File:Travelling in Siberia ILN0-1882-0225-0005.jpg

English: Travelling in Siberia. Illustration for The Illustrated London News, 25 February 1882. The Relief of the Jeannette Arctic Expedition TRAVELL1NG IN SIBERIA. Our Special Artist, M1r. A. Larsen, of Copenhagen, who accompanies the New York Herald commissioner in his long journey to the Arctic shores of North-Eastern Siberia, for the relief of the crew of the steamer Jeanette, which was crushed by the ice while engaged in an exploring expedition arranged for by Mr. J. Gordon Bennett, furnished us some time ago with sketches of his previous travel, in Siberia. That vast region, extending over the entire breadth of Northern Asia, frolnt the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, is still but little known even to Ilthe European Ilssinu, the maljority of whimit hvei little idea of what is going on in the inunense A-liatic dominimti of tii, it mighty Elnlm ror. A lew skeftches flrot evetryday life will be not itwillotitutierest to the English riu ler, and may succeed in showing to some degree that this colntry is inll miy respects far better than its reputation. Our Artist writes as follows upon the subject of the lllustra11ins:--- "Travelling by post is gttf ing more andl nmore rare in Europe; if post-horses are still used now and then, it is merely for short distances, and, on tihe whole, with comfortable vehicles, on sn otth, well-kept road-. It is a di fferentthingaltogether in tile distant. East, in Asia, in Siberia, where you must travel many hundreds of miles in the same carriage--the carriage, which dt,-s service as well in capacity of bed-room ; oand must carry yor provi-ions for manty weeks. Nor do the roads in Siberia much res.emble our 1:European highways. The rain during the spin)ig nld atttin/oit macerates the ground, and makes it a i-tlttcr of impossibility to travel inl carriages mounted on t- tallic springs. 'The only practicable driving is with tile tt-siant vehicle called the tarantass. It has tnt seats; the 1botott is iilltd up with luggage, on the top of which mattresses and pillows are placed. Ti travelling such distances it would 1b impossible always to sit upright, but by lying down inn, is :eabled to drive day and night without stopping t., rest. Iv Ithis arrangement, on tolerably good roads, driving in a Iar;tllt; s will be found very agreeable. Six young birchrte <, oni the middle of which the coach is fastented, connect ti h fiore ai l h ind axles : these poles are about twenty feet long, id) veryv elastic, so that tlhe vehicle is able to cross ditches and cleatr ,othr hi)dranctes without upsetting. The post-stations L. ai t td-ttat-c oF ttlttt twenty-five versts (thirteen English miles) t1"m each other. Without a ' podorosluaja,' a paid d,':cnnt, entitling the bearer to obtain post-horse>s, the traviliing i. connected with many difficulties and much, loss of " li sttation is reached at last: and the post-clerk, roused blv the Intd ringinig of the bell at the niddilie horse, is already waitr in the dorwvay. The 'tpodoroslthja' is handed up tot hint . the ulttcllti ik,' or coachman, quickly take:, out the horsie, and the man next on duty bringl - the froesh team. And sphendid ti rses they iart' u o1te put in, they are held by three I' sttnnlllllllL by, ulli til the passengers ialld coaeLCI lan have t kt-n the; seats. ' All rittghit ? o ' The three tmeni jump quiokly} ide, nld onil' start tle. horses at a pace of seven or elghlt mle, anill hour. often keeping on gallnping, till they reach tlh next statitlon. Iet uits isit ' good lutck' to our travellers, ntdtl inl tile tiantimle step inside to have a look at the post station. "The first ronm is the office. Ilere the mail correspondentee is handed inl and out. the fare paid, and the t travellers' names entered. 'I'lThe second room is for passent, gers, a, clean, tfurnished with huge sofas an a a t set of chairs. The walls look rather bare. the only ornamenllts are tables of fares, a small looking-glass,, and Hlalf a dozen peouny pictures, generally representing somebody of the F Imperial family or siome' famous military commander. The ftaces look as if -urprised that one is,able to recognise them ; but the circumstance thnat their names have been put under each of them considerably assists the visitor in the task of recognition. Still you examine every one of them with as much interest as you would some chef d'cruvres of art, these being the only things to look at. " Notwithstanding this want of artistic entertainment, it would be most desirable if all Siberian hotels would try to resemble these poor post-rooms with respect to cleanliness and decency. It has been mentioned that the traveller is bound to carry all provisions with him, but in sunmmer time, when nothing keeps fresh for a long time, he can hardly get anything but milk and eggs; so that if here and there some speculative wife of the station-master understands how to prepare dinners and other repasts for the traveller, she makes a splendid business by it, for the hungry man is willing to pay the price," The other Sketch represents what a traveller in Siberia occasionally meets on the road; a party of Russian convicts drearily marching to the appointed place of penal servitude. An Illustration of this subject-namely, the scene on the banks of the Yenisei, where some of the same class of prisoners, with their military escort, were awaiting passage by the ferry across that great river-was given in the Extra Supplement to this Journal two or three weeks ago, and was accompanied by a sufficient account of the matter.