File:Siberia and the exile system (1891) (14782530422).jpg

Identifier: siberiaexilesyst01kenn (find matches)
Title: Siberia and the exile system
Year: 1891 (1890s)
Authors: Kennan, George, 1845-1924
Subjects: Siberia (Russia) -- Description and travel Siberia (Russia) -- Exiles
Publisher: New York : Century Co.
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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uffering from one of the diseases of the respiratory organsthat are so common in etajoe life it is simply torture to sitin a cramped position for six or eight hours in an opentelega, breathing the dust raised by the feet of 350 menmarching in close column just ahead. I have traced theprogress of an invisible exile party more than a mile awayby the cloud of dust that hung over it in the air. Five or six miles from Tomsk the party passed a chasov-naga, or roadside shrine, consisting of an open pavilion, inwhich hung a ghastly wooden effigy of the crucified Christ.Here, as upon our departure from Tomsk, I noticed thattwo-thirds of the convicts removed their caps, crossed them-selves devoutly, and muttered brief supplications, A Eus-sian peasant may be a highway robber or a murderer, but hecontinues, nevertheless, to cross himself and say his prayers. The first halt of the party for rest was made about tenmiles from Tomsk, at the entrance to a small village. Here, DEPORTATION BY ETAPE 379
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HALT OF A CONVUrr l-AHXY FoK l.UNCH. oSO SIBERIA on a patoh of greensward by the roadside, had assembledten or twelve girls and old women with baskets of pro-visions, bottles of milk, and jugs of kvas, or small beer, forsale to the prisoners. At first sight of these preparations fortheir refreshment, the experienced brodijdf/s, who marchedat the head of the column, raised a joyous shout of Privdl!Prirdlf — the exiles name for the noonday halt. The wel-come cry was passed along the line until it reached the lastwagon of incapables, and the whole party perceptiblyquickened its pace. A walk of ten miles does not muchtire a healthy and unincumbered man; but to convicts whohave been in prison without exercise for months, and whoare hampered by five-pound leg-fetters united by chainsthat clash constantly between the legs, it is a trying exper-ience. In less than a minute after the command to haltwas given, almost every man in the party was either sittingon the ground or lying upon it at f

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