ANADYRSK FOR THE WINTER
FAIR
ANADYRSK IN WINTER
A MAN OF THE YUKAGIRS
A MAN OF THE WANDERING CHUKCHIS
TUNGUSE MAN AND WOMAN IN BEST SUMMER DRESS
A TUNGUSE SUMMER TENT
A CHUKCHI RUG OF REINDEER SKIN

TUNGUSES ON REINDEER-BACK MOVING THEIR
ENCAMPMENT From a photograph in The American Museum of
Natural History.
A YURT OF THE SETTLED KORAKS IN MIDWINTER
AN ARCTIC FUNERAL
THE YURT IN THE "STORMY GORGE OF THE VILIGA" From a
painting by George A. Frost.
MAPS

TENT LIFE IN SIBERIA

CHAPTER I
THE OVERLAND TELEGRAPH LINE TO RUSSIA--SAILING OF
THE FIRST SIBERIAN EXPLORING PARTY FROM SAN
FRANCISCO.
The Russian-American Telegraph Company, otherwise known as the
"Western Union Extension," was organised at New York in the summer
of 1864. The idea of a line from America to Europe, by way of Bering
Strait, had existed for many years in the minds of several prominent
telegraphers, and had been proposed by Perry McD. Collins, as early as
1857, when he made his trip across northern Asia. It was never
seriously considered, however, until after the failure of the first Atlantic
cable, when the expediency of an overland line between the two
continents began to be earnestly discussed. The plan of Mr. Collins,
which was submitted to the Western Union Telegraph Company of
New York as early as 1863, seemed to be the most practicable of all the
projects which were suggested for intercontinental communication. It
proposed to unite the telegraphic systems of America and Russia by a
line through British Columbia, Russian America, and north-eastern
Siberia, meeting the Russian lines at the mouth of the Amur (ah-moor)
River on the Asiatic coast, and forming one continuous girdle of wire
nearly round the globe.
This plan possessed many very obvious advantages. It called for no
long cables. It provided for a line which would run everywhere

overland, except for a short distance at Bering